[Guide] Unsound Mages

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The Complete Unsound Magic Lore Link

 

 

Lore Summary
 

Unsound Magic is a [1] Slot Voidal Magic, given to Descendants by the Voidal Behemoth Oshoggdos’chlubb. It functions through a forged connection between the users of Unsound Magic and the Behemoth itself, allowing for various effects to be performed through the exercising of such. All of it comes at a great price, however.

 

To learn this magic is a similar process to any other void magic, with one simple change. That being, when forming your connection to Unsound Magic, you must reach out with your mind through the infinite expanse of chaos in search of the great Behemoth. Should they take note of your presence, they will form a connection with you. Oshoggdos will push through the teacher’s figure in the form of condensed and congealed mana. From there, the mana would flow into the student’s chest, where the aspiring Unsound Mage would begin feeling overwhelmed with a flurry of sensory overload whilst the first splotch of dark taint would appear on the center of one’s body, and the student's connection to the void would be distorted... now centered on the behemoth.

 

Physical Effects

    Once one has become an Unsound Mage, they immediately will notice voidal taint beginning to spread upon their body. At first this is small and easily hidden, though eventually grows too large to hide beyond full-body coverings. The growth of taint throughout the tiers can be expressed with this simple table:

 

As the voidal taint grows, so to does the voidal weakness of the Unsound Mage. For the first tier of Unsound Magic, there is no noticeable difference in strength between an Unsound Mage and a normal Voidal Mage. Beginning at Tier 2 however, the voidal taint upon their body begins to eat away at their strength, causing them to grow as weak as a regular Tier 5 voidal mage. Once they actually hit Tier 3 in Unsound Magic, the taint does not restrain itself at all, eating away at them constantly and bringing the Unsound Mage to a very frail state, hardly able to swing a sword. At this stage they’d be prone to internal bleeding and organ failure from heavy blows to the torso, easily capable of breaking their bones under heavy enough pressures.

 

The only “Upside” to this, though as well a negative in its own right, is their inability to feel fatigue. From the moment of becoming an Unsound Mage, they no longer notice fatigue’s toll upon their bodies. It is still present however, and they will begin to suffer from suddenly collapsing from a failure to take note of this. This can be from casting, or simply physical exertion(though mostly the former).

Mental Effects

 

From the moment that an Unsound Mage is connected, they will begin to suffer when they sleep. No longer bound to Lyes’ realm, and instead to Oshoggdos’ own mental-scape, they will find themselves viewing countless horrors when they rest. None of these are intended specifically to torture them, though the effect can still lead one to refuse sleep for days on end. Additionally, an Unsound Mage may understand and speak Moonspeech, and will begin to hear maddening screeches in voidal tounge echoing throughout their heads from a varity of different voidal creatures depending on the tier.

Passive Effects

    Once the Unsound Mage is connected, they begin to give off a passive aura that drains mana from items around them. This never brings a harmful effect to another Spellcaster, but those the Unsound Mage makes friends with may begin to notice a faint tug on their mana-pool whenever the Unsound Mage is in close proximity. Beyond this, the effects of this passive drain are detailed under “Spells,” in the forms of Passive Mana Absorption I, II, and III. These effects may not progress past any line of Mage Gold however, such seeming to rend through the effects brought on by the Voidal Behemoth.

 

Lastly, should the Unsound Mage carry any enchanted items with Voidal-Effects on them, they would run out of mana within an hour, essentially negating their use for the Unsound Mage. This much cannot be stopped with even mage-gold, given that it is constantly in close proximity to the Unsound Mage, long enough for the effects to pass such.

 

 

 

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Passive Mana Absorption I, II, and III

Non-Combative | T1

Emote Requirement: 2, once a IRL day for a week

 

Description: Beginning at this stage in their learning, the Unsound Mage produces a passive drain on sources of mana near them, causing items and other magical creations to begin to function strangely.

