Celestialism

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“Let those who lead the herd do so in grace.”

An Overview

Greater Melding Clarification and Aura tracking

The Untempered Minds of Shades & The Darkened Hearts

The Blood of Celestials

Greater Celestials or Guardians of the Gardens:

Event Lines

Tier Restrictions & Sharpness

TLDR

Greater Melding Clarification and Aura tracking

Due to the level of connection achieved through two individuals melding together there forms a lower level of emotional symbiosis. While this does not allow the Celestial Arcanist to read the minds of their circle it does allow attunement to specific individuals. Those with deeply troubled minds will find greater melding to be more difficult than the simplest of spells and those they attempt to meld with will feel the repercussions of their mental afflictions. However those calm of mind will find immense tranquility in their coupling as the emotional state of each individual seeks to find equilibrium. In many of these cases the Celestial Arcanist appears to be the one that is notably more affected.

A side effect of greater melding, especially with those who have been melded with numerous times, is that the Celestial Arcanist will begin to differentiate the aura color of others from the menagerie of other voidal energy they might see. Celestial Arcanists come to understand those they have melded with on a uniquely intimate level and can at points pick up on the faint trail of aura left behind by their fellow spellcasters. While Aura Tracking is not used to identify the properties of magical residue or enchanted items it can potentially be used to identify the origin, or at the very least the distinctive color of the caster’s aura will appear more vibrant to them.

Red Lines:

Telepathy is not formed but rather empathy that has a greater effect flowing towards the Celestial Arcanist. This pertains to mental afflictions both natural and unnatural.

Aura Tracking is done purely with OOC permission.

Aura Tracking does not work unless the Celestial Arcanist has previously melded with the individual which is usually a voluntary exercise.

The Untempered Minds of Shades & The Darkened Hearts

Long have shades taken descendants and dragged them from the light into mental depravity. Due to the deeply troubled nature of the afflicted individual and the darkness surrounding their aura Shades will find it impossible to perform a binding ceremony through normal means. It is still plausible albeit must be accomplished via the newest forefather of Shade Magic, Aknu'gul, the Shade Gem. When this transpires it causes an adverse effect to the Celestial magi, instead of Celestials flocking to the Celestial Aura of the mage the shade-inflicted magi will seek to steal or dominate the Celestial. The result of this is unclear at best as the corruption of shade aspires to corrupt it to their whim, thereby creating a demonic-esque familiar akin to other voidal horrors.

It is only through the greater aura of the Celestial Arcanist that Celestial Familiars find their way to the binding ceremony. This usually takes place around an altar in a contained room that allows the collective energy to swell with brilliant light. With a shade involved or if the Celestial Arcanist has been afflicted the result would be darkened, hollow and futile which leads to the secondary approach. Along with this alternative binding process a Celestial Arcanist afflicted by the shade still possesses a Celestial Aura but its Radiance is replaced by a further darkening as it is empowered.

Akin to normal horrors these demonic-esque Celestials are more volatile versions of themselves and are abnormally enraged and because of this they are often completely barred from the normal existence granted to Celestials and sentenced to live a life of perpetual torment causing them to often frenzy, seeking sources of consumable mana. If chained or detained the horror would come to perish as the frenzy places a severe strain on the arcanist stone they are bound to.

Red Lines:

Shades can have normal Celestial Familiars but only from before they were a shade. All future familiars are akin to regular horrors

Corrupted Celestials and the unique binding thereof are usually left for event purposes. Other instances will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

Celestial Arcanists can still be hexed and everything else as this does not affect the relationship between shade and mage.

Does not apply to other dark arts. I.e. Necromancers, Soul Puppeteers. Frost Witches, etc...

The Blood of Celestials

Though they may be docile they still are horrors at their core and thus are ripe with the empowered genus blood mages may use in their rituals. Celestials make adequate sacrifices in many blood rituals but the consequences are critical. If a Celestial is sacrificed by their own magus their Arcanist Stone will be torn asunder and instead of being relieved back to the void they are utterly obliterated, suffering the same fate as many do within the abyssal void.

The Celestials of others can be sacrificed as well however they must first be slain, and their blood used within the few minutes it is available for. Additionally the Celestial will recover back to their stone in this case while suffering immense damage to the Arcanist Stone itself.

Red Lines:

Blood Mages can sacrificed Celestials with OOC consent.

Blood Mages sacrificing their own familiar will lose that familiar to a PK.

Blood Mages must still follow their red lines. Celestial blood is Voidal Horror blood.

Greater Celestials or Guardians of the Gardens

Occasionally a master arcanist stone is forged and when followed by the careful process of binding, sometimes between several individuals, a Celestial appears with a threshold of power largely surpassing those of meager familiars. These Greater Celestials appear only in areas latent with enough magical energy to nourish them. In most cases these areas will be the crystal gardens that the Celestial Arcanist have so closely watched and groomed often giving them the name of Garden Guardian or Crystal Guardians. In certain scenarios Greater Celestials may occur spontaneously within the world, having escaped their voidal containment, around ancient areas that have long been surrounded by higher levels of magical potency.

