The Rebirth — Tempered Souls (Fi')

[Supremacy 3357]

 

The Tempering of Souls

 

The Fi’ who so wander this world are not those who had done so in the past. The ancient art, riddled in mystery and ritual had been lost to time— lost to the gradual dispersion of the once proud Elibar’acal. And yet, the Golden Veil cracks. There was wealth to be found in this realm of Vailor, and not wealth of jewels… But wealth sealed within a Golden Tomb.

 

The Lifting— Sacrifice

 

It is not the act of the ancient Golden Owls to tear a soul from a freshly butchered corpse. Nor is it the way of them to kill a stranger. The acts of the Golden Owl was one of deep sadness, and wickedness. A life taken was no stranger. A life taken was done so for the one purpose, tied up upon a Soul Altar and— with a blade infused with the power of Fi— their very life essence harvested from them. Torn from their mortal being and into eternal servitude within the soul of their master. It is tempered and placed. It is without this ritual, without the very precision of the Ancient Elibar’acal, that a soul reaped is but a fraction of the use of one taken with proper method.

 

The Tempered and Untempered Soul

 

Without such the practitioner is limited to the simple, familiar mist of the Fi— but with it… The possibilities become a far more interesting affair entirely. It is the Untempered Fi’ practitioner who may, in truth, be able to output a more raw flurry of power. But he who has sacrificed and bound the soul, the Tempered user, who can forge things far more useful than initial apperances would ever reveal.

 

Thusly there finds a split amongst the Fi’ mages— those who temper their souls and those, perhaps unaware of the Ancient Ways— who do not (ikur). The Tempered (thill) soul has lost its true essence. The true soul passes on, or ceases, and it is merely the apparatus of the soul which is used. The true individual is lost. Thusly this harvest’s end result is a knife to the heart. A death. Strictly speaking there is nothing unholy about a Tempered Soul, at least to the degree that any murderer is not unholy. Simply… A horrific person.

 

It has been harvested to be bound separate to the practitioners own soul, yet in harmony with it— no longer truly separate. The Tempered Practitioner (thill) finds themselves, at the expence of raw power also found at a second disadvantage. That their captured soul, in the destruction of itself is weaker— and so must be fueled. Strictly speaking it is not a soul. The soul is gone. It is a conduit for a second connection. All magic is poured through this window. Thusly non-standard magics can be drained too.

 

As a consequence of this, the Fi’ practitioners with Tempered souls find themselves capable of infusing weaponry with magics-bane qualities and need not split themselves between holy and voidal magics. They are, however, still restrained to only practicing Fi' and are still physically weaker than their non-magical counterparts. They retain all abilities of the "normal" Fi' mage.

 

The Binding Stone

 

The Tempered Fi’ practitioner finds themselves with a ravenous imperfect soul bound to them, something which must be fueled. It is such that a Binding Stone is forged— an object in which the essence of incomplete, and, sometimes completed souls must be harvested. This is seen, most often through the harvesting of the essence of Soul Shadows and Fragments. Whereby the Fi’ practitioner seeks out ghosts, gravens and apparitions— along with other spectral beings— to harvest them of their power. It is notable that this, in and of itself, is no particular immoral act. For it is known, quite plainly, at least to many practitioners of the Ancient way, that these souls are fragments— not true souls. Thusly the act is a release for something that is not sentient or true. Often times the stone itself is placed in a Lantern or other such object.

 

 

Strictly speaking— energy may be harvested from live souls too. It is the act, however, of the more violent Fi’ for many are high elves— finding violence distasteful. Undesirable.

 

Essence Libraries

 

A Fi’ practitioner is capable of keeping what might be deemed a collection of souls. For just as one can harvest souls and feed them into a binding soul— so can one leave a soul. Thusly, should one capture more than one soul— it can be… swapped in and out. This is little use for tempered souls (for they are dead), however, in this way somewhat of a “library” of untempered souls could be made.

 

 

Partial Binding

 

Spirits and other similar spectral beings can be partially bound. Their soul essence not fed into the binding stone, but rather isolated in a separate one. Should the binding stone crack the creature could be freed. However, the more "powerful" the soul, the more difficult it is to contain. None-the-less... Such spectrals can sometimes be bound, and sometimes even used.

