Is Necromancy in-universe?

[Shougun]

Where are you getting that definition from? It's not one that's ever been expressed in the game. When it's talked about, it's very much about dealing with or 'calling back' the dead.

More broadly and back in the real world, my dictionary defines necromancy as "the art of predicting by means of communication with the dead", and the prefix necro- is from nekros, a corpse. It is very much centred around death and the dead (or undead).

I've never seen your "any manipulation of life energies" definition used elsewhere, either.

When I generically "first thoughts" think of necromancer I definitely thing of bringing back the dead to do one's own bidding, usually with no self control, but when I had listed it in the title of my dark healer thread I had made comment that I was thinking more in lines of the curses and dark manipulation of energy. Which is, I think, the next major item that necromancer gets attributed to (magic relating to death, dead, and the dark). Maybe a warlock or a witch might do just as well to reference that, or perhaps a Lich (since Lich don't always have to be leaders of the dead), but I can easily see how someone might want to be a necromancer and not demand they raise the dead either, that mindset / series of concepts is why I listed it as one of the generic keywords in the title of thread.

Not saying I'd think of death magic over skeletons, first, but it would be a close second, an accepted (to me personally) secondary option, and generally that's also a reason why I occasionally push back on those who hard no things- since I think you can creatively wiggle around with different names but keep similar vibes. Sometimes a name can mean the world lol.