The Ascendant

The Ascendant

The progress of magic is a never-ending ardor for those who seek to advocate it. Throughout Ransera’s history, mages have broken boundaries one after another; they have discovered new magics, learned to channel and control aether, they have become experts and masters in individual arts. They have discovered abilities inherently inlaid within the Rune, waiting to be found.

And some of them - more and more often since the advent of the Sundering, but in small doses even before - have learned to evolve the Rune not independently, but through integration into the core of their being, melding it in a twisting dance with the center of their essence: their soul.

These mages, called Ascendants, are the apex of what that magic may become. They physically and spiritually evolve to something beyond human, though what they change to is often not easily determined. Many become Spirits. Often powerful Adac, their magic likely descending from the Gods and they in their new form inheriting the will of their arcana’s creator. Unbound by rigid and sweeping principles like other Adac, they appear to keep their mortal independence intact, though influenced by their Rune.

Some others become almost undefined, transcendent entities, much like the Dranoch Huntsmen. In this same vein there are those who appear simply to transmogrify almost into a different species, becoming the heralds of a new life form.

Whatever the case, Ascendant mages are mystifying and incredible beings. Though the erasure of much of their soul’s independence locks them from becoming or living as a Draedan, as well as Blighted entities, even those who surrender Godly inheritance for the Ascent often consider it a worthy loss. Ascendant mages are often classified as ‘divine,’ holding exceptional prescience over their Runic domain. They are like Gods of their chosen magics, and may influence and develop their magic to suit their will, empowering it as they grow into their role.

Ascendant mages may make new abilities for their magics. They may willingly choose their own mutations, minimizing negative drawbacks and structuring them to suit their fancies. Their aether reserves increase dramatically, and they may still perform other magics - even master ones - without hindrance, though they may never Ascend in another without a truly divine being cleansing their soul of their initial Ascent. Some have even learned to imbue their magical powers into Runeforged weapons.

The Ascendant continue to evolve, though each mage who Ascends does not gain all of their authoritative powers at once. They will learn and grow with time and understanding of their new state of being. Initially, all of them change in unmistakable ways, but these ways can vary dramatically.

In order to Ascend, one needs Help Desk approval after reaching 100 lores in a given magic and having been Master in it for at least a season. Once you do so, you will likely never be able to undo this decision, so all players should be judicious of this choice. Though Ascendant mages may eventually become almost God-like with their chosen magic, this takes time and depends largely on their development and other skills. The growth of an Ascendant is slow. Please keep this in mind.

The Deathstalker

Upon reaching Mastery in Sigilic Pyromancy, a new state of being becomes possible for the Ebon Knight. Touched by Wraedan, the Knight allows the Beacon to burn through the remainder of their soul, shaping them into an entity between the line of life and death. They become a Deathstalker, compelled by the God’s will to slay the undying. To this end, they are given powers of undeniable eminence, furthering their ability to adjudicate His will.

The Black Sigil - wherever it once was - moves to the palm of the Deathstalker’s offhand, its role changing. As Sigilic Pyromancy is embedded into the mage’s core through the radiant growth of the Beacon, the Black Sigil no longer needs to act as a Runic conduit through which the art is performed. Instead, it becomes a key. The Deathstalker is able to use their Sigil as a method with which they may freely travel to what they call ‘the Dead Realm,’ the place only witnessed with the ability ‘Searing’.

While with Searing, the Pyromancer could see, communicate with and react to the ongoings of the departed, their body remained in the physical realm. A Deathstalker is able to freely travel between these two spaces, extricating their physical body from one as they move to another. While this may seem a rudimentary ability at first, it is one of immense potential. Deathstalkers are incredible spies, assassins and escape artists. While they cannot influence physical objects from within the Dead Realm, their transition between the two spaces takes little more than a second.

