What is Elemental Prosthetic Binding?
Elemental prosthetic binding, or
Aether Prosthetics, is a particular magical and runic ritual of healing that enhances or restores a weakened, scarred or mutilated body with a balance or channeling of elemental energies with a replacement in elemental form.
It involves a surgical procedure across the body at first, similar to an acupucture procedure, where the body is punctured by several thin-needle points to relieve pain, lock off and open the bodies spiritual essence (or chi or ki) and vitality over a specific area through the percieved and known 14 channels of energy. A successful procedure of Aether Prosthetics relies on three things: the health and vitality of the individual that the prosthetic is being cast upon, the skill and knowledge of the elemental-surgeon knows of elemental energy and chi, and lastly, the willingness of the elemental force with coexisting with the body of its host.
Following this, the area in which has been chosen to become '
Elemental Bound' will be marked and inscribed by magical glyphs, sigils or runes over the area which will be given the prosthetic. This is a precaution and a necessary step in order to allow the energies of an element to enter and morph with the body, with the appropriate and corresponding element willing to be bound to the said person. These magic inscriptions upon the body serve as both a binding agent and as new channels to lock into place and connect with the bodies natural channels of energy prepared through the initial acupuncture, so that it would not become overwhelmed or underwhelmed by the intrusion of a foreign and unknown entity (in this case, an elemental spirit). It is completely unknown which energies will tie with the person, only predicted by the means and character of a person as appropriate to the Elemental Charts - however, these are not conclusive charts, as elemental energy is an unpredictable and normally chaotic substance.
The procedure is heavily taxing to a person, and can result in failure due to a number of reasons. If miscalculated, improperly done (if one or more channels have not been properly locked or unlocked, the spirit may augment beyond the desired locale of the body and seek to overwhelm the entirety, resulting in a burnout and consumption of the persons entire being to be converted into, say, fuel for a fire, or turned into stone, or reduced to a pool of blood). These procedures are only condoned through the expressed permission of the individual, and through an initial examination of the persons 'chi'.
Lastly, is the surgery itself, the transplantation of elemental energy to assume a physical form - such raw and wild power can result in a violent reaction to being made into a physical object and form, and can be rejected by the bodies spirit. The body is introduced to all possible forms of elemental energy in a raw form. The rare and unique substance used in this case are materials gathered from the remains of elemental spirits, or from the captured and refined forms of these creatures taken from the Elemental Plane, known as
Elemental Dusts. As the procedure takes place, the energy is introduced through one single open channel, otherwise referred to as a
Chi Crossroad - in which the needles are removed one by one to give access to the new areas of the desired bodies location. For a full limb reconstruction, this is done in an inverse fashion, where for instance at an arm, the channels are locked at the edge of the limbs extremity and attached to it is a physical cast with inlaid metal casts and channel lines for the energy to follow and begin reconstructing into a fully fledged limb. The elemental energies surge through the open chi channels and begins to reconstruct and deconstruct itself, a process once begun cannot be stopped until it is finished, or it will result in a failed and partial binding that will degrade nearly immediately.
Pain is inevitable throughout the course of this, both physically and mentally, as both body and mind are at war with the spirit trying to form its own 'physical' body with the elemental dust. The body reacts by trying to reject the invasive energy, like trying to get rid of a disease, and launches out from the channels sealed within the area, resulting in the magical symbols to glow with power or fade when it has become rejected. The procedure takes time, as the body and elemental spirit fight for dominance over one another, the person suffers fatigue, dehydration and nausea - the elemental energy seeks to recreate its own body and during the stalemate tries to find sources or connections with the body to overcome the stalemate.
Physical signs of change and acceptance of an element is visible when organic matter begins to change form to the element that has become accepted by the body and consumes the remaining raw energy, or in the matter of a missing limb, growing into a new form and shape based on the minds connection and phantom pain it holds from where the missing limb used to reside. The symbols begin to become grafted upon the new limb as it grows or reconstructs into its new form, forming new channels and connecting to the bodies nervous system - the recipient of this treatment feels all new nerves grow and reconstruct across their limb or piece of body.
