[✓] [Magic Lore] Life Evocation

[sam33497 7356]

Spoiler

Hello, here is my shot at reformatting life evo with a few rebalances and changes. I've cut a lot of content while keeping similar mechanics and reduced it to nearly a fourth of the word count, so please let me know if I've managed to overlook any serious problems.

 

Major changes to the lore are as follows:

-Generally a lot more freedom on noncombat perennial conjuration. Noncombat terrestrial conjuration might have slightly less capability but follows Voidal rules now.

-Reworked perennial conjuration slightly. Added combative implications for summoning trees as small barriers.

-Enchantments now work for everything they should and follow the exact same mechanics. This should be exciting for the few people who still have transfig and conj.

-No more T8, Jing is self teach at T5.

-Removed ability to use crazy OP qualities with Chimeric Alteration, specified that armor and weapons can't be used by terrestrial conjurations. Other changes should make up for this.

-About 3,700 words rather than 13,000.

 

Everything else is largely just condensing mechanics and not yapping a bunch. There's an upper limit established for what is possible, so the need to overspecify isn't really important in my opinion.

 

If you hate that I cut all of the flavor and think I should put the 'conjurer's shorthand' and detailed things about learning into the lore, I'll hear you out, but I might end up disagreeing

 

thanks and please lmk what im missing, i wrote this in one protracted sitting so there's a great possibility i've left some glaring holes

 

[Magic Lore] Life Evocation

 

 

 

 

In the course of living memory, it has always been that sorcerers shaped the objects of their mind’s eye from the energies of the Void. It should be no surprise that such mages, fascinated by various facets of life, should one day render such a simulacrum from that great expanse. The art of Life Evocation represents the cumulative development of such mages, and the evocation of life in a variety of applications and appearances.

 

Magic Explanation

 

Modernly, the precise application of Life Evocation has grown elaborate and contains multiple unique branches. Generally, the conjurationist will follow the process of dissecting a creature or studying a plant in order to understand it, permitting them to replicate it with practice from Voidal anchors, their conjurations aiding them in life or facing their enemies in the mage’s stead. With increased mastery, the mage learns to apply this in complex ways, inventing their own craft of life and even binding their own creations to themselves.

 

-Life Evocation is a [1] slot Voidal Magic.
-Life Evocation can be practiced with a valid [MA], which can be obtained by learning under a master of Life Evocation with an associated [TA].
-Life Evocation requires a stable connection to the Void.

 

Terminology and Considerations

 

Dependent Summon - A summon which requires the caster’s full attention and focus to maintain and direct. While maintaining these, the caster is unable to cast anything else, and the summon must remain within line-of-sight. Otherwise, all rules of casting any other Voidal spell is followed in accord with Voidal Connection redlines. For posterity, this means they can only move [4] blocks per emote and taking an action other than maintaining the summon will cause the summon to disappear as they lose connection.

 

Independent Summon - A summon which acts alongside the caster on their turn, independently of them and not requiring their input.

 

Creature Size: The relative size of a summoned creature, coming in four quantities which alter the complexity and manacost of conjuration: Miniscule, up to the size of a rat, small up to the size of a houscat, medium, up to the size of a wolf, and large, up to the size of a bear.

 

See also: Voidal Connection. Many parts of this lore refer to rules and redlines only listed there.

 

Note that all emote counts include Voidal Connection, and can be reduced by [1] in the event the mage is already connected.

 

 

 

 

Spells

 

[T1-T5] Conjure Fauna [NC] - A Life Evocationist is capable of summoning simple fauna and delegating a portion of attention to them outside of combative scenarios, permitting them to conjure helpers in daily life or to achieve other miscellaneous phenomena.

 

Mechanics:

Spoiler

-The emotecount is freeform, but should be altered appropriately according to the scenario and scaled according to tier. Reason and faith should be maintained- this would not allow instantly summoning a bear-sized creature, for instance.
-The limit on the number of conjured creatures is twice of the maximum permitted in Terrestrial Conjuration per tier.

ST MANDATED CLARIFICATION TABLE FOR THOSE WHO CAN'T MULTIPLY:

Spoiler

Miniscule creatures: limit of [20]

Small creatures: limit of [10]

Medium creatures: limit of [6]

Large creatures: limit of [2]      

-These are still considered Dependent Summons, and significant action capable of breaking Voidal Connection will result in them demanifesting.
-The conjurationist is capable of mentally tasking their conjured creatures to act, but their tasks cannot exceed the creatures’ means.

 

Redlines:

Spoiler

-A creature must be well-understood in order to be conjured, meaning the Life Evocationist must have dissected it before.
-In the event that combat begins, the Life Evocationist’s focus will waver and all noncombatively conjured summons will disappear.

-In general, similar limitations as posed on creatures summoned by Terrestrial Conjuration will apply.

 

[T2-T5] Terrestrial Conjuration [C] - Life Evocationists are those who have extensively come to understand life in order to conjure it. Through the act of dissecting creatures, they can comprehend how to create them and command them within combat.

 

Mechanics:

Spoiler

-Creature size is distinguished by four categories:

-Miniscule, up to the size of a rat.
-Small, up to the size of a housecat.
-Medium, up to the size of a wolf.
-Large, up to the size of a bear.