Regardless of their space, they may choose to hear and witness ongoings from either or both realms at any given time, and they are undetectable as they observe others. Virtually nothing can discern their presence — only an Ascendant Semblance mage, perhaps, and not even other Pyromancers through Searing. This is due to the shrouding given to them by Wraedan, which obscures all emissions of aether and conceals sound, movement, and all other impressions feasible to the regular or extra sensory perceptions. Even in the case of an Ascendant Semblance mage, without the ability to lock them from their incorporeal state, they cannot be harmed. While the usage of the Sigil to pass through spaces is often a visual process, with an expansive dark green rift appearing and similarly colored sparks, this weakness can be minimized by a cunning Deathstalker.

Along with this, Deathstalkers become harder to fell. While they are still living, they no longer rely on traditional methods of survival. The only way to kill them appears to be decapitation, as well as the dismemberment of the Black Sigil, at roughly the same time. If they manage to enter the Dead Realm before dying, they can absorb other specters into them to rapidly regenerate, far surpassing the regenerative capabilities of Exigency as a natural part of their being.

Upon ascending to this mantle, there are things that change about the Deathstalker’s appearance. To begin with, upon entering through the verge by means of the Black Sigil, the Deathstalker will be coated in a heavy black curtain extending from the top of their head like a veil. This is known as the Dreadveil, and it protects them imperviously for a few seconds upon emerging. Whenever they are engaged in combat or are otherwise intensively using Sigilic Pyromancy, a lesser version of this veil descends to cover their face in a black-netted obscurant layer. Their hair will extend a dark shadow over their features, though they will be able to see perfectly well.

Their body will be coated in a spectral energy, teeming out from their skin. A ghostly illusiveness follows their steps, which appear to sound a wispy gasp as they move. The Enkindled weapons of the Deathstalker all become a pure vantablack, their texture impossible to determine, often confusing foes on their dimensions. They are also now capable of Enkindling body parts of theirs, specifically their arms and legs (or specific parts of those limbs) and these Enkindled limbs will appear somewhat spectral, partially transparent, with a black overtone and magma-like veins running across their length. These limbs maintain all of the advantages of Enkindled weapons, and allow the Pyromancer to perform Pyromancy without a tool.

Whenever the Deathstalker speaks in this state, a ghostly breath escapes from their lips, like yawning ectoplasm. Their screams and yells become sharp, incredibly loud and utterly terrifying, like those of a Banshee’s. Even regularly, not in combat, anything that cuts their skin open will reveal an ethereal ghostly layer beneath it. The longer one is a Deathstalker, the more they become comfortable with the ghastly half of their being. They will need to perform mortal functions less, will be content with mindless tasks for hours at a time due to their longevity, as the Deathstalker becomes ageless until Wraedan decides it is time for them to return either to life, or fade into death.

The Patron

The pinnacle of Summoning is the Patron. More than an Intermediary, nor any other mage of the Runic Craft, a Patron designs, creates and commands their Archetypes with near perfect control, capable of forging pacts with Summoners and using their aether to expand their spiritual colony. A Patron is among the few beings other than Living Gods and Imprisoned capable of dominating other Adac or Dregs, and crafting them almost freely.

In order for a Summoner to become a Patron, they must first be an Intermediary - and they must hijack the Archetypal Family of a current Patron, whether living or dead. The Summoner must do so to one of their own Families, betraying their Elven God or Orator of Fog, or assuming their mantle upon their death. According to theory, this must be done by killing a prior Patron and integrating their essence into the Summoner’s Soul.

The process of performing this feat is unknown, and there has only been one Summoner to ever near becoming a Patron, attempting to replace Nydreth during a recession in his power. While the Summoner was ultimately killed, Summoners of that Archetype noted that for days at a time, he managed to hijack control from Nydreth and design new Archetypes, even drawing the Patron’s tethered Summoners to his own soul.

Thus it is known that the transformation into a Patron can be done. In order for a PC to perform this feat, they must inquire in the Help Desk after being a master Summoner for a significant length of time. A moderator must guide them through a lengthy and dangerous plot-line to take the mantle of a living Patron. This includes Veratelle, as her essence appears to be gripped by a powerful force.

