Resilience Arts
A Soulmaster's arts are powered by Resilience. Many of these are healing or restorative in nature (Befitting an SM's reputation as Healers), or Essence manipulation based. There are a small set however that make an SM truely horrifying to face in battle when they know how to effectively use them. Here's the listing and details of these arts. As with other categories, all arts will be detailed as follows:
Art Name: Name of the art
Focus: Includes learnable levels
Cost: Amount of focal element used to evoke the art
Evoke Time: Listed in pillars, roughly 1 second per pillar
Duration: Where relevant
Damage: Where relevant
Effect: A basic write up on the arts effects
History: Where known
Alternate Histories: Where relevant
Abjure
Focus: Resilience Major (Orbit 50)
Cost: 30 Resilience
Evoke Time: 4 Pillars (Decreasing with plateaus)
Duration: Immediate
Effect: Strips one or more (low base percentage chance, increases with plateaus. Functions as additional applications of Abjure, each time the effect is applied, it has the same percentage chance of causing another Abjure on the target. So, if Really lucky... the evoker could strip 10 or more effects from the target) effects from the target. These effects are anything with a duration. So Vision, Free Action, Resist Fear, Protection, Mind Blank, Soul Shield, Trail, Blend, Recall, Return, Reflect, Regen, Sable Shield, Blind, Scare, Deafen, Paralysis, Stagger, Poison, Curse, Invisibility, or Chamele. The art is reflectable, though if it gets through the reflect, it can strip Reflect as well. If Reflected, it strips arts from the evoker. The arts stripped are completely at random, selected from all effects on the target at the time.
History: The art of Abjure was created during the DreamStrike wars. The art was a creation brought to life by the DreamStrike masters. Though DreamStrike was their primary goal, they decided that abjure had to be created in order to facilitate the art. The DreamStrike Masters found that with the use of recall and return dreamers were able to disappear from the field of battle if their soul was in danger. Most dreamers had use of the art of Recall and the Gatekeepers were handily using the art of Return to keep them out of danger. The DreamStrike Masters needed a way to counter the art of Recall and the art of Return if it was at all possible. The DreamStrike Masters found that they could not interfere enough to block the dreamers in the room, as the dreamers could be recalled beyond and through wards, even the most powerful wards were able to be bypassed by Return and Recall, so they had to try a different angle. The DreamStrike Masters, using the qualities of the art of Purify were able to begin to strip the effects of Curse, and other small arts. They realized that Purify, in its purest form, “cleansed” a dreamers DreamSoul, and took away any affects that was not inherit in the DreamSoul itself. By essentially intensifying the effect of Purify, the DreamStrike Masters were able to strip arts that were not strongly bound to the dreamer. Arts like Resist Fear and Free Action were usually the easiest to remove as they tended to have held less connectivity to the dreamer. The DreamStrike Masters found this very useful because with the use of Free Action and Scare they could prevent dreamers from using either defensive or offensive arts which made the target much more susceptible to attack and more likely to be collapsed. Through trial and error, and much practice, their use of the art became solid enough to remove any affect at all upon the dreamer. The DreamStrike Masters discovered that they could even remove harmful arts from themselves with the use of this art. The Masters used this art to remove arts like Recall and Return in order to keep their target in range for the art of DreamStrike. This proved very effective in the facilitation of DreamStrike on anyone who opposed the DreamStrike masters. This art was only very effective with high level SoulMasters though, who were able to use Purify to a much greater magnitude than other dreamers were. Eventually, some of the SoulMasters who were once part of the DreamStrike Masters turned on their former alliances, and began to teach this art to other dreamers of other alignments in an attempt to counter the evils of the DreamStrike Masters, and to hopefully turn the tides of the battles. These former DreamStrike Masters taught the art to SoulMasters who had a very solid knowledge of the art of Purify, and now high ranked SoulMasters are still permitted to learn the art, which is now known by the name of Abjure.
Researched by OfF KiLTeR
Alternate Histories: It was once an art that everyone could learn but the DreamWrights changed it. Abjure was accidentally created by Idej Kard while he was doing experiments to attempt to create an opposite effect for all of his known arts. He got so tired he feel asleep and mixed all his potions together, thus he was only partially successful as this art does cure / stop effects of known arts but does so only at random.
Researched by Dark Jedi
Antidote
Focus: Resilience Major (Orbit 30)
Cost: 10 Resilience
Evoke Time: 3 Pillars (Decreasing with Plateaus)
Duration: Immediate
Effect: Removes the Poison effect from the targeted dreamer.
