The Voidseers of Aetolia
Representing a unity of three disparate disciplines, Voidseers stand as the culmination of centuries of philosophical pondering, telepathic mastery, and occult pursuits.
Delving the Void in search of the deepest mysteries of Creation and the Planar Spiral, these maddened prophets and eruditious scholars seek now to spread the fruits of their long labours - whether the world is ready to receive such revelations or not.
Voidseer Skills
Much like Psionics, Cultivation exists as an exotic extension of the greater school of Telepathy. Rather than focus upon psychic force like accomplished psions or the sheer versatility of Sentaari telepaths, Cultivation instead focuses upon the delicate inner workings of the brain. Leveraging brief psychic impulses and evocative imagery displayed within their seeing stones, a skilled cultivator sows the seeds of overwhelming emotion within the minds of their foes. By influencing an opponent's perception of their own well-being, a combatant can create openings and compel certain mental imbalances. Voidseers push their unfortunate victims to the brink of madness, ensuring they feel joy even as they gaze upon the Void's utmost emptiness.
Cultivation
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ScryingStone
DescriptionSyntax: MUSE CRAFT STONE
Additional syntax: MUSE MARK <stone>Components: 2 obsidian
The most effective focus for Cultivation's exotic manner of empathic attack is known as a seeing stone - a dark, perfectly smooth orb created from polished obsidian. Without it, attempting to cultivate emotion relies upon subjective experience and can often result in dire consequence.
If you obtain a scrying stone from another source, for example a Jewelcrafter, you can instead mark that stone as your own.
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Foment
DescriptionThe most important aspect of Cultivation is the ability to utilise your mental energy to influence someone's mental state. Through subtle manipulation via telepathy and kai, you can impress sensations, urges, or fears upon a person or object.
As the path to fomenting each emotion is a unique trail through the mind, you will be unable to compel a given emanation until you have full knowledge of their practical use. By typing AB CULTIVATION <emanation> you can learn how each will effect the world around you.
Fomenting will require your scrying stone in hand in order to visualise from, however if you are blind, you will be unable to do so.
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Bud
DescriptionSyntax: MUSE CRAFT BUD [VIOLET|BLACK|WHITE]
Components: 1 woodUtilising your supernatural prowess, you can compel a lotus bud to grow forth from a single piece of wood. This bud can act as a focal point for complex emanations with the slightest nudge of a masterful seer's will, making them a valuable tool of this mental martial school. As long you hold your lotus within your hands, it will help you focus and bestow a small boon to the regeneration of your willpower.
You have the decision of choosing what colour your lotus should take, or you can choose none in order to receive a random hue. The shade of your lotus has no effect beyond aesthetic.
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Foster
DescriptionThis ability will allow you to foster mystic emanations within your lotus bud, with each having a different effect that will trigger in differing scenarios. In order for your lotus bud to have an effect, it will need to be placed upon the ground.
You can learn more about these complex effects by typing AB CULTIVATION <emanation>. You will need to have learned about the emanation before you can foster its energy within your lotus.
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Intrusion
DescriptionThis ability is passive.
After cultivating one of the five basic emanations upon a target, its energies will leave behind a lingering influence upon someone's spiritual state. Once a few seconds have passed and if the opponent is completely alone, this residual magic will stir itself to life within their mind and the original effects of that emanation will relapse upon the target.
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Cordon
DescriptionSyntax: MUSE CORDON
By manifesting your kai energy in a precise shell around your lotus bud, it will blend with the ethereal in such a way that it will turn into a permanent fixture of the current location it resides in. If anyone attempts to pick up or destroy your lotus, they will find themselves unable to do so.
Using this ability once more will tether it to the Prime Material again and return it to normal.
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Vine
DescriptionSyntax: MUSE VINE [target|NONE]
By braiding together ropes of mental energy and threads of your own life essence, you can create a mystic vine upon which your lotus bud will connect itself to another individual. In so doing, you will ensure that your bud will remain not far behind them should they attempt to leave. This will only trigger as long as your opponent stays still momentarily and remains within the same area as you.
You can additionally tether your bud to yourself, either by specifying your own name or omitting a target.
