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<blockquote data-quote="pacdidj" data-source="post: 5192591" data-attributes="member: 86793">(emphasis mine)This has been said already in this thread, but I think it bears repeating that the notion that &quot;everything glossed as 'necromancy' within D&amp;D rules and settings is morally offensive to pre-modern sensibilities&quot; is highly ethnocentric (but then again, so are the terms modern, post-modern, and necromancy <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink&nbsp; &nbsp; ;)"&nbsp; data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />). Speaking with the dead in particular has long been and still is standard practice in many non-Western religions, like those of Shona people in Zimbabwe, who speak with their ancestors through people who serve as mediums and allow the ancestors' spirits to possess their body and impart advice to their descendants about matters of concern to their communities.Come to think of it, speaking with the dead also features prominently in the practice of Western religions. Check out the history of the dia de los muertos for example, a Christian holiday celebrated all over Latin America. And for my money, some of the core tropes of Christianity have strong necromantic overtones: namely eternal life and resurrection.So, I dunno. If you're going for medieval realism, I'd be careful ascribing such black-and-white anti-necromantic sensibilities even to imaginary medieval Europeans, because, while the historical record is somewhat robust regarding the views of the medieval church, it is decidedly sparse regarding the moral and cosmological viewpoints of the broader (largely non-literate) society.EDIT: plus see Dannyalcatraz's earlier <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/277100-necromancy-evil-only-harmless-talking-your-dead-grandmother-4.html#post5190323" target="_blank">post</a>, which hints at the serious non-squeamishness of medieval Westerners.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pacdidj, post: 5192591, member: 86793"] (emphasis mine) This has been said already in this thread, but I think it bears repeating that the notion that "everything glossed as 'necromancy' within D&D rules and settings is morally offensive to pre-modern sensibilities" is highly ethnocentric (but then again, so are the terms modern, post-modern, and necromancy ;)). Speaking with the dead in particular has long been and still is standard practice in many non-Western religions, like those of Shona people in Zimbabwe, who speak with their ancestors through people who serve as mediums and allow the ancestors' spirits to possess their body and impart advice to their descendants about matters of concern to their communities. Come to think of it, speaking with the dead also features prominently in the practice of Western religions. Check out the history of the [I]dia de los muertos [/I]for example, a Christian holiday celebrated all over Latin America. And for my money, some of the core tropes of Christianity have strong necromantic overtones: namely eternal life and resurrection. So, I dunno. If you're going for medieval realism, I'd be careful ascribing such black-and-white anti-necromantic sensibilities even to imaginary medieval Europeans, because, while the historical record is somewhat robust regarding the views of the medieval church, it is decidedly sparse regarding the moral and cosmological viewpoints of the broader (largely non-literate) society. EDIT: plus see Dannyalcatraz's earlier [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/277100-necromancy-evil-only-harmless-talking-your-dead-grandmother-4.html#post5190323"]post[/URL], which hints at the serious non-squeamishness of medieval Westerners. [/QUOTE]

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