 

-Emotecounts for summoning (with connection included) are as follows:

-[2] emotes: [1] miniscule or [1] small creature. [T2]
-[3] emotes: [3] miniscule or [2] small creatures, or [1] medium creature. [T3]
-[4] emotes: [5] miniscule or [3] small creatures, or [2] medium creatures. [T4]
-[5] emotes: [10] miniscule or [5] small creatures, [3] medium creatures, or [1] large creature. [T5]

 

-Creatures are summoned as Dependent Summons, taking the full focus of the caster.
-Creatures do not act the emote they are summoned.
-When summoned in groups no greater than [3], summons can be given precise commands as if they were intelligent, each able to carry out independent tasks. Above this and the conjurationist cannot handle the mental load of commanding each summon, and can only give the crowd a general command each emote.
-The creature must be summoned within [2] blocks of the conjurationist.

 

Redlines:

Spoiler

-If any summons leave the caster’s line of sight, they will demanifest. Clarification in General Redlines.
-Conjurationists cannot take any actions while maintaining their Dependent Summons. The sole exception is in the case of Arcane Scions, who would find their focus mildly impaired and maintain the need to have their summons in their line of sight, but still be able to use weaponry and engage opponents physically.
-Terrestrial Conjuration requires tells related to the formation of fauna life (e.g. bones and flesh shaping) and simply emoting a rift isn’t sufficient.
-Terrestrial Conjuration can be enchanted, following all of the same mechanics, accounting for Transfiguration lore. However, these conjured creatures must follow verbal commands rather than mental ones, as the user of the enchantment is unable to bear the respective mental load.
-If multiple creatures are to be summoned, the according number of anchors must be displayed as soon as the first charging emote post-connection; the intent of the spell cannot be changed halfway through.
-Summoned creatures will never have any effects that aren’t mundane, such as venom or other abilities listed in lore. They should always be considered as mundane animals, even with Chimeric Alterations added. This prevents hide, teeth or claws with the durability of steel and similar things - the limits of 'mundane' animals should not be surpassed in favor of animals with special qualities.
-Summoned creatures will never be dextrous enough to wield tools due to the imperfect nature of their control, and creatures equipped with armor would be too encumbered to function reasonably in combat.

-Antimagic effects which affect spells will always be sufficient to dispel Medium and smaller Terrestrial Conjurations, regardless of the tier at which it is cast.

-When maintaining a Large summon, the caster can only move [3] blocks per emote.

-Humanoid summons would be capped at human strength maximum. Their dexterity whilst controlled would not be comparable to a skilled warrior, instead being rather rudimentary and clumsy.

-When dispelled by thanhium, miniscules act like a T1 spell, small creatures act like a T2 spell, medium creatures act like a T3 spell, and large creatures act like a T5 spell.

-When commanding groups greater than [3] creatures, precision should not be emoted in attacks, such as certain summons managing to target a certain area if that's not the goal of the entire group - instead, a general threat and attack towards the target should be emoted. It is at the discretion of the target to emote how this swarm affects them, within good faith.

-Summons of different sizes cannot be summoned simultaneously. New summons cannot be summoned whilst Dependent Summons are already summoned, as maintaining them takes concentration. 

 

[T1-T5] Conjure Flora [NC] - In a most earnest and heartfelt mockery, Life Evocationists learned to emulate natural flora from the antithetical energies of the Void. Various plants can be conjured outside of combat, to display the mage’s mastery over faux-life.

 

Mechanics:

Spoiler

-The emotecount is freeform but should be held within reason, scaling with tier.
-The maximum area [in blocks] able to be affected by a noncombative casting scales with tier, ranging from 1x1 [T1] to 15x15 [T5]. In particular:

 

T1: 1x1 radius

T2: 3x3 radius

T3: 6x6 radius

T4: 10x10 radius

T5: 15x15 radius

-All conjured plants needn’t be of the same species. If something such as a tree is summoned, it should be considered to occupy a 3x3 space. No tree larger than this should be summoned.

 

Redlines:

Spoiler

-Plants not understood by the caster cannot be summoned. They must be familiar with and have examined the plant.
-Plants summoned in this manner cannot harm people whatsoever, and would demanifest rather than striking them, a combative circumstance shocking the caster into lack of control over the spellcast.
-Any plant larger than a flower must be summoned on the ground.

-If combat were to begin, all noncombative conjured flora would disappear.

-If attempting to conjure lore herbs, they will not carry their lore properties.  

 

[T2-T5] Perennial Conjuration [C] - What is beautiful can also be horrible, and it is natural for a dangerous gift to become a weapon. Though Life Evocationists cannot match the mastery of nature of a Druid, the simple existence and formation of certain flora can pose a problem in combat.

 

Mechanics:

Spoiler

-Conjurationists can summon flora in a radius on the ground to present an obstacle to opponents.
Flora summoned in this manner does not pose a direct threat to enemies, but will impede enemies summoned within the radius of conjured plants.
-Enemies who are within the radius of conjured flora upon their summoning will have those plants snake around them, impeding their movement to a maximum of [2] blocks for that emote, or [4] blocks while sprinting, and impeding their action slightly. In the following emotes, there will be a minor impedance of movement and action with no mechanical implications if they remain within the radius.

 

-Emotecounts and size restrictions for perennial conjuration are as follows:

 

-[2] emotes, 1x1 radius. [T2]
-[3] emotes, 3x3 radius. [T3]
-[4] emotes, 9x9 radius. [T4]

 

-If trees are summoned combatively, they cannot exceed 1x1 blocks in size, and [8] blocks in height. They will not provide the slowing effect, but instead serve as strong physical barriers, prone to antimagic and fire (and, of course, demanifestation). Similarly 'large' plants which could impede movement as barriers follow the same rules as trees.

