On Bone and Soul Magic
Putting words to paper at great length is not something many Argonians prefer to do. Sithis reminds us that all things change, and the past should be left behind. I am not a typical Saxhleel though, and a favor was asked, and thus it shall be done. As such, I hope you find this letter educational.
First, on the matter of Necromancy. Some call what I do by that name; they are not wholly wrong. It is a a name, a label, a categorization, in much the way ojel must label and put everything into small boxes that fit their worldview. Sometimes they are useful, such as when distinguishing Alteration magic from Illusion. Sometimes they are merely academic, such as when comparing Alteration and Restoration - which as a member of the Mage's Guild I am sure you are well aware of.
(There is a note in the margin, written by a different hand:
ojel - non-Argonian)
What you call Necromancy, I call the magic of Bone and Soul. The two may appear similar to the uninitiated, but they are not the same. To wit:
The Soul is sacrosanct. The truest essence of a person lies therein, and to interrupt its journey is a travesty and a crime. Our souls return to the Hist, and yours, well, I pity you lack our certainty. But sometimes these souls are trapped, or have something they must complete before moving on. Our gravesingers are responsible for making sure that our souls move on safely; I just choose to embody that role a little more directly than most. I do not compel or command obedience, like your disgusting Worm Cult. I act as ku-vastei; I merely ask them their story, and help them on their way. Those who do not wish to move on, those who fall to shunatei; those I will not force. Eventually they will come to terms with their change, as all things do.
(More notes in the margin, seemingly by the same author as before:
shunatei - feeling of loss and regret.
ku-vastei - one who brings needed change)
Sometimes, I find but shattered remnants of souls, blasted by the power of magicka, unable to even recall a portion of who they once were. For them I grant Sithis's peace, sending them to his embrace and allowing them one last act of service in my own magics. You might be surprised to find how common this is - but then again, considering your own exploits, perhaps not.
Least of all are the animal's souls. They are a part of the cycle as well, but unlike ours, they have much growing to do before they may reach the level of the least Argonian. They are small, ephemeral things, but quite useful. My pet contains one such soul; that of a sep-adder that for Hist-knows-what reason had taken a liking to me. Most animal souls will not hold together for very long after being re-bound to a new form, but this one, he surprised me; even years later he shows no sign of weakening. All things must die however, thus I have lain an enchantment on his form so that when I finally rejoin the Hist, the construct will return to its component parts and free him to rejoin the cycle, wiser than he once was.
Before I move on there is one last category I must address: the daedra. Rather than souls inhabiting bodies, they are their souls. They are not of the Hist, nor of the cycle, and as such there are a handful I have claimed and bound for my own usage. I imagine the face you must be making, but do not your Guild compatriots summon fully formed daedra from the very mouth of Oblivion? I raise the spine of irony. These ones I merely bind to temporary physical forms, with just enough energy to serve for but a minute or less before the contruct loses its integrity. In this way, even if they were to slip their bindings it would do them little good, as they would shortly lose cohesion and be banished back whence they came.
This brings us to the magic of flesh and bone. Once the Soul has left the body, it becomes merely a shell. A source of materials, much like a fallen tree or the hide from a successful wamasu hunt. All these years later and I still cannot grasp why you dryskins find the corpse so sacrosanct, yet abandon it to the slow decay of dry ground! The Marsh takes its due, but out here bodies remain for years, decades, maybe even centuries, unchanging in defiance of Sithis's will. It is such a waste, to abandon their remains rather than honor them with every day usage, or even in one glorious burst such as that of the spell you named as Blastbones. If the soul no longer remains, then what harm is there? It is enough to lash my tail in frustration!
If your people could embrace the release of shunatei, as my people did, you might find a much larger world opening up before you. But then, I am no nisswo, and I should not be preaching Sithis's word at you when you did not ask. I raise the spine of apology.
(Another note is found here:
nisswo - priest?? disciple?? missionary??
Needs more research!)
To return to the matter at hand: unless a man or mer has some talent in magicka, to them a tortured soul bound to a fresh corpse seems the same as an empty daedric-powered skeleton used to honor a fallen warrior's life. Thus I cannot say they are wrong to call me a necromancer, but I refuse to call myself one. I do not traffic in tortured souls or seek immortality; such would be an affront to myself and all I believe in!
As a final note, just as not all dryskins think alike, or even all Saxhleel, the Hist itself may have multiple opinions within its branches. Some tribes honor their dead by placing them among the roots of the very Hist itself, letting it nourish itself from their former brethren's flesh and bone. This, I acknowledge, is also honorable, in that it allows them to perform one last service for their Hist. It is not the way of my tribe, but it is a parallel path, and I will not gainsay it. It may be only the will of their Hist, but the Hist is the Hist, and I will not reject what made us what we are.
I hope this answers your questions regarding Argonians and necromancy, at least from my own perspective. There are those of my brethren who do indeed become crazed, or never knew the ways of the Hist, and may become the sort of abominations that most dryskins think of when they speak of necromancers, but no proper Argonian would condone such. On the other claw, your ways are not our ways, so you should not be surprised when we see separations that your kind does not.
May the waters of knowledge ever flow over you.
Speaks-With-Bones