Fellowship of Necrómoncers

There’s nothing new about necromancy, the art of death magic. Mortals have been summoning ghosts and reanimating corpses since the gods granted them the gift of magic. Undead have traditionally found their places in society as subordinate officials and slaves of powerful evil sorcerers. It is only recently, however, that an organization known as the Fellowship of Necrómoncers (founded by the enigmatic "Ash") has found a way to make undead minions available to the average citizen — people with limited budgets and minimal access to ancient necrological texts.

The Fellowship has done this by pioneering a new magical discipline called necrómoncy, an innovative spinoff of ordinary necromancy. While undead spawned via traditional necromancy are usually large and ugly, the necrómon created by necrómoncy are small — and, despite their rotting flesh, oozing pus, and rancid stench — cute. Also unlike conventional undead, necrómon might look like nearly anything, though they are most often made from formerly living animals, monsters, people, or even just body parts.

Necrómon usually have simple, whimsical personalities. Most are barely capable of speech, and can pronounce nothing except the name assigned to their particular "species" of necrómon. Due to their decomposing vocal chords, they usually make these utterances in a warped, high-pitched voice. They are frequently capable of one or two "special attacks," and usually develop a twisted loyalty to their masters (although some of the feistier ones must be magically compelled to obey). The Fellowship sells oodles of these necrómon to enthusiasts, who buy them almost as fast as they can be slaughtered and raised in their tiny necrócoffins.

The Fellowship has used necrómoncy to create vast amounts of wealth. Somehow, they've managed to engineer an entire subculture of people who are fascinated by the prospect of collecting the little critters. Maybe it was their innovative approach to necromancy, or perhaps it was their catchy slogan, "Gotta Raise 'Em All!" In any case, the Fellowship now distributes a monthly magazine called the Necrómonicon, which contains such things as articles on necrómoncy and the "stats" of various necrómon, in addition to constant reminders as to the importance of collecting every single necrómon that the Fellowship creates. Although their are ongoing signs that Necrómon sales might be slipping, Fellowship officials are doing their best to prevent the fad from dying — although they are counting on bringing it right back if it does.

In spite of slipping sales, hordes of enthusiasts still travel around to different cities to compete with each other in tournaments where the winner gets to keep one of the loser's necrómon. By convention, one does not attack a person directly with a necrómon, although there's no reason why it can't be done.

If kept on a steady diet of something involving brains, blood, flesh, or some part of the living (depending on the creature), necrómon rarely try to kill their masters (defined in their minds as whoever feeds them regularly).