The Corruption Of Magic (Updated)

[ski_king3 0]

Magic is a powerful tool. However, that does not make it bereft of flaws and just like all other tools the path of magic will leave an individual lacking in certain aspects. There are many ways in which one can power their magic, and many leave the mage weakened. The various degrees and means of weakening by magic are listed below:

 

Arcane: Individuals who follow the arcane branch find themselves attacked by two barriers to physical strength. The first being that they spend much of their time studying the arcane, however that alone is not the root cause of why they are incapable of being particularly strong. The true root comes from the void itself. The power of the void coursing through one's body is an unnatural thing, particularly when one's opening to the void is so small. It is therefore the void acts like a toxin, sapping the body's strength and rendering it impossible to build more than a small amount of muscle. Such is the curse of the mage.

Druidism: Druidism expresses its weakness in a different way. Due to the connection to nature druids are simply more susceptible to being 'lost in creation' when in such a close-proximity-fight. The aspects grant the druids health, somewhat negating the weakness the power gives to other divine magic users.

Holy Magic: Contrary to the beliefs of some, an Aengul’s blessing does not always damn one’s physical prowess. Agents of Tahariae and Xan typically use regular combat practices when enforcing their Patron’s will demands violence. To bring foes to their end by the blade demands physical prowess, and thus Holy Magic users suffer no corruption by magic.

Ascended: The Ascended suffer withering from their magic due to the process of Ascension. In order to Ascend, one must technically die, resulting in significant withering to their person.
Shamanism: Shamanism on its own is not corrupting in the way of other magics. Uruks still fight and maintain the great strength of their race despite having the benefits of magic granted by the spirits.

Dark Shamanism: Unlike regular shamanism, dark shamanism is a very unnatural process that takes its toll on the body. The binding of spirits takes a constant upkeep of energy to ensure they don’t break free, leading to them appearing darker, thinner, older and generally less healthy.

Runesmithing: Due to the nature of runesmithing, the user does not face any significant withering, other than perhaps that which would be yielded from the time spent studying runes. However, the magic has no withering effect.

Golemancy: Similar to the practice of runesmithing, golemancy has no withering effect due to any of the magic involved.

Necromancy: Individuals who necromance are weak for a similar reason that arcane mages are weak. Their power source is something unnatural to deal with. The very shifting of life force weakens their bodies and just like the arcane mage they can not build such muscle.
Frost Witch: While Frost Witch magic alters the body state of any witch (I.E. their bodies become like ice in a "frozen" state), it does not physically weaken or strengthen them in any way. Disguising does not weaken or strengthen them as well. If they don a disguise that makes them look weaker, they remain the same strength, if they don a disguise that makes them look stronger, their strength is the same. Frost witches maintain their physical strength from when they became a witch; mages will remain frail, those unaffected will not, regardless of any magics learned after the fact.

Blood Magic: Much like arcane magic, those using Blood Magic suffer from some amount of physical decay. They also undergo somewhat significant changes to their appearance, including paler skin and milky eyes, as well as mental changes, including madness and other mental defficiencies.

Shade: The debilitating side effects of being a shade do not affect one’s physical strength, but instead have purely mental repercussions. However, it is quite common for shades to practice other forms of magic that result in weakening, resulting in the misconception that shade magic is physically weakening.

Soul Contract: To properly write the contracts, the user would need to spend extensive time reading and understanding the words and their meaning, as well as properly writing and carving perfect symbols. This would turn the user more into a scribe than a fighter, but the magic itself does not harm or weaken the physic. Some fighting capability is retained, but they would never be able to defeat a warrior in a one on one fight.
Soul Puppetry: The process of binding the soul to a puppet is a very unnatural one, and causes decay just as arcane magic does. One using this magic will face comparable deterioration as such.
Anti-Magic: Two souls in one body results very odd results, as the body was only made for one soul. As such, weird mental and physical deficiencies, including frailty, ensue, albeit less than that of a user of arcane magic.

Monk Magic: The users of this magic needn’t worry about whether or not they are weakened, as they do not participate in combat. However, it seems likely that there would be withering, if not due to their magic, then due to their lack of combat use.