Phil I and recently had a little chat where we were discussing the possibility of using the lore surrounding Arkay to justify/allow necromancy and we wanted to open this up to the site. Now you may be about to ask why this isn't in the lore group, well that's becuase I'm not sure which one it should be in and since the original idea came from a character I'm playing, this place is as good as any.

The main points that we focused one were stem from this piece of text, from The Consecrations of Arkay

Arkay's Blessing, which we bestow upon the dying, to prevent their souls from being used without consent.

Arkay's Law, which we bestow upon the deceased, that their corporeal forms may not be raised to unlawful servitude.

In particular the part about consent stood out to us, would it be alright to raise a person's corpse if they had given you consent to do so before their death? What about in the case of someone you've killed on the battlefield? There's no way you could have gotten their consent beforehand, I mean who would give their enemy permission to use their body against their allies. One point I made in relation to this is what about bandits and the like? Do we still need their consent or do their crimes mean they no longer have that right? On the other hand what if you as a necromancer where to get in contact with this person's spirit and convince them that they could repent for their crimes by giving you the consent to be raised again in the name of doing good? 

What if a corpse has not recieved this blessing and the Arkay's Law? Would you then be allowed to raise them as they are not protected by Arkay's power? And in the case of Arkay's Law what does unlawful even refer to? Is it the laws of the Divines or is it the Laws of man and mer?

The conclusion we came to was that if you could get consent from the person or their spirit, you would be allowed to raise their corpse. Now proving that you had their consent is another matter which I think we can just ignore for the moment :P 

So what are your thoughts on the matter?

Does Arkay gives a tusks? This subject raises complicated moral and meatphysical questions and as such should be meditated upon. Add some art and we're laughing.

So, on the subject of necromancy we have a couple of things to consider. Renaimating a corpse is not necessarily a bad thing, many factors can be considered. For one it needn't be seen as calling back a spirit, rather just placing a daedric spirit to give the shell it inhabits the energy to act. For another, depending on the cuture of the character the treatment of dead may be less important. The Khajiit, for example, could be said to have a more relaxed approach to burial.

On the metaphysics side of things, does Arkay care as long as the Lunar Bank gets it currency? Does Arkay's Blessing just guarentee The Wheel gets its souls? If that is so, what is the morality of that? As for his Law, is that mythopoeia in practice? People beleive Arkay gives a tusk about an empty shell and so give a tusk he does?

This post makes Tu´whacca angry. Tu´whacca angry! But you know where I´m heading with that, Phil. :D

It´s also interesting to note that people are somewhat ok with spirits of heroes bound to certain things so that they could be called upon in dire need. Heroes that did that wilingly, bound themselves to mortal plane for the rest of their existance. Funny that people are ok with that just because they need something from those spirits and all that.

:D If Tu'Whacca is angry then Xarxes must be pissed! That would mean Orkey must be a bit mad and if he's upset then Trinimac must be fuming. If Trinimac's fuming then Tsun is livid and Stuhn is about to take it out on Dibella.

Good point about the heroes, there are many either willingly bound or happy to be called back to help. Perhaps the bank of lunar currency has put so much invesment into Mundus that it is happy to ensure that investment remains secure. In which case the Arkayn Banker and his clergy ccould be said to have final say upon when such circumstances have come about?

Damn Arkay and his nonsense, I am with Manky C most definitely here:

"Let all know free will and do as they will!"

That's a lot of very angry gods there Phil :P

It is interesting that in general they seem to be alright or even in favour of using the souls of past heros if it benefits them, but should a mage use this form of magic they get labeled as the villian despite it being fundamentally the same thing. 

I think a necromancer respecting this rule should obligated to inform his "victim" of what happens to the soul after the body is raised. We're talking here about an eternity spent in the Soul Cairn in exchange for a couple moments of "fun". 

#SoulsOfTheDeadMatter

Well if they happened to be one of those lucky few who was raised using dead thrall then it would be a little bit more then a couple of moments :P

Also isn't it only those souls trapped within a soul gem or those sacrficed in exchange for the ability to raise entire armies of undead that are sent to the Soul Cairn? While those who are being raised are sent on to whatever their respective heaven is once they are released.

I did not know about the whatever heaven part. Well... the more you know! :)

Reminds me of this... :))

The heavens bit is just speculation on my part since I don't actually know what happens to them once the spell is released. And with the Soul Cairn the lore page on UESP only lists those that are trapped or sacrificed as being sent there.

That's a lot of very angry gods there Phil :P
It is interesting that in general they seem to be alright or even in favour of using the souls of past heros if it benefits them, but should a mage use this form of magic they get labeled as the villian despite it being fundamentally the same thing. 

Tusk the angry gods. I hate the Aedra and the Daedra ain't much better. Let them speak to me and they'll know anger :P But yeah, double stanards much? That's likey what happens when mortal morality is ascribed to a god through mythopoeia.

I think a necromancer respecting this rule should obligated to inform his "victim" of what happens to the soul after the body is raised. We're talking here about an eternity spent in the Soul Cairn in exchange for a couple moments of "fun". 
#SoulsOfTheDeadMatter

Who's that guy who you find in the old ruin near Dawnstar? An Altmer fellow who's diaries confirmed exactly in what form that "fun" took. I love that little quest.

Also isn't it only those souls trapped within a soul gem or those sacrficed in exchange for the ability to raise entire armies of undead that are sent to the Soul Cairn? While those who are being raised are sent on to whatever their respective heaven is once they are released.

There's a question mark on this, iirc Serana implies that all black souls end up there while Valerica asserts that only those offered to the Ideal Master's end up there. I am inclined towards the latter. The continuing on to whatever heaven is how I see it, the creatia used to empower an item is perhaps only the Energy, while the AE, or identity of the soul, can then continue on towards the Wheel and their aligned plane before recycling. However that is just an interpretation and ther is scope for others.