Vital Magic

Philosophy

Vital Magic is grounded in the idea that healing is not merely sealing flesh. A living body must be restored in flow, form, and pattern. If only one of these is addressed, the patient survives badly or not at all.

This school therefore combines compassion with clinical severity. Its practitioners are taught that every healing is a negotiation with cost, compatibility, and consequence. There is no free restoration.

Example Places of Study

Common Spells

Close Flesh

Purpose/How It Works: Close Flesh seals a simple wound by encouraging edge tissue to rejoin cleanly. Notable Exceptions: It is poor on filthy wounds or missing flesh. Example Use: A field surgeon closes a shallow spear cut before the patient bleeds out more strength. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Touch cast, 3 to 8 seconds. Thread or needle focus, 10 to 20 seconds. Range/Duration: Touch. Instant closure with normal healing after.

Clean Stitch

Purpose/How It Works: Clean Stitch knits tissue with reduced scarring and better alignment than brute closure. Notable Exceptions: Requires a cleaner wound bed and more concentration than Close Flesh. Example Use: Healers repair a noble’s hand without ruining dexterity. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Fine touch work, 10 to 20 seconds. Surgical rite, 1 to 3 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch. Permanent if healing holds.

Bone Mend

Purpose/How It Works: Bone Mend accelerates fracture knitting once proper alignment is achieved. Notable Exceptions: Shattered bone still needs stabilization and time. Example Use: A broken tibia is made walkable days sooner than nature alone would allow. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Touch over set bone, 10 to 20 seconds. Splint-linked rite, 1 to 3 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch. Healing progresses over hours to days.

Blood Refill

Purpose/How It Works: Blood Refill restores immediate circulatory volume by drawing from the caster, donors, or stored compatible reserves. Notable Exceptions: Cross-species mismatch wastes much of the transfer. Example Use: A wounded guard survives surgery because a healer spends their own reserve to refill the loss. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Direct transfusion cast, 10 to 20 seconds. Vessel-mediated transfer, 1 to 3 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch or linked vessel. Immediate effect with donor cost.

Pulse Stabilize

Purpose/How It Works: Pulse Stabilize prevents shock by steadying circulation, rhythm, and systemic collapse after severe trauma. Notable Exceptions: It buys time; it does not solve the underlying injury. Example Use: A crushed soldier lives through transport to the hospice. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Chest and wrist touch, 5 to 10 seconds. Group triage seal, 20 to 40 seconds. Range/Duration: Touch. Minutes to an hour.

Fever Ease

Purpose/How It Works: Fever Ease reduces dangerous heat and inflammatory overdrive without stripping all immune response. Notable Exceptions: Overuse can leave a patient too cold or too weak to recover. Example Use: A child survives a burning night fever until dawn care arrives. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Brow and chest touch, 5 to 10 seconds. Basin-cooling rite, 1 to 3 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch. Minutes to hours.

Toxin Draw

Purpose/How It Works: Toxin Draw extracts poison into a sacrificial medium, sweat, purge, or filtered vessel. Notable Exceptions: Some magical venoms bind too deeply for simple extraction. Example Use: A viper bite is drained into a blackening poultice. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Touch and draw cast, 10 to 20 seconds. Cupping or basin rite, 1 to 5 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch. Immediate to several minutes.

Breath Recall

Purpose/How It Works: Breath Recall restarts halted breathing by forcing rhythm, clearing immediate obstruction, and reminding the body to continue. Notable Exceptions: It cannot repair destroyed lungs by itself. Example Use: A drowned child coughs back to life on the riverbank. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Mouth and chest cast, 3 to 8 seconds. Assisted resuscitation rite, 20 to 60 seconds. Range/Duration: Touch. Instant if successful.

Nerve Quiet

Purpose/How It Works: Nerve Quiet suppresses acute pain and panic-spasm without removing all useful sensation. Notable Exceptions: Overnumbing can worsen hidden injuries. Example Use: A patient can be treated without thrashing through the procedure. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Touch to pain site, 3 to 8 seconds. Nerve-line tracing, 20 to 40 seconds. Range/Duration: Touch. Minutes to hours.

Tendon Set

Purpose/How It Works: Tendon Set restores proper tension and attachment in torn or displaced joints. Notable Exceptions: Severe shredding still needs long recovery. Example Use: A dislocated shoulder is restored without permanent slackening. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Joint-guidance cast, 10 to 20 seconds. Brace-assisted rite, 1 to 3 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch. Immediate correction with recovery after.

