Daniel Greene
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The Anointed
🕑 Added 2020-08-07 00:27:33 +0000 UTCHere it is. The second magic system that exists in my book. Harder than I thought to get a decent explanation together without spoilers. Luckily I found a loophole and that is just writing accounts of witnessing their abilities. Fun and useful. ENJOY!
The Anointed
While the Grohalind has been a genetic gift existing within a small percentage of mankind for as long as history has been recorded, The Anointed only came into existence in the last few decades. The Anointed are a direct gift from the reigning god of the empire to fight alongside regular soldiers and bring humanity into line with Imperial Will. To properly explain the Anointed, I will have to explain some previously unknown bits of information within my world. As you have been made aware from prior stories, there is a literal god leading the current empire. You have even seen Avi, who appeared in the short story The Plant. But who exactly are these revered soldiers?
To better understand this, let’s look into the inspiration for Abrutis, the god who currently rules this continent. I have pulled for more than a few mythologies, but mostly ancient Greece. I personally love how in Greek mythology, the gods are remarkably flawed. These mythic figures display human characteristics such as hubris, fear, anger, uncontrollably lust (*cough* Zeus *cough*), and downright stupidity. Greek mythology is not the only religion to have flawed gods, but these gods seem flawed in the most spectacular ways. I wanted to bring those characteristics into this god figure from a higher plane who now has taken direct control over the destiny of mankind.
As a result of some of Abrutis’ potential flaws that may become more apparent as this story plays out, he created the Anointed — humans who have been given limited traits of gods themselves. To address this upfront, of course, this will be a softer form of magic. While the Grohalind is designed to be about as hard as I could possibly write it in terms of rules, the Anointed will exist in “godliness.” Something that by its very nature rejects hard limiting rules.
The specific abilities given to different Anointed vary wildly depending in their purpose, but these are some basic gifts shared by all Anointed:
- Complete physical enhancement far beyond that of even the pinnacle of regular humans. Traits such as strength, endurance, reflexes, agility, etc, exceed anything previously thought possible. Anointed have been known to throw a canon, outrun a horse, and even move fast enough to avoid gunfire.*
- Enhanced healing. A blow that would cripple most will either be shrugged off by an Anointed or heal at an accelerated rate. Few Anointed have ever successfully been killed in battle and when this has occurred it was either by use of enough explosives to destroy a building or overwhelming sustained gunfire.
- Extended lifespan.
- Mental fortitude. Many soldiers that return from the battlefield show long term effects of their service. No Anointed has ever shown signs of these effects. Some have wondered if this means the Anointed lose a part of their humanity when they are risen*.
- Emotional limiting. While it is possible for one of the Anointed to experience human emotion, they have been observed to be generally stunted regarding emotional intelligence.
With these shared gifts, any member of this higher class would be considered a threat worth an army their own. The real danger to any who stand against them though comes with the individual gifts they are given during the Rising.
The Rising is the ceremony in which a soldier who has proven to be worthy of joining the ranks of the Anointed through extreme displays of bravery and loyalty on the battlefield is given their gifts by the god himself. To qualify for the ceremony, the soldier must already be a member of the Red Guard. Only twenty soldiers have ever been brought up to be Anointed in total. Sixteen of whom survived the great wars and now help rule over provinces throughout the continent.
During a Rising, the chosen soldier enters the Palace of Ascension and is not seen for three days. On the third day, they emerge from the palace where the god himself resides and display their gift to the gathered priests of the empire. Their gift will be recorded and the Anointed will tell their holy purpose.
Recordings of the last three Anointed Gifts:
Grita Travindi:
Grita, previously a sergeant of the Red Guard, was chosen to be Anointed after holding off dozens of Kripit soldiers from the sand Kingdoms of the west by herself. When she was found inside the building in which she had made her stand, Grita had been bleeding from several gunshot wounds and a knife planted in her thigh. Grita’s refusal to leave her position allowed imperial forces to avoid being flanked as explosive charges were being set on a railroad in an attempt to destroy a crucial supply line. She would have remained a cripple for the rest of her days if not for the Anointing.
