Spirit

Magic profile: Spirit
Spirit type Dragon Warriors are a strange and rare sight in Elementra. They’re so mysterious and secretive that there is little known about the origin of their species and where they reside. It is believed, however, that they live in an alternate realm or reality, commonly known as the Spirit realms.

Spirit type Dragon Warriors are believed to freely pass between the realms, unlike the rest of Dragon Warrior species. The most known – or rather, feared – Spirit type Dragon Warrior is the princess who bears the name of the magic she uses: Spirit Futuoris.

The fear of Spirit is more common for those that fear death or have been through near-death experiences. For the latter, in some instances they have been in close contact with her as Spirit (aside from being a princess) is also the Dragon Warrior reaper. She takes the souls of the dead back with her to her castle to be judged, the good souls are sent on to heaven: ‘Lurachi’, and the evil to hell: ‘Urirra’.

To fulfil this role she has two unique abilities that only an active Reaper can possess. The first is a form of time-travel which allows her to move to a point within a person’s lifetime in which they are near death. This allows her to never miss an appointment, but means that technically there are multiple Spirits actively reaping at any given time. The second ability is her power to peer into the very essence of an individual to pass judgement on them. Occasionally there are beings who are difficult to place, and then she consults her father or past Reaper records to aid her in the decision. Sometimes she will take on a soul destined for Urirra as a minion, but only if she feels that they had an unfortunate life which led to their nature becoming corrupt. Choosing to serve Spirit means either having your original body fetched and the soul re-attached, or a completely new body formed from spare parts she has available. Either way, it is an existence as an undead, which ends when Spirit deems the user is ready to move on: either because they have proved they can change, or squandered their second chance.

Spirit has another ability which is similar to animating the bodies of the dead, in that she can make a ‘Vessel Dragon’, a special being to carry souls safely within it for transport. Other high level necromancers can create similar constructs, but Vessel Dragons are limited to the Royal family.

Those who have suffered near-death experiences often claim seeing her, watching them eerily while holding her signature weapon: the scythe.

'''Beliefs. '''Due to their scarcity, there isn’t much known about the Spirit types’ beliefs, or if they even have a common religious view.

'''Festivals '''While the Spirit types aren’t known to have any specific celebrations, other Dragon Warrior types have festivities to do with the spirits of their ancestors. These festivities are believed to calm the spirits of the departed.

Colours Spirit types often bear colours along the lines of blues and purples, often appearing dark and eerie. Black and red are other possible colours, but less common.

The royal mark of Spirit is a heart with a skull placed within it. Sometimes additional scythes are seen decorating the sides of the heart, but it doesn’t seem to hold any additional meaning.

Skills and abilities.

Spirit type Dragon Warriors are known to use ghost-like abilities such as: possession; raising the dead; and travelling between the Spirit Realm and the Living Realm. It is however unclear as to the extent of their powers, as there is so little known about their life and overall skills.

Beginner
 * Small wisp:  The user is capable of creating a small but unstable wisp (a floating blue flame about the size of a Pool ball). These wisps, despite looking like blue-coloured fire do not burn and feel cool to the touch. The beginner can only maintain the energy by keeping it in the palm of their hand, but it gives off a surprising amount of soft blue light. However, the wisp is invisible to anyone who is not a Spirit type.
 * Invisibility (short):  The user is able to partially phase out their body to become invisible to the naked eye, but only for about 1 minute. Usage drains a lot of energy and takes a great deal of concentration to maintain.
 * Possession (weak):  The user is capable of possessing inanimate objects by allowing their spiritual form to leave their body behind and pass into a suitable vessel. A beginner must first prepare the object by making physical contact and attuning to it. At this point they cannot manipulate the object, or overcome the soul of a living creature, but they are capable of hearing and seeing everything around them. Possession takes less energy and willpower than invisibility and so can be a useful tool for spying, however, at this stage they can only possess small objects such as urns, plates and dolls. After a time the user will snap back to their real body, this also happens if their vessel is destroyed. How long they can remain possessing an object varies with user strength and skill.

