[✗] [Magic Lore] Farseers: Spiritual Tattoos

[Ilikefooddude 414]

Spiritual Tattoos
This lore acts as a companion piece to the Farseer Rework (LINK)

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A long-winded prelude

It’s a hard truth that a Farseer’s work is often rooted in impermanence. A blessing can be strong, can be potent and can even be (despite a shaman’s best efforts, perhaps) a catalyst for great change. But for all these things the work of a Farseer can rarely ever endure. You could, indeed, be blessed to fight battles worthy of history, to create art destined for fame or to write songs to be sung for ages, but a blessing itself does not endure. It does not last. A good blessing dies lighting the spark of great fires, and very few remember these sparks in the shadows of such great flames.
But permanence is not impossible. Not all good things need to die. If one truly wants something to last- if they truly hold something close to heart- they should do as any rational, forward-thinking adult does after great thought and thorough contemplation. They should get it as a tattoo.

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Baldur- God of War (Sketchy-Linez, Deviantart)

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Magic Description:

Tattoos are Farseer’s answer to the age old struggle for legacy. Through the infusion of a blessing into a person’s skin instead of their soul (and through the help of specific spirits) a Shaman can create magical tattoos with very minor but very permanent aesthetic effects. These effects are not powered by the blessing itself but from interactions with the aspects which they represent. For example, a tattoo from the Spirit of War, Enrohk, might shine, shimmer, hum, dance or otherwise move about dramatically when its owner enters battle or otherwise experiences emotions of savagery or bloodlust. It is because the tattoos are powered by the aspects they represent that they have permanence. They aren’t powerful or potent, but they can be beautiful, meaningful or profound in equal measures, and as such are a skill coveted greatly by those who wield it. 

 

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Colorfree (Sooj, Deviantart)

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Creation
The creation of a Farseer’s Tattoo is not a difficult task, however this is all the more reason for their careful and considerate application. These aren’t simply carvings of one’s lover’s name into their upper thigh, they’re pieces of art and magic that will last as long as there’s skin attached to a person’s body, so care must be taken in making absolutely sure you know what you’re getting tattooed. An Immortal Spirit (and only an Immortal Spirit) must be selected which represents the aspect you want tattooed. Elemental Spirits have little interest in aesthetics or in the representation of their elements upon Mortals (who are a rather messy combination of all elements and thus are rather unsavoury in these spirits’ eyes) and Ancestral Spirits find little use in having their name scrawled across their whelp of a grandson’s trapezoids and, as such, stay comfortably out of the picture. With the spirit chosen, a Farseer must undergo the process of blessing a patch of the victim’s skin to, firstly, be able to change its colour, to ripple, to flare, to dance or perform any other series of aesthetic performances and to, secondly, be connected to and powered from any aspects of an Immortal Spirit. The form which the tattoo takes (Although this can vary, it will always revert back to an original form when unpowered) is a compromise between the owner’s wishes and the Spirit’s demands and is often surprising and alien in nature. You can never truly expect a Spiritual Tattoo to go as planned, but having a firm vision of a tattoo in mind is a good step for getting something akin to what you’d like. With the blessings completed the skin will undergo rapid change. Pigmentation will fade. Pox and boil will smooth. Pain will throb across the man or woman’s skin as if it’d be burnt or scoured off and naught will sooth that but time (an elven day, on average) or an unsubtle amount of opiates, but once the pain is gone the end result will be in full bloom. A Spiritual Tattoo of a person’s choice will be clear and present for as long as any magic remains and its connection to a Spirit lasts; a testament to permanence, a herald of the Immortals.

 

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Mana (Gpzang, Deviantart)

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Use
As stated above, Spiritual Tattoos are fueled by exposure to their connected aspects, however this exposure can come in many forms. Physical contact to a related aspect will easily power a tattoo (for example a wielder of a tattoo from Betheruz will have it activate when they’re in close proximity to a celebration or party) but so too will emotional contact. When a person experiences sadness, bloodlust, despair, pain or bravery and they have a tattoo representing that, it will activate with a strength much greater than any that could be replicated by its physical counterpart. The aesthetic effects will be more visible and more animated and will carry with them a greater spiritual meaning, too. In this, Spiritual Tattoos become representative of genuine and meaningful emotion- of being signs of truth and strength of character that otherwise may not be plainly obvious upon a person’s normal visage. They’re a means to show pride in your connection to a spiritual aspect; to show the world, unafraid, the truth of your soul and the fervor of your being.

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Spiritual Tattoos- Non-Combative, Aesthetic Empowerment, Ritual

 

RP Description

A Farseer places a blessing upon the skin of a creature with a Superior Soul, creating a permanent physical change in the form of a tattoo. This tattoo is dormant until powered by a person’s physical or emotional exposure to the aspect of this spirit by which they were blessed, at which point it can have a series of aesthetic (and only aesthetic) sensory effects up to the Farseer and Wielder’s discretion. 

 

Mechanics:
Requirements:
- To create a Spiritual Tattoo the Farseer must be a Tier Three or greater Farseer.
- A Spiritual Tattoo must represent some aspect or aspects of a single Immortal Spirit. Its affects are aesthetic and only exist when the wielder physically/emotionally in contact with those aspects.
- Once the tattoo is made, you cannot change the effects/behavior of your Spiritual Tattoo; it stays the same no matter what stimulus triggers it.
- This ability must be taught in roleplay, and punishments will be enforced for those who cannot provide adequate screenshots.
- Creating a Spiritual Tattoo is a 6+ emote Ritual that follows the procedure outlined in the ‘Creation’ subheading of this lore.
- Tattoos of this kind can be taken up to sway the spiritual deals of Farseers in their favor. The only limit on how many tattoos a Farseer can have is skin space.
 

Red Lines:

- Spiritual Tattoos can only be applied by Farseers and must be learnt. Farseers can apply them to themselves without repercussions.
- This is an entirely aesthetic ability and cannot impart any additional blessings onto the holder or anyone else whatsoever.
- A Tattoo can only be powered by physical closeness or genuine emotional contact with an aspect. This emotion, and hence the activation of the Tattoo, cannot be forced or faked.
- There’s a certain artistic freedom in creating Spiritual Tattoos, however they cannot be used in battle or as a legitimately convincing illusion (i.e. effects they produce can’t be harmful and obviously come from the tattoo).
- Tattoos can’t activate differently to different stimuli- eg if you have a tattoo blessed by the Spirit of Magic and are in an area with active magical effects, it would activate, however you couldn’t determine the type of magic or its intended effects. (If you think a tattoo is being used to metagame in this way please contact an ST)
 

 

Edited January 31, 2021 by Ilikefooddude

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