History: In a past age, when dreamers first began to war amongst themselves, there arose two DreamWrights of equal skill and opposite purpose. The DreamWright Yabnuk was a dark man, taken to dark passions. Revenge, plotting, and skullduggery was his meat and bread. The DreamWright Theofanes was a pacifist. He believed that only through peace, could the true path of concordance in the city be found. His favorite pastime was tending his garden in Cloudsbreak. In art they had few equals. However as you might imagine, their ways were diametrically opposed. In time Theofanes took an apprentice, a young dreamer named Alortes. Herein lies the crux of the matter... You see, Alortes made the mistake of standing between Yabnuk and his vengeance. Yabnuk could not defeat Alortes with the arts he knew for Alortes was skilled in the arts that protect a dreamer from harm. Yabnuk turned to his studies once more. He studied things in the dream that brought weakness, sickness and corruption. From these things, he learned to bring about a sickness in his fellow dreamers, a poisoning of the soul. With this power, Yabnuk confronted Alortes. Alortes escaped, but the poison still coursed through his veins. Alortes staggered back to the refuge of his master, leaking essence all the way. In shock and dismay, Theofanes twisted the art of Drain Self to work in reverse, and took the poison upon himself so he might overcome it with his strength and training. It took days before Theofanes found a way to rid himself of the poison, but that day did come. Through his willingness and self-sacrifice, Theofanes countered the poison, which Yabnuk had wrought in anger. Determined that no other should suffer Theofanes spread the knowledge to others, and thus engineered the art we know today as Antidote.
Researched by Balthiir
Banish Mare
Focus: Resilience Major (Orbit 50)
Cost: 5 Resilience
Evoke Time: 1 Pillar
Duration: Immediate
Effect: Basically a fairly crude version of what a Banishing House Prime does. Because of its fairly crude (by comparison to the House Primes), use of this art causes the essence to lose all strength, though the banished Nightmare Essence token left behind by its use can be processed by Chaos Wells and Prime Artifacts (Increasing the containers Essence Count, but adding no strength).
History: The art of Banish Mare was created by a very powerful SoulMaster, his name was Ri'ach. Ri'ach was a ruler of The Protectors of The Radiance, but was snatched from the dream on the day of The Great Loss and along with him, the secret to allowing a SoulMaster the ability to hold the art of Banish Mare without the aid of an item to use it. For it was indeed Ri'ach that created the art as well as being the holder of The Banishment Scroll that unlocked the ability for a dreamer to learn the art. With Ri'ach gone, so too was the art of Banish Mare from the dream. Since the re-opening of The Protectors of The Radiance, Ri'ach had watched closely from above within The Overlight, where he rested. Ri'ach watched the house he once knew as his home re-build itself. However, a danger grew near for the house, The Soul of Radiance, though growing slowly in essence count was not strong enough to survive the elements of the dream. Ri'ach grew nervous, and worried franticly within The Overlight for his house he loved so much. The Soul of Radiance was nearing twenty five thousand essences banished within it, but it was far from strong enough to last within the dream. A dreamer by the name of Elektra, daughter of the late Ellie, joined the house of Radiance around this time. She was the first dreamer in the dream to hold the art of Trap Mare, and she made it her personal crusade to strengthen the Soul of Radiance with using this art to strengthen the essence of many Nightmares before their banishment into the house artifact. It was with this crusade, that Ri'ach looked to Elektra for help as he re-entered the dream from The Overlight. Ri'ach told Elektra of the vision he saw for The Soul of Radiance and the house he once called his own. He knew that if the house artifact did not get strong enough within the next few months, the Soul of Radiance would be destroyed and with it, all hope for The Protectors of Radiance and their crusade against the Nightmares. Ri'ach made her aware that if the house couldn't reach fifty thousand essences banished within it and a strength over fifty one thousand, The Soul of Radiance would be destroyed. It was this danger that made Elektra commit to being banished into The Soul of Radiance, as Ri'ach stated to her that this was the other way to save the house artifact. Ri'ach stated "Very well then Elektra, for now with this wisdom I have gained, I know The Soul will be saved either way. But, let it be known that your agreement may destroy your Soul instead, and I can not allow you to back out of this. For as it is said, so shall it be done." Elektra told the house of it's plight as well as hers if this goal is not met. It was with a great commitment that the members in the house started hunting for Nightmares more, teachers started tasking for essences more, and rulers started the promotion of essence gathering. Within weeks, The Soul of Radiance reached forty thousand essences, it was then that Ri'ach returned to the dream once again, to remind Elektra that there were only eleven days left. Ri'ach then handed to her The Banishment Scroll, and told her to guard it with her avatar and all her abilities for he would be back for it, as it was his prize possession. It was explained to Elektra that his scroll held a secret, but could only be read and understood by a SoulMaster equal to himself, more powerful then Elektra was. It was decided that this SoulMaster was indeed Tybarian's Soul, Ruler of The Protectors of Radiance. So this scroll was to be given to him to read, and in return for Elektra's help in trying to reach this goal, she would be granted the art, being the first normal dreamer in the dream to know the art of Banish Mare. It was if they did not reach this goal that Elektra was to use the art on herself. It was from this day on that Elektra grew weaker, as the marked day grew near. It was from this day on that Elektra started to worry. As the day grew near Elektra started giving her prized possessions away to her friends in the house for a remembrance of her incase the goal was not met and she was banished into the house artifact to save it. It is believed that this act in turn pushed The Protectors of the house harder! To not see Elektra banished from the dream, but for her to remain by their sides to fight the crusade. It was on the day of her wedding to Praxis, DreamSeer of Radiance that the house reached it's goal of fifty thousand essences banished into The Soul of Radiance and over fifty one thousand strength. It was a few days before the deadline that was set by Ri'ach's vision. It was a glorious day for The Radiance as well as Elektra and Praxis. Later that evening, the scroll was given to Tybarian's Soul and with it's reading the art was passed onto Elektra, marking her as the first in the dream to hold the art. Ri'ach returned for his scroll, and smiled at Elektra, and let out a sigh of relief for her as well as his beloved house. For it was their never ending quest and love of the crusade that indeed made them all Protectors of The Radiance.
