Magic
Necromantic Healing
One of necromancy’s more benign applications, necromantic healing is the process of using the life force of other creatures on a still-living subject to mend wounds. All necromancers are capable of this skill, though not all of them can do it correctly.
Note that this page does contain discussion of injuries in a non-graphic manner; if this is a subject of discomfort for you, please keep that warning in mind!
Note that this page does contain discussion of injuries in a non-graphic manner; if this is a subject of discomfort for you, please keep that warning in mind!
Requirements
As with harvest magic and normal necromancy, healing requires the life of a sacrifice to perform. Animals or humans/dragons can be used, though different severity of injuries may require more or less “fuel” to properly heal them.
Additionally, for a necromancer to properly perform healing, they must first know and understand the injury they’re dealing with. With wounds such as cuts and bruises, the causes are fairly obvious and easy to treat. For more severe injuries, especially those affecting internal organs or bone structure, intervention can be far more difficult; a necromancer needs to know what the issue is and carefully mend it. Without the proper examination or knowledge, it can be possible for them to heal things wrong, and only further harm their patient’s well-being.
Thus, necromancers who wish to be highly effective healers often need to go through the same training as an ordinary doctor to understand the anatomy of their patient, and this can be even more difficult in situations where the injured individual has uniquely unusual anatomy.
Additionally, for a necromancer to properly perform healing, they must first know and understand the injury they’re dealing with. With wounds such as cuts and bruises, the causes are fairly obvious and easy to treat. For more severe injuries, especially those affecting internal organs or bone structure, intervention can be far more difficult; a necromancer needs to know what the issue is and carefully mend it. Without the proper examination or knowledge, it can be possible for them to heal things wrong, and only further harm their patient’s well-being.
Thus, necromancers who wish to be highly effective healers often need to go through the same training as an ordinary doctor to understand the anatomy of their patient, and this can be even more difficult in situations where the injured individual has uniquely unusual anatomy.
Process
The actual process of necromantic healing is described as, by those who have practised it, the feeling of “guiding” energy through a body and directing what it repairs. A necromancer must keep a firm grasp on it to keep it from going off course and doing “whatever it wants”. Individual necromancers visualize this in different manners, depending on how comprehensive their knowledge of the anatomy of their patient is.
For those witnessing it, the wound appears to slowly knit itself back together, before being replaced with faint scarring/smooth skin where the injury had once been. The subject describes it as itching terribly, but not feeling painful unless the necromancer messes up.
For those witnessing it, the wound appears to slowly knit itself back together, before being replaced with faint scarring/smooth skin where the injury had once been. The subject describes it as itching terribly, but not feeling painful unless the necromancer messes up.
Limitations
A major limitation of necromantic healing is that a necromancer cannot use their abilities on themself. If they are in need of magical treatment, they will have to find someone else who is able to help.
There are also some things that necromantic healing simply cannot help; health issues that are purely genetic may be outside their ability to do more than help manage, and old injuries that have long healed on their own are much more difficult to deal with. For example, someone with a broken leg that healed wrong decades ago would need to have it re-broken along the old fracture to be healed again properly. The older, more complex, or more severe the injury, the more effective the sacrifice required; while some healing can be performed effectively with livestock, certain more challenging conditions require the sacrifice of a human or dragon to heal.
Necromantic healings also cannot regrow entire limbs. They can re-attach arms or transplant eyes (whether they belong to the person or not), but cannot grow them entirely from scratch. One can, in theory, “graft” limbs onto someone where they didn’t have them before (such as extra arms or wings) but you would also have to make sure to modify their muscle structure as well which would be difficult… especially on a living subject.
A necromancer must also be within about arm’s length of their patient to heal them; they cannot use their magic to aid someone who is very far away, and touching the patient tends to be the most effective way to go about it. The target of a healing also needs to be alive; to heal a dead body, a revival is necessary first.
There are also some things that necromantic healing simply cannot help; health issues that are purely genetic may be outside their ability to do more than help manage, and old injuries that have long healed on their own are much more difficult to deal with. For example, someone with a broken leg that healed wrong decades ago would need to have it re-broken along the old fracture to be healed again properly. The older, more complex, or more severe the injury, the more effective the sacrifice required; while some healing can be performed effectively with livestock, certain more challenging conditions require the sacrifice of a human or dragon to heal.
Necromantic healings also cannot regrow entire limbs. They can re-attach arms or transplant eyes (whether they belong to the person or not), but cannot grow them entirely from scratch. One can, in theory, “graft” limbs onto someone where they didn’t have them before (such as extra arms or wings) but you would also have to make sure to modify their muscle structure as well which would be difficult… especially on a living subject.
A necromancer must also be within about arm’s length of their patient to heal them; they cannot use their magic to aid someone who is very far away, and touching the patient tends to be the most effective way to go about it. The target of a healing also needs to be alive; to heal a dead body, a revival is necessary first.
Consequences
Potential drawbacks of using necromancy to heal a subject.
Memories?
Unlike full revivals, necromantic healing does not affect an individual’s sense of self or their memories.
Mutations
Although uncommon, an exceptionally badly done - or intentionally sabotagued - healing can result in unusual mutations along the site of the injury. This varies depending on the sacrifice; using a chicken to heal a cut on someone’s shoulder could, if badly done, result in feathers sprouting in the area.
While this sounds largely benign, if unpleasant, the same could not be said for it happening in someone’s internal organs, and mutations gained from healing in certain situations can be more fatal than the injury itself.
Although these mutations are uncommon, a necromancer should take great care when performing healings to prevent messing up and permanently mutating someone.
It is also worthy of note that necromantic healing does not give the subject glowing eyes unless their eyes specifically were what was healed.
While this sounds largely benign, if unpleasant, the same could not be said for it happening in someone’s internal organs, and mutations gained from healing in certain situations can be more fatal than the injury itself.
Although these mutations are uncommon, a necromancer should take great care when performing healings to prevent messing up and permanently mutating someone.
It is also worthy of note that necromantic healing does not give the subject glowing eyes unless their eyes specifically were what was healed.
Legality
Necromantic healing is sometimes considered part of a harvest mage’s toolkit, and sometimes viewed with the same apprehension and fear as the rest of necromancy.
Dutoria, Hovell, Ironbrook, the Whaletooth Archipelago, and the stormherald Republic of the Spire allow harvest mages to practice necromantic healing. All other regions of the Realm view it as necromancy.
Dutoria, Hovell, Ironbrook, the Whaletooth Archipelago, and the stormherald Republic of the Spire allow harvest mages to practice necromantic healing. All other regions of the Realm view it as necromancy.