Dissolution ----------- The practice of Dissolution is about acquiring the qualities of something else by destroying it. Generally, that means either killing a living creature or else destroying a specially-crafted artifact which somehow exhibits the trait in question. Most practitioners are familiar with both techniques, although many will be more experienced with one than the other. It is not impossible that other techniques might also exist, but if they have been discovered, it is not yet widely known. The mage can either take these qualities on him or herself or can transfer them to another person (or even into an object). It is possible to grant a trait to several targets at once, but this is more difficult and usually dilutes the power of the effect. The Dissolutionist chooses which particular qualities are to be used at the time that the magic is released. The degree, extent, and duration of these effects depends on the particular circumstances. TECHNIQUES -The Dissolution of Craft- This newer specialty has become the more popular of the two in this modern day. Appropriate items can be created by a Dissolutionist using any artistic or crafting skill that the he or she is skilled in, provided it produces a physical artifact as a result: they could be paintings, figurines, calligraphy, abstract sculpture, or even written prose. The mage uses this creative process to focus magical power into the object being made. Because performing Dissolution magic requires destroying the artifact, mages typically prepare many different pieces ahead of time and are always at work crafting new ones. The amount of time and attention that goes into a given artifact dictates how much power it has and how long its effects will last. Smashing a wooden flute that you whittled out in a minute or so might help you to carry a tune long enough to finish a few songs, but breaking one that you devoted two weeks to carving could give you perfect pitch and a natural affinity for musical instruments all day long. Of course, novice mages would not have the stamina or the concentration to continuously channel magical energy into a single item for so long. Even a Dissolutionist of average power rarely devotes more than a few hours to any given work, typically spending preferring to spend that energy creating several simpler pieces. It is possible to work magic from an artifact created by another Dissolutionist, but unless two mages know each other *very* well, the effective power that's released will be substantially diminished. Selling artifacts to complete strangers is rarely worthwhile. -The Dissolution Of Life- In its original form, before the crafting techniques were developed, the magic of Dissolution could only be performed through the death of a living creature, whether human or animal. This is still in use today, as the Dissolution of Life generally produces effects that are more powerful for the time invested. Like the Dissolution of Craft, this technique can also have effects that vary in power, extent, and duration. In this case, there are two contributing factors: the nature of the creature being killed and the extent of the ritual leading up to its death. The death of a household animal will produce a much more potent result than the same ritual performed over a small insect. The death of a person would be greater still, and even moreso for an especially powerful human or one of the great beasts. Tapping this power doesn't require more than a few words spoken at the moment of decease, but spending several minutes or hours engaged in ritual immediately beforehand can magnify the effects immensely (although this requires foreknowledge of the creature to be used). Of course, only those who are most intimately familiar with life itself can fully tap the power of a leviathan or complete a two week ritual without faltering. While the Dissolution of Life is useful for acquiring the traits specific to a particular being (such as the grace of a cat or the flight of a bird), it can also be used to directly absorb some of the health of a hale creature into oneself or into another; this potential for healing may be the main reason why this technique hasn't fallen out of fashion entirely. EXAMPLES (unless otherwise stated, all examples assume a single target who is not the caster) Artifact: Detailed drawing of a blazing bonfire, in colored chalks on black paper Crafting time: 30-60 minutes Possible effect: The target's hands glow with a warm, flickering light. For the next several minutes, he can hurl great flames from his fingertips at will. Artifact: Clay model of a feather Crafting time: Five minutes Possible effect: The target's weight is reduced to a few ounces. She can safely fall from a great height or even glide away on a breeze. Artifact: Haiku on the virtues of fitness and good health Crafting time: One full day Possible effect: A target who is minutes from death has his wounds temporarily reduced to serious but not immediately lethal ones. If proper treatment is not had within a couple of hours, the full original injuries will return. Artifact: Oil painting of a rose in bloom Crafting time: Several