So I am trying to breath life into some neat magic! I wanted to open Datum Vitale up for a little input or colaberation! I have sorta laid out a general feel and description I saw in me mind but I would gladly add anyone in as a contributor if they feel the muse magic. I haven't yet described the elemental effects devotees can scribe so this would be a lovely place for some meat to be added. Any criticism is welcome though!
Datum Vitale
A (not so) brief overview:
Datum Vitale is believed by most of its devotees to be the invocation of latent power from a caster’s own blood. This is partly due to how the actual magic is expressed person by person. Depending on unknown variables a caster may take their first runic brand and find they can summon fire, influence air, dance with water, or warp the earth (here after to ‘scribe’ or ‘scribing’). The belief that this power comes from some latent, poorly understood connection to a creature’s own essence is supported by the odd fact that creatures of elemental inclination, i.e. fire breathing creatures or those born of the deep earth, often express an element appropriate for their species background. This is not true for all individuals as some can even express an inclination in more than one ‘elemental group’. Oddly these instances of multiple power sources have never been documented to include more than two separate ‘elemental groups’.
The true cost of Datum Vitale.
All magic has a cost and Datum Vitale is no different. An actual sacrifice of blood is the main source of power for devotees though not the only tool needed to practice. Using Datum Vitale is made possible by the implementation of a few simple but ancient runic symbols. The simplest of these is crude enough to be branded into the flesh of a devotee and this is often the first step apostates take in learning to scribe. More elaborate tools can be made to amplify a devotee’s power and these tools, called ‘scriptors’, can vary in quality and potency greatly. A scriptor is always made of bone and inscribed with detailed runes that color with blood when invoked. This is believed to be because bone and blood are intricately linked in some way. The potency of a scriptor is always effected by the magical and physical power of the creature it was carved from as well as the size of the scriptor itself. Elemental inclinations make an appearance here again as a dragon’s bone will make a high quality scriptor and this scriptor will always be at its most powerful when wielded in the hands of a fire inclined devotee. The same general elemental rule can be seen to apply to other elementally inclined creatures when used as sources for a scriptor.
Intricate runic tattoos also offer a greater range of power than simple brands in the absence of a scriptor. These tattoos are extremely difficult to create and require a powerful creature’s bone ash as an ingredient in the ink to be of respectable power. Despite this even an average scriptor will overpower a high-quality tattoo while also being much sturdier. A degraded or damaged tattoo has the chance to cause bodily harm to a devotee when scribed with.
To truly understand the sacrifice that is the heart of Datum Vitale one must know the raw mechanism by which power is scribed. Using one of the above mentioned runic tools a devotee will gather an amount of blood (or a ‘well’) then convert it wholesale into energy of their discovered type or types. The more blood, the more powerful the effect. This has clear downsides and limits associated with a creature’s actual blood volume as well as how quickly blood can be gathered. Many scriptors are shaped to be effective blades simply because scribing requires the opening of an initial wound if one does not already exist. Any open wound can be manipulated by a runic tool which offers intricate control of a devotee’s blood similar to how a loadstone might move iron. In dire situations, if the initial wound is open and a devotee is of sufficient experience, a devotee can literally tear the blood from their own bodies to fuel a scribe using the scriptor. This is dangerous. The more blood taken and how quickly it is torn from the body directly effects the associated wounds. These wounds are caused by blood literally being ripped from various parts of the devotee’s body. When wielded in this brutish though effective fashion Datum Vitale leaves deep lacerations that can be dangerous if not tended to quickly or outright fatal.
Notice that despite the clear magical applications of Datum Vitale the actual effects are never called spells. Practitioners claim this is because the effects are less like spells and more like blasts of energy or raw manipulation of matter (called scripts) in most instances. Extremely powerful scriptors paired with an experienced devotee can cause more elaborate expressions of energy but most devotees are far more restricted. An average scriptor can only effect the area directly around a devotee’s body in basic ways. Novice devotees can often only augment their own actions with this energy. For example a novice wind devotee might use a blast of air to jump further than their legs alone would allow. An experienced earth devotee might be able to throw up a wall of stone to block an attack with little or now actual movement of their body. But despite the vast utility of Datum Vitale the magic offers no improvement to a body’s natural durability. Many novices find this out quickly as a careless augmentation might break limbs do to extreme forces or poorly controlled flame could cause severe burns. More experienced devotees can eventually use concentration and keen spatial awareness to effect areas near their body without actively moving or striking. True masters can do this at will and even control multiple instances of power at once but this takes decades of experience and practice.
A note on devotees who express two elements rather than one: it has been shown that this power while novel and often useful can also be more dangerous than the simpler forms of Datum Vitale. Even reasonably experienced Devotees often struggle to control which of their elements is expressed when under extreme duress. This can have many effects ranging from the extremely dangerous and lethal to the simple waste of a well of blood. It also often takes much longer for these devotees to gain proper control of their power. Caution and care are advised when training them.
