Luna's Blessings
Standing in direct contrast to the harsh, incessant burning of Sol's light
is the cool, caressing, and intermittent light of Luna. In much the same way
are the natures of Dea'Crin and Luna's Blessings contrasted. Where Dea is a
power innate, mostly, to the user, and certainly on-call at all times, the
blessings are individual rituals which can be performed by any Verdimm,
although they must often sacrifice much and risk much for the blessing. Where
Dea is a very warlike ability, to be used in combat against the enemies of the
Verdimm, the Blessings are mostly rituals of healing or change or growth
The term "Luna's Blessings" is really just a blanket phrase for a variety
of very powerful rituals that are not Sha'Crin, not Dea'Crin, and not anything
else, so called because they call directly for aid from Luna. The rituals are
foten harsh, mostly to ensure that Luna's power is not drained by flippant
requests, whose reason for being made, while in all seriousness at the time,
fades in the future. When your life is on the line, you think
very carefully about your request.Because of the intensity of these rituals, they tend to be both legendary
and uncodified. Simply finding out how to get Luna to take your request
seriously can be a task of great difficuly if one is not, at the least, a
Sha'Cri. Therefore, realize that the list below is by no means complete, it
simply gives flavour of the magnitude of request and ritual that Luna's
Blessings covers.
Some Blessings Out Of Legend
Medipse (Convergence)
Legend: Long ago, a Sha'Cri and Leader whose name and tribe have
been forgotten was there when his tribe was attacked by a Serpen. The Serpen
itself did little damage, apparently only stirring in its ages-long sleep, but
the hordes of twisted beings released by its coming blackened the land. That
tribe was relatively peaceful, and the Sha'Cri knew they could not defeat all
the beasts, so he called to Luna for the power to save his people. For 12
days he fought, alone, without rest or respite, bringing down Sha'Crins such
as never has been seen before or since upon the beasts. When he was done,
much of there number was destroyed, enought to allow his tribe to fight. The
Sha'Cri died then, of exhaustion, a bitter smile on his face.
Power: The Blessed becomes, to some degree, a focal
point or node of sha'crin. Major acts of sha'crin may be accomplished with much
more ease and speed, and one is able to sense the currents of sha'crin, seeking
out the strongest points and tapping into them. One's innate potency of sha'crin
is enhanced, increasing the raw power if not skill of spells and such. Magic is
not so draining, as strength can be drawn in from the sha'crin itself.
The Blessed may be able to draw in the sha'crin to themselves,
effectively draining it from the area, lessening others' sha'crin. Sensing the
flows of sha'crin and following them to their source, one may trace a spell to
its caster, and even determine its effect. If the need is great,
the Blessed may disrupt sha'crin spells
before they're completed, or turn the effects in a new direction even after
they've manifested.
Ritual: One must have already devoted one's life to the study of
magic. Then one must call Luna to witness, and draw Sha'Crin into oneself
until one passes out. It sounds simple, but the pain is excruciating beyond
measure, and most who have tried it have died. If you are worthy and strong,
you will awaken with enhanced understanding of and control over the
Sha'Crin.
Eivino (Divination)
Legend: Many, many thousands of hundres of years ago, in the time
of the One Tribe, athe Verdimm knew only of Luna, the Gods (Sol and the other
Tribal gods) were unkown. Spirits they saw motly as servants. A great mage
realized that there were more powerful spirits out there, and after great
sacrifice learned from Luna how to reach them. These spirits were to become
the Tribal gods.
Power: This allows more direct communication with the
spirits and gods. Diviners may send queries or challenges to the gods
or greater spirits, and are more likely to receive responses, which may take the
form of prophetic dreams, visions, or even manifestations. Spirits are easiest
to query, and the tribal gods more difficult (though one's own tribal gods may
be more easily approached), and Luna Herself most challenging of all. Serpen,
too, may be communicated with this way. Those who have sacrificed more for
the communication, or are making the sacrifice for one single instance, may
have greater control over summoned spirits, and may
even be able to force a god to manifest, but never control the god. Avoiding
said god's wrath is an entirely different matter.
Ritual: One must open oneself up to a spirit of the being on
wishes to contact, or of Luna for simple prophetic visions. This is a
painful, frightening experience in and of itself. Traditionally the spirit is
invited in by making a deep cut from neck to xyphoid process, symbolically
opening up the person for the possession as well as drowining the person's
concious mind in pain, easing the proccess fo rthe spirit.
Levinon (Annexation)
Legend: This gift, albeit rather indiretly, was used ot create
the Blessed tribe. See relevant logs.
Power: The ritual has the power to alter the aura of a
subject, affecting the subject's Verdimm status. Outlanders or animals can
appear to be Verdimm; a Verdimm may appear to be Outlander; or a Verdimm may
appear to be from another tribe. The effect does not last long without constant
renewal. With more effort, the ritual may be able to alter the aura
of the Verdimm and things associated with it; for instance, children. If there
repeated effort given to altering the aura of a subject's child while
still growing within the womb, the child's aura may be permanently altered,
becoming Verdimm. There is still a chance, even with the most diligent purpose,
that Luna may not accept the child. With a great, almost legendary ritual, one
may bring a full-grown subject into the circle of one's tribe, granting them
Verdimm status and becoming one of the tribe. Similar effort may also cast out
tribe-members, though it would only be a permanent effect if the Verdimm was
from the Master's own tribe.
