On the Malleability of the Flesh, Corporealization of the Spirit and General Practice of Biomancy, Or: To Live and Die as Beasts, and the Phenomenological Discovery of Self-Actualization

Better known more succinctly by seekers and practitioners as the Oizarch Heresies, these four grimoires contain the theoretical and semi-autobiographical writings of Oizarch, detailing a variety of biomantic rituals and spells. While certainly not the founder of the school of biomancy, Oizarch's influence on the practice is unmatched. 

Despite the clear effectiveness of the rituals and spells they developed, Oizarch has been much condemned and bedeviled both in their life and the following centuries for the radical heresies proposed and theories they developed as well as the variety of cults their work inspired. The practices of Oizarch Cults vary from region to region, but generally are characterized by a host of moral and ethical crimes, rampant repulsive experimentation, kidnapping, poaching, grave robbing, etc. 

Index arcanuS

ON THE MALLEABILITY OF THE FLESH

"... and after the sixteenth trial the subject was able to manipulate the trunk freely, showing no signs of rot, delay, or undue discomfort. And it is thus that we showed that flesh, as part of the whole, can be cleanly divided and considered in and of itself its own whole. The flesh seeks the flesh, and when free of aspect it becomes as malleable as clay to the practitioner..."

By using this grimoire as a manual, a practitioner can cleanly remove a part of a creature and graft it onto another creature. For each HD of creature involved, the ritual requires one hour and one pound of salt. This can be used even with deceased donors, with an hours-since-death in six chance of failure.

The grimoire also teaches:

FUSE WITH FLESH

R: touch. T: limb, body-part, object D: [dice] x 10 minutes

Unwilling creatures must save otherwise you can fuse touched flesh with anything else that is touching the flesh e.g. fresh limbs, a wall, the creature's other arm, etc. If [sum] is greater than 9, you can make the fusion permanent.

ROILING POLYMORPH [credit: Skerples]

R: 10' T: willing creature, or unwilling creature of [dice]x2 HD or less D: [sum] rounds

For the next [sum] rounds, target creature transforms through a wide variety of shapes. Save once at the start of the spell to negate. Roll on the list below at the start of each round: 1-2: no change from current form, 3: small mammal, 4: small amphibian, 5: small bird, 6: small crustacean, 7: medium mammal, 8: medium bird, 9: creature of the same size and species as the target, but of different appearance, 10: creature of the same size as the target, but different species and appearance. The creature's Stats and HP are quartered when transformed into a small creature and halved when transformed into a medium creature. When the spell's effect ends, the creature is stunned for 1d6 rounds.

CORPOREALIZATION OF THE SPIRIT AND GENERAL PRACTICE OF BIOMANCY

"...because here we must grasp the two-part self wherein the body is composed of three aspects: flesh, and spirit. All flesh recognizes its sibling as they are from the same mother, it is the spirit that both fills the vessel, and in doing so constrains and changes it- but it is folly to think the relationship is solely guided by the spirit. Just as the flesh is filled with and changed by the spirit, the spirit is caged and forced into shape by the flesh..."

This grimoire instructs the practitioner on the extraction and distillation of spirit. With daily maintenance an appropriately restrained creatures has its spirit distilled and expelled from their body for use as an alchemical reagent. For each HD of the creature, the process requires one day and 50s in reagents to complete and produces HD/4 vials of spirit. Spirit can be used in a variety of ways, but the most well known use is as a spell reagent, with the expenditure of one vial of spirit a practitioner can add an MD to a roll or can control the result of one of their own MD. 

This grimoire confers:

MUTATE [also Skerples]

R: touch T: creature D: permanent

Save negates. Save once per mutation. Target gains [dice] random mutations. If the creature chooses to fail its Save, roll double the number of mutations, and the caster chooses which half are gained.  

OIZARCH'S IMPERFECT METAMORPHOSIS

R: touch T: creature D: [sum] minutes

The target's body changes into the (im)perfect form for its spirit. For the duration, gain [dice] mutations of the target's choice. If [sum] is greater than 13 the target may choose to retain one of these mutations. 

OR: TO LIVE AND DIE AS BEASTS

"...of course the two require one another, despite their desperate battle. They poison and bind each the other as betrayed and fated lovers. Still, with careful attention, we were able to bind the spirit to a portion of the flesh, allowing an unprecedented opportunity for experimentation..."

