[ Revisions ] Blood Magic Variation

[Swgrclan 2632]

The Diversity of Blood Magic

“The blood, it sings to me …

It’s enough to make a man sick.”

 

With the second coming of Blood Magic, the once-obscure art had been expanded immensely by it’s “Archdragon” forefather, the dragonkin Malghourn; a dragon of legends that had gained sentience through the powers of Setherien. It is in the blood of mortals that he discovered an essence he dubbed “Genus”, and upon this essence he produced a variety of theorems regarding it. Only one among them was factual - that if pulled from the blood, this Genus could be used to enhance all forms of magic that utilize mana. This meant opportunities were unbound, and that Blood Mages were not confined to a single trope; any power of theirs could be enhanced. It just took getting them.

 

The studies of Genus had been passed down to the shadowed Blood Mage, Valgautr, who made an effort to preserve the collection works of himself and his draconian master before seemingly to disappear entirely from the mortal lands. Their works mostly focused on differing theorems regarding Genus; one spoke of how Genus was the catalyst of mana in the blood that actually allowed mana to be used, implying further that Genus is dormant and when manipulated it is “awakened”, therefore allowing greater magical aptitude. Another theory stated that some races held different ranges of Genus - High Elves had much innate Genus, whereas Dwarves had none, which led to the cultural anomaly of magical rarity within Dwarven society, and the taboo associated with it. Of course, all of these things were incorrect, though in the end Valgautr did make some accurate allusions.

 

Throughout his mastery of Blood Magic, Valgautr had been making an effort to prove his thesis on “Genus Diversity”; the concept that Genus could be applied to the mana behind any form of magic, and by extension be able to empower any form of supernatural abilities that depended on mana as a base resource. All forms of magic utilize mana, so when he converged the essence of Blood Magic upon his strange powers of Druidism, there transpired the expected effect. However, something or another had been done in error, for Valgautr explained his more successful tests ending in “hazardous miscalculation”, speaking warily of the forces of nature he manipulated as if they sought to rebel against him.

 

Whatever this miscalculation alluded to did not obscure the plain facts: all magics, even deific forms, can be heightened by Blood Magic. Furthermore, the old theorems regarding Genus are falsities in the fact that it is a catalyst, for it is merely a dormant form of latent mana and nothing more. By awakening this innate mana pool, one may sacrifice their blood (or that of others) for the sake of vastly enhancing magical power and as an alternative or extraneous mana pool. The science to explain Genus Diversity is this: if the objective ability is powered by mana, it may be enhanced by Blood Magic. Examples of this are limitless.

 

Some can be easily portrayed. Valgautr’s meddling of Druid magic serves as a prime instance, as his focus was mostly reserved for Nature’s Communion and Nature Control. By calling upon these seperate powers and individually imbuing them with the innate mana that Blood Magic may draw upon, his abilities were heightened a great deal -- listening to the world around him was a constant buzz where every whisper of the trees were caught and every blade of grass could be heard swaying against the winds. His control of nature had also become empowered, with him being able to command the life around him as if he was a king among his subjects. Of course, this scales with the mastery of the art; he was allegedly a Druid of yore, and thus his skill was high, so these results were a maximum at best.

 

A baseless, hypothetical example would be both the use of Cleric magic and Necromancy’s Lifeforce manipulation. With Blood Magic, a Cleric would be able to enhance their healing powers to the point where minor bodily assets could be completely regenerated -- ears, noses, eyes, all reformed by empowering the mana that guided their holy powers with the innate mortal energies of Genus. Necromancy would be a more underlying effect, as a Necromancer expends their mana to manipulate Lifeforce, which is then used for further abilities. As their mana is just used for this, it means the process of guiding Lifeforce would be quickened, keen and stronger in focus when empowered by Blood Magic, meaning reanimations could be stronger under the influence of Genus, and taint can be both conjured quicker and with a more aggressive behaviour.

 

This portrays the objective nature Genus Diversity; Genus may empower the mana behind specific spells and abilities, and cannot be spread across general forms of magic. There must be form, purpose and design behind each spell; a Fire Evocationist can boost a fireball they can conjure, but they cannot enhance their casting times. An Enchanter may make their augments more volatile or effective, but he cannot make them last forever (but rather have shorter duration, as they expend more power). A Cleric may enhance their powers of healing or use Genus as an alternative source of mana to prevent exhaustion, but not to strengthen their connection to their deity - etcetera. Specificity is key with the laws of Genus.