 
  Mechanics:
 

Spoiler

Passive Mana Absorption I Mechanics: Beginning at T1, an Unsound Mage gives off an ‘aura’ limited to a small area around them. Passively, any voidally-influenced item, from enchantments to mana gems, will begin to have their energy funneled away from themselves. At a base level, this will go unnoticeable in a single encounter. Should however, the Unsound Mage make repeated visits to a location, one might notice that the air around such a location begins to take upon a magic-draining properties. Voidal-focused items(but not mages themselves), will begin to malfunction at times. Items that remain in such begin to passively lose their mana over the course of an hour in-game, clearly growing a duller color over this period. At this stage in an Unsound Mage’s progression, the largest area this can effect is a small room of up to 5x5.

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Passive Mana Absorption II Mechanics: After visiting a location at least once a day for a full IRL week, the space gains a passive draining effect on voidal-related items. Enchantments and mana gems within this area will begin to malfunction and lose their mana at a heightened pace. The extent of this space could be a large room or an open area, such as a town square. For any place not owned by the Unsound Mage however, RO permission must be acquired to make such a space. Additionally, should the Unsound Mage not visit a location at least once every three day period, the effect will fade.

 

While within the area, voidal-based enchantments will begin to lose their mana rather quickly, only lasting an hour within before becoming empty. Additionally, voidal mages will find that their magic is weakened down to that of a T4 caster - Including the Unsound Mage themselves.

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Passive Mana Absorption III Mechanics: Should the Unsound Mage frequent a location every day for an IRL week, it will gain a mana-draining effect. Voidal-based items will have their mana drained over the course of an IRL hour as per normal, and Voidal mage’s present within such will have their magic lowered down to T3(The Unsound Mage included). This may effect an entire building. If any of the space being affected is not owned by the Unsound Mage OOCly, RO permission must be granted; You cannot simply create these on a whim. Additionally, the Unsound Mage must visit at least once a week to maintain these properties or else they will fade.

 

At this stage, the Unsound Mage may as well progress this further within a single area - able to strain their minds and bodies in order to bolster the effects tenfold. In short, they may create an area of Mana Absorption where no active voidal magic may function. No spells may pass through, or be cast from within. Doing this places a constant strain on the Unsound Mage, and in return causes them to be unable to cast magic beyond the level of a T3 Mage even when outside of this area.
 

General Red Lines:

- The Unsound Mage must visit every day in a week for this to take effect.

- The Unsound Mage must visit once a week for this to remain in effect.

- Need RO permission to effect anything that doesn’t belong to the Unsound Mage OOCly.

- The Unsound Mage is not immune to any of these effects themselves.

- If you have the passive Mana Absorption affecting a building or selection of area, there must be signs or some type of OBVIOUS marker as to show that the area is under the respective tiered Mana Absorption effect. On this marker should be the IGN of the person whom has affected the area. This IGN for OOC lore-tracking purposes..

- One Unsound Mage can produce only one of these Bolstered areas at a time.

- In order to set up a passive mana area, the Unsound Mage must make at least 2 emotes, once a IRL day at the location they wish to effect. These require obvious tells that can not be hidden or done in whisper. Once using passive mana absorption III, you must emote in shout chat when creating the bolstered area. 

-  This cannot be used to gain access past things such as arcane gates or effect mechanically built structures without RO consent.

Passive Mana Absorption I Specific Redlines:

- This only takes place in isolated rooms. If it is out in the open, the magic will simply disperse and fade.

 

Passive Mana Absorption III Specific Redlines:

-This level of passive Mana Absorption only effects buildings within a roughly 20x20 area from bedrock to height limit. This 20x20 area can be stretched to be a rectangle that’s 25x25 or 30x10 however the total area can never exceed 400 blocks

- Bolstered Areas of Mana-Absorption have the normal effects of the Passive Mana Absorption, though additionally stop any form of active spellcasting within, should it be voidal-based.

- The Unsound Mage is bound to the level of a T3 mage so long as a Bolstered version of this exists.

Emote Guide:
 

Spoiler

 

Passive Mana Absorption I, II, & III

- As the Unsound Mage sits within the dull room filled to the brim with voidal enchantments.. the black taint which surrounds the Unsound Magi’s form would begin to slowly exude a twisted gradient of colors alike the mages normal voidal aura. A dull screeching noise emitting from the mage as the Unsound Mage’s unnatural mana would begin to slowly spread throughout the room.

