Water & Blood

## Magic profile : Water and blood

The Water type Dragon Warriors are known to be more physically active, but with a laidback attitude. They are famous for their ability to breathe underwater, masterful swimming strength, and an unsurprisingly effective fishing industry. They also have their newest branch of magic which is still developing and being researched: the Blood type.

There isn’t much known about the Blood type Dragon Warriors, the newest branch of magic that first appeared 41 years ago. They are the result of a genetic mutation that affected the user’s control of water magic, limiting their range so that they physically could not extend their magic beyond their own body. Magical theorists suggest that because the user’s magic was trapped it rebounded and refocused inwards, connecting instead with the user’s blood. A Blood Type is easily identifiable by the blood markings under their eyes, and their crimson sclera (usually called the ‘whites’ of the eyes, but not so fitting in this case).

**Beliefs**

The Water type and Blood type Dragon Warriors tend to worship the ocean deity, known as HaruMizu (Hah-roo-Mee-zoo).  HaruMizu is the deity of water, honesty, change and rain. It is said that HaruMizu came to be from the tears of The Goddess when she wept over the sad state of her creations after the attack from True Darkness.

Visually, although HaruMizu can be represented by many different forms of aquatic life, he is depicted most commonly as a massive whale. It is believed that HaruMizu swims within the oceans of Elementra, patrolling it. Most of the time HaruMizu is known to be a calm and gentle giant, giving blessings to those he deems worthy: water to the thirsty, rain to parched lands, discernment to the honest, and good luck in an upcoming life change. However, he is also known for being destructive and wrathful towards the dishonest and greedy if enough people provoke him to anger.

A well-known story of one such outburst of his anger is the tale of Alimisa (Al-ee--mee-sah), the sunken city.  The city began as a small but successful town just on the outskirts of the desert – a necessary spot for travellers to rest up before continuing their journeys across the sands. The citizens worked hard to maintain their crops in such arid conditions, but then the land was struck by a fierce drought, and the town was on the brink of destruction.

One day a small boy left the town and travelled deep into the desert until he came to an oasis mysteriously untouched by the drought. There he prayed for the rains to fall. Responding to the boy’s prayer, HaruMizu appeared in the oasis before him, asking the boy for the reason for his prayer. The boy answered honestly. Pleased with the honesty and courage of the boy, HaruMizu answered the boy’s prayers by summoning forth rainclouds. The rain brought water and food to the starving town and the boy was heralded a hero for his actions. The boy remained modest however, telling the people it was HaruMizu that saved them, not him. To thank the deity, shrines were built and small offerings were brought as thanks.

The small town, thanks to the boy and HaruMizu, grew to be a major city, prosperous and grand. But in time, the truth behind these events began to blur until the tale was twisted and HaruMizu and the boy were wronged. In an attempt to make the legend more ‘grand’ and fitting with their new standing in the region, HaruMizu became the one responsible for the drought, and the boy was a ‘great warrior’ who tricked HaruMizu into releasing the rain. Enraged by the dishonesty of the people, HaruMizu submerged the city, and most of its residents, underwater.

The ruins of the city still remain under the sea, near the town of Aqumeko (Ah-kwuh-may-koh), which was created by the few surviving ancestors of the Alimisans.

To appease the deity, certain rituals and festivities are made in his honour. One ritual is the offering of fish in exchange for safe passage across the ocean – it is also made by fishermen in hopes of receiving a blessing for good fortune in their hunt.

Speaking of fishing,Water type DW’s are big on fishing, but also in doing so in a way that is carefully controlled to limit damage to the environment. Consequently, they never use nets or traps and rely on their magic, draconic forms, or even catching fish bare-handed – all so they can go through each specimen caught to determine whether or not it is safe to take, or needs to be returned to the ocean. This firm stance on conservation means that Water types are one of those generally opposed to humans because of their tendency to harm the watery environments these DW’s protect.