 

Redlines:

Spoiler

-If any conjured flora leaves the line of sight of the caster (by means of the caster looking away or becoming unable to see) then it will disappear. The same is true for the caster’s disconnection.
-The impedance from Perennial Conjuration is not sufficient to nullify an action or disrupt the concentration of a mage, and is largely a ‘binding’.
-Perennial Conjuration can be enchanted, following the exact same mechanics.
-Trees must be spaced apart by at least [1] meter if conjured, so as not to form a large wall.

-There's a [1] emote cooldown on being slowed by the spell, even if multiple mages are casting it on a target.

-Trees and other conjurations capable of serving as a barrier cannot be summoned when casting this spell at T2.

-The radius of summoning must be telegraphed properly with tells related to plant growth.

-Any effectual antimagic or fire would easily cause any conjured plants, including trees, to demanifest instantly.

-The summoning of plants and trees will not impede or interrupt beyond what is written. A tree can serve as a barrier against an attack, but not be utilized to deliver an offensive blow upon appearing.

-If attempting to conjure lore herbs, they will not carry their lore properties.  

- Perennial Conjuration is considered a deployable spell if cast at [T3] or higher, meaning a mage may cast while maintaining the spell but is locked to its same magic (Life evocation.) A mage can only have one deployable spell active at any given time.

 

[T1/T2] Disjointed Conjuration [C] - Originally fathomed from an incomplete act of conjuration, a utility for the reduced forms of life were found- beyond their existence, the product of their death. The body parts of animals and dangerous parts of plants can be used as projectiles by the mage.

 

Mechanics:

Spoiler

-Projectiles can be formed by either using components of Terrestrial or Perennial conjuration as a base.
-The shape and type of projectile used is at the discretion of the caster, but should not exceed a bull’s head in size. However, these projectiles will fall into one of the two categories of damage, regardless of what is chosen: A sharp projectile akin to an arrow, or a blunt projectile akin to a rock.
-Projectiles from Disjointed Conjuration take [3] emotes to cast.
-Arrow-type projectiles follow all the damage rules of shortbows as described in Techlock - Armaments.
-Blunt-type projectiles deal damage comparable to a strong punch, capable of bruising and fracturing bone upon an unarmored opponent but at most denting and slightly bruising armored opponents.
-These projectiles have a range of [20] meters rather than line-of-sight due to the limitation of having physical weight.

 

Redlines:

Spoiler

-Conjurations of this type cannot display practical living characteristics; while a beating heart might be fine, an arm that grasps at an opponent is not.
-Regardless of what type of conjuration is chosen, projectiles will have the exact same effect due to constraints of weight, speed, and material.
-This can be performed noncombatively with a freeform emote count if one simply wants to conjure the body parts of creatures.
-This can be enchanted, following the exact same mechanics, accounting for Transfiguration lore.

-Noncombative disjointed conjuration can be considered a T1 spell. Combative disjointed conjuration can be considered a T2 spell.

-On cast, these projectiles would fly forward with speed respective to their type (an arrow or a rock), the projectile itself demanifesting once focus is no longer on it, e.g. when another spell is cast or the Voidal Connection of the caster is ended.  

 

[T4] Chimeric Alteration [C] - At a certain stage of mastery, the Life Evocationist has gained an implicit understand of the material they study, and can transpose the aspects of certain species onto others.

 

Mechanics:

Spoiler

-When summoning flora or fauna, an experienced Life Evocationist can transpose up to three qualities of other species known to them onto it during the summoning process. Examples include a rose that bleeds, shark with legs and lungs of a human, or a hawk with leaves in place of feathers.
-Using Chimeric Alteration adds [1] emote to Terrestrial and Perennial Conjuration Spellcasts, and adds a tier of mana cost to the conjuration, unless it’s already T5.

 

Redlines:

Spoiler

-Chimeric Alterations cannot be so major so as to increase or reduce the size category of the creature.
-Chimeric Alteration cannot be used to copy exceptionally exotic features, such as projectile spit or detachable tails. This includes unusually powerful qualities such as hide or teeth that are as strong as steel.
-Chimeric Alteration must respect biology and not be ludicrous; the body of the created creature must still be functional from a reasonable perspective.
-If summoning multiple creatures, all must have the same alterations. This would not result in multiple extra necessary emotes.

-Chimeric Alteration cannot be applied to enchantments.

-Though realistic life can be created with Life Evocation, users of the magic are encouraged to provide various tells signifying the nature of evoked life as alien and unnatural, such as conjured animals acting without actual animal instinct, having slightly uncanny appearances, plants looking slightly unnatural, etc. 

-When cast noncombatively any number of qualities can be given to the creation, but it is still restricted to traits from three organisms overall.

 

 

Jing Artificery [T5]

 

At the pinnacle of the craft of Life Evocation, there exists an art, long-pondered by the masters of the magic. They thought deeply of the unification of faux-life and that real life of their own, and how their creations could be made part of themselves. The solution found is called Jing- enchantments which permit evoked life to be bound to the self in various ways.

 

Mechanics:

Spoiler

-Jing are physical, mechanical items taking the shape of jewelry, consisting of plant and animal parts.
-Jing are purposeless until enchanted with one of the Jing Artificery spells. Once enchanted, they must be ST-signed.
-Jing may also be crafted using ONLY conjuration Arcanium of either kind; however it's structure is weakened to be as durable as bone or leather (depending if it is rigid or flexible).
-The personal nature of Jing forging causes the Arcanium used in it's creation to be impossible to reuse.
-The creation and enchantment process of Jings are a long, freeform process of self-realization and consideration of the mage’s craft. These items are considered at the pinnacle of their magic and Voidal magic in general, and so creation should include significant periods of meditation and reflection and not include less than five detailed emotes for a permanent item.
-All Jing spells can be self-taught at T5, requiring no extra tier progression or time.

