[✗] [V2] The Burden of the Wardens

[Zarsies 6024]

Here is a link to the doc where it is most presentable.

 

Below is it copy/pasted.

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR3iTJrWFUI

 

The Burden of the Wardens

Weirhency. The Burden; its users, wardens. It is a verdant tree of twisting paths and forgotten ways, some branches secluded and decrepit whilst others have grown thick and thorny. Namely, Wardens reap the soul essence of plants and animals in the form of wilderblood, kept in different charms, to dominate nature with their will through their Covenant.

 

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‘To know both Life and Death

Is to live the life of the warden

To know that this bliss will end

That paradise is a dream

Knowing is to be kin with the gods

Shouldering the immense burden

The power that comes with Knowing’

 

Animals are blessed by the standards of a druid. A druid knows that this world is not simply a place of rampant life and grand expectations, but also a place of death and destruction. Not every dream of Life is sacred, for some must be cut down in the wake of Death to make way for new Life. There are many sacrifices that must be made by the living to make way for more living; the Cycle is the name given to this. The beasts themselves, the trees that sway in the deepest reaches of our forests, do not know this. Just as when one is sleeping and wanders through the annals of a dream, these creatures are too enraptured by the earth to know of the whole truth, to know of their coming demise. In a way they lead the best and most untouched lives as instinct guides them rather than a damned fear of the end. Once they have been wrenched from their place in the light, there is but a singular emotion that comes to fount within their mind. A single base and primal feeling that can be described by only one word, and yet be understood so little.

 

Hate. Overwhelming and incurable hate born from those self same instincts that lit the path through life, now only capable of pawing helplessly at the chilling currents of death. Thus it is said that the Aspects save them from their hate and usher them into a new paradise; as shepherds saving their flock, they give them a new realm of verdant life to pacify their anger, though that primal hate is also a notable resource. The Old Lord of Oaks, Brandh, of the ancient world who stalked the undergrowth clad in black knew this. He knew the true hate of the animal mind as it learnt the truth of his predicament, and he also learnt through occult methods how one might bring that hate back unto the fold of Life. How to make such a hate cling to the Living world and use it to influence the wider natural world.

 

That Upon Which Things Are Predicated - The Circle

 

A circle of stones of concord in a terraformed grove.

 

The term ‘circle’ was assimilated into wider druidic culture following the widespread influence of the Old Lord of Oaks. Originally it was as to him what it is to the druids of today; but a new term for family, or pack. A collection of druidic folk who thought in a like minded fashion about the ways of the world, and thus could easily work together to further their own goals. With centuries of study, it also came to be the name for a grand machination of powerful magic, a ritual of truly magnificent importance.  

 

It was once thought that without the power of the Aspects, achieving control over nature was impossible. Mortal men simply lacked the capacity to commune with the natural world's energies as a whole without the aid of the divine, for reaching out to such a vast swathe of the world was too taxing. Among the dark arts in the arsenal of the Lord of Oaks, blood magic, by its very nature, was a tool perfectly made to solve this problem. Over many years of dedicated study, a coven of wayward disciples of Brandh and he himself discovered a method by which to garner power over nature by blood magic alone, albeit incomplete. A stone circle was erected, the first of many ritual sites, whilst each stone was carved in exquisite runes of a new library. Meditation and contemplation alone had allowed this coven the ability to forge their own blood rune, a single design which called forth natural energies, just as the Naushindtor-Lexri of the Archdragon’s Canon, the most famous library of blood runes, holds elemental runes which represent elemental energies such as fire, water, earth, or air. Repeated again and again, woven into the stones of their circle with exquisite precision, these blood mages of the Old Lord enacted a ritual to leash natural energies at their side.

 

On that day, the first wardens submitted themselves not to the Pact of the Aspects, but to the Covenant of Oaks, a binding contract enscribed in new blood runes which miraculously appeared upon the circle of stones of concord, forged in the black sorcery of the Lord of Oaks. These new runes became the primary tool of the wardens as they experimented and learnt their usage, a wholly untouched library of ‘Tree-Tongue’ forged from the tampering and experimenting with power derived from the natural world.

 

As a result of their Covenant, wardens gain the natural ability to create Paths, temporary links that allow Wardens to reach out and touch the souls of animals and plants. These Paths allow wardens to empathically communicate with natural energies including lifeforce, genus, and ectoplasm to bring about specific, liturgy-like effects. As a warden grows in power, their capability to maintain Pathways grows and thusly strengthens their prowess in art. A warden uses this ability to guide and manipulate the soul essence of deceased plants and animals -- dubbed wilderblood -- though this ability is virtually useless without further knowledge of warden magic, found firstly and primarily in the usage of Command.

 

These ancient wardens erected stone circles covered in blood runes for use in a ritual by which to  call upon the powers of the natural world, hidden in the darkness of lifeforce, genus, and ectoplasm. Once this grand feat had been achieved and recorded, the first circle of weirhents spent many years deciphering the ‘speech’ of nature, transcribing what intimations they had as new blood runes; this new library of symbols made up the bulk of their arts. With time this new form of mortal magic was spread to new covens and circles, many of which were sadly lost come the war with Iblees. Only the Old Lord himself retains the memory of these lost libraries, kept lost for unknown reasons. From these libraries came Brandh’s circle; wardens are bound to the Covenant as enscribed by the Old Lord, binding them to the contract written upon the first Circle of stones of concord; its heart, the largest stone, is the Throne of Oaks, the Old Lord’s seat of power in contrast to his peers, the Umbral Throne of the Old Lord of Umbrage and the Throne of Strife of the Nameless Lord. This throne of root-covered rock bears the secrets of weirhency, the Burden, upon its slabs. Here, a secret is embedded in the stone, only legible through careful study of the runes; the instructions to teaching, and from the Old Lord upon the throne, the recipe to circle-making and the secret to Obstruction, should he give them. As well, laws; rules no Warden can break without crippling their magic and, if persistent, ejecting them from their own Circle. Thus was the will of the Brandh.

