#woodsy if he was a necromancer | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

weirdratwrites · 7 months ago

Text

MLP OC:

Name: Mourning Wood

Nick(s): Wood, Woodsy, Spooks

Species: Unicorn

Gender/Sexuality: Cis Male Pansexual

Cutie Mark: A Gnarled staff intersected by two bones in a 'x' shape. A whisp of green magic wraps down and around the whole of it, emanating from the staff's head.

Specialty: Necromancy: Spirit-Calling

Personality: Professional, Compassionate, Good-Humored.

Mourning Wood is a lanky, white unicorn with a long, brownish-yellow mane. He is the current High Necromancer of the Crown. The comedic aspects of his name don't escape him.

Explanation of Necromancy in Equestria under the cut, since I don't want him to come off as edgy. Part of it is likewise headcanon regarding general lore, or outright AU if something therein goes directly against canon.

General structure of above text inspired by @howler-the-rainwing.

My headcanon on necromancy in Equestria is largely influenced by an Anon Fic and it's response: Dear Princess Sunbutt, and To: Anon, From HRH Sunbutt. Specifically, the chapters where Anon is reacting to Pinkie summoning a demon to help her bake something, and Celestia explaining that, while heavily regulated, the act is legal so long as the person is properly licensed (as Pinkie is, in that fic).

That said: Necromancy is no more evil than any other form of magic in Equestria. It was much more commonly - and openly - practiced before Luna's Rebellion.

The current state of the profession is the result of dogmatic nobles taking advantage of Celestia's multi-decade grieving period following her sister's banishment to "rid the world" of one of the Traitor's favored school of magic. Necromancy is one of the most highly regulated forms of magic in Equestria, and the title of Necromancer is exceedingly rare as a result of the sheer amount of bureaucracy involved to attaining it.

High Necromancer of the Crown is a largely ceremonial title that was created by Celestia in conjunction with a number of still-active Necromancers at the time she came out of mourning to circumvent these edicts. She couldn't undermine the nobility so openly at the time of her return, and it wound up being good enough of a system that she honestly forgets about it for decades at a time between High Necromancers coming into their role.

Basically, there's only ever one officially recognized Necromancer at a time: The High Necromancer of the Crown, themself. To be recognized as a Necromancer, due to those edicts, one must be fully accredited in all three "Schools" of Necromancy: Flesh-Weaving, Bones-Singing, and Spirit-Calling.

High Necromancer of the Crown is the full, official title. Only a select few outside of the secret society built around this position are allowed to not use it in full. This is one of the more direct ways of fucking with the nobility that neutered the business of Necromancy, by making them say and acknowledge the favor this position traditionally has over them in the eyes of Celestia repeatedly in each conversation.

Anyone not accredited in all three is free of the bureaucracy associated with the profession. However, a lack of Necromancers would mean that the resources necessary for these fields to be taught would disappear due to a "lack of interest", so one needs to be active at all times.

The Schools themselves are used in a number of useful professions (especially those associated with healing the body and mind):

Flesh-Weaving is used to mend wounds, perform surgeries, and put corpses into presentable condition in the case of a truly traumatic death. The "traditional" view of this school, in popular media, would be in reanimating the dead and creating horrors like Frankenstein's Monster.

Bone-Singing is used to mend broken bones and is part of lessons in golemancy, as used in certain mines and quarries whose conditions are too dangerous for ponies to mine themselves. The traditional view of this school, in popular media, would be in reanimating the long-dead, such as skeletons.

Spirit-Calling is used to help with mental illnesses, grief counselling, and in cleansing places of high spiritual activity or helping the long-departed in moving on to the afterlife. The traditional view of this school, in popular media, would be in calling ghosts to do one's bidding.

Across Equestria, under-accredited non-Necromancers serve as healers, priests, detectives, and coroners. These are the foot soldiers of the Crown, doing their ancient duties in an unseen and un-appreciated manner.

Instances do occur where someone among their number is either incapable of doing their duty or simply not present to do so. In those instances, the High Necromancer of the Crown will travel to undertake their official tasks themself. This is incredibly rare.

In the meantime, the High Necromancer of the Crown has traditionally taken on a more common job between such tasks. High Necromancer Mourning Wood acts as a grief counsellor, High Necromancer High Spirit was - and still is - a pediatric surgeon, and High Necromancer Marked Progress was a detective for Manehatten's Police Force.

High Necromancer Mourning Wood is actually an interesting case, as he wasn't read in on the details, and accidentally provided High Necromancer High Spirit with an early retirement from her position. She ceded the title at the age of 45, rather than the traditional range of 85-90. She still maintains contact with Mourning Wood to help him handle the details of his new job.

#Mourning Wood #mlp fim #mlp g4 #mlp oc #oc

2 notes · View notes