Gift of the Blood

## The Blood

The Blood are six five tribes which existed in ancient times. They are attributed with being the first to possess the Gifts fo the Blood. Some historians believe none of these five tribes existed outside of legend, while others have proposed they died out during or shortly after the War of the Gods.

Gifts of the Blood are inherent magical qualities which are often passive. Those who possess these gifts are born with them, and they cannot be learned by the common mage. There are five varieties of gifts, which create a kind of balance between them. While it is not terribly rare for a mage to be born with a Gift of the Blood, certain gifts are less common than others. The least common of these gifts is the Gift of the Shield.

## Types of Gifts

### Gift of the Draem

The Draem possess the ability to manipulate minds and manifest themselves inside the minds of others. In Etherel, the Draem are commonly referred to as Watchers. In some nations, they are revered and in others, they are a subject of fear and hatred.

Draem are capable of influencing the minds of those who come under their influence permanently or temporarily. They have the ability to insert false memories, erase or view memories as if they lived them themselves, and fundamentally alter a person's personality by rewriting their past.

They are capable of projecting their consciousnesses into the minds of others, leaving their body temporarily in the process.

Draem may lock a person away from his or her faculties, taking control of the a victim's body while the victim is forced to watch as a passenger within themselves.

#### Taboos

There are three taboos associated with the gift of the Draem. The sources of these taboos manifest as doors inside the deepest reaches of the Draem's mind or psyche. Entering into this space within one's own mind is dangerous.

1. *The Door of Birth.* Within the minds of all people exist a white door behind which is the memory of their own birth. This door is a portal into Morania, the City of the Dead, and an access point to the steps on which the Light of Life molds the vessels which become mortals. Entering into this door is not uncommon for Draem within the confines of their own mind. It becomes taboo when the Door of Birth in another person's mind is entered. Those who enter the door of another person's birth may lose themselves to the person to whom the door belongs. Should they survive and leave in tact, they may gain the ability to tether minds to their own, allowing them to control many minds at once over vast distances.

2. *The Door of Judgment.*This door is represented in the mind of a watcher as a crimson door glowing around its edges. When entered, this door imparts the ability upon the watcher to bodily enter the minds of others. Entering the minds of other people in the flesh places the Draem in immediate danger of death, as the body is subject to any harm the will of the victim may inflict. The Draem who so enters the mind is granted more flexibility and power to manipulate the that mind, and is granted the additional benefit of not having to leave his or her body behind where it may be vulnerable.

3. *The Door of Death.*The Door of Death manifests as a black door in the psyche. Entering it decouples the Draem's soul from his body, allowing him to travel vast distances in spirit form while the body remains dormant. A Draem who has broken this taboo may live on even after his original body is destroyed, but must do so as a parasite. The Draem whose body is destroyed may return to it to die or, if he is particularly powerful, may wipe the mind of a host and assume control of his or her body, effectively killing the host in the process. A Draem whose will is not strong enough to overcome the will of the host's soul will become suboordinate to the dominant personality until such a time as he can overwhelm it. Draem who exist without a body for too long may become corrupted over time, eventually succumbing to their baser instincts and becoming dark spirits like Jinn or Rima Toa.

### Gift of the Oracle

Oracles (also called Seers) are able to see the future. They are not able to control what they see, and the meaning of their visions is not always clear. These visions are of potential futures but are not set in stone, and may be subject to change. Some are more likely to occur than others. Oracles are able to guage the likelihood of a particular future coming to pass as their visions are tethered to emotion. The stronger the emotional response, the more likely the vision is to come true.

Oracles enter a trance that looks much like a seizure, in which they may begin to speak in languages they have no knowledge of and often lose consciousness. The visions possess specific characteristics that differ from one Oracle to another. One might see an accurate representation of the future played out as a scene of sorts, while another might see something metaphorical and open to interpretation. These latter visions are often more useful than the former, as these may reveal many truths about the future, wheras the more straightforward visions typically provide a glimps into a highly likely future without revealing much else about how that future arrived.

### Gift of the Whisperer

Whisperers possess the ability to make people believe their lies. Particularly gifted Whisperers are capable of making people bleive the most absurd lies they tell, despite those lies being counter to their own experiences or knowledge of the facts. Whisperers do not have to trigger their abilities by a conscious act. It is possible for a person to possess the gift without knowing it, and to use it without knowing he or she is doing so.

The Gift of the Whisperer works by lulling the victim of its effect into a complacent state in which they are taken with feelings of comaraderie or closeness to the Whisperer, while simultaneously making them paranoid about the veracity of their own judgments. Under the influence of a Whisperer, the victim may wish to believe the lies of the Whisperer over what they know to be true, which may be supported by hard evidence.

Mages can learn to resist the Gift of the Whisperer; however, it is rare that the effects of this training will break the effect until after the mage has left the Whisperer's zone of influence, or moved out of earshot.

### Gift of the Shield

Shields have a passive immunity to the Gifts of the Draem and Whisperer. They are further able to suppress the Gifts of the Oracle through physical contact, pulling an Oracle out of his or her trance prematurely. They are innately better at Silencing and Deafening other mages, which is the antithesis of the Gift of the Seem.

While Shields do not possess any significant additional power like the other four classes of the Blood do, their gift serves as a coutnerpoint to all of them. Shields are incredibly rare, with only a few handfulss existing in the world at any given time. They are predisposed to live long lives.

Shields are often found iin the keeping of royals or in other high places, serving in the capacity of advisers, lie detectors and the like. Not every ruler has one, and not all of them occupy positions of such power, but it is not uncommmon for rulers to actively pursue rumors of them, and to elevate them to positions of influence once found.

It is extremely difficult to Silence a Shield, and they are immune to the aura suppressing effects of enchanted cadmium.

### Gift of the Seem

The Seem possess the ability to put elemental spirits at ease. Elemental spirits called by a Seem are less likely to resist being used in rites, allowing the Seem better control over them and access to more of their power than would otherwise be posssible.

The upper limit of a Seem's power far exceeds that of a mage born without the gift. The mechanics of the Gift of the Seem work much in the same way as that of the Whisperer where the target of those mollifying effects is metaphysical as opposed to mortal.

## Source of Gifts

Gifts of the Blood originate out of contact with spirits within the House of Sa. A child touched by two spirits while in the mother's womb will develop a Gift of the Blood. Signs of the gift may take up to five years to manifest.

The Spirits are specific to each gift. While more than two spirits may impart a specific gift, the spirits fall into certain categories, and so not every combination of touches may result in the manifestation of a gift.

A touch from two spirits whose natures lend to unrelated gifts may result in a maege commanding more raw power than his peers, though not as much as a Seem, and will not impart a Gift of the Blood. Contact with a single spirit can be psychologically or physically damaging, resulting in any of a number of conditions that are extremely difficult to heal, if they can be healed at all.