Using this grimoire, a practitioner learns the subtle art of shaping the flesh of a creature (or even themselves) down to the cellular level, allowing changes to appearance, gender, voice, shape, etc. as fits the will of the shaper. This does not correlate to any new abilities or changes in base creature statistics.

The shaping takes [HD]d6 hours to complete and requires the sacrifice of an equivalent HD of living creatures.

Also within this grimoire:

BANISH SPIRIT

R: 20ft T: creature D: [sum] rounds

Target creature must save with a bonus equal to its HD. On failure, their spirit is banished from their body for the duration. The target takes [sum] damage. Roll 1d6. The target:

1-2: Is provoked into a berserking rage gaining +1 in all stats and +1 HD.

3-4: Breaks down wailing uncontrollably and is completely unresponsive.

5-6: Flees all other creatures at maximum speed.

EXPLODE BONE

R: 60ft T: bone D: 0

Explodes an exposed bone into shrapnel dealing [sum] damage in a 15ft radius, creatures affected may Save for half damage. For each additional die invested, an additional bone can be targeted.

THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL DISCOVERY OF SELF-ACTUALIZATION

"...it is in the roiling conflict of spirit and flesh that the enigma of self finds its roost as consequence of forces external. Ever on the back foot, the self is both resultant of spirit and flesh as well as the missing third piece of the tripartite body- intimately knowable and at the same time not expressed in aspect..."

The last grimoire in Oizarch's Heresies instructs the practitioner on the process of chimerization, merging two creatures into one. This process requires two restrained or willing creatures and seamlessly melds their minds. The resultant chimera has the abilities of both creatures and the highest stats and HD of the two creatures. Chimerization requires [final HD]d6 gold and [final HD] hours to complete. 

This grimoire contains the spell:

ENDLESS FLESH

R: touch T: creature D: 0

The touched creature takes [dice]d6 damage as the touched spot begins to explode outwards with horrific fleshy growth. Each round afterwards, the creature is permitted a Save and on failure suffers another [dice]d6 damage as the growth continues.

TRANSFER INJURY

R: touch T: creature D:0

The target creature is allowed a Save. On failure, the practitioner deals their current missing HP in damage to the target, and for each additional die invested may transfer a wound, scar, or other ailment. If another creature is touched at the same time, the practitioner may act as a conduit moving injuries from one to the other.

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These grimoires, as with many, have been copied dozens and dozens of time by eager students and adherents, so roll below to see what form your discovery takes:

1: A dull, dusty, leatherbound textbook by all appearances. At night it grows legs along its spine like a centipede and enjoys crawling under beds, into sleeping bags, and onto chandeliers.

2: Carefully bound sheets of vellum, this grimoire appears to have grown into place on the inner layer of skin of a certain variety of notoriously brutal waste panther.

3: A raw, bloody liver that can unfold to reveal the runes inscribed within. Must be fed weekly or begins to rot.

4: An illustrated manuscript with lovingly detailed notes and diagrams in the margins from an expert practitioner. Enhances any ritual or spell contained within.

5: Coin Operated. A marketing method gone mad, this tome is entombed in a magical apparatus that only opens when fed 10c and closes if left open for more than an hour.

6:  Censored! This grimoire has been bound in very obvious ritual censure tape. Breaking the tape summons 1d6  Censors. 

2 HD: Censor

Appearance: a flowing robe filled with shadows and bloodshot eyes

Wants: to punish whoever is trying to read censored material

Armor: as leather

Move: 2x normal

Damage: 1d6 mallet or Censure

Constructs of the divine and other over-controlling entities, censors are used to ward off those seeking material deemed dangerous to read but not dangerous enough to destroy. They attack with floating mallets, or they can force a creature that attacked them to make a Save. On failure, the target is censured and unable to attack with the same weapon/spell for an hour.

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With all four grimoires, a practitioner may decode Oizarch's last spell.

OIZARCH'S PERFECT METAMORPHOSIS

R: touch T: creature/self D: [sum] minutes

The target's body changes into the perfect form for its spirit. For the duration, the target may assume the shape and abilities of any creature they wish and gain any mutation they wish. If [sum] is greater than 12 the target may choose to retain one of these mutations. If a doom is rolled, the practitioner must make a Save. On failure, they die and their body becomes something much stranger.

