User:Diarik/Spiritweaving/Spiritweaving Proposal
Why The Spirit System Needs Revamping
Currently, the lack of exploitation on this field makes the expandability of cleric ability difficult at best. There are no new things that are earnestly cropping up on the horizon. Yes, there are new things, but it's really the same old things that have been seen before in Dragonrealms. Revamping, expanding, and exploiting the idea of Spirit Health, the clerics' dominion, is essential to advancing the guild to infinity and beyond.
What Clerics Should Be Able to Do
The foundation of the very universe is the Immortals' work. They rule over their own planets, and upon Truffenyi's world, they oversee the doings of mortals. Thus it should be that their servants, their vicars, their hands in the mortal realm of Elanthia, should also be the foundation upon which rests the roving adventurers.
Into this picture comes spirit, the motivating force underneath the vitality of every adventurer, underneath the specialized abilities of other guilds, underneath the strength of that mighty force called magic. Clerics hold full sway over this force, as the guiding light of Elanthia under the direction of the Immortals.
Clerics require an ability to make this plain.
Spiritweaving
The force of Life prevents the Law of Attraction from massing the spirit of an Elanthian into a single blob. Instead, it separates and distributes this spirit into Pneumas within the Elanthian, creating the five principle pneumas: Sight, Vibrance, Splice, Wellspring, and Pathway. This distribution changes as the capabilities of the adventurer increase and specialize.
Clerics are gifted with their own special art, called Spiritweaving. Its craft is simple: to be able to change these proportions in the Elanthian, increasing and decreasing their overall abilities by this very simple act. Especially for magic users, spiritweaving can drastically affect their spellcasting capabilities, from noticing the presence of mana to harnessing it to successfully channeling it.
In this way, Clerics become the backbone of Elanthia. Not the war machine of the people, nor its gardeners, nor its healers. They are behind all of them, and they support them most crucially in this. By a Cleric's choice, you may live or die long before an Empath has anything to work with. By a Cleric's choice, your magic may work or it may fizzle out pathetically. By a Cleric's choice, you might be a mighty warrior, or a flagging brute, unable to summon the desire to lift your blade even in defiance. By a Cleric's choice, even bardic swashbuckling, while it may gain romance, cannot bind it forever.
The term: Spiritweaving
Mostly because it's damn cool, and I like the sound of it. I admit "weaving" is not the best analogy for what happens... but that's what I came up with. I'm open to hearing better names.
The Strength of an Elanthian's Pneumas
[Insert section I cut and forgot to re-paste on why it's better to have 13+ favors. Something about makes it harder to cripple you and easier to help you due to having a larger general amount and thus more options.]
The Skill of Theosophy
The subtle power of the Clerics is an award of the Immortals. Without the blessing of the Immortals, a cleric cannot bend others to their will. As such, knowledge and understanding of their nature, essence, desires, habits, etc. is key to gaining their blessing and the right to weave the spirits of others, and even yourself. Spiritweaving forms the basis of clerical nature, as the hand of the Gods, they may directly affect what the Gods have placed there.
Just as Harness Ability provides the foundation of magic, Theosophy provides the foundation of spiritweaving. If you cannot harness, you cannot cast spells. If you do not know the Gods, you cannot spiritweave.
Of course, there is more to spiritweaving than the mere changing of another's distribution. If your skill is great enough, there is also the question of what happens when you weave spirit outside of the body. The Teaching and Scholarship skills arrive in a somewhat underhanded way of being necessary components of Theosophy. It is a scholar's work to learn widely and drink deeply of the nature and essence of the Immortals, and it is a teacher's work to apply their precepts and principles from the lofty purchase of thought down to the practical application to everyday life.
Equivalency with Other Guilds
Spiritweaving is not a magical skill, not by far. It underlies magic without actually utilizing it; no mana streams are harnessed or manipulated in its working. (Thus, it may be applied to Barbarians without disrupting their Inner Fire.) It is a concentration-based ability, with some fatigue usage as well. Equivalent abilities in other guilds would be the Pathway ability of Warrior Mages and the Prediction ability of Moon Mages.
The Problem of Undead
In theory, any creature with a minimum level of spirituality can be spiritwoven. Indeed, if they have spirit, shouldn't clerics be able to affect their spirit? The idea carries far more work than might be feasible, and is risky to think about anyways. But in consideration of the day when there's nothing better to do, such a thought may come up. And on that day, the question of spiritweaving the cursed spirit of the undead must be broached.
The answer is simple: cursed or not, it's still spirit. I am of the opinion, furthermore, that applying weaves should actively harm the undead, because of the faint trace of the divine within the weaves.
Weaving the Immortals into the World
There are 40 weaves, each named for the Immortal it invokes, plus the Nexus weave (discussed in the following paper). Every weave works to affect a nodal aspect in some way. For instance, the Lemicus weave bolsters connective ability, whereas the Kerenhappuch weave decreases perceptive ability. Weaves are also named after the avatars of the gods, but this nomenclature is not used here for two reasons: it decreases the awareness of the gods, and it may be confusing to those who are well-versed in lunar enchanting.