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Subtlety
DescriptionSyntax: MUSE SUBTLETY
By placing hyperfocus upon your expression and demeanor, as well as clouding your seeing stone's innards to obscurity, you can hide any notions about the emanations that you are fomenting within your opponent. This will cause the Joy, Fear, and Disgust emanations to have their effects hidden for a limited time and deal a small amount of psychic damage.
Additionally, it will hide the effects of Intrusion, however no damage will be caused.
Cooldown: 20 seconds
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Recrudescence
DescriptionSyntax: MUSE RECRUDESCENCE <target>
You can render another individual's psyche susceptible to circuitous, racing thoughts - often to their own detriment. This will allow Intrusion to affect your opponent when they aren't alone until it is cured.
Note that afflictions cured with panacea pills will make pill balance recovery take twice as long.
You can read AB CULTIVATION INTRUSION to learn more about this skill.
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Etch
DescriptionSyntax: MUSE ETCH <JOY|FEAR|DISGUST> <target>
If the opponent is disrupted completely by an emanation, you may seal the effects and prevent them from curing those afflictions through pills for a limited time, even if those afflictions are reapplied at a later stage. Etched emanations will also boost the damage of the Sadness ability.
While this effect only lasts for a limited amount of time, successfully etching an emanation once more will refresh the timer of all other etchings upon the target.
Abilities such as the tree tattoo will still be able to cure the sealed afflictions.
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Histrionics
DescriptionSyntax: MUSE HISTRIONICS <target>
By implanting Joy, Disgust, and Fear in the mind of your opponent all at once, you can induce an overemotional state that leaves their psyche frail and pliable. This will trigger the Intrusion effect upon your opponent for all three of these emanations.
You can read AB CULTIVATION INTRUSION to learn more about this skill.
- The five basic emanations
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Sadness
DescriptionSadness and stress together prove a crude yet effective manner of mental assault.
Syntax: FOMENT SADNESS <target>
When fomented within another, it will deal psychic damage as it plagues their every thought with distracting sorrow.The damage is further increased for each etched emanation that exists upon the target. Please see AB CULTIVATION ETCH for more information.
DetailsTarget Location Same location
Damage Type Psychic
Damage Source Arcane
Base Damage 340 + 12%
Base Damage (Denizen) 1035
Added Bonus Damage (Per Etch) 50 + 3%
Equilibrium Recovery 3.50 seconds
RequirementsRequires balance and equilibrium.
Costs 50 mana to use.
Costs 30 willpower to use.
Requires at least one arm functional.
RestrictionsConsidered an aggressive action.
Cannot be entangled, paralysed, or fallen.
(Denizen) Considered a basic attack against denizens.
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Anger
DescriptionAnger lowers inhibition and demands aggression, resulting in an opening.
Syntax: FOMENT ANGER <target>
When fomented, it will disperse the magical shield defence, causing a small amount of mana loss to the target if successful. -
Joy
DescriptionJoy brings with it a more pliable demeanor.
Syntax: FOMENT JOY <target>
When fomented within another, it will first cause laxity, followed by infatuation, peace, and lastly magnanimity. This order is sequential, depending on what afflictions the opponent already has. -
Fear
DescriptionFear slays the mind, bringing with it disorder and panic.
Syntax: FOMENT FEAR <target>
When fomented within another, it will cause dizziness, then faintness, epilepsy, and lastly shyness. This order is sequential, depending on what afflictions the opponent already has. -
Disgust
DescriptionDisgust makes an enemy of the self.
Syntax: FOMENT DISGUST <target>
When fomented within another, it will cause mercy, then masochism, mania, and lastly recklessness. This order is sequential, depending on what afflictions the opponent already has. - The myriad complex emanations
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Dread
DescriptionDread will cause a sinking feeling in the stomach, which will manifest physically or mentally depending on the manner of your telepathic deliverance.
Syntax: FOMENT DREAD <target>
If your opponent is above or below you, you can instill them with a hidden sense of vertigo.Syntax: MUSE FOSTER DREAD
Should an enemy fall over, their mental stability will sink with them. This will give them the delirium affliction. -
Shame
DescriptionShame is an exceptionally powerful force, capable of clouding reason and forcing action.