 

So, in conclusion, the purpose of this revision is this: Blood Magic can, without deter, empower all forms of magic, whether dark, arcane or deific. As the method of extracting Genus is only morally dark, and Genus is a natural substance, there would be no reason or detection of evil in its use; only that it is a greater power source. Also, Genus is now defined as just innate blood-mana.

[ShameJax 1391]

This is some much needed clarification; previously blood magic's effect on other arts was rather obscure. A wonderful addition, Swgr.

[Will (TauFirewarrior) 2464]

Should help the Magic develop into new places. Well written.

[𝙻𝚞𝚟 XO 3062]

Very nicely written, and very much needed.

[Scuba 281]

Honestly, it's cool this empowers deity users. You commonly worship your patron, gain their gifts, then fall stagnant somewhat. A cleric for example earning this is neat-o. 

Good writing as always, thanks for the lore. 

[excited 10833]

Clerics break their vows enough already, why give further incentives for them to move onto the anti-hero path? 

[TavernLich 324]

I’m going to be honest. I like the writing, very much. But I’m not comfortable in allowing BLOOD magic to be able to assist/ empower deity magic. It seems counter intuitive to have BLOOD magic be able to do so when the magic itself is very much clearly an ‘evil/ dark’ magic. You can make an argument otherwise but you just can’t win, especially when this magic is called BLOOD magic. I also agree with PD, the anti-hero path has become rather repetitive and kind of annoying to be honest. It’s become like the new ‘cliche’ of RP. -1

[ℤ∃ʁ∅ 823]

2 hours ago, aerialkebab said:

Clerics break their vows enough already, why give further incentives for them to move onto the anti-hero path? 

As a cleric, ^ pretty much.

I don't even think that Tahariae would even allow a cleric to suck the blood from the enemy and buff themselves for their spell. That still seems pretty dark to me..

[Malaise 1569]

3 hours ago, Redxophos said:

 You can make an argument otherwise but you just can’t win, especially when this magic is called BLOOD magic

 

 

Here, we see a wicked, unspeakable ritual of pure, unbridled malice. This man is interacting with BLOOD, a known, evil trigger word. All men are evil as well, for blood fuels them, and therefore makes them demons.

 

Blood magic can use your own blood, @Zero. You don't have to sap it from another being, at all. In fact, holy mages who may heal themselves are even likelier to do this, as necromancers, blood mages, shades, etc. all have downsides with weakness and corruption, making self-draining a harmful thing.

[ℤ∃ʁ∅ 823]

8 minutes ago, Matt_dew said:

 

 

Blood magic can use your own blood, @Zero. You don't have to sap it from another being, at all. In fact, holy mages who may heal themselves are even likelier to do this, as necromancers, blood mages, shades, etc. all have downsides with weakness and corruption, making self-draining a harmful thing.

Alright I see what you mean now. But I still don't think, an holy deity would allow for their users to hold that ability. As Pd said in a way, it can lead a door way to anti-hero path. Yes that can be an cool twist to add in rp, but primary they would have would stop working once they did wrong. Then tracked down and disconnected (aka your holy magic is removed, no if ands or buts.) So I am on the fence with blood magic being for clerics as one myself. Yes cool idea, but can open a path to rogues which is something to think on. 

[TavernLich 324]

20 minutes ago, Matt_dew said:

 

 

Here, we see a wicked, unspeakable ritual of pure, unbridled malice. This man is interacting with BLOOD, a known, evil trigger word. All men are evil as well, for blood fuels them, and therefore makes them demons.

 

Okay. If we are going to be passive aggressive, then I may as well give context as to why Blood Mages are evil; if you are one of the few who don’t see why this magic is evil right off the bat, this will help enlighten you. From what I’ve seen/ heard I’ve never seen blood mages use their own blood. Instead, they’ve cut open other plebs and suck the life out of them to empower their magic. They learned blood magic by worshiping a drake, which if you didn’t know is an evil, poisonous dragon. Then this psuedo everything magic can then summon forth voidal horrors. Damn, that’s not evil.                      

