Origins
(Excerpts from the lecture about Necromancy, 3rd month of training)
...contrary to popular belief, skeletons are not people returning from beyond the grave to fulfill some kind of mission or settle some unfinished business. Of course formal resurrection of dead ones is technically possible but it's pretty difficult and rarely achieved, as it requires dealing with Keeper of the Sanctuary, mysterious, almost all-powerful being that guards border between the world of living and dead.
(..)
Skeletons on the other hand are just animated constructs, almost like the golems, or living weapons, popular self defence used by nobles. But unlike other constructs, skeletons are formerly living people, so they retains some will to move and act as they did that when they were alive. Because of that skeletons can actually be animated without consciously casted spell, only by the merely presence of very powerful being. (...)
How to deal with them
As with any magical construct, skeleton will die when it's internal energy would be freed from it's body. The easiest way to do so, is to cast destructive spell of enough power to break the bond between animator and skeleton. The Light Magic is particularly useful here, but Natural and Classic Magic will work good as well. Be advised though that if a skeleton was risen by direct Dark Magic spell, the others dark spells will actually bind his will more and more to the animator, granting it even more power instead of killing it.
How to use them
Of course skeletons can be animated by the magician itself using Dark or Chaos magic, through binding it's actions to the caster will be pretty difficult task and will require strong will. Our most powerful students have shown capable of controlling several skeletons at once, raising them from defeated creatures and using them to absorb damage from physical attacks. Skeletons are pretty resistant to physical based attack, which makes them excellent shield that can protect magician if the situation became too dire. (...)
