Abation

By way of Abation, a Galsterei may manipulate the Aether in all things in order to slow things down, put them in stasis, or rot them away. Abation requires a Minor Merit to pursue.

Abation

History

Galdr, and by extension Abation, is one of the most ancient forms of Arcana; it has existed since before even the fae and predates the Metaphor of Ardor over which it holds governance. As such, its true origins have been lost to the winds of time. Like the other elemental Arcana, practitioners of Abation can be found within any society that allows or puts value unto the arcane arts and many that don’t. It has proven invaluable to many and is utilized in magic-oriented societies the world over for both the utility of its cooling properties and creative applications in combat.

Acquisition

Mark of Abation.

Like all forms of Galdr, Abation is spread from one sorcerer unto another. Unfortunately, only about half of initiates survive.

In order to begin, the mark of Abation is inscribed into the tissue (be it skin, muscle or bone) using the initiator's aether and then bodily fluids of the donor - most often blood - are offered to the initiate, forcing the student to undergo their spiritual trial forthwith.

The initiation begins with a creeping chill in the spine of the initiate, slowly spreading across their entire body. This then evolves into a cascade of several other pernicious symptoms including icy pain and numbness, loss of affected faculties, and rotting, frostbitten flesh. However, provided nothing too vital is frozen or rotted away beyond repair, the initiate will level out and their symptoms will wane into moderate Mageburn over the course of a few hours. Rarely, the initiation might last up to a day.

Mageburn Symptoms

• Lesser: Brain fog, Lethargy, Sluggish Movement
• Moderate: Locking of Limbs, Confusion, Exhaustion
• Greater: Unresponsive Limbs, Delirium, Dangerously Low Body Temps, Myocardial Infarction Risk
• Frostomb: Not dissimilar to the fate of the overzealous Terrari, one who falls victim to Frostomb is frozen solid whilst retaining their full, living awareness. This condition is very difficult to reverse, and in more rural parts of the world, the only mercy is death.

Spells

Like all Galdr, Abation uses the Metaphor of Aether to cast.

Cryomancy

Through Cryomancy, the Aboteur may chill the world around them to its core. By utilizing their Other, they can grasp onto the Aether in all things and sap out the heat, freezing anything they have the Aether reserves to reach.

Cryomancy wares off as the target thaws per the laws of physics.

Freezing plants causes their growth to cease naturally. Draoidh may actively Reinvigorate their plants to counter this.
Freezing sentient creatures with souls will not kill them, merely reducing them to a state of cryostasis, the maximum duration of which depends on the Aboteur’s mastery.

Inermanteia

The applications of Inermanteia can be somewhat esoteric, but at a fundamental level, to invoke this spell is to focus on the slowing down of Aether. One may, for example, slow down another mage’s ability to manipulate Aether to the point that they can no longer cast. Another application might be slowing down the rapid oscillation of a machine gone awry. At its apex, one might use Inermanteia to slow down the movement of Aether in a creature’s cells so much that it fails to function properly at all, and the creature ends up unable to move at all.

Inermanteia's duration depends on a target's Resistance skill.

Novice: The body part or entity in stasis stays as such until the Aboteur dispels Inermanteia.

Apprentice: The body part or entity in stasis stays as such for up to a week.

Journeyman: The body part or entity in stasis stays as such for up to a day.

Expert: The body part or entity in stasis stays as such for 12 hours.

Master: The body part or entity in stasis stays as such 3 hours.

Grandmaster: The body part or entity in stasis stays as such for 1 hour.

While Cryomancy typically damages objects when cast, Inermanteia does not.

Nucleate

Through touch, Nucleate is a spell which the Aboteur may use to weaken the integrity of creatures or things, like the bitter cold may make materials brittle or curses the flesh with frostbite. For example, they may shift steel’s strength into fragility or freeze the flesh such that it dies and rots away.

Frostweaver's Embrace

Frostweaver’s Embrace is to shift one’s own flesh in favor of cold. Unique to Abation, the Aboteur does not turn into an apparition of their element, rather, they turn their bodies to pure ice. In so doing, they may defend themselves from harm. The overall level of damage they are able to sustain in this form increases with mastery.

Tiers of Mastery

Novice

A novice Aboteur begins their journey learning the basics of Cryomancy and Inermanteia.

• Cryomancy:
  • This spell can only be enacted through touch.
  • Pulling the heat from Aether can be a difficult concept to grasp for new Aboteurs, and as such, the power of this spell at novice level is very weak. Most will only be able to noticeably drop the temperature of an object, and living things describe a novice’s spell work as only a mild discomfort.
• Inermanteia:
  • This spell can only be enacted through touch.
  • Overall similar in potency to the Aboteur’s Cryomancy provided the caster does not neglect practicing the spell.
• Nucleate:
  • As a novice, this spell is inaccessible.
• Frostweaver's Embrace:
  • As a novice, this spell has fairly minimal effects, merely offering a slight hardening effect to the Aboteur’s skin or scales.

Apprentice

The apprentice Aboteur can wield their spell’s minor effects with much more clarity than the novice.

• Cryomancy:
  • This spell can only be enacted through touch.
  • An apprentice can typically chill a material much more substantially than the novice, with some describing the apprentice-level potency to actually hinder movement and cause much more significant discomfort and/or numbness.
• Inermanteia:
  • This spell can only be enacted through touch.
  • Overall similar in potency to the Aboteur’s Cryomancy provided the caster does not neglect practicing the spell.
• Nucleate:
  • As an apprentice, this spell is inaccessible.
• Frostweaver's Embrace:
  • As an apprentice, the Aboteur can freeze the flesh of small parts of their body, such as their hands, to a very durable crystalline structure, not unlike iron.

