"So, you're telling me that I am in charge of Equestria?!" Shining exclaimed, the alicorn having visited Kel'Thuzad after his... session with Cadence. The lich nods, still a bit shell-shocked from entering during his masters' intimate moment. Shining had assured him that no harm was done, but Kel'Thuzad was... hesitant to comment on it.
"Yes, my king. By Equestrian law, you are the ruler of Equestrian Empire for the time being." Kel'Thuzad proclaimed. "By law, a prince or princess must take over the throne in cases such as this. However... seeing as you are both the Supreme Commander of the Royal Guard, AND an ALICORN prince... you are directly in charge." Kel'Thuzad's skull turned to a grin at this point.
Hopefully he seizes this opportunity fate has given him...
"I... I... wait. Equestria is an imperial state?" Shining asked, never having heard his homeland be called such an archaic term. The lich nodded and explained, a glass of lager appearing before Shining's form, the bubbles still leaping from it.
"It wasn't one until about three years ago, my king. You of all people... ponies... should know that..." Kel'Thuzad cursed himself, the subtle changes in speech between Equestrian and Common still annoying him at times. Shining took a rather large swig of the throat-burning alcohol, and coughed lightly. As he thought, his archmage waited patiently, thinking as well.
Suddenly, it dawned on the stallion.
"The Crystal Empire." Shining said slowly. Kel'Thuzad looked to his master, and nodded.
"More like the Crystal Colony, in actuality." Shining stuttered at this comment, about to retort.
But he stopped himself short, realizing the truth. They WERE a colony. A free, happy colony, yes.
But a colony. Of Equestria.
"So... what now?" Shining said, nodding once more in understanding of his predicament. Kel'Thuzad looked to his king, somewhat caught off-guard by the question.
"My king... I cannot tell you how to run an empire. But I can offer some advice..." Kel'Thuzad spoke, his hand waving once to summon a sizeable quill and parchment. If his king wanted decrees written immediately, of course.
"I... what would you do?" Shining turned to his friend, fear and anxiety evident in his voice.
The boy is scared...
"Master..."
"Shining. Please call me Shining. And don't make me order that." the stallion smirked at the last bit. The lich looked to the stallion with wide eyes, before coughing once to clear his throat.
"Very well... Shining. If I were you, I would start by rewriting a few things in Equestria's laws." the lich stated. Shining nodded lightly, taking another warming sip of chilled lager.
"Like what?"
"For starters, outlaw necromantic study and practice by the public." Shining was about to argue his point, seeing as the lich had already started his lessons with Twilight, but he stopped himself. After seeing what a skilled necromancer can do at Canterlot field...
Perhaps that knowledge is best left to those who know how to use it responsibly and properly...
"Done. What else?" Shining asked, making up his mind at last. Kel'Thuzad nodded, waving his claw once, setting the quill in motion on it's own.
"Secondly, I would attempt to at least partially solidify your and Cadence's claims as prince and princess. Take irreversible control of an aspect of the empire. Celestia and Luna may mean well, but they have a bit of a... superiority complex. They will most likely attempt to reverse your changes, or bully you into agreeing with them." Kel'Thuzad spoke, his voice without regard for the princesses' input, thinking specifically for the time being.
.........
Like it or not, Kel'Thuzad was right. While they may give off the gentle and kind ruler vibes, Celestia and Luna were old. VERY OLD. A few hundred years Kel'Thuzad's senior, easy. They had a lot more experience running a country, and most likely did not trust him and Cadence fully...
.........
"Very well." Shining finally said. "I will assume supreme command of the Equestrian Military, even if it is currently only consistent of a few hundred stallions. I will speak with Cadence tomorrow morning, and arrange for her to become the head of a part of the empire."
"Very good, sir." Kel'Thuzad waved again, the quill scribbling down his thoughts magically.
"Also, I want to make the Crystal Empire the second capitol of Equestria."
.........
Ambitious... I like it.
The lich grinned lightly, the quill writing down several more jots of ink before bursting into arcane flames, leaving the finished parchment floating before him.
Henceforth, Crown Prince Shining Armor will assume full control over the Equestrian Empire until Princess Luna and Celestia's extensive wounds are healed, and their spirits rejuvenated to the point at which they may retake their thrones.
