Bane

The Origins

Bane is an old thing brought about by Malek, its practitioners known as Ferriers. The Mark was never intended to be wielded by mortal souls outside the god’s purview, developed by necessity as he studied the Dead Realm. Rather, Malek was pressed into calling upon the devout to combat unlife and the undying, and he made the mistake of imparting it upon a chosen few as a necessary tool. After all, it might have been the pox that could rot them from within, despoiling the courts of elves as a form of natural selection. It contained the seed of his malice, a fragmented precursor of what would later become the Black Sigil, and all that spoiled was sure to fester...

Yet Bane was not enough. The elves took that pestilence and turned it upon its maker, holding up that dripping pike to mock him as they carried on as they always had with so few of them succumbing to the seed withering their souls from within. Only then did Malek revisit the seed, creating the Black Sigil and thrusting it upon those who had lived too long. They would wither, in the end, but Bane still lives on as a reminder of the capriciousness of the races of Atharen.

Since its inception, Bane has been adopted by religious institutions the world over. Ferriers are seen as frightening shepherds of the dead, carrying the will of Malek or wielding scathing mockeries against him. No matter which side the Ferrier may take, there are many upon Atharen who would wish to have their soul ferried should they die, often earning them a quiet respect from the populace who require this vital service. Yet, they will still be quick to blame their ills upon them, and for good reason.

Concepts

Miasmata: Miasma is composed of the free spiritual particles that shape the Dead Realm, formed by the decay of ghosts and the scattering souls of non-sentient living beings. Miasmata is then the art of manipulating this phenomena, or interpreting it. There are three known types of Miasma.

• Ashes: By far the easiest form of miasma to work with, Ashes are the powdery essence that blankets the Dead Realm. These miasmic Ashes are everywhere, blanketing everything just beyond mortal perception. Highly malleable, yet limited, Ashes are typically charged, or inhaled and then exhaled.
• Pathos: When the body falls ill, a caustic miasma called 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. Unnaturally, a Bane mage manifests artificial Pathos to cause harm upon others in the form of Banes. Unnatural Pathos has the quality of degrading and dissolving the Ethos of ghosts, burning their incorporeal forms.
• Ethos: Comprising ghosts or the decomposing silhouettes of soulless dead creatures, Ethos is an inflexible form of miasma 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. Ferriers study Ethos to learn about the dead, by consequence learning of the secrets the living may wish to keep hidden.

Initiation

Those prospects seeking to be drawn into the cold embrace of Bane face a grueling ritual. The Mark of Control is a triskelion of inward-curving ends created by smearing natural Pathos against the skin, wrapping the mage in ribbons of invisible Ethos. Once this happens, Ashes will begin to flood their lungs with every breath as they develop Necrosthesia, and they will hallucinate memories of the dead. Should they fail to breathe through the Ashes, not only will they feel as if they are drowning, but their limbs will begin to wither and age as the Black Seed present within the mark spirals out of control. Many perish, this withering shriveling their entire body into an ashen husk.

To succeed, the Initiate must manifest Pathos within their palms, drawing from the sickly feeling upon their Mark while steeling themselves as they drown from Ashes, plagued by the distorted memories of the damned assaulting their senses. Once they have created this Pathos, they must swallow it to dislodge the Ashes before puking a blackened bile. In only a few short minutes, they will have become Ferriers should they survive this harrowing experience.

Threshold Sickness

The drawbacks listed below do not always come in pairs, and certainly not simultaneously. Some may come and others may not.

Lesser: Nausea, fatigue, headaches, muscle spasms, dehydration, vomiting blackened bile. Loss of Necrosthesia.

Moderate: The Black Seed festers, aging the mage by a year. Spontaneous illness. Bleeding blackened, Pathos-infested blood through the nose, eyes, and ears. Hallucinations of the dead.

Severe: The Black Seed festers, aging the mage by a decade. Requiem. Terminal illness. Fingers or even limbs may rot away and fall off.

The Black Seed: Within Bane germinates a seed of a primitive version of the Black Sigil. As one Oversteps, so too does this seed sometimes grow and twist, appearing visually as a corrosion of the Mark of Control. Often, the price one pays to be a Ferrier is ultimately a shorter lifespan.