months Possible effect: The target's comeliness is increased slightly for the remainder of her life. Artifact: Piece of wood crudely hewn into the shape of an arrow Crafting time: Less than a minute Possible effect: For a brief time, the target is able to run at several times his usual speed. Artifact: Piece of wood crudely hewn into the shape of an arrow Crafting time: Less than a minute Possible effect: Any shot the target takes with a ranged weapon in the next thirty seconds will fly with uncommon accuracy. Artifact: Painted figurine of an armored knight Crafting time: One full day Possible effect: The skin of every soldier in a small army of two hundred men becomes as tough as cured leather for nearly an hour. Creature: Grasshopper Ritual time: A few seconds Possible effect: The target can make a standing jump twenty feet straight up into the air, provided it's within the next half minute. Creature: Trout Ritual time: Fifteen minutes Possible effect: From midday to sunset, the target is able to breathe underwater as easily as in the air. Creature: Trout Ritual time: Fifteen minutes Possible effect: For the next six hours, the target is able to swim effortlessly, even through turbulent water. Creature: Grizzly bear Ritual time: Three hours Possible effect: The target gains the full strength and fighting prowess of a grizzly bear; this effect lasts for nearly a full week. Creature: Professor of Classical Studies Ritual time: Two minutes Possible effect: The target gains a fluent comprehension of Latin and Greek which fades after a day. Creature: House cat Ritual time: Four hours Possible effect: The target transforms completely into a cat from midnight until the following dawn. Creature: Sheep Ritual time: Five minutes Possible effect: A broken leg is completely restored. For most of the next hour, the target is temporarily left somewhat woozy and weak. TRADITIONS -Menageries- The keeping of sacrificial menageries is an institution that dates back for centuries. Although secular menageries once existed, this is a practice that has been embraced by the Church and now contributes a significant amount to its revenue. Animals are raised and kept on the site by caretakers. Parishoners who are seeking a blessing from these Dissolutionists come and select the animal of their choice, which (in exchange for an appropriate monetary offering) will be ritually consecrated and then sacrificed. Most members of the clergy who practice Dissolution have spent at least a part of their careers serving at a menagerie. Social Rank: Valued. Most of the Dissolution performed at sacrificial menageries is for the purpose of healing. As such, menageries originally became an important part of many communities in a time when proper medical care did not exist. Further, the backing of the Church has only helped them keep their valued status. -Crafting Communes- It is well known that two individuals who share a deep bond and understand each other very well (such as close siblings or lovers) are able to share each other's artifacts and cooperate in crafting without any loss of potency. Over the past ten years, some people have sought to exploit this by founding groups dedicated to fostering that level of relationship between all members. They are typically separated from society at large, but open to anyone willing to embrace their lifestyle. Social Rank: Undervalued. Outsiders tend to perceive members of Crafting Communes as both irresponsible and morally suspect (if not outright perverse). Further distrust comes from rumors that some communes have begun attempts at projects which are multi-generational in scope, to produce artifacts of immense power. -Vagabonds- Despite the fact that they're popularly knows as "vagabonds", travelling and homlessness aren't actually a part of this tradition's core philosophies. Their two main principles can be expressed as "Always be ready" and "Fair exchange". "Always be ready" is usually interpreted to mean that you should keep whatever you may need on hand and prepared. Most vagabonds make a point to carry a satchel or backpack that contains the tools they use for their magic along with any other implements they feel might come in handy in life. Some take it so far as to mean that you shouldn't own anything that you can't carry on your back, and to never leave behind anything you're not willing to give up forever. "Fair exchange" is rooted in the basic functioning of Dissolution magic: you give up one thing (an artifact or a life) in order to gain another (magical power). Vagabonds traditionally feel strongly about dealing fairly other people, and will avoid making agreements that they feel might cheat the other party. "Fair exchange" also describes the frequent habit of using barter instead of money, offering services (whether magical services, ordinary artwork or crafting, or just manual labor) for goods. Social Rank: Neutral. Their known dedication to fairness ensures that most folks are happy to trade with them, but the fact that many of them *are* wanderers tends to keep them distanced from society at large. -Shadow Guard- The most notorious assembly of Dissolutionists to