Researched by Raven Lunatic
Cleanse Mare
Focus: Resilience Major (Orbit 50)
Cost: 5 Resilience
Evoke Time: 1 Pillar
Duration: Immediate
Effect: Basically a fairly crude version of what a Cleansing House Prime does. Because of its fairly crude (by comparison to the House Primes), use of this art causes the essence to lose all strength, though the Cleansed Nightmare Essence token left behind by its use can be processed by Chaos Wells and Prime Artifacts (Increasing the containers Essence Count, but adding no strength).
History: The art of cleanse mare was created by a group of GoE members after their first GoE prime was destroyed. While roaming CoD the dreamers felt they were failing their house and the city. Because their house prime was gone, they had no way to cleanse the taint from the mare’s essences they had. Taint began to over flood the city. More mares appeared, and they seemed to be getting stronger. More DreamSoul, giving out more damage, and a couple even began to see chameled dreamers. Well one female GoE member thought of an idea while bathing in meylia’s pond. While she was bathing herself in the city’s purest waters, she dropped a Emphant essence from her pack into the pond. She was going to pick it up when she noticed the water begin to boil. Black ooze was seeping from the essence into the pond. She began evoking purify to keep the water taintless. When the bubbling had stopped, she picked up the essence. It had transformed into a clear glass crystal. She realized that the ooze was the taint from the mare. She began doing tons of studying to create an art to have the same effect. She had one art almost done, but there was a problem. When the essence was cleansed of it’s taint, the taint would continue to ooze out into the dream itself. This was bad because it wasn’t actually doing anything to help the taint problem. After remembering the effect of purify…she decided to add the art of purify to her art, thus creating the art of cleanse mare…it would take the taint out...and the purifying effect would destroy the ooze. Thank goodness for GoE!. Soon the mare problem was controlled and the city was back on its path of balance.
Researched by northwind
Alternate Histories: Rediscover by Sage X:
14:37:14: Sage X whispers: Well the power of cleanse was in an item called the Harmonic Sphere before it was transferred to be a full functioning prime. We all gathered in a large circle...
14:37:22: Sage X whispers: as we each passed the item to one another in this circle we tried to achieve a personal balance within ourselves and to allow the cleansing power to be transferred from the item
14:38:51: Sage X whispers: to Omshae Vorsate. We thought of certain things good and bad and achieved personal balance as it was passed then finally given to Omshae Vorsate where it was transferred to
14:38:54: Sage X whispers: him also
14:39:29: Sage X whispers: Omshae Vorsate was no teacher only a house seneschal for GoE. So we then were able to cleanse through his powers but none of us had it ourselves.
14:39:36: >Dranak nods to Sage
14:40:19: Sage X whispers: A few weeks later the same process was used once again it was tried to transfer the power of cleanse to Xerom. Everything was the EXACT same. Once given to Xerom
14:40:57: Sage X whispers: Omshae and Xerom disappeared only to reenter a few minutes later in the same spot and the transfer had worked. The first ceremony to have the art transferred to Vorsate was
14:41:20: Sage X whispers: at GoE itself. To have it transferred to Xerom it was at Wishbringer's Ice palace. Well anyway once Xerom had it a few days later I was the first since before the Great Loss to
14:42:10: Sage X whispers: receive a task in it. Sadly I had to leave the City for a short time and SunBlade ended up getting a task as well. When I returned my task was done and Xerom visited our home...
14:42:45: Sage X whispers: Sun and I were to report our tasks together.
14:43:07: Sage X whispers: In the end as we all met at the house SunBlade's report lasted HOURS and after the report was done she was denied to learn the art. She had failed. I then reported my task
14:43:36: Sage X whispers: I passed and Xerom granted me the art of cleanse as the First non Lyran to gain it since the loss. Sun tried seeking Xerom for a week or two and couldn’t so then learned it from
14:43:56: Sage X whispers: me
14:44:17: Sage X whispers: And I in turn taught it to DreamEdge as well. That is the history and the only ones to posses the art
14:44:40: You whisper to Sage X: Just the 3 of you non-Lyrans have the Art?