**Festivals  & traditions.**

The Water types are known for their physically active festivities, typically pertaining to their element. These activities are: Swimming, Volleyball, sand races, water dances, and fishing competitions. The spirit of these contests is always that of having fun, rather than being truly competitive, even though there are still prizes available. The princess of water, Oceana, can often be seen joining some of these events. She especially favours the volleyball competitions, and swimming.

There are also some more traditional festivities in the form of water dances on the beach and large seafood based feasts. These dances are often rather wild, with sand and water splashing up into the skies, occasionally using water magic to add some additional beauty or flair to the display. The dancers wear traditional attire for the performance – although the *very*traditional outfits were made from linen dyed with blue algae rather than imported blue silks and floaty organza from the Fire types, but no one seems too particular about keeping the outfits ‘authentically’ traditional. One of the popular styles of dress for festival participants is clothing made from tie-dyed linen, using their technique from extracting the pigment from the different coloured algae in the region to make interesting swirling patterns of blue, green and indigo against bands of white. This clothing also makes for a great souvenir for travellers as the technique is a unique to the Water Region.

The old tradition of offering food to HaruMizu is still very much alive, and once or twice a week people will travel to small shrines to leave fish for the deity. These shrines can look to outsiders like decorative wells, but in actuality are the water altars for the offerings – the cooked fish are seasoned and wrapped in seaweed to preserve the meal until it is placed in the ‘well’ of the shrine. From there, the meal sinks into the depths and is claimed by HaruMizu. While making their offering, the believer will typically utter a prayer in Drialma, either thanking or asking the deity for their help. While not all Water or Blood types believe in HaruMizu anymore, the more faithful still follow this tradition.

**Colours**

As one might guess from the Water types, their representative colours come in the form of different shades of blues and some sea-greens. In some instances the colours of indigo and other similar shades of deep purple are added, but only in small amounts. The royal sign of the Water types is a blue heart with a crown, and small drops of water dripping down from it.

The Blood type Dragon Warriors, unlike their Water type cousins, often wear different shades of red, to represent the colour of their element, particularly crimson. In rare instances their connection to the water element can be shown with slight hints of blue in their clothing and or draconic form.

**Skills and Abilities**

**Water branch**

All Water branch users are capable of breathing underwater, but rather than having gills, they are able to breathe through their skin (like some amphibious fish do).

Beginner

* Basic water bending: They have a weak control of water around them. It is unstable and if the user loses concentration the water will simply splash back onto the ground. Getting hit by it hardly does anything, aside from making the target wet. This has little combat value except as a distraction, or to make a floor slippery, although it would be sufficient to douse a beginning Fire type’s abilities.
* Basic (weak) water breath. This can only be done in draconic form. The user absorbs water from their surroundings and condenses it in their open mouth, firing it as a concentrated jet of water as a single short blast. At the lowest level, users are only able to passively draw water or moisture from the surface of their skin, making the task easier if immersed in water and extremely difficult (if not impossible) in a dry environment. Depending on how much fluid is easily available, the charge time at this level can take from 6 – 10 minutes, eventually producing a small focused jet of water that can travel only half a meter. Because it requires the user to keep their mouth open while charging, talking is difficult, and breathing carefully and calmly is required. At this stage this ability has very little practical value, except perhaps to tease a play-mate. The charged water can be held for a short amount of time if the user wishes to prepare the ability in advance, but it requires intense concentration so it is easy to interrupt, causing them to release the charged water early as a weaker version of the attack.

Average

* Advanced water bending: The user’s water bending is a lot more stable and can be used in a rapid fashion, as long as there are bodies of water nearby. They can now put enough force behind the manipulation of the water to push a target back or knock them off their feet. They can control up to 1000 Litres of water at a time, such as creating a person-sized water wall for cover, but the more liquid they try to move at once the more draining the move becomes. Like for water breath, moisture can be drawn from the air, but it would take time to gather enough moisture to form an amount of water worth fighting with.
* Advanced Water breath: Their water breath is now stronger and has a longer reach than the basic water breath, reaching up to about 3 meters. The strength of the water breath has also increased: being able to push their target out of the way and into solid objects for damage. The water breath still requires a couple of minutes to charge, either in or out of water, but once completed the user can close their mouth to store the shot for up to roughly 5 minutes. They are also free to move while holding a charged shot, but not while in the midst of charging.