When Grita emerged from the Palace of Ascension, not only had her paraplegia been healed, but she summoned water from the ground and drowned a sacrificial prisoner on dry land. Watching him thrash in a bubble of water that seemed to move with his every attempt to escape was one of the most entertaining of the displays from an Anointed in memory. Grita laughed with glee when the man finally collapsed seemingly weightless within the liquid sphere.
To finally prove her gifting had been complete, Grita walked to the corpse and pulled the man’s head from his shoulders in one swift motion, something only possible with the strength of an Anointed.
Avi Cormick:
Avi, previously a captain of the Red Guard, was chosen to be Anointed after aiding in the invasion of the city of Strit. Several of her comrades in arms reported on her extraordinary bravery as she led the assault block after block. She never left the front lines and killed over forty enemy soldiers that day. This remarkable kill count caused even other members of the Red Guard to bow in respect when her mangled body was carried from the city. An enemy grenade, a crude weapon commonly used by the people of the sand kingdoms, had exploded at her feet. By all measures Avi should have been dead.
The medic who worked on her wrote of her exposed rib cage and organs. If she had not been a member of the Red, it is doubtful he would have even tried to save her. Through a mixture of fantastic medical care, and most likely divine intervention, Avi lived. Once reports of her bravery reached the capital, she was summoned to be Anointed that same week. Refusing aid or even crutches, she crawled to the wagon that came to bring her to the Palace of Ascension.
She returned from the Palace just as dusk was settling on the third day. When asked to display her gifts on the sacrificial prisoner, she simply walked over and struck him once so hard his neck snapped killing him instantly. As a result, we were unable to confirm exactly what Avi’s gift had been. To this day, the church is unsure. Upon returning to the battlefield, Avi only seemed to use the base advantages of the Anointed.
Krom.
Krom, previously a private of the Red Guard, was chosen to be Anointed after carrying a wounded general for two days through enemy-controlled mountains after a rare imperial defeat. The northern mountain Kingdom was without question the toughest enemy the empire has ever fought, but From made it through. Krom, as you can tell by the lack of a proper name, is from the recently conquered southern Kingdom of Narishma. The first of his kind to be Risen, Krom displayed fierce loyalty to the Empire from the day we took his city. Not only did he enlist as soon as the opportunity arose, but he proved his worthiness of the Red Guard within a year. This loyalty from one who was so quick to embrace imperial rule apparently impressed our Holiness.
Krom seemed to be one of the few Anointed who was also given a tool to direct their gift. A seven foot staff of unknown material aided Krom in summoning lighting from a clear sky and strike a man bound before him. Krom did not stop at one blast. Striking the man again and again with such powerful blasts of lighting that many standing too close were injured or killed, and others suffered permanent hearing loss. In one final display, Krom seemed to take in a blast of lighting through the rod and wield the electricity himself, firing the built up energy into a nearby building causing severe damage. Krom was the first Anointed not to be invited to his own celebration of Anointing. He came anyway.
*NOTE: Avoiding gunfire. Not dodging specific bullets. There is a difference in seeing where someone is aiming and moving out of the way and following a specific bullet in its flight and dodging it.
Comments
I'd be cool if Avi actually just wasn't given a superpower from God, or doesn't know what it is herself. Or maybe her ability scares her or comes at a cost and she can't bring herself to use it! I hope not all the Annointed are as crazy as Grita, and RIP to the dudes who lost their hearing thanks to Krom. Is the general he saved going to be a character in the story? I think it would be cool if we got to see their dynamic.
puhtahtoe
Nice, I like the sound of this. Were you inspired by the Returned from Warbreaker? This seems a bit like that but modified in a good way. I like that each Annointed is unique in their own way. I'm also really curious if a person who can use the Grohalind can become an annointed and if so how the enhanced healing would interact with the side effects of the Grohalind.
Carlos Rodriguez
Dude, I dig it! This bitch Avi really just refused help and crawled after getting blown up. I love what you're building here. Assuming these are antagonistic forces, they feel almost impossible to deal with but also a glimpse of victory somehow feels just barely attainable. Are power dynamics a struggle for you to figure out how to fit into a fight properly? Or do you find it fun and easy to work with since you know the rules so well?