serve the goals of warfare and political intrigue were [HIGH RANKING GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL FROM AT LEAST A HUNDRED YEARS AGO]'s own Shadow Guard. Ostensibly gathered to protect the person of [RULER OR HEAD OF STATE OVER HRGO], it eventually became clear that [NICKNAME OF HRGO]'s Shadows (as they were informally known) were actually [NATION]'s agency for operations of stealth, subterfuge, infiltration and information gathering. They are generally believed to have been responsible for the assassination of [EVIL HEAD OF STATE FROM THEN-HOSTILE NATION], and during [MAJOR WAR] they proved that there are more effective ways than interrogation to extract knowledge from a prisoner. Of course, in this enlightened age, such tactics are generally frowned upon: ritualized killing of prisoners is forbidden by international treaty, and many of the other tactics they were rumored to have employed would be deemed highly inappropriate. This is why they were officially disbanded by [RECENT RULER OR HEAD OF STATE] just thirty years ago. The Shadows' leaders all vanished from public view, and since then, there has been no proof whatsoever that they've secretly continued to exist, either as an unofficial government agency or as a private mercenary group. No recent international or domestic incidents that may have seemed reminiscent of their methords can be linked to them in any credible way. Social Rank: N/A. They don't exist anymore. -Other- Many Dissolution mages aren't involved in any particular identifiable tradition. This includes those who simply perform their magic for hire (generally commanding rates similar to those of other well-trained professionals); craftsmen, artisans, butchers and hunters who have learned a smattering of it as a hobby, and even some people who have studied Dissolution in order to complement their skills at their own chosen occupations. SCHOOL "The Society of Pilgrims" Size: Scattered. This school has no central location, owns no buildings, and maintains no permanent addresses. However, its students and teachers can be found almost in any major city and across the countryside if you know where to look. Wealth: Poor. The Society as an institution owns no property whatsoever. It is only made up of its teachers and students who are both responsible for their own livelihoods. Primary tradition: Vagabond. Many of the lessons taught by the Society relate to practical matters such as maintaining your crafting and ritual tools in good condition while away from the city, trapping live game in the wild, and keeping your artifacts within easy reach in case of unexpected danger. Members of the Society of Pilgrims travel from place to place seeking students to teach. Training is very informal and individual, and often takes the form of a master/apprentice relationship. Teaching methods strongly encourage students to figure things out for themselves as much as possible, with the goal being to train them to continue their learning after their apprenticeship is done. When a teacher decides that a student has successfully finished her training, she is expected to leave to find students of her own: by passing on the knowledge to others, she completes the principle of "fair exchange". One other part of a Pilgrim's training is a system of secret signs (including particular gestures, symbols, code phrases and the like). These make it easier for them to locate and identify fellow members. When a veteran Pilgrim meets another with much less experience, it is not unheard of for the novice to ask permission to undertake a second apprenticeship -- this time offering something of value in exchange. The elder member is under no obligation to accept, however: if his skills are known, he may have had no shortage of students already. MECHANICS Using dissolution on an arftifact crafted by another dissolutionist you know fairly well incurs a -2 penalty to the effective power. If you don't know the person fairly well, it's a -4 penalty. Targets must be in contact with either the mage or the thing being destroyed, whether directly or via held/worn objects or through other targets. If the mage performing the dissolution is the target, the necessary power for an effect is reduced; if multiple targets are receiving the effect, the power required is increased. See the target modifier chart for details. Healing via Dissolution of Craft (with an appropriate artifact) is temporary, like any other effect. Healing performed via Dissolution of Life is permanent and requires no duration. When a time, creature, or effect doesn't exactly match the table, choose the closest approximate row. If it falls roughly between two rows, consider its level to be partway between them. A time of 3-4 hours would be about 6.5. For crafting and ritual times, each full "day" is considered to be at least twelve hours out of twenty-four (to allow for sleep, meals, etc.) While taking on different qualities from separate acts of dissolution usually works fine, it is often avoided because of the potential for unexpected complications. Artifact power = crafting time + 2 Death power = ritual time + creature + 2 