An Essay on Necromancy: The History and Practical Use of Taming Death as an Art Form (Not an art form.)

Written by Grey M. (Corrections and editing-advice by Aly)

Rough Draft V 1.0 1.2 1.3

Necromancy. The practice of reattaching the souls of the recently-deceased to their own rotting corpses, their souls enslaved to the will of the necromancer. Though a nightmarish concept, necromancy has been an established part of the world (loose use of words- be more specific) for far longer then we humans might think.

The practice of necromancy was first revealed in 56 AR, when, upon the decisive defeat of the Vampire Illuminati, which controlled the governments of every major and almost every minor country in the civilized world (you can keep the word "Illuminati", but skip the conspiracy theory) the dragonfolk of the Dragon Isles reached out and established modern relations with mankind. Though their existence had long been expected, no one knew the full truth behind the mysterious islands of the Devil's Sea - the Sea of the Dragons. It is said that even now, the magic storms that keep the islands hidden from satellite or plane hide secrets we cannot imagine, a civilization fully alien to humans, dragonic powers so outlandish our minds would break from witnessing the effects of them. (Unnecessary tangent. Replace with a paragraph about when necromancy actually hit the mainstream, or the First Zombie War - something relevant to the topic.)

Though the dragonfolk are far from the monstrous beasts of lore, their magical powers are straight out of legend. A dragonfolk necromancer possesses the innate ability to see into the realm of death, a parallel reality to ours. What it looks like, no man knows, but the necromancers somehow use their connection to this reality to talk to ghosts and convince them to get back into their bodies, where they are trapped until the necromancer chooses to release them. (Fact Check: Zombies can be destroyed.)

These zombies were historically used for cheap labor by the ancient dragonfolk, mostly to build monuments that would have taken years to build without undead hordes, but after they entered the modern age, some dragonfolk began lending out their services for other purposes, like solving crimes, clarifying final wishes, and, most recently, to fight in wars. (Watch your run-on sentences.) Today, with the Humans First Movement, the testimony of the undead in courts of law is under scrutiny (awkward statement - tighten it up) as they are, by nature, controlled by dragonfolk, but as combatants zombies are unquestionably an asset to Alliance security. (Fact Check: HFM does in fact question this. Look up "Human Purity Movement".)

There is no doubt that necromancy has only just begun to be utilized outside the Dragon Isles, and there may be far more potential in necromancy then we've learned about so far. (Read that sentence out loud, then clean it up.) Dragonfolk are notoriously tightlipped about their ancient magic, but they can't keep their secrets forever. Not only are we learning more about the processes behind raising the undead then ever before, but the day may come when man learns to see into the realm of death. When that day comes, the world will be changed forever.

(This is not one of your short stories; it's an essay. End with a conclusion, not a dramatic declaration. 173 words short without the padding. You'll get it this time. ~A)