- After having done this for many days upon repeat.. the enchants within would begin to dim and flicker- losing the natural order and process of their programmed functions. The air would give off an almost foggy, dusty after-image as now aslong as this field persists.. all voidally inclined objects now brought or staying within this room would be subject to the same fate.

[[The spell’s range increases in intensity based off of the tier]]

 

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Active Mana Absorption

Non-Combative | T1

Emote Requirement: 3 Emotes, Continuous Duration

 

Description: This spell forms the foundation of the magic - The manipulation of mana in other items. The Unsound Mage may focus their Passive Mana Absorption now onto a single subject of interest, and cause the item to lose its mana beginning after 3 emotes as their mana-consuming connection to Oshoggdos grows larger and more pinpointed.

 

 Mechanics:
 

Spoiler

Mechanics: After forming a connection, and spending three emotes conjuring their aura onto an object, the Unsound Mage may begin to more actively pull mana from the item. It should be noted that this mana is pulled into the void, not into the Unsound Mage themselves. This effect, though a much more amplified version of its passive variant, is slow. The Unsound Mage must spend 6 emotes(or 1 minute if emote counts do not matter) focusing on their object of interest in order to drain what equals the equivalent mana pool of their given tier. For example, a T2 Unsound Mage can use this spell to drain mana equal to a T2 mage from an object. This much can be done without exhausting themselves any more. Once this amount has been absorbed in the span of one day, however, they must as well expend their own energy in equivalent amounts to that they drain.

 

For example, if the Unsound Mage is T3, they can drain the energy equal to a T3 Mage from any voidal-related item(s) of their chosing. Once they’ve drained this much, they may continue on if they would like - But they’ll drain themselves as well, and be completely exhausted once the process is complete.

 

Specific Red Lines:

- This is NOT to be used in combat or on actively cast spells.

- May only target voidal-related items or materials.

- This spell may potentially target voidal-tears and close them, but only beginning at T5 or higher. It is up to the ET in charge of the tear as to if the spell is effective or not.

- You may remove mana equal to your tier or lower. You may double that by also removing your own.

- YOU DO NOT GAIN THE MANA THAT IS DRAINED.

Emote Guide:
 

Spoiler

Active Mana Absorption [Connection Emote, + 3]

[Connection] - The Unsound Mage’s eyes started to glow a bright mulberry as they reached out in their mind to Oshoggdos. The voidal taint on the elf seemed to look like it was moving akin to oil, having a faint glow the same mulberry color as their eyes. 

 

-  They seemed to be gazing at the fire evocation charged staff on the table. This staff would be T4, a tier higher than that of the mage’s. The mage’s voidal taint would still be giving off the glow and seem to be moving, their eyes starting to swirl a mulberry glow as the staff started to dull ever so faintly.

 

- The fire evocation staff’s color would start to become more lackluster and dull. This made the staff less powerful than before as the mana was drained from the staff. The mage continued to glow the mulberry color in their eyes, swirling about, the same as their voidal taint as they focused on the staff.

 

- The once Tier Four enchanted staff was drained down a Tier One due to the Unsound Mage being Tier Three and draining it three tiers. The staff turned dull and would occasionally malfunction and not work as intended.

 

 

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Confusion

Combative | T2

Emote Requirement: 2

 

Description: The Unsound Mage may now open up their connection to Oshoggdos, and focus it onto a specific individual to lightly disrupt the manapool of a target. The first step in an Unsound Mage’s small combative arsenal.

 

 Mechanics:
 

Spoiler

Mechanics: Over the course of two emotes, an Unsound Mage directs their focus onto an individual. At the second of the two emotes, they must be within 5 blocks(meters) of the Unsound Mage. Should this go uninterrupted a large pulse of disrupted energy would shoot out towards the head of the target, and the target of this spell would suddenly have their mind overcome with the presence of disrupted mana, distorting their hearing and filling it with loud white noise and warping their sight in a pattern of swirls, as if severe heat distortion had overcome the area. This would serve only to deafen and briefly uncoordinated the target, leaving them slightly disoriented. This lasts for two of the target’s emotes, disappearing at the end of the second.