A few differences between a Celestial Familiar and a Greater Celestial are its lack of mobility, its enhanced nesting, added abilities, and territorial nature. If a Greater Celestial is bound to an Arcanist Stone it would have to be of a size too large to transport by most means or at least the Celestial Arcanist would find increased difficulty attempting to use them in combat due to their size. In return for their stone size the Greater Celestial is often many times larger than the biggest of Celestial Familiars and find things such as nesting, where the Arcanist Stone begins to physically root and spread through the adjacent environment via crystal formations, to be effortless. Their ability to draw upon their own pool of mana allows them to shape their surroundings alongside their Celestial Arcanist in a hastened fashion. Greater Celestials also find further potential in their gifts and ability to combat others. While they may be used as a focal point much like a familiar the Greater Celestial will have access to more abilities, many of which are directly influenced by the magics their caster possesses. Where a familiar may have an ability to cast light upon an area a Greater Celestial will cast a light that blinds its foes. Along with this the Greater Celestial is not as docile in comparison and will directly engage opponents like any other feral beast.

Due to their size, their power, and their consumption of mana the Greater Celestial that is bound by a Celestial Arcanist is likely to be found only within their domain. They build their territory and will defend it but lack the ability to move their stone. Without allowing the Greater Celestial to root and form a crystal garden around them they are incredibly vulnerable. If by some force of nature they are outside of their territory they will be drained of their mana quicker than a regular familiar and if found in combat outside of their territory the Greater Celestial is likely to be dispelled back to the void altogether. Outside of their territory Greater Celestials also grow much more docile however they will protect their garden until they cease to exist.

Red Lines:

10x the amount of materials used. If 5 diamonds are used for a Familiar. 50 are needed for a Greater Celestial of the same grade (grade being an arbitrary rank) OR via the use of cultivated crystal garden stones

Must follow red-lines of magics used

Follows Celestial Familiar redlines outside of their specific crystal garden

Fighting with a Greater Celestial outside of their garden will result in immediate unbinding should they receive higher levels of damage.

Greater Celestials cannot learn new magic nor do they cast new spells. Their abilities are listed in their documentation which may be provided to the opponent if requested.

Event Lines:

Greater Celestials may occur within the realm without a Celestial Arcanist for use of events as a variant of Voidal Horror. These Celestials are found within a specific territory and are up to the discretion of the ET involved.

Notable Example of Greater Celestial Event:

The White Stag of Fiandria: A mythical white stag could be located within the stag forest of Fiandria during the descendents time in Athera. Those that found the beast often lack the memory of how they arrived home and speak of the visions the White Stag brought to them.

Tier Restrictions & Sharpness

It isn’t my intention to limit the potential of Arcanists but instead allow better clarification in character design when a player chooses to express their roleplay through the writing I have done on this server through the years. That being said I hope to make Arcanism and Celestialism a tincy bit more appealing (not that it isn’t badass) with the clarification of these two things:

Celestial Arcanism can only be taught to a tier 5 Arcanist. When learning Celestialism all other magics other than Transfiguration can no longer reach tier 5. It takes a disportionate amount of roleplay to maintain Celestial Arcanism however because Transfiguration works hand in hand with the magic it may achieve tier 5 as to prevent needless debuffs of the Celestial Arcanist. Truly mastering Arcanist Stones is something only a tier 5 transfigurationist can do.

Evoking sharpness into an Arcanism spell is removed from the red lines. Sharpness may achieved with great strain at tier 5 and are strenuous to the caster. Enchanting sharpness is still a viable option with no changes. It made no sense to allow it in enchanting but a master arcanist couldn’t achieve it otherwise. After casting 1-3 sharp spells the Arcanist will find the strain of their depleting mana as I would equate sharpness to the feat of having two complete bubble shields in play.

Refueling Bound Arcanist Stones

What it was:

Only a practitioner of transfiguration can refuel an arcanist stone. Additionally the mage must be one of the individuals bound to the specific stone.

What it will be:

Only a practitioner of transfiguration can refuel an arcanist stone. If the mage is not one of the individuals bound to the stone they must exert double the mana to refuel the stone.

Why:

Life is hard sometimes and people are sometimes forced away or need to take breaks from the server. This is my case and I had to halt my LOTC activities for awhile. It is unfair to those attached to the roleplay of the Celestialist since Arcanist Stones currently crumble away if you don't refuel them every month.



Teaching:

What it was:

A tier 5 Arcanist can undergo the imbuement ritual done by a Celestialist with a TA. The Celestialist will then be instructed in each of the feats.

What it will be:

A tier 5 Arcanist can undergo the imbuement ritual done by a Celestialist with a TA suffering from a drought of mana for one elven week before either being taught each feat or self-teaching.

OR

A tier 5 Arcanist who is also a tier 5 transfigurationist may apply for a self-teaching app with proof of knowledge to undergo the imbuement process but also suffer from an extended drought of mana lasting 2 elven weeks.

Why:

All Arcanists who want access should get access and if you have chosen the two necessary magics used in Celestialism you should have the right to continue on. If you don't have a teacher then you can take some extra time being magicless as compensation. You still require all the necessary evidence to justify being self-taught but may use the "Shepherd's Calling" as your initial spark of motivation. The "Shepherd" basically let all other Arcanists know what was going on and it is up to each individual to figure it out from there.