video✨

[megatheorem]

[The holographic charm "video" that pops on, should you choose to view it, is of a bespectacled scarecrow of a man some of you may have seen around the inn these past few weeks. He's the one who only seems to wear grey ponchos around and has touched everything in the common rooms of the inn that wouldn't hit him for it, while muttering to himself.

That weirdo.

So here he is, his holo-face briefly looking aside to say,] No, no, I've figured it out! Very clear-cut once you get the trick, absolutely.

[But he makes a brief face when he turns back to the charm, like maybe whichever local in the inn he spoke to about working the thing was very sweet and helpful but also kept trying to feed him... religious propaganda? He's not entirely sure. It's a very specific expression.

That's not the point though. Here's the point:]

Hi. I'm Palamedes— Sextus or the Sixth or don't strain yourself too hard, just Palamedes is fine— and I've a number of inquiries for the community at large.

First: Are any of you necromancers? And before someone decides to air their insensitivities out and take up a lot of time, no, not the sort of necromancy that does resurrections. That's ignorant of you to assume.

[That's out of the way.... ahem.]

Second: How many of you actually did the crime you've been accused of? You don't have to tell me what it is! Although, if you do, I'll- [don't say take it to the grave you necro dingus] -keep mum about it. Stolidly. I promise. If you'd prefer to keep it to a simple "yes" or "no," do know that I'm going to write it down for statistical purposes.

And Third!— What do you have with you from your home, and could I touch it? It's for proof of theory. I'll tell you the theory, if you like.

[He says this like he really wants someone to ask him about the theory-!!]

That's all; let me know. I'm at the inn.

Comments

(TXT);

[opheliac]

1. nope. srry pal sex
2. yep and more
3. my pistol, my machine gun, my rocket launcher, my bombs, 2 other things.

pistol: no touchy
pow-pow: no touchy
fishbones: he'd be into it.
chompers: SUPER into it. careful theyre ticklish and will explode w/ laughter.

still the video

[megatheorem]

Traditionally it's "Sex Pal," if you're going to insist on that kind of thing, but I like to keep it limited to close friends. Palamedes, again, is fine.

I'll mark you down for the "yes" column, regardless. What are "fishbones" and "chompers"? Pets?

[They're being described as Aware, so... animals??]

[opheliac]

but that name is WAY too long. u cant expect me to say it EVERY TIME.

fishbones = rocket launcher. chompers = bombs. those are their names, silly!

voice

[rebellions]

Go ahead and enlighten us, then. What are necromancers supposed to be if not the "raising-dead-from-the-grave" kind?

[ Aaand he's not gonna bother addressing the other two points at this time, simply because they aren't relevant to his interests. He's just mildly annoyed with the jab at the so-called "ignorance", okay. ]

it's still the video

[megatheorem]

[Palamedes raises a hand, still holding a pen, as if he will explain this in detail... and then just points at his own face in a kind of sloppy circular motion. Hi, this one? This is one.

But he'll still explain in detail, here goes.]

Well, me, fundamentally. Particularly if I'm the only one here, although I'm quite good, so you're welcome to take me as an exemplar of a sort. [A beat, please do actually, he's so talented,] I'm less of an osseo specialist than some of my colleagues, but on the Sixth we aim for a broader necromantic style.

[Another beat. He never knows when he should stop and give definitions of the terms, when it comes to non-Empire people. Enh.]

"Flesh magician" is a popular term, although it's fairly derivative and really easy to bend into an insult. Necromancy specialized to the flesh, that is, not osseo or spirit-based, generally has medical applications. For me. And I'm your sole representative, for now. I'll take questions.

[rebellions]

[ Welp, Ragna almost immediately regrets asking. All he wanted to know was "are there zombies or not," but now he's getting some long-winded lecture with some magical mumbo jumbo he has no hope of ever wrapping his head around. Once he gets a chance to respond, it's not just that he's not impressed, he also sounds kind of... bored. ]

You lost me at "fundamentally".