Organ Steady

Purpose/How It Works: Organ Steady prevents failing organs from slipping into total collapse by stabilizing flow and tissue pattern. Notable Exceptions: It is often temporary unless deeper causes are addressed. Example Use: A healer keeps crushed lungs and a bruised heart functioning through the night. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Full torso cast, 10 to 20 seconds. Intensive bedside rite, 2 to 5 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch. Minutes to hours.

Scar Soften

Purpose/How It Works: Scar Soften reduces rigidity, pain, and movement restriction in old scar tissue. Notable Exceptions: It does not erase all visible scarring. Example Use: A veteran regains full bend in a hand once thought ruined. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Massage and touch casting, 20 to 40 seconds. Repeated therapy rite, several minutes. Range/Duration: Touch. Permanent improvement over repeated applications.

Sight Mend

Purpose/How It Works: Sight Mend repairs damaged eyes when enough structure remains to restore function. Notable Exceptions: It cannot replace an eye that is fully gone. Example Use: A scholar blinded by shards regains blurred but usable vision. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Delicate ocular cast, 20 to 40 seconds. Clinical rite, 3 to 8 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch. Recovery over hours to weeks.

Hearing Mend

Purpose/How It Works: Hearing Mend repairs ruptured, stunned, or overstrained hearing structures. Notable Exceptions: Long-term nerve death is much harder to restore. Example Use: An artillery crewman hears again after a blast. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Ear and jaw touch, 10 to 20 seconds. Quiet chamber rite, 2 to 5 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch. Recovery from immediate to gradual.

Burn Knit

Purpose/How It Works: Burn Knit stabilizes burn trauma, reduces further tissue loss, and encourages safe regrowth of shallow layers. Notable Exceptions: Deep burns remain dangerous and infection-prone. Example Use: A smith survives furnace splash injuries without losing his arm. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Cooling knit cast, 10 to 20 seconds. Salve-assisted rite, 1 to 5 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch. Immediate stabilization with long recovery.

Blood Match

Purpose/How It Works: Blood Match reduces cross-species or cross-lineage healing loss by temporarily aligning vitality signatures. Notable Exceptions: Very distant species still suffer poor efficiency. Example Use: An elven healer safely aids an orc mercenary after battle. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Dual-subject cast, 10 to 20 seconds. Bowl and sample rite, 2 to 5 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch between linked subjects. Minutes to one treatment.

Lifeline Bridge

Purpose/How It Works: Lifeline Bridge transfers vitality between two conscious subjects in a controlled living channel. Notable Exceptions: It can collapse both parties if one is too weak. Example Use: A parent gives strength to a wounded child until proper care arrives. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Hand-linked cast, 5 to 15 seconds. Cord or band focus, 1 to 3 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch or linked line. Seconds to minutes.

Reserve Tap

Purpose/How It Works: Reserve Tap draws on stored vitality from a prepared vessel, reliquary, or sanctioned reserve. Notable Exceptions: Poorly stored reserves may be degraded or contaminated. Example Use: Healers use emergency reservoirs during mass-casualty triage. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Vessel-touch draw, 5 to 10 seconds. Controlled siphon rite, 1 to 3 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch or linked vessel. Immediate transfer.

Pattern Recall

Purpose/How It Works: Pattern Recall reminds the body of its undamaged shape so healing can proceed toward the correct form. Notable Exceptions: It works best when the prior pattern is known and not too long lost. Example Use: A crushed nose or jaw is restored toward its original structure instead of healing crooked. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Full-form touch cast, 10 to 20 seconds. Mirror or portrait focus, 1 to 3 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch. Guides recovery over hours to days.

Limb Hold

Purpose/How It Works: Limb Hold preserves a severed limb briefly for reattachment by slowing loss, decay, and pattern collapse. Notable Exceptions: Time is still limited, especially in heat. Example Use: Surgeons carry a severed hand across a battlefield infirmary without losing the chance to reattach it. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Immediate preservation cast, 5 to 10 seconds. Wrapped vessel rite, 20 to 60 seconds. Range/Duration: Touch. Minutes to hours.

