The Sciomancers of Aetolia
Residing in the frozen north, the Sciomancers have bonded together in the common pursuit of control and power. Gifted with a direct link to the dark realm of Shadow, they focus their training on controlling and shaping its destructive energies into weapons to destroy their enemies and safeguard their home, Spinesreach.
Through their skills in Sciomancy, these Mages of Shadow harness the raw fury of Shadow into a tremendous force of elemental might. They control illusions and create aegis' with powerful glyphs thanks to their knowledge in Sorcery, causing a multitude of effects meant to bring their enemies to their knees. They also have the ability to control and bend gravity at their will with their skill in Gravitation.
Despite having once held all elements in their hands, they consider themselves enhanced rather than crippled by the loss of all the other elements. Instead, they revel in experimenting and testing the limits of their connection with the Shadow Plane. The Sciomancers are a force to be respected and woe to those who would cross their path.
Sciomancer Skills
Sciomancy is the dangerous art of channeling Czjetija, the Plane of Shadow through one's own body. At considerable risk to their self, a trained Sciomancer can exert control over this potent power of shadow and use it to devour their enemies.
One can never be too careful when using the powers of Shadow, for reckless misuse of the power may turn them Shadowbound.
Sciomancy
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Channel
DescriptionSyntax: CHANNELS
CHANNEL SHADOWIn order to harness the power of the elements, you must first open a channel to the superior realm of Shadow.
Once you have opened a channel to that realm, you will be able to make repeated use of spells that require that element. You can close your channel to Shadow at any time by severing it. There is no cost to keeping it active.
The bearer of the Shadow Mark will find they have no need to channel Shadow, for they maintain a constant connection to that realm.
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Blast
DescriptionSyntax: CAST BLAST <target>
CAST BLAST ICEWALL [<direction>]Form and send a blast of shadow energy to strike out at your foe. You can also melt an icewall obstructing a path with it.
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Chill
DescriptionSyntax: CAST CHILL <target>
Use the shadows surrounding you to draw their warmth away, chilling your target one stage.
If the shadowprice is paid, this ability will freeze them for two levels if they weren't shivering to begin with.
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Nightsight
DescriptionSyntax: NIGHTSIGHT
See easily through the shadows that surround you.
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Engulf
DescriptionSyntax: CAST ENGULF <ON|OFF>
Let night mask your movements - whenever you attempt to move through a room covered in darkness, your movement will be completely concealed. Lifevision may spot this attempt, but heatvision cannot.
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Hew
DescriptionSyntax: CAST HEW <target>
Call upon the shadows to slice through any magical shields surrounding your target.
If the shadowprice is paid, there is no equilibrium cost for this ability if it is successful. Failed attempts will incur the debt as well as the equilibrium cost.
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Ruin
DescriptionSyntax: CAST RUIN <target>
Shadow is the element of consumption, and devouring the physical body of your foe is well within its purview. When inflicting ruin upon them, first you will cause clumsiness. If already clumsy, you will cause weariness. If already weary and clumsy, they will be struck with lethargy. In all cases, the ruin will cause moderate magical damage.
If all three afflictions are present, you will steal away their focus balance and cause paresis.
If the shadowprice is paid, your ruin will cause two afflictions in order instead of one. If paresis is delivered in this way, no focus knock will be applied.
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Shadeling
DescriptionSyntax: CAST SHADELING
CALL SHADELINGSummon forth a being of shadow to assist you in your plight. The shadeling can be ordered to attack your enemies, and will periodically cause cold damage and one level of freezing to your target.
If your victim is fully frozen when the shadeling strikes, they will be stunned and afflicted with nyctophobia.
Please see HELP LOYALTY for the commands you can order it to do.
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Scourge
DescriptionSyntax: CAST SCOURGE <target>
Shadow can cause various maladies to the body and mind as it eats away at all the other elements within your foe. When scourged, your victim will suffer immediately from one of the following afflictions that they don't already have: dizziness, nyctophobia, confusion, dementia.