 

Jing Beastmelding [C] - By binding a Jing to themselves and wearing it upon a portion of their body, the master can conjure animal features over the respective areas, allowing for increased durability and utility.

 

Mechanics:

Spoiler

-Animal features, such as hide, paws, hooves, etc. can be summoned at the location of the Jing upon the body in [2] emotes. If multiple Beastmelding Jing are possessed, each cast of this will only activate one of them.
-These conjurations cannot encompass the entire body, instead being restricted to a particular limb, the torso, or the head.
-The conjurations will not be connected to the mage themselves, instead fitting like a tight glove. Generally, these conjurations would be able to absorb hits akin to gambeson, and the use of the claws and talons of certain animals is feasible as a weapon.
-These conjurations are wholly capable of restricting the mage’s senses if conjured over the face.
-If multiple Beastmelding Jing are possessed by the mage, up to [3] meldings can be used per combat encounter.
-If used noncombatively, the conjurations will persist for a narrative hour. In combat, lasts until the end of combat.

-Beastmelding Jing are ST signed.

-This does not require active concentration to maintain once cast, and can be used alongside other actions and spells once activated until the end of combat.

 

Redlines:

Spoiler

-It is not feasible to use beastmelding to disguise as another person. Similarly, total facial disguise into another face is not feasible using animal parts- of course, the head can still be covered by, say, a lion's head.

- Due to the mastery of life evocation required for this craft, along with the highly personal bond between a life evocationist and their jing, only the creator can use the jing produced by this ability.
-No unnatural qualities can be granted, such as venom or including unusually durable hides, talons, teeth, etc. 
-Beastmelding can’t be used over armor, requiring a layer of clothing or a bare limb.

-Though Beastmelding is taught at T5, it is considered a T3 spell with the associated manacost for the intents and purposes of interaction with other lore. No spamming it to destroy thanhium easily.

-Beastmelding alterations can increase the durability of a body part and provide natural weapons, but do not enhance the strength of the wielder in any way.  

 

Jing Reconstruction [NC] - Intimately understanding the connection between simulacrum and reality, the Jing Artificer can bind artificial life to an injured party, effectively making their body whole from where it had been harmed.

 

Mechanics:

Spoiler

-In [4] emotes, a ritual can be undertaken to bind a Jing to an injured party.
-This can only affect one part of the body; one limb, torso, head, etc.
-Upon the completion of the ritual, unnatural flesh containing discoloration and a patchwork feeling will seal the wound.
-Though the wound will be healed upon the completion of the ritual, there will be phantom pains for [3] OOC days until the ‘healing process’ is complete. If the Jing is removed at any time before then, the wound will reopen as the conjured flesh is dispelled.
-While the Reconstruction is in progress, the Jing uses the mana of the patient’s body in order to fuel the completion of the healing; they would find that they had reduced energy and were incapable of spellcasting during this period, as well as an intense exhaustion after the ritual itself.

 

Redlines:

Spoiler

-Grievous and fatal wounds cannot be healed. Dead things cannot be revived.
-Broken bones may not be healed; if it’s not feasible to heal it by restoring flesh, it cannot be healed.
-Blood may be restored through Jing Reconstruction, but not in the event of severe to fatal blood loss.

-Target must possess at least a lesser soul.

-These are one-time use, and are utterly mundane except for when used in a binding by the Conjurationist to heal a singular wound.
-These do not require an ST signature.

-Jing Reconstruction counts as a T5 spell. 

 

Jing Binding [C] - At the absolute pinnacle of the art, there is the creation of life that can operate truly in tandem with the operations of the magus. Through a pair of Jing bound together, the caster and conjuration can share an immutable linkage, forming a long-standing companion.

 

Mechanics:

Spoiler

-The ritual to create a Jing Binding can only occur outside of combat, and should consist of at least [5] detailed emotes detailing the creation of the pair of Jing and the conceptualization of the companion animal.
-The creation process takes more mana than a mage can actively possess, and thus must be performed with the aid of a greater mana source.
-Up to two Chimeric Alterations may be made to the summoned animal bound by the Jing. These are permanent, and decided when the item is created.
-A bound conjuration must be medium sized or smaller (as described in Terrestrial Conjuration).
-The bound creature can be manifested or demanifested from the associated Jing in [3] emotes.
-Bound creatures function as Independent Combat Pets, and do not require additional input from the caster beyond their summoning to act.
-In order to use a bound creature in combat, it must be directly summoned in combat, or its presence must have been emoted for the entirety of the encounter if it were already summoned.
-An ST-signed item is necessary to represent both the pair of Jing and to include the details of the associated creature. The mechanical Jing item must be on the caster’s body in order to summon the creature.

-If the bound conjuration were killed by means of antimagic or mortal wound, it would demanifest and the Jing would appear in its place. If this is recovered, the conjuration could be resummoned, but if it is lost or destroyed, the Jing Binding must be remade.

 

Redlines:

Spoiler

-These creatures ignore range limits and line of sight requirements. They can be implicitly communicated with mentally akin to ordinary conjurations.
- While a bound Jing is summoned in combat, no summons of any kind (such as those made by Terrestrial Conjuration) can be present at the same time. The caster is completely unable to even attempt to bring a new independent summon into combat, and bringing a dependent summon into combat causes the bound jing to die and require recharging at a greater mana source.
-The bound conjuration cannot act the emote it is conjured.
-Generally, these creatures follow all the same practical limitations as Terrestrial Conjuration. No special effects or super-powerful hide or jaws, no armor or weapons.

