Guns for Hire Mortal Magic

This page focuses on magic which is usually used by mortals, though by necessity it also covers basic concepts which are more universal in application.

Chakra

What is Chakra?

Chakra is an internal energy system present in all ensouled living beings. Chakra is not naturally useful for many that have the capacity to use it, humans among them, and requires practice or intervention. Chakra is both the name of the energy itself, and the name of that which emits this energy: points within one's body that are linked to Soul, deriving an offshoot of soul energy from this connection. On occasion these points are referred to as chakra gates, to clarify the difference between the energy and the source.

There are seven prime chakra gates in the body, largely synonymous with the Hindu belief of placement within the body, running from the top of the skull to the base of the spine. Each chakra produces energy that can be differentiated from that originating from any other individual chakra, but the difference is small enough it is not passively visible to students of chakra manipulation.

Chakra gates can be opened variable amounts, and this is commonly referred to as dilation. Chakras 'focus' to different output levels like how eyes 'focus' to different light levels.

An arrangement of energy from one's chakras into a cohesive, practically usable system, is called a chakra orientation. An orientation is like a single spell which the user can fuel using energy from his chakra gates. Orientations take many forms. Even when someone learns another person's particular Orientation, they will not be able to replicate it perfectly. Each person's known chakra orientations are, in at least small ways, unique. Chakra orientations provide ways for a user to affect himself and the world around him. In general, the more complex an orientation and/or the more exaggerated its effects, the more energy intensive it is to run.

Chakra orientations are self-perpetuating. Once a user has entered an orientation, he can alter the degree of dilation of any chakra gates in use to alter the performance of the orientation. In effect, the user is sliding between different but nearly identical versions of the same general form of chakra orientation. As most individuals are quite limited in the degree of change possible, this is commonly judged to simply be an example of how one can customize a given orientation's performance. An advanced user can make a flexible general orientation perform different functions based on the dilation of the chakra gates supporting it.

Each chakra orientation has a 'natural' state, semi-unique to each user. This is the precise amount of energy and chakra dilation involved in each of the seven chakras, analogous to a fingerprint a given orientation. Any use of chakra energy to push an orientation above this default state through dilating one's chakras for increased output is called overcharging. Any use of chakra energy to lower an orientation below this default state through contracting one's chakras is called undercharging.

A user is not limited to a single chakra orientation, and is able to freely switch between them. For most chakra practitioners, attempts to switch orientation mid-battle would be doomed to failure, as the process is too time-consuming. One must have masterful skill in several fields of chakra use and/or have chakras capable of dilating to levels that traditionally take decades of training to achieve to be able to switch orientations in a matter of fractions of a second.

Besides switching orientations, one can attempt to run multiple orientations at once, a technique simply termed multi-orientation. This is considered unreasonably difficult for those who are not dedicated and experienced scholars of chakra. Running a multi-orientation consumes energy faster than the sum amount that would be consumed by each individual orientation being used. That is, multi-orientation will always be more energy-demanding than attempting to do the same thing with a singular orientation that is designed to innately achieve both desired effects. Successfully running a stable multi-orientation for a period measured in something more than seconds is in many cultures and organizations considered one of the requisites to be given a title such as 'Master', insofar as chakra manipulation is concerned.

How do you use Chakras?

Chakra manipulation can be learned through rote training in Orientations, or by having sufficient knowledge of chakra's mechanics to construct new Orientations. The following is critical information to such experimenters:

There are some common associations tied to 'classes' of Chakra energy. In general, the two lower chakras in the body are more suited to stabilizing and defensive magics, the three chakras in the middle are more suited to offensive/mobility/flexibility/evasion/support magics, and the top two chakras are more suited to detection/illusions/mental magics. These are not hardline principles (one can fully use lower body chakras for a mental chakra application) but rather are generalizations about what each chakra is most naturally suited to.

Just as all energy emitted from a specific chakra shares observable commonalities, so too does all energy emitted at the same degree of dilation share commonalities. It is these two sets of shared traits, those unique to each of the seven chakras, and those unique to each level of energy output, that are the basis of all in-depth chakra analysis.

