While much of the so-called Magitech of the Zanti revolves around the use of mass produced reliquaries, other applications of engineered magic exist. Some have been abandoned in favor of other improved methods, while others are much more situational, dangerous, or cost prohibitive to really catch on.
Cartridges
While the Zanti have developed a significant innate magical talent and research into the Illiriat Erdagone has improved spell efficiency immensely, there are still threats that require significantly more power to handle. While many techniques have been discovered for boosting one’s own power, the Cartridge System has proven to be the most reliable method by far. Working in a manner similar to autologus blood doping, the user stores magical energy in cartridges for later use. Reliquaries can then infuse the stored magical energy in cartridges back into the wielder to provide a significant boost to spellcasting ability. This system has proven itself many times by providing the much needed boost in power that has turned the tide in battle on more than one occasion.
Still, the system is not without it’s problems. Firstly, overuse of too many cartridges in a short period of time puts a lot of stress on the wielder’s spirit. While many gain a limited tolerance and even increase the duration of the effects with repeated use, this doesn’t remove the fact that the system is pushing a person’s mana levels to dangerously high levels in intense bursts. Secondly, the spiritual nature of magic tends to limit the compatibility of cartridges significantly. Obviously one’s own mana works best, but family members can share cartridges amongst themselves (oddly, relation by marriage counts for this). Cartridges made by distant relations, friends, or complete strangers tend to do far more harm than good though.
Cartridges can be charged simply by holding the cartridge in one’s hand and channeling magical energies into them. The cartridges are then stored in a clip that can then be inserted into an appropriately constructed and configured reliquary. The reliquary can then be mentally commanded to expend a number of cartridges in boosting the next spell to be cast. Some spells may even be preprogrammed by the user to automatically expend a predefined number of cartridges. Once expended, the cartridges become inert and must be recharged or replaced before used again. Given the dangers from misuse and abuse, availability of cartridges is officially restricted to licensed government personnel, although this has not prevented the illegal manufacture and distribution of cartridge systems.
Familiars
Familiars are at once one of the oldest techniques known and still one of the most ubiquitous. Created by fusing an animal spirit into an artificial body with one’s personal magic, the resulting creature possesses spellcasting ability, enhanced intelligence, speech, telepathy, and limited shapeshifting powers. The resulting creature then looks like a juvenile member of the animal spirit’s original species although many are “stylized” by their creator. Familiar personalities tend to be a mix of the original animal spirit’s species and the creator’s own personality. While nothing compels the resulting familiar to obey it’s creator, usually the familiar is friendly enough to begin with and can develop a close bond to it’s creator and his/her family. Unless mistreated, a familiar can become a close and reliable friend and companion. And such is the link between master and familiar that should the master be killed, the familiar will fade away as well.
While the first initial familiars created long ago only had access to a few limited spell abilities, more modern designs can access the full spellcasting ability of their master at will. Modern designs also are capable of shapeshifting into both a larger adult animal form or a more humanoid form depending on the needs of the situation, but maintaining either form proves taxing since they are ultimately dependent on their master’s power to maintain these forms and spellcasting ability. Still, familiars have proven themselves countless times as a reliable support in combat, protectors for the home, guardians of the children, and assistants at work. These days familiars enjoy many legal rights and protections under law and can even be granted the power to act on their master’s behalf, although the master is still legally responsible for the behavior of the familiar. Familiars are incapable of using reliquaries and fusion elementals however given the feedback issues either would present to their master.
Fusion Elementals
Similar to the invocation magicks of Earth, it is possible to utilize the difference in mana potential between the various elemental planes and Zantu to greatly empower magical effects. Given the lack of (confirmed) native sapient life in the elemental planes though, direct invocations are impossible. While it wasn’t uncommon in ancient times for a medjai to bind themselves with a non sapient creature from the elemental planes and use the resulting link to boost their magical power, the often alien and instinctual minds of such creatures would quickly drive such medjai mad in short order. A few mages found it possible though to find and harvest inanimate concentrations of elemental energy (the form varies) that can then be used as a battery of sorts while on Zantu, although these tend to permanently lose their charge quickly with use and typically required the user to have a compatible personality for the elemental energy type in question. Still, this was far safer than binding a non-sapient elemental creature to one’s own spirit or even attempting to bind an energy core directly.