If all four afflictions are present on the target, they will instead be struck with a significant mana drain and faintness.
If the shadowprice is paid, the scourge will relapse once more five seconds later but with no damage. If your intended victim leaves the room in this time, however, you will be scourged instead.
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Shadowprice
DescriptionSyntax: SHADOWPRICE <spell> <target>
Shadowprice is used as a replacement for the normal CAST command.
e.g. SHADOWPRICE RUIN <target>.Empower your spells by letting Shadow channel through your body with each cast. With every successive cast of shadowprice to empower a shadow spell, the risks and rewards increase. For now, you may call upon the shadowprice twice, and not again until the previous debts are paid.
Your shadow debt is forgiven after 20 seconds, and will cost a small portion of your health when it occurs. The more afflictions you have when the time comes, the more the health it will be.
Possessing the weariness affliction will block the use of shadowprice entirely.
Lastly, whenever you manage to kill another adventurer, a shadow debt will be immediately forgiven.
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Gloom
DescriptionSyntax: CAST GLOOM <target>
Infuse your victim with a despairing curse, giving them an 80% chance to become burdened with phobias any time they focus (see AB SURVIVAL FOCUSING).
The phobias this can afflict with are:
Nyctophobia, agoraphobia, loneliness, vertigo, and claustrophobia.If standing in darkness, nyctophobia is always the first phobia to appear, otherwise it is random.
Attempting to cure gloom while you have the courage defence will cause your courage to be stripped. Unlike other afflictions, gloom will not be cured until you recover salve balance after applying epidermal.
If the shadowprice is paid, this may be performed free of any equilibrium cost.
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Shaderot
DescriptionSyntax: CAST ROT <target>
Send a malignant curse of shadow to infiltrate your victim, feeding upon the shadows you cast upon them. At first, the rot is benign, and has no meaningful effect. However, the rot will grow over time, and its effects too will increase. The rot may grow four times after the first stage.
1) No effect.
2) Their spirit gradually atrophies, causing escalating shadow damage.
3) Their body ceases to generate heat - preventing random curing of shivering.
4) Their flesh withers under the shade, periodically causing hopelessness.
5) Their body falters - the recovery time from poultices is doubled.Shadow rot may be cured by consuming panacea. If standing outside of the presence of a singularity, two stacks will be cured instead of one.
If the shadowprice is paid, you will deliver two stacks of shaderot immediately.
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Repay
DescriptionSyntax: CAST REPAY
Repay the shadowprice instantly, costing you a moderate amount of health and restoring a charge of shadowprice.
You may then continue to use the ability even while it is on cooldown, however the repayment will cost 50% more health and will cost equilibrium to perform.
Using the ability while on cooldown will refresh the cooldown timer.
Cooldown: 10 seconds
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Focus
DescriptionSyntax: CAST CREATE FOCUS
EMBED FOCUS IN <weapon>Though the crystals extracted from the Master Crystal are no longer suitable for the arts of Crystalism, they now seem to grant you a better control of the shadows. Excise a focus from the Master Crystal while you are standing before it, and the focus can then be embedded into either a staff, a shortsword, or a crozier.
Should you be wielding such an object containing a focus crystal, you will be able to control the shadows with greater ease. Your spells will no longer require both hands, only a single hand. Additionally, parrying an attack will charge your focus crystal with magical energy, restoring a portion of your mana instantly.
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Purity
DescriptionSyntax: CAST PURITY <ON|OFF>
Focus on maintaining the purity of shadow, switching all of your Sciomancy damaging attacks to use shadow-type damage in exchange for a small drain to your willpower. This will cause your attacks to do less overall damage however.
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Leech
DescriptionSyntax: CAST LEECH
Draw upon the shadows to leech two random maladies from your body. Should you be suffering from paralysis or paresis, leech will always cure that first, and only that.