 

Specific Red Lines:

- Requires close physical proximity to the target.

- Does not incapacitate! It’s disorienting and LOUD to them, but they may still function.

- You are required to emote noticeable tells whilst casting towards someone, you are not able to cover up your casting emotes.

- The large pulse of energy shoots at roughly 20mph, however it is able to be dodged.

Emote Guide:
 

Spoiler

 

Confusion [Connection Emote, +2]

[Connection] - The voidally cursed mage’s eyes started to glow orange and the glow would swirl. The mage’s voidal taint faintly glowing the same orange as their eyes as they focused on the bandit attacking the peasant.

 

- Their orange glow in their eyes continued to swirl as they focused on the rogue, running towards them. They seemed to be in a somewhat daze as they looked onward directly at the bandit and approached the individual, hoping to draw their attention away from the peasant. The Unsound Mage would have an orange glow of energy visibly pulsating off of them 

 

- The bright orange pulsating, distorted energy would shoot off the mage, almost like a beam of mana, towards the bandit. If this energy hit the bandit; the bandit’s mind would become overcome with the presence of disrupted mana, distorting their hearing and filling it with loud white noise and warping their sight in a pattern of swirls, as if severe heat distortion had overcome the area. This would only deafen and disorient the bandit and not incapacitate them. They would be disoriented for the next two emotes. The mage’s orange glow would cease after this, running away and allowing for the peasant a chance to escape.

 

 

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 Subversion

Non-Combative | T3

Emote Requirement: 2

 

Description: This spell allows the Unsound Mage to cast forth their aura, and fling it out at an object in order to distort and scar an inorganic object’s color and texture. An exercise of disruptive mana’s control over space, a useful tool for marking its presence.

 

 Mechanics:
 

Spoiler

Mechanics: The Unsound Mage may, over the course of one emote, conjure forth their aura - and in the second send it flinging out towards any target within ten meters of them. Living matter would go unharmed. Any inanimate object however, should it not be enchanted or magic-based, would find its mana signature disrupted and hijacked.  The result of this is the distortion and warping of an object’s appearance, leaving it scarred in a rainbow of conflicting colors and changing parts of the object’s texture, such as making it rough or smooth. After the casting of the spell, the object’s integrity and base material remains unchanged. 

 

At a base level, this spell covers 2 square meters of space or less, and takes a quarter of the Unsound Mage’s given mana to produce. Subversion would last 5 emotes before then returning back to normal. If a mage does 4 emotes (including connection) and has direct hold of a specific object.. then the Subversion can be permanent.

 

Specific Red Lines:

- Requires RO permission when used in an area not owned by the Unsound Mage OOCly.

- Does NOT harm anything living.

- Takes a quarter of an Unsound Mage’s mana.

- Does not change an object’s integrity or base material. 
- Does not work on magical items (enchantments, runes, etc) or organic material.
- An object undergoing Subversion may not be heavier than 50lbs.

Emote Guide:
 

Spoiler

Subversion [Connection Emote, +2]

[Connection] - The mage’s voidal taint would start to pulsate a faint magenta glow as their eyes erupted with the same color glow as their voidal taint as they stood in the kitchen,ready for a remodel. 

 

- The tainted mage would grit their teeth and clench their jaw as the magenta glow coming from their voidally tainted skin grew to encompass their whole body, surrounding them in their aura.

 

- The mage then shot their arms out to expel their mana out towards the kitchen counters. This made the kitchen scarred in a rainbow of conflicting colors and changing parts of the object’s texture, some parts alternating between rough and smooth. This covered two meters of their small kitchen and they gave a nod of approval, admiring their work.

 

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Sunder

Combative | T4

Emote Requirements: 4

 

Description: Focusing onto the mana signature of another voidal mage, the Unsound Mage launches a bolt of aura to disrupt the opposing mage’s mana pool, sending a surge of sharp pain throughout their body, breaking their connection and returning all spells to the void.