Above discussed are the basics and offensive applications of Datum Vitale. There are a few more abilities available to well trained devotees that can have utility and defensive uses. The first is generally taught to most initiates due to the damaging nature of Datum Vitale magic: improved healing. By preforming specific rituals for a few hours a day and using blood runes written with a scriptor devotees can double the speed of their body’s natural healing and blood replenishing abilities. A similar ability to this healing is the clotting of a devotee’s blood at will while wielding a scriptor. All but the most grievous wounds can be forced to cease needless bleeding with a sufficient expenditure of power. This does not heal the wounds and badly injured devotees are encouraged to avoid reopening their wounds when forced to do this. Traditional medical care is the best option for a devotee when dealing with extreme wounds. It is also important to keep in mind that clotting wounds prematurely can force a devotee to re-injure themselves to invoke power once again.
The final ability available to properly trained devotees is the ability to set simple traps using their elemental power by scribing intricate spherical blood runes onto surfaces. These traps can be activated by a properly empowered devotee who is within about 100 meters. These runes are known for their fragility. Scuffing of the intricately drawn runes can be enough to render them harmless. They are also not very resilient and degraded blood loses its power within days if not treated with expensive preservatives. Even then most trap runes will be rendered inert within months of the original scribing.
Datum Vitale at its core is control over the elements. Many devotees express themselves differently and how someone is taught greatly affects their abilities in all known cases. Legends exist about masters who forged their own abilities in all sorts of ways. Currently the only known masters exist within a draconian settlement called The Bastion which resides hidden away high in the central Spine Mountains. They have divided their devotees into 'sects' which are listed as follows with a brief description:
Earth Sect - Devotees are trained in the manipulation of metal, earth, and stone. This includes the ability for novice devotees to hurl up to fist size stones at dangerous speeds and enforce their armor during battle. More experienced devotees have been known to manipulate metal weapons in battle by deflecting blows, giving arrows a dangerous burst of extra speed, and manipulating the stone and rock beneath an opponents feet while exchanging blows. The Earth Sect master is said to be one of the most dangerous of the elder masters. Accounts of her taring off mountain tops with a kick move between story tellers. It is also said she can accelerate even a small stone so quickly with a mere flick that it could killed an armored man. Finally awed witnesses talk of her deadliness with a blade and how enemy's weapons would fly from their grasp if they came to close.
Water Sect - Devotees in the Water Sect are known for their versatility and weaknesses. Devotees are first trained in how to use their abilities to encourage healing in their bodies and those of their kin. Unlike other sects this one allows for much finer healing and augmentation of the body's natural processes. More experienced devotees begin to explore the offensive abilities of the school by using water as a weapon blunt projectile weapon. Often these practitioners have much finer control of their element than most but suffer in raw power for the need of a water source. Healing abilities begin to become far more powerful with knowledge and study. The masters of the Water Sect, two twin brothers, are said to be able to be able to create small quantities of water from nothing but their blood. They can use ice as dangerously as a novice can water. They can reportedly cure moderate wounds nearly outright and provide cures for many maladies and deadly poisons.
Fire Sect - Fire Sect Devotees are renown for their honor and glory. It would seem something about finer manipulation of a draconian's fire is seen as a preferable power to most. Devotees are often quite dangerous with their combination of a mobile ignition source and their keen connection to fire. Initially they are taught to empower their flame breath and use their abilities to ignite flammable material. More experienced devotees can hurl fire over impressive distances and often shape and strike with it. The more powerful of these can apparently ignite the air with a sufficient use of power. The master of the Flame Sect is said to have burned entire forests in his prime. Legends say he could focus fire into a weapon as hot as the sun to cut his foes. Few wispier that he can use fire to somehow augment his body's strength and speed for a short time though many just claim these roomers are proof of his ability to blast himself with fire and somehow not get burned.
Wind Sect - Devotees of this sect are known for their astonishing agility and daring flight abilities. From early on they are trained in aerial maneuvers and high intensity flight. Devotees are taught how to use air to jump farther and fly faster than others. More experienced practitioners can use air to strike nearby foes and improve their flight further. Some of the more powerful can manipulate heat in the air around them to cause uncomfortable temperature changes. The master of the Wind Sect is said to fly more gracefully and with less effort than a butterfly when she chooses. Reports tell of her stealing the air from an enemy's lungs with a single strike or pummeling 5 targets at once with strikes of air. Legends say she can make the air so cold as to freeze water and that she can practically live without air.
