Editing v0.34:Necromancer

{{av}}
{{quality|Masterwork|01:18, 11 June 2012 (UTC)}}
'''Necromancers''' {{Tile|Ñ|5:1}} are immortal beings blessed with the [[secret]]s of life and death. These [[night creature]]s are [[magic]] users who raise legions of [[undead]] and seclude themselves in [[tower]]s during [[world generation]].

==The Origin of Necromancers==

Necromancers initially begin as normal historical figures who are [[creature token|mortal, can speak and can learn]] and are also part of an [[civilization|entity]]. In unmodded games these are [[dwarf|dwarves]], [[human]]s, [[olm man|olm men]], [[serpent man|serpent men]], [[ant man|ant men]], [[rodent man|rodent men]], [[reptile man|reptile men]], [[bat man|bat men]], [[cave fish man|cave fish men]] and [[cave swallow man|cave swallow men]]. At one point in its life, one of these creatures may suddenly become "obsessed with his/her/its own mortality" and [[goal|seek]] to become immortal. Shortly afterwards, it will begin (if it does not do so already) worshiping a [[deity]] (or a creature with the [SUPERNATURAL] tag) who has a DEATH [[sphere]]. Once the deity/supernatural creature becomes an object of ardent worship to the figure, it will award the worshiper with an artifact [[slab]] containing the secrets of life and death. The worshiper will then claim the slab and learn its secrets, thus becoming a necromancer. This original necromancer may then take up an apprentice (another creature seeking immortality), who will obtain the knowledge of its master. Once the apprentice becomes a necromancer, it too can take on an apprentice. However, only a single apprentice can be taken on by each necromancer. This chain will continue throughout the world's history, leading to a branch of necromancy originating from that particular slab.

==Description==

Having mastered the secrets of life and death, necromancers have reached their goal of immortality in that they do not [[age]]. They also don't need to [[food|eat]] or [[thirst|drink]], and they do not require [[sleep]] as they [[No Exert|never get tired or exhausted]]. They have the [[interaction token|power]] to animate [[corpse]]s of organic creatures, as well as any body parts which have a [GRASP] token or are attached to body parts which do. Corpses must be within the necromancer's line of sight-about 15 tiles-to be animated. Necromancers do this by gesturing; raising of the dead is reported in the [[reports|combat log]]:

{{gametext|[Necromancer] gestures!|3:1}}
{{gametext|[Corpse] shudders and begins to move!|3:1}}

Once a dead being is animated, it will become [[Adventure mode#Companions|enslaved]] to the necromancer, regardless of previous allegiances. 

During world generation, necromancers who have a sufficient following may use their undead minions to build dark [[tower]]s, a task that requires at least 50 followers; younger necromancers may take over [[town]]s or camps instead. The building of a tower is carried out by the original necromancer of a group (the one who was gifted the slab) as apprentices join the group after the tower is built. Therefore each necromancy group has one tower.

Since the secrets of life and death are generated with a [MUNDANE_RECORDING_POSSIBLE] tag, necromancers will often write numerous [[book]]s during world generation. Some of these books concern the secrets of life and death, so that anyone who reads them will. Like the slab, all books, even those that do not contain secrets, are considered [[artifact]]s and as such can be viewed in the artifacts list in [[legends|legends mode]]. Books containing the secrets of life and death will include any of the following words in their title: Annihilation, Bereavement, Death, Demise, Departure, Doom, Dying, Eternal Rest, Expiration, Extinction, Mortality, Immortality, Loss, Oblivion, Parting, Ruin, Ruination, Sleep, the Afterlife, the End, the Grave.

Alone, necromancers do not pose much of a threat, but their undead servitors are hostile to all life and will be reanimated each time they are struck down until the necromancer itself is dealt with. Because of this, direct [[combat]] against undead whilst they are in view of a necromancer is generally ineffective.

It is possible to ensure that a world is generated devoid of necromancers by setting the '''Number of Secret Types''' to '''0''' in [[advanced world generation]]. To the contrary, creating a world with a high number of secret types will increase the probability of there being multiple necromancers in the world. Since necromancers in unmodded games are usually humans or dwarves, having a a large amount of neutral plains and/or mountains will further increase this probability, as it means that these civilizations will have more space to expand, and thus the amount of historical figures eligible for necromancy will increase.

