[Magic Lore] Mysticism Addition

[Zarsies 6027]

It occurred to me that Mysticism has three things lacking, all of which are critically important in a magic: an emphasis on aesthetics (not so critical, to be honest, but very nice), a sturdy population, and disconnection. Therefore I wish to add an additional three rituals to the liturgy list in order to solve these holes. And conveniently, as of right now, Mysticism has not spread anywhere so there would be no change in how the magic is RPed or what is known due to only myself having open access to it thus far. Also, there are pictures this time!

 

The new rites list as:

 

Hindering - vainglory and empowerment.

 

 

Spoiler

To Hinder is to lessen the vitality of life of a given organism or, at times, area, and bring those afflicted closer to death. Much like Crowning, Hindering is where a mystic may bring the veil between the living and dead realms closer together. This is done by exuding ectoplasm and radiating the proximity of an individual, or directly bathing a single organism in ectoplasm. The direct effects of this are majorly for fashion: directly Hindering a mushroom will cause for it to become translucent, slightly decayed, and give off a faint glow of a blanched hue between green, blue, or some shades of violet. The same may occur to an animal, causing them to have a more frightening and spectral appearance. When emanating with ectoplasm, the very closest of one’s hands or body may temporarily transition into their spectral selves, however upon the immediate passage of the mystic would lose their glow and return to appearing normal. However, none of these things cause any true functional effect. The mushroom remains as it is, a mushroom and an animal remains an animal, although a little brighter. Lesser and Inferior Souls, as with Soul Essence, have no beneficial or harmful reaction to being exposed to ectoplasm.

 

As aforementioned in the original works of the mysticism draft, a mystic cannot manipulate or alter the ectoplasm or soul of another being, this majorly due to the ranking of mortal souls. Superior Souls, that of the Descendant races, are unable to be touched by Hindering due to their innate strength which disallows the tampering of meager forces. Thus an Orc or Halfling may not be Hindered and appear ghostly, lest they be not mystics themselves.

 

However, there is a greater usage of Hindering beyond visual flavor that comes in ritual format rather than an inhand ability. In the event of mass death, if present before an already established network of stone pillars and Menhir, mystics may discharge their ectoplasm around them like an aura. This causes no offensive or defensive results, however it does occupy the concentration of the given mystic. At this point, any death that may occur nearby will ‘dig a deeper hole’ and allocate greater size in impact. As more entities die within the aura, the more passage of souls, the layers between mortality slim by the puncturing caused by the living meeting death. Once a slaughter is complete, the affected location becomes permanently scarred by such an event. This is all possible by the radiation of ectoplasm, making for the barriers of realms weaker. The aftermath of this is a sort of ‘hole’ dug into the living realm, where the undead (specifically phantoms, meaning only ghosts, Gravens, and Apparitions) are empowered by the lack of resistance they meet by inherently existing. The abilities of phantoms are scaled up by their lessened effort to retain form upon the mortal plane in such a way that, for example, ghosts may touch objects or have a greater physical presence. The same applies to Gravens and Apparitions, where their talents are enhanced by the closeness to death in the area.

 

A model example of such an effect has already been experienced. In Athera, the region of Embermoor was a site in which these attributes were already present, however for unknown means. This ritual -- Hindering in large numbers -- replicates the likes of Embermoor where an area is permanently drawn towards the afterlife. In such a place, the fogs of death also known as deadbreath are likely to leak into the world and the creation of phantoms is moderately easier. As well, in regions which are Hindered, the sky has a great tendency to clot with an overhang of dull clouds and shrouds of mist, blocking out the sun. However, should the stone pillars supporting a suppression of life within a Hindered area all be destroyed, the ditch carved into the world would bounce back and remove the beneficial effects instilled in phantoms.

 

The only tier-related points of Hindering lie in the following:

Tier 1: the mystic may Hinder very small organisms such as grass and insects. They cannot exude ectoplasm and only direct it, meaning they are unable to participate in the Hindering of locations.

Tier 2: as before, they may only Hinder creatures and plants of small size however greater than previously mentioned such as birds or rodents.

Tier 3: now the mystic may push out their ectoplasm sufficient to perform locational Hindering and they may Hinder larger animals, such as canines, goats, or shrubs.

Tier 4: also able to Hinder areas alongside other mystics, the user is now able to effect greater organisms such as livestock or small trees.

Tier 5: the masterful mystic is able lead large area Hindering with other mystics and can Hinder the likes of trees, bears, and such sizable beings.

 

This is an example of a Wight riding a Hindered stallion while the area nearest them is Hindered may appear as.

 

 

This is what hindered land may appears as.

 

 

 

Tykes - sustained population.

 

 

Spoiler

Tykes are as the name suggests: children. However this isn’t literal, and more so in the sense of substance or ability. Tykes are a phenomenon only present in mysticism, of which are temporary ghosts or Gravens. Now, these entities are are created as a byproduct of Saturation. The same principles of Handling apply to it with rolls, where only successful rolls allow for the creation of Tykes. They may be played by the character slain or may be kept to emerge from a corpse at a later time where the mystic who created the Tyke would control it, much like a conjurationist RPs their summon or a necromancer RPs their zombies. However, unlike those examples, mystics have no mental dominance over the Tykes they create and cannot puppeteer them and thus relay instruction verbally or through bodily motions. If another player plays a Tyke -- a ghost or Graven of their character -- they must be debriefed by their controlling mystic the strengths, weaknesses, and behaviors of what the phantom does. If the mystic is the one to RP the Tyke, then they must know the same features of the phantom. Now, on Tykes themselves, they exist from creation to destruction or over the course of a year (one real life day) and scale in effectiveness with the tier of which their creator made them. They are as follows:

Tier 1: /roll 20, success is 16 and up. The Tyke is very, very weak and are likely to demanifest on their own.

Tier 2: /roll 20, success is 13 and up. The Tyke is equivalent to a newborn ghost or Graven and are fairly incompetent.

Tier 3: /roll 20, success is 10 and up. The Tyke is equal to an established ghost (a Haunt) or Graven, having the combative prowess of one -- that being, not often much.

Tier 4: /roll 20, success is 7 and up. The Tyke is akin to a greater ghost (a Revenant) or older Graven, now more conclusive and firm than before.

Tier 5: /roll 20, success is 4 and up. The Tyke is born as a relatively strong ghost (a Poltergeist / Spectre) or ancient Graven. They are well endowed with their spectral abilities.

 

This is an example of Tykes being used to capture a man may appear as.

 

 

 

Sapping - magic removal.

 

[This section has been hidden and will be submitted privately in order to avoid metagaming relating to the nature of having the magic removed.]

 

 

Red lines:

-Hindering organisms is solely aesthetic and has utterly no other usage.

-Hindering of locations must have at the very least six deaths, increasing in size with the number of those slain.

-A mystic may have a maximum of three Tykes, and for each Tyke already had that day the difficulty in creating another increases. With each successful Tyke made, the threshold for success increases by 4.

 

 

This has been moved to the Outdated Lore archive to be efficient and save space. The Original lore has had the Additions edited in:

 

 

[GDPR 014 23]

I thought this was already in the lore. Oh well, +1

[Zarsies 6027]

Accepted!

 

^ayyy