As a first decree, Prince Shining Armor has stated that the public use and study of the magical conjuration school of necromancy be outlawed utterly and completely, the only exceptions being observed or approved by Prince Shining Armor himself.
As a second decree, Prince Shining Armor will assume full command of the Equestrian Armed Forces, both at home and abroad. This decree will be irreversible by any future decree, and will be held even after Princess Luna and Celestia's return to power. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza will assume a title and role as well, when she and her spouse have chosen one.
As a third and final immediate decree, the Crystal Empire shall hereby be considered a second Capitol of the Empire of Equestria. Prince Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza will be considered the co-rulers of Equestria once the Celestial Sister's retake their thrones.
Regards, Royal Archmage and Vizier of the Crystal Court,
Kel'Thuzad
Now THAT is what i call a power play.
I have the feeling that sunbutt and moony are going to have one hell of a wake up briefing.
Hasn't it been established that it already is and that Celestia personally executed known necromancers without even so much as a trial? Besides, given Kelly's eagerness to teach Twilight and everyone else, this seems to be counterproductive. Regulated and government-controlled I can see, but outlawed? That's like, I don't know, outlawing virology because you can make biological weapons with it. It also lets us make vaccines, though, and that's exactly why we don't do that kind of blanket ban thing.
...which probably makes it an actually even more fitting analogy than I thought, considering what the Scourge did with it.
6767529 It was never formally banned, but the implications for studying and practicing necromancy is what caused both Celestia's anxiousness and aggressions.
Also, read the decree. Shining can authorize necromantic training.
6767605
I did, but my point is that as it stands, necromancy as a field is kind of dead (appropriately enough.) He can personally exempt someone from the laws, but without there being a real, open research community around it, the entire college is basically reduced to this special training that only his elite cabal of chosen ones have access to. There can't be schools, no publications, all that stuff. Chances of it ever evolving and/or meaningfully helping large numbers of people in practical ways is all but nil.
Sorry, probably not important to the story, it just sticks out to me because I'm a scientist by vocation and know what that can do to a field of inquiry. It doesn't seem like a good decision to make and a really stupid and out-of-character one coming from an obsessed magician who chose to cross all ethical lines in the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake.
6767639 That person also paid the ultimate price for his knowledge.
6767667
And then gave the characters a big speech about how necromancy is basically just misapplied medical magic and widely misunderstood out of ignorance. It's kind of not really consistent with what he does in this chapter. I'd have expected him to, I don't know, found a college of well-regulated and limited white necromancy or something like that, but not be in favour of banning it.
6767667 yeah have to agree with Wlam on the law. its Kinda coming from left field like polticians due saying one thing and doing another. i would have thought he would have went for State sanctioned and monitored Necromancers like how mental magic is handle in some stories. If you have your license in Medical Necromancy you'd better not be found raising undead minions or your striped of your magic or put on probation or somthin that is unless your approved to be doing that type of necromancy then well good for you. its just seem disjointed.
6767809
6767675
His advisement is explained later.
6767675 did you know that Necromancy literally means dead magic.
and dead as in rotting corpses kind of dead, not forgotten/passing away kind of dead.
you cannot misuse Medical Magic for Dead Magic, only dead magic can be misused to make Medical Magic
6767928 Actually you got the last part wrong, Mancy, in any combination means "master of" or "to control" or something along those lines
so Necromancy means "to control the dead" or "master of the dead" or "controller of death/dead things"
think pyromancy, pyro=fire mancy=controller of, so pyromancer=controller of fire.
I say this because what you said just seemed... wrong, for some reason.
also biomancy, the control of life, or medical magic, actually does intersect with necromancy quite a bit, such as the health and strength of the body, they just work from different ends of the spectrum.
6768547 Idk, now I know why something isn't called thaumancy.
Thanks for the tip, and dat dark souls reference :D
It isn't really "Master of the dead" or "To Control the dead", as both implies that you are Death/Mort/The 4th Horseman of the Apocalypse/I don't know what more nicknames that Death has/etc.
maybe it's "To control Necrotic Powers", as necrotic means death, dead and rotten.
so maybe "-mancy" means to control ___________ related power/powers
6768550 just looked it up,
mancy- in latin manci means (in this context)
formal purchase
possession
slaves
and necro just means, Death or necrosis, necrosis=rot
so necromancer means "to own/enslave the dead"
and despite all of this my point still stands.
also what dark souls reference? I've never actually played that game.