Master

* Master Water Bending: The user can control up to 2000 Litres of water, with increased force and speed, and have refined their control to even draw moisture from the air (as long as it is sufficiently humid). They can also alter the shape of the water more dramatically (or some would say ‘artistically’ as seldom does it add anything to the attack except dramatic flair) such as creating a water dragon, water spikes, or water bullets. This extra control can also be used to create watery obstacles or encase a target in water.
* Highly advanced water breath:  The user’s water breath has a longer reach of about 7 meters and is strong enough to cause injury, ranging from severe knockback to bruising, broken-bones or even piercing damage. This all depends on how wide/narrow the water breath attack is, and how much pressure is behind the shot – at this level the most powerful and refined shot can buckle metal and occasionally pierce softer or weak metals. To charge up a shot from a good source of water takes 3 minutes, and they can move around and perform other attacks in the meantime.

**Using the environment**
Water types and their abilities are strongly influenced by their access to water, but it can also be a source of extra power. For example, a Water type DW standing beside a waterfall could use the source for normal water bending or water breath ammunition, *or*, they could use their magic to simply change the direction of where the waterfall is ‘falling’. Essentially, a Water type can redirect the original force of flowing water in whichever direction they chose – as long as they had the necessary skill to pull it off, of course. This applies to rivers, waves, or even falling rain. A beginner would not be able to make much of this ability yet, but someone at Average or Warrior level could certainly utilise this trick to conserve their own energy and let nature do most of the heavy-lifting for them.

**Blood branch**
Anyone who is born as a member of the blood branch has red sclera, (the usually white part of the eye), and tends to develop blood-like markings just under the eye which can be a bit startling to those who are not familiar with the Blood type appearance. They are still a fairly uncommon type, with only 1/20 children from a Water type family being born a natural Blood type, and that chance increasing if either one or both of the parents were Blood types themselves. This branch can be learnt, but only by someone born a Water type, and they would not acquire the red sclera. Conversely, a Blood type cannot study and learn water magic, as no amount of training will change the fact that their magic struggles to move beyond their own body. This causes similar problems when attempting to learn other elemental types, and any successful student will still have a limited range of ‘touch’ only.

**Blood mark**
This is the bloody mark that naturally forms beneath the eyes of a Blood type. The mark will usually form a random jagged pattern on the cheeks, keeping that shape unless physically touched by the bearer of the mark – such as wiping it away. Although the blood can be removed, it will always reform over time in the same shape, and remain in a liquid state while touching the skin. When a Blood type is blood bending, this is usually the source of their attack.

Beginner:

* Basic blood bending: The user has a weak and unstable control of their own blood, they are able to manipulate the blood flow: speeding it up or slowing it down. Both of which can be rather dangerous if the user does not know what they are doing, such as unnecessarily placing pressure on their organs, veins and arteries – but it does have some practical benefits. At this level, the user has sufficient strength to slow blood flow in a key area, potentially limiting the advance of a poison, or stem the flow from a bleeding wound.

* Childish blood-mine: A blood-mine is a bloodstain infused with magic from a Blood type. They deliberately charge and store their magic within the blood, and set it to release upon contact from another magical field – like the one generated by another DW – sort of like popping a bubble. The magic is then released, either causing the blood itself to react, or transmitting blood bending magic into the person who touched the mark. At a beginner level, the blood can only be made to suddenly move, or ‘explode’ to splatter the blood in a small area. It’s more of a prank or distraction than a real attack. This ability can only be used with their own blood, and takes time to charge. The longer the user charges, the more power can be stored in the blood-mine. For a beginner, a charge of 5-10 minutes will let the blood ‘twitch’, while charging beyond that will lead to a small splattery explosion. There is a limit to how much power can be put into the explosion though, and it will plateau after about 20 minutes of charging. A fully charged blood-mine will be able to remain active for about 20 minutes, gradually losing its potency over time, until it is nothing but a normal bloodstain. In terms of how much blood is necessary for making a blood-mine, for a beginner the minimum is 5ml, and the maximum is 50ml. While the blood-mine is active, the blood will remain in a seemingly liquid state but retain the form and position its creator first placed it in.  Once depowered, or triggered, the blood will revert to normal and act accordingly. This mostly means that a Blood type can attach the blood-mine on any solid surface they like without it falling off, dripping, or drying out. It also means one could leave a blood-mine deliberately on somewhere like a ceiling, knowing that once the magic fades it will fall to the floor, or at least drip disturbingly.

