Long ago I wrote a piece on the venerable fishymancer. I spoke these words long ago, but little do I know how much I actually said. I was praising the gamer, who I find to contain the soul of a true poet, but little did I know I how much I was saying on the nature of the necromancer as well.
‘Necromancy is a form of divination in which the practitioner seeks to summon “operative spirits” or “spirits of divination”, for multiple reasons, from spiritual protection to wisdom.’ (wiki)
So, it seems the Diablo II version of the necromancer is pretty accurate. They are obsessed with the dead, because the dead give them their power, or so it seems. Their minions are dead, or undead, rather. They raise and control the dead. As they kill the dead make them stronger as their armies grow. They don’t do the fighting themselves because they don’t need to. All they need to do is get the dead to fight for them and curse the living. This is what “necromancers” believe.
“Medieval practitioners believed they could accomplish three things with necromancy: will manipulation, illusions, and knowledge.” (wiki)
I wrote on the curses of the necromancer:
“Now, aside from summoning creatures or raising the dead, the main skill for a necromancer to succeed is his “curses.” These curses are cast on the enemies and have a variety of wonderful effects, from amplifying the physical damage dealt to them to making them run in fear, slowing them down, or even having them fight each other while your minions hack away. The most powerful and useful curses are the ones that affect the enemy AI, such as Terror, which make the enemies run in simulated terror, and Dim Vision, which curses enemies into blindness and leaves them helpless. These AI curses are very necessary, since you have no direct control over your own minions, whose own intelligence leaves much to be desired (sorry guys, sad but true). Since your undead army refuses to focus fire, take out strategic targets and cooperate in deadly guerilla warfare on their own, the player is left to disable key targets and groups with his curses.”
Seriously, the most dangerous curses are the ones that mess with the AI, because they’re the ones that turn the tide of a battle. Increasing damage usually only helps you win faster when you were going to win anyway. But making my enemies run in terror can change the tide of a battle. Confusing my enemies and making them fight each other can change the tide of a battle (divide and conquer). Blinding (Dim Vision) my enemies and making them unable to even move, sitting in a stupor, can change the tide of a battle (censorship and lies).
Now, the living dead are a favorite subject of mine. No, not having intelligent conversations with mental zombies, or having other sorts of “relations” with the actual dead, or having séances, or channeling, or brainwashing people into doing what I say by lies and manipulation, magically removing their free will. No, rather, I like to see people killing zombies, or to kill them myself.
Dawn of the Dead? Beautiful. Resident Evil (the games)? Gorgeous. House of the Dead (game)? Pretty fun.
How do you kill the dead though, if they walk among us? Snipe them, while they walk through shopping malls in a stupor? Well, no, because they aren’t really fully dead. They might just have Terror or Dim Vision or Confusion cast on them. What you do, is uncurse them. What you do, is WAKE THEM UP.
Now, I am not a necromancer. I’m not an actor (channeler). I don’t go to séances. I don’t read my horoscope or get my fortune read (divination). I’m not a master of illusion (Hollywood). Maybe it’s not related, but it seems that a small portion of my free will has been preserved because of this, my refusal, or maybe just lack of interest to take part in it. So I’m not brainwashed into racism, or bulimia or anorexia (illusion, no one’s really that skinny), or fear of terrorist attacks. All smoke and mirrors.
I’m just a simple boy. Sometimes all I want is a really damn good peach, or a decent tomato slice to put in my sandwich, though it’s almost impossible with the sprayed, machine grown crap in the supermarkets these days (you can thank the government and its friends). Or to eat a meal that doesn’t utterly destroy my body. Or just to go take part in or listen to a conversation where people actually listen to each other, instead of thinking “I’m right you’re wrong.” Or to see a place where people who speak the same language aren’t all of the same color.
And really, one thing I’d like to see in my lifetime is when the sort of people we need to stay alive don’t get killed or die of dubious or vague diseases.
The Internet is really interesting, because for once people can see beyond the smoke and mirrors. We can see the world as it really is, instead of what the nightly news tells us it is. We can see real people, who are funny, intelligent, good, and honest, instead of the prostitutes, thugs, and liars that we used to see. We can see news about weird, fun, and unusual things, instead of news of the latest child rapist or murderer. I somehow find this to be a refreshing change, so I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.
Of course, now the powers that be want to take it away, this thing we call net neutrality. Of course they will lie without end to achieve this goal, to put the people with the money (gotten by murder, lies, and prostitution) back in power.
If they do this, which they probably will, since everyone cares more about what moronic staged act Britney did than they do about what’s actually going on in the world, then the dead will continue to walk the earth, fooled by the necromancers. And the freedom fighters will be killed and imprisoned, and no one will ask why.
Because the people are cursed.
http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/958/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necromancer
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