The Essential Salts

The necromancers of Giza
A cult of reanimators
Concerned with interrogation of the long dead
Corpses revived and made to talk
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
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
If the salts are contaminated with the essence of other living beings
When the mummy has been the breeding place of vermin
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 the sea

[Solo: Karl Sanders & Dallas Toler-Wade]