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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Don Incognito" data-source="post: 4696187" data-attributes="member: 81448">Allip sighs. "Well, that answers THAT question. Looks like we're going to have to start at the beginning."The halfling walks over to a wall and attempts to retrieve a book on one of the many shelves. He can't quite reach it, and he jumps awkwardly several times before sighing and muttering a quick incantation. The book he was reaching for shudders, then drops down into the Allip's outstretched hands. The book is large, almost as large as the halfling himself, and he struggles as he carries it over to a nearby table. He makes a motion for you all to gather around as he opens it, carefully turning the pages until he find what he was looking for; a map of an island."This is O, the home of ritual magic. Everything we know about ritual magic originates from this isle. When I say 'we', of course, I mean Daunton's arcane community at large. Everything from spying on enemies to locking doors to raising the dead has its origins in O. Ritual magic is unique in that although different rituals require different reagents, there almost all of them can be substituted by a single substance: residuum. It is pure magic; power diverted into powdered form. Residuum can be used to fuel almost any ritual there is. Almost.""When ritual magic was first discovered, its practice spread quickly throughout the isles. But the Oans kept some of the knowledge to themselves. You see, Oan mages know that residuum is a powerful substance, but not an all-encompassing one. Not EVERY ritual can be powered by residuum. There are some that require more...exotic materials. They require life itself to be expended.""Now, residuum is created by destroying a magic item. The magic is drained from the item in question in the form of residuum. Similarly, life can be extracted from a humanoid being in the form of sanguiduum. Just as residuum is purified magic, sanguiduum is purified life."Allip turns the page, and points to a ghastly illustration. A male hobgoblin, bound and gagged, is within an ornate circle drawn on the ground in chalk. Surrounding the poor thing is a group of hooded men and women, arms folded in prayer. The hobgoblin's eye's are seem to be bulging from its sockets, and veins are visible on the creature's face and neck. It appears to be in quite a bit of pain."The process of siphoning sanguiduum is particularly grisly."[sblock=7 Rabbit][/sblock]"Survivors have described it as being worse than any torture imaginable."[sblock=Kruk][/sblock]"Sanguiduum extraction has been known to make grown men weep, to make seasoned warriors and heroes beg for mercy."[sblock=Raiyek][/sblock]"But the ritual has a drawback; in order to draw sanguiduum from a living, sentient creature, the ritualist must know the creature's name. That is, the creature's TRUE name; the name given to it by its mother when it was born. This is, among other reasons, why Oan mages disguise their names.""So. You can see the conundrum that Oan mages are in. In order to procure sanguiduum, they need fresh, living bodies. But they can't just cull from O's lower class; they all hide their names. Torture is not an option, either. An Oan knows that he is in for a far worse fate should he give up his true name to a captor. Therefor, the Oans turned outward rather than inward, taking slaves and prisoners of war for their experiments. I believe that there is an Oan mage here, and that he sacrificed Rebekkah."</blockquote>

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