Search the Community

Thanks to @Mirvam, I found out about Mine-imator and was able to make this animation. It doesn't actually hold any lore significance, it's just the intro from Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain with some imagery of my MArt and Mordor stuff. Hope you like it.

Dreadknights Version 3.0 Changelog Introduction Eons past, servants of steel were in servitude the first generation of blood mages. Foreboding and chaotic were the Dread Beings, their power was supreme, however in due time, when the old generation vanished so too did the old Dread Knights. Time pass and tides change, for a new generation sought creations of protection. Two pandered on the idea of the old Dread Knights, and sought to create a new breed of protectors. Description Machinations of metal cloth, these constructs are suits of armor which can reach up to seven feet. Their steel is typically denser than anything a soldier can wear, which provides them superior protection against most physical attacks. If one was to try and remove their helmet, or lift their visor, they would find nothing underneath, simply a hollow suit of armor… though, with enough examination one might find a plethora of runes, and these runes are what binds them to this world, to destroy the runes are to destroy the Dread Knight, requiring a new ritual to make a new one. With their dense metallic forms, and the runes that bind them, these ungodly machinations have both boons and curses. A Dread Knight’s strength surpasses a human being somewhere between an Olog and a Golem, their dense hides are resistant to weapons (although blunt force appears to be the most effective), and they need not eat or sleep or worry about their mortal life and all causes which can shorten it, and their bodies can cause them to be more resistant to certain magicks. On the downside, their dense forms cause them to be as slow as a Golem or even a Pale knight, their emotions are very limited (this will be covered in Behavior), require repairs when damaged, cannot use magic, they require the fuel of genus to stay bound to the world, are very susceptible to Holy Magic, Alteration, Fi Magic, and Metal Elementalism. Creation Created through ritual, in which vast preparations must be made to bind a soul to prisons of plate and chain. Runes of blood set upon the suit of metal empowered by a sacrifice in a ritual of creation. A rune of metal and flesh, to imprison the descendant into the suit of armour, a rune of binding to bind the subjects very being to the blood mage, the blood mage becoming its “Dread Lord”. The Ritual comes at a cost, a deficit of blood requiring to be paid to create the Dread Knight, one descendants must be sacrificed to create the runes that create and bind the Dread Knight to the Blood Mage, a Suit of Armour must be crafted around the subject before the ritual begins. By the end of the ritual the soul of the sacrifice becomes encased in the metal, powered only by blood and its former vessel of flesh, withering away inside of the suit until it is gone, yet the Dread Knight remains. Once bound in its new prison the descendant is now a Dread Knight and nothing more, there are no similarities to its former form and there is no way to revert the ritual. The Ritual itself comes at a cost for the Blood Mage, their soul is marked making them vulnerable to the Holy Fire of the Ascended so long as their creation still functions. Behaviour The ritual is truly scarring on the psyche of the subject it is inflicted on, scarring base emotions yet amplifying traits the individual had prior to the ritual. This can cause a Dread Knight to be manically twisted after the ritual, be it in anger or melancholy. Despite all this the Dread Knight is unwavering in loyalty to its Creator, its Dread Lord, due to the Rune of Binding placed upon them during its creation. A Dread Knight cannot disobey, harm or kill its master. However some of the traits amplified in the ritual can make it more difficult for a Master to command its Servant in the heat of Combat. An Aggressive Dread Knight can be more straining on its Master to command, going berserk in the midst of combat becoming careless of its Masters safety and own energy levels. The Dread Knight itself requires to drain individuals of energy through their blood to remain operational and functional to its optimal capacity, though the Dread Knight can also go into a state of hibernation, going inactive completely if it requires to save its energy. Strengths Strong: Strength is in between that of an Olog and a Golem, it is extremely tough and difficult to damage and kill. Resilient to most magics: Being forms of dense metal, some magicks would be considered ineffective. (Think smart, what magic would you use to slam a dense suit of armor?) Does not tire: The Dread Knight no longer requires the rest of the descendant. Does