Mark the Flesh, Mark the Soul
Marking the Flesh
Level: 2-9 (variable)
Casting Time: 12 Hours Per spell level
Duration: Forevermore
Components: Blood-ink wrought from the flesh of a magical creature, A Blade carved from wood.
Carve a spell upon yourself or another. You must cast Mark the Flesh at a level above the spell you are writing. At the end of the carving, roll 1d6 and subtract the result from the target’s Soul score(see Marking the Soul below). If Mark the Flesh is interrupted in any way during casting, the spell has been corrupted. The target still subtracts 1d6 from their Soul score, and cannot cast the spell* until they go through another Marking the Flesh spell.
A carved spell is etched into the target’s very being. The spell can no longer be slotted into a spell slot. The target may cast the spell without, whether physical, verbal, or material, and with a casting time of one action. The cost for this spell is HP equal to the twice the level of the spell. Non-Magic-users do not have a grasp on the fundamentals needed to cast magics in this way, so they lose four times the level of the spell in HP.
An additional restriction on spells that require targets is that the caster of Marking the Flesh must specify whether the spell targets the self or another target.
Each time a spell is Marked upon the Flesh, the target of the spell becomes defined by an ambition, purpose or ideal that defines their reason for being. As they lose themselves, they fall back on these.
Marking the Soul
Marking the Flesh is a spell forgotten by all but the oldest and most powerful Magic-users for one reason: it irreversibly damages the mind and soul.
When a Magic-user memorizes a spell, she is essentially allowing an alien presence into her mind to be released at the right moment. Though not always a pleasant experience, as spells are entities of living information, the mind puts walls in place to prevent any undue damage.
Marking the Flesh breaks down those walls, allowing a spell to become part of someone’s very essence. In exchange for great power and versatility, the Marked* is giving up a piece of themselves.
This piece comes out of the Soul score, a new ability score that only the Marked have. It is calculated as:
Wisdom score + 1/2 Constitution score
This new score can be used in a few ways. Most importantly, whenever a Soul Score reaches 0, whether through Marking the Flesh or damage to the ability score, The Marked loses the sense of self they once had. This does not mean they become evil or face some psychotic break — they simply stop functioning like a person and begin to function like a spell, living information made flesh. If the Marked was a great wizard hungry for power, they will continue to do so, but be unable to choose not to. A great hero could become nothing more but an automaton of justice, leaving behind all that it was to be human. For all intents and purposes, these characters no longer have the agency required to be Player Characters. What a character does once they’ve hit this point is determined by the ambition, purpose or ideal that they chose with each time their flesh was marked.
Outside of this, Soul might be tested at the discretion of the Table. If a character is attempting to do something that goes directly against one of their ambitions, purposes or ideals, they may be asked to roll a check against their Soul. On a success, nothing happens. On a failure, they are not forced to take a different course of action; A character with a Soul score above 0 still has agency. However, they will take some temporary damage to the ability score, usually anywhere from 1 to 1d6, depending on the severity of the infraction. This damaged is then only healed once they’ve done something in accordance with their ambitions, purposes or ideals. In some situations, a roll may not be welcomed and damage immediately applied to Soul.
An Example
Shilo the Magic-user is an unscrupulous bastard who cares only about himself. He has been Marked a few times, leaving him with a Soul score of 6.
Shilo (and probably his player) take a liking to a new torch boy who grew up in the same slums that Shilo did. Unfortunately, a fight goes bad Shilo and his fellow party members must run. The torch boy is both slow and unlucky, however, and will certainly be left to his doom. In a rare moment of humanity, Shilo wants to go back and try and rescue the lad.
The GM brings up Shilo’s nature and his multiple ambitions, purposes, and ideals that go against this action. Were Shilo unmarked, a change of heart or a new cherished relationship would be a welcomed change in the bastard’s character. But as a Marked, the agency bestowed upon all life is weakening.
The table agrees that Shilo should make a Soul check. If the die turn up over his measly 6 Soul, the table feels like this is a pretty substantial deviation from his normal state of being which risks 1d6 damage to the Soul score.
Shilo’s player agrees with the table on the risks and rolls an 8. They now must decide whether Shilo will exert his agency or fall back to his deeper instincts…
Finding the Spell
Marking the Flesh was once much more common than it is today, due to the allure of the power it possesses. It is believed that in the past, the strongest of wizards carved their greatest spells into their flesh and took the place of kings. It is believed that their wars ended the world, once.
After that, the Magic-users of the past agreed to let the spell fall outside the annals of history, killing anyone who chose not to abandon the practice entirely.
Today, the spell is found in the deepest sections of the most dangerous ruins, if it is found at all. Well, perhaps that is not true, either. Throughout history, there have been rumors of powerful Magic-users learning the spell and going into hiding. If these legends are true, then perhaps one could find a teacher on the road to power. Though there is no order keeping Magic-users in check, it is probable that the strongest Magic-users in the land would do anything in their power to stop the spell from becoming common once more, in fear of destroying the balance of the world.