3 sanguimanchers each wielding a blood stone vs Yves

Discussion in 'Debates & Discussions' started by Dragon, Jun 5, 2020.

  1. Dragon

    Dragon Level 19 (Enchanter) Exiles Beta Reader Citizen

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    The Hearth Mother sighed, “I am not an expert. I will also admit that I have never seen one. Most of my information comes from old tomes and stories, but my mother told me of a great battle that occurred before I was born. A trio of sanguimancers wielded Bloodstones and laid waste to entire armies. The Kingdom of Yves was almost brought to its knees. Several duchies were destroyed utterly. I do not know exactly what the capabilities of this Bloodstone are. Some say the powers vary for each stone.

    Kong, Aleron. The Land: Raiders: A LitRPG Saga (Chaos Seeds Book 6) . Kindle Edition.

    So long before HM was born the kingdom of Yves managed to destroy or at least defeat a trio of sanguimancers each of whom wielded a bloodstone of their own. While the cost was measured in armies and duchies, they eventually prevailed. So the questions for speculation :).

    1) Were the Sanguimancers masters of bloodmagic? We saw what the blood stone did for Richter and he barely wielded it for ten minutes against a few thousand goblins. The triad laid waste to entire duchies and destroyed armies, and thats just the damage they did to Yves. The kind of bloodpower they must have had at the end would be incomparable to anyone or anything we have seen so far in the series.

    2) How did Yves beat the Sanguimancers at the height of their power? We know a great battle took place, somehow the kingdom managed to win regardless of the cost, which seems impossible.

    3) Does the kingdom still have such power in reserve?

    4) After the battle was over did the kingdom seize the bloodstones? Do they still have them hidden away, perhaps sealed by the kings of old as a strategic reserve and to keep them out of the hands of Evil?

    5) If the kingdom does have the bloodstones, did they give one to the goblins as part of a deal/ agreement to attack Rione and the forest of Nadria?

    5.2) Could the kingdom be the architect behind the rise of the goblin and bugbear alliance, using them as a catspaw to weaken their competitors, possibly even preparing the way for an invasion or at least opportunistic attacks along the western border of the forest?

    6) How does the blood coven fit into this? Are they the remnants of the triads followers, plotting their vengeance upon the kingdom? Might they be the ones using the bugbears and goblins?

    Edit: sorry for posting this on the world mechanics subforum earlier
     
  2. Andrew Lynas

    Andrew Lynas Level 17 (Theurgist) Exiles Beta Reader Citizen

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    You moved just before I could post my reply, so here I go again.

    Is/was there more then one BloodStone type of Item in existence? I suspect that there are more then one, but they are of different strengths, capabilities, powers, ages, creators & origins. But all probably have the basic ability to Store Blood Mana and to help amplify Blood Magic Use.
     
  3. Waterhobit

    Waterhobit Level 12 (Rogue) Citizen

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    This is just speculative of course. But I image the bloodstones could have been seized or lost in the battles. It’s also possible that the sanguimancers retreated with the bloodstones or coming under the control of the bloodstones could have left no longer feeling any allegiance to mere mortals.

    I don’t think Yves is behind any real plots against the MV, as they really don’t know anything about it yet.

    The blood coven could be followers or descendants of the trio of sanguimancers. But it’s possible that they are halfway around the world. I can’t imagine there would be more than a small handful of blood covens in existence.
     
  4. Andrew Lynas

    Andrew Lynas Level 17 (Theurgist) Exiles Beta Reader Citizen

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    Big question is, are the Blood Coven connected to the Vampires in anyway?
     
  5. Chard

    Chard Level 5 (Veteran) Exiles Citizen

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    I’m really looking forward to Richter playing with a large amount of talent points again. Unlocking blood magic and one of the spells, that enchants on an item. He invests loads of effort and special materials and creates an item/ring that enhances his blood magic when he kills his enemies.
    And the HM walks over just as he finishes. “You’ve created a bloodstone.... you gyoti, you’ve created a bloodstone!!”
     
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  6. Dragon

    Dragon Level 19 (Enchanter) Exiles Beta Reader Citizen

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    Even if they did large states have no reason to plot agains independent villages. All they need to do is send an army and start making demands, Richter would have no choice other than surrender.

    Conquering the Forest of Nadria seems to me a very reasonable goal for the kingdom of Yves. Both regions are crisscrossed by the same waterways simplifying transportation of resources and facilitating trade, meaning the kingdom can extend its current system of governance and communication. At the same time the forest offers many natural resources that should be desirable to the kingdom, as well as the possibility of extending the kingdom all the way to the firetip mountains and maybe in time beyond to the eastern coast.