-Bound Jing count as a T5 spell.  

 

 

General Redlines

Spoiler

-Conjured creatures, parts, meldings, and flora have an extreme vulnerability to antimagic which affects spells, and one strike from any such source will be sufficient to demanifest them.

-Life evocationists, with sufficient roleplay, are capable of manifesting conjurations based off of beings beyond solely the material plane.

-Effects which prevent a caster from casting do not have any effect upon conjurations unless the caster themselves is struck.

-All spells, except for Jing Binding, require line of sight to cast and maintain.

-In order for summons to demanifest, their entire form must be out of sight for a full emote. This is to prevent weird line of sight cheese.

-Summons follow LOTC movement rules, and may take one action per emote if moving only [4] meters, and can sprint for [8] meters otherwise.

-Summons should be represented mechanically ingame with a sign, boat, NPC, or something similar for clarity and accountability.

- Conjurations cannot make recognizable copies of specific descendants, beastfolk, or other played CAs.

 

 

Tier Progression

 

The art of Life Evocation is a complex and arduous one, with more layers to mastery than perhaps any other of the Voidal arts. As the ability to create artificial life increases and compounds, the capability of the mage becomes more and more pronounced, where a master can truly be considered one able to evoke great feats of their craft at will.

 

Spoiler

Tier One

 

At the first tier, the conjurationist has first learned to study life and begun attempts at conjuring imitations of them. At this tier, Conjure Flora is able to be cast at a tiny scale, as well as noncombative applications of Disjointed Conjuration.

Spells: [T1-T5] Conjure Fauna, [T1-T5] Conjure Flora, [T1/T2] Disjointed Conjuration [NC]

Total Time: 0 Weeks

 

Tier Two

 

Reached after [2] OOC weeks, the conjurationist has solidified the basis of their study, and is able to begin attempting to create fauna, and control them in a minor way, even able to barely use them with combative implications. They’ve gained relative mastery over the ability of Disjointed Conjuration.

Spells: [T1-T5] Conjure Fauna, [T1-T5] Conjure Flora, [T1/T2] Disjointed Conjuration, [T2-T5] Terrestrial Conjuration, [T2-T5] Perennial Conjuration

Total Time: 2 Weeks

 

Tier Three

 

Reached after a further [3] weeks, the conjurationist has truly begun their study in earnest, focused on increasing and complexifying their capabilities after having achieved a basis within the magic. The scale of their conjurations increasing, first becoming truly viable within a variety of contexts.

Spells: [T1-T5] Conjure Fauna, [T1-T5] Conjure Flora, [T1/T2] Disjointed Conjuration, [T2-T5] Terrestrial Conjuration, [T2-T5] Perennial Conjuration

Total Time: 5 Weeks

 

Tier Four

 

Reached after a further [5] weeks, the mage has achieved a relative mastery of most aspects of conjuration, achieving the peak of their craft. They have learned to look beyond the study of existing animals and flora, transposing qualities between them and first gaining the qualities of a master of simulated life.

Spells: [T1-T5] Conjure Fauna, [T1-T5] Conjure Flora, [T1/T2] Disjointed Conjuration, [T2-T5] Terrestrial Conjuration, [T2-T5] Perennial Conjuration, [T4] Chimeric Alteration

Total Time: 10 Weeks

 

Tier Five

 

Reached after a further [6] weeks of study, the conjurationist has truly achieved mastery, surpassing the simple evocation of life and learning to bridge the realms of real and fake with Jing. Furthermore, the scale of their conjurations have reached their peak, and great glades and gatherings follow in their wake.

Spells: [T1-T5] Conjure Fauna, [T1-T5] Conjure Flora, [T1/T2] Disjointed Conjuration, [T2-T5] Terrestrial Conjuration, [T2-T5] Perennial Conjuration, [T4] Chimeric Alteration, [T5] Jing Binding, [T5] Jing Reconstruction, [T5] Jing Beastmelding

Total Time: 16 weeks

 

 

Credits:

Previous write- though hated on, a clear passion project and ultimately something that stood the test of time for a while. A few lines directly ported from this. Shoutout to author. Most mechanics borrowed, hence the name ‘reformat’

 

 

lord_of_losers- feedback

Zarsies- Original Jing Lore

Various voidcels- feedback.
Anyone who comments anything useful under this post- usefulness
LobsterLarry- made me think about how i hated life evocation on 7/25/2024

[Security_ 2287]

Readable conjuration lore? 😮

[PrimnyaQuorum 3999]

24 minutes ago, sam33497 said:

-Though requiring a master’s knowledge, Jing rituals and spells do not cost an intense quantity of mana, and may be utilized by Arcane Scions assuming they’ve learned the magic to T5.

 

25 minutes ago, sam33497 said:

-Conjurationists cannot take any actions while maintaining their Dependent Summons. The sole exception is in the case of Arcane Scions, who would find their focus mildly impaired and maintain the need to have their summons in their line of sight, but still be able to use weaponry and engage opponents physically.

 

If Jing is T5 and Scion's already have access to what is effectively a independent summon at T3, why should Scions have access to Jing? 

 

[sam33497 7356]

1 minute ago, PrimnyaQuorum said:

 

 

If Jing is T5 and Scion's already have access to what is effectively a independent summon at T3, why should Scions have access to Jing? 

 

they can get it through dependent summon or they can get it through independent summon (they lose access to life evo so they dont get both)

 

either way this is already the current state of the lore im just clarifying

[King_Kunuk 3022]

Victory at long last.

