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(Well, here it is again, my beloved Cal'tarethro Magic, this time back as an idea proposal for the server! Please read all of the text I wrote, as I put a lot of effort into it, and feel free to leave comments on what you think! Thanks! Also, I think it is worth saying that this is very different to Runesmithing; just read it all and you will see.) Cal'tarethro Magic Music that goes with with the magic: Lore: Markings. Every man or woman belonging to the ancient tribe who hunted the cursed creations of Iblees had markings. Powerful and ancient symbols, full of meaning and purpose, created for the sole purpose of ridding the world of Iblees and his minions. Rumoured to be the runes of the Ancient Races, these markings gifted the wearers with otherworldly powers, enabling them to stand a fighting chance against the minions of the fallen Daemon. Wearing these markings, however, came at a price. The person imprinted with these markings slowly had their life force sucked away due to the energy required to keep the markings working, so they had to wear pure white crystals (named Cal'tar Shards) given to them by the Ancient Races, and these crystals supplied the energy needed to keep the symbols going. Regardless of the drawbacks, legendary heroes were made out of these men and women, and many a story or song was written, describing the glory of their brave endeavours against Iblees' creatures. There was one story, however, that was not known to the unmarked (people with no symbols on them) people of the mortal realm. It was the story of how these men and women came to be... It was many centuries ago, after the world of Aegis faced near destruction and domination by Iblees, that the holy races of Aenguls and Daemons decided that they had to find a way to prevent another uprising against the mortal realm. Unable to care for this realm for eternity, and thus unable to prevent any minions of Iblees from returning, the Ancient Races devised a plan to give the four races of Aegis the power to protect themselves against Iblees, should he rise once more. As such, they gifted the mortal races of Man, Elf, Orc and Dwarf with this power, sending down a bright white tome, named The Cal'tarethul, from the skies that contained thousands of mysterious symbols. This single tome held the knowledge needed to use these symbols, and it revealed to those who read it that the races of Aegis had to imprint these symbols onto their body to access their full power. And so began the benevolent campaign of the Cal'tarethro Venatium (Literally: Hunters in the name of Cal'tarethro Magic); killers of the minions of the dark. Not soon after the delivering of The Cal'tarethul, a tribe of warriors was formed, consisting of all four races. This tribe was lead by a man named Tolfidar, and he name his tribe the Cal'tarethro Venatium; and they stood true to their name, seeking out and eliminating all creatures that preferred the terror of Iblees over the reign of the Ancient races. Unknown, however, to Tolfidar and his Hunters, their time on Aegis was rapidly running out. The minions of Iblees had been gathering in the caves and dark alleyways of towns and villages all around Aegis, plotting and planning the perfect way to end the thorn in their side that called itself the Cal'tarethro Venatium. The Hunters had seen not a single servant of Iblees for two weeks since the minions had put their plan into action. Out of the vigilant gaze of the Tolfidar and his hunters, masses of minions were gathering in the shadows, amassing themselves in the thousands, outnumbering the Hunters one to ten. By the time the hunters realised something was amiss, it was far too late. The next day, a dark haze could be seen on the horizon; shades, witches, necromancers and their creations were charging towards the peaceful town where the Hunters resided. In an act of desperation, Tolfidar took The Cal'tarethul and placed protective runes, that sapped energy from living things, on it, ensuring that it would not be destroyed by the elements or by people with the wrong intent. Placing the sacred tome in a nearby river and praying that it would later be found by a worthy person, Tolfidar prepared to face the oncoming horde of vile creatures. The Hunters were crushed. The few men and women unlucky enough to survive the attack were tortured, but they would never give away the location of their tome. As for Tolfidar, it was said that he died in the battle. This was the last time the mortal realm heard about the Hunters for a long, long time...until... The journey of The Cal'tarethul was largely undocumented, and as such, it still remains quite a mystery as to how it ended up in Asulon, many years after the attack on the Cal'tarethro Venatium. It was found by a treasure hunter underneath a large amount of sand on one of the many shores of Asulon. Exited by his new discovery, the treasure hunter sold the book for a handsome fee to the leading institute of the study of magic, and then the tome was lost once more in the obscurity of the past. It was later recorded to be in a large chest on its way to Anthos, where it was lost once more until it was auctioned to a prominent noble family of humans. The book remained in the possession of this family for many years, serving for interesting conversation for the guests visiting the family's manor, and also acting as a boasting right to all who cared to listen. Then, on a stormy night, a trio of mumbling madmen, fresh out of prison, broke into the house of this noble family, stealing the book and climbing up the highest mountain before throwing it off the side, where it landed on a secluded section of the Anthos Highway and was later discovered by a man named Caius. Taking interest in this odd book, he packed it up in his donkey cart (with the help of his two trusty