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Inkblood Magic
The inkbloods’ power is rooted in glyph magic, with a dose of medical alchemy. Spells are encoded in an Inkblood’s skin using magical ink. The pool of inky blood at the heart of tower Inkblood contains minuscule glyphs encoded in special blood cells.
New Inkblood recruits have a small amount of their blood drawn and are sent to a quiet room full of books to read up on the mysteries of magic. Many new recruits initially reject this task, as most commonly these days they are criminals exiled from The Old Watch that the Inkblood have graciously agreed to take custody of. For many though, the boredom of solitary confinement sets in and they begin to read. The new Inkblood’s blood sample is added to the great vat at the heart of tower Inkblood, and day by day with their food and drink they are fed small doses of the blood. That is when the whispers begin to take hold, voices letting slip secrets of the arcane. For most, these half-hints awaken a voracious curiosity, and the new student begins reading avidly, trying to decode the messages that increasingly invade both their dreams and every waking moment. This process of isolation drives some mad, and many die in anxious fits and convulsions. Those who emerge from the chamber at the end of a week find themselves fully fledged wizards, able to call the ink in their blood to the surface of their skin writing magical glyphs into their flesh to later be released as spells.
At regular intervals in their advancement inkbloods once again have blood drawn from them and added to the central vat. In some cases they may be empowered by being granted a gift of this blood. Each time they imbibe, more of their identity gives way to the whispers. Inkbloods are functionally immortal, if Lord Inkblood sees fit to save them. They are expected to keep personal soul-books, where they write down every thought and aspect of self. Occasionally, these are copied and added to the Inkblood library, and from these copies and the blood, a clone at the exact moment the book was written can be produced. This is intensive on blood resources, and Lord Inkblood does not resurrect just any deceased Inkblood.
The more powerful an Inkblood gets and the more they cast, the more their identity is broken down. More powerful Inkbloods often lose some of their sanity, or on the opposite end of the spectrum, become hyper-rational, almost to the point of appearing like automotons.