Requiem: The gravest of possible Overstepping consequences, Requiem is when Pathos turns inward and flares, afflicting the mage with the full magnitude and breadth of pestilence. This is usually instantly fatal, rendering them a bloated, pus-filled mass that crumples to the ground and writhes in a death most cruel.

Mutations

The earliest of mutations are often a subtle, foul odor, a body stricken with a permanent shade of pale, or a constant illness that never quite goes away forever. Mutations of Miasmata begin to weave their way into a Ferrier’s way of life as they progress. Memories may be stored in ribbons of Ethos, or they might find themselves unwittingly secreting a certain kind of Pathos, even exhaling small amounts of spectrified Ashes with every breath. It is not unheard of for a Ferrier to develop a specific Pathos unique to them at the cost of being unable to access another of similar danger. Many useful changes are often but not always accompanied by unsightly pustules and poxes, the markers of disease. Ghosts may even be drawn to them, or feel repulsed.

Abilities

Necrosthesia: The first ability a Ferrier develops is a vital one. They can feel Miasma in all its forms. They begin to feel the thickness of the Ashes around their feet or running through their fingers like a subtle shifting powder around every step. Wounds with festering Pathos have a sickly warm, gelatinous feeling in the air close to the skin, and Ethos feels as an icy, stretchy fabric billowing from objects or coating the surface of ghosts. None of these feelings impede movement, passing through and only disturbing the Dead Realm mildly with their presence. Novice.

Allay: Oft overlooked by more forceful Ferriers, Allay is an ability learned at Novice that allows the Ferrier to soothe Pathos into Ashes, sanitizing surfaces and cleaning wounds. This is performed by touch, corroding small amounts of Pathos. While it can help stave off infection, an existing rot or even hex may only be slowed to help the body fight it, the core of Pathos too thick and deeply rooted to be Allayed in its entirety. Though poison may create Pathos through decay, it is important to note that the poison itself cannot be Allayed.

Bane: As Malek is the Living God of disease, so too do Ferriers then possess the ability to conjure an unnatural form of Pathos within their palm referred to as a Bane. Unlike its natural form, this Pathos may be visually observed by others, appearing as a black jelly overflowing from the hand as it oozes to the ground and sizzles away into invisible Ashes. This noxious, tasteless, odorless slime may be manifested with a specific symptom, and then tossed like a slap of mud, drizzled onto foods, or slathered over weapons with only a blackened hue to serve as a warning sign. Contact with another’s skin is enough to taint the soul with a chosen affliction, and contact with an open wound or ingestion will result in the effect being twice as debilitating. Bane can even curse inorganic beings with souls, and Pathos remains ripe for as long an hour once manifested before decaying into harmless Ashes while the Ferrier who created this disease of the soul enjoys immunity to his or her own personally manifested afflictions.

Shrewd Ferriers have been known to mix their Banes with deadly poisons to help victims die in their sleep, to contaminate banquets and fell the weakened afflicted, or to coat door knobs with this vile magic as a petty parting gift. It should be noted that as this material is warm and viscous, it may ooze between the plates of armor and seep through fabric, and feels distinct against the skin. Bane is unique in that a few drops of Pathos are all it takes to infect with the full force of abilities, such small amounts draining fractional amounts of ether from the mage. How long the symptoms will last for is dependent on how powerful the Ferrier is. Banes of higher tiers merely overwrite one another if from the same mage, steering the infection in another direction.