Find Person and Its Consequences

A devilishly simple spell, at its weakest Find Person will let you know the direction, perfect as any compass, of any named creature you seek, so long as that creature has a name. This comes as a sense of which cardinal direction and how far you are, but gets more accurate with more powerful casts of the spell. In cases where the target is not able to be physically, spatially, reached, the spell fails.

One constraint of the spell is that the name used must be the given birth name of a creature, not a pseudonym or assumed name. This is just one of the reasons why a wizard will never use their given name as well as a reason why many cultures utilize naming rituals in various forms. The spell is clever enough to find the intended target in the case of multiple people bearing the same name. This works just as well on people as on constructs, angels, demons, gods, you name it.

Consequences 

Find Person is an ancient spell, with some claiming that it was the second spell ever cast. Casters have used this spell since time long past to seek revenge, mentors, treasure, long-lost relatives, debtors, and more. Over time the spell itself has seen regulation by guilds and courts alike, with some lands forbidding its use entirely or only authorizing it for a select few, such as in Calabar where the assassins hold monopoly over the spell. 

It is said that in enigmatic Facsimile each person who was born in or entered the city had their names catalogued and inscribed, and a mighty arcanum powered a model of the city in clockwork miniature, showing where everyone was at any time.

In many pirate dens, seedy bars, student loan associations, and law offices mages utilize Find Person to verify the names of those involved in pacts, contracts, and alliances- and to verify any defaulting party can be found should the need arise. 

The Nameless City famously forbids any the use of their given name, on punishment of death- but the mummers, bards, mimes and actors there are hardly serious about it. Still, those wishing to go about their business discreetly will often don a mask or otherwise obscure their face. Conveniently, it was already a crime punishable by death for barbers to retain their patrons' hair in the Nameless City.

Any wizard, burglar, claimant to the throne, or adventurer of renown must be well aware of the spell and plan accordingly. For some of history's most heinous wizards and sorcerers it became almost a rite of passage to scour ones family and place of birth lest their enemies learned their name.

Index arcanuS

Find Person

R: inf. T: named creature D: [dice] minutes

You know the direction of a named creature.

[sum] > 2 : Duration becomes concentration

[sum] > 5 : Duration becomes days

[sum] > 10 : You know the precise location

[sum] > 15 : You also know the quickest way to the creature

[sum] > 20 : Duration changes to inf/when canceled

Components:

For each use of a component, treat as either an additional MD or control the result of one rolled MD.

• The creature's hair, blood, etc. (counts as 2)
• Blood of a relative
• An accurate likeness of the creature
• Something made by the creature
• An important possession of the creature
  

Mishap:

These are specific mishaps that may occur when rolling doubles while casting Find Person, apply them where appropriate to a wizard's mishap table.

1: You become unable to hear your own name for [dice] hours

2: You are unable to conceal your presence for [dice] hours

3: The target of this spell gains all of the benefits of this spell but cast on the caster

Romancing the Stone (GLoGtober 2024)

FOOL. You wish to speak with stones? To make them move at your own will? The audacity. The sheer hubris- would you speak to eternity and if by some chance it answers keep your sanity at the response? Stone knows no master, no language, at least none that your poor transient flesh could comprehend. Abandon this endeavor. 

 

What's that? 

...

How awful. Did he at least die painlessly? 

...

To shreds you say. Well, how's his wife holding up? 

...

To shreds you say. 

Well, if you're set on your goal there are some who know stonelore that could teach you. 

This is for the Secrets of the Stones challenge for GLoGtober 2024. 

Diegetic Stone Magic

I cannot teach you the ways of the earth, but there are some learned scholars and fanatics that could teach you- if you can convince them of your need.

1. The First Men

A cult of so called "First Men", they claim their mysteries and rites stretch back to before fire. To them, stone is the first god, the oldest god, and the truest. Before all else there was the earth beneath our feet, and after all that follows there will still be stone. Stone was our first mother, before the winds taught us language and deceit. The magics of the First Men are ancient blood rites that allows them to convince stone to do their bidding- for a time and a price. 

By studying their mysteries, you can learn the following rituals.

