Here is the ultimate goal in mind and then how I was wanting it to happen. I think I am making it more complex than it need be but I sorta like the esthetics of the magic (screwy eh thinking zombies can be combined with esthetics...)
I imagine a diligent, scruffy, anti-social magi wishes to make a large number of animated corpses to act as a buffer between him and those who have come for him. (the why's and whatfor's not important, only that they are coming) Being prudent and thinking well in advance of actually committing acts that makes "THEM" want to come for him, this mage desires to gather as may corpses as possible and then animate them. Knowing he is limited to at most a couple of spells, he learns "Spell Binding" Virtue.
Then it gets fun. Gory but fun. He makes a container and prepares it. Binds the spirit and the spell Awaken Slumb Corpse, so that the spell is maintained and then moves on to the next corpse.
I am wondering this:
First. Can the container in question be the actual corpse? I was actually imagining the zombies having little clay jars wedged under the breast bone but that was only for the flair of the story.
Second. Given drive dedication and a hefty bit of paranoia, how many of these could a mage make a season. For some reason it seems like only one, but my how great it would be to churn them out if you needed.
Third. How long would the spirit within maintain the spell? Is that determined by it's Might?
I know that I am missing SOMETHING and that none of this is possible but a necromancer can dream and dream right?
If I am reading spirit binding correctly, yes you can use the corpse as the vessel. If I am reading it right, the spirit only uses might as a replacement for the vis needed for ritual spells. What you want to do is not a ritual spell, and should last until the vessel is destroyed. The controlling factor will be the number of spirits you can track down and bind. They don't seem to be common in canon, your mileage may vary. I would also recommend (as a member of the house of Masters) is a enchanted tombstone that animates many corpses in the area and maintains concentration on the spell. It will do much the same effect, without the need for many spirits, and of course, maintaining your "staffing levels" will be much easier......
If you have all of the required materians, you can crank out severalof these bad boys a day! As a spell anyway, and the Spell Binding virtue allows the spell to continue indefinately.
You could also spend a season and enchant an individual corpse as a magic item, have it maintain concentration on its own animation. It could be a simple Lesser Enchantment, and then after the first you can crank them out quicker using Lab Texts. Then make a king zombie, a greater echanted device with various other powers enchanted (like, it can raise other zombies). Then comed Emporer zombie! The zombie talisman which is an extention of your touch (you can cast spells through it).
At last years Berkeley Triunal, I had gotten sick the last day but I went out wandering with the group anyway. I was all zombied out. Erik D could tell how ill I was but still plugging on. He decided it would be fun to freak out the campus co-eds present, so he started in with the zombie walk chanting "brains...". We all did it, and it made me feel better
The sad thing is that Portianitor and Marko Markoto are both in my offline saga and this is where they are looking to impliment it.
Portianitor does have a very depraved character. He comes across as pitiful and ingratiating all the while in his lab, he is plotting on how to get fresh bodies to stew up for meals and then turn the bones into skeletons for an undead army.
Isn't it about the time the mongols are running amok? Tell them to get out of their lab and loot Baghdad's dead! Have tens of thousands of dead bodies marching back to their covenant, through Europe. There's a story for the ages!
It would be a different story if they were. Instead of defending their home, they will have to leave, go to Arabia and follow the trail of destruction the Mongols are making. It's the golden age of Necromancy!
No, but in 35 years game time, I can see Portianitor and Marko's character joining the first crusade to have access to collect all the dead bodies that result.
