[Lore Addition] Voidal Shifting - Anchors & Resonance

[BrandNewKitten 2789]

It’s that time of the month again & much like how Arcane Evocation was expanded I am now here to revisit shifting lore and find possible expansions. Currently shifting is pretty kick-ass and offers high mobility in combat situations, something that has been fun to play around with. However it has been sort of lacking in that it only can ever do a single thing. With its limits the only viable uses of the magic are to dodge attacks and escape or to use it as an engage. Going forward I like to keep to the support-style magic that shifting is and add some neat spells. Without further ado;

 

 

-= Voidal Shifting Additions =-

 

Shifting has long been the art of the nimble mobility mage but has been left largely undeveloped and left in the shadows of the once great magic, blinking. Now, with the magic grown, it's foundations researched and it's users experienced new avenues of usage are being discovered. Not from the actual act of shifting one's bodies but instead controlling the technique used to shift, the voidal anchor. The anchor is what a shifter casts in order to keep their forms from dispersing into the void, never to return. With each of these spells we see the energy output that would go into a shift instead heading between anchors directly. This rippling effect is no more harmful than shove but can cause debilitating slows  and dazes to control the manipulate the movement of foes. It's weakness is in that it can deal no direct damage and has no power immediately knock-out or kill an opponent. Among the magics shifting requires extremely careful planning and precision but through the new spells there are now other strategies to explore as well as giving it a more defined purpose & role as a subtype.
 

Voidal Anchor - The anchor is the integral function of voidal shifting and is what allows the caster safe-passage through the void. When cast on non-living objects, things without aura, the voidal anchor is almost invisible and represented by a feebly small black dot. It serves as a point of concentration and the end point for a mage as they shift through the void.

 

Voidal Anchor II - Now void anchors can be cast on living objects, things that produce aura, and glows with the caster’s distinct aura color. The act of placing an anchor on a sentient being is not instant and instead of being able to freely attach one the caster must cast an anchor and launch it at their target. The projectile anchor, unlike a regular anchor, is visible. The small black dot (the anchor) is now about the size of an egg and glows with the caster’s aura color. An opponent facing a shifter would be able to notice the anchor being formed and if hit by it wouldn’t be injured. They would instead have energy glowing from where the area that was hit, signalling to both the caster and the victim that the anchor has been placed.

 

Voidal Anchor III - Multiple void anchors can be placed. However if the caster wishes to cause distinct interactions other than shifting themselves they must place the larger anchors. A normal anchor is not able to be placed and then turned into a larger anchor either. Once multiple large anchors (noted by their visible glow) are hooked in the caster can proceed to perform an array of spells. Anchors share an invisible, non-binding, tether which acts as a focal point. Being affected by the ripple affect is like a concentrated earthquake is happening just over your body, restricting your ability to move your limbs to a degree. This means that the victim CAN still move but are greatly impaired and slowed while doing so. The reverberation only lasts a few moments though so a shifter using them is often less viable if they are trying to take on an opponent(s) by themselves.

 

Voidal Pulse - Where a normal anchor glows, this spell requires an incomplete anchor to be formed and it pulses. This signals to both the caster and the opponent that an anchor is going to be thrown but it won’t hook into the target. Instead the act of shooting off an anchor but not allowing it to hooking causes a ripple in the void. The consequence of this is intense vibrations that catch up with the target area. While difficult to land a direct hit if an opponent is hit they will suffer the effects of the ripple in the form of impairment of coordination, causing potent slowness. The act of getting hit by a pulse is not life-threatening by itself but if landed near the head it can also daze the target, even debilitate. If the pulse does not land on a target and instead an obstacle or terrain the immediate area is affected by a pulse about half the strength of one that did hit a target

 

Voidal Resonance - When at least two anchors are hooked in and within proximity of each other the act of sending a voidal pulse towards one will cause it to reverberate between them. The effect is similar to a voidal pulse but it is drawn out. One anchor will be affected before the energy is thrown to the next anchor freeing the previous one for a moment before the pulse travels back. It bounces between the anchors until the anchors are no longer in proximity to each other, or if an obstacle comes between them or the caster dissolves the anchor or if one anchor in the chain is broken. ( Proximity is best measured by blocks. 1-2 blocks between anchors causes almost constant reverberation. 3-5 blocks have a few second delay increasing a second per block after 6+ blocks and ending if more than 10 blocks of space are between the anchors. )

 

Leash - The caster can now launch and pull anchors towards other anchors. The caster is only able to drag one anchor at a time. One anchor is placed on a target or terrain and another is placed on a separate target. The caster pulls that second anchor towards the other, destroying the anchors, and in the process sending whatever it was attached to towards the other anchor. The heavier the target the less they are moved by the leash. The act of leashing does not cause injury but can cause the target to suffer from collisions.

 

Bounce - The user can throw their bodies between set, hooked in, anchors. The act of doing this is much less controlled and can cause the user to be thrown from the void should their anchors become blocked by an obstacle. This allows the caster to transition between set points more rapidly. Likewise if the anchors are set on living targets a shifter can bounce between them destroying the anchors to cause a more intense voidal pulse, possibly knocking an opponent down. 