Average:

* Advanced blood bending: The user now has a good handle over their own blood, being able to control it without risk of damaging their internal organs, and unconsciously prevent themselves from bleeding from minor injuries. They can use some of their blood as a means of self-defence by bending it into their opponent’s eyes, blinding them temporarily. They are also capable of slightly manipulating the blood flow of their enemies, slowing it down to make it harder for them to have enough energy to physically fight, but they need to be touching to do it. This technique can also be used medically to slow the bleeding on a wound, but not stop it outright. When used on another Blood type, the user has the option of either bolstering the target’s energy/magic, or attacking it, causing the defending Blood type to resist magically as much as possible – however, with the combatting powers cancelling each other out, there are easily more cost-effective fighting methods available.

* Blood boost: The user can deliberately speed up their blood flow to increase oxygen supply to muscles to increase work output or speed up recovery from arduous exercise. At this level the user can maintain this state for about 5 minutes, and have the drawback that any injuries sustained while this ability is active will bleed profusely – usually requiring the user to stop and revert to blood bending or risk bleeding to death.

* Incomplete cleansing: Cleansing is one of the more unique abilities that does not involve simply moving the blood, as it can actively purify it, removing things like toxins or infections. It is also useful for filtering out unwanted matter when retrieving used blood, twisting it through the air to scatter any accumulated debris and contaminants before returning it either to the eye marks or the wound that was used as the source. Due to their limited magical range, this retrieval method only works up to about a meter. At this level a Blood type can cleanse a small portion of their own blood, which can prove to be useful in dealing with toxins in the body or preventing impurities from entering the body, when retrieving their blood. However, once a toxin has entered the body, particularly if it has gone unnoticed, it will still deal damage that a blood cleansing cannot heal, and once it has permeated through the system, it will take time to attempt to remove all traces of the poison. At this level, a Blood type can only process 45% of their blood in one sitting, and it will take approximately an hour to complete the process. Because of this, even an incomplete cleansing is both magically and mentally draining for the user, and they will probably struggle to perform any other blood abilities until they have had a chance to recover. On a more positive note, Blood types can also use this technique to reduce the effects of alcohol.

* Blood-mine: The stored magic in the blood-mine can now cause a large explosion of the source blood (which can now go up to a maximum of 50ml), or inflict blood paralysis on the target: slowing or completely stopping blood flow to starve the brain of oxygen and knock out the person who touched the blood-mine. Severity of the attack is dependent on magical charge, with a minimum of 5 minutes for a blood spray explosion, 10 minutes for slowing blood, and 20 minutes for blood paralysis. The charge will now remain for 40 minutes, before reverting to a normal bloodstain. At this level though, another option is possible. To conserve charge, a user can attach a mine to themselves, usually drawing a blood mark on the palm of their hand. This can then act as a pre-charged magical ability, ready for one-shot use on contact with a target – although it will act as a small but constant drain on the user’s magic for as long as it is active. Also, due to the proximity to themselves, there is a certain amount of recoil as their blood reflexively responds to the magic stored in the mine. For example, with a blood paralysis attack, once triggered, the user’s own blood will responsively slow and make them feel suddenly dizzy.

