INFO: Magics

[Shattered Moons]

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Elven Magic
Magic is a foreign element, brought to this world by elves. The use of this magic is possible only for elves. Elf magic, like heat, is a form of energy. It can be stored and used when needed, but like food, it can go bad and spoil.

Every elf has the possibility for this magic within them, but some never show any signs of it. In some tribes, the most basic of powers have atrophied. Only the most diligent practice keeps the powers fresh.

Theoretically, any elf could do any magic, but in fact this is impossible. Certain elves have inherent powers, such as Healing, Tree-Shaping, etc and have no ability with other powers. Sometimes, it takes a traumatic incident to bring these powers to the fore in an elf, other times an elf develops the powers from long disciplined practice.

Magic power is ranked on a scale of 0 - 10.

0 : Unable to Use Power - This is for elves that are unable to use a racial standard, like Sending and Magic Feeling. With time and hard work, they may be able to develop some use with it, but the power will continuously slip back toward zero if not practiced daily.

1 : Unaware of Power - This is for elves who have a magic ability but are currently aware of its. They may or may not use it unconsciously. They are easily fatigued if they actually attempt to use this power.

2 : No Control of Power - This is for elves that have a magical power, are aware of it's presence, but do not yet have any skill over it's uses. They are easily taxed when using the power, and it often doesn't function the way it should, they intended, or anyone would like.

3 : Barely Controlled - This is for elves that are starting to gain some control over the power. They are easily taxed and still make mistakes when using the power, but they can begin to understand their mistakes and learn from them.

4: Somewhat Controlled - This is for elves that have gained practiced use of a power. They can use it comfortably, but are still somewhat taxed by it's use. They do make mistakes now and again, but are just as likely to succeed as they are to fail.

5 : Controlled - This is for elves that have gained clear use of a power. They can use it comfortably with little fatigue unless they push themselves. They still make the occassional mistake, but it is now far less common than before.

6 : Well Controlled - This is for elves that have become fluent in the use of their power and don't often make a mistake. They are rarely fatigued by the everyday use of ht epower unless they push themselves.

7 : Very Well Controlled - This is for elves that are close to mastering the use of their power. They know many applications for their power, and don't find themselves fatigue in any save the more extreme of situations. They still make mistakes and lose control of their power, but it is not very uncommon.

8 : Incredible Control - This is for elves that have all but mastered the use of their power. They know many ways of using their power and don't often have mistakes while using it. They are rarely fatigued, even when pushing themselves.

9 : Perfect Control - This is for elves that have nearly mastered the use of their power completely. They rarely, if ever make mistakes. They rarely find themselves fatigued by the use, even when pushing themselves. They rarely are surprised or startled by a use of their power.

10 : Complete Domination of Power - You've come to understand this power so completely that there is little if anything to it's applications and uses that you do not understand and have mastery over. You are rarely, if ever, fatigued by the use of it, even under all but the most extreme of situations.

11 : OMG, You're a High One - Yeah, just like it says. You must be a High One to have something at this level of Control. This level implies that you never tire while using this power and can sustain it indefinitely. You never make a mistake while using this power, and you know everything there is to know about how to use it, what it can do, and how tiring it might be.



There are two forms of elf magic which can be simply defined as psionic powers: telepathy and telekinesis. Elves have many varieties of these two powers as defined below.  

[Shattered Moons]

Telekinetic Powers

Anti-Healing
Prerequisite power: Healing
Found among: healers, any tribe
Details: This is the antithesis of Healing. Any healer can do anti-healing and only healers may use this power. The power works much the same way as Healing, except that the target is injured instead of repaired. The victim may resist the damage, forcing the Anti-Healer to still expend the energy but without causing any actual damage. The Anti-Healing can pick a location to inflect damage.

Instead of doing damage, Anti-healing can put a target into a trance lasting in one hour increments. The Anti-Healer can renew the trance from a distance if he/she also has the Sending power. Only a Healer, using the mental healing techniques described under Healing, can bring the target out of the trance before time is up.


Fire-Starting
Found among: High Ones, tribes as approved
Details: This power has the chance of igniting a flammable object. If a normally flammable object is water-logged or otherwise resistance to ignition, the changes of success are likewise affected. No modern elves seem capable of performing this feat without complications, and attempts in the past by one of the first elf generations resulted in the bad magic sink that created Madcoil centuries later. However, other early generations used it with success as Lord Voll’s memories indicate.

Flesh-Shaping
Found among: all healers, wavedancers
Details: Flesh-shaping is similar to Healing, but instead of curing it is used to change the shape of the body. This kind of warping of the natural shape of the body is a very painful process, and can not be used on injured, damaged, or dead flesh. Shaping is done in 15 minute increments, depending on the size of the body being shaped. Flesh-Shapers can shape any elf. Only specialized Flesh-Shapers can shape non-elf creatures.

Healing
Dependant powers: Anti-Healing, Shielding
Found among: all elves
This ability restores health lost caused by wounds, diseased or poison by effort of will alone. Done by touching the victim, Healing takes time depending on the severity of the damage taken. This is a power possessed by only a few elves. Even in their previous world, not all elves had this power. A healer can learn to better his power and control through practice.
An elf can heal any tissues, be it elf, human, troll, preserver, or animal. This process, however, involves an empathic link with the target and is very difficult with a target the Healer can not empathize with. If the target does not want to be healed, the Healer must overcome this target’s will as he/she attempts to heal. Unconscious target can not resist Healing.
Healers have been known to heal mental disorders as well as physical ones. To do this, a Healer must overcome the target’s will and be able to Send.