assistants) and brought it to his house where he studied the contents of the book, meticulously translating some of the sections written in the ancient language of the humans. And it was there, in the shoddy home of the travelling salesman, Caius, where The Cal'tarethul was opened once more, revealing its secrets once more, after a wait of many years... Meanwhile.... In the dark alleys of Anthos, the creatures of the night sensed a peculiar feeling, almost never felt by themselves during their lifetime; a disturbance in their everyday lives. They no longer felt safe whilst walking around at night, and constantly felt the hairs on the back of their necks prickle, as if someone were following them, but they could not pinpoint why. Unknown to them, the Cal'tarethro Venatium were reforming... The Magic: Ok, this is kind of like rune smithing, because all of the things that the Mage can get from the runes on his body are passive buffs, such as increased speed, fast thought processing, increased strength, resistance to flames, etc. The user only gets this buff, however, if they have the symbol on their body, and if they can support this rune (otherwise they need to get a bigger Cal'tar Shard and/or more Cal'tar shards). There is one symbol that every Hunter wears, and that is the bonding symbol; it links them to the Cal'tarethul which in turn links them to the Aenguls and Daemons. This rune purges their body of all evil, which is necessary if the hunter wishes to use his runes to their fullest. There are many kinds of symbols that a hunter can bind to their body, each with their own attribute given when worn, but all symbols require extensive knowledge on how it works and a minor ritual before putting the symbol on the body (More explained in the next section). The Cal'tarethul: This book is incredibly heavy, and it requires two men to carry or one man with a strength symbol. It can only be opened by those with a Legendary symbol (if there currently are no people with Legendary symbols in the mortal realm, then by people with a bonding symbol. If there are no people with a bonding symbol in the mortal realm, then only those with pure hearts can open the book). The book has powerful runes (from runesmithing) on its leather. These runes take their energy from every living thing around it to keep them going (even takes energy from plants, as they are living as well). The runes are made to protect the book from being damaged, and they were made by one of the old dwarves from the Ancient Hunter tribe. Cal'tar Shards: Cal'tar shards are slowly formed in a specific spot on altars, and can only be broken off when fully grown. These shards emit a faint, white light that can be seen in the dark, almost like a glow-in-the-dark sticker that has been used up a bit. Cal'tar shards grow to different sizes and shapes, and these differences are completely random; they can be as big as one's hand or as small as your pinkie finger. Cal'tar shards are incredibly tough, but if they are broken, they explode violently as they release large amounts of energy. Cal'tar shards are stored on the body of the person, with the first shard they received usually on a necklace and the rest of their shards on a special belt with slots made for holding them (think of a bullet belt, which has individual bullets to be held in each slot). These magical crystals provide the energy needed to keep the runes going, but if a person has too many Cal'tar shards on their body for the amount of symbols they have, they will gradually (the speed is dictated by how many crystals they posses) gain energy until they explode in a white and blue flash. This is why it is INCREDIBLY important to have exactly the right amount of crystals or crystals of the right sizes; too many/too large crystals and you will blow up in a few days, too few/too small crystals and you will have all your energy sapped and die a miserable death. Symbols: Each symbol is different, and they each have individual attributes, but one thing that is common with all of them is that, when they are being used, they take up energy, which must be regained from the Cal'tar Shards for a time ranging from an hour to a day or two. To get the very first symbol imprinted on their body (the bonding symbol) they must perform a long and tiresome ritual where the leader of the Cal'tarethro Venatium tests the willingness and purity of the initiate, putting them through seemingly random tests such as climbing up a freezing cold mountain wearing only a sheepskin loincloth or taming a wild wolf within a weeks time. All these tests are designed to show the leader how in tune with the mortal realm the initiate is. After passing these tests, the initiate is brought to a specially made altar, and they imprint the symbol on their chest and chant a ritual song, the words of the song known only to the wisest of the hunters. The symbol comes out of thin air in the form of a heavy, blue mist and all the particles of this mist embed themselves into the user, bonding them to the Cal'tarethul for life. Afterwards, the imprinting of further symbols is much easier, but it is still dependant on what type of symbol the wearer is attempting to imprint. For example, if a hunter wishes to imprint the symbol of agility, they must first understand the true meaning of the symbol, and witness agility in its natural form (such as that of a cat). They must know exactly what agility is before they are able to successfully imprint the symbol, otherwise nothing will happen when they go to the altar and chant the song specific to that symbol. It is for this reason why novice Hunters are unable to have more than a certain amount of symbols imprinted onto themselves; because they need to have an open mind that is ready to accept the knowledge of the symbol they wish to imprint on themselves. Just as each symbol is different in what they