Vasamancy
Vasamancy, often colloquialized as farkiller magic, was an arcane path that harnessed the vasa archon to achieve long-range magical attacks.
Vasamancers were also known as arcane deadeyes across the northeastern quarter of Legere, or mystic bersaglieri within the Phovezilan Domain.
Powers #
Enhanced Vision #
A vasamancer specialized in using magic to take out targets at long ranges. They could magically enhance their vision, zooming in to see things in great detail up to 2 km away. This vision enhancement paired well with the other half of vasomancy.
Vasamantic Driver #
Vasamancers could deliver devastating long-range attacks by magically accelerating special metal darts called menaulions. A menaulion was a solid piece of metal in the shape of an irregular octahedron. Each of its faces where inscribed with vasamantic runes that made it receptive to the arcane deadeye's magic. Menaulions were typically 13 mm in diameter at the center. Any type of metal could be used, but softer metals could simply melt mid-flight.
By channeling their magic, a vasamancer could accelerate a menaulion in a manner similar to an electromagnetic mass driver, creating a deadly projectile. Vasamancers first needed to conjure intangible, glowing vasamantic rings in the air. The rings needed to be aligned so that their center point was pointing at the target. A vasamancer could attempt to reposition the rings once conjured, but it required great effort to move them while keeping them intact; often times, a vasamancers would be forced to reconjure the rings. Reorienting the rings was significantly harder the more rings were summoned.
Each ring behaved like the coils of a coilgun, sequentially accelerating a menaulion as it travelled through them. More rings meant a higher final velocity of the menaulion. Summoning more rings was a strenuous process--most vasamancers could summon 3 to 4 rings at once, which allowed them to fire a menaulion at approximately 1 km/s.
To summon more rings, a vasamancer would need to rely on an arcane focusing tool called a longstaff. Longstaves were made entirely of metal and covered in magical vasamantic runes. With a longstaff at their command, a vasamancer could conjure up to 10 rings, allowing their menaulions to reach speeds of 2.5 km/s.
==Additional vasamantic rings had diminishing returns on projectile velocity.==
Uses #
Vasamancy's most obvious usage was in warfare, with vasamancers acting as snipers. However, vasamancers were also popular in courts where they would serve in hunting parties.
Some vasamancers never used the offensive capabilities of their arcane path, instead fully relying on their vision enhancement to serve as scouts, fire lookouts, or even private eyes.
In Destral, an experimental vasamantic mass driver was developed to transport large cargo long distances. First, cargo would be placed inside a massive container that resembled an oversized menaulion. Then, a vasamancer would use an enormous mechanical array that acted as both a longstaff and as a vasamantic ring expander, allowing the vasamancer to create enough rings that were big and powerful enough to move the menaulion container. In 40% of cases, the cargo would correctly move towards its destination. In half of those cases, the menaulion container shattered on impact upon arrival to its destination.