Magic: Sphere of Life
Magic: Sphere of Life

Life Mages are greatly in demand, yet they tend to be somewhat rare amongst the Spheres. This is largely because of the demands of their Sphere -- In order to make full use of it, they actually have to learn a great deal how life works, in order to fix it. Therefore, having the "healer" skill is essential to becoming a successful Life Mage. Furtheremore, Life Mages are put through a great deal many tests before they can be fully accredited, since miscast spells have far more dire consequences than an Air Mage who might blow an airship the wrong direction, or even a Fire Mage who might accidentally burn down a barracks. When spells of the Sphere of Life go awry, the results can be fatal ... or worse.

Life Magic, of course, deals with physical life. It can be used to heal wounds, to cure maladies, even to affect normal processes of the body, or to influence the growth of a child. The darker side of Life Magic is that it can also be used to stunt growth, create wounds, or to encourage the formation and spreading of disease.

Many Life Mages have no interest in pursuing all three of these fields at once, so they instead focus on one of the three recognized sub-spheres:

  • Disease: The most controversial of the sub-spheres would have to be that of Disease. Disease Mages ostensibly are trained to better understand diseases, as curing the symptoms of a viral infection is not the same as removing a virus from a body. In order to heal the body, you kill the virus. It's not the same as closing a wound, and thus considered worthy of specialization. However, the flip side of disease-curing spells is that they can be reversed and modified to cause diseases. This is, of course, frowned upon greatly.

  • Healing: Healing Mages specialize solely in the curing of maladies. They are, in essence, doctors with magic to supplement their medicines. It should be noted that healing spells aren't "get up and go" spells for the most part, even if they heal wounds. The Healer doesn't usually just zap a wound into nonexistence -- actually binding wounds and treating them properly is often part of the process, and the recipient may have to rest and recover from the taxing nature of accelerated healing.

  • Transformation: Transforming Mages specialize in changing the building blocks of life around. While spells of this particular sub-sphere are typically listed as having temporary effects, a Transforming Mage is capable -- with proper preparation -- of making this change permanent. This is not without expense, however, and there are often side-effects. For instance, the subject will have a magical "thumbprint" that can be detected by other mages as proof of the transformation, limiting what use this might be for disguise. Also, the subject's magical defenses pretty much have to be battered down in order to facilitate major changes on a permanent basis, for the body has a tendency to return to a "normal" state over time. The result is that the recipient may well be especially susceptible to magic (whether good or bad -- and usually bad) after the process is over.
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    Cantrips

  • Bruise (H)
    This cantrip can relieve the pain and accelerate healing (on a very small and slow level) of a small bruise. This cantrip has potential for abuse, as it can be reversed to cause the effect of a small bruise somewhere on the target's body (there is no exact control) -- It will not create an actual bruise, but it will leave a small red welt on the skin, and it will feel like a bruise to the victim. This effect, however, is only temporary, and will fade away in a few seconds.

  • Detect Disease (D H T)
    The caster can detect for the presence of airborne viruses, etc. in the vicinity. The ability to identify the exact nature of this, however, is limited by the caster's own experience. The caster can't identify a disease, for instance, unless he already is aware of its existence. Even if the nature of the disease is unknown, it can still give the caster a general "warning signal".

  • Detect Toxin (D H T)
    This spell can be used to detect the presence of toxic gases, smoke, fumes, radiation, etc., in the air. The ability to identify the exact nature of the substance is limited by the caster's own knowledge. He can't identify something he doesn't even know about. It can, however, give the caster a sort of "warning signal" that there's something harmful in the air, if not any idea what to do about it.

  • Diagnose (D H T)
    This cantrip provides some information back to the caster, which may be useful in diagnosing what ails a victim. It requires, however, some medical knowledge (i.e., the Healer skill) to be able to use properly. It can reveal that a victim is poisoned, for instance, but if the caster is totally unfamiliar with the poison in question, there's no way the caster can know the name of the poison or its remedy. On the simplest level, it can reveal to the caster if the subject has injuries, and, if so, how many and where. This cantrip is greatly limited by the experience of the caster.

  • Rash (D)
    This spell can relieve the effects of a rash ... or, reversed, it has a chance of inducing a mild rash in the subject.

  • Revive (D H T)
    Revives an asleep or unconscious person, or staves off fatigue temporarily.

  • Sniffle (D)
    This spell can temporarily relieve a case of the "sniffles" ... or, reversed, it can induce them in the subject.
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    Minor Spells

  • Common Cold (D)
    This spell boosts the immune system of the subject, accelerating the process of combat infections, such as the "common cold". This spell works best when tailored to the subject, rather than used as a "held" spell.

    This spell can potentially be abused and "reversed", encouraging the subject to catch a cold. The effect is not immediate. It basically weakens the subject's defenses for a time, which increases the chances of catching a cold (or other disease) dramatically.

  • Enhance Body (T)
    This spell has a wide range of possible uses, generally used to enhance abilities of a recipient. The standard effect is to give the recipient an increase in some Natural Ability equal to one rank. This improvement will last for approximately fifteen minutes, gradually wearing off. However, at the end of this effect, as it wears off, the recipient will suffer from a compensating weakening effect, opposite of the benefit gained, for another period of approximately fifteen minutes.

