Remember when I said I'd finish this during the summer? Good times, good times.
5: Getting speared with holy lightning by a priest of House Cavradisk.
The biggest driving force behind the crusade that drove House Elbar out of Esemeir was, naturally, the Essian Church. To their order, necromancy is absolutely reviled, an art that damns the spirit, degrades the body, something that has no place in a civilized world. However, the church’s relationship with heretical magics and worship is a bit more complicated than this hardline position might suggest, and there is no better example than that of Alexander Cavradisk. Cavradisk was a priest who Catharine Uraza took under her wing and who became a particularly adept member of her inner circle. He was a well known philosopher amongst certain noble circles, and when Catharine's nature was discovered he argued passionately that she be allowed to stay, and that the laws of the Essian church regarding necromancy be re-examined. His arguments were heard, and rejected, and he was excommunicated along with Catharine and her other apprentices. He did not lose his faith though, nor was he compelled to give it up. He was responsible for establishing the Urazan Church of Essia, and now, that church is a fundamental part of the City of the Dead, managed, of course, by House Cavradisk.
Urazan Essianism is similar in many ways to Orthodox Essianism, with a few select notable exceptions. Its teachings on necromancy are the obvious point of divergence, Urazan Essianism has far less compunctions about the sanctity of the body after death, being more concerned with what happens to the spirit. Even then, considering the church exists at the pleasure of the Lich Queen, it does not necessarily oppose necromantic arts which prolong the life. The Urazan Church essentially posits that Catharine Elbar is the saint of the dead, all of the dead, and that as such, it is her place to preside over death in Coris. Whether or not this is true is up for some debate, but true Essian saints do hold real, notable divine power, which Queen Catharine seems to be lacking. It is for these reasons that the Orthodox Essian Church mostly likes to pretend Uraza's weird sect of their religion doesn't exist, but the rift between the two religions has mended some over the centuries. Outwardly, they are certainly considered heretical, but there are some aspects of the faith that they find useful, most notably the magic which Uraza classifies as heiromancy. House Cavradisk's branch of necromancy is one of the only two recognized schools of the art within Uraza that deals with the spirit as opposed to the body. They can channel spirits, speaking to them, summoning them as allies, or converting them into destructive energy, blasting their foes with great bolts of multicolored, neon lightning. Such techniques have trickled into usage amongst the mages of the Essian Church, who are naturally a bit slow to express gratitude to their separated brethren.
The House of Cavradisk does valuable work in keeping the undead of Uraza clean. Risen corpses attract stray spirits like flies, so defending against spiritual foes is one of the Urazan Church's utmost important responsibilities. That, and they serve to give the creation of the undead a bit more legitimacy. Those corpses set to become undead are purified in mass funerary ceremonies, held semi-regularly in the public. Others happen behind closed doors, but are far less extravagant and respectful. House Cavradisk also produces the highest number of Lich Knights out of all of the other Houses. The Lich Knights of Queen Catharine are the most skilled warriors in the city state, trained in hand to hand combat and reared to command legions of the undead in Uraza's never-ending conquest. If one is born a member of House Cavradisk, the two acceptable professions tend to be either priest, or Lich Knight, and given the restrictions that are placed upon the clergy, many a noble child has chosen to raise steel and flesh alike in service to the queen.
6: Freezing to death in a House Friges basement.
Her Majesty Catharine's University of Uraza is a noble and illustrious university, which houses some of the brightest young minds of the world, and like everything else in Uraza is chock full of dead bodies and necromancers. Surprise Surprise. The University of Uraza is one of the only schools in the world that teaches magic (through a few very selective courses, mind), making it partially responsible for the higher than average number of mages in the city. It is one of the most prestigious schools on the continent, serving any who are wealthy enough to gain entry to its unhallowed halls. The University's stewards are none other than the illustrious members of House Friges, one of the most powerful Urazan Houses, politically speaking. House Friges has such a weighty influence because part of the University's job is to screen their students for the best possible mages and find a way to integrate them into the arcane bureaucracy of the City of the Dead. Friges is in many cases directly responsible for teaching the magic of the various houses, to new recruits, which means that in addition to the fundamental magic of House Elbar, the Friges school of necromancy is often widely practiced and adapted by members of other houses. Friges necromancy, also known as gelumancy, is, like the magic of Cavradisk, nearly fully reliant on spirits or spiritual energy. Friges mages channel ghosts like Cavradisk, but whereas that House's magic is focused on turning spiritual energy into large, flashy blasts of holy lightning, gelumancy tends to be very practical and defensive, combat applications tend to be limited to wards and other protective techniques, but the school has definitely proved its usefulness in the hands of the Urazan bureaucrat. Most techniques have to do with the binding and summoning of spirits, using them to walk through the ether, sending them across the city with messages in their mouths, and the like. Ghosts are useful for filing paperwork. Of course, gelumancy does have its offensive capabilities, those that channel the negative energies of spirits, their sorrow, jealousy, and regret, inward, into a magic that burns like frost.
