Miasmata

Miasmata

  Miasmata originates from Avernus, representing the metaphorical force of death itself, and everything to do with unlife.

Memory Miasmata represents the memories and achievements of all beings, with Avernus containing all the information of anything that has ever happened in the rolling dunes of its Ashes. When empty of Miasmata, a being will struggle to form or recall memories if they are not a Memorare, leading to confusion. Anima The most well known aspect of Miasmata is Anima. It is what animates the Undead, though most know it for what it does to the living. Living creatures develop within themselves Anima which results in their vitality no longer sustaining them, leading to aging. An excess of Anima within a body will make the skin naturally lose collagen and sag, growing pale. Veins will shrink, and organs will begin to fail. Maltricians repurpose Anima with specialized tools to manipulate that which a living body may have developed in a variety of ways. The polar opposite of a Humor is Life Force. Death Miasmata represents the slow, cruel march towards death. It makes the animate, inanimate. It drags a discontent soul towards Avernus, and in life convinces them to make peace with this eventual transition. Slowly or all at once through shock, Miasmata congeals with and shrouds the soul as it dies, giving birth to a Ghost in Avernus. Miasmatic Death refers to the completion of this process. The Metaphor of Miasmata also animates the dead with a kind of unnatural vigor. This allows the sapient Undead to still develop or retain a soul, provided their suitably intelligent and reanimated faculties are given enough Miasmata to awaken beyond being a mindless zombie. Ashes Avernus is a plane full of so-called Soul Ash, a fine sand that carries no weight or feeling. Traversing Avernus billows these ashes around, but these are still a form of complex Miasmata produced naturally by the death of Ghosts. Scourges and undead skilled with Poetics wield these for various purposes. They contain the memories of everything that has ever existed and been destroyed, but any way to read these memories would yield a confusing static due to their disorder. Ethos Found within the Psychoplasm of Ghosts or the decomposing silhouettes of soulless dead creatures, Ethos is a flexible form of miasma akin to a fabric containing information about the creature or person it once was. It also clings to objects of emotional importance to those deceased who have not yet passed on. Pathos When a body falls ill from an excess of Anima, a caustic miasma referred to as Pathos naturally forms within the wound or suffering organ, shed from an ailing soul. In its natural state, Pathos is what leaves the body open to illness and infection, a sponge that soaks in disease and allows it to fester.

Articles on Arcana

Main Page