Sickness Gate

Purpose/How It Works: Sickness Gate bars the spread of disease through a body by slowing transmission routes and local replication. Notable Exceptions: It is containment, not guaranteed cure. Example Use: A plague healer stops a lung fever from reaching the blood. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Body-wide gating cast, 10 to 20 seconds. Bedside isolation rite, 2 to 5 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch. Hours to days.

Crisis Borrow

Purpose/How It Works: Crisis Borrow keeps a dying patient alive by spending the healer’s own reserves to cover immediate systemic failure. Notable Exceptions: Overuse maims or kills healers. Example Use: A surgeon borrows away their own strength to keep a prince alive through the operation. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Direct touch transfer, 5 to 15 seconds. Full emergency rite, 1 to 3 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch. Minutes to one critical procedure.

Reknit Face

Purpose/How It Works: Reknit Face restores damaged features, musculature, and expression lines with greater precision than ordinary closure. Notable Exceptions: It is difficult, slow, and emotionally charged for the patient. Example Use: A burn victim regains recognizable expression rather than scar-masked stillness. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Fine tissue cast, 20 to 40 seconds. Surgical mirror rite, 3 to 8 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch. Recovery over days to weeks.

Trauma Partition

Purpose/How It Works: Trauma Partition isolates shock so one catastrophic injury does not crash the entire body at once. Notable Exceptions: It only buys time and can complicate later treatment if maintained too long. Example Use: Multiple severe wounds are kept from cascading into immediate death. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Full-body partition cast, 10 to 20 seconds. Emergency trauma rite, 2 to 5 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch. Minutes to hours.

Vital Sweep

Purpose/How It Works: Vital Sweep detects hidden internal injury, bleeding, blockage, or organ stress through life-pattern reading. Notable Exceptions: It is diagnostic rather than curative. Example Use: A patient with no visible wound is found to have a ruptured spleen. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Hands-over-body scan, 5 to 15 seconds. Basin, mirror, or chart focus, 1 to 3 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch or close proximity. Brief scan.

Parasite Expel

Purpose/How It Works: Parasite Expel drives out worms, infestations, or invasive magical organisms by making the host body hostile to them. Notable Exceptions: Deep symbiosis or egg-laying infestations may require repeated work. Example Use: Marsh fever larvae are forced out before they reach the spine. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Body-purge cast, 10 to 20 seconds. Herb and basin rite, 2 to 5 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch. Immediate to several minutes.

Regrowth Spur

Purpose/How It Works: Regrowth Spur accelerates controlled regrowth of simple tissue such as skin, nail, or shallow flesh. Notable Exceptions: Complex organs and full limbs are beyond its ordinary reach. Example Use: A healer quickly restores enough skin to close a dangerous burn field. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Directed growth cast, 10 to 20 seconds. Nourishment-supported rite, 2 to 5 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch. Recovery accelerated over hours to days.

Living Equilibrium

Purpose/How It Works: Living Equilibrium distributes vitality across a group so no single member bears fatal deficit while others still hold surplus. Notable Exceptions: It can leave the entire group weakened if used recklessly. Example Use: A healer keeps five survivors alive through a freezing night by equalizing their strength. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Group circle cast, 15 to 30 seconds. Multi-patient rite, 3 to 8 minutes. Range/Duration: Tight cluster of patients. Immediate redistribution with lingering effect.

Heart Recall

Purpose/How It Works: Heart Recall forces the heart back into proper rhythm or restarts it when collapse is recent. Notable Exceptions: It is far less effective after long deprivation or catastrophic damage. Example Use: A duel victim returns to pulse after sudden cardiac shock. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Chest shock cast, 2 to 5 seconds. Intensive resuscitation rite, 20 to 60 seconds. Range/Duration: Touch. Instant if successful.

Return From The Brink

Purpose/How It Works: Return from the Brink rescues a patient at the edge of death through extreme lifeforce expenditure, restoring just enough function to deny immediate loss. Notable Exceptions: It is among the most dangerous non-divine healing spells and often permanently costs the healer. Example Use: A master physician drags a stabbed queen back from the final threshold. Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the healer’s reserves, the patient’s own lifeforce, compatible donors, or stored vitality; deeper restoration always carries real biological cost. Casting Methods: Desperate touch cast, 10 to 20 seconds. Full brink-rite, 3 to 8 minutes. Range/Duration: Touch. Immediate rescue with long recovery and major cost.