 

A stone circle is the store of power that a warden will call upon to use their art. Once welcomed into a circle and bound to the Covenant struck by the Old Lord, a warden is capable of focusing the power of that circle by using charms. These catalysts act as a means to focalise and manipulate the energy bound within a circle, similar to how a lens might focus light. Wilderblood may interact with three substances for the soul essence wilderblood is derived from is brought to life in, empowered by, or craddled within the three; lifeforce, genus, and ectoplasm respectively. Each a natural and dark energy with a wealth of history behind them. Each spell that a warden will use is bound to a particular charm which must be had to hand when that spell is to be used. A charm is made by taking a chunk of stone and, first, carving the rune that is to be made. An animal is then taken to be sacrificed, their torso cut open so as to create an opening into the rib-cage; as the animal dies and their soul essence is guided into the circle by the will of the warden, the charm is placed within that ribcage with a smear of the warden’s blood. As the rune ignites with the power of the warden’s genus, the spirit leaving the animal provides a bridge for the rune to follow, linking its power into that of the circles by design; every rune is unique to the intended spell it will be used to cast. With this ritual completed, the rune becomes ‘active’ and able to be used, connected to the circle, to the warden, and to the world around it.

 

A warden creating a charm.

 

The soul essence of animals is at its core, identical to the energy that comprises the souls of the mortal races. Those descended from the four brothers are graced not by a different form of power, but simply by a more complex soul of greater calibre and weight. Whilst the descendants may be more complex in this regard, they still lack the power to perform great feats by themselves. Wardens know how to circumvent this issue; become more than simply one descendant. By sacrificing the souls of animals and plants and weaving their essence into a circle, a warden can create a well of spiritual energy from which to draw. As this essence matures it forms a thin, ectoplasmic substance named ‘wilderblood’, a green liquid which pools within and around a circle. It is for this reason that circles are frequently shrouded in a thick fog -- known to some as deadbreath -- or a shadowy haze of lifeforce clouding it in darkness, and are home to such uncanny events; in great amounts, wilderblood is unstable and begins to break out and lash at the energies it tampers with, casting out raw iterations of lifeforce, ectoplasm, and genus in the surrounding area, thus creating pale deadbreath fogs and lifeforce hazes..

 

Wilderblood manifest.

 

RED LINES:

 

• Wardens cannot wear or use metal of any sort. It is not only a symbol of civilization and ruin, but of War. Metal is so tarnished with the blood of men and animal-folk alike that it offends the Old Lord and so, through the Covenant, wardens cannot willingly don it for it is a flag calling forth the memories of death and wanton destruction. To willingly don metal is to break the Covenant and cause the warden’s powers to dwindle. To willingly bear it longer than a full day will result in the warden being ejected from their circle and thus lose their powers entirely.

• A single circle can have no more than nine wardens attached to it at any one time. To draw so many souls together, living or otherwise, is a risky situation for it begins to create a conscious entity similar to an Apparition but of souls still whole, and thusly much more dangerous and powerful. To prevent such a formation the Covenant forbids circles larger than nine members and, should another be attempted to be added, their welcoming will fail. A new circle must be founded wherein, upon creation, the original circle loses its ninth member to the new circle and can thus add one more warden.

• Extensive, daily use of other dark arts or the spell Command is considered abuse and will thus cause a warden’s powers to dwindle. To continue this use for longer than a full year will result in the warden being ejected from their circle and thus lose their powers entirely. The Old Lord of Oaks understood the destructive capabilities and overturning of natural life through dark arts, and thus forbids their abuse. Moderation is key.

• Wardens cannot learn arcane or deity magic. To forsake the sacred sphere of the dark is pure sacrilege, and thus wardens who attempt to attune to a deity, learn an arcane magic or feat, or any form of magic that is not dark will cause their powers to dwindle and will result in the warden being ejected from their circle and thus lose their powers entirely. The Old Lord saw pure, unbridled evil in the Void and in gods, for their potency, addiction, and volatility posed too great a threat to the wanting soul of mortalkind. He forbids it for the safety of the natural world.

• Circles must be fed. Regular sacrificing fuels the stores of wilderblood used to power the Covenant and thus weirhency, therefore without it wardens will see their powers dwindle and, if not sacrificed to within two years, will lose their magic outright until another sacrifice is made.

• The physical stone circle is the conduit by which wardens can store wilderblood within their ethereal Covenant; should the physical circle be damaged or broken, the wardens attached to it must repair the circle or create a new one, or they will be unable to use Welcoming to store wilderblood within their circle.

 

The Purpose Of The Circle - Sacrifice And Power

 

A warden performing a ritual.

 

Wardens wield a variety of charms which allow them to focus the power of their circle no matter their distance. Their magic cannot be used without their charms, and each must be activated with a smear of blood, be it of the wardens or anothers. These charms reach out to the circle and draw upon its stores of power, before the warden makes use of their natural abilities to direct the energy of the circle.

 

Dominion - Unity, Strength of the Pack

 

Welcoming - Wardens can slay animals or plants within their circles, and use their Pathmaking to guide the newly released soul essence into the stones. By doing this the soul essence can be allowed to mature into a concentrated substance named ‘wilderblood’. A thin ectoplasmic liquid, this substance is mired in a terrible hate born out of the deceased creatures’ realization of their death; whilst most plants and animals are spared the knowledge of their demise, the souls encapsulated within a circle are all too aware that the party of life is very much going on without them. This wilderblood, this hate manifest, can be channeled by a warden through the use of their charms to perform their magic. Each of their other spells calls upon this energy in one way or another, using the malice of their victims to manipulate the world around them.

 

One emote for slaying the animal or plant.

One emote for activating the charm.

One emote for absorbing the soul essence into the circle in the form of wilderblood.

 

• Morrigan lowers the corpse of the red fox onto the boulder she kneels upon, its blood streaming from its mouth and neck-slit and onto the spindly woman’s hands as she removes the stone blade from its throat.

