Necromancer

No person or persons shall be permited to engage in acts which pester, harangue, or otherwise disturb the deceased. Nor shall the acts of speaking for, channelling, or raising the deceased be permitted, except by contact to parliament in service of the nation.

exerpt from the Ewuran Alliance Wartime Prohibition Act (Article 2.1 Necromancy)

At the beginning of of the Mage War, the practice of necromancy - speaking to, or for, or raising the dead - was banned across Ewaes and Ewura on national security grounds, though both sides allegedly employed state necromancers in espionage.
In the aftermath, the two continents, united mourning the loss of a generation, maintained the ban and restricted the practice to members of recognised bodies in order to protect the survivors from exploitation, and to clamp down on profiteers and frauds. However, the breadth of functions performed by necromancers means that the accredited necromancers are barely capable of covering essential functions, and the enormous number of people desperate to see a loved relative again has created an illicit demand for mediums and necromancers capable of honest, discreet work.

Career

Qualifications

Necromancy is one of the most widely-policed arcane practices and most countries have some some variant of a guild, fellowship, society of order which accredits necromancers, and almost all of these require members to be trained in at least one form of grief counselling or a member of a recognised clergy.
By contrast, those commercial mediums who do claim to have professional qualifications are routinely found to have degrees from commercial organisations or degree mills.

Payment & Reimbursement

Priests and guild-affiliated necromancers do not take monetary renumeration, but survive off of donations and charitable trusts. It is a requirement of professional conduct that necromancers may not profit from the bereaved.
An emerging profession of commercial channellers, mediums and spiritualists are under no such restrictions and charge according to their target audience. This is often justified through the promise of 'guaranteed' results.

Perception

Purpose

Necromancers are highly-regarded, especially in cultures with a strong emphasis on ancestral worship, and carry significant social representaion. Lawmakers in ancestral cultures consult the head/s of the necromantic guild to receive the blessing of the ancestors on new legislation. This is not a 'rubber stamp' exercise - ancestral blessing can and has been withheld and legislation rewritten until all parties are satisfied.
For the general public, the services of necromancers are sought for overcoming bereavement, legal disputes, academic work, and religious purposes (eg: blessing a new houme, celebrating births and family events, and at funerals).

Social Status

Ancestral worship has been a staple part of Ew*an culture and clergy were the primary agents of this function. Although the recent prohibition on necromancy has been unpopular, open practice has all but died out and few people would admit to hiring, much less being, a necromancer.

Operations

Provided Services

Necromancers provided a range of services:

• Religous professionals used necromancy as part of ancestral worship
• Trauma and grief counselling using necromantic techniques to facilitate therapy
• Academic reserach and general wisdom-seeking

Type

Religious

Demand

Widely sought-after, currently prohibited

Legality

Prohibited across Ewaes and Ewura

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