On 'Blood Magic': Occultist Sorcery or Ancient Alchemy?

[The King Of The Moon 7016]

[!] Fliers are posted about the realm, offering a new thesis:
 

On ‘Blood Magic’: Occultist Sorcery or Ancient Alchemy?

 

Foreword:

This document is intended for the purpose of education, looking at the ancient practice of ‘blood magic’ through an alchemic lense. That is not to call all practices within the umbrella that is ‘blood magic’ - such as the soul-meddling construction of dreadknights and vampires - just, in the same manner that not all practices in alchemy - the taking of matronly liver for its regenerative properties, for instance - are just. 

To quote any seasoned natural philosopher: 

“A man may use a sword to defend his home or he may use it to slaughter innocents. An alchemist may use his remedies to cure plagues or to spread them. Power is power, its morality lies only in its origin and the wielder.”

Such, as this article will explore, is an apt philosophy to the so-called blood ‘magic’.

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Occultist Sorcery?

 

To tackle the controversy of blood ‘magic’ as an occultist sorcery, one must first ask: what is blood magic? What makes it magic? What is magic, even?

 

Magic, by most definitions, is the practices arcana. Arts, if one can call them such, based upon mysteries and secrets; the manipulation of powers foreign to the mortal plane, not meant for mortal men to meddle in. The term ‘meant’ is not used here to open a debate on magic’s morality. It is simply said to outline magic’s undisputable absence from the mortal plane without the meddling of mortals or immortals. Creationist or not it is a well known fact that the powers of the void, aengudaemons, spirits or others are consciously present in the mortal realm, not naturally. It is proven however that mana, an ethereal fuel fundamentally required for all forms of magic is naturally tethered to the souls of all mortal men (mage or not, though mages seem to have more), though not potent enough to fuel any known magical power on its own.

Magic, therefore can be simplified as: arts reliant on mana, a mortal energy useful solely in bridging mages to greater fonts of power not otherwise attainable, usually of deific or voidal origin. By this definition we can answer ‘what is magic?’ with a concise, objective list of the known magical studies:

 

Spoiler

 

-Known Voidal Feats
Arcane practices moulded from the raw energy of the void: alternation subdivided into transfiguration, translocation, voidal shifting, voidal feeling and telekinesis. Mental magic subdivided into mental magic, illusion and cognatism as well as evocation subdivided into arcanism, earth evocation, fire evocation, lightning evocation, water evocation, air evocation and conjuration. There is then the fourth, less well known archetype of void magic known as ‘anti magic’: fi'hiiran'tanya and later iconoclasm.

 

-Known Deific feats 
Be they intentionally given* by immortals or stolen* by mortals: druidism and its subtypes ‘gifted’ by the Aspects, dark druidism ‘stolen’ from the Aspects, shamanism and its subtypes ‘gifted’ by the Spirits, dark shamanism ‘stolen’ from the Spirits, necromancy ‘stolen’ from Iblees, shade magic ‘gifted’ by Iblees, ascended ‘gifted’ by Aeriel, mysticism ‘stolen’ from Aeriel (in conjunction with aforementioned necromantic abilities), thallassos ‘stolen’ from the Aspects (in conjunction with aforementioned necromantic abilities), clericalism ‘gifted’ by Tahariae, augurism ‘gifted’ by Yeu Rthulu, rune smithing ‘gifted’ by Yemekar (allegedly; Brathmordakin scholars are still in dispute),  golemancy ‘gifted’ by Yemekar (allegedly; Brathmordakin scholars are still in dispute), demonology ‘stolen’ from various Inferis, frost witchcraft ‘gifted’ by Banshees, monk healing ‘gifted’ by the Triumvirate, soul puppetry ‘stolen’ from the Aeriel (or possibly the Triumvirate, also in conjunction with aforementioned necromantic abilities) and muun’trivazja ‘gifted’ by Metztli.