Levitation (Gliding)
Found among: Gliders, High Ones, Sun Folk
This power lifts oneself of another person, creatures or objects by force of mind, and is called Gliding among gliders though it does not involve riding air currents.

Plant-shaping
Found among: wolfriders, other forest-dwellers, Plains runners, high ones
This power manipulates plants to shape them to the user’s needs. This rare trait seems only present among the wolfriders, though other forest-dwelling tribes may have developed it also. Wolfriders call the power Tree-Shaping, but Plains runners use it to alter bushes and other small plants. This power only works on growing objects, as the actual process involved delving deep into the life processes of the plants and directing their growth. With this power, an elf can cause a seed to sprout and grow almost instantly, as long as it has water and nutrients to sustain it in its adult size. A plant shaper can embed a plant with some of his magic by permanently cutting some of his power off and giving it to the plant. This will change the nature of the plant. For example, he can make a berry bush bear fruit all year long, or force normal vines to become strangle weed.

Rock-shaping
Found among: high ones, sun folk, desert elves, gliders
Rock-shaping is like plant-shaping, except that rock can not be made to grow, merely to change shape. This power can include Metal-shaping, and is used by gliders to make the weapons with which they supply the human tribes dependant on them. A rock-shaper can detect anomalies in rock.

Shape-change
Found among: high ones
Range: self-only
This High Ones’ talent was last seen in the elf known as Timmain, who changed to a wolf and bred with them, giving birth to Timmorn Yellow-Eyes the first of the true wolfriders. On this world, there is a chance that the changer will never be able to change back again.  

[Shattered Moons]

Telepathic Powers

Animal Bonding
Found among: all elves
This power is only useful on an animal with some level of intelligence. It is an empathic ability to find an animal that the elf will be able to maintain an empathic bond with permanently. This bond will allow the elf to communicate his emotions and simple thoughts to the other. The elf can also use this power to bring thoughts out of the mind of the animal.
Due to their heritage, wolfriders have a higher chance of success with using this power with a wolf from the pack associated with their tribe. Other elves and wolfriders without wolves have a normal chance with the animal of their choice.
No elf may have a bond with more than one animal at a time, and the bond is irrevocable for the lifetime of the animal, which is generally shorter than the elf’s. Loss of the bond partner is a traumatic experience for either member of the bonding, though it rarely results in suicide. Elves are too pragmatic and the animals too unintelligent to pine away and die.

Astral Projection
Prerequisite power: sending
Found among: sun folk, glider, high ones
This power detaches one’s essence from one’s body. Once the user is out of the body, sending range is multiplied a hundredfold. This sending can be used to find another mind and to travel to it mentality. Sending can be used to communicate with a target mind. The target of this communication will be able to see an astral image, a self-without-form, of the projector, though no one else around will.
If an astrally-projected mind is attacked successfully with the Mind-Snare power, the projected mind will be unable to get back to its body until the Mind-Snare user either does not resume the snare or falls unconscious without using the Mind-Snare to command the essence to remain next to the caster.
While caught, the Astral Projector’s body will lie comatose and begin to weaken as deprived of food and water.

Finding
Found among: all elves
This power allows the user to attempt to find something he is familiar with and needs. Most elves with this power specialize in it. For instance, Desert Elves with Finding may specialize to Finding water. However, it can be used to find anything the user is familiar with, including types of rocks, a lost friend, or an ornament. Success gives an exact direct and a close idea of exact location. A fumble with the power gives a totally erroneous direction or denies the presence of something which is actually present.

Hypnosis (Mind-Stun)
Prerequisite power: sending
Found among: sun folk, gliders, high ones
If successful, the victim is stunned and will stand shocked and be unable to defend himself. He will pay no attention to his surroundings, and can even be killed by another without reacting. A victim also becomes prone to suggestion, and Sending can be used in combination with this power to convince a victim of any intelligence to cooperate with the Sender. This is used by the Sun Folk to tame zwoot and may have been used initially by the gliders to persuade their pet humans to work for them. As with any use of hypnosis, the victim will do nothing obviously contrary to his deep-felt convictions and can be intellectually (or instinctively in the case of animals) convinced to go against his mental instructions if good reason is present.

Magic-Feeling
Found among: all elves
This power requires no concentration to initiate. Most elves are born with it. Some are not. It is simply the ability to sense that a nearby object or place either has magical properties or has been created with of was the site of great uses of magic.

Mind-Snare
Prerequisite power: sending
Found among: gliders
Range: mind touch
This is the ability to mentally entrap someone contacting the entrapper with Astral Projection. See Astral Projection.

Sending
Found among: all elves
This is the ability to telepathically send and receive messages over a distance. A Sender may broadcast is message to all other senders in range (Open Send) or to a specific target(s) (Lock Send).If an elf is exceptionally skilled at Sending, he can listen in on private communications provided he knows that a sending is taking place.

Shielding
Prerequisite power: healing
Found among: healers
Range: touch
A healer may, by touching a willing target, combine wills with said target to resist attacks made via Sending, Anti-Healing, or any other attack from magical powers