Dredgery

## **The Art of the Body**

Witchery is the blackest of all magics in Scylla. And blackest of all witchery is dredgery. Dredgery, or dread magic, encompasses all lifeforce applications founded of spirit-signatures. Whether this be the voodoo magic of the court-witch or shamanistic blood charming ripe within orcish tribes, all dredgery encroaches the bounds of morality.

### **The Spirit’s Mark**

A spirit signature is a specific mark which all lifeforces have. Simply, each pool of lifeforce is unique, directly connected to its source. This allows a witch to manipulate the whole source, whilst only wielding a single part of it. Further, it can be used to share lifeforce, and in some cases, control.

### **Bonded by Blood**

One of the most common uses of this founding dredgery principle are blood bonds. Simply, when a witch shares blood with someone, a lifeforce connection is made. This lifeforce connection allows the witch to know the creature - though this is not without its own risks. Blood bonds are typically reciprocal, and if a target knows they are blood bound, it is not too difficult to find the person as well as resist the magic’s effects. Whilst it is rare for your average witch to use blood bonding beyond the occasional blood-charm, many shamanistic orcs find themselves in heavy blood-bonded relations with animal companions, sometimes sharing so much of each other's lifeforce, that their spirit signatures become one and the same. In the event of the perfect blood bond, as described above, the witch will gain the ability to experience what their blood-bonded companion experiences, achieving a large measure of control over its actions. Moreover, those witches might start to experience traits resembling that of their blood bond.

### **Of Hair and Nail**

The most well-known form of dredgery across all of Scylla is voodoo magic. Whilst witches typically refer to it as puppeteering, voodoo magic is simple in theory, but complex in practice. Merely, all a witch should need to do is pluck enough of their target to bind to a replica of said target, however, this in itself is often a labersome task. The replica must at least be similar based on on the five witchery traits, though the more of the traits that are met the greater the connection is. If you only meet one of the traits, only one-fifth of the effect applied to the proxy is present within the target. Obviously, the highest you can get is four, as positioning is impossible to achieve, however, the closer you are to the target the greater the effects may be.

### **The Merchants of Life**

And cruellest of all dredgen arts, necromancy starts with blackened healing. It is a rare talent, that few of the most powerful dredgery witches know, one rooted deep in mystery and shunned in fear. Despite this, it is held most high above all witchery. To heal a wound, equal damage must be inflicted upon something else. It is said, that this kind of witchery must always be connected by touch. And so comes the myth of the Wicked Crone, who rich folk often inquire with sickly-blind babes. In but a single pat, the babe’s sight restored. Yet, further than this, is the infamous necromancy. At the cost of ten lives, a man or woman might be restored to life. This new found life is within a corpse, one that must feed upon others of its former kin if it is to survive.

### **Witches’ Plague**

As with all things, a witch will push the boundaries of magic. It is the very nature of a witch to wonder what might happen if they were to use their own lifeforce in their magics. Yet, it is only derdgens who have learnt the art of self-infliction. Witches plague occurs when the lifeforce within a body part is used for magic (as you must concur equal damage to a living thing as done to your target to perform any witchery). The plague appears different in every witch, though there are a select few similarities between each affliction. Primarily, the wounded area is shrivelled and blackened, barely functioning, if at all. After a period of a year(1 irl month), if the affliction is not cured, the wounded flesh will pucker and no longer be curable. To reverse witch’s plague, one must intake twice the lifeforce used on a similar source-akin to dark healing.

### **The Blood of Kings and Gods**

As with all things, lifeforce dominates the rules of Witchery. Dredgens know this best-often times using blood as a way to siphon lifeforce from their victims without killing them outright. It is said that blood stolen by a dredgen holds to its lifeforce, being able to be used as a source of magic for Witchery and a source of health for witches. Blood drinking is often practised. Moreover, those with powerful blood in them, Kings, Fae or religious folk, often carry greater amounts of lifeforce in them.