Somatomancy
Wielding dark Biomancy capable of twisting their bodies into grotesque weapons, somatomancers practiced one of the magics that both the Arcane Hand and the BCA agreed needed to be heavily policed. These dark mages propagated their practice in secret, leading to the formation of the Priests of the Shifting Flesh in their desire to spread the Cyclops' twisted legacy.
Somatomancy was also known as flesh sculpting, and somatomancers were sometimes called flesh sculptors.
Qualifications & Requirements #
Somatomancers were, at the end of the day, mages. Thus, they had to have some form of magical training as well as an innate magical ability. Some somatomancers were students of the Arcane Academy who were drawn to the potential powers of the forbidden arcane paths. Other somatomancers were travelling magic practitioners that became intrigued and drawn in by the Priests of the Shifting Flesh. The Priests also recruited destitute children who were magically gifted. As a mutant of Biomancy, many somatomancers were healers who lost their way in life.
Somatomancy was impossible to perform without Sculptoris. The hyper-regenerative properties of this alien flesh was necessary to facilitate the rapid reconstitution of a living body that this magic entailed. Attempting to perform somatomancy without sculptoris would either result in no effects, or cause the person to tear themselves apart.
Training #
Somatomancers underwent an extremely risky process when learning their twisted skills. To begin, a somatomancer prospect would have Sculptoris flesh injected into their bloodstream and attempt to contain and control it magically. This was an integral aspect of their training. In most cases, the initiate would transform into a manikin. However, if done successfully, the somatomancer initiate would have achieved a form of harmony with the mutant cells within.
The next step was equally as dangerous as the first. A somatomancer had to learn and use magic that commanded the leashed sculptoris within them. If done correctly, this manifested as "flesh sculpting", the basis of somatomancy.
Powers #
When mastery over flesh sculpting was acheived, a somatomancer could become a highly dangerous combatant by forming complex weapons, changing forms, and regenerating from what would normally be fatal wounds.
Risks #
At any point, if a somatomancer lost control over their body while flesh sculpting, they could mutate into a carnite. They would lose any semblance of humanity as their minds became twisted and overtaken by bloodthirst and alien desires. This phenomenon was called regenerative runaway.
Somatomancers' physical appearances could permanently change after prolonged usage of the magic. Some somatomancers might grow an extra eye, sprout an extra mandible, develop an additional limb, or have their flesh slough from their bodies.
Public Agenda & Perception #
Somatomancers were declare illegal by both the Arcane Hand and its daughter institution, the Bureau of Classified Arcana. In response, somatomancers did not make themselves known to the greater populace. Being practitioners of forbidden magical arts, somatomancers were widely regarded as criminals.
The Priests of the Shifting Flesh saw somatomancy as the next step of evolution for the people of Legere and dedicated themselves to spreading the arcane path far and wide across the land.
It should be noted that not all members of the Priests of Shifting Flesh were somatomancers. In fact, most common folk were unaware of somatomancy, instead seeing the Priests of Shifting Flesh as a bizarre religious group.
The BCA worked hard to try and prevent knowledge of somatomancy from spreading at all, fearing that knowledge of the magic's existence alone would be enough to draw in a few curious folks.
History #
Somatomancy was discovered shortly after the Demon Wars, making it one of the more recent arcane pathways on Legere.
A group of arcane scholars had travelled North to the Dawn Wastelands in order to study the Festerplains. When one of the scholars was contaminated with Sculptoris and had become a manikin, the group realized that they were in way over their heads. The group's biomancer, Melvin Arcblant, also suffered wounds by the hands of the manikin, becoming infected in the process. In desperation, he attempted to use his magic to cure the infection. Somehow, he successfully calmed the mutagenic tissue within his body, and soon after he discovered he could magically morph his flesh using magic.
Arcblant and his surviving scholars took samples and returned to their home in Phovezila to study the possible new type of magic they had discovered. They began to teach this magic to other students, but as the number of practitioners increased, so did the number of incidents where people turned into manikins. Eventually the Arcane Hand shut down early somatomancy experiments when a student attempting to morph his arm into an axe (in order to chop down a tree as a part of a demonstration) lost control and mutated into a terrifying 4-story aberration. The BCA quickly moved to scrub knowledge of the magic and contain its spread, although Arcane Hand's wider council sought to retain Arcblant's notes for the sake of knowledge.
Somatomancy would be picked up and fostered by the Priests of the Shifting Flesh a few years later. A contact on the inside of the Arcane Hand helped the Priests secure Arcblant's notes for the Priests, ensuring that a copy of the notes would survive assuming the BCA was successful in their petition to destroy the knowledge entirely.
Somatomancer Vocations #
Somatomancers were not able to use their magic in most professional settings without attracting BCA agents who paid a pretty penny for tips. The overwhelming majority of somatomancers were backed by the Priests of the Shifting Flesh.
Somatomancers usually ended up in non-lancer mercenary work or other underworld professions. Flesh sculptors were powerful, but not blind. They exercised caution in terms of who they chose to associate with or reveal their powers.