go back to that for a minute
then. To do a spell that requires a lot of energy you have to be
able to open yourself to enough power, that is, be a high enough
talent to handle it. More importantly, that power has to be
available. Power is just like any other feature of the landscape,
in some places there is more of it than in others. And, the more
that get used up in a certain area, the less of it will be
there.”
“So are there places where there is no power
because it's been used up?”
“Yes and no. If you use up all of the power
in an area it will be temporarily gone, but it will eventually fill
back in to its natural amount. It's kind-of like water in a pond.
You can splash all of the water out of a section if you're really
fast, but it will flow back in from the rest of the pond to fill
the void. And, just like a pond is refilled by rain, the power is
replenished by life energy. All living things give off power,
whether they are talents that are able to use it or not. With me so
far?”
“I think so.”
“Mages who turn to blood-magic don't wait for
the natural course of energy to seep out of a living being. They
rip it from them.”
Layna's eyes widened. “That doesn't sound
pleasant.”
“No. In order for a lot of the energy to be
released, you have to kill the creature. Supposedly there are less
severe forms of blood-magic where the mage can just drain a small
amount of blood from his victim or inflict a non-life threatening
wound, or even use his own blood to store magic for later use and
such. But, it certainly seems to me that those lesser forms of it
would simply be a stepping-stone to more sadistic magic once
they’ve tasted the power and realize that by just going one step
farther they can increase the amount exponentially. The more pain
that is inflicted, the more power you get. Luckily, there are
specific spells that the mage would have to know in order to
capture the energy, the knowledge of which, as far as I know, was
lost. Good riddance.”
“Is that what the book burnings were
for?”
“It's hard to say,” Gryffon answered
evasively. “Since the burnings were very thorough, we really have
no idea the amount or content of knowledge that was lost. But it
was certainly the original purpose. The rebels who overthrew the
King were justifiably terrified of blood-magic and were the ones
who initiated the burnings. There were no confirmed reports, but it
was also thought that the Dark King's Bloodguard secretly
participated in a lot of the burnings as well.”
“The Bloodguard? Wasn't that the Dark King's
personal body guard? Why would they burn them?”
“It's thought that the Dark King was doing
more to the ones he called the unworthy then just eradicating them.
There are rumors that he was experimenting on them, and using them
for all sorts of other atrocities. It's possible that the
Bloodguard took advantage of the fires to destroy any evidence of
whatever other horrible things the King had been doing before they
were ousted as well.”
“What happened to them?” Layna asked.
“They were hunted down and forced to disband.
They were then sentenced to punishments appropriate to their
alleged actions, depending on how involved they happened to be.
It's recorded that one of the leaders was whipped with 500 lashes,
put on the rack, dragged behind a horse, burned, and then finally
his ashes were thrown into the sewers. And this was after they
tortured him for information. The details of his crimes were never
publicly released. We can only imagine what monstrosities he must
have committed to have been sentenced so harshly.”
Layna wrinkled her nose in disbelief; both of
the heinous punishment, as well as the thought of the kinds of
things he must have done to others to have been thought to have
deserved such a grisly death. “What happened to the Dark King?”
“He was never given a trial, at least not
formally. A bloody revolt ended in the storming of his castle. The
crazed mob
then. To do a spell that requires a lot of energy you have to be
able to open yourself to enough power, that is, be a high enough
talent to handle it. More importantly, that power has to be
available. Power is just like any other feature of the landscape,
in some places there is more of it than in others. And, the more
that get used up in a certain area, the less of it will be
there.”
“So are there places where there is no power
because it's been used up?”
“Yes and no. If you use up all of the power
in an area it will be temporarily gone, but it will eventually fill
back in to its natural amount. It's kind-of like water in a pond.
You can splash all of the water out of a section if you're really
fast, but it will flow back in from the rest of the pond to fill
the void. And, just like a pond is refilled by rain, the power is
replenished by life energy. All living things give off power,
whether they are talents that are able to use it or not. With me so
far?”
“I think so.”
“Mages who turn to blood-magic don't wait for
the natural course of energy to seep out of a living being. They
rip it from them.”
Layna's eyes widened. “That doesn't sound
pleasant.”
“No. In order for a lot of the energy to be
released, you have to kill the creature. Supposedly there are less
severe forms of blood-magic where the mage can just drain a small
amount of blood from his victim or inflict a non-life threatening
wound, or even use his own blood to store magic for later use and
such. But, it certainly seems to me that those lesser forms of it
would simply be a stepping-stone to more sadistic magic once
they’ve tasted the power and realize that by just going one step
farther they can increase the amount exponentially. The more pain
that is inflicted, the more power you get. Luckily, there are
specific spells that the mage would have to know in order to
capture the energy, the knowledge of which, as far as I know, was
lost. Good riddance.”
“Is that what the book burnings were
for?”
“It's hard to say,” Gryffon answered
evasively. “Since the burnings were very thorough, we really have
no idea the amount or content of knowledge that was lost. But it
was certainly the original purpose. The rebels who overthrew the
King were justifiably terrified of blood-magic and were the ones
who initiated the burnings. There were no confirmed reports, but it
was also thought that the Dark King's Bloodguard secretly
participated in a lot of the burnings as well.”
“The Bloodguard? Wasn't that the Dark King's
personal body guard? Why would they burn them?”
“It's thought that the Dark King was doing
more to the ones he called the unworthy then just eradicating them.
There are rumors that he was experimenting on them, and using them
for all sorts of other atrocities. It's possible that the
Bloodguard took advantage of the fires to destroy any evidence of
whatever other horrible things the King had been doing before they
were ousted as well.”
“What happened to them?” Layna asked.
“They were hunted down and forced to disband.
They were then sentenced to punishments appropriate to their
alleged actions, depending on how involved they happened to be.
It's recorded that one of the leaders was whipped with 500 lashes,
put on the rack, dragged behind a horse, burned, and then finally
his ashes were thrown into the sewers. And this was after they
tortured him for information. The details of his crimes were never
publicly released. We can only imagine what monstrosities he must
have committed to have been sentenced so harshly.”
Layna wrinkled her nose in disbelief; both of
the heinous punishment, as well as the thought of the kinds of
things he must have done to others to have been thought to have
deserved such a grisly death. “What happened to the Dark King?”
“He was never given a trial, at least not
formally. A bloody revolt ended in the storming of his castle. The
crazed mob
Similar Books