14:44:56: Sage X whispers: Currently.... SunBlade, DreamEdge, Xerom, Tiranoc, and I are the only ones with the art. I taught the dreamers in it. Tiranoc learned it from Baeothis, and Xerom learned it
14:45:29: Sage X whispers: through the transfer
14:45:35: >Dranak nods
14:46:22: You whisper to Sage X: Thank you Sage!
14:46:24: Sage X whispers: glad to help :)
Curse
Focus: Resilience Major (Orbit 40)
Cost: 10 Resilience
Evoke Time: 4 Pillars (Decreasing with Plateaus)
Duration: 1 Minute + 1 Minute per Plateau
Effect: Causes the targets art evokes to fail more frequently. Uncursed, the fail rate of most is about 2%. At unplatted, curse causes that to rise to 10%. Additional plateaus add 5% to this failure rate (15% at 10 plat, 20% at 20 plat, etc..). Art is blocked by Protection. Of note, Projectiles (Charms and Chakrams) with the Curse effect take effect at roughly 9th plateau (50-55% failure rate). This effect cannot be detected by the dreamer under the effect of it, requiring someone to evoke ID Curse to determine if the targeted dreamer is cursed or not.
History: Head down, Sundain was lost in thought as he walked along. He was thinking back on his last trip into the Chaos, and what had occurred. Not only had his arts starting failing on him at a greater than normal rate, but they seemed to take forever to evoke--and, his blade seemed to be made of rubber, not steel! He had been lucky to come out of that alive! What was it about Chaos that had caused those effects, and was it possible to use that to create a weapon that could effectively be used in times of need? Pondering, he returned to his laboratory, and began a series of experiments. He tried combining poison and random and, to his amazement, created an art that did not sap DreamSoul but, instead, created the same effects he had experimented in the Chaos!
Sundain taught this new art to his apprentice, Machelle, with the instructions that she teach the art to all the other SoulMasters. Unbeknownst to him, Machelle was an extreme pacifist, and the new art appalled her. She was rather narrow-minded, and didn't understand that the art could be an effective weapon of defense--she only saw the offensive nature of the art. She, too, did her own experiments, and twisted the new art just a tad so that it really did absolutely nothing. THIS was the art she taught the other SoulMasters, while Sundain, unaware of her betrayal, continued to be immersed in his studies.
Eons passed, and a young DreamWright named Fokar happened to come across the notes of Sundain. He compared these notes to the actual physics of the art known as curse, and quickly realized what was wrong--the random effect of Chaos had been removed. It only took Fokar moments to correct the art and, in the dark of one night during the last Chaos Eclipse, he imbued the true art on all who possessed it. Currently, Fokar is continuing his work on Curse, and the art of Identify Curse, so different curses and effects can be given, and Identify Curse can identify exactly WHAT kind of curse is present on an avatar.
Researched by Minuette
Alternate Histories: The art of Curse was created by Crystal. But in her dream she wasn't worried about gaining power thru hunting or gaining power In a house, She just liked to explore the dream and learn it's history and what every thing in the dream meant. Well one day a dreamer know as Qwerty was walking by her and out of know where collapsed her. Having several self drawn maps of the dream she quickly found a sanctuary where she could restore her coherence. She wasn't interested in collapsing the attacker, she only wished to teach him a lesson. She thought how she could weaken him and stop him from evoking all these arts on everyone. So she sat in the sanctuary and all she thought of was how she could weaken him. After she had an Idea she quickly woke only to comeback the next day. the next day she spoke with several high sphere dreamers and asked there help to create a new art, a new art which later was called Curse.
Others liked this Idea she had and helped her develop this art. Around a month of studying and researching she had found completed this new art. The next day she was exploring again when you know who came up and started to attack her. She quickly evoked the art of Curse and quickly the attacker fell to his knees having lost most of his strength, he would not give up and started to slowly evoke his flame. Crystal pushed him to the ground. Totally embarrassed he ran out of the room never to dream again.
Researched by Magnet
Drain Self
Focus: Resilience Major (Orbit 25)
Cost: 5 Resilience (also 1+plat in element to be drained)
Evoke Time: 4 Pillars
Duration: Immediate
Effect: Allows the evoker to channel some of their own energy to the targeted dreamer. The element to be channeled is the onethat the evoker is currently focused on regenerating. This is the only known targeted art that bypasses Reflect. Dreamsoul can be channeled, but will not restore the target if they have been collapsed (In the past, this art would allow the force Restoration of the target, also called Soul Raping. Restoring them without giving them an option, and with only the amount of dreamsoul that the Drain Self had given.. making them an easy collapse and allowing orbits or sphere's to be floated from them). Another old ability of this art was to restore the target the same as Restore. The description given above is as the art currently is.