• Sopor: The first Bane is as insidious as any other. The infected will begin to feel tired, and while someone alert can stave this feeling off, it may slow their reaction time subtly. The real danger stems from lulling guests into slumber, where a deep slumber will leave the victim more vulnerable than any other malady. Some practitioners of Bane utilize this as an aid to sleep, owing this to the fact that someone who has not slept in days will likely pass out on the spot. Sopor is learned at Novice.
• Hush: Terrifying to experience, Hush deprives the afflicted of their ability to speak, cinching the vocal cords so that they can do little but rasp. Those with a more severe infection suffer a scrambling of the speech centers of the mind such that they cannot easily communicate through written or non-verbal speech. They can do little more than express themselves through thrashing their surroundings, grasping with futility at others, or calmly pursuing actions on their own without a well-intentioned Remnomancer to interpret their memories. Hush is often used to deflect blame, rendering the afflicted incapable of defending against accusations by a confident imposer or quashing their ability to tattle. At other times, it is used to kill silently or mask the cries of the panicked so that they do not give away a position to the enemy. Placing the general of an army under Hush would leave him ineffective. The symptoms of Hush are well known among the company of mages, with many being able to tell the signs as these stories are often shared as cautionary tales. Hush is learned at Apprentice.
• Sap: The afflicted will begin to feel weak. Sluggish. Within mere moments, the muscles will ache as if enduring hours of physical labor, their limbs heavy as they lose nearly a third of their natural strength. They cannot run as fast, nor strike as hard. The wasting, infirm or elderly may fall to the ground in a weakened heap, struggling to lift their arms. The Bane of Sap is learned at Journeyman.
• Rot: Ferriers are often reviled for their ability to afflict others with a slow death. The first sign of Rot is pain. It will feel as an infection radiating outwards from contact with that blackened slime, the skin growing yellowish and bruised with a putrid smell. Rot is particularly more effective when ingested or infused into a wound, weakening the vital organs as the tissues fill with all matter of bile and bodily fluid to oust the malady. Rot is something that can often kill, but it only does so slowly as the Bane progresses. Whether or not someone can fight it off largely depends on their ability to treat necrotized tissues, and how weak they are from other problems they might have with their health. Those who are undead will find themselves especially susceptible, their flesh slowly rotting off in clumps, and inanimate corpses may be rapidly dissolved to naught but bone in seconds. Going toe to toe with a Ferrier and being brought close to death often means they will live up to their namesake in the aftermath. Rot is learned at Expert.
• Malediction: When those gifted in arcana write stories of Bane, they speak in abject horror of Malediction. The gruesome way in which this ailment manifests has pushed many a mage from their noble path, others perishing under the consequences of their own magic. This is a malady that specifically exacerbates Mageblight or Threshold Sickness, corroding the soul with Pathos to lower the ceiling of an individual’s arcane stamina by close to a third. Spells that would normally push a mage into Overstepping are subsequently far more disastrous than normal while severely exacerbating existing Mageblight. Creating Malediction is highly taxing, and not to be used without careful consideration for the situation and the individual. Malediction is learned at Master.

Spectrify: Inhaling with deliberation, a Ferrier may draw Ashes into their lungs, where they are then drawn spectrified with a supernatural, ethereal glow. Exhaling this powdery material creates a bright, obscuring fog that is most difficult to see through when contrasted with dark environments. It is not much trouble to fill a room with these Ashes, but a Ferrier at Master could drown out an entire battlefield in this haunting fog. Within, Ethos begins to cast a visible shadow, revealing where the dead may pass and disturbing the ashes as ghosts pass by. Spectrify is available at Apprentice.

Avowal: As the living wither and die, they form Fixations from their attachments in the form of a person or object steeped in Ethos. Through touch, a Ferrier at Apprentice learns to pinch this frigid, elastic material between their fingers, bringing several inches of it into the visible light spectrum as a ghostly, thin ribbon. Through doing so, they garner impressions of the nature of that Fixation in the way of feelings, sensations, garbled voices, and odors to piece together a picture of what keeps them from moving on. Upon reaching Expert, they may then stretch and drape Ethos over their faces to subsume themselves in a vivid hallucination of any deadened memories related to the object. This has the potential to tear the Ethos, harming the emotional well-being of a ghost and driving them to rage—something the Ferrier may now do by choice to exacerbate a haunt or cleanse an object of Ethos.

Any object that has brought about the death of more than one individual or is possessed of multiple Fixations is known as Anathema, the Ethos thicker and more difficult to tear apart being interwoven with the memories of many. Reading these memories can quickly become impossible and taxing, driving those Ferriers who persist beyond that first impulse to recoil to insanity. Merely looking upon an object stricken with Anathema will fill a Ferrier with a sense of dread or excitement largely depending on how they feel about the nature of the dead. It is commonplace after a war for the Omen of Daravin to send for such weapons and men carrying the visage of death to tear every shred of Ethos from them, stirring the ghosts of the other side into a frenzy and driving them towards their homelands. Steeping Ethos in the miasmic jelly of Pathos would surely rot it away, but this would not further their interests.