not eat: Their immortal form does not require the sustenance of food. Resilient to most Physical attacks: It’s a suit of armor one will have to adopt new tactics other than swinging a sword at it. Weaknesses Slow: Its heavy armour and durability causes the Dread Knight to be slow in its movements. Cannot use magic: Its ability to connect to the void or allow a deity to become its patron has been severed. Goes dormant with no Dreadlord No free will: Being bound to the will of their ‘Dread Lord’, a Dreadknight lacks free-thinking towards their own causes. Limited emotion: The ritual ever scarring marrs the mind of the knight, only allowing them six possible outcomes for emotion. Unable to remember most memories before transformation Very Susceptible to Ascended, Cleric, Paladin Alteration, and Fi magic. Needs to have a source of repairs Needs to be fueled by genus amounts equivalent of two people. The creator of the Dread Knight is now marked for as long as the Dread Knight lives, being affected by Ascended magic. Requires fresh blood to refresh its energy every two irl weeks to function, without it, it will shut down and run out of energy. Amendments: Amendment One: Blood mages will only require one sacrifice to make a Dread Knight. Amendment two: Dread Knights will require less fuel than previous, losing the tediousness of having to slaughter three more people to keep their dear armored companion to live on as well as make DKs less combat based. A third of a life will be fine to fuel the DK, and should a blood mage choose to fuel the Dread in a continuous stream or the Dread Knight takes more lives than required in a short period of time via a rune of draining, the knight will go into a form of overdrive: granting them enhanced strength (Now at the strength of a golem) and faster (Still slower than a troll). Should a DK be using the rune of draining, they will be given a short burst of power, lasting three emotes per kill. Amendment three: The Dread Knight’s emotions are expanded, however likely to be twisted and warped in some shape and form. This removes the complaints of a Dreadknight being dull, and gives them much more avenues than “GRR GRR MURDER MURDER GRR” and allows a deeper, more sorrowful being. Credits: TauFirewarrior, Writer KnghtArtorias, Writer Blundermore, Original Concept (Original Dreadknight Lore)

by Raptor The Order of Blood, the First Blood mages [Original Lore] http://www.lordofthecraft.net/topic/47582-the-order-of-blood/ http://youtu.be/wAsiU9tH-_8 Blood Magic is a malevolent form of magic, classified as a Dark Art, though much like Shades, bearing a lot of resemblance to Alteration. Modern day Blood Magic, the second generation of the art, is a weaker bastardization of the original magic used by the original Order of Blood. Due to recent research into mana and life force, discoveries have been made that make possible the reinvention of the magic. Blood Magic is, at it’s core, the magical art of drawing power (mana) from the blood of any living being, be it yourself or any other. Use of the magic sacrifices vitality and “life” in exchange for increased power and a temporarily deeper mana pool (explained below). It can be used to cast or enhance spells as well as cast some spells of it’s own at later stages, although it’s used most efficiently in the performance of powerful rituals that would otherwise be far too draining and taxing for even some of the most powerful Arcane mages. During the process of drawing the power from the blood, the natural energy is twisted and morphed, creating an unnatural and crude form of it’s original state. It is a violation of nature and an abominable magic, thus classified as a Dark Arts magic. Blood Magic is not designed for combat, being an almost purely complementary and support magic, however there are a number of ways Blood Magic can be used in combat, both in the heat of the moment as well as prepared Blood Magic. At it’s core, Blood Magic is simply the art of drawing power from the blood in order to enhance spells. In combat, a Blood Mage would be able to create a wound on either themselves (or on another if they were powerful enough) and draw the mana from the bloodstream and fuel their spells. This is rather useful as mages can cast combat spells for much longer than a mage normally would, though at a heavy price. There are different ways a Blood Mage can increase the efficiency of which they draw power in the heat of battle, but these secrets are unknown to the majority of people. Sometimes, in the heat of battle, a Blood Mage may become overwhelmed. In this situation, the mage may see no other way out and may be willing to weaken themselves to near death, in order to escape. Doing this is extremely dangerous and not a viable tactic for standard combat or escaping any situation requiring a mage to be active in their escape. To do this, the