Syntax: FOMENT SHAME <target> <direction>
This will allow you to implant shame within the mind, alongside a subsconscious direction to take when your target attempts to move. You can stack multiple directions, up to a total of ten. Once they move, the actions you have implanted will fade after a short time if they stand still.Syntax: MUSE FOSTER SHAME
When an enemy leaves the location, they will be struck with shame at their cowardice. This will deal psychic damage as they leave. -
Longing
DescriptionLonging can serve to hone your own ambition, or to cloud the senses of another.
Syntax: FOMENT LONGING
If you possess a lotus bud, then this ability will call it back to your possession by way of your intense longing for its tranquility. If the lotus bud is cordoned at the time, then it will additionally remove the effect.Syntax: MUSE FOSTER LONGING
Any enemy who tries to GLANCE or SQUINT into a location with your lotus bud will find that their longing clouds their senses, making perception impossible. -
Ambivalence
DescriptionAmbivalence and apathy are formidable tools that can be utilised to obliterate your foe's morale and motivation.
Syntax: FOMENT AMBIVALENCE <target>
This will sow indifference within your foe's psyche, loosening the mind's grip upon abnormal sensory abilities they might have.This includes: Mindseye, Thirdeye, Lifevision, Shadowsight, Spiritsight, Hypersight, and Truth.
Syntax: MUSE FOSTER AMBIVALENCE
When an enemy attempts to FOCUS their mind, it will cost them more mana than normal. -
Guilt
DescriptionGuilt brings forth deeply buried thoughts and notions related to shame and failure, forcing them to the surface anew as demons.
Syntax: FOMENT GUILT <target>
This will allow you to probe another's mind and determine if they consider you a friend or foe.Syntax: MUSE FOSTER GUILT
Once an enemy gains a total number of mental afflictions that is divisible by six, they will begin to manifest a feeling of nausea. -
Regret
DescriptionKnown amongst empathic warriors as the only emanation capable of surviving investment into an inanimate object, Regret serves as a powerful emotion for enforcing your own will - to ward or to hold fast your foes.
Syntax: FOMENT REGRET <direction with door|container>
Investing regret within something in this way will seal a door or container, providing it is shut. If the object is then opened, then a magical explosion will occur that will stun and damage the person who opens it. The seal will only last a limited amount of time.Syntax: MUSE FOSTER REGRET
Whenever an enemy uses an ability that will let them magically teleport, they will be prevented from doing so. -
Misery
DescriptionMisery is a long time member of an empath's arsenal, its cutting edge capable of shredding through the mind to render a victim vulnerable to other suggestions.
Syntax: FOMENT MISERY <target>
After a delay, if the target stands in the same location as you, their senses will be thrown into a blackout and struck with psychic damage, otherwise they will be briefly stunned and be drained of some mana.The damage and secondary effect will be increased for each etched emanation upon the opponent.
Syntax: MUSE FOSTER MISERY
When an enemy assists another, they will begin to feel their ego grow. This will give them the egocentrism affliction. -
Spite
DescriptionOne of the greatest mortal motivators, Spite serves as an invasive force primed to commandeer reason or sense when a target's lust for vengeance proves too great. Such behaviour often creates an opening for expert empaths.
Syntax: FOMENT SPITE <target>
Fomenting spite will slightly unhinge your target, dealing psychic damage over time for a short period. If they have dementia, hallucinations, and paranoia when taking damage, they will receive a random physical affliction.Syntax: MUSE FOSTER SPITE
When an enemy successfully performs a diagnosis on themselves, their confidence will wane and they will become stricken with hypochondria. -
Wistful
DescriptionTo be wistful is to be distracted; this complex emanation will encourage this lack of focus in your foes and aid you in returning to sanctuaries.
Syntax: FOMENT WISTFUL
This will allow you to return to the location of your lotus bud, swapping places with it after a short delay.Syntax: MUSE FOSTER WISTFUL
When an enemy crosses below 75%, 50%, or 25% health, they will find that their body will fall numb. This will afflict them with paresis. -
Sonder
DescriptionBy opening someone's mind to the realisation that they are not the centre of existence itself, a master empath is capable of trapping someone within circuits of ponderous thought.