To better understand the diverse nature of the weaves, we will use a point system. Every weave is worth three points. Fifteen (5 Gods and their respective aspects) weaves spend all three points on one pneuma, and the remaining twenty-four allocate their points between two. The Divyaush weave, for instance, divides its points so: It bolsters the Pathway pneuma twice as much as it does the Sight pneuma.
Positive aspects' weaves increase the facets affected, whereas negative aspects' weaves decrease the facets affected. Neutral aspects' weaves act as an amplification of a weave, holding it in place while magnifying its overall effect.
| Kertigen | (Pathway + Sight) |
| Hodierna | (Splice + Sight) |
| Meraud | (Sight) |
| Damaris | (Splice) |
| Everild | (Vibrance) |
| Truffenyi | (Wellspring + Vibrance) |
| Hav'roth | (Wellspring + Splice) |
| Eluned | (Pathway) |
| Glythtide | (Vibrance + Splice) |
| Tamsine | (Splice + Pathway) |
| Faenella | (Vibrance + Pathway) |
| Chadatru | (Sight + Vibrance) |
| Urrem'tier | (Wellspring) |
The Meraud, Damaris, Everild, Eluned, and Urrem'tier weaves are the most basic, and learned before the others. Using these, you concentrate your efforts upon a single pneuma. The Firulf, Phelim, Kuniyo, Lemicus, and Eylhaar weaves act to strengthen single pneumas, while the Kerenhappuch, Dergati, Trothfang, Drogor, and Aldauth weaves act to weaken single pneumas. The five neutral aspect weaves act as a kind of locking mechanism, lessening the ability of spirit to enter or leave them.
Remember that spiritweaving cannot and will not increase or decrease the spirit of those woven. It manipulates distribution; it does not steal or bolster the total spirit.
The twenty-four remaining weaves are more difficult in that they govern two pneumas rather than merely one. Neutral aspect weaves attempt to keep the two pneumas they affect in the same proportion as they currently are. Positive aspect weaves channel spirit directly from the secondary pneuma to the primary. The Berengeria weave, for instance, shifts spirit from the Sight pneuma to the Splice pneuma. Negative aspect weaaves act in the opposite manner; the Harawep weave shifts from the Splice pneuma to the Pathway pneuma.
While single weaves are well and good, it is obvious that it is the combination of weaves that truly make spiritweaving a complex and interesting process. Imagine, for instance, you are aiding a Warrior Mage cast a TM spell at a level and with an accuracy she normally couldn't. You would first call upon Eylhaar as she prepared the spell, boosting her capabilities as she harnessed mana into the spell pattern. Meanwhile, she has begun to target the enemy, and you must then transfer the spirit away from the Wellspring pneuma into the Vibrance and Pathway pneumas. Huldah can aid you with the first, but it's a little but of a puzzle with the second. The easiest method would be to call on Be'ort at the same time you call on Huldah, and eventually tie off the Wellspring pneuma with Urrem'tier to prevent too much spirit loss there and ask Kuniyo's aid to bolster the Vibrance pneuma, and eventually tie them both off with Everild and Eluned. The more difficult method would be to use Ushnish to route the spirit through the Splice pneuma, and then Harawep to bolster the Pathway pneuma, making it easier to energize both Vibrance and Pathway without maintaining the trouble of keeping Vibrance at an above average level.
Of course, every weave requires concentration. Relatively little, individually, but it obviously adds up. Add this to the realization that such a single cast may not end up felling the enemy or sufficiently damaging it. The process must be reset and done again. Furthermore, there are side effects to drastically raising or lowering the spirit level of a pneuma related to particular skill sets. Decrease the Splice Pneuma too far and your friend might lose their ability to effectively utilize their cambrinth and begin to struggle with evasive actions.
Particular Combinations of Weaves
[Needs pretty-speak.]
Weaves have different intensities, affecting the speed of distributive alteration.
When a contradictory neutral aspect weave is placed on a target, previous weaves become dormant. They will dissipate relatively soon, the time dependent on the concentration of the weaving cleric and the intensity of the weave. If the contradictory weave is unwoven, they will re-activate.
When a contradictory non-neutral aspect weave is placed on a target, it becomes dormant.
Weaves with further purposes
Sometimes you wish to do things other than affect a person's spiritual distribution. Certain weaves and combinations of weaves permit this in rather extraordinary ways. Typically, the difference can be noted by the presence of the Nexus weave (discussed in the following paper). Some are limited in their frequency, others are more properly termed cantrips or orisons, and some have purposes so specialized they can only be used for very particular things.
For instance, the weave called Vicar's Grace utilizes all thirteen neutral aspect weaves and transfers a favor from the weaving cleric to the woven recipient on the crest of a Nexus weave. Crafter's Seal, a far simpler weave, embroiders the Nexus then Divyaush weave into an object. Another is Hodierna's Caress, where the Hodierna, Berengeria, Kuniyo, and Alamhif weaves are finalized with a Nexus weave so that the recipient's vitality receives a minor boost. A fourth weave is the Forthright Light, intertwining Rutilor with Nexus to cause the woven adventurer to receive a glow similar to the Cleric's Divine Radiance spell.
These are but mere possibilites.
Further ideas: Offensive weaves might be similar in idea to offensive communes. You might be able to weave an area, like Meraud's Commune affects the area.