Mental Magic
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History
“In Asulon, there is a place that all living creatures avoid at all costs: the Wretched Grove. This forest of snow and ice has existed in Asulon for many centuries, and its corruption has led many to fear it. However, this forest is not truly what it seems. It was once home to a people known as the children of the forest. These people were unlike the other races that existed in Asulon, in that they kept no place to live. They did not need one, as they were born of trees, and could survive without a roof over their heads. The children of the forest were connected to the trees, for the trees were their ancestors who guided the race in everything they did. The children of the forest had a power over minds of trees and animals alike. The people loved peace, and hated anything that threatened it. The council of trees soon decreed that all the children of the forest should not reveal themselves to anything in their true forms, be it an animal or another Asulonian race. Many came through the grove, and none learned of the children of the forest, so they soon passed out of memory and into legend.
There was a terrible nation in Asulon that had just dawned. It developed beasts of fire that needed wood to survive. Before long, the nation had destroyed many forests, leaving harsh deserts where lush forest once was. The nation came across what would be later known as the wretched grove. They brought their lumberjacks with fire and axes to clear the forest and burn its wood to feed their beasts of fire. The oldest tree, known as the Tree of Minds, saw the urge to destroy in the people's mind, and entered every being's mind that it could, and drove many away. It could not get all the minds, so it called upon the children of the forest to defend their home. As soon as the children tried to attack, the men brought their beasts of fire to end this squabble. The beast roared, and shot smoke, and threatened to destroy the peaceful grove the children had worked so hard to protect.
After a long and arduous battle, every child of the forest had been killed, and only the Tree of Minds still stood. Even then, the tree was wounded, and continued to fight. However, the losses were not of the children's alone. Almost every person who attacked was either driven away or killed, leaving only a small band among them. The tree changed what they saw, and turned brother on brother. After all had been slaughtered except one, the tree allowed the final one standing to see what he had wrought. In seeing what his fit of madness had caused, he fled, and nothing came to the tree for a long time.
After this event, the Tree of Minds was filled with anger. It cast out everything that came near with violent hallucinations. Eventually, the wound it took healed, and its rage subsided. The tree now appeared to be dead, but was the center of the now almost lifeless forest. It continued to force out almost all creatures. Some creatures, however, were allowed into the tree's inner grove to learn the ancient art of the children of the forest. They were chosen for their curiosity, knowledge, wisdom, or intelligence, and were granted the power to see into other's minds and change their senses. The very few who were granted this power were then cast out to keep the vicious peoples of the axe away from the only source of Mental Magic still existing.
Then, a calamity ensued, destroying the Asulonians slowly. Many of the masters of the tree's art died out and were lost to history. The visitors to the tree became far and in between. Eventually, it could find no intelligent beings, and was alone in Asulon for some time. Then, the descendant races arrived from Aegis. After having been alone for such a long time, the tree quickly repelled all that came near the woods, now using more frightening images than it had during the time of the Original Asulonians. It only saw a squat and war-like people, and people who were fixated on destroying whatever they could to make themselves larger.
After finding so many of these people, it found a tall, twig-like person. This person had neither intelligence, nor wisdom, nor knowledge in a great enough degree, but it had an ample amount of curiosity to be taken to the inner grove where the tree was. Here, the twiggy mind was taught the art of mental magic, and sent off, never to find the place again.
It is unknown whether the tree has had visitors since this twiggy mind, but this is a place for them to come forward, and reveal their places of hiding.”Learning Mental Magic
Abilities
Mental Reaching
Mind Melding
Another quirk of melding would be what individuals call ‘telepathy’. By allowing their own thoughts and emotions through a mage may communicate with their target, choosing to either converse or relay information in a silent, reliable manner. Doing so, however, puts the mage at risk of intrusion from their target, should this target have the ability to do so. If your target is a mental mage, for example, they can use the formed connection to cast spells back towards your own mind.
Mental Barrier
Mental Illusion
Catalepsy
Memory Removal
Memory Manipulation
Though the entire memory may not be entirely changed, aspects of it can be altered, such as the presence of certain details or the sudden appearance of previously non-existent details. For the memory to be anchored and accepted as true by the target’s mind one must ensure it is as believable as the original, unaltered version. Anything straying from this would be impossible to do. If all parameters pass the target’s mind is made to accept the manipulated memory as real. The process is uncomfortable and a sense of panic is often felt in the target when their memory is manipulated whilst the mental mage experiences greater exhaustion.
Mental mages are also capable of manipulating memories so that they are not blocked by the shroud of confusion, stress-related amnesia, or more. This type of therapy is heavily dependant on the condition that represses these memories, but the fact of the matter is that they must still be present and existing to be able to be manipulated into being accessed again. Grave consequences can be had from this, however, as a mind often causes forgetfulness to relieve itself of the stress said memories cause.
Memory Restoration
Redlines of Mental Magic
Mental Magic has several redlines of what a mage can do and what a mage can’t do. As such those redlines should be followed at any time and breaking them can result in a removal of your magic permissions.
Reaching Redlines
- Mages must know where their target is in order to form a connection. Visual aid is required for the most part though a mage can remain connected if they look away or lose sight provided they still know where the target is located (aka the target hasn’t moved).
- Mental mages cannot use an illusion of someone to connect to their mind as this does not provide the actual location.
Redlines of Mind Melding
- A Mental mage may not read through someone’s memories like a book; they must make the person think or bring them up themselves, else they will be unable to view them. In other words, a Mental mage cannot force someone to think about something and then view that thing.
