Bloodcraft

**Bloodcraft** is a form of magical use and practice. The Order and Vera are Bloocrafters.

## Description

Bloodcrafters don't borrow power from their ancestors like Rootcrafters do. Instead, they steal it and bind it to their bodies for generations and generations through their bloodline, hence the term "Bloodcraft." Patricia describes it as "a curse brought to life." She calls it "colonizer magic. Magic that *costs* and *takes*. From the moment their founders arrived, from the moment they *stole* Native homelands, the Order themselves gave the demons plenty to feed on. They reap what their magic sows." Rootcrafters call Boodcraft a curse because power taken and not returned incurs a debt, and the universe and the dead will always come to collect, one way or another. The Order has tied power to their bloodlines for hundreds of years. The size of their debt is staggering. And the only currency that Bloodcraft accepts is suffering and death. Their payment takes the form of the Abatement, which shortens a Bloodcrafter's lifespan considerably. Bloodcrafters call magic "aether." They manipulate aether to suit their will. While Bloodcraft is considerably powerful than Rootcrafter, its practitioners die by young. The more power they use through Bloodcraft, the younger they die.

## Practitioners

### Legendborn

* **Spell of Eternity:** a powerful casting done by Merlin to magnify the remaining knights' abilities and bind their spirits to their bloodline so that their heirs could forever stand against the darkness. This would allow the Table to live on in a form of immortality. When the knights' Scions are Awakened, the knights' spirit lives again.
* **The Warrior's Oath:** when a Scion chooses a Squire, they are bonded to be their battle partner and will share their bloodline's power.
* **Affinity for Aether:** Scions and Squires are limited in how they can wield aether. They are bound to how their Line's knight used it.

### Merlins

* **Spell of Eternity:** When Merlin crafted the Spell of Eternity for Arthur and his knights, Merlin created a similar casting for himself and his descendants. They would inherit the unique mage abilities he had honed over time, including mesmer, constructs, and an affinity for aether. Merlin knew that part-demons would never willingly help the Order, so added insurance to his spell. Because the darkness of the underworld and the light of the living shouldn't exist in one body, a Merlin's blood fights itself every day. The older they get, the stronger their demon heritage becomes. But by pledging Oaths to the Order and its members, those Oaths would keep their humanity in control. Thus, Merlins are Oathed early, before their blood can gain a foothold, and the worst punishment for any Merlin is being cast out of the Order's service.
* **Affinity for Aether:** Merlins can cast anything they wish, from a staff, to hounds, to protective barriers in the form of wards. They can draw and use aether almost as well as Merlin himself did.

### Vera's Daughters

* Vera bargained with the Shadow King to protect herself and her descendants. Her "spell was designed, first and foremost, to help her descendants sense nearby aether users who might hunt them, Merlins in particular." Her line has enhanced senses, the Sight in order to see magic and Shadowborn, the ability to break mesmers, and the ability to access root in self-defense. The cost of this bargain is that Vera's descendants are Bloodmarked, the power can only live in one daughter at a time, and they die early.

## Links

* Magic
* Rootcraft
* All known Merlins
* All known Legendborn
* Arthur's line including Vera's

1. ↑ *Legendborn*: pg. 233
2. ↑ *Bloodmarked*: pg. 15