 

Side note: should the creations of Jing require transfiguration due to them being considered enchantments? You mention in the lore post that they are enchantments, but you do not clarify more upon this.

 

If they do need to be enchanted like a normal tfig enchantment- are they lesser or grester enchantments in terms of strength.

[Cheese 8882]

I love beautifully formatted lore

[Benleft 2579]

So I can’t put plate armor on a gorilla strength independent summon. Screw my stupid chungus life. 

[Tael 216]

At last, I can read!!

[mothsthetic 2250]

everyone say thank you sam33497

[Hom 1987]

i can comprehend life evo now i’m so happy

[BakedPotato 1020]

I didnt want to unalive myself while reading this lore, thanks

[LoTC's Next Top Model 1626]

5 hours ago, PrimnyaQuorum said:

If Jing is T5 and Scion's already have access to what is effectively a independent summon at T3, why should Scions have access to Jing?

beastmelding. the martial focused feat being unable to use arguably the most martial focused ability in all of void magics is a failure from a design standpoint, so jing works differently. if you want to be udyr, you can.

 

plus they don't get independant summons? i don't know what you're talking about, unless you mean enchants? but everyone has access to enchants if their friend makes them one. in terms of independent summons, a lot of people i think fundamentally don't understand the rules of the server and massively overvalue it. fundamentally, your magnum opus jing permasummon at it's strongest is going to be on par with having a dog. you can have a dog without requiring t5 in any magics, so it's exclusively useful as flavour. it is also the only independant summon in the magic.

 

5 hours ago, King_Kunuk said:

Side note: should the creations of Jing require transfiguration due to them being considered enchantments? You mention in the lore post that they are enchantments, but you do not clarify more upon this.

 

they are enchantments, but not tfig enchantments. they are specifically conjuration magic craftable items that can only be used by the person who makes them, and i am of the personal opinion enchantment should be completely seperated from transfig entirely because it's the sole reason tfig is a 2 slot magic, and noone uses any of the rest of it lmao. no other magic system has a two slot tax to make items. wards are the worst spells in *ANY* magic (a ward is three emotes plus you need to know the magic AND spell they're casting in advance? you can pick up and throw a rock at their ******* head for two emotes, stop the spell, deal some damage, and not need any magics to do it!), everything else in alteration is purely non combat, and yet it's two slots because people abuse enchantments. horrible design.



in terms of the post itself, i cannot deny i am conflicted. i was in the middle of rewriting the lore myself before the server's instability, mob glitching (rip my humble honeymaking operation : (, the bees always despawned !), and the return of permanent world wars making every city have gates permanently closed caused me to lose interest in lotc.  i have a lot to say about this, and much of this will be generally unrelated to this piece, so indulge me.

life evocation's lore is very different than other magic lores, and there are two linked reasons for this. firstly, it is *old*. when this was published, flam was still lore admin and not banned for being a you know what yet. it is simply from a different time. secondly, it is a *very* hard magic archetype to write and have be balanced. it needs a lot of clarifications and outlines to remain freeform. a lot of people who have tried to rewrite the magic have run into this. when i wrote it myself i did it in one sitting over the course of three days in a possibly supernatural delirious fugue. as a result, if this write passes, i expect there will be a period of "relearning", where people abuse things no longer covered in redlines or mechanics and these things need to be readded, until eventually it's the same bloated hog it was before.

this is not to say i think it's perfect, far from it. there's much that *could*, and should, be reduced. namely a lot of the fluff, which can be considered egregious. but i like the fluff : ). when i originally wrote it, i was told the lore is meant to be *lore* and the guide would be the mechanical re-demonstration that's all brass tacks and mechanical information. this dual lore format has come and gone a few times in the last few years and i think is just a bad way to handle lore and ultimately redundant if the lore is well written and people with tas teach the magic appropriately. but that's neither here nor there.

so that's why the lore exists in the state it does. it's hard to rewrite and old. how about it's reception?

well, allow me to be a tad toxic for a moment. i'm pretty sure that 90% of the people who have complained to me about the lore in the past havn't ******* read it. i have been told, by players and lore team members alike, that x should be changed so y isn't possible, but that's already a redline in the lore. i have been told that a should be changed so people can start doing b, and a already just allows you to do that. hell, at one point an st was working on a blacklist report on me for using life evocation to heal someone and just didn't believe that reconstruction was an ability in life evocation. as a side tangent to this side tangent, while i've been gone i've been told that the magic was changed to not allow creatures to wear armour or clothing because of some things people were doing, and when i looked through what they did, they were just blatantly ******* powergaming and not roleplaying the magic correctly. but instead of punishing those players, instead the magic is nerfed. just peachy, innit?

furthermore, many of the complaints i recieve are contradictory. many people agree conjuration is bad, then have completely different incompatible reasons as to why. no accounting for taste, i suppose.

it's not all negative, though. and that's another reason why it's lasted so long; despite the controversial nature of the magic, it's popular with many of it's users. i've recieved many nice words about the flavour and mechanics of the magic, and i thank everyone who appreciates what i've done.

how about that flavour, then? well, that's one of the main things i'm sad to see go with this reformating. conjuration is supposed to be a counterpoint to druidism; nature and true life are fundamentally chaotic. the void is entropy, an order beyond our understanding. this is a *beautiful* combination thematically. druids learn from nature, life evocationists learn of nature. that's the importance of dissection, life evocationists are anatomists and mad scientists. that's why they have these repulsive abilities like disjointed and chimeric conjuration or jing reconstruction. you are viktor frankenstein (that's why i use all the quotes!). it's a fun thematic, though i was changing it somewhat in my rewrite... not that that matters now, anywho.

for better or worse, conjuration has been my greatest tie to the server, and i'd be sad to see it go. not to say i was the perfect warden of the magic; while i fought tooth and nail for every aspect of it, i could also be quite overprotective or overly dismissive of other views, which are things i shouldn't have done. it's hard to see people mean to something you care about, but i didn't always go about expressing this in constructive ways. i'd be sad to see it go, even if it's only in spirit like this. the body of my lore is still there... but it's not the same. there's a sorrow i can't really explain about it. not that that's a reason for it to remain unchanged, of course, but it's still real.
 