Each discrete level of output shares commonalities as well, and these commonalities manifest in their application. The more Overcharged a given chakra application is compared to its user's 'default' state, the 'rougher' the magic will feel. It will be less inclined to properly function where precision is required while most certainly excelling at brute force applications. Undercharging has atrocious performance when directly squared against forces, but excels when applied to uses that rely in indirect application, and either evade or absorb offending attacks.

Chakra energy does not persist statically, but it also does not fade rapidly. Once chakra energy has been invested in something, it will take between a few minutes to an hour for a given batch of chakra energy to fade. Energy invested in the environment, rather than in a body, fades much faster. This fading can be accelerated by performing something called a Chakra Flush. As the name implies, this means 'flushing' the chakra energy from one's body swiftly and is considered a vital skill for any combat applications of chakra.

While energy from a previous orientation persists in the body, any new orientations will be hindered until it finishes dissipating. However as long as one's new orientation does not involve investing energy in the body, or the same parts of the body, there is no need to flush, as it would only result in the destruction of the lingering benefits of the prior orientation.

What is the scale for chakra progression?

Assuming that a normal mortal human is spending six hours a day learning how to manipulate Chakra from someone that is trained in its use, they will learn, on average, like this:

[Know-Nothing]<[Amateur-Dabbler]<[Apprentice]<[Cadet]<[Journeyman]<[Adept]<[Expert]<[Master]<[Grandmaster]<[Everyone-Step-Back-I-Got-This]

It is assumed this training is never skipped, and that the student will specialize in external or internal manipulation, and offensive, defensive or supportive magics. There are many possible combinations that can come together to form one's specialization in Chakra Manipulation, such as 'Internal Chakra Manipulation focused on manipulating health and illness.' or 'External Chakra Manipulation of kinetic energy manipulation'. Traditionally, one is not considered to even have a specialization until he has achieved at least the Adept level.

The first week or two will be occupied getting the person able to even enter an Orientation, and it will take them a day to do so the first few times. This can be considered an 'awakening' period, as growth does pick up after here for a while.

The first month after a successful application of a Chakra Orientation will be occupied expanding one's familiarity with that first Orientation, and getting the user able to enter this Orientation more smoothly. In theory, by the end of this month, a normal person will be able to enter their initial Orientation in six to ten hours, and is expected able to sustain this Orientation for at least a day, barring directly disruptive influence. This would be considered the moment the student has learned enough they are no longer a dabbler, and are considered an [Apprentice].

To reach the next level of understanding, [Cadet], usually takes between two and five months. Progress observes a reverse bell curve: Predominately people either learn it rather easily and finish in two to three months, or have trouble, and take four to five months. Very few fall between three and four months. At this point, the individual is assumed to know at least five Orientations, and be able to switch orientations within two hours. Further, the individual is expected to now have a grasp of the 'Overcharge' principle, if not anything resembling mastery. At this level, they are expected able to utilize their understanding of chakra in live combat, and not just in the less hectic conditions of a training environment. Such a student is still not considered versed enough to teach.

To become a [Journeyman] usually takes a year, and is largely a period of refining existing knowledge. A key trait of a Journeyman is the ability to perceive chakratic energy as it flows through his body. To this end, it is rare to expect one to know more Chakra Orientations as a Journeyman than as a Cadet, but a Journeyman is expected able to use his orientations more accurately and flexibly. A journeyman can switch Orientations in less than a half hour. Journeyman is the rank one normally would have to reach to be allowed to teach in any form.

The [Adept] is required to have a solid understanding of chakra fundamentals and to be able to apply them to more esoteric and advanced uses. Adepts are able to switch chakra orientations in less than ten minutes. To this end, one spends nine to eighteen months learning between five and ten new orientations. Classic education requires that the Adept be able to use all new orientations with equal skill to those already known, and to do so with minimal direction from a mentor. At the same time, the student learns how to Undercharge chakras (a lesson purposefully omitted earlier, as undercharging without incredibly an stable control of one's orientation is worthless). Once one has demonstrated the ability to accurately estimate how to properly use a new chakra, in terms of use in actual combat and applying overcharge and undercharge alike, they are considered to be an Adept.