Master:

Master blood bending: Further refining their control, at Warrior level the user has complete passive control of their blood, preventing blood loss from any injury, no matter how severe – unless they completely run out of magic. The user can also manipulate more easily the blood of others, either for good or ill. When attacking, if they are able to touch an opponent they can deal internal damage to the part that they touch by bursting blood vessels, typically leaving a dark purplish looking bruise in the shape of what part of the Blood type hit them e.g.: a finger-tap would leave a fingerprint mark, while a hand grabbing a shoulder would leave a handprint. In terms of aiding others, as long as they are touching the person they can prevent bleeding by redirecting the blood back into the non-damaged parts of the body. They can also circulate blood if a heart has stopped, but to provide a source of oxygen they must make an incision or use a pre-existing wound to draw out a section of blood and perform something akin to a reverse cleansing: forcing air directly into the blood before returning it to the body. Maintaining this combination of abilities on someone else is extremely draining though, and the user will only be able to sustain it for 15 minutes.

Master blood boost: Their control and stamina increases, they can now use Blood boost for 10 minutes. Much like their ability to draw in oxygen into blood to resuscitate someone else, they can perform this action on themselves through their eye markings. This further increases the efficiency of blood boost as they can now match their oxygen needs to the speed at which they are circulating their blood. At this level their control is sufficient that they do not suffer from the side-effect of bleeding heavily from any wounds.

Blood weapon: Can create blood whips that can be used to restrain an opponent at short range or grapple and drag them closer at long range. The user lashes out suddenly, up to a range of 3 metres, and then rapidly retracts the blood back into their system. They can also magically compress and heighten the iron properties in their blood to make brittle blood weapons of varying sizes, from the smallest: needles, to rough spears, to the more complicated blood-fencing-blade. Due to the brittle nature of these weapons they are extremely sharp but only good for stabbing attacks – slashing or blocking will only shatter the fragile blade. Blood weapons are also too weak to pierce metal or stone armour, so fighting strategies revolve around targeting fleshy weak-spots. Occasionally a Blood type will combine a slightly larger needle as a blood arrow and use it with a normal bow, but as a blood-arrow loses magical charge rapidly once it is no longer in contact with the user, the range on such a shot is limited before it reverts back to a liquid form. In some respects, it would be simpler to just use normal arrows, but a blood-arrow does have the advantage of being able to non-lethally blind people. How long a Blood type can fight with a blood weapon is dependent on how much blood is used. Using a blood weapon is a constant drain on the user, with larger weapons also causing enough blood loss to force the user to activate their blood boost ability to compensate– causing twice as much drain. Although these weapons can be thrown – like the blood-arrows – they will lose solidity as they get further away from the user, but the weapon can be reformed if contact is regained.

Complete cleansing: The user can now cleanse 96% of their blood in one sitting, or assist someone else by filtering out toxins from their blood stream. They still require physical contact with the target though, as well as an open wound to draw out the blood and manually filter out the unwanted contaminants before returning it.

Deadly blood-mine: The mine can now cause more lethal damage, and the user can work with up to 100ml of blood. The magic that pours into the target who triggers the blood-mine has their own blood violently manipulated, rapidly expanding the blood so forcefully that it can explode a limb. A mine with a longer charge can send a similar amount of force throughout the target’s body, causing massive internal damage and usually killing them instantly. Because of the nature of this attack the body left behind is a mess, typically bleeding from every orifice and horrifying to behold. Charge time is again reduced, with blood explosion at 2 minutes, 5 minutes for slowing blood, 10 minutes for paralysis, 20 minutes for a damaging blood explosion in the contacting body part, and 40 minutes for a complete ‘deadly’ blood-mine. Over time the mine will still lose charge and become less potent, but again, this can be circumvented by attaching it to the user. Such a mine has far more severe magical recoil though, and would leave the user badly hurt. For example, if the mine had been on the palm of their hand, the blood vessels in the hand would likely all rupture once the ability had been triggered.

When in draconic form, the user has a scaled up amount of blood to match their larger size. Any wounds sustained will be reflected in their human forms, but scaled down (and for body parts that lack an equivalent, such as wings or a tail, the wound appears on the closest approximation, or physically nearest area), the blood behaves in the same way. Once out of draconic form, any blood used and still present outside the body will reduce to its equivalent quantity for the human form.