7 hours ago, sam33497 said:

Previous write- though hated on, a clear passion project and ultimately something that stood the test of time for a while. A few lines directly ported from this. Shoutout to author. Most mechanics borrowed, hence the name ‘reformat’

genuinely, thank you for this. i am extremely grateful that even in passing, what i've done can be seen and appreciated.

now that that fluffs out of the way, allow me to get into the meat of my thoughts specifically.

Foreward

7 hours ago, sam33497 said:

i wrote this in one protracted sitting so there's a great possibility i've left some glaring holes

highly relatable

7 hours ago, sam33497 said:

-Removed ability to use crazy OP qualities with Chimeric Alteration

you shouldn't have been able to do this in the first place, as other bits in the lore specify you can't have special abilities. i don't know who was doing what, but the lore didn't let em do that.

 

Conjure Fauna

7 hours ago, sam33497 said:

-The emotecount is freeform, but should be altered appropriately according to the scenario and scaled according to tier. Very rarely should one consider instantly summoning a bear-sized creature.

i just don't like freeform emote counts. there's a level of internal consistency i appreciate, and even in non-combat flavour spells undefined emote counts irritates me. but it is what it is.


Terrestrial Conjuration
 

7 hours ago, sam33497 said:

-When summoned in groups no greater than [3], summons can be given precise commands as if they were intelligent, and be given autonomous tasks. Above this and the conjurationist cannot handle the mental load of commanding each summon, and can only give the crowd a general command each emote.

this is something i believe should have an example, since it's a sort of complicated idea. the idea of precise commands is, if you have say, three squirrels? you can have each of them work independently working in your kitchen on different tasks related to making dinner. but if you have five squirrels? they cannot operate as a complex strike force, they have to all just swarm over the same thing or task. this is mostly to ensure that people don't... you know, have them as a complex strike force, where your shitload of squirrels are all doing the exact perfect coordinated routine to instakill someone or some shit. it just serves as a complexity cap, and like many mechanics/redlines i wrote, is to cut off bad behaviour before it starts.
 

7 hours ago, sam33497 said:

-Terrestrial Conjuration requires tells related to the formation of fauna life (e.g. bones and flesh shaping) and simply emoting a rift isn’t sufficient.

this i have some issue with, specifically relating to flavour. i typically completely change the way i cast every single time i summon something as part of being the flavour of being the one voidal eminent, and i left the summoning tells pretty open ended on purpose. realistically, so long as whatever your tell is accurately conveys the size and number of creatures you're summoning, i think the actual flavour of how it's being created should be to the discretion of the caster. want to summon ten squirrels? have small wormholes open in reality and have them paratroop out, who gives a shit. summoning one very large creature? one very large cloud the creature is messily and audibly forming inside of. make it a lightshow for all i care. as long as it doesn't give you any benefit whatsoever, i think it's fine.

 

7 hours ago, sam33497 said:

-Summoned creatures will never be dextrous enough to wield tools due to the imperfect nature of their control, and creatures equipped with armor would be too encumbered to function reasonably in combat.

i flatly supremely dislike this. if you went through the trouble of getting some dude's corpse and dissecting it, you should be allowed to be a dude summoner. a conjured human wearing armour with a weapon is exactly as strong as a freshly created new character wearing armour with a weapon. literally everyone on the server can do that, no magics required. so long as they have the gear they're equipping on their character in their inventory, it should be allowed. smack the conj mage upside the head, he has to be in line of sight of the creature and it summons next to him and it has to be summoned after combat begins. if you give somebody eight free emotes to summon, arm, and send out their dude, you were always going to lose that fight and the conjuration itself isn't why. think about what you can do in that many emotes in fire evocation, for instance.

there are two additions i'd make. firstly, you're allowed to summon event creatures if you get them. they're not allowed to have special abilities, but if you kill a baby dragon you can summon that baby dragon.
secondly, you can summon adolescent versions of creatures that would otherwise be too large to summon if the adolescent version is within large or smaller size category. for instance, you can summon an elephant calf, even though you can't summon a fully fledged elephant.

these are intended abilities in the former lore.

Perennial Conjuration

no notes, i like these. plant conjuration was something i always personally found difficult to actually make useful in combat. these seem like good changes.

 

 

Disjointed Conjuration

i'd specify that blunt-type objects don't neccesarily have to be a single solid. if you want to hit someone with a fishbowl's worth of teeth or a globe of blood, that's your god-given right. otherwise, no notes. functional.

Chimeric Alteration

Generally, no notes, it's about what it should be. but in the redlines;

7 hours ago, sam33497 said:

-Summons follow LOTC movement rules, and may take one action per emote if moving only [4] meters, and can sprint for [8] meters otherwise.

-Summons should be represented mechanically ingame with a sign, boat, NPC, or something similar for clarity and accountability.

these seem like they should be under terrestrial conjuration instead.