• Morrigan lets out a soft breath as she smears her thumb over the wafer-like rock on her belt, dislodging it to bring it into her palm and watch as a vibrant, bloody rune glows upon its surface.

• Morrigan cups the stone in both hands and lifts it high before the obelisk of root-covered rock before her; draining from the fox’s limp body drains a churning, iridescent liquid of lime green that runs along the ridges of the boulder and is swallowed into the pores of the stone. The glow of her charm fades.

 

Command - By using their charm of Command, a warden can channel their stored wilderblood to possess the bodies of plants and animals in their immediate vicinity. The charm itself is used to source this raw wilderblood, whilst the Warden themselves must then use their Pathmaking to guide that wilderblood into the bodies before them and wrest control from their living occupants. Once complete, the Warden gains power over a creature filled with the hellish hate they have so diligently collected. Plants may be grown if the warden chooses to source more wilderblood, though the more they attempt to grow whatever they are Commanding the more troublesome that plant will be to Command, and the more twisted and hateful its shape becomes.

 

One emote for activating the charm.

One emote for touching a plant or animal.

One emote for wresting control.

Command can be maintained starting at 3 emotes +1 per tier, maximizing at 8 for creatures bear size or larger. Command can be maintained starting at 5 emotes +1 per tier, maximizing at 10 for creatures smaller than a bear.

 

• Morrigan presses the tip of her thumb into the edge of her stone hewn dagger, drawing down to produce a thin, bleeding line. She slides her bloody thumb over the oblong rock in her hands; a glow of crimson surges out from the rock in the symbol of a many armed rune.

• Morrigan extends her arm to caress the base of the tree she stands before, grasping a long and knotted root spanning from the trunk.

• [!] Luminous, emerald veins momentarily flash from beneath the bark of the root and the base of the tree begins to churn. The branches above sway weakly as long, twisting roots become undone from the earth beneath and pull up into the air like serpents seeking prey.

• Morrigan presses into the tree and peeks out from behind it as three thick roots slither along the ground and curl up around the opposing side of tree, worming up along the paladin dozing away.

• [!] Asleep, the armored man becomes ensnared by the roots as they shape around his limbs and torso, constricting around his form to lock him in place.

 

 

Wardens performing Command.

 

Harboring - Growth, Rebirth

 

Consuming - by using their charm of Consumption, a warden can merge the soul essence and physical forms of plants and animals into their bodies. Wounds may be healed by using this method, replacing damaged flesh with plant matter or animals flesh or bone that grows as if it had always been a part of the wardens body. If this is used irregularly and sparingly, the soul blueprint of a warden will reassert itself and transform the biomatter into flesh and bone much like a scab, returning to normalcy. The more a Warden continues to use this ability, the more they will become as the plants or animals they consume as their soul begins to welcome the new residents. With time, their body may become half of flesh, and half of bark, a wandering soul with the body parts of a plant or creature. These transfigured wardens will find that these added parts may be used with moderate to minor function but nothing more. The changes made upon the body are without mechanical usage; a warden with bear arms does not have bear strength. Additional limbs cannot be utilized. However, a warden may choose to grow alchemical ingredients such as flowers or herbs upon their person for sake of easy access, such as growing Tippen’s Root upon one’s shoulder for making healing salves. Consuming does not halt pain.

 

One emote for activating the charm.

One emote for holding the part to be added.

One emote or more for grafting the part onto the body.

One emote for leaving the area healed and tended.

Consuming parts the size of half a limb require 2 emotes. Lesser, 1. Larger, 3. Whole limbs require 4 emotes. Consumption cannot heal wounds larger than a full limb.

 

• Morrigan dips her hand into the open wound of a man’s ruptured stomach as she looks around the battlefield, she the few lingering among dozens of fallen warriors. She takes her blood covered hand and takes hold of the loosely diamond-shaped rock on her belt, dislodging it to hold it close. A bloody light glimmers out from its face, the shape of an inwardly angled rune glowing upon its surface.

• Morrigan takes a handful of stomped and crushed grass from the field and gathers it in her spare hand, collecting a thick handful including dandelions and crabgrass. She hurries over to a shaded knoll nearby and sits down again a tree trunk.

• Morrigan lays her handful of grass blades, stems, and dandelion flowers over her sliced abdomen and begins packing the biomass into her wound, the sword cut deep enough to have dug into her tissue but no more. She holds her charm close, its glow muted by her dress of woven leaves and vines whilst she cringes and pants.

• Morrigan gnashes her teeth and whimpers as thin, dribbling streams of lustrous, jade-hued liquid drains from her fingers and trickles into the wound, saturating her bloody cut and the grass. She lets out a faint gasp as she pulls her hand away, revealing the cut to have been sealed over by a mesh of mere grass and dandelions. She holds the patch, wheezing in pain.

 

A Warden with a Consumed body.

 

Germinating - by using their charm of Germination, a warden who has used Consumption regularly enough to have seeded their body with the wildlife they protect can flood their body with wilderblood and manipulate the lingering soul essence within them. In doing so a warden can formulate new plants from the properties of those plants they have consumed, essentially allowing a warden to breed new species within their own body. Wardens can use these newly created species in alchemy, capitalizing on their new found properties. This process is tiring and cannot be performed mid combat. Plants made through Germination must be submitted through the Plant Index for approval unless already accepted.

 

[If accepted through the Plant Index]

One emote for activating the charm.

One emote for merging parts of the plants together .

One emote for producing the final product.

 

• Morrigan presses the tip of her thumb into the edge of her stone hewn dagger, drawing down to produce a thin, bleeding line. She slides her bloody thumb over the oblong rock in her hands; a glow of crimson surges out from the rock in the symbol of a many armed rune.

• Morrigan brings her forearms together, pressing the purple flowered Tippen’s Root of her right into the blue flowers and flimsy stalks of Blissfoil  of her left. Their stalks begin to extend and intertwine, the pale blue of the Blissfoil melding together into the violet petals of the Tippen’s Root. Their leaves fold together and mesh like scissor blades meeting, the two plants fusing into one tall stalk that appears slippery topped by a small bouquet of blue-violet star flowers.