History: It was a time, long ago, when items were scarce. A time when, although you could find items, you were not always able to secure them into your backpack. As there were fewer weapons to find it became necessary to evoke arts, especially in order to collapse DM's and protect the city from Chaos. Practicing arts took longer, requiring patience and frequent meditation. Theofanes, an elder SoulMaster and inventor, was working on a way to solve the dilemma. Through the use of his newly acquired art, forge talisman, he attempted to combine different arts, but without success. After many, many months of discouraging attempts, he discovered, quite by accident, that by combining the art of restore and recall, he was able to generate elemental forces to another dreamer, at a small cost of his elemental forces, which also aspired him to name this new art "Drain Self." Theofanes practiced this with his wife until she was no longer able to progress further in her arts. He then taught her this art and she, in turn, helped Theofanes advance until he reached optimum in all his arts. They both set out to teach as many dreamers as possible so that they too could help others to grow stronger in order to defend against the DM's and protect the city. Theofanes loved his wife more than life itself. He was proud of her and her efforts to train others to help the city. They loved to spend time together, go for walks in the evening, and watch the sun go down. One evening while he and his wife were out for their evening walk they were suddenly, and without warning, ambushed by the Dark Mare, Molog. Theofanes was mortally wounded and paralyzed from the attack, unable to move, unable to defend himself and his beautiful wife. He watched in horror as his lovely wife was brutally torn to pieces by Molog. Molog roared with laughter as he disappeared into the night. But alas, when Theofanes regained movement, it was too late. He stared at his wife, now glowing in the evening darkness, a beautiful soulsphere. She spoke to him of a feeling of dismay, a foreboding sensation that she was about to be lifted from the dream forever. In a desperate attempt to bring her back he evoked restore on her, but to his dismay the art failed over and over again. She was slipping away. He could see her fading, the light dispersing into the moonlight. Suddenly, without thinking, just reacting, he evoked the art of Drain Self, not realizing what he was doing, not caring if it would take his own life But, to his wonder and amazement, she materialized before him, appearing unharmed. She had been so traumatized she did not remember what had happened to her. He held her in his arms, not wanting to ever let go as she looked into his eyes, telling him she loved him, talking to him of this beautiful night among the stars. He never had the heart to tell her what had happened, and never did.
Researched by Palani
Alternate Histories: Where relevant
FlameSear
Focus: Resilience Exclusive (Orbit 1)
Cost: 2 Resilience
Evoke Time: 1 Pillar
Duration: Immediate
Damage: Varies by Plat as Follows:
Level 1-9: 1-4
10-19: 2-6
20-29: 5-10
30-39: 7-12
40-49: 7-18
50-59: 9-23
60-69: 9-28
70-79: 11-30
Effect: Shoots a single moderate speed projectile straight out from the evoke cone.
History: FlameSear was created by Tenrik, who used the notes of Balthus, creator of FlameRuin. It was created to even the odds on the battlefields as a long range weapon, for valorous dreamers who could not use talismans and knowing that mares were dangerous to fight with a blade. The ability was refined into what is now called FlameSear.
Alternate Histories: A dreamer whose name is lost to history created the art of flame sear. But the story still remains. One day while boiling some water for his cup of tea, this dreamer (we will call him bob) fell asleep. While sleeping his stove caught fire, and soon spread throughout his kitchen. As the flames and smoke reached the den where bob was, he woke up suddenly. By this time however the flames had enveloped the one door to exit the den, and the smoke was so thick bob could not see his own hand in front of his face. Bob had been studying the offensive uses of resilience at the time, and as the flames reached his experiment on his desk, the bottle of resilience he had busted due to the extreme heat. The contents spilled all over the desk and began to bubble. Resilience being related to water, bob didn’t understand why the contents itself began to catch fire. As the resilience boiled and burned, sparks began to spurt out of the resilience. The sparks became bigger and bigger and soon resembled the shapes of the other foci’s flame arts. Even though his coherence was in danger, bob couldn’t help but become excited at this discovery. Soon a big ball of flame shot from the resilience due to the extreme heat the fire was putting out. The fireball shot out of the den and struck a water pipe in bob’s wall. Water began dousing out the flames of the fire. And after a few short minutes the fire was put out, and the resilience cooled off and returned to its normal liquid state. It was then that Bob truly realized the offensive power of resilience. At the same time he realized that this offensive power saved his life. Was it merely irony that the very element of the dream that relates to water became fire, and then set free the water in Bob’s walls to calm the flames? Only a week after Bob’s house had to be torn down because it was considered a safety hazard by the city guard, Bob created the art of FlameSear. Now all the foci had an offensive flame art.
Researched by northwind
Healing Aura
Focus: Resilience Exclusive (Orbit 60)
Cost: 40 Resilience
Evoke Time: 4 Pillars
Duration: Immediate
Effect: Causes a restore effect to simultaneously affect every member of the evoker's party. Exact amounts healed are unknown currently, though has been described as "Disappointing" by several SM's that have it. This art is the ONLY known means of Force Restoring someone now (Restoring someone without their consent or final approval. As soon as this art is evoked, any collapsed members of the evoker's party are forced back to coherence).