    But even if we assume the forest is the weakest, most disorganized neighbor Yves has, we know it has quite a few tribes. A straight invasion from Yves could be very costly if they decide to band together and resist. Better to find someone to weaken them first, someone dumb or at least someone the new racist king thinks is dumb enough to be used and thrown away. Enter the goblins, bugbears, hobgoblins, orcs, and either a drow faction or at least some stragglers/ mercenaries. Deliever them some resources, maybe train a few of them to the point where they can hold the remainder in line, dig out some of the more powerful but unused weapons from the yvesian arsenal (using the bloodstones themselves is likely to be unpalatable, thereas they have no responsibility for the goblins getting their filthy paws on weapons of mass destruction and using them to annihilate their enemies. On the contrary, they might even help stop the goblins and then just kinda stick around) and suddenly an alliance is born.


    Don't forget the land is jupiter sized, which means its about 120 times larger than earth in surface area. It has room for roughly 800 of our continents assuming a similar earth to water ratio. In addition there are likely water, sky, moon, underground, shadowverse, or pocketdimension dwelling civilisations. Even if blood covens are rare, given the scale there could be a lot of them around. I think at least one of them is in Yves.
     
  7. ShoughtLoud

    ShoughtLoud Level 18 (Magician) Exiles Beta Reader Citizen

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    Very on board for deeper magic enchantments. I mean yeah currently 200 talent points for blood mana (100 point 1 time cost plus another hundo for level 10 spell), but he could really use it given his multi class build. It also means he'd likely finally invest in his talent for reducing the cost per spell level.
     
  8. Michael Clack

    Michael Clack Level 5 (Veteran) Exiles Citizen

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    This begs the question of what would said enchantment do if applied to different items.
    Let's start with Tame.
    Weapon - randomly casts tame
    Armor - unavailable
    Ring - boosts power of tame
    * can build a collar that when placed on a creature, severely decreases it's resistance to tame.
    Now for the good one
    Blood harvest
    Weapon - restores Mana when dealing damage
    Armor- passive effect restore mana when near blood
    Item - enhances effect of blood harvest
    OP one
    Vitality puppet
    Weapon - small chance of casting Vitality puppet upon dealing damage
    Armor - ??
    Item - enhances strength of Vitality Puppet
     
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  9. Joe Schmoe

    Joe Schmoe Level 14 (Defender) Exiles Beta Reader Citizen

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    It would be great for the meidons too.. if they were willing to use it
     
  10. Dragon

    Dragon Level 19 (Enchanter) Exiles Beta Reader Citizen

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    I think we all know they are unlikely to do so. Its also questionable how wise it would be to spread the knowledge of this magic to anyone without a high wisdom and great mental strength. What happened to Richter could happen far more easily to others with a lower mental defense. Having your sprite archers kill each others over imagined disputers after the second or third bloodinfused volley sounds like a bad idea. That said, there is one candidate with a mind far stronger than Richters, someone who could use bloodmagic to its fullest extent.

    I'm of course talking about HM herself wielding the power of blood to power her vast array of spells and summon the fury of nature. Singlehandedly driving the bugbears back might not be out of the question. At the very least she would become a far greater threat to their plans.
     
  11. Joe Schmoe

    Joe Schmoe Level 14 (Defender) Exiles Beta Reader Citizen

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    Blood magic would require affinity. No way she has it. And shes probably less likely than the others to want a blood magic item.

    But you have a good point on deeper magic enchantments. If they attack the mind like the actual magic does then only a few people would be able to safely use them.
     
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2020
  12. Dragon

    Dragon Level 19 (Enchanter) Exiles Beta Reader Citizen

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    I wouldn't be so sure on that. Sprites are tied deeply into the primal forces of nature.

    Sure the wood sprites and the other sprites that we know off are on the pretty side by choice, dancing with unicorns, taking care of nature and bonding with pixies. But we also know they have a darker side and the power of blood is not inherently evil, its just risky because it influences the mind. It is also a primal force that I think has a strong tie to the nature of animals and the races. I could see both sprites and pixies having a boosted affinity for it alongside their other nature bound affinities.

    HM, likely being tier 2 or tier 3 could be a fairly good candidate for a blood mage. She most likely would never do it, but she may very well have the potential.
     
  13. Cire122

    Cire122 Level 10 (Filcher) Exiles Citizen

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    Is there a reason we think if he put blood harvest for example on arrows the the sprites it would assault their minds? Very few people who fight with arms would benefit from extra mana but sprites with constant mana for there infused shots would be powerful.

    I assume blood magic will eventually have a spell to heal from harming others. Having a spear wielding shield wall with that enchantment on the spears would be incredible.
     
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  14. Dragon

    Dragon Level 19 (Enchanter) Exiles Beta Reader Citizen

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    If you want said blood magic to go through someone with blood or a blood equivalent as is likely a requirement yes. They will accumulate blood power, like Richter did at the end of book 8. His max mana increased, it wasn't just a mana refill, it was a mana booster.

    Also, checks and balances. Boosts to max mana, higher regen and refills with kills? That needs some kind of drawback, something that balances out the great power. Especially if he starts passively drawing blood mana from fallen foes as a rank bonus.

