Alter Aeon The Great Library

Welcome to the Alter Aeon Historical Archive!

Note - as with any topic, researchers should question the reliability
and veracity of these texts.  The library's aim is to preserve
documents, not verify accuracy.

AABN:  10199
Title: a book entitled "A Magic Primer: Curses"

Curses are a bizarre subset of magical spells. They require the binding of
spiritual energy to objects, creatures or areas without the use of runes,
which are the hallmark of architectural wards. Due to their nature, general
dispeling magic cannot remove curses. Special counter-curse methods must be
employed to defend against them.

One might conclude that something spiritual in nature would be the sole
domain of necromancers. However, mortal magic is not currently capable of
conjuring curses. Intervening entities must be called upon, thus curses are
always invocational in nature. The caster must sacrifice his own mana to
the invoked entity, which is then shaped into a curse the caster can direct
as he pleases.

Cleric curses are the most powerful and well-known curses. They are
products of divine will. Because of this, they exploit the very laws that
govern creation. They can severely cripple the bodies and minds of foes for
short periods. Others produce subtle yet dangerous effects over extensive
durations.

A less common brand of curses are known as hexes. Hexes are employed mostly
by fairies, but both demons and angels have been known to cast hexes on a
limited basis. Hexes are typically less damaging than cleric curses. They
tend to produce more exotic, visible effects.

Necromancers employ several types of what are known as blood curses. These
involve binding energy into their blood to create toxins that poison their
foes, or prevent their bodies from being tampered with if they should
perish.

Some conditions, such as lycanthropy and vampirism, are widely viewed as
curses. While magical in nature, these afflictions are more like physical
diseases caused by environmental pathogens than curses. They can sometimes
be treated with herbal medicines if they are caught early enough before
full onset.

The most powerful variety of curse that can made by a single caster are
known as death curses. A death curse is invoked by the final breath of a
dying creature. Fairies, angels, demons, ancient dragons and various
supernatural creatures can invoke curses of this magnitude. The curse may
effect whomever killed its invoker. More rarely they can cover large
regions, spreading along the mana flows for many miles and lasting for
centuries. Dying breath, while considered a blood curse, is not a death
curse. It is invoked before the caster actually dies, and the effect does
not last very long.

Often times the body of the slain creature becomes the vessel of the curse,
and wherever it is intered becomes cursed. Pieces of the body can sometimes
be used to brew cursed potions or fashion cursed artifacts. It is said that
the curse on the Swamps of Sorrow stems from the scattering of ashes from
an immolated Tolo'trid over the area. Likewise, the Ryuu Graveyard in
Suboria is said to bear the cumulative death curses from each dragon that
goes there to die.

Powerful curses can also be laid upon the land by many spellcasters working
in concert. Clerics leading a massive groupcasting can call down
devastating curses. Historically, these have been used to call plagues,
such as swarms of crop-devouring locusts or hordes of disease-carrying
rats. Likewise, numerous necromancers can work a powerful curse upon a
region, if they have sufficient blood sacrifices to draw power from. Such
necromantic curses have been known to result in mass undead raisings of
entire graveyards or battlefields, or to cause all dead bodies that enter a
given area to spontaneously rise as an undead monster.

Portals to Chaos, the Demon Realms or the shadow plane can often have
deleterious effects on nearby environments. Some regions that are believed
to be cursed are in fact polluted by extraplanar energies or under the
thrall of powerful malevolent entities.