A few weeks ago, the First Necromancer, Rasial, challenged those of us within the mortal realm, to give him a reason as to why we should become his new apprentice. After thinking about it long and hard, I came up with this.

"The dead hold many secrets - not just of knowledge in life they haven't passed down, but of what lies beyond the veil, what awaits the spirit and whether the Gods, in their absence, can still offer something real to the mortals who serve them. The power of Necromancy is a key to a great many concealed truths, and a skilled necromancer can reveal them all. It surpasses blood pacts, bypasses covenants, and eschews secrecy. There is an art to necromancy, and what you need is an apprentice who appreciates that. The testimony of the dead holds tremendous power, one that no kingdom, religious order, and creed can match, and that is what necromancy is about, to conquer the great equaliser and be able to master both the dead AND the living.

I understand this. I understand that the power of a necromancer is more than just resurrecting the dead, it's a passage to an enrichment beyond currency and knowledge, but also perspective. Necromancy is the key to understanding, to hidden potential, unseen realities, and many great metaphysical rewards. This is why I should be an apprentice, as someone who doesn't hear the word necromancy with prejudice, as someone who approaches this field not with trepidation or baggage, but intrigue, and as someone who wishes to elevate and enhance what it could be.

Then again, I wonder if the master necromancer seeks not an apprentice with ambition to outshine or surpass him, but one who knows they will forever be his lesser. If the apprentice ever outgrew his master, what would stop said apprentice from slaying the master outright and becoming the master himself? Perhaps the best apprentice is one that, whilst they can be trusted with many of the secrets of necromancy, can also be kept at arm's length from knowing all of them, to ensure that the true master is never made obsolete?

It's very much a rule of two, there can only be one master and one apprentice, and the best apprentice knows this. The two will be adversarial, each knowing something the other does not in order to keep the other from becoming complacent. The greatest apprentice will be one who blurs the line and keeps the dynamic shifting. In short, an apprentice who is prepared for the master to withhold secrets so as to prevent their own redundancy, but must also be capable of concealing their own works, so as to ensure the master will not discard them."

To further illustrate my point, I drew myself in Necromancy attire. It's not the most flattering, but maybe it will help.

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