This concludes an analysis of the Datum Vitale magical art. Some may find it morbid or question its ethical implications, but this author would point out the self-sacrificing nature of the art to such dissenters as different from darker magics. Datum Vitale is a form of magic that has versatility and potent effects despite the costs though not all will have the constitution to invoke it.
Datum Vitale
A (not so) brief overview:
Datum Vitale is believed by most of its devotees to be the invocation of latent power from a caster’s own blood. This is partly due to how the actual magic is expressed person by person. Depending on unknown variables a caster may take their first runic brand and find they can summon fire, influence air, dance with water, or warp the earth (here after to ‘scribe’ or ‘scribing’). The belief that this power comes from some latent, poorly understood connection to a creature’s own essence is supported by the odd fact that creatures of elemental inclination, i.e. fire breathing creatures or those born of the deep earth, often express an element appropriate for their species background. This is not true for all individuals as some can even express an inclination in more than one ‘elemental group’. Oddly these instances of multiple power sources have never been documented to include more than two separate ‘elemental groups’.
The true cost of Datum Vitale.
All magic has a cost and Datum Vitale is no different. An actual sacrifice of blood is the main source of power for devotees though not the only tool needed to practice. Using Datum Vitale is made possible by the implementation of a few simple but ancient runic symbols. The simplest of these is crude enough to be branded into the flesh of a devotee and this is often the first step apostates take in learning to scribe. More elaborate tools can be made to amplify a devotee’s power and these tools, called ‘scriptors’, can vary in quality and potency greatly. A scriptor is always made of bone and inscribed with detailed runes that color with blood when invoked. This is believed to be because bone and blood are intricately linked in some way. The potency of a scriptor is always effected by the magical and physical power of the creature it was carved from as well as the size of the scriptor itself. Elemental inclinations make an appearance here again as a dragon’s bone will make a high quality scriptor and this scriptor will always be at its most powerful when wielded in the hands of a fire inclined devotee. The same general elemental rule can be seen to apply to other elementally inclined creatures when used as sources for a scriptor.
Intricate runic tattoos also offer a greater range of power than simple brands in the absence of a scriptor. These tattoos are extremely difficult to create and require a powerful creature’s bone ash as an ingredient in the ink to be of respectable power. Despite this even an average scriptor will overpower a high-quality tattoo while also being much sturdier. A degraded or damaged tattoo has the chance to cause bodily harm to a devotee when scribed with.
To truly understand the sacrifice that is the heart of Datum Vitale one must know the raw mechanism by which power is scribed. Using one of the above mentioned runic tools a devotee will gather an amount of blood (or a ‘well’) then convert it wholesale into energy of their discovered type or types. The more blood, the more powerful the effect. This has clear downsides and limits associated with a creature’s actual blood volume as well as how quickly blood can be gathered. Many scriptors are shaped to be effective blades simply because scribing requires the opening of an initial wound if one does not already exist. Any open wound can be manipulated by a runic tool which offers intricate control of a devotee’s blood similar to how a loadstone might move iron. In dire situations, if the initial wound is open and a devotee is of sufficient experience, a devotee can literally tear the blood from their own bodies to fuel a scribe using the scriptor. This is dangerous. The more blood taken and how quickly it is torn from the body directly effects the associated wounds. These wounds are caused by blood literally being ripped from various parts of the devotee’s body. When wielded in this brutish though effective fashion Datum Vitale leaves deep lacerations that can be dangerous if not tended to quickly or outright fatal.
Notice that despite the clear magical applications of Datum Vitale the actual effects are never called spells. Practitioners claim this is because the effects are less like spells and more like blasts of energy or raw manipulation of matter (called scripts) in most instances. Extremely powerful scriptors paired with an experienced devotee can cause more elaborate expressions of energy but most devotees are far more restricted. An average scriptor can only effect the area directly around a devotee’s body in basic ways. Novice devotees can often only augment their own actions with this energy. For example a novice wind devotee might use a blast of air to jump further than their legs alone would allow. An experienced earth devotee might be able to throw up a wall of stone to block an attack with little or now actual movement of their body. But despite the vast utility of Datum Vitale the magic offers no improvement to a body’s natural durability. Many novices find this out quickly as a careless augmentation might break limbs do to extreme forces or poorly controlled flame could cause severe burns. More experienced devotees can eventually use concentration and keen spatial awareness to effect areas near their body without actively moving or striking. True masters can do this at will and even control multiple instances of power at once but this takes decades of experience and practice.
A note on devotees who express two elements rather than one: it has been shown that this power while novel and often useful can also be more dangerous than the simpler forms of Datum Vitale. Even reasonably experienced Devotees often struggle to control which of their elements is expressed when under extreme duress. This can have many effects ranging from the extremely dangerous and lethal to the simple waste of a well of blood. It also often takes much longer for these devotees to gain proper control of their power. Caution and care are advised when training them.