Syntax: FOMENT SONDER <target>
The effects of Sonder will trap your target within circuitous thoughts. Each time an Intrusion affects the target, it will relapse without any effort on your behalf. The effects of Sonder will remain as long as they have at least one affliction from either Joy, Fear, or Disgust.There is a grace period of nine seconds before Sonder will fade after casting.
Once fifteen total Intrusion loops have occured, the affliction will expire. Loops that occur when the target is not the same room as you will count as three, instead of one.
Syntax: MUSE FOSTER SONDER
Sonder will disorient those who become trapped in its revelations, delaying the movements of your enemies. This will only work as long as you are not present within the same location and they are afflicted with patterns.
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Class Overview
In the wake of the transformative events of the Monomachy, the Sentaari Guild, renowned for their pursuit of mental discipline and spiritual insight, heralded the inception of the Voidseers. This new discipline, born out of a deep exploration into the Void's endless mysteries, is unique to the new age that Sapience has entered and is a reflection of centuries of philosophical introspection, telepathic prowess, and occult practices.
The Voidseer's abilities are channeled through three distinct skillsets: Enlightenment, Cultivation, and Voidgazing. Enlightenment taps into the septenary gates of the body, mind, and soul, allowing practitioners to harness extraordinary universal energies powers and achieve a state of harmony and inner peace. Cultivation extends into the realm of the mind, leveraging psychic abilities to influence and manipulate emotional states, creating a mental battlefield where the Voidseer can dominate. Voidgazing, the cornerstone of the Voidseer's arsenal, delves into the unfathomable depths of the void itself, drawing out esoteric knowledge and employing it to impose profound, often unsettling effects on their adversaries.
Voidseers walk a path less traveled, one that weaves through the enigmatic and often perilous realms of mental fortitude and cosmic awareness. They are seekers of truth in its most unvarnished form, daring to confront the emptiness of the Void and harness its latent power. The path of the Voidseer is not for the faint of heart, but for those who dare to gaze into the Void, it offers unparalleled insights into the mysteries of existence and the cosmos.
What is the Void?
The Void is the space between the planes. It is a vast not-space of nothingness - there are no elements, no light, no land of its own, no living beings nor undead nor sentience of any kind known. In recent years, the Sentaari monastery managed to glimpse ruined pieces of forsaken Dendara that had crumbled away and fallen into the Void, but otherwise there remains a complete absence of discoveries within its interminable expanse. Though some might claim they have glimpsed other objects or things within the Void, these are oft the product of madness and mortal impressionism, not actual truth. Rumour has it that distant points of other planes can be spotted within its geographically impossible endlessness, propagating confusion amongst planar physics experts and philosophers alike.
How are the powers of the class accessed?
Voidseers practice a curious blend of telepathy, spiritual reflection, and maddening occultism that exerts influence on a foe's mental and emotional state. The most infamous discipline they utilise to make a name for themselves is the titular practice of 'Voidgazing'. By focusing upon the philosophical meaning of nothingness, as well as the actual nothingness indicative of true Void, a user of this art can thrust maddening visions, vacuous chill, and uttermost madness upon an unfortunate soul that crosses them. Wielding too much of the Void's might weighs heavily upon the Voidseer's mind, however, and thus they practice rigorous exercises to keep their minds sharp and clear.
To balance out this terrifying practice, Voidseers seek inner peace through Enlightenment. By unleashing the potential of their seven chakras, they can balance their body, mind, and soul into harmonious union that ensures they clutch tight their precious sanity. Formed through adherence to ancient sagacity, this school had existed only as a mere philosophical branch, though fables told of enlightened masters who discovered the true essence of its teachings through hard work and dedication. Rumour has it that chakral masters can achieve supernatural feats such as flight, teleportation, and even shaping one's own reality through a simple exertion of the boundless mortal potential in their wise souls. Meditation and deep focus are required to keep a chakra open, necessitating a great deal of practice to achieve complete erudition.
Cultivation focuses upon manipulating the most delicate sections of the mortal mind to subtly adjust their emotional state to something more favourable for the mentalist in question. Unlike Telepathy or Psionics, this school of mental mastery requires a great deal of focus and an external object to channel the necessary energies and evocative imagery, which gave rise to the obsidian seeing stones and tranquil lotus buds emblematic of the pursuit. The foundation of Cultivation is the understanding of five emotions referred to as 'primal emanations' - the most basic instincts and feelings a mortal can exhibit. Masters of the practice find themselves capable of instilling more complex emotions, including misery, longing, spite, and even the self-aware insignificance that comes with complete ego death. These powerful exudations adjust the elemental chemistry of a victim's brain, forcibly inclining them towards these sensations.
