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Battlelords of the 23rd Century Scenario

                               

Blood Tattoos - Origins

 

 

This form of enhancement was developed by the blood druids at a time when the belief that the Earth was a living being was prevalent and magical energies were scarce. The blood druids assumed that all living things had to have leylines and nexus points on them, just as the Earth as a living being did.

 

It was thought that the chakra points on the body were its nexus points, allowing beings and energies to travel into and out of the body. The chakra points were believed to be linked with each other, but the energy linking them was thought to be too small to be visible.

 

The Blood Druids used their enchanted blood to connect the chakra points on the body with each other, and these connecting lines of enchanted blood were referred to as the Blood Lines.

 

They used blood as the medium to do this, because it is a substance that naturally contained a large amount of mystical energy, if they put enough enchanted blood into linking the chakra points, they could super charge the bodies’ leyline network and tap into the self-renewing supply of magical energy that would be released.

 

The blood druids had managed to recreate a semblance of the earth’s leyline grid albeit on a miniscule scale on a body of a recipient. Whose mystical energy reserves were greatly increased and who thus obtained a significant edge in a world where the magical energies had long ago dissipated at the end of the last Age of Magic.

 

After decades of ad-hoc experiments and the death of hundreds upon hundreds of experimental slave subjects they developed what they called Blood Tattoos.

 

To bestow blood tattoos to a subject a blood druid uses his Artanus to make innumerable incisions into the body while endlessly chanting, allowing the blood to flow freely out of the body, until the subject is completely immersed in a pool of their own blood.

 

At this point the blood druid stops chanting and using his Artanus, starts to meticulously and in minute detail to carve the “blood tattoos” into the canvas of the subject’s body. This scarring of the enchanted blood isn’t artistic drawing per say, but could be said to be abstract representations, geometric shapes, pictographs or evening writing.

 

Once the blood druid has finished carving his designs on the flesh of the subject, he will restart his chanting. At this point the blood will start to seep back into the subject but only at the major chakra points of the body. The ritual ends when this step is completed and the blood druid stops his chanting and checks the subject survived the ordeal (recipient has to save versus coma at -15% or die).

 

Someone who has received Blood Tattoos will appear normal, without a scratch on them. There will be no visible sign of tattooing and there won’t even be a hint of magic or the supernatural about them. In fact there will be nothing extraordinary about him. They will appear as they always have, a human subject will be a normal human, and a dwarf will be a normal dwarf.

 

Only when a blood tattoo is activated will it become visible. Activation is done by pouring mystical energy into the tattoo or smearing blood on some aspect of the tattoo you want activating.

 

It will become apparent that some of these blood tattoos are small in size, barely noticeable, while others will run the course of the body, demanding attention. Once Blood Tattoos become visible it may appear that some of the blood tattoos overlap each other without affecting the working of each other. For instance one blood tattoo may start where another ends, or they both may start and end at the same point. In other cases you may have a Blood Tattoo that starts from the middle of one Blood Tattoo and finish at the heart of another.

 

The Blood Druids refer to these Blood Tattoos as “Blood Letters”, and Mystics know these as “Sigils”. It is claimed by the Blood Druids that these blood letters are the mystical representations of the powerful commands of the Unnameable Beings that they used to control their minions. These minions included supernatural Intelligence, demon lords & gods. It is said that when a blood letter is used these entities are compelled to serve their mater. Whether this is truly the case, the Blood Druids propagate this line, and it may have some truth in it. Many mages believe that knowing the true name of your enemy gives you power over them.

 

When the Blood Tattoos are activated they summon demonic, angelic, elemental and other energies to enter the warrior’s body or send forth power into the warrior.

 

These sigils make the supernatural energy malleable to the blood tattooed warrior.  On Rifts Earth many of these warriors use weapons made out of demonic entities.

 

Some of the sigils even call upon the powers of supernatural intelligences. Who may let one of their minor essences deal with the request or more likely turn one of their minions to pure energy and pour it into the warrior.

 

This power comes at a price, something the Blood Druids fail to mention in their sales pitch. Many of the energies this Blood Letters summon are in fact Demonic Essences. Their purpose is to enslave the soul of the host and to take over his body. Many demons die in dimensions other than their home dimension, but in many cases they do not die like mortals do. Their essence returns to the demons home dimension where it creates a new body for itself to inhabit. Sometimes this essence fails to return home and wanders aimlessly for eons in the dimension its body was destroyed in; in many cases the demon lord forbids the demon from creating a new body as a punishment for his failure to serve his demon master.

 

These Demonic Essences are called by the Blood Letters and they are compelled to serve the host they enter, but they do not serve mindlessly, for this willing call is the salvation they have been waiting for. The Essence has a chance to experience corporeal existence for the first time in many epochs, but more that there is a chance that it may be able to possess the body, if the host is unwary. The last bonus for many demonic essences is that they will have a present for their demon lord, if they are able to capture the host’s soul. Mortal souls are the most valuable commodity for their infernal masters and are a source of great power. A demon essence gifting its master with a mortal soul will earn the favour of its master, and will be allowed to once again serve him.

 

Unfortunately for the demonic essence, whether by design or accident, the Blood Line grid the blood druids establish on the recipient of blood tattoos, naturally acts as a powerful aegis against hostile possession of the host.

 

This means the demonic essence has to use all its guile to subvert the host; they lure them into a sense of security by enticing them with great amounts of power. This makes the warrior reckless and easy to manipulate. The Blood Reiver uses his blood tattoos thoughtlessly and in many cases unnecessarily, making him easy prey for the demonic essence.

 

Evidence of mutation should be the first sign that the Reiver is losing the battle for his soul and body. Sadly many users of Blood Tattoos become enamoured with the use of blood tattoos and the incredible power they have to command at their fingertips, that they become oblivious to the consequences of such power until it is far too late.

 

Details of blood Tattoos HERE

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