Ferriment: Within most cultures upon Atharen is the sense that dead who are cherished should never linger, and that they should pass on. To Ferry is to answer for this sought after service. Rather than helping the dead fully let go, however, a Ferrier in the best of cases merely weakens the Ethos of a deceased soul so that it can do nothing but pass on for lack of attachments. In practice, a ghost with Fixations will more often than not still remain behind, albeit weakened and more docile. Ferriers perform Ferriment by gathering the Fixations of the dead into a room and placing them nearby to the body of the deceased. They then grab the ribbons of Ethos and bound them together, balling it into their hands. With as much as they can gather, they plunge the ball of translucent ribbons into a basin of Pathos, swiftly rotting it away in a manner that is less harmful to a ghost than shredding. This ritual will also weaken existing ghosts, provided the corpse can be located and excised of its Ethos. As merely touching Ethos drains the ether of a Ferrier, Ferriment is best conducted with assistance in the cases of ghosts with potentially dozens or even hundreds of Fixations.

Pallor: An evolution of Allay, Pallor is the ability to draw in Ashes to a wound, smothering the broken flesh in deadened material from the Dead Realm and clotting it such that even a gaping wound would cease to bleed, its Pathos expunged. This leaves the flesh pale and grey, yet dulling the pain to a throbbing ache accentuated by a chilling cold. The other use of Pallor is to halt the progression of a Bane of Rot until it runs its course, creating a constant, subtle drain upon the Ferrier. Pallor may be performed entirely through the mind when it comes to oneself, but to stabilize others the Ferrier must leave their hands upon the wound to keep the Ashes from withering away. Ferriers have been seen to survive for hours with fatal chunks of flesh ripped free before burning through their ether. Pallor is available at Journeyman.

Equipoise: Ferriers at Expert carry a striking grace brought about by their command of the Ashes around them. During the process of taking in a breath, Ferriers may draw forth flows of invisible Ashes to move against them, creating the appearance of hovering up to two feet above the ground for several seconds as the flow carries them in the direction of their choosing. Equipoise gets its name from the ability of a Ferrier to call upon these Ashes with haste against their bodies to help them rise to their feet without moving, or to regain balance. However, the moment they stop drawing in breath is the moment these Ashes cease moving and scatter to the wind. While this ability could cushion a fall from terminal velocity, it only functions close to the ground where Ashes are thick, so a Ferrier would still suffer injury without a way to slow their descent.

Venge: Born with such malice that only the spite of Malek could have given rise to such a thing, the Venge is a nigh-permanent curse of Bane upon the soul. Through grabbing onto another, a Ferrier who has truly mastered Bane may jab tendrils of Pallor under the skin of another, leaving them damned with a chosen Bane. Sometimes this is seen as a touch of death in the case of Rot, slowly killing them over time without regular tending by a source of magical healing or nullification. Most forms of medicine prove ineffective at curing the Venge, only capable of strengthening the body against it to reduce the severity of symptoms. To lift a Venge, scholars of arcana know of only three methods: the Ferrier who inflicted it may do so, as well as a Scourge or a skilled Druid. Inflicting a Venge takes only a few seconds of focus and unbroken contact for a Master, causing substantial strain within themselves. A Scourge can inflict one with a mere touch for very little strain, holding these curses over the heads of others as a form of blackmail to get them to do their bidding.

Contagion: A Ferrier at Master develops a way to spread their Bane afflictions more easily to large swathes of people. Breathing in Ashes, they may then choose to manifest Pathos within their lungs, blackening it before they then expel a charcoal-black mist teeming with a Bane of their choosing. Once inhaling this cursed powder, the symptoms of the Bane are immediate. This ability is hard to control, indiscriminate between foe and friend. For this reason, it is not often used except to cover a retreat or by lone Ferriers acting on their own accord. Contagion is heavily draining even for a Master, quickly pushing Overstepping as the radius of the mist exceeds a radius of fifty meters with poor visibility for those caught inside. More terribly, a Scourge may shroud an entire battlefield in this petulant darkness.