 

The Rending

 

The Rending is a ritual of extracting a part, but not a whole, of an individual's soul. Often used to tear corruption from within, the method has been employed against shades. It, however, required repeated use to truly tear corruption from the soul. ((OOC consent, temporary or permanent removal of soul afflictions)). It can, more maliciously, be used to tear the essence of an individual out of them— creating a husk of what lay there before.

 

Polyessence

 

Strictly speaking it is possible for a Fi’ practitioner to contain more than one essence at a time. However, the taxing components of fatigue, dizzyness and headaches increase exponentially. Thusly it is inadvisable and weakening.

 

On Morality

 

While it is the untempered Fi’ mage who is, by their own nature, unholy. It is the Tempering of souls which shifts its nature elsewise to something entirely, depending on its use, moral.. The Tempering of an unholy individual’s soul is a purge. They pass on, without chance of resurrection by the monks. Now… Of course… If you’re just killing monks and children, you’re still unholy. But if you’re systematically purging necromancers, apparitions and others— then you are not.

 

For this purpose it allows a dichotomy. "Holy" or at least good and unholy.

 

To be entirely honest— the purpose would be to make a "good" or "holy" order to purge evil spectral creatures (i.e. Apparitions). So at least for what I might want to do with it— it might be Holy of sorts.

Edited October 20, 2015 by Supremacy

[ShameJax 1391]

And MagicPastry claims this isn't the edgiest dark magic...

Is this a lore submission or canon?

[Supremacy 3357]

Submission. To be totally accurate; this can be Holy if done correctly.

 

• You're using a death to forge a second connection.
• Kill a Necromancer
• The necromancer had to die anyway
• The necromancer dies, you do not trap them
• You can now remove unholy things

Edited October 18, 2015 by Supremacy

[ShameJax 1391]

Then yeah, I support this!

 

drfate soulmancy 2.0?

[zaezae 1097]

"The Tempering of an unholy individual’s soul is a purge. They pass on, without chance of resurrection by the monks."

Could you explain this for me?

[Drak3 365]

I'd like to ask on what kind of creatures it would be able to purge in details. Just ghosts and such as incorporeal beings,. Or actual people who have been tainted by dark art usage over long periods of time. Such as soul puppeteers, Frost Witches and Wraiths. 

[Supremacy 3357]

You need someone to agree to a PK. The death is a "conduit" to make a second bridge to the void. That is all. 

[Supremacy 3357]

I'd like to ask on what kind of creatures it would be able to purge in details. Just ghosts and such as incorporeal beings,. Or actual people who have been tainted by dark art usage over long periods of time. Such as soul puppeteers, Frost Witches and Wraiths. 

 

This magic exists. It drains magic. This modification adds a morally acceptable form with a changed set of lore.

[zaezae 1097]

You need someone to agree to a PK. The death is a "conduit" to make a second bridge to the void. That is all. 

Oh, okay then all is well.

[itdontmatta 7192]

null

[BrandNewKitten 2789]

Can this do mists still? Or is it just through weaponry?

[Supremacy 3357]

Mist is still real— just weaker with a tempered soul. They still drain magic more efficiently than it is made though. The weapons are an alternative. You're still physically weaker, just less so. Think Cleric vs. Mage.

Edited October 18, 2015 by Supremacy

[BrandNewKitten 2789]

What would the benefits of going with an untempered soul? It seems like this is more of a magic rewrite. 

Is this almost specifically geared towards non-living things? Whereas untempered souls are geared towards mages?

Edited October 18, 2015 by BrandNewKitten

[Supremacy 3357]

Untempered Soul — Regular Fi. Morally ambiguous. 

Tempered Soul — New Fi! Not really ambiguous.

Untempered— More power.

Tempered— Can enchant weapons you have on your person.

Tempered— Any magic.

Untempered— Division in two.

Untempered— No feeding.

Tempered— Must feed spectrals.

[BrandNewKitten 2789]

Woo! Thanks for the info. Your style of writing for this piece was a fun read but I was having trouble grasping the concepts. Thus a few more questions, Connor, because my interest is peaked!

 

Can you talk a little more about storing the souls? Would Fi mages be able to trade/steal souls from each other? Could one theoretically never have to kill anything to get the magic if someone simply gives them a soul (if you can trade souls). Can old fi mages learn this or are they locked out? Does this magic effect mages the same way?

 

And lastly! Would you consider adding something like the new paladin rule that if you learn void magic your fi level becomes a tier 1-2 ?

Edited October 18, 2015 by BrandNewKitten