• Morrigan pulls her arms apart and draws forth the roots of the new plant from her arm, taking hold of the tall plant by its stem. She pauses for a moment, head swimming, and carefully lowers the flower into an already open pit of soil. She gently packs in the dirt around its base and observes with one hand on the side of her head as the flower bends weakly to her left and bobs around. She murmurs, “A numbing agent that stops bleeding… perfect.” She falls backwards, sprawling out in silence.

 

Becoming - Love, Nurturing

 

Metamorphosis - by shrouding their bodies in wilderblood, a warden can assume a temporary ethereal form using their charm of Metamorphosis. In doing this, wardens’ ability to Pathmake is substantially increased, allowing them to have a much easier time wresting control over the natural, dark energies at work with the tampering of wilderblood. Metamorphosed Wardens can act as spiritual antennae for other nearby wardens, who can use their bountiful Paths to heighten their Command to greater strength. Instead of forming their own Paths, Wardens can simply guide their wilderblood into the nearby ethereal form, and feed their power out into their allies network of Pathways; this charm is most useful when teaching in order to guide along new wardens in exploring their abilities. This enables the use of ritualistic events wherein wardens may amass in a moot of metamorphosed states and conduct works of enhancing one another’s charm usage, creating greatly enhanced spell effects such as (but not limited to): raising a forest from ash with Command, creating new strains of large plants such as trees with Germination, or altering large swathes of landscape with Terraforming. Rituals of this sort take too long to be of any use in combat.

 

One emote for activating the charm.

Two emotes for taking on an avatar (of an animal that has been sacrificed to the circle).

Metamorphosis can be maintained indefinitely.

Metamorphosed wardens and wardens Pathmaking through them may maintain Command for 1 emote longer.

 

• Morrigan slides the tip of her middle finger into her mouth and cringes as she bites down just on the end of it, opening a small wound where her teeth scrape off a thin chunk of her skin. She spits the flesh out of her mouth and lowers her hand onto an irregularly shaped stone where her bleeding finger dabs its surface; a radiance of red glimmers out from the rock in the shape of a fingered rune. She holds it close.

• [!] Bursting from the torso of the woman bleeds out an ethereal haze of sickly green ooze, the mist bubbling and convulsing as it spreads upwards and rounds her arms like tentacles; coughing out from beneath her natural attire spits this congealing mass, masking the girl in a slowly forming shape.

• Morrigan winces slightly as she holds her finger tight against her charm, eyes closed. Her lithe frame is encased in the vibrant green silhouette of a red fox, complete with a long, winding tail whose fur licks upwards into the air like flames and an elongated snout whose head floats above hers, centered upon her body. She clears her throat and softly calls, “It is time to learn.”

 

A warden performing metamorphosis.

 

Terraforming - once Metamorphosed, a warden can use their charm of Terraforming to interact with soul essence lingering in the earth below them. Wilderblood is infused into their already ethereal form, before being allowed to flow out into the earth in rhythmic bursts. With each torrent of power, the soul essence interred below is made to move little by little, synchronising with the pulses of wilderblood. Alone, this ability is fairly weak in an immediate instance, able to cause perhaps a weak tremor; its true power is revealed over time. With allies to aid in the flow of wilderblood, the ability to shift the earth grows stronger and more precise. Unlike shamanism or telekinesis, stones are not made to float. Rather, the soil as a whole is caused to shift with the pulses of wilderblood, making the application of this ability challenging. Terraforming is a painfully slow process, taking days to achieve full effect, but allows for the construction of wild shapes and forms for the earth and stone below to turn cliffs into knolls or moors into terraces. The more wardens that congregate to work together the faster this process occurs, shaving off days from the usual expectancy.

 

[After being Metamorphosed]

One emote for activating the charm.

Up to a total of 10 emotes to alter a landscape.

Terraforming may affect an area of 20x20 +10 per tier, maximizing at 70x70 over 1 day per every 10 blocks; Terraforming begins with taking 2 days, maximizing at 1 week.

[Warden players may then build as they like. This is not a method of free LC]

 

• Morrigan dunks her rock-clutching hand into the cauldron of blood before her, soaking her fist and the charm. An immediate, crimson glow penetrates through the surface of the blood. She lifts the stone from the pool and reveals a gleaming rune in the shape of folding leaves.

• [!] The luminous silhouette of pale green surrounding Morrigan in the shape of a great fox twists with each of her movements, the avatar following after her as she squats low and bows her head to the boulder before her. She then stomps her left foot after raising it high and then her right, legs spread in a line. She claps her hands together and slides her torso to side to side as she whips her arms out and draws upwards, urging something up from the earth.

• Morrigan continues her dance as weak tremors rattle the ground, the boulder letting out low, grinding pops. It ever so slightly begins to change, reshaping and forming into something new, albeit extremely slowly. She stomps each of her feet once more and sways about, making occult hand and arm gestures whilst the congealed form of a gigantic fox over her ripples and follows her dance.

• [!] Hours pass, and all the while the blonde woman shakes, swings, flings, pops, locks, and otherwise enjoys a lengthy, wild beat heard by none other than herself.

• Morrigan drops down to a very low stance, back bent to let her arms and shoulders drag along the ground. She shuffles backwards and then flops onto her back, panting as the avatar of hers distorts and breaks apart, siphoning back into her body.

• [!] The once-boulder left behind has been sculpted into a tall, obelisk-like shape akin to a spire or monument. Morrigan huffs out through her pants to the man sitting by the banks, watching her, “This shall be your stone of concord.”

