How to keep from being overrun with liches

[cybernetichero]

In a world where magic is like maths (nearly everyone can do a bit, some can do a lot, some are hopeless) how do you stop nearly everyone from becoming a lich at death?

 

[256bits]

I dunno. You cut their head off and burn the body!

 

[Rive]

...magic is like math...

If so, then having negative numbers is just how nature works there.
Instead of discriminating those undead you should think about the workforce!

 

[hutchphd]

 

[cybernetichero]

I dunno. You cut their head off and burn the body!

I thought about putting the deceased in a coffin of "thaumaturgic" iron covered inside and out with written wards. Your idea sounds cheaper but there is still the problems of people dying alone or in remote places and deliberate circumvention. The most magically adept and therefore the most likely to become liches after death would also be the ruling class and they don't like to be told what to do, especially with Aunt Gemima's remains.

 

[cybernetichero]

If so, then having negative numbers is just how nature works there.
Instead of discriminating those undead you should think about the workforce!

I'm not sure how economics works in this world yet. So far a lot of people are eating conjured food.

 

[stefan r]

In our world most people know how to strike a match. There is a limit to fuel supplies. Sometimes we get really big fires like the Amazon or Siberia. That sort of thing pisses people off if you do it on purpose. We use combustion in our cars and our cooking stoves but Molotov cocktails and flame throwers are rare and highly discouraged.

Here is a video of matches in a plastic bottle in the woods.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Here is a video of matches in a plastic bottle in the woods.

Only you can prevent forest fires.