The major development came when someone (whose name is lost to history) discovered that it was possible to construct an artificial sapient creature using these energy cores and a variation of the familiar construction techniques. The resulting creature could then tap into it’s own elemental power at will without losing charge permanently. It even proved possible to “fuse” with the elemental temporarily whereupon the user would gain access to the elemental’s mana potential in addition to his/her own as well as most spells gaining an elemental power infusion. The user’s body would frequently become more stronger, faster, and more durable as well. Medjai enhanced as such can prove to be a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield although few can maintain the fused state for very long for variety of mental and magical reasons.
Still, even this had it’s downsides as the resulting elemental is a fully independent creature unlike a familiar and is prone to having extremely willful personalities. Forcibly attempting to fuse with an unwilling elemental will result in a battle of wills for control of the resulting form and even if the battle of wills is won, full control can prove elusive as the elemental will resist at every opportunity. Cooperative elementals do much better, especially when the personality types of the elemental and the medjai are compatible with each other. Particularly loyal elementals will even take control of a fused host’s unconscious body in an emergency in an attempt to rescue the host.
Unfortunately, after a number of very high profile incidents where fused medjai have gone insane and out of control, fusion elementals have (not entirely fairly) gained a bad reputation in many circles. For this reason more and more medjai have switched to using the recently developed cartridge system when more power is required. The fact that criminal medjai have begun to forcibly use fusion elementals in order to effectively compete with cartridge system using medjai has only further tarnished the reputation of fusion elementals. While not illegal to create, most in recent use are in the hands of criminals or have been liberated from criminal possession.
Legally, elementals are considered free and independent entities under Zanti law. Fusion elementals tend to look like very small (less than six inches tall) adult humans although other forms are not uncommon. Most possess some form of flight and can cast a variety of spells related to their elemental nature. When fused with a medjai, the medjai’s hair, eyes, and clothing change color to more closely resemble that of the elemental’s and may even gain spontaneous manifestations of elemental energy such as flaming shoulderpads, an icy sheen on their clothing, or a luminous glow from their skin. The fused medjai’s speed, strength, and durability are usually enhanced significantly above normal. Most of the medjai’s spells will gain elemental effects in addition to the basic spell effects which can greatly improve the spell’s power. Such spells do tend to gain vulnerabilities to opposing elemental energies however.
Golems
Completely independent automatons have been an elusive goal for some time on Zantu. While familiars can act independently of their masters, they are still ultimately tied to their master’s life and power in ways that make them far from enduring. Such is the way of ultimately any living creature. So ways were sought to give animation to inanimate metal and stone. Two issues were ultimately found with such ambitions though: a need for a power source, and a need for motive force.
Motive force to be appeared straightforward enough from a theoretical standpoint as the capabilities of decision-making wards seemed like an ideal starting point. However it was quickly learned that the more independent the resulting golem, the more literal and unbending the interpretation of any instructions. Attempts to address this with additional programming quickly became unsustainable for anything beyond the most basic of tasks. The development of reliquaries with their much more reliable performance and ability to act as force multipliers for medjai in a variety of tasks meant that what few niche applications golems had were quickly being replaced.
Power was the other problem discovered and proved to be in many ways a simpler (if not straightforward) nut to crack. Being unliving constructs, golems are incapable of producing their own magical energies and so are utterly dependent on external power. While experiments had produced some successful (or disastrous) results for golems that utilized ambient mana, most efforts ended up focusing on mundane sources of energy and storage. Sadly, such systems tended to be fairly weak or short lasting which only made them suitable for smaller creations. It was only with the advent of steam power that fully independent and dense power systems for golems truly became possible.
For these reasons, golems tend to be considered incredibly limited, noisy, dirty, and idiotic. As a result, golems tend to be used mainly for highly simplistic and repetitive tasks that are too dangerous or difficult for Zanti to handle well. A few rare and more powerful variants can still be found abandoned or otherwise forgotten deep in catacombs or tombs acting as guardians and caretakers following ancient and arcane programs. These constucts can be dangerous to stumble upon unawares as one can never be sure what literal interpretation of irrelevant orders may entail.