 What I’m trying to say is that blood magic is inherently evil. I just don’t see how you can get past that and then offer this as a means to increase a relatively peaceful/ benevolent deity magic.

[TeaLulu 1783]

here's the problem with all objections based on "Tah wouldn't allow that!" and "Xan wouldn't like that!" and "holy deities wouldn't let their people use that!"

 

it doesn't matter what they want/like.

 

Plenty of clerics, ascended, paladins, druids, have all diverged from the designated "path" of their Patrons. They still remained connected to their magic. There is no slingshot raygun long-distance disconnection. The holders of the Aengudaemon's powers are their literal hands and feet on the mortal plane. They literally have to enact their will, as the Aengudaemons cannot do that themselves without descending. Aengudaemonic patrons disconnecting people from afar because of the person's actions is powergaming. The Patrons cannot govern themselves what a mortal does with their power once they have it.

 

The other issue is, it is a misnomer to refer to any Aengudaemonic powers as "holy". They are, yes, specifically designed to combat 'taint' based magics, but that doesn't make them holy. It just means they were specifically designed for that purpose. So you can't say, based on the justification that some Aengudaemonic magic is "holy" that it would be incompatible with certain other magics, unless those magics literally involved the user being tainted, and the aengudaemonic magic in question was designed to fight taint. Those two things are incompatible. Its like if there was an Aengudaemonic magic specifically designed to combat voidal magic; It would then make no sense if that user was a voidal mage.

 

But blood magic isn't "tainted" and doesn't qualify as a "tainted" magic, so there is no reason it is incompatible with any other magic. 

 

Thus, any arguments that "x Aengudaemon wouldn't allow that" or "holy magic can't be used in conjunction with this!" fall through the floor and are rendered useless.

[Space 2332]

3 hours ago, aerialkebab said:

Clerics break their vows enough already, why give further incentives for them to move onto the anti-hero path? 

 

i too hate adding moral complexity to characters

 

as in, anit-hero'ing is good and should be able to be done

[excited 10833]

Just now, Space said:

 

i too hate adding moral complexity to characters

 

as in, anit-hero'ing is good and should be able to be done

Clerics are rather special because they are meant to hold to their faith, but regardless I talked to Cameron on Skype and feel it's harmless to toss them Blood Magic anyway. Like, I don't mind anti-heroes, I play one and all, but when I go up against a Cleric I don't want them to be some atheist who denies the faith exchange for their powers.

It's more of a pet peeve for me as a former deity mage, something that really irks me. However the possibility of deity mages going rogue to use this does interest me. 

[Achilles 891]

Blood Magic is very grey, and is not inherently evil.

Has it been used to conduct unspeakable acts? Yes.

 

Of course this is not the magic's fault, more so it's users which are primarily of the "evil/neutral/chaotic" role. If this power were to fall into the hands of a hero "lawful/neutral/good/chaotic" whatever, depending on how they utilize this newly unlocked talent... could actually make role play very interesting. It could be considered morally wrong, but that is what I would like to call an opinion. Opinions are fine! In my opinion, I could see a very tough; very devout druid dipping into "darker arts" in self sacrifice to accomplish feats no other druid could ever achieve in the heat of the moment. There are many really interesting arch-types for what makes a player's character fulfill the role "anti-hero" or just being bad at what they do. There is no right or wrong here. Same can be said for clerics, mages, and paladins. Though I understand that is a very iffy subject as it is.

I fully support an idea like this, I think we should find new ways to break boundaries in sub-types and adapt our lore, find ways to interlink lore with other lore. This also should be a reminder to every other magic group that there is no limit to this. You can always come up with ideas like this for your own magics, lore additions are a thing for that very reason! I think this is the first step in a wonderful direction for storytelling and character development.

 

I don't think we should be denying this idea outright because it could be seen as morally wrong, or actually breaking rules; because it doesn't. Lore is meant to adapt, not stagnate. If anything, I believe the lore should be changed to fit a more broader neutral background then to be called "dark" magic and evil.

 

Anyways, keep the discussion clean folks!