Cooldown: 20 seconds
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Voidgaze
DescriptionSyntax: CAST VOIDGAZE <target>
If your target lacks courage, you can create the image of a void before them, causing them to stare hopelessly into its depths.
This will give them the voidgaze affliction, and will immediately trigger its passive effect. This will trigger even if the opponent already has the voidgaze affliction.
See AFFLICT VOIDGAZE for information on its effects.
If the shadowprice is paid, your voidgaze will shatter their heightened sense of courage first before applying it effects.
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Morph
DescriptionSyntax: CAST MORPH <target>
Order your shadeling to change its form into an inky caricature of your chosen target. Should the shadeling take any damage or attempt to attack someone, this effect will become undone. Can only be done on targets in the room.
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Shadowbrand
DescriptionSyntax: CAST BRAND <target>
Weave a brand of shadows to cover your foe, causing elixirs to lose some of their potency, reducing the amount healed to health or mana this way by 20%. The strength of the brand is dependent on how low your victim's mana is - the shadowbrand will never last for fewer than two sips, and no more than five. There is a short channel associated with performing this ability.
If the shadowprice is paid, your shadowbrand is applied instantly, and for slightly less equilibrium.
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Fever
DescriptionSyntax: CAST FEVER <target>
Infect them with a feverous curse, causing vomiting and haemophilia. If they have the dementia affliction, then the fever will drive them mad, curing it and causing hallucinations in its place.
If the shadowprice is paid, this ability is much quicker to use.
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Mantle
DescriptionSyntax: CAST MANTLE
Surround yourself in a cloak of shadow, reducing the damage taken from the elements, and significantly reducing the damage taken from shadow.
Those wearing the mantle can bear up to four shadow debts at once.
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Shadowsphere
DescriptionSyntax: CAST SPHERE <target>
Engulf your victim in a dark void, draining all color from their vision. While surrounded by this void, afflictions delivered from Scourge will be masked, and Shaderot afflictions cannot be cured.
For each curable affliction plaguing your foe, the shadowsphere will last for an extra 2 seconds. Only one rot affliction will increase the timer, others won't count. A victim suffering from nyctophobia will add a bonus 4 seconds.
If the shadowprice is paid, your shadowsphere also delivers nyctophobia, and for slightly less equilibrium.
Cooldown: 30 seconds
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Devour
DescriptionSyntax: CAST DEVOUR <ON|OFF>
Your shadeling hungers for corpses. Should anything die in the same location as your shadeling while it is with you, your shadeling will immediately devour the corpse and restore some willpower to you. An adventurer's corpse will restore a lot more willpower than a denizen's.
There is a small cooldown on this effect occuring, with the length of time dependant on the type of corpse.
Cooldown (denizen): 5 seconds
Cooldown (adventurer): 15 seconds -
Haunt
DescriptionSyntax: CAST HAUNT <target>
Conjure a spectral force to possess your victim, periodically sapping their mana.
The haunting force will persist for a short time, but will vanish if your victim leaves your sight.
If the shadowprice is paid, your haunt will persist indefinitely in your presence.
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Forgive
DescriptionSyntax: CAST FORGIVE
In a grand gesture of servitude, request that the shadows forgive all your debts. Once per a while, you will instantly recharge all outstanding shadowprice charges, but be warned - this action will halve your health and mana to perform.
This does not require nor use balance and equilibrium to use.
Cooldown: 20 minutes
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Falter
DescriptionSyntax: CAST FALTER <target>
Should your victim be afflicted with maladies caused by shadows, you can use them as an opportunity for your own victory. This spell does nothing on its own, but can have any or all of the following effects depending on what they are afflicted by:
Haemophilia: Causes significant bleeding.
Nyctophobia: Causes significant health and mana damage.
Dizziness: Causes dementia.
Weariness: Causes crippled.If the shadowprice is paid, one of these missing conditional afflictions will be applied at random before the spell completes.