do, they are different in what is required to keep them going. Powerful symbols such as fast learning capability require a large amount of constant energy, for example (unless the following exception applies). Interestingly enough, these symbols have a stack-like status; if a person who is already agile gets the agility symbol imprinted onto themselves, they will be more agile than a person who was originally not agile. Symbols can be removed from the person, but this is a mild to extremely painful process, but the more a person knows about the symbol they are removing, the less painful it is to be removed. This allows symbols to be removed and replaced with more powerful versions when the hunter believes they are ready. Symbols being upgraded from a lower form (such as novice) to a higher form (such as adept) only need to gain lines and curves to add to the power (although the person having the symbol upgraded must know the symbol very well, as with learning the symbol).The only exception is the bonding symbol that, when removed, creates a mind-boiling pain and removes all knowledge of the symbols the user had learnt about before hand. Finally, these symbols emit a faint blue light in low-lit areas, as do the Cal'tar shards, so those wearing them are easily spotted in the dark (unless the symbols are covered or they have the symbol of stealth imprinted onto themselves). Index of Symbols: Disadvantages: -The wearers of these symbols rely completely on their Cal'tar shards to power their symbols. If a person with a large amount of symbols (or a few symbols that require a lot of energy) has their Cal'tar shards removed from their person (either off their necklace or out of their holding belts) they will die very quickly or almost instantly, as they cannot support the symbols anymore. -Wearers of these symbols are incredibly easy to spot at night, as they are practically glowing in the dark, and even if they have the stealth symbol imprinted onto themselves, the light emitted will still be visible in the form of a very feint glow around the person. -The hunters cannot get drunk or be affected by alcohol or drugs, as they are 'evil' and their bonding symbol purges evil from the body of the hunter. Seriously, this is a sad, sad thing... -The number of symbols able to be imprinted on the body are limited, as each symbol must be of a specific size and cannot be on top of one another. -If an altar is destroyed (particularly the altar the hunter was given their first symbol)the hunter will suffer from moderate to strong pain for a short time, unless the altar was ceremoniously disassembled. -Hunters need to have a perfect amount of crystals and/or crystals of the correct size on their body so that they don't die of too much energy or too little. Tier list: (Note before you read: it is very difficult for me to make a rigid system of what each tier can do, but as a rule, I am limiting the number of symbols each tier can put on themselves, with the full body being available to tier 5 users) Tier list for users of the magic: Tier list for the symbols: Affect of Cal'tarethro Magic on other magics: How I plan to reduce/completely remove power gaming with this magic: A list of all the people who are able to use this magic will be on this very lore page (should the magic be accepted) so that anyone can just look to this lore page and see who is able to use the magic, and what they can do. The list will be formatted like so: Playername: -list of symbols they have on their body, and what level these symbols are. -The tier they are (which indicates the number of symbols they can have) -Their teacher (you cannot learn this magic from any book other than the Cal'tarethul) I believe that a strict system like this will severely reduce/remove any power gaming that could occur. Also, a player must notify me (or someone else in charge) when they gain a symbol, and only when I update the symbol list on their name can they use the symbol, at all. Otherwise, it is considered power gaming. Red lines: -A person cannot learn this type of magic from ANY book OTHER than the Cal'tarethul. -A Hunter cannot learn any type of dark magic -No symbols can be on the face of a hunter -a hunter cannot RP themselves being under the effect of a certain symbol if they have not had that symbol imprinted onto themselves. -symbols such as increased strength do NOT allow a hunter to bend solid metal bars with their hands. This would just break all the bones in their hands if they attempt to do this. -a hunter will not be able to use their symbol abilities that apply only to humans, elves, orcs or dwarves if they are in Druidic animal form (such as increased fighting prowess with weapons) -a Cal'tar shard must be connected to the hunter in one physical way or another for it to supply them with energy. For example, it cannot be floating in mid air (due to telekinesis) next to them and supply them with energy. - the users of this magic are NOT immune to anything, and do NOT posses superhuman abilities that are outside of current, human restraints. For example, they cannot survive a boulder falling on their head, or cannot survive two massive, master level fireballs directly on their torso. - users cannot use their skill indefinitely. Once they have used it for a set amount of time (Basically, one session: a session being once use, for example one fireball hitting you, or one/two usages of faster thought processing in RP) (Thanks for reading this lore and please do +1 it and give it that green arrow thing called an upvote! I would really appreciate it! Also, please put your vote on the poll, as it would help me a lot, and don't forget to leave comments, especially constructive criticism, as I do feel a few stuff need to be edited. Finally, this was my 100th post when I posted it a long while ago, but I might as we re-mention that over here :D )