Can Necromancy deal with the souls of demons?

[psychotick]

Hi,

I'd have to stand with Anders et al. To actually remove your own soul sounds suspiciously like comitting suicide. So if you did it and let a demon soul take over what would you care - you'd still be dead.

The normal deal with selling your soul to the devil is that you still have it while you live, but then when you die, it and you go to hell for eternity. Short term gains so to speak, for eternal torment.

As for what to call someone who could do this, it's your book, so use whatever term you want. My thought would be to make up a completely new term because what you describe doesn't sound like a lot of other magics I've heard of. Necromancy is usually associated with death but your guys still alive as is the demon. Demonology would surely only apply to when he was dealing with demons, and presumably he could do the same thing with other non demonic souls. So maybe something along the lines of a soul snatcher.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[wordwalker]

I agree with most respondants here, you can choose or create any words you want, and the biggest factors may be how much which names have been used and if you want to follow or stand out from that flow.

But, one point:

It should be noted that the demons in my tale are not conjured beasts, but the souls of the wicked in Hell. Most suffer for eternity for their misdeeds, but those who sold themselves to the King of Hell become his servants and, in time, demons. The older the soul, the more powerful the demon.

Then if your world's demons are corrupted human souls, then --if you have "necromancy" as most people think of it, control of the dead-- then summoning these demons sounds like it's an extension of summoning other dead souls.

(You then have to define "removing his own soul" in some way lets him keep both his life and his mind-- maybe "soul" is the core life-force but his mind stays behind to wrestle with the demon, or maybe he only moves it as far as an amulet so his soul still tries to keep control but technically there's a nice empty host for the demon.)

 

[Darkphoenix747]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I really appreciate it. I've been playing around with a few ideas, but school has effectively sabotaged my time to the point where I can't do do the full re-write that I have planned. You have all given me quite a few things to think about. Again, you have my thanks!

 

[Geldor]

Is your world a truly fantasy world? If so you can name it whatever you like but if you don't want to do that as it is difficult to come up with a name for a category of sorcery (I found this out the hard way) then stick to necromancer or sorcerer.

 

[Addison]

In my opinion Necromancy is a magical practice dealing with the raising and manipulation of the dead and the creatures who are connected to the underworld. This includes vampires, demons, werewolves, ghosts, phantoms (a difference in my book) poltergeists, gremlins etc.

 

[S.T. Ockenner]

In worlds that I made, Necromancers only deal with the souls of the dead. Demons, being immortal nether-spirits, aren't particularly known for dying.

 

[Jackarandajam]

The antagonist in my story removed his soul from his body in order to replace it with that of a demon. By doing so, he gained the demon's power for his own. The downside to bearing the soul of a demon in his body is he must constantly maintain control. Failure to do so would result in the demon taking command of the host (his physical body) to use for its own purposes. My question is this: what kind of an art uses such tactics as this? My first thought was necromancy. As an avid gamer I see such characters depicted as anyone who deals with the dead; be they demons, devils, the damned, or otherwise. Research has lead me to learn that Necromancy was a form of divination and that modern media is to blame for naming all who deal with the dead as necromancers. Does my antagonist fit into this new stereotypical role or should I rename his art? I feel "sorcerer" and "wizard" wouldn't be the correct term for the antagonist. What are your ideas on this?

It should be noted that the demons in my tale are not conjured beasts, but the souls of the wicked in Hell. Most suffer for eternity for their misdeeds, but those who sold themselves to the King of Hell become his servants and, in time, demons. The older the soul, the more powerful the demon.

Tiny question of semantics: the title says "...Souls of Demons" and then you say "Demons are souls..." I may have missed the explanation, but this sounds like a bit of a contradiction.

 

[Nighty_Knight]

Demonology is generally defined as "the study of demons or beliefs about demons." In other words, it's a theoretical field that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with conjuring infernal forces.

Though, I guess if you're the type of person who'd attempt to summon a demon, you'll probably have studied a bit of demonology.

A Necromancer who deeply studied demonology for the purpose of doing what he does. Could also have some Exorcism practice in there too.

Speaking of Necro, who was the Necromancer who brought this thread back from the dead?

 

[S.T. Ockenner]

A Necromancer who deeply studied demonology for the purpose of doing what he does. Could also have some Exorcism practice in there too.

Speaking of Necro, who was the Necromancer who brought this thread back from the dead?

Me.