mage would draw a hefty amount of power from their blood in order to overcharge a spell (higher tier mages can overcharge spells by combining blood magic with arcane magic, drawing power simultaneously and with less risk, but also less power), in order to cast cataclysmic tier spells, putting their life at risk. Blood Magic is not designed for combat, however useful it may be. Blood Mages can reach the full height of their potential during rituals. To put it simply, rituals are premeditated and focused events, where a Blood Mage (or any other mage for that matter) will use many different means (collaboration with other mages, sacrifices, enchantments, incantations, symbols and other power sources) to gain as much power as possible to achieve some form of magical goal. These goals are as endless as the forms all magic can take. They can be literally anything, however they can usually be classified into one of the three types below. (When anomalies are found, more sections will be added.) However there are a number of things that all these rituals have in common. First and foremost, they all require at least one Blood Mage (the numbers will vary regarding the ritual). The amount of power required would be too much for a normal mage to summon and handle. Second of all, they will more often than not need blood sacrifices. Those blood sacrifices can come from either the casters, volunteers or prisoners, it matters not. But drawing power from oneself, like a Blood Mage might do in the heat of battle will not nearly be enough to cast such monstrous spells. Finally, the Blood Mage rituals rely heavily on the use of ancient symbols and markings, first used by the Order of Blood in Asulon. The nature of these symbols and the mechanics behind them is unknown, however it is known that these marks create some form of loosening in the veil between us and the power we are attempting to draw upon, making the draining process so much more efficient. These symbols may be marked on the ground, on sacrifices or on the casters (only the ritual itself may tell what is required). There are many symbols used, many of them are incorrectly written and discovered from memory of the few that have seen them, thus they have a lesser effect than that of the originals. There are Elemental Rituals which is the most simple of the lot. This ritual will usually be done at the behest of a Blood Mage in collaboration with one or more evocationist (the type of evocationist obviously depends on the ritual itself) in order to summon a mass amount of this element in a certain way. For example a fire storm or blizzard etc. To put it simply, Elemental Rituals are simply huge enhancements to standard evocation. Summoning Rituals involve the summoning of beings, be them ethereal or corporeal, from the other worldly planes. It is possible that summoning rituals do not summon anything at all, however what links them all is the opening of gateways or tears in the planes, be it the void, the ancestral plane amongst many many others. These rituals are quite dangerous as history has proven that more often than not, something will escape and it is not guaranteed that it can be controlled. Summoning Rituals are very much the wild card rituals. They require at least one Blood Mage, as per usual, numerous blood sacrifices as well as the appropriate mages (to sunder the veil between the void and the world, many arcane mages would be needed, to open a gate to the ancestral plane, a shaman would be needed etc), including many symbols marked. Finally there is what is called Creation Rituals, which involve a number of different magics in order to form twisted and crude forms of life. This is by far the most difficult type of ritual to perform and requires a lot of research and knowledge into what it is you are attempting to do. These rituals require a number of different mages (could be conjurationists, shamans, necromancers), alchemy and a huge amount of power, an amount that can't be reached by blood magic alone. The nature of these rituals will vary quite a lot, but they will require the most preparation and will be the most strenuous on the casters. Blood Mages require blood from a living host for their magic to work, however you needn’t always drain from yourself. However what will always remain the same, is the need for an open wound and physical access to the blood in order to drain from it. Draining from others is far less rewarding than draining from yourself and also far more difficult. As you climb the Tiers, it becomes increasingly easier to drain from others, you don’t have to be as close to your victim in order to drain them as the lower tiers, more power can be absorbed and drained, not simply wasted. Though when draining from others, less of the carrier mana can be “caught” and thus more is dissipated and less is absorbed for spell usage. The act of