At the end of the procedure, the person has bonded with the elemental energy and become one with their body, but it needs time to acclimate and bond with the person - while not requiring the circulation of blood, air or liquids across their newly augmented and elemental prosthetic, they still feel everything like they normally would with their limb or body part.
LIMITATIONS
However, there are limitations to this procedure.
- The procedure is more likely to be successful in bonding with elemental energies for a individual who is missing a limb or body part, or cripples - as the bodies chi still exhibits a 'phantom channel of chi', where the previous limb or extremity existed.
- They do not allow this procedure to take place among children, as the stress of these procedures can become extremely harmful and result in an even worse condition.
- But these elemental prosthetics cannot act as artificial replacements for internal organs, like the heart or lungs, or the bodies natural reproductive systems - that is a humanoid trait and part of their biology, whereas the elements are pure energy.
- These procedures also rely on the focal channeling points of a body, and the nerves in which connect them with the body - thus it does not seem significant, or is significantly more difficult to replace or augment a prosthetic to a smaller limb or extremity of the body. For example, only a finger, or a toe, ear or nose.
- These procedures do not add additional limbs (one cannot have six arms, two heads or fifteen thumbs). It relies on existing or pre-existing limbs and extremities, based upon the 'Phantom Pain' theory of the body - where one may be missing a limb, the brain realises that it is still there based off of muscle memory or 'phantom chi'.
- Nor do they potentially enhance the five natural senses but operate as normal. In addition, the procedure cannot reproduce these senses to the body in the same way i.e. if an eye is replaced with elemental energy, such as with fire or magma, one can percieve heat signatures or outlines, but cannot see in the dark. It is still an inexplicable phenomena that baffles those still perfecting the treatment.
HISTORY
This procedure was discovered during the
Elemental Renaissance of the Dwarves long ago during the Age of Arcanum (1800BD-400BD). The knowledge of this procedure exists only as a well-kept secret among the dwarves of whom have been able to pass through the Elemental Planes during their expeditions and Elemental Crusades, and survived. Due to their penchant for creating objects of practical use out of any material they can get their hands upn, and their beliefs that the world is made of the interposing and conflicting four elements, they uncovered this process under trial and error in their attempts to achieve dominance over the elements themselves. What the dwarves uncovered during this intellectual and philosophical revolution was surprising, and a new line of thinking developed in the later period of the Age of Arcanum where the elements could be worked
with, rather than made to
work for the dwarves. This enquiry led to whole new methods of metallurgy, golemancy and alchemical discovery, until at one point a dwarven entrepenur by the name of
Myrmon 'the Mad' attempted the most ambitious, or as others consider it, insane endeavour - the fusion of a physical humanoid form and elemental energies. Dwarves believed that through a lifetime of dedication one could potentially achieve a spiritual mastery of the four main elements that composed the material reality of the universe, one can discover the supreme Fifth Element 'Aether'. This was Myrmon's ultimate goal, and believed that this synthesis of elemental energy and physical form would allow him to achieve this. Most of his time devoted to this pursuit, he was only successful in implanting elemental energies into inanimate objects, to fit the frames of golems or suits of armour. He made the first discovery after journeying to a monastery for recuperation, and discovered the art of chi - which he further investigated and spent twenty years devoted to different monasteries across the continent uncovering the secrets. In his later experiments, he made a modicum of success, being able to replace and augment his own hand with the power of elemental earth, based upon his characteristics of determination and stubborn discipline to achieve his goal. The Dwarves followed Myrmon's legacy, and the hosts of elemental energy became known as '
Myrmidohns', devoting themselves and their bodies to achieve this goal of elemental synthesis and enlightenment, at first by leading a particular way of life, and focusing on one element at a time. Then following the paths ordained by their High King, exploring the paths set out by Myrmon - though this fell in decline for a few centuries until its rediscovery during the 7th Century Post-Divergence. The procedure has been refined for nearly 200 years since.