[ The Chosen are not sending their best today, okay. ]

So basically, you're just a magician doctor with extra steps.

[ That's about all he's got from all that explanation. ]

video

[beautifulleopard]

A necromancer on top of being a researcher? That is very impressive, Palamedes-san. [aka Victor Frankenstein.]

What is your hypothesis regarding personal items?

[megatheorem]

Oh! Hello, good to see you. [They live in the same building but never mind-- it's Theory Time. He fiddles with the charm for a moment so he can set it down on his table, just so he has both hands free to Gesture. In one hand he has a pen, which is going to be Gesturing even more.]

The theory— well, let's establish a baseline, first. My necromantic specialty is psychometry, which in short is working with lingering energy signatures to determine myriad things about a given object; age, recent handlings, and so on. Each living thing has its own energy signature- we call this type of energy "thanergy," specifically, counter to "thalergy," which isn't crucial to understanding right this second- and this thanergy exists around us and collects on objects.

It's the ghost-within-the-thing, essentially. I could touch a beam- [he points up, presumably at the rafters in the inn's dining room] -and give you the age of the building, and so on.

Now, the theory is that this entire city is lying to me on a fundamental level, because my psychometry is a garbled mess, but only on things from here. I've touched the beams; I have no idea how old this building is supposed to be. But my things all read as clearly as before. I'm wondering if that applies to other items brought in from elsewhere, too.

[isn't it!!! EXCITING!!!!!]

[beautifulleopard]

[Look, they might live in the same building but it's been a freaking circus lately. So no wonder if they haven't been running to each other.]

Hmm, I see. [Well, that's some ability alright. Impressive one, but also rather intrusive.] What about your own items?

video;

[mehanizovati]

Given our living arrangements I imagine it would be difficult to not touch my things on occasion. That is permission, by the way. Why are you touching things?

[he is on the move, a bit distracted apparently. maybe he should ask more important things, about magic and necromancy and crimes, etc, but instead he asks the truly important questions:]

I never see you eat. What do you like?

[he's trying to be a good inn roommate and find Meals, but pal is a mystery no one can hope to solve on this front.]

[megatheorem]

Oh, good, I was going to ask you later. As part of the process I'm going to have to touch you, too, for reference. And that's the broader purpose: reference! I can explain it all to you later in more detail; you look busy?

[But oh, food, hmm! He's definitely been nibbling to survive, so give him a second. His attempt at being a good roommate is to actually think of a serious answer-]

I've never been known to have a massive appetite, but... something crunchy? What do you recommend?

[He'll make up a spreadsheet to track eating real food that isn't weird Sixth garbage, help him with foods.]

[morsangel]

—Palamedes, a pleasure. I'm Yosano.

[ Yosano's soft voice chimes in through the charm. She usually ignores such requests on their network, but this particular video had her intrigued. ]

What would you define as necromancy? We don't have such a thing from where I come from. But I am a Doctor and deal with dead and almost-dead patients quite often.

[ She pauses then. Because her crime is a tad subjective in nature? However, the actual acts are not. ]

And, yes. You could say the crimes are correct. Are your crimes accurate?

[ Yosano was intrigued. She hadn't thought that perhaps some crimes were false or misinterpreted. A detail she had missed upon seeing how true hers was. ]

1/2

[megatheorem]

The pleasure's mine, Yosano. It's good to meet another of the medically inclined.

[Because Palamedes is not, technically, a doctor? He isn't even a field medic; but he's done more for medical science than most doctors will in their standard practice, so "medically inclined" will have to do in a pinch.

He considers, then, tapping the end of his pen against his chin. Hmm!]

Are you familiar with the concept of a "life force"? Where I'm from, this is more or less a real concept, a pair of energies: thanergy, for death, and thalergy, for life. Simplified, of course, but it gets you there. With that in mind, necromancy is a magic that uses thanergy as a medium. A trained necromancer can do a great many things to a body, more if there's been a thanergy spike in the area recently.

