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Discussion about hemomancy

ScaryMJDiamcreep

Troubadour
My starting question is whether you think a hemomancer would be able to use their power to survive being decapitated.

My personal view is that while they would probably be able to, in the last few seconds before brain death, re-establish bloodflow between the body and the brain, assuming that their power does not require hand movements, and therefore would be able to not die immediately, because the spinal cord has been severed they would only last as long as they can continue to use their power, be it that they run out of mana or they just pass out. The only way I can see for this hemomancer to walk away as if nothing happened is if they managed to get themselves to a healer that is skilled enough to heal the spinal cord.
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
Being decapitated is [usually] one of the [usually] sure-fire ways of killing something. So, for some readers it might take a bit of pre-figuring to make it believable and accepted in a story. That said, we make up the rules in our own tales so what we say goes.
I kind of see the near comic potential of a magician trying to hold everything together as they look for a healer; trying not to blackout, trying not to trip, blood leaking and splurting [it's like a spurt of blood but with more bubbles] out with every step...
 

ScaryMJDiamcreep

Troubadour
That scenario you've come up with there becomes a bit more dark when you consider that the severing of the spinal cord means that all the muscles in the body are useless, so the mage has to keep preserve bloodflow to the head, while also using their blood to manually take the place of muscles so that they can move. I also imagine that it would be hard for them to write or speak while in this decapitated state, so once they find a healer, the easiest way to tell them what they need healing would be to lift up their head to show the decapitation, which becomes interesting in settings where hemomancy is forbidden magic.
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
Yes. of course, you can write it as dark and horrific as you want. And in the movie it would come out as gory as all giddyup. It is just that I imagine it as more funny than gruesome. And that wouldn't be helped by the victim holding their own head up to show a healer what is wrong. I would go straight to Nearly-headless Nick from Harry Potter...
I couldn't see them able to write or speak. Maybe a few mouthed words but no real speech. I am no expert in circulation but I don't know that blood could be used to replace muscles for movement in any but the crudest and most basic form. Someone who knows more will have to say the truth of it.
 
Blood flow = oxygen.
Brains REALLY like oxygen.
That, and electrical impulses.
If you mage can supply those two things (oxygen via blood, and electrical stimulation) through whatever means you can imagine, then I'm willing to suspend my disbelief. Though, like CupofJoe said, my thoughts also turn straight into some dark gruesome comedy. Especially if you Mage manages to say/think something as his head is being lopped off to the effect of, "Oh, no. Not again".
 

ScaryMJDiamcreep

Troubadour
I think, if this hemomancer survived getting decapitated any more than twice, they'd probably start keeping a card or something on them to quicken their search for skilled enough healers. Definitely can see the comedic potential, but I probably wouldn't jump at it immediately.

The only character in fiction that I've seen who actually had to do anything to survive after being decapitated was a near omnipotent being that was able to do the healing themselves and didn't have hemomancy, but if I'm remembering correctly, there was about 12 seconds between the decapitation and when brain death would have occurred, so I'm imagining that it would be a similar case for this hemomancer, just a bit faster for preventing death as the body doesn't need to be attracted to the head until after death is averted.

Also, feel free to ask your own questions about hemomancy, otherwise I'd have worded the title as "question about hemomancy". It'd be fun to see what you guys think of hemomancy in general, and also see which ideas I have are more unique and which are common.
 
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Usurper

Dreamer
Hemomancy is fucky. It's the slasher movie of magic schools, but just what you can do with it tends to be pretty ambiguous. Just what part of the blood do you control? Of all the components that make up blood, could you control each if them in their pure form? Could tou take the iron out of the blood and literally forge a sword from the blood of your enemies? I tend to stay away from it as it's hard to explain without just resorting to waving your hand and say "shit's magic, yo".
 

ScaryMJDiamcreep

Troubadour
I see where you're coming from, and that's a good point, but the "it's magic" explanation isn't too unreasonable when it actually is magic.

After some thought on it, I've gotten this explanation: The magic infuses mana or some kind of receptor into the various cells and other components of the user's blood. These receptors are what the mage is controlling, and the blood is just being pulled along. Implanting some of the mage's blood into another being with blood starts to infuse that being's blood with receptors, not sure on a time scale but thinking either 10-20 mins, or an hour. Generally, this takes a lot of the mage's mana/stamina, so it's not done often, and is better used as a torture/enslavement technique than a combat one.
 

ScaryMJDiamcreep

Troubadour
I typically think that the receptors in the blood plasma act as an extra type of immune system cell, which most diseases wouldn't know how to counter, but each to their own. Definitely gives some room for diseases that only affect hemomancers.
 

Usurper

Dreamer
Perhaps over-usage of hemomancy damages the production of blood cells, leading to thin blood, poor clotting, poor stamina and exhaustion. Magus' blood.
 

ScaryMJDiamcreep

Troubadour
That both gives gives a condition that only hemomancers can get, and helps explain the typical idea of hemomancy being forbidden magic, as a hemomancer that develops that condition would have to start stealing blood from others to make up for their inability to produce healthy blood themselves. Even paves the way to make vampires be hemomancers who let Magus' Blood get out of hand.
 

Usurper

Dreamer
That would be quite a different kind of vampire from the traditional kind. If the condition kept getting worse the more you used that kind of magic, those vampires would eventually need a constant supply of fresh blood. Perhaps it would act as a natual lifespan of vampires, as their condition would eventually get so bad that they couldn't possibly get new blood fast enough and they'd just die. In that case, it could also be a thing that vampire wounds do not clot nor heal.
 

Usurper

Dreamer
On a related note, I just read that the average human male has about 4 grams of iron within their body, vast majority of which is in the blood, with females having about 3.5 grams. The regular longsword weighs between 1 and 1.2 kilograms. So if you have about 300 people you don't like, you could literally forge a sword from the blood of your enemies.

That'd be pretty dope.
 

ScaryMJDiamcreep

Troubadour
I think I've seen that as well, or at least some variation. The way I see it though, the hemomancer would have to resort to scientific methods to remove the iron from the blood, as most, if not all, of it is stored safely inside the red blood cells, which makes it something that I think the mage wouldn't have the power to extract on their own.
 
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