6768560 Pyromancy is actually one of the (three) main branches of magic in Dark souls.
Anyway, "To Enslave the Dead" seems legit.
GLORY TO THE EMPIRE!!!!!
6768547
This is incorrect. The word necromancy comes from the words nekros- (meaning "the dead" or "corpse") and "-manteia" (meaning "prophecy.") Necromancy is a magic that allows you to tell the future by summoning the souls of the dead. It's not Latin, it's Greek.
Which is exactly how no one uses it in fiction. Therefore, necromancy is whatever an author bloody well says it is.
6767809
Pretty much this.
Oh, this is going to go over amazingly.
6769311 6767928
necromancy, just like everything else, as it goes through different cultures it changes by them redefining it. So necromancy actually has a lot of different meanings now, from raising the dead to reviving people
Also people do use necromancy for the purpose of getting a prophecy but again necromancy does not have one definition. And honestly which is more interesting, raising legions of dead to do your bidding or communing with spirits of the long dead.
6777193
It has had that meaning since the early 1940s or so when Sword & Sorcery pulp novels started using it as the go-to term for death magic in general and not a moment earlier. It literally never meant raising corpses before that. It was, at best, an academic term that only scholars familiar with Greek and Latin even knew about.
It means in in-story terms whatever the author says it does, but that doesn't mean the history of it changes retroactively.
6777206 I'm saying this once and once only I am not a researcher into this stuff. I am more focused in technological aspects of society. But again things get reinvented as it goes through cultures considering that necromancy was originally Greek and Latin we've changed its meaning and thus it had gone through a culture change. You can dispute this with me all you want but this is how I see it.
Again I do not study this so I may be co.pletely wrong but this is my opinion.
6777264
You shouldn't make statements about the history of something you didn't even read up on, then. I did say it's up to the author, but that doesn't change what the term meant for the 2000+ years before it became a pop-culture artifact.
6777286 I said I don't research it not that I don't read it. Two complete differences. I'm basically forming an opinion from media that I have seen. Just doesn't mean that I go out of my way to learn everything about it.
6777291
I heard you the first time.
6777314 honestly I'm just going to say this. Your right, I'm right. Nobodies right.
End discussion since frankly I'm tired and I don't have the energy to continue this conversation.
6777337
6777314
For god's sake! I look away for five minutes and my comments section becomes a war zone! Necromancy is a form of hybrid magic, utilizing several schools at once. Warcraft necromancy is a mix between blood magic, conjuration, and in some cases arcane or plague magics. Elder Scrolls necromancy, which is the format I have chosen for Equestria, is quite primitive in comparison, seeing as Equestrians generally don't like to see half-rotted or fully skeletal animated corpses walking around! It is an unnatural union between conjuration and restoration, but is considered part of the former.
There. Now please, no more fighting!
The author has spoken!
6777368
I was just talking about the history of the term. In-story it can work however it wants to, but I figure if you're going to tell someone about the real-life history of a myth, you might as well get it right, is all. Know what I mean?
6777368
Honestly fighting is a strong word...
And we had just finished it before you came along.
With an agreement to disagree at least... Hopefully.
6777379
I'd say so. Just a polite conversation.
6777368 And now on the subject of Blood Magic. It is actually used for boosting one's body strength/ Magical power/ Endurance and whatnot. It actually has little to no connection to necromancy as in some games/ movies/ books necromancy requires a lot of magical power. So they perform blood magic to boost their powers first, then on to necromancy.
On an interesting side note, the only form of necromancy that does not require power is using The Seven Bells Of Necromancy, as in Garth Nix's The Old Kingdom series
6777885
...
Ever played WOW?
Blood magic is one of the principal magics for necromantic constructs and revenants, used to simulate life.
There's a reason Blood Death Knights are called Blood Death Knights...
6778169 I never played WOW. But I have read a lot of books with Blood Magic (Fantasy books, obviously).
6778191 Ah. Well WOW's Blood Magic is very key to their take on necromancy. Then again, WOW necromancy is extremely complicated compared to most other fantasy games.
I love it. Onwards!
an