 

Rending - Rage, Hatred

 

Frenzy - by using their charm of Frenzy, a warden is capable of inciting the lifeforce or ectoplasm within the wildlife around them into a violent storm via the wilderblood of their circle. Animals and plants that have been recently affected by the divine will expel the energies left over as a result of such interaction, returning them to their natural state. More experienced wardens can channel this frenzied lifeforce or ectoplasm to actively destroy deific artefacts by forcing the aengudaemonic energy out of them or arcane enchantment by disrupting and breaking apart the mana out of the object with ectoplasm. Spriggans, ents, voidal horrors, golems, atronachs and an other purely voidal construct or entities are particularly weak to this usage of Frenzy, as they are partly comprised of aengudaemonic energy from the Aspects or are fueled by mana. If this spell were to be used upon them they would be reduced to but the inert material that made them, if any from which they were formed. Lastly, a warden may temporarily fuse this charm into the flesh or bark of an animal or tree, causing them to frenzy wildly and attack all in sight, warden or no. Plants temporarily become unfurled and long, gaining thorns or sharper roots while animals may temporarily grow longer teeth, their fur becomes unkempt, and their claws sharpen.

 

One emote for activating the charm.

One emote for touching the animal or artifact.

Four emotes to purge the animal or artifact, one emote to fuse with a plant or animal.

Frenzy  can be maintained starting at 3 emotes +1 per tier, maximizing at 8 for creatures bear size or larger or plants tree (Minecraft) sized or larger. Frenzy can be maintained starting at 5 emotes +1 per tier, maximizing at 10 for creatures smaller than a bear or plants smaller than a tree (Minecraft). Players must remain within emote range of their frenzied plant or animal to roleplay its effects and respond accordingly but may have their character be farther away.

 

• Morrigan quickly and carelessly stabs her thumb with the top of her stone hewn dagger, opening a moderately sized wound to produce a stream of blood. She ejects a smooth, round stone from her belt and smears its surface with her bloody thumb, a red glow shaped in a zig-zaggy rune emanates from the rock.

• Morrigan rushes over to a nearby rose bush, digging through the thorns and brush to find the central root of the shrub. Cut and scraped, she pushes herself into the bush and lays her hand upon the center of its mass, a branching core.

• Morrigan pushes her charm into the core of the rose bush, its stone melting into the wood like moving clay. She darts out, getting scraped as she goes.

• Morrigan runs for the hills off in the distance, looking back to see the thin, wiry roots of the bush tear out from the ground and lash out at the air around it. Roses peel inward as small branches replace them, thorny whips  smacking at trees and shrubs nearby. She huffs softly, watching as the marching ghouls come upon the enraged bush. “That’ll slow them down,” she comments under her breath as she hurries off.

 

A frenzied beast preying upon a huntsman.

 

Shillelagh - A warden uses their charm of the Shillelagh to infuse a wooden stick with their wilderblood. The stick becomes filled with the rage of the dead, growing thorned nodules, gaining weight and density. The warden will find controlling the weapon, despite its weight, particularly easy as a result of the infused wilderblood. Powerful wardens will find that the weapon even lends itself to attacking others, the hate within causing the weapon to physically lash out beyond the control of the warden; the most powerful wardens do not truly wield their staff. The staff just happens to be in their hands. As well, wardens may infuse any metal object with their wilderblood, filling it with the rage of the dead; as an inorganic substance unfit to house the fury found in the wilderblood, the metal begins to corrode until it is but brittle, crumbling rust.

 

One emote to activate the charm.

One emote to take hold of a stick, twig, branch, log, or otherwise wooden rod, or metal object if corroding.

One emote to transform the stick, twig, branch, log, or otherwise wooden rod. Five emotes to corrode metal at tier 1 and 2, four at tier 3 and 4, and three at tier 5.

Shillelagh can be maintained starting at 3 emotes +1 per tier, maximizing at 8.

 

• Morrigan skulks around the arena with blood dripping down from her parted lips, reddened teeth grit wide as she stares at the partially armored skeleton before her. She quickly lifts a stone from her side and spits onto it with a thick glob of clotted blood; the rock’s surface immediately emits a dark, rosy glow in the the shape of a rune symbolizing a thorned stick.

• Morrigan reaches over to a simple, fallen branch of a tree just behind her after circling the skeleton. Not parting her gaze from the enemy, she grips the wood with both hands; she wrings it tight.

• [!] Vibrant, sagely green veins spill out from Morrigan’s hands and soak into the branch, its girth widening and bark darkening as her arms slowly drag down by the added weight of the now half-log. Fat, stubby nodules prickle up its sides as the limb begins to transform into a knotted club.

• Morrigan charges forward with a shrill yell and hauls her shillelagh behind her, winding back to prepare for a heaving toss. “Your bones will shatter!”

 

The Green Rites - Rituals of Weirhency

 

Totem - An effigy formed from bramble, sticks, bone wind chimes, and other natural materials found deep in the woods is a frightful sight; often topped with painted animal skulls and wooden carvings, totems are symbols of sacred warden territory. Reserved for thresholds and places of importance as markers of dominion, totems serve as bulwarks to unwanted magical interference within the protected landscapes of wardens. Through a lengthy ritualistic process of sanctification, one too long to be used in combat, a warden may saturate an area with a persistent flow of wilderblood through retiring a charm or a Harboring spell in an act of breaking one with an activated charm. By then scattering the pieces of the broken stone charm in a small area and erecting the totem itself at the center of that area, the other charm may be placed upon or within the totem to create a standing wilderblood conduit. In an area around the totem, deific and arcane arts must push through the obtrusive substances present before forming their magic, the wilderblood fermenting in the land acting as a barrier to ward off godly magic through the same manner in which Frenzy creates a violent storm of lifeforce and ectoplasm to disturb purely holy or magical forces. As well, this saturation of wilderblood can be drawn on by fellow wardens in order to fuel their more lengthy spells. Should the site ever be desecrated and the totem be destroyed or the charm be displaced, the totem becomes inert and the area loses its saturation of wilderblood.

 

Totems must take a minimum of 10 emotes to be completed, start to finish.

Totems create an area where deity or arcane magic takes 1 emote longer to cast. Wardens can maintain duration spells 1 emote longer.

Areas of effect begin with a 5 block radius +2 per tier maximizing at 15.