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Phantom
DescriptionSyntax: CAST PHANTOM
This ability will call upon the shadows to watch you carefully. Then, when you deal damage and are standing in the location you last died within, your damage will be boosted by the shadows.
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Consume
DescriptionSyntax: CAST CONSUME <target>
Drawing upon your mastered link to the plane of Shadow, you may call forth a force that will annihilate your foe where they stand.
In order to begin your spell, your victim must either be suffering from nyctophobia and prone, and will require your complete concentration to complete.
Should your attempt be successful without interruption, your victim will be erased from reality entirely, and any shadow debts you have drawn will be immediately forgiven.
If the shadowprice is paid, your attempt will be quickened, and more importantly, no force may disrupt it other than your opponent leaving your presence. If this attempt fails, however, your health and mana will be shattered in half to repay your folly.
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Roleplaying a Sciomancer
The Sciomancers are mages trained in the dangerous but powerful manipulation of shadow.
What is Shadow?
Czjetija, the Plane of Shadow, is the source of the elemental shadow that naturally weaves part of the Prime Material Plane. A dangerous and treacherous element, its nature is consumption and corrosion, entropy, and insatiable hunger. Its imbalance in mortals is what allows for Undeath. Access to Czjetija is gated through Severn, the Manipulator, who wards off the Shadow Mother, Ohlsana, imprisoned within.
Where do Sciomancer skills come from?
How you access the elements:
- Direct channel to Shadow (limited through Severn)
- Singularity manipulation
- Ambient elemental manipulation
- Focus embedded within a staff, crozier, or shortsword
Sciomancers are first and foremost masters of the element of shadow, manipulating it directly and with greater potency than other mortals. Through their training, they can create stable singularities and control their phenomenons, as well as curse others with different applications of maddening, corrosive shadow. They bargain with their own wellbeing for power.
Visual style of the class:
Repeated use of shadow would darken the skin. Notably, eyes blacken, especially when actively using certain skills. There are martial, forceful gestures indicative of intense willpower, as well as a frequent trailing black miasma reminiscent of smoke.
Side effects of the class skills
Shadow is by far the most temperamental and dangerous element to directly manipulate. Repeat use and exposure can both grow beyond the wielder's control to devastating effect, as well as risk corrupting the user to Ohlsana's influence. Those who become inflicted with the shadowplague will slowly become one of the Shadowbound, a facsimile of who they were, grown monstrous and under Her control.
** Note: This is a mechanical disease!
Repeated use will have physical changes that cannot be easily hidden. The eyes will become black and nearly solid, and the corruption will be visible in the veins sprawling outwards from them. Fingertips will also darken, and skin texture may change from something porous and organic to something strange and irregular. There are chances of whispering voices becoming more present in the back of the head, in a language you don't understand, and the world losing the vibrancy of its colour. Personality may reflect a more reserved set of mannerisms and mindset as the mage exerts the guild's focus of control to ignore the temptations shadow offers.
Roleplaying the class
It is important to understand and recognize the pendulum tradeoffs of a Sciomancer. To take the risks with the environment and with themselves that they do, to use such a dangerous and volatile element so wantonly, is no small feat. It is not something any should take on lightly, for a weak will shall surely succumb to Ohlsana.
Shadeling lore
The Plane of Shadow is a voracious place, seeking to devour everything that would venture into it. Those mortals foolish, or unlucky, enough to venture into the dangerous plane will find that their soul is forever trapped, unable to escape its pull in order to reach the Plane of Death. Over time, these souls become pulled apart and remade, turning into the amorphous shadeling with no memory of its former life that can be summoned to the Prime Material Plane as an extension of the summoner's own soul. Of note, a disproportionate amount of summoned shadelings will have a vague resemblance to a Minotaur. When customizing the shadeling, its colour can only be in shades of black. It's an amorphous, almost fluid-like creature, that bears a vague resemblance to a mortal Sapience race.
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