==Fortress mode== 
===Sieges===
''The dead walk. Hide while you still can!''
{{main|Siege#Necromancer sieges}}
Necromancers can lay [[siege]] to your fortress at any stage, including before the first [[immigration|migrant wave]]. They can do so if their tower or town is within 20 tiles of your fortress; as such, picking a location within such a distance of a tower is regarded as a sure way to have an extra helping of [[fun]], and can be checked with {{k|tab}} during world gen. The sieges are structured much like normal sieges, except that the numbers tend to be much larger and much more disorganized, consisting not of individual squads but of masses of zombies coming from every side. The necromancer (or necromancers, if he has an apprentice) himself may or may not arrive with their siege; if they do, and are captured or killed, you can expect to see no more activity from that particular tower. Undead are hostile to everything that breathes as well as to enemy necromancer hordes, meaning that other sieges or [[ambush]]es (or, indeed, caravans) that happen to arrive when a necromancer siege is milling about will always result in a battle.

The easiest way to deal with a zombie siege is through the application of [[dwarven atom smasher|particle physics]] to grind them into nothingness. Anything that obliterates any trace of the zombie will prevent raising; a drop into [[magma]] or [[semi-molten rock]] or encasing in [[obsidian]] are more creative alternatives. The jury is still out on whether slashing weapons are better or worse against necromancer sieges; although they tend to separate zombies into many parts, these parts can all be raised, leaving the question of whether the whole zombie or an arm here and a leg there are more dangerous. The undead that they will bring will be sapient creatures, but if you killed some [[elephant]]s in a combat exercise and and they happen upon them, the danger is magnified.

If you have a [[vampire]] and haven't walled him in yet, you can draft him and take a leisurely walk through town, as undead will ignore him (unless attacked), and the necromancer is easy, valid game for a clobbering, if you can find him.

===Ambushes===
Necromancers can arrive under cover, alone, in [[ambush]]es, and raise the dead without being seen. This is much more difficult, as you cannot see the necromancers in question, only their products. Potential necromancer ambushes can be dealt with by internalizing all corpse/remains stockpiles behind heavily trafficked areas, and posting sentries if possible.

===Applications===
Necromancers can be made useful by applying them in [[training]] schemes. Necromancers trapped in a room with line of sight to, say, the contents of corpse stockpile can be used to generate an infinite amount of hostile creatures to fight; when you get tired of the sport (or your dwarves start getting beat up), simply block their line of sight with a bridge and put down the remaining enemies, and your military can walk out of training with more experience.

Capturing necromancers is simple: build a tunnel near them, link floodgates or bridges within so that it can be sealed off, and then poke a hole into the surface. Assuming the necromancer was the nearest creature to where you opened the tunnel, he'll be the first one in, and you can then seal off the tunnel and trap him inside. It's difficult to get them in there alone, without a few zombies following them, but it shouldn't matter. [[Cage trap]]s will work too; In v0.34, caged necromancers do not appear to revive stuff.  You must put them on a restraint instead if you want them to be able to.

They can also be weaponized. Replace the militia training room with a room full of goblins, and fun will result. Upright spike [[trap]]s can "kill" the corpses after each use so that the resulting [[goblinite]] can be gathered and the trap reused. Given enough time and enough bodies, such a trap can even best the [[HFS|circus]]. 

Much like [[vampire]]s, necromancers may seize control of a [[civilization]] and become its [[monarch|king/queen]]. In that case, the dwarf in question must be isolated from any corpses, as they may be friendly, but the zombies they tend to create will be of the dwarven-arm-ripping variety. They should be either isolated from the dead with a [[burrow]], or applied to training/killing. Either way, they are very [[fun]].

Necromancers may occasionally arrive with their slab in hand. These cannot be used to make your dwarves into necromancers, as creative water management can do for vampires, but it is nonetheless a good idea to stick it in a bin someplace safe, for use by a future adventurer once the fortress falls.

==Adventurer Mode==
In [[adventurer mode]], necromancers are most commonly found in [[tower]]s {{Tile|I|5:0}}, but can very rarely be found in towns and camps, for reasons explained earlier in this article. Towers will contain all the necromancers that are part of the necromancer group to whom the tower belongs, as well as a horde of undead. 

It is possible to become a necromancer yourself in adventurer mode by [[reader|reading]] the slab or one of the books containing the secrets of life and death. Both will be found on the tables scattered around the tower, often amongst a pile of other, less useful books. 