    The only drawback we have seen so far has been Richter getting swamped by blood power, which increased every time he boosted his blood magic. Eventually it overwhelmed him.
     
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2020
  15. ShoughtLoud

    ShoughtLoud Level 18 (Magician) Exiles Beta Reader Citizen

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    She may, but HM strikes me more of a Spirit or Thought (my money is on Thought) user in the future rather than Blood. I think a part of it is that their racial enemies are usually the blood magi, and it kind of shows in their brutal quests for power and the interactions we've seen where it's all about control, submission, and power. Whereas sprites (though brutal in their own right surely) are a bit more harmonic with their surroundings/ neighbors. They don't abide trespassers, but it's not like they're on a constant drive to expand their borders and seem mostly content with their holdings. There is a hierarchy, but it's not the kind where those in the higher echelons will literally murder those lower on the totem pole because they walked in front of them while in a small tantrum.
     
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  16. Dragon

    Dragon Level 19 (Enchanter) Exiles Beta Reader Citizen

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    Thought user I could see. I'm just saying that from what we have seen she would be a very powerful blood mage.

    As for them planning to shoot Richter, don't forget he was a human trespasser on sprite lands. Given what the poachers did to Sion's bloodbrother and tried to do to Sion inside what was likely sprite territory, that may explain a lot of the sprite hostility, especially if they considered Richter a scout for a new group of poachers. A kindir or other forest dweller might have faced no worse than a warning arrow in the ground. Sion certainly showed his hatred of humans, a hatred that may be well justified.
     
  17. Joe Schmoe

    Joe Schmoe Level 14 (Defender) Exiles Beta Reader Citizen

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    it would really suck if blood magic enchantments did attack the users mind. The only example we have to go off of is the blood stone, which does attack the users will, however its an extreme example to use and the blood stone appears to have been designed to serve its creator more so than its user. Not an ideal comparison.

    I think its worth the risk for richter to spend the points and unlock something to find out.l either way. But another possible check/balance for a blood enchantment may be it needs x units of blood before it can activate. Basically a "wake up" period.

    Making its user powerful, but only after they have spilled blood. More of a long term and large scale battle advantage than a instakill monster thhing. Not sure how that would work with arrows though.

    The other, more obvious way to balance is make them have a massive soul point cost. Only high quality materials and high level souls plus a high level enchanter could make them. In this scenario, outfitting his army with this level of gear would be doable, but only after a long period of gathering the higher level metals and such.

    A third mechanism would be an additional cost to use/ enchant the actual items. Say, to make a single sword costs a reasonably high amount of soul points and requires a good quality metal, but also requires a blood payment of 500 hp's. He wont be able to make very many items per day with that cost. Then any time someone uses the enchantment, some of their own hp's are drained away.

    In my opinion the mind attack would be worst because nobody in the village really could use them 100% safely. There will always be the threat of becoming overwhelmed one way or another, or having brutal tendencies creep into their normal behavior.
     
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  18. Dragon

    Dragon Level 19 (Enchanter) Exiles Beta Reader Citizen

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    We also have the example of what the blood crystal did. I don't think the mind thing is permanent, remember how Richter pictures it as a rising tide of blood flooding his mental fortress? That's how I imagine it, with every use of blood magic the water rises just a little, but it drains away over time. It puts a cap on how much you can boost your max mana and regen as well as how many times you can refill off of fallen foes before things start getting dicy.

    Might be worthwhile having Alma teach mental defence to any potential bloodmages. Might be worth it to teach everyone with the affinity how to do it.
     
  19. Dragon

    Dragon Level 19 (Enchanter) Exiles Beta Reader Citizen

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    Here we go :)

    Battle-drunk laughter spilled out of Richter’s throat as streams of ruby light rose from the bloody ground. In his mindscape, more blood flowed toward his mental fortress, but his Tier 2 mind was more than safe behind its high defenses. His magic was siphoning mana from the life blood of the orcs. Each blood source could restore one mana per second for every skill level of Blood magic Richter possessed. At skill level twenty and with so many bodies, his mana bar filled as fast as pouring water into a glass. Not only did his MPs get replenished, but the max capacity of his mana pool increased at the same rate. For the next hour, he was able to harness more mana than he ever had before. He stared out at the worms assaulting his Earth shield with an almost sexual anticipation.

    Kong, Aleron. The Land: Monsters: A LitRPG Saga (Chaos Seeds Book 8) . Tamori Publications, LLC. Kindle Edition.
     
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  20. Dragon

    Dragon Level 19 (Enchanter) Exiles Beta Reader Citizen

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    Just to showcase how powerful this is, Richter adds 1200 to his max mana per minute per bloodsource and restores the same amount. If he spends an hour bathing in the blood of the battlefield his max mana could be in the hundreds of thousands.

    Of course, this only matters if he can keep the blood power from overwhelming his mental defences.
     
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