Golem construction tends to vary significantly depending on the designed task. While many are designed with a humanoid form made of metal or stone, other more animal or even esoteric forms and materials are possible. The use of dead remains as raw materials is however tightly restricted given the overlap with the blacker aspects of necromancy.
Golem Enhancements
While the magic needed for regenerating lost limbs and even organs has been firmly understood for quite some time, there have always been those annoyed with the inherent limitations of flesh and blood. With that in mind, many throughout the centuries have attempted to graft unliving metal and stone to flesh and blood with limited success.
It was recognized early on that the critical issue was not attaching the grafts onto the body but actually binding the spirit to the new body part. Elements such as iron and carbon could be bonded readily, but suffered from limitations in terms of weight, durability, and overall functionality. More exotic materials could be made into new parts with superior performance characteristics, but tend to be rejected by the spirit over time and become nonfunctional. Frequent reapplication of the appropriate binding spells and attempting to force integration of the rejected golem parts can counter this at the cost of one’s lifespan and mental stability.
For these reasons, golem enhancements have historically been relegated to a few niche applications and the occassional madman. It has only been recently discovered from advanced in cloning and controlled genetic augmentations that it was possible to engineer humans able to accept the more exotic golem enhancements almost as readily as a classically regenerated body part. The resulting individuals do still require a great deal of maintenance and support while growing up or after receiving injuries as the new parts will not grow or heal naturally. And such genome changes need to occur at the embryonic stage or earlier to truly be stable and effective.
Medjai Cloning
While evolution and divination guided selective breeding have been modifying Zanti from “human” baseline for millennia, there have always been those wishing to augment or even leapfrog the whole process to various ends. Although experiments determined that direct modification of an adult Zanti was found prone to inducing a number of various instabilities, modifications during the embryonic stage or even earlier proved to be far more reliable. As such the same cloning techniques initially applied to the creation of new flora and fauna for repairing Zantu’s ecology were further adapted to the new experiments.
Most efforts focused on improving the resulting medjai’s magical abilities or even cultivating specific talents. These have only had moderate success at raising the resulting medjai’s abilities to superior levels, but the anticipated truly superhuman talents proved elusive with only rare and unrepeatable successes. And while many of those major successes have ultimately proven themselves good for Zanti society as a whole, the even more rare spectacular failures (such as the purported clone of the Saint King himself) have often proven nearly disastrous. Still, the introduction of these individuals into the Zanti breeding population has served to help increase the general level of magical talent over time.
Efforts to clone medjai with more exotic abilities have also been pursued over time. Most recently is the sudden appearance of medjai enchanced with golem implants and the revenants, but others have been attempted in the past and even today. Given the unreliable and often self-serving nature of those desiring to create such clones, such experiments are typically banned without intense oversight from the government. This has not deterred everyone though and the criminal element unfortunately has a disturbingly high number of “prototypes” making trouble on their creators’ behalf. And after the False Saint King incident all attempts to clone the Saint King are strictly forbidden and perpetrators hunted with extreme prejudice. Illegally made clones are not held accountable for their creation, but are liable for any crimes they commit themselves except in cases of forced coersion.
Revenants
Resurrection of the dead has long been a highly sought after but unattainable goal despite millennia of research. While necromancy can provide some semblance of “life after death” through unlife, returning the departed spirit to a living body has thus far proven impossible. Still, many have tried a number of ways to cheat death. One such method has been the creation of revenants: clones with the implanted memories and personalities of the original medjai. Since they are a new spirit or soul being forced to conform to an existing mind, the revenants are highly unstable mentally as the new soul and the imprinted personality battle for control.
The creation of revenants is completely forbidden given their violent behavior and frequently deteriorating sanity. Revenants are also one of the few situations that will result in the authorities actively attempt to terminate them when one is discovered. However, given that revenants tend to be created by medjai seeking both power and immortality, revenants unfortunately tend to be modified heavily with golem enhancements, tattoos, and other modifications to increase their effective combat power making it difficult to terminate them outright.