The art has 3 possible results with each evoke, a low(roughly 25% chance)/mid(roughly 50% chance)/high(roughly 25% chance) number that is set with each plateau. At unplatted, it starts off at 9/14/19 and increases by 1/2/3 with every plateau. So at 10 plat, it heals 10/16/22. 20 plat, it heals 11/18/25, and so on up to 90 plateau (18/32/46 with every evoke)
History: Unknown at this point in time.
Imprison Mare
Focus: Resilience Major (Orbit 50)
Cost: 5 Resilience
Evoke Time: 1 Pillar
Duration: Immediate
Effect: Basically a fairly crude version of what a Cleansing House Prime does. Because of its fairly crude (by comparison to the House Primes), use of this art causes the essence to lose all strength, though the Cleansed Nightmare Essence token left behind by its use can be processed by Chaos Wells and Prime Artifacts (Increasing the containers Essence Count, but adding no strength).
History: Imprison Mare was created during the Nightmare wars. Nightmare essences were suddenly littering every corner of the dream. An Illuminate dreamer by the name of Sofiz was contemplating how to deal with the essences in a way that other dreamers could not bring the soul inside to harm, and would, at the same time create an item that once it was made, that anything could happen to the item and the soul therein would be safe from harm.
Sofiz spent months studying the components of a essence, and found that the essence contained several of the same basic qualities of a dreamer, and discovered that she could change the form of the DreamSoul within the essence. She found that by changing the DreamSoul that surrounded the chaotic elements of the essence, she could release everything within the essence, except for the chaos itself. With the chaos trapped within, the remainder of the elements of the essence were released from the imprisoned nightmare token, and spread themselves out. These elements released from the imprisoned chaos were no longer susceptible to the harm and potential damage that could be caused by drain, and therefore safely out of reach to draining, and soon to come, banishing FreeSouls. The soul portion of the essence was safe, thus the tokens could be shattered for all that mattered, as there was no soul trapped within the essence.
Researched by OfF KiLTeR
Poison
Focus: Resilience Major (Orbit 30)
Cost: 15 Resilience
Evoke Time: 4 Pillars (Decreasing with Plateaus)
Duration: 2 Minutes + 2 Minutes per Plateau
Damage: 1-2 (+1 top end per plat) every 5 seconds if the target is stationary, every 3 seconds while active.
Effect: Applies a poison effect to the target that drains their dreamsoul every few seconds. The only means of defense against this art is the Order of the Sable Moon's House Art, Sable Shield. Datoken and Darkmares are protected as though by Sable Shield, which can be abjured. Lesser mare Emphants and Bogroms are vulnerable to it.
History: The art of Poison was created by the DreamWright Boric, one of the older SMs. He was a great healer, and would never, and could never hurt a soul whether it be a dreamer or DM. During a stroll outside one evening, he and his wife were ambushed by the Dark Mare Molog. Boric was mortally wounded after the first blow to him. Paralyzed, he watched in horror as the love of his life was brutally torn into pieces by Molog. When Boric regained movement, he was able to counterattack the Dark Mare and heavily damaged it. Molog, however, was able to slip away into the dark surroundings. The SM tried chasing after it, but as much as he tried, the weakness that had overcame him prevented him from doing so. Angry at himself and depressed, he spent years locked up in his own room, trying to figure out a way to hurt an avatar even after a battle. Finally, he created the art of Poison. Once evoked on a dreamer or Dark Mare, the poison would slowly drain the Dream Soul out of the one being poisoned until death ensued.
Alternate Histories: The art initially did a single point of damage per tic, but the Soulmasters Guild (under the project leadership of Dina) conducted an effort to increase its potency by ingesting diluted poison concentrate drawn from the other guild members present. A few dreams later, the attempt showed results a few dreams later, with Poison gaining its current potency.
Purify
Focus: Resilience Minor (Orbit 5, Orbit 25 for non-SM's)
Cost: 15 Resilience
Evoke Time: 5 Pillars (Decreasing with plateaus)
Duration: Immediate
Effect: Removes any curse effect on the targeted dreamer. Some have claimed that the art somehow interferes with or causes pain to Darkmares and Datoken, though no proof or examples of this have been found.
History: Purify was originally created by Lorac. Purify was originally meant to be used in avatar creation. Through a complex set of dyes, and Purify, you could bleach the colors and put them back in. Naturally, this has no practical use in the Dream... since we just simply choose the colors in our mind. So, discouraged, Lorac decided to move on with Purify and eventually found that Purify, when applied to a soul, instead of clothes, would wipe any blemishes off of it, such as Curse.
Researched by Midhir
Restore
Focus: Resilience Minor (Orbit 15, 35 for non-SM's)
Cost: 5 Resilience
Evoke Time: 2 Pillars
Duration: Immediate
Effect: Restores a collapsed dreamer to coherance, and heals a certain amount of the targets Dreamsoul that varies by plateau.
