The Essential Salts

The necromancers of Giza

A cult of reanimators

Concerned with interrogation of the long dead

Corpses who may be revived and made to talk

And describe the contents of rare books

And gold hidden in the earth

Although they are often reluctant to reveal their secrets

And must be encouraged with fire and blade

A corpse chosen for resurrection

Is cut into parts of convenient size

Boiled in clean water

Linen strips of mummification are removed

And the skull and bones liquefied

And boiled until all water is gone

What remains in the bottom

Is a white crystalline substance

That may be carried in the palms of two hands

This white powder contains the essential salts

Of the man whose corpse was boiled

It is from this powder that the living body may be reconstituted

And made to serve as a house for the soul

Which is called back into its former flesh by words of power

It is a great shock to the soul

To tear it back from its resting place and reanimate it

The resurrected are often insane and scream ceaselessly or dash themselves into walls

If the salts are contaminated with the essence of other living beings

When the mummy has been the breeding place of vermin

The revitalization of the salts produces something

That is part man and part whatever gnawed his corpse

These horrors lack the faculty of speech

Or their speech is crazed and bestial

And must be immediately slain

For though the memory of the man may remain intact

The verminous parts of his reanimated nature

Inhibit his human expression

Those who have served their purpose are killed

By strangulation with a cord around the neck

And their bodies burned

Their ashes gathered and cast into the Nile

Where the currents carry them to sea

[solo: Karl]

[solo: Dallas]