Antimagic

From Mizahar Lore

Current revision as of 16:59, 12 May 2014

"If there was a way to completely cancel magic, it would have been invented long ago. By a wizard. Whom we would be calling 'Your Majesty'." - Aurelius Dootsby, journals

Antimagic is a general term referring to methods that prevent a wizard from using magic. These methods are usually effective in safely keeping a wizard under custody, though they are not as useful in actually apprehending the wizard.

Overview

Wizards can be powerful people, and have access to abilities that merely require them to concentrate in silence. Thankfully, they are not invincible, either; magic has plenty of drawbacks and caveats that experienced wizard hunters know and exploit to their advantage. Still, this raises a problem whenever a wizard needs to be imprisoned, or stripped of dangerous powers but not killed. "Quality control" was one of the first problems ancient magic users sought to address; that is, how to take magic away from those who were not fit for it.

Because Personal magic and Gnosis have different power sources, they also differ in the ways they are dampened and blocked. World magic users have no special abilities and are just like normal people when they have no access to their tools and labs, so they hardly cause any problem when it comes to detention.

Personal magic

Personal magic is brutally effective; unsurprisingly, those terms also apply to its antimagic.

• Djed shackles (or similar constraining devices) are themselves a product of world magic, typically Glyphing or more rarely Magecraft. They create a leak in the body's Djed circulation that is akin to an open tap. They typically take effect within seconds, and the subject will acquire their powers back within seconds of taking them off. High security prisons used to require two or more of these on any wizard at any time. They are difficult to make: a master level product.
• Mageworm is a small parasitic worm that lives in a person's guts and feeds off his usable Djed. The larva is ingested, usually inside a pill, after which it will quickly mature and develop. Its lifecycle is about ten days, after which it is expelled by the user's body. By that time it will have usually managed to reproduce, though. Mageworm can be an unsettling presence and bring pain and discomfort to the user, but has the upside of not requiring him to be shackled or constrained. Mageworm can be cured just like any parasite by a medic or healer.
• Lobotomy is the permanent way of disabling someone's personal magic. The operation is technically very simple and requires almost no equipment or instruments except a small icepick and a hammer. The subject is usually restrained while the operator drives the icepick through the inner corners of his eyes, severing the pathways that connect the frontal lobe of the brain. It takes just a minute, and is not very dangerous if performed correctly. Behavior changes following this operation are common. While a master healer can undo the damage, this is not enough to restore one's magical functions. There are occasional tales of wizards who got their powers back, but it is unclear how they did it.

Gnosis

Gnosis (also called Divine Magic) can be disrupted by a Lost Discipline magic known as "Static". Static itself is a divine magic in nature, but its primary use is to grant its practitioners the ability to scramble, mute and corrupt communication (including transmission of power) from The Gods to their marked followers. This magic even has the ability to interrupt prayer in all forms depending upon the level. Static works not only on people, but on objects and concepts that have originated from The Gods. Gnosis mark powers are specifically susceptible, though marked items and sacred locations can also be affected.