So, becoming an immortal being who doesn't need to worry about petty things like eating, drinking and sleeping and can also raise and control an undead army merely requires you to read some slab or book. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Unfortunately, it isn't. The tower is stuffed with undead monstrosities who would probably like nothing better than to tear your poor adventurer to shreds. If that isn't bad enough, the necromancers to whom the slab and books belong will raise their 
servants each time you strike them down, if they can see the corpses.

So, what can we do to get at those secrets? Well, there are 3 main methods:

* '''1. Storm the tower'''
This is probably the most obvious solution, and is also the most likely to get inexperienced adventurers killed. Once you have become powerful enough, attack the tower head-on, preferably bringing with you an army of <s>meatshields</s> soldiers (who will likely get themselves killed, but will provide a distraction for you). It is advisable for you to lure the undead out of the tower first, away from the necromancers' gaze. This will make dealing with them far easier, and will give you a lot more space to dodge (or run if things get bad). If a necromancer is in the midst of the horde, try to move around so that the necromancer is exposed, then go in for the kill. Proceed until everyone (excluding yourself) is dead. Alternatively, just run into the tower and begin hitting everything like a madman. Eventually, either you or all of the tower's occupants will be dead. Then just take the slab/a book and do what you will with it. 

* '''2. Sneaking'''
Since [[ambusher|sneaking]] in the current version basically makes you invisible, sneaking into the tower with a high enough skill and [[thrower|throwing]] stuff will allow you to kill everyone with minimal damage done to yourself. There is, however, the risk of being spotted, in which case you are advised to run away as quickly as you can. Alternatively, you could try to sneak around the tower and steal the slab/a book without killing anything, but, because of the high density of enemies in a tower, it is extremely likely that you will be spotted, swarmed and killed.

* '''3. Being a Night Creature'''
Visiting the tower as a [[night creature]] such as a [[vampire]], [[werebeast]] or [[undead|husk/thrall]] is by far the easiest way to obtain the slab/a book. Seriously. The undead are [OPPOSED_TO_LIFE], but these night creatures are [NOT_LIVING], so they will ignore you completely. As obvious as it may be, undead will not attack necromancers, so making a mad dash for the slab/book is also a viable option, but you will risk being killed/severely wounded before you get the chance to become a necromancer. If you are already a night creature, you can just skip gleefully past the undead, read the slab/book and get out. You may also want to have a chat with the necromancers, who are actually quite friendly once you get to know them. In fact, night creatures who are shunned by society will still be accepted by necromancers, who you can even ask for [[Adventure mode#Quests|quests]]! That is, of course, unless you are an enemy of their group, in which case they will attempt to kill you. 

Another strategy, which may not always be available but can work well, is recruiting a vampire. Undead creatures and vampires won't bother each other, but the vampire will attack any hostile necromancers present, making it very safe for you, provided that the undead don't see you.

===Playing as a necromancer===

As a necromancer, you:

*don't need to eat or drink, so you don't need to worry about running out of food/water and can get rid of the extra weight such objects produce.
*don't need to sleep, and you can't get tired or exhausted during, so you'll never again feel the negative effects of these statuses.
*are immortal, as necromancers do not age. This will ensure that your adventurer will not die of old age if your world goes on until its natural [MAXAGE] is reached (such as if you retire an adventurer and play fortress mode for a while).
*can reanimate corpses to create undead companions. This can be done as many times as you want, with a small [[time]] limit between each reanimation, and only requires a corpse/body part.

Becoming a necromancer also freezes your [[attribute]]s so that they cannot rust or be increased. Therefore, it might be wise to raise your attributes to a high level before becoming a necromancer. (However, this does not seem to happening in the current version, probably due to a bug).

==== Reanimating dead creatures ====
1.Open the actions menu by pressing {{k|x}}.<br />
2.Press {{k|p}} or scroll to "Acquired Powers".<br />
3.Select ({{k|→}} {{k|Enter}}) "Animate corpse".<br />
4.Now move the cursor onto the corpse(s) you wish to animate, press the letter that they are represented by on the items screen (such as {{k|a}}) and press {{k|Enter}}. Note that you can animate more than one corpse at a time, and that you can also animate corpses that are in your inventory.

Besides acting as reusable and easily replenishable soldiers, undead hold potential usage as training dummies for weapons and wrestling. However, note that if you attack one of your own undead slaves, ''all'' of your reanimated companions will become neutral and will no longer follow you. This can be useful if you want to interact with civilized society - while a necromancer can still be friendly to mortals, its minions will attack everything in sight. This attack will cause the civilization to label you as an enemy for your undead minions' actions.

{{category|humanoids}}

[[ru:Necromacer]]