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The Necrocracy: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
It's the true [[Skeleton Government]]. That is, a government staffed by actual [[The Undead|undead:]] [[Soul Jar|liches]], [[
It comes in several flavors.
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Malevolent examples are frequently used as [[The Horde]] (although living subjects might [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|be more sympathetic]]).
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Vampire Hunter D]]:'' Count Magnus Lee effectively rules a [[Kingdom]]. Technically he doesn't rule it any more - people just fear him too much to actively fight against him, but he can't really go and order them around like he used to, either.
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* ''[[Trinity Blood]]'''s New Humankind empire. The living 'Terrans' are second-class citizens, but the most of the ruling vampire nobles try to treat them decently.
* The titular extraterritorial concession in ''[[Dance in the Vampire Bund]]'' is more or less a miniature vampire nation sitting in Tokyo Bay. {{spoiler|As of Volume 8, there are even people in Tokyo seeking to get bitten in the hopes of moving there}}.
== Card Games ==▼
* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' examples:▼
** The Alara block has the plane of Grixis, a hellscape ruled by demons and lich lords.▼
** Over in the city-plane of Ravnica, there's both the Orzhov Syndicate (a [[Corrupt Church]] ruled by a council of ghosts) and the Golgari Swarm (which ended up with an undead shaman as its leader). The Golgari take care of Ravnica's farms, too -- they provide a very notable part of the food for the whole plane. While they have their bad apples (Savra is very ambitious, and the Sisters of Stone Death can be pretty callous when ticked off), they are for the most part extremely decent and friendly people, even welcoming the Elves of deep Shadow who were kicked out of Selesnya simply because of their connection to black magic without question. Hell, the Golgari were one of the two guilds (the other being the Wojek offshoot of the Boros) who actually watched out for the people during the Decamillenial crisis, whereas all other guilds (as well as the Boros legion proper) were too busy with their power struggle nonsense.▼
** The Innistrad setting has towns ruled (read terrorized) by vampire nobility. On the other hand, there are also benevolent ghosts protecting some places.▼
== Literature ==
* Angmar from [[J. R. R.
** The history of Angmar isn't detailed in the core material (at least, it isn't detailed in ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', ''[[Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth
** The city of [[Eldritch Location|Minas Morgul]] was a fiefdom of Mordor and former part of Gondor ruled by the Nazgul directly, so that counts as a straight Type III.
* High Cromlech from ''[[The Scar]]'' by [[China Mieville]]. Much of the population and administration are undead. A significant population of living humans is found there to do the jobs that aren't so suitable for the non-living (though these are not detailed) but when the opportunity arises the upwardly mobile members of the living middle class shuffle off their mortal coils to improve their social circle and prospects.
** Also notable in that there is an undead ([[Our Vampires Are Different|or rather, ab-dead]]) underclass of the city's impoverished and hopelessly addicted blood-drinkers, who are treated with scorn and pity by both the living and truly undead residents, in stark contrast to vampires' ordinarily high rank in such settings. It's a bit of an embarrassment for any vampir ([[Phantasy Spelling|spelling intentional]]) trying to set themselves up as the 'aristocracy of the night' anywhere else in the world.
* The Zombie Master in the ''[[Xanth]]'' novels wasn't evil. He was quite a good ruler, in
* ''[[Discworld]]''
*
**
* England in [[Kim Newman]]'s ''[[Anno Dracula]]'' series toggles back and forth from malevolent to somewhat decent. The subjects include both vampires and "the warm." The former can be good, but the ones who wind up in authority tend to be somewhat self-serving.
* The vampires in ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' novels:
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** The White Court vampires (psychic vampires, who do the incubus/succubus thing) officially rule as the most human (relatively speaking) of the vampires, they manipulate and mingle into human society just fine and graze at the edges, encouraging the attitudes and emotions they feed off of instead of keeping docile herds for themselves. Many think they should have the right to feed when they want and how much they want, without interference.
** The Black Court vampires (the rotting-corpse, vaguely Dracula and Nosferatu types) are too few to have a coherent society, thanks to Bram Stoker's cleverly disguised monster-hunting guide; they have a habit of wiping the minds of their living subjects and remolding them into blank, easily-commanded, and violent mooks nicknamed "Renfields."
* In [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s novels ''[[Red Planet (novel)|Red Planet]]'' and ''[[Stranger in
* A variant of this (crossing over into [[Magocracy]] territory) is shown in [[Clark Ashton Smith]]'s story ''[http://eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/61/the-empire-of-the-necromancers The Empire of the Necromancers]''. The titular necromancers (all two of them) are in fact alive, but manage to set themselves up as rulers of an entire undead ''nation'' by the simple expediency of finding a long-dead desert kingdom and using their arts to reanimate everybody whose bones or mummy they can find. The necromancers are arguably evil, but lazy; their subjects, on the other hand, are more hapless victims 'living' again in a hazy, dreamlike state than anything else.
* Hilariously subverted by the batshit-insane Helmacrons from ''[[Animorphs]]'' who are led completely by the dead. Not the ''un''dead, the ''dead''. They believe that the most important thing for a leader is that they make no mistakes, so as a result every Helmacron in a position of authority is ritualistically executed as soon as they're elevated to their position.
* The Vampire world from the ''[[Necroscope]]'' series. Those inhabiting the nightside of the planet are either vampires, or partially-vampirised slaves. Those inhabiting the dayside are just slaves (and occasionally rebels). At the end of the final book {{spoiler|This model is successfully exported to [[Downer Ending|Earth]].}}
== Live-Action
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' had the story "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S18
== Tabletop Games ==
▲=== Card Games ===
* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' has many examples of this trope:▼
▲* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' examples:
▲** The Alara block has the plane of Grixis, a hellscape ruled by demons and lich lords.