 

*The certainty of magics being ‘gifted’ or ‘stolen’ is difficult to determine as the true intentions of immortal beings are often hard to deduce, the terms are simply used based on estimation. This article does not mean to definitively answer if for instance necromancy was in fact stolen by Iblees or if it was the archdaemon’s desire for mortal men to raise the dead all along as part of a grander scheme, for instance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This brings us to blood magic. It is commonly known that blood ‘mages’ do not use mana. Their ‘power’ is borne of genus as a fuel source. What is genus? In my observation of blood ‘mages’ I am willing to attest that genus, a coporeal fuel fundamentally required for blood ‘magic’ is naturally present in the blood of all mortal men (mage or not, though mages seem to have more), potent enough to fuel magical powers on its own. This is what sets the blood ‘mage’ apart from the common deific or voidally dependant individual: whilst those earlier listed require the nonphysical energy that is mana to draw upon sources foreign to this world, blood mages do not require mana to manipulate genus in blood-bending. In fact, the blood mage is known to wield genus by will and physical movement, just as one might wield a sword. 

 

It ought to also be touched upon that blood ‘magic’ (if to be classified as such, which current evidence undermines) is known to have existed since the dawn of time. It does not require a ‘mana bridge’ to a stronger font of power like the void and no aengudaemon is claiming to have ‘enchanted’ mortal men with this inborn ability. It is, one can infer, natural. Indeed, the practice predates the descendants of Horen, Krug, Urguan and Malin. It predates the kharajyr and hou-zi, bhorra, and dragons too. The immortal voidal horrors even, who live outside of our known dimensions of time and space, have even been known to call it the first ‘mortal art’, not practicing it themselves until the first few came to the mortal plane despite genus being abundant in their blood. All evidence suggests that where there is mortality, there is genus, and where there are mortals with genus there too are blood mages.

 

Whilst lifeforce is theorised energy of all things living, plants and animals cannot be categorised with the ‘mortal races’, who themselves have lifeforce, yes, but also souls, conscious thought and ethereal mana lacking in beasts and fauna. Nor can voidal horrors be categorised as mortals, themselves having genus, but no lifeforce, twisted flesh, lacking organs and an existence dependant on magic rather than nature. 

 

Such an oddity makes one wonder: is the combination of genus with lifeforce the promethean fire of mortal life? Is it the raw energy of the creator himself, an imprint passed down in the blood through aeons, tracing back to the first mortals, or even himself? In non-creationist circles one might similarly determine, given the evidence, genus to be what weaves mortals into the fabric of our plane as its rightful dominant inhabitants. Metaphorical sunlight for lifeforce’s figurative seed?  Further study is needed, but then I fear, dear reader, that we may never know for certain.

 

I would conclude this section with the definitive answer to the title question: No. Blood magic is not, in the traditional sense of the word, ‘magic’. Drawing from mortal energy and based on arts theorised by mortals and for mortals, with no meddling of the ethereal mana, the distant void, the untouchable soul or the alien immortals, blood magic is conclusively as ‘magical’ as alchemy, archery, swordsmanship, poetry, art or music. This is not to celebrate all previous or future applications of blood magic, by any means. There are wicked blood mages and evil blood mages, just as there are wicked and evil archers, swordsmen, poets, painters, and bards. Following the above mundane examples we can speak of actual mages. Speaking objectively without condemning or commending either umbrella grouping, deific mages follow or subvert (when deity magic is stolen) the morals of their patron and voidal mages draw power and thin the walls separating our plane from the disordered void. 

 