 

 Mechanics:
 

Spoiler

Mechanics: Focusing on another voidal mage, the Unsound Mage telegraphs a channel of disruptive mana into the mage’s mana pool within eight meters of them, sending a surge of pain, as if they were being jabbed by a thousand needles from all directions, throughout their body. This will make the opposing mage unable to cast for three emotes. This effect also goes for the Unsound Mage, leaving them unable to cast for three emotes. Sunder  requires immense focus on the Unsound Mage’s end with obvious tells. The slightest disruption will cause this spell to fail.

 

Specific Red Lines:

- This spell may not be used on more than one target.

- This spell may not be used beyond a radius of eight meters around the Unsound Mage.

- The Unsound Mage may not cast for three emotes after using Sunder.

- Sunder takes up a third of the Unsound Mage’s mana.

Emote Guide:
 

Spoiler

Sunder [Connection emote, +4]

[Connection]- As the arcanist started to connect to the void, the Unsound Mage reached out to Oshoggdos. The tainted mage’s eyes would grow a bright green as their hand had spasms. The visible voidal taint looked like it was swirling against the mage’s skin.
 

- The cursed mage narrowed their glowing eyes at the arcanist as they were busy casting their own spell. The mage held up their arm slightly as a faint green aura grew around it, focusing intently on drawing forth their aura.
 

- The green mist around the mage’s arm would grow thicker, but would still be very translucent as they stared down the Arcanist, both seeming to be building up their spells.The Unsound mage seemed to be circling and moving back and forth in case the voidal mage fired first.
 

- The Unsound mage continued to remain focused as the green aura around their arm began to spiral around their arm. They would make sure that their sights were entirely set on the arcanist, their movements slowed however as they concentrated heavily.
 

- The Eye of Oshoggdos had all their mana gathered into their aura on their arm, pointing and it would expel towards them, telegraphing a channel of disruptive mana into the mage’s mana pool. This would send a surge of pain, as if they were being jabbed by a thousand needles from all directions, throughout the Arcanist’s body. This rendered both the Arcanist and Unsound mage unable to cast for three emotes.

 

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Negate-Mana

Combative | T5

Emote Requirement: 4

 

Description: An Unsound Mage taps into their connection with Oshoggdos, allowing it to tear through them and to those around with a devastating effect on both the spells present, as well as the Unsound Mage themselves.

 

 Mechanics:
 

Spoiler

Mechanics: Over the course of four emotes, the Unsound Mage gathers up all of their mana and aura and expels such around them, ten-meters in all directions(21 meter diameter, counting the block the Unsound Mage occupies). The effect of this is the cancelling out of any active voidal-based spells around them, immediately shunting the mana from them into the void. This has no effect on the rest of the mana pools for these other spellcasters, only cancelling out their current spell. The Unsound Mage themselves will be entirely out of mana however, collapsed on the ground and exhausted after such a spell.

 

Specific Red Lines:

- 21 Meter Diameter, 10.5 Meter Radius, centered on the Unsound Mage.

- This immediately cancels any active voidal magics in the radius, causing their casters to have to begin again from the emote after connection. This wastes the mana they had expended for their lost spells, but there is nothing stopping them from beginning again should they have the mana.

- The Unsound Mage is completely exhausted and incapacitated after the fact.

- This spell takes the entirety of an Unsound Mage’s mana pool, though may be accomplished so long as they have half of it present; any less will result in their death. The less they have from full, the longer their incapacitated state will go on for; Anywhere from 1 day to a week.

Emote Guide:
 

Spoiler

Negate-Mana [Connection Emote, +4]

[Connection]- The Unsound Mage’s eyes started to glow blue as they reached out in their mind to Oshoggdos. The voidal taint on the elf seemed to look like it was moving akin to oil, having a faint glow the same deep blue color as their eyes. 
 

- The voidally corrupted mage continued to tap into their connection to the Voidal Behemoth as they slowly gathered up their mana. Their eyes and voidal taint continued to glow the deep blue as they were moving about to avoid any oncoming attacks.
 

- The Unsound Mage continued their mana collection, their faint glow seeming to grow a bit brighter  as they collected their mana, drawing from Oshoggdos to further collect the mana. Their eyes continued their deep blue glow as they focused on this.
 