 

Chime - Through creating a totem-like chime, a warden may fashion a detector for those with potent auras. By retiring a charm of  Harboring by breaking it with an activated charm just as done in totem creation, a warden may string the broken shards of the charm into a wind chime of sorts with string and sticks. The chime must dangle from a dreamcatcher with the activated charm woven into its middle where it remains to act as a wilderblood conduit. Through using an ectoplasmic aura wherein disturbances to its field -- movements of arcane auras that are strong enough -- trigger its chime to ding. The chime dings as though a soft breeze graces it and ceases once triggered. Only may entering auras trigger the chime, signifying a powerful mage has made their way near the chime.

 

Chimes must take a minimum of 10 emotes to be completed, start to finish.

Chimes create an aura of 5 blocks where a tier 5 user of any voidal art causes the chime to ding.

 

Transmogrify - It is said the roots of Widukind spread throughout the entire world, or so wardens believe, and so they, as mere riders upon the ferry, may travel by root. Perhaps it is a unique property to the Old Lord of Oak’s own ancient magic, perhaps it is a ritual capitalizing on the peculiar effects of wilderblood, or perhaps it is something entirely unknown, but through an occult ritual wardens may travel between circles. A sacred rite known by not all wardens, this ritual allows a warden to grow their bodies within another circle, decompose their original, and then shift consciousness into this newly budded body as a form of strange, slightly grotesque transportation following the same premise of alchemical body swapping. The process is incredibly lengthy and dedicates a warden’s entire focus and effort upon the shift, lasting for a year and a day, before their new body is grown within another circle and they may awaken. Only wardens who have used Consumption to bear plant or animal parts on at least ⅕ of their body may use this ritual, otherwise the warden attempting the rite will find it impossible to begin. A particularly vulnerable time, wardens found in this state -- within the center of their own circle as well as their budding selves in the desired circle -- may be attacked and, if slain or destroyed, will cast their soul into oblivion. This method of transportation, while quite risky, is essential for wardens who wish to learn how to teach from the Old Lord of Oak’s throne where they may study the runes written upon the stone and come to understand the secrets hidden in the dried blood there.

 

While a warden uses Transmogrify, the character cannot be played. This lasts for 1 IRL week.

For the original body to be slain or the growing body to be destroyed, the character must PK.

 

Emerge - A rite of transportation, through Emergence a pair of wardens may relocate a circle. Through a potent feat of Terraforming, a warden may drain a circle of all its wilderblood through a unique charm of Emergence whilst Metamorphosed and demolish the circle; an opposing warden, bearing the twin to the charm of Emergence, may then unleash the collected wilderblood drained through the first and resculpt a new circle through empowering the warden’s Terraforming with the potency of all a circle’s power. This act, while relatively quick, it exceptionally draining and will throw both wardens into day-long comas.

 

Emergence must take a minimum of 10 emotes to be completed, start to finish.

The circle build must be completed before relocating; a physical circle must exist at all times.

After performing Emergence, the two warden characters cannot be played for 1 IRL day.

 

Obstruct - A coveted rite by wardens, Obstruction may be cast upon any warden wherein their name is struck from the Covenant and their ability to Pathmake disappears; the stone of concord which bore them within the circle loses its runes and becomes inert, its wilderblood passing as a share to the other stones. To do so, a warden be taught the unbinding ritual in order to make a charm of Obstruction where, through breaking its surface upon a stone of concord, the circle becomes momentarily disrupted as one of its kin are ejected by force. This rite is most frequently kept solely to circle-makers.

 

One emote to activate the charm.

One emote to aim the charm and touch the stone of concord.

One emote to smash the charm.

 

• Morrigan lets out a long, breathy sigh as she dips her hand into the flayed corpse of a squirrel nearby, a sacrifice to the circle before her. She smears her bloody hand over the stone tight in her left hand; its surface sparks alight with a gleaming, dark red rune symbolizing a barrier.

• Morrigan lays her blood-drenched hand upon the third obelisk to her right, moving to it with silent footfalls among the lichens and moss. She reels her arm back after shaking her head in silent disquiet, staring at the tall rock with a deep, insecure frown.

• Morrigan, after a long beat of contemplation, wordlessly hurls her hand forward with the charm and beats it against the obelisk. Within three smacks the stone shatters and in a splash of vibrant green fluid she steps back, watching as the stone of concord’s runes fade from its exterior.

 

The Mortal Arts, and their Interactions with the Burden

 

Practitioners of the Burden have the capacity to learn one mortal art, from the selection below. It may only be from the selection below, and a warden is only capable of using one of the following types of magic; wilderblood manifest, the soul essence of deceased plants and animals, interacts with the three dark, natural energies of the world each in unique ways and by learning the arts dominating those substances a warden can enhance their magic. Necromancy harnesses lifeforce. Mysticism harnesses ectoplasm. Blood magic harnesses genus. Brandh found pity in the sorrow of the Fjarriauga, cursed and woesome women whose hearts forever bleed, and so in his Covenant he wrote they may accept the Burden with care. Overuse of these magics may weaken a warden’s magic as per the clause in the Covenant written by the Old Lord of Oaks. A careful balance of one's magical uses is needed to safeguard Weirhency.

 

Necromancy - necromancers can channel life force into their magic, allowing them greater control when performing magic which attempts to control the living. Command becomes more efficient and easier to manage, alongside all skills under the title Harboring.

 

Command can be performed for 2 emotes longer.

Consuming can be performed 1 emote faster.

Germinating can be performed in more complex manners and in larger plants.

 

Mysticism - mystics can channel their stores of ectoplasm to gain greater communion with the dead, allowing them greater control over magic which interacts with the ethereal dead or offers a cradle to the soul essence of that which lies in the earth. Metamorphosis and Terraforming both become more efficient.

 

Wardens who Pathmake through metamorphosed wardens may maintain their spells for 1 emote longer.

Metamorphosed warden avatars may use their form to interact with the physical world to the same degree their hands may interact with the world at the same strength; push vines aside, pick up objects, or smack.