In light of such archetypes I ask you then, reader, what reason have you then to call the practice of blood magic inherently immoral? Blood mages manipulating genus can use bloodbending as a martial art, yes. They can also use bloodbending to purify poison from the blood, or to seal wounds. In neither instance is the victim or recipient of bloodbending injured or healed past points achievable through other mundane practices like first aid and armed combat. One would be right in thinking that blood must be spilt to harvest genus for the purpose of using it as a substitute for mana. At first glance this would seem immoral until one then takes into account the following practices (not universally seen as immoral) that not only have been known to cost the blood of casters or those they sacrifice, but also further body mass in some cases such as organs or bones: Shamanistic offerings, Druidic offerings, Soul Puppet targeting, Thallassian heart-replacing, Frost Witch cannibalism coupled with the outright bodily mutation of Shades, Ascended, Azdrazi, Tree Lords and Zephonym. Further examples can be given then seen in those deific (and voidal in the case of Fi'hiiran'tanya) who also permanently scar their very soul for their practices. Of course, there are of course then immeasurable acts of violence and (debatable) soul-scarring performed by those mundane. In light of these comparisons, and the simple facts that an inconsequential (that is to say non-lethal, easily recovered) amount of blood can and usually is used by blood mages as well as the fact that blood mages are left with no permanent ailment upon the mind, body or soul, it is objectively the case that blood magic lacks morality or immorality. It is at its core, like all mundane practices, neutral.

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Ancient Alchemy?

 

As touched upon in the above section, blood magic is not truly magic. Without meaning to repeat oneself: it is the augmentation of an ancient, fundamental ingredient to all mortal beings. 

Blood has been utilised as a reagent in a number of recipes already since the days of Aegis, which leads one bewildered as to why the parallel (dare I say misunderstood unity?) of blood ‘magic’ and alchemy has never before been written on. When utilised for magic, it is rather apparent that genus-casting is more than exemplary of equivalent exchange; the sacrifice of a greater input (blood being more costly than mana) for the reward of a greater output (augmented magic being far easier to cast as well as historically used for great feats). 

 

What truly proves the case for blood magic as an ancient alchemy, however, is its rituals. Reliant upon blood drawings based off of a fundamental alphabet of runes*, many of which are either identical or questionably similar both visually and metaphysically to alchemic elements and symbols.

*these runes notably differ from those used in golemancy and runesmithing which, as already explained, are a product of an unspecified Immortal. Furthermore they are dependant on thanhium and enchantment to function. The runes utilised by blood mages are simply blood, the genus inside of which sparked like an ember in oil to activate. 
 

The Runic alphabet is not a series of letters to comprise sounds and combined for words, like our Common alphabet derived from Flexio. It is rather a collection of concepts that can be combined for broader meanings. The runes when drawn in blood and activated by one with the right knowledge will begin functioning, as if integral to the laws of physics and mortal creation. They do not have any known author and simply, as seen with alchemic representations and symbols, ‘are’.

 

Spoiler

Just the few elemental examples (given that the runic alphabet is expansive and has been used by countless civilisations since the dawn of time; it is impossible to know all of it) of such with interchangeable names and meanings to their symbolic counterparts in alchemy are:

 

-Fire: suggests fury, anger, pain, unruly strength, raw chaos.
-Water: suggests fluidity of emotions, brief order, agility and uncertainty either altogether or individually.
-Earth: suggests sturdiness, patience, steadiness, long-lived order and knowledge either altogether or individually.
-Air: suggests lighter chaos, speed and quick-willed emotion either altogether or individually.

 

The blood mage uses various combinations of runes to change the fundamental properties of an object or entity. This differs immensely from the enchanting found in a regular mage’s arsenal. Where for instance the common enchantment is an arrangement of mana anchoring a spell to an object without changing the object’s initial composition, which can be dispelled by various anti-magic procedures, the change brought upon an object by blood magic is both mundane (that is, immune to anti-magic procedures and not requiring mana to tether any particular spell) and permanently embedded into the material, as if it is either transformed into a new material or its very place within the mortal plane and its laws of physics has been realigned.  

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Theorised and Penned,
The Full Ferrum Alchemist.

[Lukariatias 524]

“The Full Ferrum Alchemist?” Darcassan muttered, with lofted brows and a curious, deep-in-thought, kind of gaze brought about from comprehension the text he had just read. “What a curious title to hold.” He finished, carefully removing one of the posters for his own collection.

[Slayy 816]

Aviala squints at the flyer, walking off with it.
 

Enva taps her nails against the table as she reads through the notes.

[Parker 390]

“Someone who understands”

[Jentos 9425]

“Truth will be found in blood. I have seen it."

[Banned 347]

“Finally someone who can put thoughts into words.”