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The Blessing
The eight deities cannot hold all the world's magic by themselves. In order to keep themselves from being consumed by too much magic, they gift small portions of it to young people aged between 9 and 16, who then develop parts of the magic of the deity who blessed them.
The Blessing
The eight deities cannot hold all the world's magic by themselves. In order to keep themselves from being consumed by too much magic, they gift small portions of it to young people aged between 9 and 16, who then develop parts of the magic of the deity who blessed them.
Blessing, development of magic powers
There are no genes that make you more susceptible to being blessed in the first place, however, it's possible to pass some magic onto your offspring if you receive the Blessing and then have children later in life.
There are some cases of the same deity blessing mutiple people in the same family line, leading them to have the same or similar powers. This caused some people to believe that the Blessing was genetic, however, this is false.
The Blessing is fairly random and can happen to anyone the deities choose - it isn't determined by any outside factors, except for the fact that you have to live in Feralthia in order to recieve it.
The deities choose who receives the Blessing, so they most often choose individuals who are brave, honourable or have other good qualities.
The Blessing is passed from deity to vessel when the recipient sleeps. Once the recipient has been chosen, the deity waits for them to sleep before materialising before them and touching a hand to their forehead, thus transferring a small portion of their power to the sleeping child.
The Blessing can only pass from deity to recipient and in some cases, from parent to child. It can't be spread from person to person via any other method, so you can't pass it to anyone you know.
The Blessing is non-communicable, so individuals who receive it can't spread it to anyone else. Individuals are respected for receiving it, so are not quarantined or isolated.
The deity's symbol appears on the back of the recipient's hand the morning after they recieve the Blessing.
The magical powers passed on via the Blessing differ from person to person; even people blessed by the same deity rarely have the same powers and capabilities. Common abilities for those blessed by each deity are:
Mind and body - people blessed by this deity often possess powers of healing, disrupting the body's natural functions in order to harm a person, or varying different types of mind reading or control.
Shapeshifting - being able to change one's form, whether that be changing to look like other humans, shapeshifting into animals, or even into non-living entities such as water vapour.
Rogerverse deity of some kind - being able to create matter out of nothing. This is a rare ability so not much variation has been observed.
Netherith - the opposite of above: it can look like simply touching something in order to destroy it, or causing chaos and discord when in a heightened emotional state.
Nature - one of the broadest types of magic, wielders of this type can often control only a single 'natural' feature, such as the wind, plants, or fire.
Summoning - people with summoning powers are able to move or manipulate objects or things like water with their minds. In some cases, there is overlap with natural magic.
Vision - seeing, hearing or feeling glimpses of the past, present or future.
Magic - the rarest type of magic, this deity is the patron of magic in its purest form. They don't have to give out magic often as anyone who does recieve their Blessing receives a lot of power all at once. People who have recieved it are often able to wield pure energy and the essence of magic.
The Blessing lasts for the entirety of a person's life, except in extremely rare cases when a person uses so much magic that they lose the ability to wield it. However, this has only happened once or twice in the entirety of Feralthian history.
When someone who was Blessed dies, their magic is released back into the world and collected by their patron deity. In this way, magic is like energy in that it cannot be created or destroyed.
Recipients of the Blessing live a normal lifespan, with few adverse health effects. For the individual it is not dangerous to live with; in fact, it's usually beneficial.
The exception is the Hidden Years, a period of Feralthian history when recipients of the Blessing were considered dangerous. Receiving the Blessing could be a death sentence, and in certain parts of Istoria it's still dangerous to reveal yourself as a wizard. However, this isn't due to the condition itself but the societal perception of that condition.
As shown above (symptoms) the Blessing manifests differently in every individual who receives it.
The Blessing is given out pretty much at random, although it is believed that the deities choose people who are brave or good. So if you wanted to prevent yourself receiving it, you could just become a horrible person.
The Blessing is mostly only given to those in Feralthia, as they respect magic greatly and understand how to work in tandem with it. Moving to another part of Istoria could limit your chances of receiving the Blessing, although it is not unheard of for people not living in Feralthia to receive it.
As the Blessing leaves a visual mark on the back of your hand, it's relatively easy to determine if someone has received it. It's also possible for a lot of people with magic, particularly vessels of Mind and body to detect the presence of magic in another, meaning the marks can't be faked.
No treatment as such is required, however, recipients of the Blessing (who are also known as Vessels) are highly encouraged to join the The Hearth Tower of Wizardry, which can teach them to refine and wield their magic. Without training, magic is liable to appear in random, uncontrolled bursts.
Medicine isn't required to treat the Blessing. However, some medicines exist that can inhibit a person's ability to use magic - this has been used in times such as the Hidden Ages and when a particularly powerful vessel of Netherith emerges. However, these medicines tend to have more of an adverse effect on a person's health than their magic itself does.
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The Blessing is extremely commonplace in Feralthian society. Around a quarter of the population receive it. It is more common to be Blessed by certain deities than others - more powerful deities tend to give out more of their magic at a time, meaning they can share it between fewer Vessels.
The most common deities to be Blessed by are Mind and body, Summoning, Nature, and Shapeshifting. It is slightly less common to be blessed by Vision. In comparison, Annerith, Netherith and Magic do not give magic out very often, Blessing a small amount of people with a large amount of magic each rather than the other way around.
The Blessing is seen as a symbol that the Vessel is pure and good at heart. Of course, this is not always true, however, it does most often tend to be the case. Some richer and more powerful families see the Blessing as a symbol of status and power. Additionally, some powers are seen as more respected than others, with creation magic being revered above all others as it is seen as inherently good. On the flipside, over the years some have come to view destruction magic as being inherently evil. While Destruction magic is necessary to keep the world's magic balanced, societal perception of it is not always favourable, which is another reason Netherith does not like to Bless people often.
The Blessing has remained roughly the same since the very first Vessels received it, with little variation in what powers are given out.