Terraforming may be used on are area an additional +20 in each direction and in a quicker manner, allowing for shifts in terrain 1.5x the speed.

 

Blood Magic - blood mages can fuse genus into their magic, allowing them the ability to perform violent, powerful magic that harnesses the primality of the natural world. Where the other two magics allow control and precision, blood magic allows destruction, chaos and strength. Rending, as a form that focuses upon this fury, is particularly easy to cast for blood mages.

 

Frenzy can be performed for 2 emotes longer.

Shillelagh can be performed for 2 emotes longer.

 

RED LINES:

 

• Wardens can only have one of each charm at a time.

• All charms must be smeared with blood, carrying genus, prior to use.

• Emote counts must be adhered to.

• Animal or plant parts added through Consuming are no powerful than the strength of the warden; bear arms do not have bear strength. Additional limbs cannot be utilized.

• Plants made in Germination must be accepted through the Plant Index.

• The ectoplasmic wilderblood shaped in Metamorphosis may be purged by holy light, forcing the warden from the ethereal form. Mystic-wardens’ metamorphosed avatars are only as strong as the physical body of the mystic-warden, meaning they cannot push, pull, pick up, or throw things any stronger than they themself can.

• Terraforming is not instant and takes time to complete.

• Frenzy cannot be used upon plants or animals larger than 15 blocks tall lest fueled by blood magic.

• Shillelaghs strike no harder than a healthy dwarf. They do not have orc strength.

• Two charms must be spent in the creation of totems or chimes.

• Being slain or having the growing body destroyed while performing Transmogrify results in a PK.

• Wardens may only learn one of the mortal arts alongside the Burden; necromancy, blood magic, or mysticism. Frost witches may become wardens.

 

Thematic Arguments.

 

“Thulean druidism and the Burden are the same magic. They fill the same niche.”

Thulean druidism is the combination of blood magic and druidism, not a magic in of itself, and merely a union used as blood magic was intended to be; in blood magic rune lore it specifies that there are runes and rituals in blood magic specific to deity magics, such as using Elemental Runes of Light, Existential Runes of Divinity, or Totality Runes of Sacrosanctum. These runes are proof that blood magic is intended to be combined with nearly any magic, including druidism. The Burden, however, is not druidism, nor a deity magic. The abilities are entirely different in all but a single spell among 11 (Command); a level of overlapping much smaller than your usual magic. The only thing the Burden shares with Thuelean druidism is a concept of hate and a natural theme, however Thulean cannot perform any of these described deeds for it, at its core, is still druidism under the Aspects. They are not the same.

 

“Weirhency has no backing. It is coming from nowhere.”

Here is a reference to Weirhency, described as either necromancy or druidism while it is neither. The Old Lord of Oaks exists, as does Weirhency, this lore merely allows it to be playable by players and not LM/ET individuals.

 

Inspirational Artwork

Not accurate to lore descriptions.

 

 

A colossal thank you to Aelesh for writing the first piece of the Burden and inspiring me to continue.

Thank you, Phil, for giving your opinions on my ridiculous ideas and rants.

Thank you, Swgrclan, for writing Xionism, the Old Lords, and creating the basis for Weirhency and the Old Lord of Oaks for this in all of your lengthy Dark Souls rhetoric lore pieces.

 

 

 

 

[Lhindir_ 3436]

+!

[DrakeHaze. 2479]

Y'know man, I liked the first one. Shame it wasn't accepted. I like that some of my suggestions were mixed in, glad my inspiration wasn't for waste. Ye ye accept this lore, great stuff. +1

[Kalehart 1061]

Yep x2

[KBR 1484]

+1

[wolfdwg 1497]

day 230781.... zarsies's nice well written lore hasn't been accepted.... is there a God?

 

P.S. +1

[6xdestroyer 1605]

A great read as per usual.  +1

[kingnothing 547]

big lore for big boys

written by a big boy

+1

[gameingg 603]

+1 very naic

[Sporadic 2799]

Hate. Overwhelming and incurable hate born from the realization you have to read TWENTY-THREE FREAKING PAGES. Zarsies what are you doing to me?

 

I am joking, of course. Kudos to you, actually. It's a very good read. Often I don't like reading the flavor texts of one's lore in action due to various reasons but your Morrigan bits were actually the highlight of the lore for me. Really great stuff. Speaking about highlights though maybe not make it light green on white next time my poor eyes.

 

It's a very interesting take on the "Nature cycle" theme. I don't often consider the idea that dead animals (plants) wouldn't be at peace with their demise for some reason. After all, nature and the ecosystem is in such a beautiful yet precarious balance of flora and fauna, predators and prey. I love those nature documentaries where they explain how so many species rely on so many other species and every species is somehow necessary (e.g. if you kill the coyotes as humans often do the bunnies graze the land to bits or something).

You generally think of the participants, the animals to sort of be okay with that (unlike humans, who resent death and also massively **** up ecosystems wherever they go). This circle of life theme is sort of a core of all Nature RP, Druid RP and Wood Elf RP. You went in a very different direction. Interesting, but you will have to put in 3 times the effort as I'm sure there's other lore this "Hate" idea conflicts with.

 

You already addressed some "obvious" thematic arguments near the end but the above came to my mind. Another one, smaller though, is that I don't quite see the relation between blood and ectoplasm, though your main "material" sort of seems to sit firmly in the divide of the two. Maybe I am just ignorant but why is Wilderblood ectoplasmic in nature?

 

Anyway the powers are all really cool. I'm not a fan of emote length rules and would instead point out the lack of "material needs" rules. Your abilities all hinge on Wilderblood but it's not really denoted how many death animals equals 1 power. Either way since death animals are easy to come by (bunny breeding ftw) the material costs seem very minimal. This might be something good to adjust? Maybe if you do this you can get rid of some other counterbalances.

 

Such as:

 

"Being slain or having the growing body destroyed while performing Transmogrify results in a PK."