- Connecting to the void requires one tell, whilst connecting to a mind requires another, separate tell.
- Whilst one target may have more than one Mental mage connected to them, a Mental mage may not connect to more than one Real Mind.
- It is extremely difficult to fully avoid thinking of something if it is brought up in conversation or caused by Mental Illusion, and utterly avoiding this without a Mental Barrier is powergaming.
- A Mental mage will always let a small sliver of their own thoughts or emotions slip through, usually when first connecting to a mind. This can be reduced by practice, but it must be present. Most individuals would rarely consciously detect the tiny slip-up of a master Mental mage, however.
- When Mind Melding, a Mental mage exposes themselves to retaliation of their target’s own mind, should the target have the capability to do so (e.g. they are a Mental mage themselves).
Redlines of Mental Barriers
- Mental Barriers do not prevent someone from the effects of Mental Illusions or Diversion of Consciousness, it merely prevents one from divulging information to a Mental mage.
- Making a Mental Barrier requires conscious effort and knowledge that a Mental mage is intruding or about to intrude. One cannot typically have a constant Mental Barrier.
- All Mental Barriers must have a way to be broken, else they are impossible to create. At any time, a Mental mage may call upon a member of the MT to make sure there is a way to access a mind.
- One must be taught how to make an efficient Mental Barrier by a Mental mage (who must be able to vouch for it). If taught by a non-Mental mage, the individual will not have someone to scrutinise their technique and thus will have an inferior barrier. Either way, training to put up an effective Mental Barrier takes many years.
Redlines of Mental Illusions
- Mental Illusions must fall within the spectrum of believability, though this may be bent a good deal due to the mind being directly targeted. Utterly unbelievable illusions cannot be pressed by simple Mental Illusions.
- It is difficult to make someone feel something they would not otherwise feel in a situation (such as making an individual feel joy as they see their beloved wife die before their eyes) without breaking the believability of the Mental Illusion, and doing so is often the cause for the breaking of a Mental Illusion.
- One cannot control an individual with Mental Illusion or Mental Magic, merely coerce or affect how they perceive things (and thus indirectly altering how they might react).
Redlines of Catalepsy
- This is the only exception to the ‘Mental Illusions’ red lines, where some form of believability is required.
- The body may still be awakened if certain actions cause such a thing, though one must be aware that it is in a state of profound sleep.
- At the very least, a lapse in thoughts and a brief loss of senses must be used as an indication for the target when they slip into this state (similar to when one walks into a room and forgets what they were doing).
- Bringing an individual into this state requires great concentration, and it cannot be done in scenarios where the Mental mage is focusing on something else (such as in direct combat against an opponent).
- The target is still capable of resisting the Mental mage’s attempts to bring them into this state, especially if they are aware of the mage’s mental presence. They may also provide a far more powerful barrier if they are aware that their consciousness has been redirected to a dream-like state. Again, this barrier must follow the red lines of Mental Barriers.
Removal of Memories Redlines
- OOC-consent is required when removing long-term memories. To clarify, this OOC-consent must be given before the memories are removed, so that the players may discuss the terms of said removal.
- OOC-consent is not required when removing recent memories. Recent memories are defined by any memories that would be lost if someone were to die and be revived at that very moment (i.e. events leading up to the death OR events 30 minutes before the death).
- Removed memories leave a large, blank gap in one’s recollection that can be found by a Mental mage that both knows what to look for and is using Mind Melding or Diversion of Consciousness. Whilst the target can attempt to make thoughts or memories that explain the gap in memories, this rationale is often easily seen through.
- Entirely removing an individual’s memories requires OOC-consent, and is exhausting to the point of passing out to the most masterful of Mental mages.
Manipulation of Memories Redlines
- One cannot make entirely new memories, merely edit and manipulate current memories to one’s satisfaction. These edited memories must be as believable as the original, unaltered memories, and the changes made cannot be too great. Working with the target is essential, here.
- The process takes almost as much effort as removing memories, and the same rule of OOC-consent applies when manipulating long-term memories (i.e. any memory that goes beyond the death-rule). To clarify, this OOC-consent must be given before the memories are manipulated, so that the players may discuss the terms of said removal.
- OOC-consent is not required when manipulating recent memories (i.e. memories that would be lost if the person died).
- Manipulating certain memories can cause Spirits of Mental Instability to detach, though the
exact memory must be targeted for this.
- Entirely manipulating an individual’s memories requires OOC-consent, and is exhausting to the point of passing out to the most Masterful of Mental mages.
Memory Restoration Redlines
- Restoring memories needs OOC-consent, and must be done within a week of the memories being removed (if done by the Removal of Memories). Any memories that have been magically removed by Mental Magic require the Mental mage’s OOC, express permission to be restored if the removal occurred more than a week ago. (IRL times are used in this red line example).
- The Mental mage that removed the memories of an individual must be contacted if the memories are restored, as it is for them to discuss and debate how many memories can be regained and how clear they are.
- Restoring manipulated memories is extremely difficult, as the target has been made to relive them in an entirely different way. The Mental mage that manipulated the memories must be contacted if an individual wishes to have them restored.
- Restoring certain memories can cause Spirits of Mental Instability to detach, though the exact memory must be targeted for this.
- Entirely restoring an individual’s memories requires OOC-consent, and is exhausting to the point of passing out to the most Masterful of Mental mages.
Trivia
- Mental Magic is often used in therapy, either to remove bad memories or to fight traumatars.
- Many thieves are known to use Mental Magic, either to trick someone or to remove their memories after stealing or attacking them.
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