    The caster can sustain the duration of the desired effect by continued chanting and concentration ... but the longer the duration of the benefit is sustained, the longer the penalty when it wears off.

    If the recipient is unwilling, there is a chance it may be resisted by force of willpower, or by Magical Resistance. This also applies if this spell is "reversed": In other words, the mage can use this as a hostile spell by skipping the enhancement part, and just making the victim suffer through the "weakening" part for up to fifteen minutes. The caster can try to prolong this effect, but the longer it goes on, the more chances the victim has to resist.

    Some sample effects for this are:

  • Agility: This can improve Agility by a rank. If the recipient does not have Agility already, when this wears off, the recipient will be greatly uncoordinated and clumsy for an equal amount of time afterward.
  • Enhanced Senses: This can be used to improve any number of senses. However, if the recipient did not have that sense already enhanced to begin with, when this spell wears off, it will effectively blind/deafen/etc. the given sense temporarily as "compensation".
  • Flight: Flight cannot be given to someone who doesn't already have wings. However, the Flight capability of a recipient can be improved by one rank.
  • Speed: The recipient can be capable of a burst of speed for the duration, and if the recipient already has the Running skill, this can be improved by one rank in both maximum speed and duration. When this wears off, however, if the recipient does not have Running skill, he or she is likely to collapse from exhaustion.
  • Strength: As per normal effects. If the recipient has the Weak disadvantage, this can be temporarily negated by this spell. However, when the effect wears off, and the subject is additionally Weakened, the subject will likely pass out.
  • Toughness: This boosts the Toughness of the subject, and can cancel out the Fragile disadvantage. However, when it wears off, a Fragile character is likely to pass out.
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  • Lesser Heal (H)
    This spell has a number of possible uses:
  • Cure magically-caused (temporary) afflictions (such as Blindness, Deafness, Numbness, etc., caused by "Suppress Sense", "Blind" or "Curse of Blindness")
  • Clean out a wound and close it without infection
  • Heal a small bruise
  • Cure the effects of temporary deafness or blindness
  • Cure very minor burns (ate food that was too hot, etc.)
  • Relieve symptoms of a cold or other mild sickness.
  • Revive a victim of drowning or electrical shock, whose breathing has stopped. (This is roughly the magical equivalent to CPR, and unless this is a held spell, performing the actual procedure may be more timely and effective.)
  • Remove mild poisons or toxins, such as the effect of a bee sting.
  • Stop a seizure.
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  • Make-Over (T)
    This spell must be tailor-made for the subject, and can't be held. It also requires a subject to remain still within the magical circle while this ritual is performed. This can make cosmetic changes of a temporary nature only. (Transformation Mages may be able to extend the duration, but these are not permanent changes.) Basically, fur, hair and skin color may be altered, and even eye color. Teeth can be whitened. A "tattoo" could be added here or there. Or, this could subtly alter scent.

    This spell can't do all at once, however. Multiple applications are needed for multiple effects, or for those that affect the whole body rather than just a small area. This effect will last about a day or so. This effect is "active" during that time, and therefore anyone with magical sensitivity will be able to pick up a "reading" off of the person so altered. This falls under the category of illusions, and various counter-spells designed to combat illusions or see through them can be used against this effect. Furthermore, alert and well-trained persons, especially if they are familiar with the species of the subject, may pick up subtle irregularities and sense that something is amiss.

    While this spell has some potential to be used for purposes of disguise, given considerable time for preparation, and allowing for only a limited amount of time for the disguise to last, it is most often used as a sort of "magical cosmetics" by the rich and powerful.

  • Sustain Life (H)
    By means of this spell, the caster saps some his own "life force" in order to sustain that of the subject. The caster, therefore, is considerably weakened, and repeated castings may be required to prolong this effect until a more suitable remedy can be provided. This is basically an emergency procedure to be used until a full-blown ritual can be enacted to help the victim. It can be also used to sustain a severed limb, etc., though measures must still be taken to stop bleeding, and the limb will still be quite useless in the meantime.
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    Rituals

  • Accelerate Healing (H)
    This is meant to be a long-term ritual, typically requiring multiple assistants to maintain "shifts", so that the spell can keep going, and the recipient is required to be resting in the center of the magical circle for the duration. This spell must be tailored for the specific maladies or injuries of the victim -- It cannot be used as a "held spell". The effect is to accelerate and assist natural healing processes. This is not useful if the victim's condition is in decline -- only when it's clear that, given enough time, the victim would be able to heal naturally.

  • Attach Limb (H)
    This ritual is used to re-attach a limb or other body part that has been completely severed. The utility of this ritual is greatly limited by the condition of the limb in question, and this is something that must be tended to quickly.

