Leeching
From Mizahar Lore
| "The self does not own itself. If you wish to be someone else, be prepared to trade yourself away." - From the Treval Codex |
| Personal magic | |
 | |
| Full name | Leeching |
|---|---|
| Availability | Throughout Mizahar |
| Learned from | Users, books |
| Key concept | Stealing from another's soul and trading parts of it |
| Uses | Acquisition of information, memories, skills and conditions |
| Risks | Various personality disorders, false memories, inevitable loss of self |
Leeching is a discipline of personal magic that focuses on stealing small parts of another creature's soul and incorporating them into the user's own. When Leeching is successful, the loss and gain are permanent. While it has been likened to Hypnotism in that both can affect someone's mind and feelings, Leeching is in fact very different in that it literally digs holes into the victim's soul, taking away from them. This includes anything non-physical about the target, ranging from feelings to memories and skills, and even magical conditions placed upon them.
There is one, major drawback to Leeching. The souls of mortals cannot be artificially shrunk or expanded; in order to gain something, the user needs to give something of himself back to the victim of Leeching. While the trade is usually biased towards the Leecher, it must still involve the same amount of material. To gain a thought, a thought is given away. A memory for a memory, a skill for a skill. Control over what is gained (and lost) improves with skill, but there is always a chance that something important will be sacrificed. The Leecher is prepared to gamble himself away, knowing well that he may not be able to recover what is lost, since he will not remember what it was in the first place.