Average
 * Normal Wisp:  A stronger version of the wisp. The wisp is now the size of a baseball and quite cold to the touch, it gives off more light and can leave the hands of the user to hover nearby.
 * Invisibility (average):  The user is able to remain invisible for a longer period of time (about 5 to 10 minutes depending on individual skill and magical strength).
 * Realm switch:  The user is able to switch between the Spirit and Living Realm. They can drag or take another person with them should they be in physical contact with each other (holding hands etc.)
 * Basic necromancy:   The user now has enough strength and focus to raise up to 3 undead (human corpses in various stages of decay, including skeletons) to work for them. These shambling corpses are held together with magic and have a strength comparable to living humans, but are not very durable. These lesser undead are not truly suited for combat, and tend to be used for menial or dangerous labour the necromancer doesn’t feel like doing themselves.

Undead can only be constructed from their original parts (so no frankenstein’s monsters), if pieces are missing between two sections the gap will be patched with magic. These undead are mindless and have no connection to the original user of the body.

The power source comes directly from the user, so there is a time limit on their function depending on how much power is sunk into them. A single zombie given full power can last for about 3 hours, this operating time can be divided among the 3 possible undead as the user wishes. If the user dies, however, the energy stored within any active undead will detach from the body to follow after the spirit of its master into the afterlife, leaving motionless corpses behind.

A creative necromancer can also raise undead animal forms, however, these require more skill, study and practice to control properly, but have the added bonus that smaller animals can be controlled for longer periods of time than an adult humanoid. The user do not, however have the strength to raise anything larger than a human yet, such as a skeletal horse. Master
 * Possession (Average):  The user can now possess larger objects and in some instances living beings within a range of 20 metres. Small objects can now be both possessed and physically moved. Living beings can be partially controlled like a puppet, taking over physical control but leaving the original host conscious of what is happening. Beings under this level of possession can struggle against the physical effects and communicate to others – albeit with some difficulty. Some beings have a naturally strong spirit and can resist possession, this can lead to a necromancer’s spirit being rejected and forced back into their own body. This rejection leaves them with a bad headache and a feeling of weakness, making it nigh impossible to make another attempt at possession until they have rested. What marks someone with a strong spirit can be hard to tell from face value, and a few novice necromancers have been caught out by this unknown factor.
 * Invisibility (long):  The user has grown so skilled that they can remain invisible for up to 30 minutes.
 * Advanced necromancy:  The user’s power has increased to the point they can raise up to 12 undead, with magically enhanced strength and durability. These undead minions are meant for combat, they are highly resistant to physical attacks as their magical construction compensates for any cuts or breaks to their physical form. This makes even decapitation ineffective, as even if on the surface the flesh and bones appears severed the magic is still attached. This makes defeating these warrior undead difficult for non-magic users or beginners, as techniques for dispatching them usually involve restraining them, draining off their magic power source, or completely destroying the host body – such as with fire or crushing the body completely which also doubles as a pinning technique. Physically these undead are stronger than their servant counterparts, easily having enough strength to overpower a normal human in close combat, but not so great that they could rival the strength of a Dragon Warrior in draconic form.  Advanced necromancers can also control animal bodies of considerable size (with enough training of course), like a large bear. However, dragon bodies have a special kind of magical resistance that seems to interfere with attempts by necromancers to control these forms – the only known user of undead dragons is Spirit herself.
 * Possession (strong):  They can now possess larger objects and most living creatures from 32-36 metres, depending on magical ability. Large objects can now be manipulated similar to previous smaller objects, while possessing a living being involves a full take-over. When in effect, the living target is overwhelmed by the necromancer’s spirit and is cut off from all their senses, lying dormant and unaware of what is happening. The necromancer is now free to control the body as if it were their own, with no visible signs of the possession having taken place, save for the difference in mannerisms and gaps in knowledge from the actual host. This tends to mean that a necromancer intent on replacing someone tactically spent some time spying and studying their intended living vessel until they were sure they could impersonate them effectively. Even at this level of magic, it is still possible for the necromancer to be rejected by a living being’s strong spirit, but it requires a great deal of inner-strength.