 

 

TLDR; 

 

- Two types of anchors. Personal anchors for shifting and hooking anchors. Hooking anchors are larger and allow different spells to be cast.

- New spells cause debilitation if head hits are landed but mostly just used for slowing enemies and positioning control.

 

 

Questions? This may be subject to change though I would like to have a talk with the LT per usual to hash out ideas. Shifting is over half a year old and suffers from what arcane missiles suffered from. It's currently a potent single spell. Sound magic is the inspiration as you can see. I think this may cause a larger draw and better define the magic. It's a position control magic. It has no direct killing power but can be devastating in team combat! Yas!

[BrandNewKitten 2789]

-= RESERVED FOR EDITS =-

[ShameJax 1391]

I like it. I like it indeed.

[Runabarn 1026]

I think you're getting too far away from what the magic is supposed to be. You're turning a magic that focuses solely on granting incredible mobility to the caster into another "combat magic". Can't say I approve, sadly.

 

Keep the additions that affect the caster only, remove the ones that have an effect on someone else. Then perhaps it'd be more reasonable.

[BrandNewKitten 2789]

It's always been a combat magic. The magic plays with mobility. This is just expanding on the concept and transitioning into a mobility control magic, something we only have in the form of physical restriction. This opens difficult to cast but rewarding when planned out spells. 

 

Much like how Arcanism was once arcane evocation and shielding and arcane evocation was just magic missiles, shifting suffers from what it did. While the spell it casts is cool and potent the sub-type lacks substance and thus lacks diversity in roleplay. 

[Booklight12 477]

As someone who enjoys your lore BNK I have to agree with Whim, I feel like a lot of these additions add more than the magic itself is really coming from someone from the outside. Though yes it may be a combative magic in nature. I feel like it'd be best to make it so it doesn't directly interact with people, instead just on the user itself. Besides that, I also feel as though it is rather complicated. Reading over once I had difficulty grasping what each spell does. And just how some of the things will interact with other people may be a bit complicated as it may cause issue in just how some players could react with these spells. I will not deny it is written well and I like the concept of some magics having spells. I just feel that Voidal Shifting should remain as it is, as a blinking magic about the caster being mobile in combat, or to escape. 

  This doesn't mean that some of the spells that interact with others couldn't be brought into other magics. Or even go as far as to make a magic in itself in the manipulation of speeds and or gravity or something. Get what i'm trying to say homie?

[BrandNewKitten 2789]

I do see what you mean and that was my reservations going into this addition. However the point of this addition is fill in the magic with diversity without having to introduce another mode of casting. The "anchor" was introduced when shifting was accepted and was something I have been interested in expanding upon. I felt that I could more easily incorporate a sort of "sound magic," without it being sound magic, into shifting. While I know this pushes the concept of what shifting does it is really about offering more ways to roleplay with voidal anchors instead of a single spell for an entire magic subtype. It's about re-visioning the subtype so that it's like all other subtypes and not a one-trick pony. =]

[DISCOLIQUID 1963]

I as well feel that these changes will allow the magic to grow too far in power. A simplistic and moderately whimsical magic is being turned into a powerhouse of mobility that would rival all other magics. Instantaneous movement is often overlooked as powerful, but there's a reason that flash is the most used summoner's spell on League of Legends.

 

 

[BrandNewKitten 2789]

I appreciate your guys feedback ^_^ Ima keep on trucking though. Gotta see this through! :D

[Swgrclan 2633]

Lore for shifting never seemed to implicate that it was a "whimsical" magical art -- it was merely a means for a mage to mobilize in a much more efficient manner, and confront combat with a more evasive stratagem. I'm also pretty sure BNK wrote lore for shifting, so he's the one to dictate what kind of magic shifting actually is intended to be, anyway.

[Mephistophelian 972]

Maybe it is the exhaustion, but maybe these abilities could be better explained, too. Also, blinking is powerful enough. Must we make it something that can do more? Idk, I'm just tired.

[Wendigo 786]

I have to agree with alot of the other people in here, but I feel like you're taking an already incredible magic that allows almost instantaneous travel (which lore wise is pretty incredible and good job getting it approved by the lore team) and turning it into something else.  

[BrandNewKitten 2789]

I think I am being pretty clear that is exactly what I am doing. Shifting is really cool. It's also just a single spell. One spell as a subtype is a bit odd so as someone who uses the subtype I find it would be much more interesting to roleplay out the use of several spells around a theme. 

 

It's really easy to say it's powerful enough, especially if you haven't RPed it or with it, but the fact is subtypes with more diversity offer more enjoyment in RP. 

[Tsuyose 3283]

Currently being reviewed.

 

Expect an official response from the LT within a week.

[Wretched 2038]

Unfortunately the team has denied this lore. But feel free to shoot me up with a PM if you have any questions.

 

Moved to denied lore forum.