Swallow: Dig a pit deep in the earth, at least ten feet. A live cow must be placed inside, this is the sacrifice and must be of quality and health. Fill the pit in and bury the sacrifice. Press your ear to the ground and listen for a day and a night after the sounds below cease. Dig the pit back open and you'll find mother left her boon, a single bone from the sacrifice. By snapping this bone you can command the earth to open up and swallow an area the size of  a pit, entombing your foes.

Shatter: Kill a man with a stone, then drain his blood into a deep crevice. When you throw the stone next it will fly fast and true, exploding and fragmenting violently on impact.

Strength: At sunset, roll a bolder to the top of a hill. All night, the bolder will try to roll down a slope and you must hold it in place. If you can manage to keep the bolder on top of the hill until the sun rises then chip off a piece of the bolder. By swallowing this shard you gain the strength of a giant from sunset to sunrise.

2. The Listeners

In secret holds in the earth, deep in caves and far from the surface, you might find the Listeners. A mute order of monks and scholars, they hide the fastnesses away in the quiet places of the dark and build their oracular devices, a precise and delicate working learned from cavern spiders. Large pools of still water. Webs of hair-spun rope taut across caverns. In the dark they cast large ovals of dark glass on the ground and watch for the fractures. Listeners use these devices to listen to the whispers at the heart of the world and learn of events to come and events long past, recording them in great winding stone carvings in mazelike corridors of natural stone.

For each year spent in silence with the Listeners you can learn their craft, learn how to cast and read the dooms and portents of deep places. 

Echospeak: Place an object in a stone basin and fill it with clear water. Spend a night gazing into the water in a dark place and you can learn its recent history, who has touched it, what it was crafted for, and how it earned its marks and scars.

Whisper Bell: Craft two sets of small stone bells and a hollow-bone drum with a taut lid of silk. Using the bells in a deep place you can send messages into the earth to echo eternal across the heartbeat of the world, readable only by the matching set of bells and drum.

Perfect Omen: Cast a dark glass mirror across a stone floor and fast in silence for a week listening for its cracks and fractures. Tattoo the resulting spiderweb of fortune onto your body and you can perfectly succeed at one action in your future.

3. Heralds of the Dark

Earthen heretics, they've forsaken their mother and now know her ire. Heralds can be found in great towers, preferring to keep as much distance between them and the earth as they can. When they walk on the ground they do so on high stilts of varied make to trick the earth and disguise their movements. The Heralds make auspices to the night, to the quiet stones of darkened skies, silent gods in their own rights, unknown and hungry for adoration. Their magics and rituals are profane to all earthly realms, seek their teachers only in great need or greed, as once you know their mysteries the earth will never be a home to you, now stonecursed.

Each ritual learned draws more hate from the earth. Stoneware cracks on your touch, rocks run like streams to trip you, and caverns will swallow you whole.

Recall: Forge a six foot wide disk of meteoric metals and submerge it in a basin of blood, including your own, for a month and a day. Expose the disk to the open sky in a high place. Once a month, while you can see the night sky, you can teleport back to the disk with a thought.

Dweomercraft: A delicate loom of glass and spider silk must be built and carefully maintained. When left unwatched and untended during a new moon, the loom will spin a bolt of starsilk that can be forged as a peerless metal. Its edge can cut through all but the strongest of metals and it can hold an enchantment like no other material. Exposure to sunlight negates its powers.

Meteor: The first magic, music, a secret learned from mother before language- all stones know it. Sing to the dark stones in the night from sunset to sunrise for a week past the breaking of your voice and the cracking of your soul. Great care must be taken to not give too much to the night and leave the caster a hollowed husk. Once the ritual is complete, the caster may call to a dark stone, once, and summon a meteor to strike a destination within sight. 

4. Shapers of Geltia

In far Geltia, generations of peerless masons have wrought great stoneworks and palaces. It is said that they can speak to stone and shape it at their will. This is true for those who undertake their most sacred ritual. Those seeking true mastery of stone must apprentice under a Geltian mason for a year before they can attempt the ritual. 

The mason first must acquire a block of perfect marble fit for a statue, and pour their heart into the shaping of a paramour of stone. Once complete and if the mason's heart is true, their creation will animate, filled with the spirit of stone that still yearns to feel time outside of the forces of erosion. Statue and craftsmen must then spend a year in courting and if the sculptor can win the heart of the earth the two are wed on the last day, after which the stone goes still once again. So long as the mason stays true to their vows they can then mold stone like clay until the day of their death.