Above discussed are the basics and offensive applications of Datum Vitale. There are a few more abilities available to well trained devotees that can have utility and defensive uses. The first is generally taught to most initiates due to the damaging nature of Datum Vitale magic: improved healing. By preforming specific rituals for a few hours a day and using blood runes written with a scriptor devotees can double the speed of their body’s natural healing and blood replenishing abilities. A similar ability to this healing is the clotting of a devotee’s blood at will while wielding a scriptor. All but the most grievous wounds can be forced to cease needless bleeding with a sufficient expenditure of power. This does not heal the wounds and badly injured devotees are encouraged to avoid reopening their wounds when forced to do this. Traditional medical care is the best option for a devotee when dealing with extreme wounds. It is also important to keep in mind that clotting wounds prematurely can force a devotee to re-injure themselves to invoke power once again.
The final ability available to properly trained devotees is the ability to set simple traps using their elemental power by scribing intricate spherical blood runes onto surfaces. These traps can be activated by a properly empowered devotee who is within about 100 meters. These runes are known for their fragility. Scuffing of the intricately drawn runes can be enough to render them harmless. They are also not very resilient and degraded blood loses its power within days if not treated with expensive preservatives. Even then most trap runes will be rendered inert within months of the original scribing.
Datum Vitale at its core is control over the elements. Many devotees express themselves differently and how someone is taught greatly affects their abilities in all known cases. Legends exist about masters who forged their own abilities in all sorts of ways. Currently the only known masters exist within a draconian settlement called The Bastion which resides hidden away high in the central Spine Mountains. They have divided their devotees into 'sects' which are listed as follows with a brief description:
Earth Sect - Devotees are trained in the manipulation of metal, earth, and stone. This includes the ability for novice devotees to hurl up to fist size stones at dangerous speeds and enforce their armor during battle. More experienced devotees have been known to manipulate metal weapons in battle by deflecting blows, giving arrows a dangerous burst of extra speed, and manipulating the stone and rock beneath an opponents feet while exchanging blows. The Earth Sect master is said to be one of the most dangerous of the elder masters. Accounts of her taring off mountain tops with a kick move between story tellers. It is also said she can accelerate even a small stone so quickly with a mere flick that it could killed an armored man. Finally awed witnesses talk of her deadliness with a blade and how enemy's weapons would fly from their grasp if they came to close.
Water Sect - Devotees in the Water Sect are known for their versatility and weaknesses. Devotees are first trained in how to use their abilities to encourage healing in their bodies and those of their kin. Unlike other sects this one allows for much finer healing and augmentation of the body's natural processes. More experienced devotees begin to explore the offensive abilities of the school by using water as a weapon blunt projectile weapon. Often these practitioners have much finer control of their element than most but suffer in raw power for the need of a water source. Healing abilities begin to become far more powerful with knowledge and study. The masters of the Water Sect, two twin brothers, are said to be able to be able to create small quantities of water from nothing but their blood. They can use ice as dangerously as a novice can water. They can reportedly cure moderate wounds nearly outright and provide cures for many maladies and deadly poisons.
Fire Sect - Fire Sect Devotees are renown for their honor and glory. It would seem something about finer manipulation of a draconian's fire is seen as a preferable power to most. Devotees are often quite dangerous with their combination of a mobile ignition source and their keen connection to fire. Initially they are taught to empower their flame breath and use their abilities to ignite flammable material. More experienced devotees can hurl fire over impressive distances and often shape and strike with it. The more powerful of these can apparently ignite the air with a sufficient use of power. The master of the Flame Sect is said to have burned entire forests in his prime. Legends say he could focus fire into a weapon as hot as the sun to cut his foes. Few wispier that he can use fire to somehow augment his body's strength and speed for a short time though many just claim these roomers are proof of his ability to blast himself with fire and somehow not get burned.
Wind Sect - Devotees of this sect are known for their astonishing agility and daring flight abilities. From early on they are trained in aerial maneuvers and high intensity flight. Devotees are taught how to use air to jump farther and fly faster than others. More experienced practitioners can use air to strike nearby foes and improve their flight further. Some of the more powerful can manipulate heat in the air around them to cause uncomfortable temperature changes. The master of the Wind Sect is said to fly more gracefully and with less effort than a butterfly when she chooses. Reports tell of her stealing the air from an enemy's lungs with a single strike or pummeling 5 targets at once with strikes of air. Legends say she can make the air so cold as to freeze water and that she can practically live without air.
This concludes an analysis of the Datum Vitale magical art. Some may find it morbid or question its ethical implications, but this author would point out the self-sacrificing nature of the art to such dissenters as different from darker magics. Datum Vitale is a form of magic that has versatility and potent effects despite the costs though not all will have the constitution to invoke it.