To become an [Expert] is a long and arduous process. Most students of Chakra will stay at the rank of Adept forever. It takes at least five years and usually closer to a decade for an Adept to have gained enough experience to become an Expert. At this point, they are assumed to know approximately fifty Chakra Orientations, and are expected to be able to switch chakras within five seconds. Experts are also expected to have learned how to differentiate between energy from each of the seven chakras, and assess what output level the chakra was at when making the energy, even when analyzing chakra energy in another person's body. The last trait expected in an Expert is the knowledge of how to perform a Multi-Orientation, if not the ability to apply it in combat.

[Masters] and those rare few above them are rare. It takes legitimate talent or considerable extenuating circumstances for an 'average' person to reach this rank. The single largest defining trait is that a Master can, if they choose, use Multi-Orientation with sufficient competence to apply it in battle if they so chose. A master can change chakra orientations in under a second, barely needs to think to render a given Orientation at precisely the desired Over or Undercharge level in a split instant, has learned how to perform all manner of Chakra Flushing, and is usually attained some twenty to thirty years after becoming an expert.

Humans don't achieve the [Grandmaster] level often enough for averages of any sort to even exist.

What makes Bloodlines different from Chakra Manipulation?

Bloodlines are purpose-built magic packages innate to the soul and blood of the user which follow logical rules. Users are are born with them, or through immense personal talent with magic self-generate them, or may gain them by a gift from a God/Wizard/Dragon. Bloodlines are completely different from Chakra's 'everyone is capable if they try' format. Chakra manipulation, while effectively infinitely flexible given enough time and practice, is ultimately an inefficient use of one's spiritual power. Bloodlines are more efficient, and for equivalent amounts of time invested in practice will always overpower Chakra manipulation by a nearly insurmountable amount. This is why in general, Bloodline users drastically outperform chakra users. There are far fewer Bloodline users than Chakra manipulators, but there is nothing that prevents a Bloodline user from learning chakra manipulation as well (and many do so). Another point which applies to all forms of Bloodlines is that a human user may have one or two bloodlines but no more than that. Non-human beings may use work-arounds to gain more bloodlines, or (in the case of Dragons) may innately develop them.

Transcendent Humans

What is Transcendence?

Transcendency is a state of being attainable by entities who have transcended the flaws of their natural magic and have embraced becoming something beyond that. Transcendency candidates must have active chakras but lack bloodlines, and must have attained a purity of form either by birth, by their own power, or by specialized processes. Not all trancendents are equal. Transcendency acquired naturally has quality proportional to the being's own quality at the time. An artificial transcendency is variable in quality and depends largely on the source from which it was derived: for example a wizard would produce a better transcendent than any natural process could. An average wizard will impart a better transcendent state than the average deity could.

The talents required to artificially produce a transcendent are skill in either Ritual, Name, or Conceptual magic as well as in Soul, Mind, or Flesh manipulation with respect to the type of transcendent being created. Essentially one skill is required per pool of three skill sets, meaning one who is well versed in Ritual magic and possessing Flesh manipulation could grant someone a transcendent body while someone equally skilled in Name magic and Mind manipulation could produce a transcendent mind.

What does Transcendence do?

Transcendent people have high capacity for learning chakra techniques, and energy efficiency that makes their limited power pools useful enough to be comparable to the larger power pools bloodline practicioners have.

How does a person walk the Transcendent Path?

Foremost, the Transcendent must not have a bloodline or significant magic that does not stem from themselves (i.e. chakra is allowable but contract powers aren't). A Transcendent may be born, or made.

There are ritual procedures to encourage an aspect of a person to become transcendent. Some use ingredients from transcendent people, but not all do.

How does Transcendence compare to bloodlines?

Transcendants are magically bright and visible, make decent magical ingredients, are prone to conflict amongst each other and other beings, and don't have any support structure in place for them usually.

Soul

What is the Soul?

A soul is a bundle of organized magic energy, condensed into structures that perform tasks. A normal human soul looks like a sphere with various structures all over and inside it. All things which are considered sapient by Draconic law and tradition have souls.