draining power itself is a fairly painful one and can cause stinging and burning feelings within the wounds you are drawing from, akin to pouring lemon juice onto a cut. The more skilled a Blood Mage becomes, the less of this pain they will feel when drawing power from within themselves, their ability to draw power from the blood becoming more and more refined. In the past a lot of people have had their crack at Blood Magic, post Blundermore’s original lore. They’ve RP’d manipulating the blood itself to extremely OP lengths, actually managing to fully control people’s bodies and puppeteer them. This form of Blood Magic, true Blood Magic, does not encompass that whatsoever. There are a few spells that are for the higher tiers (Tier 4 upwards) that do resemble the control of blood, but nothing nearly to that extent. Tier 4 spells will be able to, for example, magically latch on to the carrier mana within their “opponents” blood and in a very crude form of blood control, causing blood clots and, if enough blood clots the arteries, hemorrhages (Tier 5 spells, rather powerful). This is because the bond between the blood and the mana that is attached to it is so strong, it is extremely difficult to rip them apart manually, even through magic. High Tiers can manipulate the mana in blood in similar crude ways, however it is extremely difficult as well as physically draining. This type of spell however, is difficult to cast, requiring a lot of necessary conditions in order to cast. For example, the blood vessels must be skin level and fairly visible (no rupturing of the heart, or internal organs). Should blood vessels burst and the skin become ruptured, the wounds would be rather small. The purpose of this type of spell is create a wound so that the Blood Mage may proceed to drain, not as a kill move. In order to latch on to the carrier mana and the blood in your opponent, you will be draining a large amount of your own mana pool in the process, likely having to drain from your own blood beforehand. The ability to temporarily access more mana than their usual mana pool will allow. Able to overcharge spells to cast them with more power than usual. Able to use the increased mana pool for performing powerful rituals. Useful for passively comboing with other magics and other mages (enchantments, seals, rituals etc). Sacrifice vitality for power at an uneven ratio (more vitality is lost than power is gained). People are practically impossible to manipulate and control via blood magic. Cannot draw power from “dead blood”. (corpses, gathered blood in vials etc) The amount of vitality lost when using blood magic in combat, is too much to be a viable combat method (last ditch effort to cast however is an exception). Increased use of Blood Magic will cause a noticeable corruption of the person, causing both physical and mental changes/instabilities. One of the more important aspects of a magic, there are a wide range of aesthetics that Blood Magic effects, both effects of it’s own as well as it’s effect on other magics. When draining mana with Blood Magic, from both yourself and others, the carrier mana (still attached to some blood) will come out on the form a dimly glowing red mist (picture above). It remains in this form and the glow continues to intensify until the power is used in a spell. When the power is used for other magics, such as fire evocation for example, the colour of the spell’s effects will change to a luminescent green, the overcharged spell now tainted by the unnaturally absorbed mana from the blood. This change applies to all spells with an aesthetic effect (including all rituals), Illusion being the exception. Blood Magic will also affect the mage’s body and mind, with extreme use turning the mage’s skin pale, their face slightly gaunt and milky eyes with dark bags beneath them. Because the magic is so unnatural, extended use will cause madness and a lot of mental instabilities, including irrational thinking, paranoia and insomnia. There are typically three different sources of magic. The first is divine power, gifted to the descendants by the the high beings of our world. The second is mana, that of which flows through all living things. Finally there is life-force, that of which the foul Necromancers manipulate from our very being. But thanks to recent discoveries, we have found that there is a fourth, something between mana, and life-force. What has been dubbed “Genus” by Caladrius’ order of Blood Mages, this energy can be no better described than the very threads of creation. What ties all life and energy together, what causes it to work and function. Genus is an energy that is tied to all other energies in existence. It has no power of it’s own, except the power to give power to all else. It acts as nothing more than a catalyst to all power and energy, it binds lifeforce, mana and everything under