Tattoos
Tattoos and other related techniques deal with the magical enchantment of the flesh of an existing creature. As one of the oldest techniques, the sheer number of variations and styles this covers easily eludes easy cataloguing. While tattooing is the most common variation, other means such as ritual scarring, infusion of exotic magical materials, binding a spirit (usually animal) to oneself, and even absorbing a magical artifact into oneself. Still, for all the different variations and methods involved, the end results remarkably are similar: the user receives a number of specific supernatural abilities in exchange for a few related disadvantages.
Tattoos in particular have been on of the most common and versatile variations to date. By inscribing specific spell formulas into the flesh using special inks the user can then simply project magical energy into through the formula to cast the inscribed effect. While this lacks the flexibility of reliquaries, it is much harder to remove and does not require near the amount of time or effort to use that reliquaries can need to function correctly. More complex tattoos can even provide a number of abilities that can be activated as a set.
Still, the greater ease of use that comes with tattoos also means that they can readily be pushed past safe limits if one is not careful. This can then result in damage to one’s ability to channel magic or even begin undermining one’s life if pushed too far. Nor has it been found to be prudent to inscribe powerful “always on” spells since this has also been known to accelerate the progression of any negative side effects.
While reliquaries are the goto solution for most spellcasting needs, tattoos still see quite a bit of use in some circles. The ability to have a quick heal or call for help spell available that doesn’t even need conscious effort to utilize has saved the lives of many medjai throughout history.
White Necromancy
While black (or true) necromancy and blood magic is banned and grounds for termination on sight, the so-called white necromantic arts are tolerated and even sanctioned by the government to an extent. Utilizing links to the high entropy “negative energy” plane, they can animate dead remains into constructs to fight for them. These constructs tend to be exceedingly crude, but in turn can be versatile and are much less prone to typical golem idiotic interpretation of orders. And given the limited resistance to magic the links to the negative energy plane bestows upon them, these constructs can prove to be quite dangerous in great numbers. It is claimed that all remains used in this fashion are from volunteers, but many doubt this rightly or wrongly.
White necromancers can also utilize these links to the negative energy plane to disrupt true undead. By grounding out the ambient magic and life that undead feed upon, the white necromancers can considerably weaken or even destroy them. These same techniques also allow the necromancers to render themselves quite resistant to magical attacks from other medjai and even readily counter many spells directly. Most white necromancers then utilize a number of physical combat techniques or constructs to then engage a weakened and defenseless opponent directly.
In general, white necromancers are barely tolerated by the authorities who regard them as only marginally better than the black necromancers. Indeed, many black necromancers have come from the ranks of the the white necromancers that delved too deeply into forbidden and dark knowledge. Still, the ones that have the proper discipline have proven invaluable in the past when dealing with extremely powerful medjai that the authorities have otherwise have trouble handling. As such, these rare few are called forth during particularly troublesome ordeals and major threats. Meanwhile the general public on Zantu tends to regard the white necromancers with a combination of suspicion and fear. The drain on ambient magic that surrounds them is considered deeply unnerving to those in their presence.
Gate Network
While the majority of travel done on Zantu is accomplished via the various vehicular reliquaries, at times it has proven necessary to move people and resources near instantaneously across the planet and even the Zantos system (HD 197027). For this purpose the gate network was constructed by the government to link various strategic locations. Preprogrammed destinations with the appropriate equipment and support on both ends are simpler to operate, while targetting an arbitrary destination safely can require significant manpower, magick, and divinations to accomplish. While not usually suitable for transporting anything in bulk, these gates compensate with speed.
Most of the major cities of Zantu host a gate network hub, as do several other locations based on strategic and economic importance such as the entrances to many of the elemental planes. Particularly wealthy or powerful private individuals will often have some installed as part of their residence even. A few locations have been set up around the Zantos system for various research and surveying purposes as well, although these have typically significant support costs associated with them that only the government sees fit to fund. The recent discovery of the approach of the Rho Field though has resulted in a significant expansion of the network to help survey nearby systems as possible evacuation destinations. In particular the gate for Earth is taking priority since Earth was known to be habitable millennia ago and to have recently exited the Rho Field.
Creative Nonsense 