My Nephilim Occult RPing Blog

In (my)  Nephilim cosmology, there are a few different types of spirits contrasting the Immortals and their Paredri. The three broad categories are: Summoned Beings are spirits called by Summoning from the astral plane and other planes within the magic fields that seem linked to the collective unconscious. Unlike Elemental Beasts, and like humans, they operate on seeming intelligence rather than instinct. They assume countless forms, including those resembling animals. Summoners argue over whether summoned beings naturally live on some other plane, are conjured into existence by the summoner's will and imagination from the personal or collective unconscious, or if there's even a difference. Elemental Beasts  are to the Immortals what mortal animals are to mortal humans. As with mortal animals, Elemental Beasts operate on instinct rather than humanlike intelligence. They typically have a single Ka-element, sometimes two, but rarely more. All Beasts have a defining Personality ...

In the French rules, it’s noted that Selenim cannot Assuage the residual Solar-Ka of ghosts. Neither can any black summons: at most, some can disperse it. Why is this? The French rules don’t give any fluff explanation, but I have one of my own. The Rosicrucians, based on the writings of Paracelsus and Freud, divided the human being into three parts. These are the body, the anima and the logos . The logos is the soul, which vanishes into the afterlife upon death. The anima remains within the corpse as it decays, retaining an impression of memories and personality. The Necromancer speak with and manipulate the anima . While composed of Solar-Ka that is mutually drawn to the Black Moon, it lacks some essential quality allowing Selenim to refract it into Black Moon-Ka. Selenim can only sublimate the Solar-Ka of the logos . Some believe that ghosts aren’t the souls of the dead but just echoes thereof. They’re not people , according to this line of logic. All but the most selfish and mali...

In preparation for my own adaptation of Necromancy, I’m presenting an overview of the Necromancy rules from the third edition of the French version for comparison. I picked the third edition for the first entry in this series because it was designed specifically for use by players and in mixed parties, whereas the prior editions were vague and wishy-washy and couldn't decide whether they were playable or NPC-only. Thus, it provides the strongest foundation. Below I list and briefly describe the effects for the spells or “rites” of the three Circles. These make reference to the French cosmology, which differs from the US version by a lot. The US version was based on the first edition French rulebook, before the French publisher had really defined the cosmology or revised the rules in subsequent editions. So the US version went in its own direction. The rules for ghosts haven't significantly changed from prior editions, so the previews of the afterlife metaphysics in Serpent Moon...