I'm surprised nobody's brought up the whole thaumaturge aspect for lore. WE ARE LITERALLY PRIESTS OF THE DEAD. If that doesn't scream raise ability lore wise, I don't know what does. And before you say 'well black mages aren't thaumaturges', every black mage (well, player character black mage) in this game has to have started out as a thaumaturge, therefore every black mage IS a thaumaturge. No, I'm not counting jump potions.
Also, it doesn't necessarily HAVE to be a raise skill. There are other ways to utilize this. I've often considered something like a raise weakness reducer skill that would reduce the target player's weakness by maybe a quarter to a half, but ONLY WHEN CAST ON THE DEAD BODY. This even makes sense in reality, as I'm fairly certain there is some research if not some current applications already about lowering the temperature of the body for certain surgeries or injuries, and black mages ARE masters of ice magic in addition to the fire.