Obviously, a Patron is incredibly powerful. By hijacking the domain of a Patron, the PC gains much of the power of the old Elven God or Orator, becoming a God-like being. Upon becoming a Patron, the PC can design their new form and abilities and submit them to the Help Desk for approval. Their true form will forever carry a resemblance to that of the Patron they dismantled, their biology changing on a fundamental level.

While the abilities of a Patron generally vary between them, all Patrons are able to enhance their Vestige well beyond even the powers of a Qe'zhod. Their Vestige becomes the first Archetype of their new family, and serves as a powerful proxy to the Patron themselves. The Vestige cannot permanently die, as it can be reforged with aether, meaning this 'guard' of theirs can be tremendously difficult to dispatch.

The Elder

A true master of Transposition is able to become an Elder, by steeling themselves to the Shrouded Realms and the vast planes of the Aetherium. Elders are very unique and the physical changes marking upon each Elder tend to vary dramatically from one to the next. Common examples include skin that appears to resemble space (often nebulas) in color, perhaps even appearing mist-like or intangible; eyes that look similar to black holes...

Commonly, Elders have hair that is colored and even textured like cosmic entities, such as hair that changes to glow white like a moon, shining radiance in the dark of night.

They are also often lined with highly intricate and often beautiful adornments, innate to their biology. While this commonly takes the form of a headdress, whether organic or material (such as celestial-like horns or simply a circlet imbued around the skull), these adornments can appear all across the body and can hold vastly different appearances, though among each mage they tend to hold a consistent theme and style. Perhaps ribs of silver growing across the body, or translucent star-like webs that grow from the thighs to the chest to one's jaw. Even physiological changes are possible, though Elders keep their humanoid shape.

The powers of an Elder are often tied to their most central adornment, which is inseparable from them though it may be rescinded into their form at will. This adornment will often be a cloak in terms of appearance, though like with most adornments of the Elder, it can vary. It acts as an always-powered Node that can be used to create and power many portals; this effectively reduces aethereal expenditure by a significant amount, reducing the expenditure necessary to create and maintain portals, as well as reducing ramp-up time for portals. This has the obvious effect of allowing for much more consistent long-distance travel for Elders, who needn't recover long, particularly given their precision in controlling Nodes and Streams from afar. An Elder can also, unlike other Transposers, open portals in non-physical space; this is necessary for the utilization of Meltdown and Chasm.

Additionally, an Elder may tie other abilities into their Blinks by sowing Nodes into space prior to their leap. What this effectively means is that they are able to leave a Node at the initial leap point of their blink, and may force it to collide with their Elder-Node upon arrival. This allows them to near-instantaneously trigger abilities, as they channel them with the same Node collision as the one used to Blink. This can result in a Chasm being conjured rapidly; it can be used to lock foes into Suspend quickly like a trap, a number of other possibilities. They can also thread abilities into Blink without having to perform them at all, reducing their expenditure, such as the Interplanar Portal. Elders can, therefore, effectively travel through realms of reality purely through Blinking.

Blinking, as it is so central to the Elder's expanded utility, now no longer grates on their body the same way. Simultaneous existence and the traversing of planes is now natural to their Ascendant physiology, and Blink can be used with a much lower gap of five seconds.

Finally, an Elder may carve their own small domain within space, though it appears to exist within the edges of a pre-existing realm. This domain, far inferior to a God's realm but still arbitrated by their will, can even be melded with the real world or withdrawn from it at their behest. Commonly it is a home of some sort, and they cannot fabricate life within this domain. Things that physically interact with other entities must be physically viable; for example, a home can only be lived in if it is a home that has truly been built. Still, this offers the Elder a safe reprieve from others, and an escape from most dangers. It is, however, very exhaustive in aether to call upon this domain, though less so to enter it.