I have noticed in some, or most, places inhabited by necromancers that there tend to appear a series of giant bone structures. I hadn't paid much attention to them until now, but now that I have, I mean, what are they?
I thought they were built by them to mark their lairs, but doesn't seem so. Their size and shape, spiked and strangely segmented, don't seem to fit with any TES creature that I know of. And when you battle Mannimarco, some of these come out of the floor, complete with animation and everything, forming a ring to hold you in there until you defeat him. So I was wondering that necromancers were granted some sort of "bone magic" powers, a la Diablo II, by the God of Worms.
Well, maybe comparisons to Diablo II are hideous, but its the only thing I could compare to. Is there any info about these bone structures?

There isn't any information on them i can think of or find at the Imperial Library, so i'll tell you my speculation: as speculation is all you can get unless somebody else finds something in the depths of the Imperial Library.


The most descriptive text on necromancy I have read, On the Preparation of Corpses, says that bone-walkers and such are made when Necromancers re-assemble skeletons, and cast a spell. If they are missing an important bone, say... a vertebrae.. they can use one from another animal. o it would make sense that they could mix and match bones from various sources to make whatever they want

Well, these are not bonewalkers but something that look like a giant spiked bone finger protruding from the ground.
There is something very strange with them. While exploring the CS, I came into these. They are referred to as "Necro Claw", and not only that. There's a completely unused flora object in the game, the "Bone Tree", which yields no ingredient but has a very creepy aspect. It looks like a trunk with claws protruding out of it everywhere. I think I'm going to add some of them to necromancer caves to see how they fit.
It seems that necromancers are able to "grow" bone structures, very much like the Telvanni grow mushroom buildings. Some sort of magic is surely involved, be it "bone magic" or whatever. But mushrooms are something alive and moving, whereas bones seem... dead and creepy.

I didn't mean to make it sound like I was saying they are bonewalkers: I actually do know what you are talking about. But maybe through a different spell of similar affect Necromancers can take bones and shape them.
About the bone trees, I play on X-BOX. the CS is unusable to me, unless I'm at a friends house. But maybe instead of manifesting the new life as a animal, they are creating new life in the form of a plant.

Could you post a Screen of this 'Bone Tree?' It sounds like something out of SI..

It's possible but unlikely that these bones belong to some monstrous extinct species, or even the Ehlnofey.

http://img213.imageshack.us/i/screenshot23f.jpg/. It does look as if it was added by the SI expansion, since it seems to have some amber droplets here and there. Its base scale is gigantic, about 5 m tall.
I don't think they are the bones of a monstrous species. These bones don't seem to have any purpose in a body structure, except maybe being claws. But even then, why would the necromancers take the trouble to fix them into solid rock?
And what's the use of them, if any? They seem to be just totemic, since they don't attack you if you come nearby like harrada does (that would be cool)

possibly part of important rituals. Necromancy is magic, but also filled with many time-consuming and complicated steps.

Could they be necromantic variants of the glowing crystals from Morrowind?

Weren't those crystals associated with the Telvanni? If so they may have been necromantic themselves, since it's rumored that many high ranking Telvanni wizards sustained their flesh through the dark arts.


As for that bone tree thing, I'm almost 100% positive it's from SI, more specifically the gardens of flesh and bone, where you collect the ingredients to make a new gatekeeper.

Nah. Crystals are just plain magical. Just look at all the other crystals.

the thought came in my mind, and i checked with a screenshot on the Imperial Library

The tree is the thing behind the Marrow thig in the Gardns of Flesh and Bone

I find those Gardens to be fascinating, personally. Is there something daedric about them, do you think, or could even a mortal Necromancer or perhaps a powerful one like Mannimarco himself create such a place? I'd like to imagine that the Realm of the God of Worms contains Flesh Atronochs, Gatekeepers and even more horrible monstrosities. (Strangely enough the Dunmer sorceress who uses all these creations is loyal to Sheogorath alone, seemingly, and not to Mannimarco in any way shape or form, which begs a serious question about insanity and Necromancy.)

Well as Relmyna is outcast from the mages guild for experiments on human pain and suffering, and that's the reason Sheogorath brings her to the isles, I wouldn't really say that it's strange. It would seem that since entering the isles and being allowed to experiment at will, she started working with the bodies of those who died in her experiments. I would say that the flesh atronachs were created as another means of torture, in that someones soul could be imprisoned in one. The gatekeeper seems just to be an extension of that, albeit larger and more powerful, bound to the soul of a powerful daedra.

And an ossuary, of course.

Not that you need to be a necromancer to build an ossuary. I mean, heck, the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedlec_Ossuary ossuary is in a church.

Isn't it odd? I mean, if you saw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orrBOBbgnzs&feature=related in a video game, you'd think the dev's were being tacky and unrealistic.

O my :blink: . That must be the coolest chapel in the world. I mean it.
I wouldn't mind a chapel in Oblivion decorated in that style by necromancers. Just imagine fighting Mannimarco (the real, scary one) in such a setting. Add a bone throne and some of the bone claws I was inquiring about, and you've got the fight against Death itself.

The only problem is that the game would explode with so many objects rendered in the same cell. But, I agree, a good old fashioned ossuary is the way to go. It is so over the top, it is kind of creepy. Like, wow, those monks sure had too much time on their hands. And bones. Those are all human bones. They used to be people, now they are chandeliers. :cold:

why :cold:? It'd be sick to be made into a chandelier.. dead bodies generaly lack a use. hate to say it, but that's going into my will