Visual style of the class
Voidseers gird their bodies with armour underneath their robes and myriad spiritualist trinkets, as their combat style requires a great deal of stillness that leaves them vulnerable to physical assault. Beyond this, they possess very little in common that would denote them as members of one collective, though the Sentaari monastery possesses their own uniforms, custom, and style that might take precedence over their own individuality. New students will often possess sunken eyes on account of the myriad horrors they must subject themselves to in the pursuit of understanding necessary to gaze into the Void, in addition to the long nights of study by candlelight. This often manifests as gauntness or thinness if they lose themselves to their studies, as they will fail to eat and drink even when their bodies demand it.
The actual techniques of an experienced Cultivator empath often manifest themselves within their obsidian seeing stone, rather than anything overtly evident to mortal perception. The telltale sign of their mastery is not their own focused expression, but the extremity of emotional experience and expression found upon the visages of their victim. Joy, sadness, and disgust reign in equal parts within the hearts of their foes, often to caricatured heights that would unnerve casual onlookers. Psychic imagery often appears at the heart of their foci, serving as the only hint to those that not yet put underneath their mental sway.
Enlightened sages often manifest their unbelievable feats through flashes of pastel lights indicative of chakral mysticism, creating an awe-inspiring display that bestows secondhand tranquility about all who bear witness. Peaceful and content even in the heart of battle, a Voidseer often betrays casual insouciance at odds with the violence at play around them. This chilling clarity extends even to their workings with the Void's fell magics, once more creating a dissonant clash between their demeanor and the crazed screams of those foolish enough to cross them. Much of their advanced arts bespeak a subtlety that ensures their victims find themselves mad or dead before their allies notice that battle is joined.
Side effects of use
As indicated above, Voidseers often lose themselves to the occultist pursuits that form the focal obsession of their profession. This ensures they possess wan expressions or otherwise display signs of utter exhaustion due to their late nights at work with understanding that liminal space's secrets. Adepts in training will oft abstain from food or drink by complete accident as they ceaselessly pursue the unknown or hone their mental craft, leaving them frail or unconscious as they continue the infinite climb to ever greater heights.
Voidseers who fail to exercise proper clarity or gird their psyches properly will oft find that complete sanity and lucidity elude them, for the abyss that stares back does so unnervingly. Prone to philosophising and rambling, these seers reveal their tenuous madness with every alien syllable uttered and every psychic emanation projected. Those that manage to elude this fate due so only by the grace of inspiritment brought by Enlightenment, for chakral magic serves as a natural counterbalance of tranquility.
Some Voidseers will exhibit a fear of the dark if forced to glimpse the Void too often, for it is only deepest shadow that can hold a candle to the vacuity of their true domain. A deep interest in cosmology and planar knowledge often accompanies their studies, as these serve as the closest things to grounding knowledge that a mortal can depend on. As well, experienced students of Cultivation will find themselves more likely to exhibit emotional intelligence due to their natural understanding of instinctual emanations and mental states.
Roleplaying the class
Voidseers one and all find unity in the pursuit of mental and spiritual perfection, if only for the purposes of self-preservation. Owing in large part due to the forbidding occultism they practice, they often engage in intense thought exercises in hopes of keeping their awareness sharp and their minds utterly clear in the face of the Void's utterdark. They often exhibit a hunger for all forms of knowledge, if only for the purposes of comparing its splendour to that of the lightless expanse they call upon.
Tranquility and madness serve as a dissonant duality within most that practice these arts, as there is only so much that a mortal mind can digest before it shatters into myriad maddened fragments. This often means that a Voidseer will exhibit unnerving behaviour or be prone to esoteric mutterings that are typically lost upon the uninitiated. Social interaction with them can often feel intrusive, as they oft display deep understanding of the emotional state of others and their close brushes with insanity might erode their grasp upon the niceties of conversation or behaviour.
