Poll: Would you be ok with a necromancer ruler?

[CrazyCrab]

Hi everyone,
I know that this may sound a bit odd, but as I recently was playing Eador I decided to go all necromancer / demonologist and I'm conquering everything with legions of undead and demons.
Afterwards I just try to keep them as happy as possible though, I only use the undead as a means to an end. Funnily enough, with their pubs and theaters they don't mind the fact that there is a legion of undead defending them and that the dark brotherhood has their towers all over the place. No rebellions, and the unhappiness produced by the freaks is just countered with some entertainment and luxuries.

I thought that this would a cool hypothetical social experiment, as I'm guessing that this would not be the case in the real world.

So, would you be alright with some super powered wizard coming in, overthrowing the local government and then replacing the workers / soldiers with undead? This would mean that you have to do very little as there are hordes of tireless, mindless and intrepid workers do everything.
Just sit back, do whatever you want while zombies and other creeps do everything for you.
Sure, you will probably have to design and develop things as they're too dumb but people like this usually like doing that anyway. You would probably have your relatives exhumed, drained of most liquids so they don't rot, given a steel mask or something so they're not recognizable and that's probably it. When you die you join them.

Would you accept this kind of reality or try to fight it?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Anything other than what my country's going through right now would be a huge step up, to be honest.

 

[JoJo]

Sounds like a laugh, can't be much worse that the current government here in the UK heh, sign me up for the necromancer revolution please. It'd be worth it to have a skeleton slave to do my housework and cooking for me.

 

[ClockworkPenguin]

To be honest, my main problem with that is the installation of a tyrant, the fact that he's a necromancer is secondary. Although the possibility of him making himself immortal through lichdom makes it even worse.

Also, barring the dictatorship angle, there is the problem of what might happen should labour demand outstrip zombie supply.

But if that can be avoided then I'd have no issue with the use of zombie labour (except where hygiene forbids it- I would not visit a zombie run cafe).

 

[Tiger King]

I don't think mindless undead would make good skilled workers or soldiers.

I don't think you could even have them working in fast food as they would spread disease all over the place!

from a non realism point of view, yeah would be pretty sweet. perhaps apart from the smell....

 

[Scarim Coral]

Depends. Would the nercomancer used killed/ murdered people as zombie since zombie are not invincible (let say during contruction work, a beam came off and crush a zombie) or corpsed risen from a graveyard? I not too keen to be killed just to become a undead slave!

 

[Auberon]

Dusties wouldn't be that bad as rulers. Just sort of depressing with the buddhist death cult vibe, and probably very lacking in socio-political affairs as well as finance.

So horrible incompetence, no. If they got that act together to match current situation and improve, yes. They also have that nice "only sold corpses" policy.

 

[Jacco]

I feel like that's one step away from a zombie apocalypse. The Necromancer loses control of the undead hordes and then everyone gets eaten. No thanks.

 

[VyseRogueKing]

I, for one, welcome our new Necromancer Overlords. Sorry someone had to say it.

perhaps apart from the smell....

That makes it even better. Invest in aerosol and other deodorant companies. Make some serious cash!

Seriously, I wouldn't care too much if our leader was a Necromancer as long as they're a decent one. At the bare minimum not ruling with an iron fist. A zombie army certainly would help with a defense force too.

 

[Frankster]

Heh this reminds me of something I read on 1d4chan, where a liche becomes in charge of a kingdom and the population greatly benefits from it.

If it's like in that story then yeh sign me up, an immortal wise ruler that cares about his population enough not to grossly misuse his power would be a dream come true. Zombies would make poor workers though, it's reanimated skeletons and demonic imps you want to have working in menial jobs.

 

[kasperbbs]

It would be nice to basically do nothing for a living because zombies would be doing all of the work, but i assume that this wizard isn't immortal, so what would happen to all the work force once that guy dies of old age or something else? The whole country would be crippled and filled with rotting corpses.

 

[Lilani]

I just finished a book series that had necromancer as the protagonist, or really protagonists. They were good necromancers who bound the dead to their will and sent them back where they belong, and worked to reverse the works of the bad necromancers of the world. One of these good necromancers ended up marrying the king of the land, making her queen.

So yeah, if they're a good necromancer who uses their power to protect the land and prevent the dead from being misused, then yes, that's fine. But if they're going to run the world with an undead army...then that's not so okay.

 

[jademunky]

Yeah I am not seeing how a you could avoid massive amounts of disease being spread if every corpse were up and walking around all the time. Mummies? Anti-Decay magic? What kind of labour would we have them doing that would be sanitary and simple enough that they would be at all effective? What kind of manual dexterity does a zombie have? Obviously no farming, no food prep, just nothing that has to do with food in general.

Nothing relating to factory or construction jobs that would require any skills or ability to think on their feet when things need to be adjusted. No service jobs that require understanding of language for client interaction or data entry. So basically ditch digging? Are we really that lacking in ditches? Am I overthinking this? Probably.

 

[TheRiddler]

What would happen to current workers/soldiers? The unemployment rate's bad enough as is without putting every manual laborer in the country out of work.

 

[TheRiddler]

Oops. Double post. Sorry.

 

[Quazimofo]

If he uses his control over the country to cut through the political BS and fix some of the other major issues we have going for us I'd actively welcome him. If he uses zombies rather than skellies though I think I'd be a bit freaked out for a while; the stench probably wouldn't be too pleasant either.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Are the undead just kinda fleshy machines or are they still actually conscious?

If the latter, holy... NO.

 

[Tayh]

Are you people seriously suggesting that zombies would make a good workforce? Because most workplaces today require some sort of certification and schooling. Hell, even jobs that has to do with cleaning and maintenance requires certificates today.
I don't think your average zombie will cut it as a fireman, police officer, kindergarden teacher, librarian or... Just about any other job that doesn't exclusively involve repetetive, mindless labor.

So yeah... Good luck living under the tyrant rule of an oppressive necromancer.
It's all fun and games until YOU'RE the one who has to forever toil under your slave master's command.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I don't have a problem with it...if nothing else, it'd encourage organ donors, which is a good thing.

Not sure what the zombies would be good for, though.

OTOH, if, say, you had people made up sewn together corpses, in a Frankenstein's monster sorta way, then they are mostly just a new demographic.

I could imagine all sorts of problems about which of them got which parts. Like cosmetic surgery, only they are all doing it.

What would happen to current workers/soldiers? The unemployment rate's bad enough as is without putting every manual laborer in the country out of work.

That is a concern, though the same with any change in industry, new machinery does that as well.