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The current setting, predating my conversion to Christianity, held that necromancers could freely enter and leave Hell with their magic. What they could do there or take back was a matter of sophistication and understanding and strength of will. Each necromancer's view of Hell would be unique: Sam has her snowscape, others might see a world of lava and ash, others might find themselves adrift in an endless, lifeless, sunless sea.
Now, unless we simply posit that the setting is in such a totally different universe that life and death don't work the way they do here, as well as abandon all plotlines involving the nascent cult of the Lord of Being, we need to tweak this. [2015-11-18 And, of course, it turns out Civil Deism posits reincarnation so the hades theory wouldn't really be part of Sam's repertoire anyway...]
We can keep everything, but as a layer: the hellscape is not actually true, or at least what the necromancer sees is not actually hell/hades. The "hellscape" would actually be a magical construct formed by the necromancer and the spirits they deal with. What the necromancer believes to represent the souls of the dead is actually a vast cosmic spirit-memory the deceased have left in the world by their words, deeds and thoughts - in this world, momentarily made visible and tangible. The necromancer never actually leaves this world, which is why it is so easy to come and go. The true Person of the deceased is never interacted with in this construct, though much information may be gleaned, sometimes to the point where you think you are dealing with the person themselves. For pure information-gathering purposes, and depending on the quality of the memory, it can be virtually equivalent - like a fossil wherein the entire impression has been filled with rock and none of the organic matter remains.
To talk to a "spirit" in this place would be to gather together an impression that then coalesces into its memory, aided by the speaker's own pareidola if not even actual (non-human) spirits "guiding" the process.
Much more chaotic, uncontrollable visits to this underworld may occur during teleport accidents.
Pure elemental magic is powered by the energy released through the annihilation of these patterns. Where mana is heavily mined, there is an ineffable deadness in the air that everyone feels but no one understands how to measure and some insist, with experimental supporting evidence (which experimenters often get money from the same firms the insisters work for, but let's nevermind that), that it's all in people's heads, or it's just an aesthetic negative reaction to the appearance and sound of the machines.
...so yeah, metaphysical fossil fuel economy. But with malaise, ennui and possible perceived or actual de-existing instead of toxic smoke and global warming. And no plastic from byproducts.
I'll have to think of the geopolitical consequences of this.
Now, unless we simply posit that the setting is in such a totally different universe that life and death don't work the way they do here, as well as abandon all plotlines involving the nascent cult of the Lord of Being, we need to tweak this. [2015-11-18 And, of course, it turns out Civil Deism posits reincarnation so the hades theory wouldn't really be part of Sam's repertoire anyway...]
We can keep everything, but as a layer: the hellscape is not actually true, or at least what the necromancer sees is not actually hell/hades. The "hellscape" would actually be a magical construct formed by the necromancer and the spirits they deal with. What the necromancer believes to represent the souls of the dead is actually a vast cosmic spirit-memory the deceased have left in the world by their words, deeds and thoughts - in this world, momentarily made visible and tangible. The necromancer never actually leaves this world, which is why it is so easy to come and go. The true Person of the deceased is never interacted with in this construct, though much information may be gleaned, sometimes to the point where you think you are dealing with the person themselves. For pure information-gathering purposes, and depending on the quality of the memory, it can be virtually equivalent - like a fossil wherein the entire impression has been filled with rock and none of the organic matter remains.
To talk to a "spirit" in this place would be to gather together an impression that then coalesces into its memory, aided by the speaker's own pareidola if not even actual (non-human) spirits "guiding" the process.
Much more chaotic, uncontrollable visits to this underworld may occur during teleport accidents.
Pure elemental magic is powered by the energy released through the annihilation of these patterns. Where mana is heavily mined, there is an ineffable deadness in the air that everyone feels but no one understands how to measure and some insist, with experimental supporting evidence (which experimenters often get money from the same firms the insisters work for, but let's nevermind that), that it's all in people's heads, or it's just an aesthetic negative reaction to the appearance and sound of the machines.
...so yeah, metaphysical fossil fuel economy. But with malaise, ennui and possible perceived or actual de-existing instead of toxic smoke and global warming. And no plastic from byproducts.
I'll have to think of the geopolitical consequences of this.