Scourge Abilities

Ruin: The Scourge may create a specialized Indulgence from Allayed Pestilence. When imparted, this Indulgence is always fatal for the individual who’s Pestilence it was made from. Creating a Ruination always entails minor Overstepping, and so is not done lightly. Even imparting one is multitudes more taxing.

Epidemia: Causing a pandemic to flare within a given region, afflicting entire towns and regions with varying levels of symptoms varying from individual to individual. Affects only mages, scaling with their mageblight.

Ascension: The Scourge

Many Ascensions are scrivened within the tomes of observant mages and mageocratic orders. When one turns the page to stories of the Scourge, they find hushed whispers of atrocities. Grave poems. Warnings. The Scourge is seen as a petulant creature of immense notoriety that has wrought about great societal reckoning and bitter upheaval with its short, brief stints in history. Among those with souls, there are few who can survive their unique ability to ruin a life with access to a simple smear of the victim’s blood. More troublesome, the Scourge is especially gifted at quashing life from the weak, capable of spreading a contagious form of Pathos that can bring a kingdom to its knees with a crippling pandemic if not kept in check.

To Ascend, a Master Ferrier must nurture their Black Seed by being bold and playing into its growth through Overstepping. By doing so, they will appear quite old with many wrinkles and a head of balding or graying hair to attest to this fact. Some fail to Ascend until they are abjectly decrepit. They will be ready when their Mark of Control more closely resembles a flower, starting to spread roots along the skin.

Like an insect weaving a cocoon, the Ferrier mummifies themselves in the Pathos of as many as they can find. Lathering their bodies in Pallor, they draw Ashes into their lungs and then entomb their bodies within it. This will begin the process of Ascension, the Black Seed growing freely as their bodies are converted to Ashes. They will dream the memories of the dead, inevitably confusing some of those with their own. Come dawn the next day, they will have lost the need to breathe, and lacking a heartbeat they will rise from the Ashes as a Scourge to exist as an affront to the living.

The Scourge is a being composed of Ashes interspersed with veins of Pallor, wrapped in billowing strands of haunting Ethos containing their memories that glimmers into the visible spectrum as they wield the power of Bane. They appear pale, yet they appear and feel indistinct from what they once were, save for the Black Seed. Blossoming, the Black Seed stretches and spirals along the skin like a winding tattoo of ashen gray. The lifespan of a Scourge is severely limited as few end up with more than a decade of life left to live by the time they may Ascend, but they will appear and feel as if they were in the prime of their lives until they begin to wither in their final days. The slow procession of the Black Seed over their bodies will serve to remind them of how little time they have left, and Overstepping will often strangle them closer towards the bottom of a thinning hourglass.

Those who look upon a Scourge will feel an inherent sense of dread or excitement depending on their philosophy towards dying. Further, a Scourge taking residence within a city will befoul it with minor plagues merely by being present. Vermin will grow aggressive, breeding rapidly and surging with vigor. Biting insects will multiply, becoming incessant. Minor diseases will become more prevalent.

As a being composed of Ashes, a Scourge is truly difficult to kill. They may spread apart into the wind, flying the skies as a greyish, gritty cloud. Parts of their bodies may be dissolved and reformed at will, and mundane blades will sink into a bed of hard powder rather than flesh. Scourges may partly manifest themselves beginning with the head down, giving them staggering mobility. However, they are not infallible. Ashes which have experienced trauma or been tainted by the Pathos of another will struggle reforming, crawling along at a slower pace and refusing to join with the Scourge’s body. Ferriers of sufficient skill may inhale and then exhale these damaged Ashes into sealed vessels. If not allowed to reform at least their head, they may not use any of their abilities, and a fully confined Scourge will rot away within a season. This is a staggeringly difficult feat as a Scourge is a terrifying assassin that often targets those who can bring about its end, their ability to gather information limited only by the number of people they can dominate with permanent ruin. There exist other ways to pacify a Scourge, but the cunning must devise these methods themselves.