Journeyman

Capable spellweavers, the journeyman Aboteur can wield the Arcana’s basics with ease and are now ready to learn more advanced concepts.

• Cryomancy:
  • This spell can only be enacted through touch.
  • By journeyman, the Aboteur is able to freeze and lock up the limbs of up to medium sized living things.
  • Most mundane materials will become damaged by the frost effect of Cryomancy at this point.
• Inermanteia:
  • This spell can only be enacted through touch.
  • Overall similar in potency to the Aboteur’s Cryomancy provided the caster does not neglect practicing the spell.
• Nucleate:
  • Just learning the spell, Nucleate at journeyman is inefficient to cast.
  • Mundane objects and materials become significantly more brittle on cast.
  • They may cause small amounts of frostbite, such as fingers and toes, with a simple twist of Aether through touch.
• Frostweaver's Embrace:
  • As a journeyman, the Aboteur can shift up to entire limbs into ice with a durability of steel.

Expert

While many may underestimate the power of Abation, make no mistake: the expert Aboteur is a deadly foe on top of the incredible utility their magic provides.

• Cryomancy:
  • This spell may be cast on anything within 10 ft and a clear line of sight or supernatural perception of the Aboteur.
  • By expert, the Aboteur is able to freeze and lock up the limbs of up to large sized living things and half the body of medium.
  • The spell may result in numbness or pain in living victims.
  • All mundane materials that aren’t inherently frost-resistant will become damaged or warped by the frost effect of Cryomancy at this point.
• Inermanteia:
  • This spell may be cast on anything within 10 ft and a clear line of sight or supernatural perception of the Aboteur.
  • Overall similar in potency to the Aboteur’s Cryomancy provided the caster does not neglect practicing the spell.
• Nucleate:
  • An expert can cause 2x the area of journeyman worth of flesh to rot over the period of a minute with a touch.
  • Mundane objects and materials become significantly more brittle on cast.
• Frostweaver's Embrace:
  • As an expert, the Aboteur can shift up to half their body into ice with a durability of steel.

Master

A master Aboteur is a devastating force– able to disable their foes and rot them away, their power possesses an incredible array of applications if one is creative enough.

• Cryomancy:
  • This spell may be cast on anything within 15 ft and a clear line of sight or supernatural perception of the Aboteur.
  • At master, the Aboteur is able to freeze and lock up half the body of colossal targets, ⅔ of the body of large sized living things and the entirety of medium.
  • The spell may result in numbness or pain in living victims.
  • All mundane materials that aren’t inherently frost-resistant will become damaged or warped by the frost effect of Cryomancy at this point.
• Inermanteia:
  • This spell may be cast on anything within 15 ft and a clear line of sight or supernatural perception of the Aboteur.
  • Overall similar in potency to the Aboteur’s Cryomancy.
• Nucleate:
  • A master can cause entire limbs (of standard creatures) to rot over the period of about 15 seconds with a touch.
  • Mundane objects and materials become as soft as talc on cast, limited to up to medium objects in size per cast.
• Frostweaver's Embrace:
  • As a master, the Aboteur can turn their entire body into ice with twice the durability of steel.

Apotheosi

An Apotheosi of Abation, the Gelidione, is a creature of truly legendary, though oftentimes insidious, power. Many find themselves caught off guard when it comes to dealing with them as it is extraordinarily difficult to fend off the effects of the Gelidione’s spells.

• Cryomancy:
  • This spell may be cast on anything within 25 ft and a clear line of sight or supernatural perception of the Gelidione.
  • They are able to freeze and lock up ⅔ the body of colossal targets and the entirety of large and smaller.
  • The spell may result in numbness or pain in living victims.
  • All mundane materials that aren’t inherently frost-resistant will become significantly damaged or warped by the frost effect of Cryomancy at this point.
• Inermanteia:
  • This spell may be cast on anything within 25 ft and a clear line of sight or supernatural perception of the Gelidione.
  • Overall similar in potency to Cryomancy.
• Nucleate:
  • A master can cause entire limbs to rot over in an instant with a touch– even the limbs of colossal creatures such as large dragons.
  • Mundane objects and materials become as soft as talc on cast, limited up to large objects in size per cast.
• Frostweaver's Embrace:
  • As a Gelidione, they can turn their entire body into ice with thrice the durability of steel.
  • Further, that same crystalline structure rapidly expands outward, about a 10ft radius, and is able to entrap anything that gets caught in the effect.
  • Even Apparation will not allow escape if caught, and creatures within may not have access to their magic (other than the Gelidione when they desire to cancel the effect).

Contrivances

To craft with Abation, one must find and work alongside an Aboteur or acquire the Arcana themselves. Galdr, having stemmed from Aether itself, does not provide materials from the Galsterei, but rather, the Galsterei infuses the crafts with their Aether and thus their intent. Otherwise, Contrivances may be crafted from the Galsterei's Sundered Alkahest directly.

Some examples of crafts an Aboteur might assist with include:

• Amulets that provide a sort of ‘chill aura’ that the wearer is immune to and activated by a keyphrase. It would slow down anything that moves in an area around them, and the exact range and effect potency would depend on the mastery of Aboteur utilized in its creation.
• Potions that give the imbiber resilience against heat, potency dependent on the Aboteur’s mastery.
• Weapons and materials strengthened by the potency of their Frostweaver’s Embrace.
• Cooling systems, both small in scale for machinery and larger for buildings.

”The noble family up on the hill has a collection of really strange statues. I have no idea how they were made, but the craftsmanship is impeccable. They’re so lifelike!” - A City Courier 

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