Ask Luna #60

From: Joseph

Dear Luna,

Just had a few questions regarding life magic.

1. Regarding life mages, I imagine they can affect animals just as well as humans. However, can they detect and manipulate other forms of life, like plants or even microbes? Could a life mage make a modern day equivalent of the Black Plague or on the flipside, create “super” plants for agricultural purposes? Is there a life mage equivalent of DC’s Poison Ivy out there?

2. Can life mages harvest life energy from animals just as much as humans? Their “touch of death” is supposed to transfer life energy from the target to them, which I imagine they could use to boost themselves, such as their own self-healing.

3. Can life mages affect their own neurological functions? I mean things like being able to react faster, process detailed information faster, being able to stay calm by dumping the appropriate neurotransmitters, etc? Could they potentially even resist a mind mage’s mental attacks or domination attempts using this ability?

4. Do we know anything to what extent life mages have control over genetic information? Could a life mage perform gene therapy, cure cancer, GIVE someone cancer, etc?

5. How does life magic and death magic interact? I know that other life mages can resist the whole life mage touch of death thing, like Anne did at one point. Can a life mage resist the non-kinetic portion of a death mage’s attacks, just the part that uses negative energy and vice versa, can a death mage prevent a life mage from draining them even on touch?

Thanks for being patient with me,

Joseph

1. Yes, kind of, but it depends on the life mage. There’s a big gap between the ‘healer’ type mages, who specialise in putting bodies back together the way there were, and the ‘morpher’ ones who go in for changing them completely. There are Poison Ivy types, but they’re less common than the healers, as far as I know. Plus, the plant still has to work.

2. Yes, but it doesn’t work as well. Apparently there are some issues with taking the life energy of one species and draining it into a different one. Anne’s never told me exactly what happens if you try it, but I have the feeling it could be uncomfortable.

3. Kind of. They can mess with their body chemistry to affect their mood, but really high-level stuff like resisting mind magic would be out of their reach. Plus, since it’s basically the equivalent of self-medicating, you’d expect the same issues you get with heavy use of drugs.

4. I know Anne can’t cure cancer, because I’ve asked – her magic works by encouraging damaged tissue to regrow, and encouraging a bunch of cancerous tissue to grow more is exactly what you DON’T want to do. There are other life magic treatments that work better, but according to Anne it depends a lot on the patient. Though you’ll still have better odds than you would by going to a doctor.

5. Yes, kind of. It comes down to who’s better with their magic. Life mages are one of the only types that death mages are actually scared of, but then, death mages don’t have to worry so much about just being shot from a distance.

From: Holly

Hi Luna,
Was Alex still an apprentice when he left Richard? If so, how did he
graduate to becoming a full Mage?
Thanks
H

This gets in to the whole can of worms about what exactly makes someone a ‘mage’. If you’re Light, then it’s all about permission. You sign up for your journeyman tests, you wait a while, and assuming the Council lets you take them, you pass and you have a ceremony and you’re officially a journeyman, congratulations, here’s your pointy hat.

If you’re a Dark mage, then it’s a lot simpler. You call yourself a mage, and that’s that. Yes, it really is that simple. Of course, if you only started learning magic last month and can barely make a light spell, then calling yourself a ‘mage’ is like some pimply-faced nerd calling himself ‘Panther’. You’ll either get laughed out of the room, or if you keep it up long enough to annoy the wrong person, you’ll get hurt.

You really only get problems when the two systems mix and you have Light mages that Dark mages don’t think count, and Dark mages that Light mages claim aren’t authorised. Usually Light and Dark mages deal with that particular problem by not talking to each other in the first place.

From: master of your fate

Hey Luna I get the feeling that Alex while skilled as a Seer has fully mastered his magic, so how would he rank himself as a Seer 10 being Helikaon an 1 being those phony tv psychics.

Also Helikaon said Alex is loud when path walks what does mean?

Alex would probably say he’s a 7 or so, though it depends on the sub-type. For example, Alex is pretty bad at auguries, but he’s great at combat divination. When it comes to defensive precognition, I’d guess he’s as good as Helikaon.

As for being loud when Alex path-walks, I have no clue. Doesn’t mean anything to me.

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