Ritual: For the minor rituals, it is sufficient to dress the
person in clothing of the tribe (if sentient) and have the person share the
blood of a member of that tribe. For animals, skins should be used instead of
clothing. In general, the blood must be freely shared, although exceptions
have been made (as where a tribe serves the Serpen). For a permanent
acceptance, the person to be accepted must have a sponsor, and that sponsor is
ot be the one enacting the ritual. Something really impressive must be done
by the sponsor (in the case of the Blessed tribe, DarkStalker threatened to
attack Tenebrae, which is about as suicidal as one gets). Daubing the person
to be accepted in a paste made of one's own blood and crushed bone gives about
the right idea, and Luna will probably help you heal if the person is
accepted. Note that the sponsor must be of the accepting tribe.
Obnestarii, or Crafting. With this Aspect, one may shape existing things or
powers, or bring new ones into existence from the reservoirs of Dea. [Think of
it as a Crinos-only Conjuration/Construct maker.] Awakened level of Crafting is
akin to the minor tricks of Conjuration and indeed mimics some sha'crin in that
manner. However, things created with Crafting will be more *real*, more tangible
in Crinos (and will be just as tangible as a normally conjured item outside
Crinos). They cannot ever be truly destroyed, save by another usage of Crafting.
Items will regenerate, broken items will fix themselves over time. Power
incorporated into things or people will grow back if expended. This happens
slowly, but the level of mastery the crafter has will speed up the process.
Existing things, whether things made of nature, sha'crin, or Dea, may be
modified or their natures changed -- even taken away, in the case of empowered
items. Mastery level of this Aspect would allow one to create life itself;
though said life may have an independent will of its own, separate from the
crafter. Empowered items created by Masters may become artifacts, and survive
the centuries unharmed; control of artifacts may be wrested from them or their
crafters.
Navis, or Traversal. This allows limited teleportation within Crinos.
Awakened traversers will be able to teleport to one or two places they know
extremely well (a home, or a tribe's meeting place). As the traversers skill and
experience grows, they will be able to teleport to more diverse locations.
Potent traversers will have a number of places they can teleport to, and can
focus on a place they're in and impress the place for future teleportation with
little effort. Masters can picture a place they've never been to, and teleport
there, or draw a picture out of another's mind and teleport to it. If the place
does not exist, however, the results of a failed teleport could be fatal.
Teleportation is *not* instantaneous. The traverser merely bypasses the physical
paths and walks the paths of the spirit worlds. It takes less time, generally,
based on the traverser's level of skill, and raw spiritual power (Psyche).
Heechesethe, or Orchestration. The elements that compose the living lands
of Crinos may be manipulated and controlled. An Awakened Orchestrator would be
able to influence weather patterns, and environmental trends; also, they would
find interactions with the elements of earth, air, fire, and water much easier
and more versatile. Potent Orchestrators would have greater skill in
manipulating the elements and the weather, and would be capable of feats such as
turning aside a storm, absorbing a lightning bolt, or shaping a wall of earth
from will alone. Masters would find the elements completely unrestricting and
responsive to their needs. Weather and environmental conditions would
automatically adjust in their presence to their comfort, and would reshape
themselves over long term periods to conform to the Master. Masters would be
capable of such feats as swimming through earth as if it were water, breathing
water as air, walking on water, and with concentration become resistant to
fire's damage.
Somiacin Lo'kyaer, or Solitary Mendacity. By far, the most unexplored and
hazardous aspect of the Dea, it allows one the ability of self-manipulation to
the highest degree. If Awakened in this aspect, one would be able to, with
effort and study, imitate one of the forms of another Verdimm or beast -- though
the forms of beasts will be easier to accomplish. Those Potent in this aspect
may find several such forms accessible to them, and may even make permanent
changes to their own forms -- changing one's features such as hair or fur color,
build, height, and so on. Masters in this aspect may impress upon others the
forms that they know, temporarily; the subject cannot shift to the impressed
form on their own, and the impressed form is lost to them when they shift at all
to another form. With supreme effort, Masters may pass on an additional form to
their children.
Noharielle, or Passaging. This aspect provides the ability to forge paths
where there were none; paths that cannot be forged by any other means. Awakened
Passagers may send their spirits on astral journeys through the spirit realms of
Crinos; and form gateways to take others along, with effort -- though this is
dangerous for the passenger, for if the Passager is separated from the
passenger, the passenger's spirit may not be able to find its way back to its
body. Potent Passagers will be able to make permanent gateways, tears in the
fabric of the material world to allow for expedient journeys to the spirit
realms. Additionally, they may forge temporary paths to other material realms --
temporary shadowpaths, enough for them to part the veil of shadows and slip out.
This is effectively a shadowwalking-out power only; there is no way for a
Passager to shadowwalk back into Crinos. This technique is somewhat
unpredictable; the Passager may end up somewhere entirely different from where
they desired. Masters may make such temporary paths and take passengers with;
Masters may also choose to make the paths permanent, though this requires a
great expenditure of energy and will, and is rarely accomplished alone. Masters
may also affect shadowpaths that are already existing, by either altering their
destination, altering the location of the source, or severing the connection
completely. This, too, can often have unpredictable effects.