Jing Artificery

firstly, please add zarsies to the credits for this section or the lore as a whole. he deserves it, he created the concept of jing and i fell in love with it and expanded it with the rewrite.

additonally, i'd specify that jing other than reconstructive can ONLY be used by the user, and reconstructive only works on the person it was applied to and becomes unmagical after the jing is removed or the wound is healed, whichever comes first. no black market auctionhouse bear arms.

 

Jing Beastmelding
so, this is just extremely weak in it's current form, because of...

7 hours ago, sam33497 said:

-Animal features, such as hide, paws, hooves, etc. can be summoned at the location of the Jing upon the body in [2] emotes. If multiple Beastmelding Jing are possessed, each cast of this will only activate one of them.

7 hours ago, sam33497 said:

-If multiple Beastmelding Jing are possessed by the mage, up to [3] meldings can be used per combat encounter.

this is too many emotes, and three is a limiting number. six emotes to have the benefit of... just having already worn armour over half your body from the start. it's actively worse than not having magic.

i'd remove the limit on max jing entirely, or at least increase it to six (one for each section a jing can target). additionally, i'd change the emotes to two emotes for two beastmelds, and every additional emote gives you another two, for four emotes to do a full six slot transformation.
beastmelding is already weak. there's no need to nerf it.

 

Jing Reconstruction

this is a good update. i adore adding phantom pains as a flavour change.

 

Jing Binding

again, no notes. good changes.

 

In Closing

i've wrote this over like, an hour and a half. even as disconnected from lotc as i am, conj/life evo is still important to me and i want to make sure it's done right. maybe this'll be what finally drags me back in. maybe this'll be what gets me to finish my conj atronach and jing expansion lore i wrote 80% of then never finished. but probably not lmao. i'm not sure we've ever really met or interacted, mr sam33497, but i was surprised how little i had to say about most of these changes (barring madly nerfed beastmelding and terrestrial conj changes). put shortly, i think you get it, and while my ego would prefer my lore is never changed and stays perfect and pristine forever, if it had to change, this is the way i'd want it done.

that's all my input, for what it's worth.

[sam33497 7356]

55 minutes ago, LoTC's Next Top Model said:

genuinely, thank you for this. i am extremely grateful that even in passing, what i've done can be seen and appreciated.

its common to hate on the write because of how hard it is to read and its complexity, but i gained a lot of respect for how it approached the theme and its completeness in terms of thought as i fully understood each part of it when making this write- thanks for your work and ofc, theres no guarantee this write even goes through. I'll take a look at your mechanics feedback in a few and discuss it with a few others if I need. I figured you had your own ideas on it, but it is decently telling that I didn't actually fully understand the write as a voidal LT regularly dealing with the lore (and using it) until I forced myself to actually study every part of it in its entirety. I think it's just something that the server can't really bear in terms of understanding and complexity 

[sam33497 7356]

ok, read feedback

2 hours ago, LoTC's Next Top Model said:

this is something i believe should have an example, since it's a sort of complicated idea. the idea of precise commands is, if you have say, three squirrels?

added more precise language

 

i'm standing by my changes to terrestrial ultimately, a lot of them spring from situations encountered as an st and various problems with the magic's upper limits. the change to tells is just to prevent vagueness - to be honest, you can still style it in a great amount of ways

2 hours ago, LoTC's Next Top Model said:

these seem like they should be under terrestrial conjuration instead.

was a mistake, moved to general redlines since it applies to jing binding as well

 

2 hours ago, LoTC's Next Top Model said:

firstly, please add zarsies to the credits for this section or the lore as a whole. he deserves it, he created the concept of jing and i fell in love with it and expanded it with the rewrite.

added

 

2 hours ago, LoTC's Next Top Model said:

this is too many emotes, and three is a limiting number. six emotes to have the benefit of... just having already worn armour over half your body from the start. it's actively worse than not having magic.

note that this includes connection, so you can summon these post-connection really quickly. I don't have a good answer towards it being weaker than just wearing armor, but i figure if you're using this anyways it's for drip factor (barring a few offensive considerations). However, it's really not bad as an instant-cast type thing since it's castable in 2 emotes, since you can use it to conjure hide or something similar to block an attack if you need.

[LoTC's Next Top Model 1626]

2 hours ago, sam33497 said:

note that this includes connection, so you can summon these post-connection really quickly. I don't have a good answer towards it being weaker than just wearing armor, but i figure if you're using this anyways it's for drip factor (barring a few offensive considerations). However, it's really not bad as an instant-cast type thing since it's castable in 2 emotes, since you can use it to conjure hide or something similar to block an attack if you need.

if it's including connection, the time is... fine. i still think it's too slow, but three/four emotes for three parts is managable. however, i stand by that the cap should be removed, or changed to "one jing per limb group". at the absolute very least, it should be increased to four so you can be symmetrical in your arms and legs. if two deer legs and a crab claw isn't broken, two deer legs and two crab claws isn't gonna be either.

like you said, it's for drip factor. let them go full drip. you're still a void mage weakling anyway, unless you're a scion in which case you have way better stuff you could be doing.

 

honestly, my biggest hope writing the lore was that some day beastmelding would be actually useful to some degree, but it was written before voidal weakness lore was updated and changed to weaken you the same no matter how many magics you have. i yearn for the day of shapeshifting warrior-monks.
 

2 hours ago, sam33497 said:

i'm standing by my changes to terrestrial ultimately, a lot of them spring from situations encountered as an st and various problems with the magic's upper limits.

 

i equally yearn for the days of human summoners walking lockstep with their summons in military formation. it's the kind of thing that's so flavourful and fill with potential, i'm sad to see that people abusing it has removed it from the list of options.

Edited July 27, 2024 by LoTC's Next Top Model