Dominion of Life

The Dominion of Life governs the vital energies and corporeal forms of all creatures that breathe and bleed. Life enables its wielders to heal the sick and injured, control the fertility of animal creatures, induce virulent plagues, transform themselves and others into beasts, or reshape physical .

## Powers

### Lifesense

One of the most commonly used abilities of the Dominion, the Lifesense allows its wielders to sense the Vital Energies in corporeal beings, allowing them to sense the strength of their life force, detect physical pain, whether or not they are sick or injured, or simply analyze the way that their body functions. The Lifesense can also simply be used to detect the presence of living beings, the larger and more powerful, the more easily noticeable. One cannot distinguish between individuals through this ability, but it is possible to judge what species an entity is by the feel of its Life Force.

### Biomancy

The power of Biomancy enables a Life wielder to manipulate the corporeal matter of living beings. At its more basic levels, Biomancy can allow a Life wielder to take control over an individual's body systems, controlling their heartbeat, flooding them with adrenaline, contracting or locking muscles, and inducing vomiting. More advanced applications of the power can allow for a body matter to be twisted unaturally, causing bones to burst forth from one's flesh, or leading blood to boil or be formed into a construct. Biomancers can control their own matter as well, of course, and since the highly skilled are able to conjure organic material from nothing, many often wield weapons of bone, blood, or muscle.

Life wielders are naturally extremely resistant to having Biomantic abilities employed against them, even if they themselves are not Biomancers. Magical beings are also more difficult to influence in this manner than mortals are.

### Healing

The art of Healing involves Life wielders directing Vital Energies throughout the bodies of other living beings in order to heal them from their wounds. As a Life wielder further masters healing, their bodies grow more and more used to storing and producing Vital Energy, increasing their natural levels and ensuring that they always have more at their disposal. This allows them to Heal more grievous injuries in themselves or others at faster rates. It should also be noted that as damage to the body results in the death of the damaged parts, it depletes Vital Energy stores, making it more difficult to heal oneself of more severe injuries. It should also be noted that more powerful entities require more power to Heal.

Generally speaking, being a Healer procludes one from being a Plaguecrafter, though this is not always the case.

### Plaguecraft

One of the most feared powers of the Dominion of Life is the ability to warp its energies in order to wield the powers of decay, commanding the forces of pestilence and corruption. Plaguecraft can enable those who practice it to infect those they come in contact with with any disease they know, or to conjure diseases into being for more advanced usage. Many of the most feared pestilences in Creation, unnaturally potent in their effects, have been brought into being by this ability. Plaguecraft, unlike Healing, which only affects organic beings, is so potently corrosive that it can wear down even inorganic matter.

Most Plaguecrafters are unable to engage in Healing, due to the conflict of energies wielded, with only a few exceptions.

### Lifedraining

One of the darker aspects of the Life Dominion is the ability of certain wielders to draw the Vital Energies of others right out of their bodies, and into their own. Done sparingly, this can be a useful tool to subdue enemies, simply tiring them out by draining their energy from them. Used as an indulgence, however, Lifedraining can become an addiction, where those who use it leave a trail of withered husks wherever they go. Due to the fact that most Plaguecrafters cannot use Healing powers, many learn to Lifedrain as an alternative.

### Skinchanging

The ability to Skinchange is one of the most commonly sought after powers of the Dominion, especially among the gods. Skinchanging involves altering one's form and essence, allowing on to take on the shape of animals or customize their own biology. More gifted Skinchangers are able to shift between forms rapidly, while less skilled ones must usually revert to their true shape before taking on another form, and Change more slowly.

Usually, it is easiest to transform into animals one has some sort of connection to. Novice Skinchangers can usually only transform into one animal at a time (in the case of halfborn, it is generally an animal linked to their godly parent).

Additionally, transformations that are more divergent from the Skin one is in before are more taxing. For instance, transforming from a human to a monkey is easier than transforming from human to a fly. Should a Skinchanger exhaust themselves with transformations, they will be locked in the form they've chosen until they have a chance to recuperate.

#### Halfskin

The term Halfskin refers to the Skinchanging technique where one only partially transforms their body to gain access to one of the features of another form. Halfskin transformations might include sprouting the claws of a bear, manifesting bad ears for echolocation, growing gills, or turning one's flesh to toughened crocodile hide. Some slightly more drastic transformations are also possible, with many Kem-Duati gods transforming their heads into those of animals.

#### Tailoring

Tailoring is a term used for customizing the finer details of one's form, rather than taking on the shape of a different species. Most often, Tailoring is used to impersonate other human appearing beings, as it allows one to alter their height, muscle mass, skin and eye coloration, hair length, etc. One can Tailor themselves to match another individual's appearance just by seeing an image of them, but it is more effective to scan their biology with the Lifesense.

Tailoring can also be used to customize the appearance of one's animal forms as well, altering fur, feathers, claws, and more.

### Genesis

Genesis is quite simply the creation of Life from raw Vital Energy. One can employ the power of Genesis to make the barren fertile, or to induce an immaculate conception with the Life wielder as a parent. More advanced applications of the power can allow for one to simply conjure a living creature into being, and for the extremely advanced, to spawn an entirely new species.

### Transfiguration

In order to utilize the powers of Transfiguration, one must first become skilled in Skinchanging, as Transfiguration uses advanced versions of the principles of the former. Rather than manipulating ones own form , one instead manipulates the forms of others, forcing them into an alternate shape. Novice Shapers can simply force someone's shape to alter, but more skilled Masters can cause Shaped subjects to be mentally transformed into a new creature as well.

Transfiguration is more difficult for magical and strong willed beings, as one must overcome both the will of a resisting subject, and overcome the supernatural resilience of more powerful forms.