Think of a sphere of gelatin. Now stick fruit in it and put bands of candy shell around it. The candy shells have some value in keeping the gelatin in the right shape, and in keeping it coherent. They are like the memory structures in souls. The fruit bits are personality, skills, quirks, gates, and the soul-bound components to bloodlines, and can collectively be thought of as spell matrices formed from the soul itself. They act like rebar in concrete and add stiffness, strength, and coherence (also called soul size) to the soul overall. The gelatin itself can be made stiffer with the right treatments (a case of soul coherence going up innately instead of as a result of specific structures). In a soul seated in a body, there are slim little lines from the soul to each of the chakra points. Those are the chakra gates, and as is implied by the name gate, they're actually two-way connections. Because the mind and body exert influence on the soul, a being can slowly change the shape of his soul by thinking the right thoughts or doing the right things to his body.

Now, imagine this candy coated sphere of fruit laden gelatin is being exposed to heat. As the temperature of the gelatin goes up, it becomes less stiff. If the sphere becomes just warm enough, it can be reshaped easily. If it is overheated, the gelatin will eventually melt and become a goopy mess. In a soul, free magic energy acts like that. It reduces the stiffness value of the soul-matter and puts pressure on the soul itself. Once the amount of magic (the potential energy, also called capacitance or volume) in the soul is above its capacity to contain, the soul loses structural coherence and fails. When the soul is near its total capacity for magic, it is very easy to shape, either through experience and mental exercise by the first party, or by soul crafting by either a third party or the first party.

What Should I Do for a Near-Capacity Soul?

A skilled soul manipulator can put patches on a soul that is ready to burst, but in general to permanently solve the issue one must find a way to use or eject the magic in a magically overloaded soul. Increasing soul coherence is also very helpful, but does not remove the energy.

One technique for ejecting magic is to channel it through existing soul structures instead of allowing it to gather in the soul. The gate formed by a bind to a spirit animal can perform such a function, since spirit animals can use excess power to overcharge themselves safely to some degree (this solution will not work with most sorts of familiars, because the magic energy will corrode their connection to their body, eventually killing the body and leaving the ex-familiar a normal spirit animal).

Certain chakra techniques can allow a third party to forcibly flush excess energy from another person. In Istanbul, the required expertise is rare enough that Baki Yamada has made it one of his special services in his massage parlor.

What is Soul manipulation magic?

Soul manipulation magic is ultimately everything that chakra manipulation in it's totality strives for. Unlike chakra manipulation, which plies the power of one's soul filtered through natural gates (the seven primary chakras) within the body, soul manipulation magic directly uses the soul itself. Like all bloodline formats, Soul Manipulation is divided into three categories: Internal, External, and Hybrid. In general, the most common soul manipulation format is internal, followed by hybrid, with purely external soul manipulation being exceedingly rare in an already relatively uncommon bloodline class. This focus directs both what is used as a power source for magic, and what one is able to target for manipulation. Internal purists use their own soul's energy to alter itself; a very recursively oriented ability, often excelling in disguise, impersonation and at sufficient levels of mastery crude simulation of other internal bloodline abilities through sufficiently advanced soul sculpting.

Soul Sculpting, along with Soul Binding and Soul Breaking, is one of, and in fact the most prevalent, of the three principles on which all soul manipulation is based. Soul Sculpting is the act of reshaping a soul like clay to change its properties, and potentially the properties of its host vessel. Soul Binding is the act of imposing rules, conquering and/or enslaving Souls in a lasting manner by use of magical structures imposed on and integrated into the target's soul. Such bindings are not able to be Soul Sculpted away, and in fact cannot be undone without the assistance of a Master of Soul Manipulation that specializes in Soul Binding. Soul Breaking, as the name implies, is the act of breaking a soul but this does not only mean permanently rendering a soul broken. One can either use the fragments of a broken soul, or break off fragments of a healthy soul to create new Souls. Soul Breaking is by far the most uncommon aspect of soul manipulation to be used, and is the hardest to find reference material on. Attempting self-study of Soul Breaking is one of the most dangerous acts a student of magic could ever dream of.

How do you use Soul Manipulation?