Spiritual necromancy is perhaps the more dangerous and loathsome variety of the Black Craft when practiced with disregard; those spirits that are harnessed by necromancers, though diminished, are still people, in some sense. People who can think, who have desires, who do not wish to be playthings. Urazan necromancers are hardly respectful folk, though they are perfectly willing to use the dead, there is no reverence for them in their hearts. The exception to this rule used to exist within House Friges. The Houses are not monoliths, each forms its own cliques, has its own internal squabbles and schisms. Within Friges, there were those who practiced the cold necromancies described above, and those who began to dabble in the warm necromancies. They channeled spiritual fire which comes from both love and hatred, too powerful to ignore. These "warm" necromancers began to tap into an older sort of necromancy practiced within Kithe long before Elbar arrived, a communion with spirits, based on understanding and compassion. They began to see the evil in the City of the Dead, and endeavored to burn it to ash. They were ousted when it was discovered many of these rogue Friges mages had begun to cremate bodies; In a city where a corpse is such an important thing, it'd seem like setting fire to farmland. There was a purging of the members of House Friges, which just barely managed to hold onto its place in the Urazan government.
The height of gelumancy, the goal to which many within Friges aspire to, is to become a ghost themselves. Friges mages have achieved such things in the past, in fact several high up officials within the house are deceased. It is an art similar to that which made the Lich Queen immortal, though more stable. Friges ghostlords do not have to consume souls, at least not as regularly, to maintain their grip on the mortal coil. They are not nearly as resistant as the Ashwraiths, the ghosts of purged "warm" necromancers, still dedicated to the destruction of Uraza. They lurk within the forest of Kithe, building armies of other aggrieved spirits, plotting in preparation for the day the city will finally burn in its entirety.
7: Getting devoured by the living dead of House Stregha.
House Stregha is wholly unique amongst the Urazan houses, owing to the fact that they are the only Great House to be elevated since the initial six were created so many years ago at the city's founding. This addition to the roster of major houses marks, according to some of the city's historians, a turning point in Urazan history, their appointment by the Lich Queen a stunning new precedent that continues to shake the political landscape of the city state. Casela Stregha has only been a high mage of Uraza for 9 years, and her innovations continue to shock and appall the city's elite mages. Another factor which is of particular note to the high mages of the other houses, is that Stregha is the only mage who is not (or never was) human, she is a hobgoblin from the faraway northern lands. Stregha is seen as an utter oddity to the ossifying upper class, the talk of the house's "strange foreign ways" has still not died down nearly a decade since her appointment as a high mage. The house's appointment has increased interest in the north, with "Northern Art" being one notable consequence of the city's increased interest. Most plays you see in Uraza tend to depict goblin warriors with byzantine codes of honor, dressed in mammoth fur and steel, real "noble savage" type stuff. Of more relevance to our topic today, however, is Stregha's unique brand of magic, something the cool kids are calling "vitamancy." See, Casela is what goblins call a Skin Mage, hailing from a circle of mages who manipulate the flesh of others (they are particularly well known for making ogres). Casela is a talented Skin Mage, she is maybe an even more talented necromancer, though, and the intersection between these two philosophies is what truly drew the focus of the Lich Queen in the first place.
Sometimes, rarely, necromancy can aid in the restoration of life to a body, the rejoining of the soul and flesh, and the revitalization of both. This magic is rare because necromancers are selfish bastards and frankly, you are more useful to them dead than alive, so good luck finding a bonified Dark Lord who's willing to resurrect your buddy for a few hundred coins and a shiny rock like some do-gooder priest. Thing is, the revitalization of the flesh is, well, good. Necromancers' minions are hardy, they feel no fear, they are all terrain soldiers, but they are deteriorating, and they lack the biological capability to repair themselves. Calesa Stregha hopes to change this fact. Necromancy is a varied art, it controls the body and the spirit, especially once they have been cleaved in twain, but it is notoriously difficult to de-soul a body without killing it. The soul wishes to be unified with physical form, it cannot be lured away easily or gently, its' removal means biological death. However, Stregha's mastery of biological transmutation opens the way to a remedy of this fact. As the soul is pried away from the body, the body is strengthened, its blood is cycled, its lungs filled with air, then exhaled, its heart is made to beat. At this point, the person is, essentially, brain dead. Their body however is still alive, and ripe for extensive modification. Meanwhile, the soul must be dissolved or imprisoned, lest it attempt to return to the body. Many House Stregha mages will variously use minor demons or Friges designed soul cages for such purposes (it is for this reason that Stregha and Friges have developed something of a symbiotic relationship, aside from the Queen herself, the house has no fiercer allies). From this point onward, the body can be strengthened or altered in any number of ways too dramatic to be performed on a truly living specimen, allowing vitamancers to create truly bizarre monstrosities hyper specialized for a given purpose
Presently, House Stregha's only official responsibility is to research its school of magic, as ordained by the Queen herself. Only in the past few years have their advancements started trickling out of their secluded halls. The main purpose of their work so far has been to perfect their living dead specimens, a goal Casela readily embraced after she was banished from the north for her experiments. The living dead are faster and stronger than skeletons or zombies, and can be made a great deal more deadly, but they are a degree more vulnerable to physical harm, due to their living nature. Word has it that Casela wants to get them approved for use in Uraza's military, and has been advocating for their usage as menial laborers, owing to the fact that they sport improved strength compared to other undead, and improved stamina in comparison to human workers. Either way, it is clear they are encroaching on the territory of House Grey, as such, the two houses have become bitter rivals in recent years, with sabotage attempts between the two being all too common. Vitamancy is a new school of necromantic thought and its limits are still being tested. If it is quite as revolutionary as the Queen and Stregha think it to be, it is possible that many of the Great Houses may risk losing much ground to Stregha, an idea that has fomented no small amount of unrest amongst their number. It would not be the first time in Uraza that one of the houses attempted a coup, and though all have met bloody ends, with so many Houses standing to lose so much influence, the city's elite have grown desperate indeed, and for them, death is eternally cheap.
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