Levels: 0-9: 1-5
10-19: 2-6
20-29: 3-10
30-39: 4-11
40-49: 5-12
50-59: 6-13
60-69: 7-14
70-79: 8-15
80-89: 9-16?
90-99: 10-17?
History: The Art of Restore was created by the Master SoulMaster, Cadas. Both he, and his wife, Della, were FreeSpirits. Both were held in high regard by all the Houses. Their dedication was known throughout the Dream, and they often joked that they were never apart. It was said when you found one, you found them both. One day, Cadas followed too closely behind Della and he did not notice an Agoknight that shared the room with her. The last he saw of her, was her image disappearing from his party, as she was taken into the chaos. He rushed back and collapsed himself trying to throw himself back to the Chaos, he even awoke as a soulsphere. As he sat in the Lost Caves Sanctuary, he thought of only one thing, Della. He began his research into the art of Restore. He never gained another XP, instead it slowly seeped away, as Della was his experience. Without her, his dream was an imitation, kept alive only by his sole remaining hope. The Art of Restore was created in three short months, a testament to Cadas. Through it, he used the Resilience of his focus, to strengthen another's DreamSoul. Unfortunately, he did not have time to help himself, and he faded from the Dream forever, just after Teaching it to his Apprentices. So in using Restore, on those we love, or those we honor, we in some way acknowledge Cadas and Della, in helping restore what was once lost to us.
Researched by Ashbentiel
Reweave
Focus: Resilience Minor (Orbit 10, Orbit 30 for non-SM's)
Cost: 10 Resilience
Evoke Time: 4 Pillars (Decreasing with Plateaus)
Duration: Immediate
Effect: Repairs damaged shields. Each evoke restores 1 point (+1 point per plateau) of lost durability to a targeted shield.
History: Reweave was created by the DreamWright Mantic, as part of the Forgers Circle. He was very concerned with rebuilding, and creating things. In particular, he searched for an art that would help strengthen the City walls. His first attempt at this, the art of reweave. Naturally, it is too weak, even at the higher plateaus to effect something as immense as our Walls, but is good for spot repair. Taking this knowledge a bit further, he decided to try reweave on other talismans as well. After experimentation, he found that alts, elements, blades & their silk were all not durable enough to be considered for reweaving, but shields were. As no dreamer has the capability to reweave our walls as of yet, this (reweaving of shields) has become it's primary function.
SoulReaper
Focus: Resilience Exclusive (Orbit 1)
See Entry for Blade arts under Birth Arts, Here.
History: The SoulMasters of the city were not so interested in a blade of their Focus at the start, using only FateSlayers and the like of other foci blades to do what they needed. However, there came a time of great wars and much DreamStrike. Through previous wars, and up until these, the SoulMasters had relied on their healing powers to help others and themselves. Their proficiency was unmatched by any of the other foci combined in this. During these bloodier wars now, they saw that they needed a much stronger blade to protect themselves, while still aiding in the protection of the other Dreamers. A young combat medic named Ceri’luin, decided that she would aid her family of SoulMasters by studying the notes of all the blade makers past. Between wars and research, her time was spent, and at long last her task was complete. To the council she went, wielding a ‘Soulreaper’ in hand. Her knowledge of other foci, and her intuitiveness so impressed the Council members, that she was named Head of the City Health Board. She spent her time then, between teaching and healing, taking leave every so often to help in the wars, which were the main reason for her quest. All blades of the same level are the same, save their elemental composure. They have been worked on and studied by some of the greatest and most knowledgeable Dreamers, some not even DreamWrights. These tools some take for granted, along with the Flame Arts, but have had more composite studies and analyzing done upon them than any other Art. We can only strive for the perfection our blades have achieved in all the other arts. Failing to do so, would be an insult to the great dreamers of past eras.
Researched by RavenXR
Trap Mare
Focus: Resilience Major (Orbit 50)
Cost: 10 Resilience
Evoke Time: 5 Pillars (Decreasing with Plateaus)
Duration: Immediate
Effect: Traps a Lesser Nightmare, causing it to collapse and drop an essence with an amount of strength equal to the mares remaining dreamsoul at the time of collapse. The art basically draws a random number between 1 and (Trap Mare level +24). If the number drawn equals or exceeds the mares remaining Dreamsoul, the mare is trapped. If the number is lower than the mares Current remaining dreamsoul, the trap fails to collapse the mare. The evoker must have line of sight to the mares vulnerable spot (Front for Agoknights, back for Shamblix. Horrons seem to be untrappable). It does evoke, but cannot successfully trap a Datoken or Darkmare. The trappable mares and their full dreamsoul are as follows:
Emphant: 10
Bogrom: 50
Agoknight: 100
Shamblix: 150-200 (Unknown for certain)
NOTE: At the lowest of the possible Shamblix Dreamsoul totals, it is impossible to trap a full Shamblix, and the mare must be damaged to at least weakening for even a 90 plat to affect them. Even agoknights are completely untrappable (Without damaging them first) with a trap lower than 76.