While one can, to a degree, use it's 'little brother' Chakra Manipulation to experiment with some measure of safety, the same cannot be said of Soul Manipulation. Due to how easily it can alter the seat of consciousness, it can very easily cause irreparable harm if one is unaware of what they are doing. With Soul Magic, more than any other type of magic, it is imperative to do as little experimentation as is necessary, and always strive to learn of what happened when others tried such a thing, if one is to have a prosperous career.

Flesh

What is Flesh?

Flesh is literally matter which can, in quantity, act as a body. The most common examples of flesh are amino acid based lifeforms (i.e. lifeforms that use proteins and have protoplasm contained in cellular membranes). These versatile and chemically self-organizing systems provide a good framework for containing magic, but are not the only examples of flesh.

Technically anything which acts as part of a body proper, and which has sufficient magic signature to be integrated into the rest of the body, and which can seat a perispirit connection to the soul, is flesh. An ensouled shadow has flesh made of shadow, while an ensouled computer would have flesh made of semiconductors. A golem with protoplasmic flesh and highly integrated metal armor would have flesh of metal and protoplasm both.

For our purposes, protoplasmic flesh is the most common sort of flesh. Almost the entire body of extant fleshcrafting knowledge is dedicated to manipulating protoplasmic flesh.

What is a Body?

A body is a corpus of matter of some sort which has sufficient presence in the NeverNever to serve as an anchoring point for a soul, and which has the capacity to contain magic energy. Traditionally, a body has structures to help house a mind (i.e. a brain and nervous system) and to help circulate magic energy (i.e. a blood circulatory system which can eventually interface with a soul's chakra).

What does Flesh Manipulation do?

Traditionally fleshcrafting is based on manipulating biological tissue. Each flesh manipulator has an affinity for one of the following groups moreso than the others, and it is this affinity which sets the tone for their abilities. The specialization categories are Muscle, Connective, Nervous and Epithelial tissue.

Tissue	Journeyman	Adept	Master
Muscle	2	3	3
Connective	3	1	4
Nervous	4	2	1
Epithelial	1	4	2

Ranked, from 1 for best to 4 for worst, in terms of how much innate material there is for people at assorted levels of expertise. Please note that Muscle and Connective tissue focuses in general progress faster than Connective and Epithelial focus.

• Most Internal, martially orientated fleshcrafters go with some mixture of Nervous, and muscle or connective. Most don't really try for glandular tricks: the preference is usually to simply cave a skull in one hit and be done.
• Focusing on nervous tissue or epithelial tissue in general requires a larger knowledge of biology as well as outside fields to properly utilize.
• Nervous gets rather gimped glandular control compared to epithelial, and epithelial gets rather incomplete nervous control.
• Beginning nervous tissue focused fleshcrafting would be naturally inducing positive neural plasticity on command-with a goodly headache afterward from the blood flow fun resulting from it's use. When I say this, I mean it would 'sharpen the mind' in a manner not unlike a strong cup of coffee and a slap in the face.
• Fleshcrafting epithelial focused students learn on day one how to reset drug tolerance, or otherwise moderate it. It's kind of a fundamental skill. Even for the brain, since fleshcrafting's gotten REALLY good at building filters in the sack around the brain and in the blood vessels leading to it. So-strictly no, not the brain, not as a beginning student. But all the paths something can take to REACH the brain, yes. This does exempt glands already in the brain, obviously.
• Beginning Musclecrafting students learn how to localize muscle changes-render an arm wholly one type of muscle, for example. The ability at face value is not as useful as what one can initially learn with other focuses, but with sufficient skill is exceptionally versatile in it's application.
• New Connective tissue focused students of flesh manipulation will learn how to render joint dislocation completely harmless in both the short and long term, reinforce joints and increase flexibility. Similar to Muscle focused flesh manipulation, these initial teachings require skill to use properly
• Out of all four formats, Muscle tissue focus leads to the greatest raw gains in general regenerative ability as a result of this focus involving working with comparatively more mass than the other focuses.
• Out of all four Connective tissue allows one to become the most efficient at healing large wounds involving limb-loss, and can render such things far less costly or time consuming to regenerate.
• As something of a balance for their innate lack of sufficient higher level function compared to mastery of Nervous tissue or epithelial, Muscle and Connective focuses will always have greater regenerative ability than their otherwise focused peers.
• Out of all four formats, Nervous tissue focus allows one the most resilient fleshcrafting-based defense against mental attacks, and the fastest reflexes.
• Out of all potential forms of organ grafting and the act's impact on flesh manipulation, Glands are the easiest thing to integrate possible of organ grafting, and as such Epithelial focus is the most suited to
• Epithelial will never make you as strong as muscle focus-will never make your joints as monstrously enduring and flexible as connective, or your brain/reflexes as sharp as nervous focus-that's a fact, for equal levels of skill.
• Connective Tissue also means that, once you learn external flesh manipulation, having a pretty easy time fucking other people's joints on contact. Including monsters.
• Muscle, manipulate their muscles, move them like a puppet.
• Nervous, enjoy randomizing (and at higher levels) controlling their senses.
• Epithelial, their glands are yours, and can be rewritten to new functions.
• Nervous control would arguably control pain better than glandular, which would chemically mask the signals, whereas nervous would just handle the signals differently.
• The realm of poisons, caustics, paralytics and toxins is wholly dominated, with fleshcrafting, by epithelial focused fleshcrafters.