- The tainted mage walked about, attempting to avoid it’s attackers as they gathered their mana from the connection to the Voidal Behemoth. The mage’s voidal taint still had the blue glow, though it began to pulsate with the more mana that the mage collected. 
 

- The mage expelled their mana and aura into the area around them, going ten meters in all directions. This expulsion of mana cancelled out all of the active voidal-based spells around them, immediately shunting the mana from them into the void. They then collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion, leaving them entirely incapacitated. 

 

 

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Tier 1 (1 Week After Receiving An Accepted MA) - Upon one’s connection originally getting warped by Oshoggdos, they would notice a splotch of dark taint appear somewhere on their mid-torso. The occasional whispers of a moonspeech emanating throughout the unsound mage’s head at least once a day. They begin to feel the strange sensation of mana pulling towards them. All around one most definitely feeling confusion from the sudden lack of fatigue as well as their dreams all of a sudden turning into freakish sudden nightmares.

 

Spells Learned At This Tier: Passive Mana Absorption T1, Active Mana Absorption

 

Tier 2 (3 Weeks After Receiving An Accepted MA ) - At tier two, the unsound mage gets access to the spell Confusion. The whispers beginning to get gradually louder and appearing more often. The dark splotches of taint beginning to slowly appear on other spots of one’s body whether that be palms, shoulders, legs, calves, etc. The Unsound Mage becoming accustomed to the lack of sleep from the freakish dreamscape they’ve been cursed to. By this point, the unsound mage’s muscle mass would be almost entirely tapped away. Leaving them a frail and almost sickly shell of what they once were.

 

Spells Learned At This Tier: Confusion

 

Tier 3 (1 Month After Receiving An Accepted MA) - Once hitting tier 3, the unsound mage gains access to a greater passive mana absorption area as well as Scrying… the eldritch whispers growing to be as common as once an hour now, lasting for a good few minutes in ones head… sometimes as needless screaming yet sometimes as maddening chants and unnerving sounds, enough to turn one paranoid. The taint continues to spread and congeal around one’s body, tainting roughly about 1/3rd of a Descendant’s skin by now. 

 

Spells Learned At This Tier: Passive Mana Absorption T3, Subversion

 

Tier 4 (2 Months After Receiving An Accepted MA) - At tier 4, an unsound mage is able to learn consumption. The taint growing to take over roughly ½ of a descendant’s skin. The whispers in one’s head growing to last longer and more often. There’s barely a break as what almost seems to be multiple voidal creatures talking in one’s head persists almost entirely throughout the day. It’s hard to fall asleep by this point. Very occasionally the voidal horrors even attempting to play tricks on an Unsound Mage’s mind, making things akin to mirages and other personal tricks in order to pick away at one’s mental state.

 

Spells Learned At This Tier: Sunder

 

Tier 5 (4 Months After Receiving An Accepted MA) - By the final tier, the whispers of Oshoggdos themselves could be heard. Still mostly complete and utter gibberish, yet the screeching echoes of the voice would begin to almost hypnotize the Unsound Magi. By this point, the taint would have taken up about 2/3rds of a descendant’s skin, and the whispers would be continues, multiple voices at one time and yet… the lull of Oshoggdos seems to alleviate the crippling paranoia, leaving an Unsound Mage with a form of almost artificial acceptance of what has happened to them. This is not a perfect mental control, yet in the swirling chaos of one’s mental state, reaching this point is like achieving a form of entropy in the Mage’s mentally torn head. As a result, one might find it simply easier to just.. Not fight against the lull. The lull breaking the old mind and leaving the descendant a unhinged version of what they once were, yet with a newfound sense of self-understanding. By this point a mage, now T5 can apply for a TA and attempt to corrupt a “student’s” connection. This corruption process involving Oshoggdos reaching through one’s form (usually in the form of congealed and condensed mana) and directing a descendant’s voidal connection towards themselves.

 

Spells Learned At This Tier:: Passive Mana Absorption T5, Negate-Mana, Connection-Corruption (The Ability To Make a TA)