Effect power = duration time + effect + target modifier -Tables- TIME 0 - under ten seconds 1 - 20-30 seconds 2 - 1 minute 3 - 4 minutes 4 - 10 minutes 5 - 30-60 minutes 6 - 2 hours 7 - 6 hours 8 - 1 day 9 - 4-6 days 10 - 2 weeks 11 - several months 12 - 1 year 13 - a decade 14 - a full lifetime or more CREATURES 1 - insect, goldfish 2 - mouse, scorpion, sparrow 3 - garter snake, dove, trout 4 - rabbit, iguana, chicken 5 - dog, sheep 6 - cougar, wolf 7 - cow, ordinary human, horse 8 - lion, great white shark 9 - grizzly bear, especially powerful human, elephant 10 - leviathan, dragon 11 - demon, archmage TARGET MODIFIERS -1 - self 0 - 1 1 - 5 2 - 25 3 - 150 4 - 1,000 5 - 5,000 6 - 40,000 7 - 250,000 8 - 1,500,000 EFFECTS -1 - slight portion of a quality (small increase in beauty; knowledge of a single fact) 2 - simple quality (breathing underwater; tripled running speed; fluency in a language) 4 - special or extensive quality; a full range of related simple qualities (throwing flame; full knowledge of a field of study; flight and senses and voice of an owl) 6 - most simple qualities of a complex creature; all qualities of a simple creature (all of a person's basic knowledge; full transformation into a cat) 8 - powerful or rare quality; most simple and extensive qualities of a complex creature (minimal ability in a new magical style; strength and prowess of a grizzly bear; exact appearance of a person; all knowledge and skills of a person) 10 - very powerful *and* rare quality; all simple and extensive qualities of a complex creature (mid-level magical ability; appearance *and* skills and knowledge *and* physical attributes of person) HEALING EFFECTS 2 - minor (scrapes, bruises, sniffles) 6 - moderate (sprain, flu, flesh wound) 10 - severe (internal bleeding, broken limbs, scarlet fever) 14 - acutely critical (pierced lung, partial evisceration) 18 - mutilation (freshly severed limbs, full evisceration) 22 - death (recently killed corpse -- no partial healing possible) Healing can cure biological illness (disease, plant/animal poisons), but not remove other foreign materials (inorganic poisons, the bullet in your thigh). It also cannot fix things that are already healed over or never needed to heal (stumps of long-missing limbs, congenital defects). Healing effects that aren't powerful enough to cure you completely will heal you partially: if you were at 14, and got a power 6 healing, you'd be left at 8 (note that *partial* healing can't restore a lost hand, but it can heal the stump down to a lesser wound, which incidentally prevents it from being later regrown). After a healing, you're left with a "hang-over" effect. Duration level = injury level - creature used. So if you had a broken arm (10), and were healed (whether partially or completely) by the dissolution of a rabbit (4), it would last for two hours (6). If this reduced your injuries to a pulled muscle (4), which you had healed the rest of the way with a mouse (2) before you'd recovered from these after-effects, it would add 2 to your total recovery time, bringing it up to a day (8). -Skills- There are three skills: Craft, Anatomy, and Dissolution. "Craft" refers to any artistic or crafting skill. "Anatomy" is a familiarity with physical anatomy and its symbolic associations. "Dissolution" is the ability to harness the magical power released by Dissolution. Each day, you can engage in crafting sessions that add up to your Craft rank. Crafting sessions must be at least 20-30 seconds long to produce an artifact. Example: with rank 8, you could do one full-day session (8) OR a two-hour session (6) and two thirty-second ones (1+1), OR two ten-minute ones (4+4). A session can be counted towards a long-term project: each full "day" is considered to be at least twelve hours out of twenty-four (to allow time for sleeping, eating, etc.). You cannot work on projects whose total crafting time exceeds your Craft ranking. Rituals are limited in much the same way as crafting sessions (as described above, but using your Ritual skill). However, rituals need not have a minimum 20-30 second duration, and rituals of negligible length do not count against your daily total. Your Ritual skill also represents the highest level of creature you can effectively sacrifice. If you attempt to use a creature of higher level, it will only count as if its level were equal to your Ritual ranking. Your Dissolution ranking is the maximum power level you can wrest from any effect. If you try to use something with a power level that's greater than you can handle, twice the difference is expended as injury to you. If you have Dissolution 6, and try to use dissolution on an artifact with a power of 10, you'll get a power 6 effect and incur an injury of about 2*4 (perhaps spraining the hand used to destroy the object). [I'm presently imagining that the cost to raise these skills is equal to the destination rank, so going from rank 4 to rank 5 costs 5 points. A low-level mage would have about 30 points of skills, a mid-level mage about 80, and a high-level mage perhaps 150-200. The chief priest at a Menagerie might have skills resembling C0 A7 D10, costing 83 points.]