  • Detect Life (D H T)
    This spell allows the caster to detect the presence of "life forces" in the area, but only in a very vague sense. The more people, the more "life force" in the area ... but the same would apply for a high presence of bugs, etc. Non-sentient plant life and microscopic life forms, even in abundance, register differently. This might theoretically be used to try to find someone hiding in a remote area, but only if the area is fairly devoid of any other life forms, and it would require multiple castings, with the only result being a sort of game of "Warmer, Warmer, Colder, Warmer, HOT!" Furthermore, the presence of other magic active in the area (especially of the Spheres of Illusion or Shadow) may interfere with the results.

  • Greater Heal (H)
    This spell, a more powerful version of Lesser Heal, covers all the uses of Lesser Heal, but can also be used for the following:
  • Cure recipient of a single wound or burn. (Multiple applications may be required for multiple injuries.)
  • Cure a normal disease (common cold, flu, etc.) May require extended casting time.
  • Remove common poisons and toxins from the body.
  • Dispel magically-induced weakness.
  • Attach a severed body part, but won't restore severed nerve endings, broken bones, etc. (A finger so attached will be kept "alive", but will be useless. Basically just a stopgap remedy until a more specialized ritual can be performed.)
  • Remove a tattoo.
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  • Mend Bones (H)
    This spell is used to assist in setting bones properly, and speeding up the healing process considerably. It still requires the caster to set a splint and/or cast for the bone. The process of healing will then be accelerated considerably. For example, a broken bone which might take twelve weeks to heal would now only take four. This can also be extended into a more complex ritual that may take several hours to complete, which can almost completely heal a normal bone break. However, whichever route is taken, the recipient will still be expected to take it easy for a while, and may have to wear a splint or sling.

  • Plague (D)
    This is a forbidden ritual, and requires several hours and quite a bit of research on the part of the caster to formulate properly -- especially if the caster wants personal immunity and/or some sort of antidote to the effect. It also requires a sample of infected organic matter with a sample of the disease for the plague to be based upon. This is a highly risky ritual, having a great chance for the caster himself to die a horrible and gruesome death -- but, if cast successfully, it can produce a new strain of plague that can be released on unsuspecting innocents. It is possible to tailor a plague to affect only certain species, but it's fairly easy to make one that will affect most species on Sinai, given the preponderance of similar mammalian humanoid structures. There is always the possibility of mutation, and a plague can't be kept strictly under control. Better-designed plagues typically require more casting time, more research, more experimentation, and more mages involved.

  • Raise Dead (H)
    This is a major ritual requiring several hours or more, and most probably the help of multiple supporting mages. This spell cannot be "held". It must be tailor-made to the subject, and separate spells must be enacted to deal with individual injuries on the subject. A body without blood cannot keep living even if "raised", and injuries or diseases or poisons still present would just kill the subject again. The utility of this spell is greatly limited based on circumstances and time since "clinical" death. This ritual must be started within minutes of the subject's death. The subject's body must be intact for the most part.

  • Transform Body (T)
    This ritual covers a wide range of possible effects, and must be tailor-made to the subject and the desired effects. It cannot be used as a "held" spell, and multiple applications will typically be needed, as well as additional treatments to deal with possible side effects. This mainly deals with cosmetic changes to the body, and these changes will tend to be temporary, as the body's natural processes "heal" the changes. It could be potentially used as the ultimate means of disguise, at least on a superficial level, but the temporal nature of the effects limits the duration, and there may be undesired side effects once they wear off. Furthermore, anyone with magic sensitivity is bound to pick up "readings" from the person so altered. To make effects permanent, a Transformation Mage specialist is required, for the most part.

    Some sample effects:

  • Change hair/fur color, eye color, skin tone, etc. Specific patterns could be introduced, allowing for "magical tattoos".
  • Remove scars (or add them).
  • Make subtle alterations to body structure.
  • Attach organic matter -- wings, a replacement limb, etc. However, this attachment is non-functional. If this is done as a temporary addition, wounds will result when this wears off, unless a mage is present to "undo" the effects.
  • Remove, add, or move around body fat.
  • Affect muscle tissue. The effects are mostly cosmetic, however, and trying to enhance strength may result in unwanted side effects.
  • Alter body scent.
  • Remove wrinkles and other signs of age.
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    Often, a bit of surgery is required for more severe alterations, and permanent change would be best for that level of transformation. Once one gets past a certain point, there is a case of diminishing returns when changing the body more and more from its starting point, and a greater chance of unwanted side effects. The more "cosmetic" the changes, the safer.

  • Transplant Body (T)
    This is a highly complex and obscure ritual, used to move a person to a new body. This requires quite a bit of surgery, and typically support from a number of mages and assistants to deal with a number of related problems that will arise during the ceremony. It specifically requires the assistance of Spirit Mages in the transfer. This obscure ritual was purportedly used for many years to give the Sabaoth a sort of immortality, by transferring him to a new body. However, a vital component in this ritual is the brain from the old body -- or, at least, key portions of it. Since the original brain is still required, the "immortality" provided by this procedure has an upper limit, as brain cells age and deteriorate.

    The body the "essence" is transferred to should be as close to the original as possible. If the body is of a different species, there could be severe problems in adapting to the new body. (Biochemical conflicts, the brain not being adapted to deal properly with sensory input or different numbers of limbs, etc.)

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