[And by thanergy spike he means death, to wit:] They put a lot of us in the army. Not me; I'm not built for that kind of thing. Do you want the beginner's guide to basic necromantic schools? We've got bone, spirit, and flesh magics.

2/2

[megatheorem]

[--And as a genuine second message, an afterthought because he is such a goddamn nerd he forgot the crime part while talking about magic, ah-]

—Oh, and yes, they're accurate. But I wouldn't call them morally wrong.

[morsangel]

I can't say I am familiar, no... So you deal with this, as you call it, thanergy?

[ Now that was quite an ability to have. And Yosano wondered what constituted as death. Because she'd seen many lives slip through her fingers long before their physical bodies died. ]

I'm interested to know in what you specialised in. If you don't mind sharing?

text

[threadhop]

1. im not qualified to answer this question
3. no

[ . . . ]

2. i don’t know. press private for more details.

video eternal

[megatheorem]

Alright, let me tackle these out of order— [why do this to him, not orderly at all-]

One, I'm sure you would know if you're a necromancer, so I'm going to assume that's a "no." Three, alright, perfectly fair. Two, I'm talking to a necklace, so you'll have to be more specific about the "pressing private" concept.

[This is a talking piece of jewelry? He's never had a cell phone, "private" is writing a letter and hoping your political position discourages anyone else from reading it for archival purposes.]

voice

[ticket218]

Before I answer your other questions, may I ask you to elaborate on the specifics of "necromancer?" Purely for my own curiosity, as I'm sure you could guess I'm not one myself.

[megatheorem]

Sure.

[He fiddles with his pen, thinking about how he should maybe just write this down and hand it out to people up front, but that's for later--]

All life in the known universe creates an energy we call "thalergy"; therefore the opposite is true, and all forms of death—as small as cell death—produce its natural opposite, which we call "thanergy." As a necromancer, I was born with the ability to interact with these energies to various effects, assuming there exists enough thanergy in a space to be effectively manipulated. You can liken it to other magic, although I've never seen other magic outside of fiction, and I imagine the source would be something else.

Regardless: from the broader "necromancy," we have three great schools: bone, spirit, and flesh. Each has its own unique applications, like... [taptaptaps his pen,] A bone adept's ability to program a skeletal construct to perform a simple task. It's the same as building a machine, for the record; there's no soul in it. That's something else entirely.

As for me, I've studied a bit of everything, but I've the most competency in matters of the flesh.

Voice

[parasaito]

If you're interested in touching a dead body for proof of theory, I can find you one.

[The way the offer is spoken rather flatly implies there's no innuendo intended at all. The sarcasm is definitely there, too.

What isn't there is the context, though.]

infinite video

[megatheorem]

[Oh... edgy. He shakes his head.]

No, that's not the theory I'm interested in. Don't kill anyone or rob any graves on my behalf, thanks.

[video] S.Imeris

[thornygunner]

[Well, she doesn't know who this is, but she doesn't see anything wrong with trying to get more information. Answering a few questions is a small price to pay for gathering info of her own.]

I don't know anything about necromancy. There are items and Astral Artes that let us bring back the recent dead.

As for what I've been accused of, I suppose that depends on what side of the issue you're on.

I want to know what your theory is before we go forward.

[No, sorry, she didn't introduce herself at all.]

[megatheorem]

You have—resurrection items? How?

[Sorry, he's immediately distracted by this concept. How? Are they here? Can he touch them--]

voice

[likethestars]

One, what does a necromancer do aside from resurrect the dead for their twisted needs? [ No judgement in her tone despite the words, just curiosity. ]

Two, yes, I suppose so. [ There is no remorse for her supposed crime. Not when she did what she needed to ensure her own survival. ]

Three, I have quite a few items from home. Why the need to touch?

[megatheorem]

Whatever I feel like, most of the time.

[That's clipped, but he can't help it; even if she asks it without overt malice, "twisted needs" is bias enough.

So he'll skip to three, then:]

I've a theory about the nature of this place, specifically, its willingness to be genuine, and I need items native to somewhere else to confirm that much.