Am I a necromancer?

[Chicken Slayer]

We have had debates on using black soul gems if you are a good character, but how is conjuring undead different from being a necromancer? Part of the the wikipedia definition is pretty spot-on...summoning the dead to use as a weapon. The game actually starts you out as a necromancer if you choose Conjuration as a major skill.

I suppose it is just another of the game's inconsistencies, like vilifying Thoronir and Agarmir when much of what a player does in the game is rob graves and corpses.

On a related note: If it is such a violation of nature that Oblivion gates are opening, how do the unaffiliated alchemy shops get blood grass, spiddle stick and harrada?

[ParanoidAndroid]

It's indeed a bit ambiguous. I'm ok with conjuration because you summon (evil) creatures from the planes of Oblivion. But killing an enemy and resurrecting it to make it your ally is what I consider necromancy.

However, no one in Tamriel seems to care about necromantic acts, except in rumors.

[spin]

maybe it's ok because you are summoning them for heroic purposes? It doesn't really make much sense. the mage's guild outlaws necromancy, but you can buy summon skeleton and wraith spells from mage's guild halls.

one other thought is maybe those are skeletons and wraiths that only ever lived in Oblivion before you summoned them, and not people that used to live on earth. then they are not technically raising the dead, but summoning a deadric creature.

[Dark Spark]

... On a related note: If it is such a violation of nature that Oblivion gates are opening, how do the unaffiliated alchemy shops get blood grass, spiddle stick and harrada?

Daedric worship is not illegal in the Empire.

[Chicken Slayer]

No, its not illegal but someone (Martin Septim?) says how near to impossible it is/was to open a physical connection to Oblivion. Are Peryite and Boethia opening portals for plant pickers?

I wish they would have spent more time on consitency and logic in the game instead of having people write dozens of lore books.

[Dark Spark]

Physical interaction and travel to Oblivion is not as difficult as you believe.

Stable, persisent connections were impossible to attain while the Dragonfires were alight. But actual portals could be made before the Oblivion Crisis, albeit the doors never lasted more than a few minutes.

[Chicken Slayer]

So explorers/plant collectors were jumping through unstable, ephemeral portals to the deadlands and hoping they A) wouldn't be killed by scamps etc., and b) could get back? Then they turn around and sell the hard won spiddle, harrada, and blood grass for 2 gold each? (assuming standard markup by the retail vendors)

I don't buy it. I think Traven was using his cloning box to duplicate those things from some rare samples and selling them to the independent vendors to cut off a potential revenue source for the non-guild mages crazy enough to try it. After all, he only had novice level alchemy equipment in his quarters, so he wasn't a very accomplished alchemist.

[Dark Spark]

I imagine there's just one adventurer stranded in the Deadlands who throws what he can find into a small hole that deposits the things into Mundus in the most inauspicious of places, such as beneath pillows while you're sleeping. Like the Tooth Fairy. From Hell.

[PrinceJonathan]

We have had debates on using black soul gems if you are a good character, but how is conjuring undead different from being a necromancer? Part of the the wikipedia definition is pretty spot-on...summoning the dead to use as a weapon. The game actually starts you out as a necromancer if you choose Conjuration as a major skill.

I think the undead you summon come from that Soul Cairn place. Since the undead are "pre-made", I guess it's not classified as necromancy since you weren't the one to create the undead in the first place.

Also the summoning is temporary just like when summoning ordinary daedra. Necromancers create their undead servants from scratch and bind the souls permanently.

I think that is what most people have against necromancy. The idea of binding a mortal's soul against their will could be seen as a form of slavery.

Then again if the zombies and skeletons are just golems animated by magic, then there really is nothing wrong with it and the people are just stupid prejudiced dumbasses.

I suppose it depends on which one it is; the undead are powered by mortal souls bound against their will, or the undead are just mindless automatons like a robot made of rotten meat or something.

I suppose it is just another of the game's inconsistencies, like vilifying Thoronir and Agarmir when much of what a player does in the game is rob graves and corpses.

I thought it was established in the lore that it is only the robbing of graves that have been consecrated by chapel priests (usually ones belonging to Arkay) that is illegal.

Tombs out in the middle of butt-freaking nowhere are free game, or there is no reasonable way to police those sites and the law is pretty much forced to look the other way.

One could also conclude that the robbing of consecrated tombs (which is what Agamir would be guilty of) is technically safer as the tombs wouldn't be full of deadly monsters and traps.

On a related note: If it is such a violation of nature that Oblivion gates are opening, how do the unaffiliated alchemy shops get blood grass, spiddle stick and harrada?

The Oblivion Gates are a "violation" because they're permanent.

Temporary portals are fine and it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to just say those alchemists simply conjure a Scamp or a Dremora and ask it to bring a stock of the ingredients in exchange for a portion of the profits of their sale.

One needs gold, even in the Deadlands. Although I think Dremora use gems as currency rather than septims considering they do not have gold in their loot lists, but they do randomly carry precious gemstones.