History: The art of Trap Mare was created by two dreamers, both initiates of the Dreamers of Light, both names which are lost to history. These dreamers were in the Lost Caves, hunting some Bogroms. They were collecting essences for their house, preparing for a knight to be ascended to the position of ruler. They had been hunting all day and had only managed to add 600 strength to the house prime. They began talking of why it was that an essence from a mare, no matter what type (Emphant, Bogrom, Agoknight, or Shamblix) the strength was only 1. It was the DreamSeer of the two who decided it was the fact that that DreamSoul of the mares was exhausted when the mare was collapsed. The DreamSeer connected DreamSoul to the strength of the essence. The SoulMaster thought if the mare could somehow be collapsed while still keeping some of the DreamSoul. It was then that an Agoknight who had a really bad hangnail showed up. This Agoknight was in a rage, attacking everything and everyone, mare or dreamer. The DreamSeer began blasting the Agoknight, but his blast wasn’t past the second plateau yet, and the Agoknight just laughed off the attacks. The SoulMaster tried to poison the mare, but once again the Agoknight just laughed it off and continued his rampage. He began slicing the DreamSeer, as the SoulMaster chakrams just bounced off his hide. The SoulMaster risked for his partner and house brothers’ coherence. He began evoking Restore on the DreamSeer, but he neglected to keep his restore art above the first plateau. And the mare was doing more damage then he could give back. The SoulMaster summoned every last drop of resilience that could scrounge up. He envisioned a cage of resilience around the mare to keep him contained. As he lifted his hands, a jade cone appeared and the Soul master's Resilience was drained out of him and forged into a cage that surrounded the mare. It took him a few evokes before the cage but when it was, the mare was trapped. As the Agoknight swiped his claws at the bars, the resilience began to ooze into the mare’s avatar and into his soul sphere. The resilience with its ability to keep something in its natural state kept the Agoknight DreamSoul the same as the SoulMaster began firing chakram after chakram, and the DreamSeer blasted again and again. After what seemed like an hour, and probably was. The mare collapsed within itself, and all its DreamSoul was transferred into its essence that was left behind. When identified the dreamers saw that this essence contained tons of strength. When they returned it home, the ruler added it to the prime and witnessed as the strength of the prime skyrocketed. After a little modification the art of trap mare was formed.
Researched by northwind
Alternate Histories: See Entry under Lost Arts, Here, for details on a derivative art now lost.
Vampiric Draw
Focus: Resilience Major (Orbit 60)
Cost: 5 Resilience
Evoke Time: 4 Pillars (Decreasing with Plateaus)
Duration: Immediate
Damage: 4 + 4 Per plateau
Effect: The reverse of Drain Self. Allows the evoker to drain the damage rating in points of any focal energy from the targeted creature. The evoker must have one of the targets essences. Each evoke has a chance of destroying the essence, though this chance decreases with plateaus. The element to be drained is determined by what element the evoking dreamer has their natural regen focused on at the time. The evoker gains the drained amounts to their own element pools (Up to their normal maximums.
History: In the far past, there were great disturbance in the dream. Nightmares had invaded the city of dreams and soon after, even more terrible creatures, the Dark Mares, roamed the city causing havoc and great fear among the inhabitants. However during all this, some dreamers were concerned with much more pleasant matters.
Like the young maiden Cira for instance, had newly fallen deeply in love with a promising young SoulMaster named Loran. Cira sat softly on the meadow, picking flowers while she dozed away on clouds of thoughts about her love. She closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of a flower, brushed her blonde locks from her face, then gazed into the distance.
A loving smile played across her lips as she saw Loran approaching her. Holding her flowers she stood up and waited for him. Suddenly he dashed towards her and screamed something, she couldn't make out the content, but understood something was wrong. She turned around slowly then froze up as her eyes fell upon a smirking Dark Mare. Loran yelled for her to run as he ran to her aid, but she was trapped in its gaze and he was too late.
The Dark unleashed its terror on Cira, who fell to the ground then slowly faded from the dream. Screaming out his despair, Loran entered a hopeless battle with the much stronger mare. The result was given, soon he was exhausted, wounded and cornered. The Dark mare towered over him, loading up the final strike to finish him off.
Preparing for his doom, Loran sunk down to his knees looking to the ground below him. There before him lay the essence of his beloved Cira. He picked it up and squeezed it to his chest as his resilient tears rolled down his cheeks. A single tear slipped form his chin, fell slowly down and hit the essence he crunched in his arms. The essence slowly evaporated from his grip and a wondrous feeling washed over him, his wounds healed and he was filled with new energy and courage. With his refreshed strength he grasped his blade tightly in his fist and thrusted it into the flesh of the Mare. A ragged gasp later it fell to the ground and perished.
Loran never got over the loss of his beloved Cira and buried his grief in studies. In his lonely nights he researched many things, especially his experience with Cira and the Dark Mare, something he later perfected into an art he named Vampric Draw.
by Kaer Gerroz