creation and the void. Blood Mages harness this power, the Genus bound to Life Force within all living beings and draw on it, pumping their spells full of this raw power. Genus is most easily found and drawn from Life Force, which flows around the bodies of the living in the blood, the reason Blood Mages get their name. Whereas Necromancers draw on the Life Force itself for their accursed taint and plagued powers, Blood Mages are only interested in what can effectively be described as the power source of that Life Force. Drawing on the Genus from the Life Force, the Life Force would dissipate, leaving the victim weakened (the more drained, the more they would be weakened) and the Genus then crudely forced to attach to any energy of the Blood Mage’s chooses, be it mana or any other magical energy. tl;dr genus is catalyst for all power, more of it with life force, life force in blood, therefore blood mages take genus from life force in blood A living source of blood to cast with blood magic. Mana does not travel through vials of blood. An open wound or access to blood from the living host, a closed wound will not work for lower tiers. Knowledge of Blood Magic, taught by me. OOC permission from me to learn or to self teach. Learning will be regulated OOCly by me. I have decided to use the old Tier System as a basic guide on Blood Magic progression. It is an elegant system and easy to understand and outline. Apprentice [Tier 1] - The Blood Mage has begun to learn how to draw power from an open blood wound on themselves only. They can use this power to cast spells (cannot combine with normal mana). The ratio of power gained to life force lost is 3:7. Adept [Tier 2] - The Blood Mage can now cast spells using both the power drawn from blood and the arcane simultaneously, to overcharge spells. They can still only draw this power from themselves. The ratio of power gained to life force lost is 4:6. Blood Mage [Tier 3] - The Blood Mage is now well learned in the art of drawing power from blood, understanding how it works and is now able to draw power from others, provided there is an open wound to draw from. They can only do this to one subject at a time. The ratio of power gained to life force lost is 5:5. Expert [Tier 4] - The Blood Mage has unlocked the secrets of blood magic, now being able to reach out to another and draw on the power and blood within them, rupturing blood vessels and creating wounds. They are also able to draw power from up to three subjects. The ratio of power gained of life force lost is 6:4. Master [Tier 5] - The Blood Mage has near perfected the art, increasing their efficiency in all fields of the magic. They are able to draw power from up to seven subjects with open wounds and is able to cause hemorrhages and minor blood clots in surface blood vessels in order to cause ruptures and wounds. The ratio of power gained to life force lost is 7:3. Can I be super top kek lel super edgy drink blood with this? No. If that’s what you intend to do, do not come near it and taint this magic with your foul ways. Can I puppet master my best friend with this and make him do what I want all the time? No you can't, that’s practically impossible you’d need maybe a hundred T7 Blood Mages to pull that off and even then it would look weird and probably pop like 20 blood vessels. (Yes I exaggerate to emphasise my point, but it still stands, you can't body control/mind control.) So wait if I wound someone and drain them of their blood’s power, shouldn’t I be able to kill all three of their friends? No because the amount of power you would have been able to sap from their blood, let alone hold on to, would be insufficient for that kind of cataclysmic magic. Can I get more powerful by drinking the blood or putting other people’s blood in me? No, ingesting blood does nothing to augment your abilities, you’d just be a social pariah for no reason. Overpowering spells with mech standard is rather difficult to do, Raptor. How do you intend to deal with this? In truth, I don't. Overpowering spells through pure blood magic is not a viable solution for combat, it is merely a very dangerous RP escape tactic. It is possible to mech standard the the very core of Blood Magic, which is essentially another mana pool. This can be done by activating a sustained ability where power can be drawn from health points instead of the mana bar once it has been depleted. More than that would need to be discussed with the tech team. [TBA] [TBA] Blundermore - Cooperation, initial concept and introduction of Blood Mages into the server. Raptor - Writing, magic concept, everything else, pure sex appeal Kalameet - Intellectual discussion, magical theory, support, making me look good Geo - Intellectual discussion, cooperation for lore changes, opinions on ideas. Swgrclan - Assistance with ritual ideas, ritual classifications. Pandan - Text graphics.