Mind

What is the Mind?

The mind is a construct formed from willpower and magic. A common analogy for it is to think of the mind as software running on the hardware provided by the body (usually in the brain) and soul (usually in the cognition soul structures on a healthy soul). As the mind ages, it automatically constructs a self-image and builds its own internal reality based upon accumulated will, which is commonly called the mindscape. Most people's mindscapes are vague and weak, but a very mentally oriented person will have a more defined one, as will a very magical person (as the mindscape's formation is a function of will acting on magic energy within the confines of a soul and body).

A very well developed mind can be extracted from the soul and body and be capable of operating independently.

What are Mentalists?

Mentalists in general are a potentially powerful class, though individuals are usually limited in focus. Because of how individualized mentalist powers are, two mentalists could have completely different power sets. Where mind manipulation magics use magic to affect the mind, mentalism uses the mind to work magic. The mentalist uses willpower to drive his mindscape, which is itself able to do things.

Unlike most other specialists, mentalists do not have an energy pool that can be depleted. Instead, mentalists use their willpower to channel available energy. They are primarily limited in the number of effects they can achieve at once by their available willpower. The sorts of effects they can achieve are limited by their experience, imagination, and prep time.

Mentalists use their will, time, and mental focus to create mental constructs. By imbuing them with more and more energy and making them more mentally real. An on-the-spot construct is basically nothing more than a mental focus aid; anyone can make one. A mentalist could spend days, weeks, or years pushing willpower into the construct until finally even if they stopped thinking about it completely, even if they died, it would still be real. Particularly specialized or talented mentalists can pull mental constructs into the real world.

What do Mentalists do?

There are basically only two mentalist abilities and all mentalists have them. One, every action a mentalists takes is mentally is backed by his will. Two, everything a mentalist imagines becomes more real over time. A "low-level mentalism ability" is basically anything that a completely normal person can do if put into a mental or spiritual plane, though any mentalist will be able to do them better than your average schmuck.

How do I become a Mentalist?

People exposed to enough magic and with the right mindset will eventually become Mentalists. A would-be mentalist needs his soul and body to be saturated with magic, such as from eating magic food, and to not have anything that his accumulated magic is being sunk into. Any constructive channeling of the collected magic will stop it from being channeled into mentalism.

What are Karmic Mentalists?

Where a mentalist uses willpower to force his mindscape to do what he wants, a karmic mentalist uses karma (the concept of cosmic balance for all actions) to make his mindscape do what he intends. In many respects being a karmic mentalist is much easier (and the bar for entry is much lower) than being a mentalist, but to be truly effective requires a degree of self sacrifice many people do not make. It is not uncommon for karmic mentalists to give away all their possessions and money to gain karma that they then expend in their mentalist endeavors. There is little outward difference between a destitute hobo and a particularly powerful karmic mentalist.