 

Red lines like this I've taken to mean the writer knows the ability is too powerful and feels the urge to throw out a really big redline to "balance it" (see also: The Soul Tree lore where some forced-PK clause was recently brought up to discussion). This is great but people tend to "game" the PK clause because it is simply too significant to not subtly manipulate RP for. I would reconsider it.

 

Also I like the shillelagh it's very D&D Druid stuff. It's not useful in most D&D editions but here it's very cool.

 

[Zarsies 6024]

1 hour ago, Sporadic said:

Hate. Overwhelming and incurable hate born from the realization you have to read TWENTY-THREE FREAKING PAGES. Zarsies what are you doing to me?

 

I am joking, of course. [SNIP]

0

Upvote

 

 

Thank you, Sporadic! I cherish your feedback as my favorite level-headed, sound of mind, insightful coder-writer veteran of LotC. I will surely take your thoughts into consideration; 

 

-The foundation on the hate concept truly comes from an analogous piece of lore, the first of likely more to come, Thulean Druidism (the combination of blood magic and a deity art -- they were always meant to mingle, blood magic and deity magic, but the LT has a new attitude that their combinations require lore pieces each) and inside it the notion that deceased plants and animals, on their lowly scale, hold only a single emotion once they have died. Hate. It is also referenced in Druid origin lore -- because of Swgrclan -- that nature used to be naturally hateful but the Aspects tamed it more or less and allow druids to continue doing so.

 

-There are three magics called the "mortal arts", they are dark arts that embody, represent, and symbolize mortality in the eyes of the Old Lords (Xionist lore, these 4 first, old wraiths with exceptional power went and did their own things for different reasons all in the name of anti-theism.) They are necromancy, mysticism, and blood magic for they each manipulate naturally occurring, "dark" as in mortal (inherently dark) substances/energies/sources of lifeforce, ectoplasm, and genus respectively. Wilderblood is soul essence which can tamper with all three, but it doesn't have the mastery that the three unique arts do, making it a "jack of all trades, master of none" situation. The original writer, Aelesh, wrote wilderblood to be a sort of ethereal liquid and I kept that on the thought that wilderblood should be a middle ground for the forces it can alter. Because lifeforce is a mist, ectoplasm is usually a liquid-esque solid (goopy, drippy, slimey, etc), and genus is also a mist found in blood, I thought it appropriate for it to take the guise of all three into one, thus an ethereal-like, sort of mystical and strange liquid. Thus, lifeforce-like, ectoplasm-like, and genus-like, it should have similar properties inherent to it on its own to the three, no? Genus, raw, isn't much but a red mist. Lifeforce is also just a black mist. Ectoplasm, however, has (loose) shape, color, and sorta kinda density. So instead of just making it a dense mist, it takes the shape of a liquid. But, in the end, it's kind of silly to try to reason its form because ectoplasm has a shapechanging property where it can take the form of ANYTHING which defeats the purpose of trying to figure out what wilderblood looks like. Beyond its shape, it is ectoplasmic in the sense that it can degrade and give off amounts of lifeforce, ectoplasm, and genus but lifeforce dissipates as a black mist when not used and genus is a very fleeting red mist. Ectoplasm is the only thing that can stay around in a raw or processed form, seen in menhir glowing and deadbreath casting respectively (mysticism rock spires and mysticism fog spells). I'm not sure if that answers your question but I hope it helps.

 

-To cast, a warden requires multiple things. A well fed circle from sacrifices (I agree it may be a little light, I might adjust it to, say, two sacrifices a week rather than one every two weeks but I was very unsure as to how to balance that), a charm already made for the specific spell desired which also requires an animal sacrifice, and then blood to activate the charm with. When all of these things are met, a specific spell can be cast using a specific charm. If the circle isn't fet, if the charm breaks (it's just a painted rock), or if there is no blood to activate the charm with then the magic cannot be used. I think that all together that's a decent material need list. Perhaps it will need a slight adjustment to make it a little heavier but at the moment I am pleased.

 

-You're right, I was hesitant to include this, but I only did so because my last accepted magic piece, mysticism, was accepted with a very similar system/clause in it. When a wight is to be made, essentially a super-ghost/graven/apparition combo (player-played, akin to wraiths) they must consume an Apparition through slaying it -- not an easy feat -- and then, after consuming it, they progressively turn into a stone statue over the course of a year and a day which, once completely petrified, that stone body becomes the phylactery of the wight where their projection lifts from the body which then goes around and is played. Over the course of that petrification process the character cannot be played because they are completely enervated and without energy. It is up to their peers to handle where to put the body as it solidifies. If the body is destroyed or slain in the process of becoming the phylactery, the player PKs. In the same way that in mysticism only wights can teach, wardens can also only teach if they cast transmogrify to travel to the First Circle of the Old Lord of Oaks and read from his throne-stone of concord. To teach the magic, your character must risk a PK, but in the Burden you do it twice -- once to get there, once to get back -- and I suppose you're right in saying it's perhaps a little silly or a bad choice because it makes the character very, very vulnerable. A student could easily PK their to-be teacher if they destroy the body of growing body and that would be the end of it. HOWEVER, I adore weaknesses. I revel in vulnerability and banes because I think LotC needs to have more situations where a character is threatened and not guaranteed to continue on. Some people fail. Some people die. It happens and so, in this universe, that should happen too (where death means nothing but memory loss and villainy equates to more memory loss). Maybe I should change it so the warden can go hide somewhere as they perform this and they don't have to sit in the center of the circle, or maybe the transition should only last one IRL day or so, but I'd need guidance as to why I should make it into something else besides that it will probably get a bunch of Burden teachers-to-be PKed.

 

-Thank you, I thought it up to Aelesh in the first addition and he fell in love too. <3

[Tentoa 1991]

JUST ACCEPT THIS **** ALREADY

[Archipelego 2093]

-1

[Slayy 816]

I love this! 

[GodEmperorFlam 3447]

Thank you for submitting your piece! This is now under review and you can expect a verdict in a week or so.

 

11/21 Edit: Due to some changes made recently, we are currently extending the vote. A verdict will be posted here in another week or so.