▲** Over in the city-plane of Ravnica, there's both the Orzhov Syndicate (a [[Corrupt Church]] ruled by a council of ghosts) and the Golgari Swarm (which ended up with an undead shaman as its leader). The Golgari take care of Ravnica's farms,
▲** The Innistrad setting has towns ruled (read terrorized) by vampire nobility. On the other hand, there are also benevolent ghosts protecting some places.
=== Tabletop RPG ===
* ''[[Eberron]]'' provides a few variations:
** The half-dragon lich Erandis d'Vol, better known as simply Lady Vol, sees herself as the inheritor of of the whole world. Only the Blood of Vol and the Karrnathi loyalist group ''The Order of the Emerald Claw'' truly believes her.
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** Tristan ApBlanc (Ghost/Vampyre) in Forlorn.: Undead-by-night ruler (long story), living but curse-transformed goblyn subjects.
** Death. No one can live in his domain (literally), and he's batshit insane.
* [http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/drfe/20080416a Mavet Rav]{{Dead link}}
* ''[[Wraith: The Oblivion]]'' has the plane of the dead. They still have slavery and some rulers have actually been dead long enough to remember when it was in fashion.▼
* ''[[Geist: The Sin Eaters]]'', a [[Spiritual Sequel]] to ''Wraith'', has brought in the Dominions of the
* In ''[[Exalted]]'', the fact that it's possible to ''walk'' to and from the Underworld means that death is no bar to kingship. The necropolis of Sijan, City of Ten Thousand Tombs, is ruled by its ghosts, who are relatively benign. The [[Omnicidal Maniac|Deathlord]] known as [[Villain with Good Publicity|the Silver Prince]] runs a flourishing kingdom by reanimating corpses to serve as slave
** The Resurrectionists in Autochthonia want to make Claslat into one of these...for the greater good, of course. They just have no understanding whatsoever about the nature of undeath.▼
* ''[[GURPS]]'' recently put out the supplement ''Banestorm - Abydos'', which features a necromantic citystate in their default Fantasy setting of Yrth.▼
=== War Games ===
* ''[[Warhammer Fantasy]]'' has several examples of this trope:
** The Tomb Kings are nice for undead, since they mostly stay put in their pyramids. Several city states have large living populations ruled by mummies (part of their motivation is a desire to bring life back to the desert, after all).
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** Nagash, the great necromancer, is literally trying to [[Omnicidal Maniac|kill everyone in the world]] and make them his undead puppets.
* ''[[Mage Knight]]'' miniatures has the Necropolis Sect. The rulers are all Vampires, and the ruled are either Necromancers, Dark Elves on their way to becoming vamps, or lesser Undead and golems of various sorts.
▲* ''[[Wraith: The Oblivion]]'' has the plane of the dead. They still have slavery and some rulers have actually been dead long enough to remember when it was in fashion.
▲* ''[[Geist: The Sin Eaters]]'', a [[Spiritual Sequel]] to ''Wraith'', has brought in the Dominions of the Underworld -- strange kingdoms that lie beyond the Rivers, each one ruled by [[Threshold Guardians|the Kerberoi]] and with specific rules on the interaction between their ghostly serfs and the Sin-Eaters.
▲* In ''[[Exalted]]'', the fact that it's possible to ''walk'' to and from the Underworld means that death is no bar to kingship. The necropolis of Sijan, City of Ten Thousand Tombs, is ruled by its ghosts, who are relatively benign. The [[Omnicidal Maniac|Deathlord]] known as [[Villain with Good Publicity|the Silver Prince]] runs a flourishing kingdom by reanimating corpses to serve as slave labor -- but it's a cover for his long-term evil plans.
▲** The Resurrectionists in Autochthonia want to make Claslat into one of these...for the greater good, of course. They just have no understanding whatsoever about the nature of undeath.
▲* ''[[GURPS]]'' recently put out the supplement ''Banestorm - Abydos'', which features a necromantic citystate in their default Fantasy setting of Yrth.
== Video Games ==
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* ''[[Age of Wonders]]'' expansion ''Shadow Magic'' has a Dark Elf leading the Undead, at one point.
* The Empire of Magnagora in ''[[Lusternia]]''. There are a lot of [[Our Liches Are Different|liches]] in the upper echelons of society (and as a [[Evil Sorcerer|Nihilist Priest]], it's practically ''expected'' of you), but there are ordinary mortals among the aristocracy and the serfs. Still, they're all [[Lawful Evil|decidedly malevolent]] (except for the poor slaves).
== Web Comics ==
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* In the ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' series, the Land of the Black Sand is populated only by zombies, although its ruler, [[Evil Sorcerer]] Mozenrath, is likely not undead. (Although he has a [[Red Right Hand|Dead Right Hand]], so he's not exactly a normal human being either.)
== Other Media ==▼
▲== Other ==
* A thoughtful exploration of the concept comes from [http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/3501239/ 4Chan] (no, really)
* In his HBO special "Red, White & Screwed", [[Lewis Black]] proposes that America elect a dead person to the presidency (his suggestion: [[Ronald Reagan]]) in order to [[Mind Screw]] terrorists.
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== Real Life ==
* [[Christopher Hitchens]] has referred to North Korea as a Necrocacy, Thanatocracy or Mausolocracy because, while
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Authority Tropes]]
[[Category:Undead Index]]
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:Tabletop Game Tropes]]
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