Mhirrian Rage
An Ozolithian Legacy
He felt the pain again as the stick struck his side. He gave a yelp and collapsed to the ground. He was young, about 17 and the man who towered over him looked rough with scars on his face. His grey hair made him look much older than a man in his 30s should look.Rage is the term used to describe a meditative trance-like frenzy that one enters when in battle. While this a broad definition it should be made clear that many warriors experience a state similar to this, but it is not the same thing. Rage is a specific experience that requires training and conditioning to take advantage of as most forms of Battle Meditation do.
"Two weeks now. You don't feel it?" The boy shook his head in reply. "Get angry, boy." The man talked low and angry but never yelled. He struck the boy again and the boy brief out in pain writhing on the ground.
"If I was trying to kill you, you'd be dead. Your enemy won't show you mercy." The boy cried again as the man struck him once more.
"Stop!"
"What?" The man took a step back and tried to hide his smile. The boy was getting mad...
The particulars of rage differ from one person to another. Different people have different ways of achieving it and different ways of using it.
Let It Go
While difficult to fully explain to anyone who has not experienced it, rage is a blend of psychological conditioning and a latent arcane power that exists within most living things While it is not an Arcane Genre in and of itself, Mage towers in Estoya have worked closely with the The Mhirrian Circles, who worked hard to preserve rage and ingrained it in the cultural genome in The Provinces of Mhirriah.This correspondence has greatly increased the understanding of rage for both parties. For example, the circles once taught that one should not indulge in their rage too often and that the whole reason rage exists is because of the demonic forces that took their Homeland who act as a source for rage.
This idea made the people of Mhirriah believe that they are cursed. The towers proved this wrong and in a very surprising move the high matriarch acknowledged the religion's mistake and rewrote the doctrine which led to a huge rise in those who use rage in the nation. While the reasons why were hidden from the flock she did send a letter to each druidic circle explaining herself.
We admitted the mistake for several reasons but the biggest issue is that there are so few things that bind the tribes together. We are a compilation of many cultures and rage is one of the few things that connects our nation. We've been able to suppress Pyromancy and when the towers refer to our beliefs on pyromancy as false we refuse to acknowledge it for that very reason, but this is different. We've never had something so integral to Mhirrian culture questioned. Call it into question and people are going to start looking at the Faith with skeptical eyes. It'll create a schism and that is something we cannot afford.
A science and an Art
The power of Rage developed in the Empire of Ozlith, but it was the Mhirrians who perfected it. the sheer amount of work that went into the development of this unique art of fighting has developed a series of different ways of doing so. All of these schools of thought, however, seem to agree on two distinct elements that must be present to fully experience rage.Triggers
Triggers are the psychological element I've rage. A trigger, when talking about rage, is a condition or a scenario that must be present for the effects referred to as direction and manifestation to emerge. For some, this is as simple as the sight of blood or more specifically the sight of blood being spilled during battle, usually from one's enemy.Other forms, however, emerged that instead decided to focus on personal injury. These individuals can often be seen going into battle with whips that they would hit themselves with to increase their rage, and like The Mad Legion before them, would carry ritualistic daggers into battle that they would carve themselves with.
Another common form is the use of intoxication where an individual will enter rage upon experiencing the effects of a narcotic usually a very powerful stimulant or hallucinogens.
Direction
There are two directions rage can go the first is internal the second is external. Internal rage is the act of empowering the self-making one very difficult to kill and able to sustain significant damage before even be given to feel the pain or possibly to make themselves stronger than the average person possibly could be. The external direction is where the arcane elements come in and show themselves. Rage can affect those who see it just as much as those who experience it. It can demoralize foes or send them into a frenzy that is uncontrolled and makes them prone to mistakes. Some have even heard maddening whispers that cause confusion and hallucinations while fighting enraged opponents."Please..." The boy stammered and the man hit him again before kneeling down to him.
"Do not beg me to stop. Make me stop!" The pain of another blow hit him but at this point he was numb. The boy stopped writing, confused at that fact. Why didn't that hurt? He thought to himself. The man struck again in the same place and he felt it even less. The boy cracked a smile of disbelief. Maybe the old man was onto something. Pain is only temporary. The man noticed his silence.
"Brandon? Are you alright?"
"I said stop." The boy muttered. Strange, he thought, that's not what i intended to say but it works just fine. The boy stood and felt almost dizzy. The first thing he saw was his father, smiling wide for some reason before winding back for another swing of the stick...
Blaze of Glory
The way rage manifests can vary depending on who you are and how you were taught. The way it manifests, however, is often the clearest indicator that one has actually successfully entered a rage. Due to the incredibly subjective nature of the art, it is difficult for someone to determine whether they are experiencing rage or not. While it does vary there are a few key indicators that determine an active state of Rage. A few good examples would be a massive dump of adrenaline into the bloodstream, complete dilation of the pupils and a series of sensations that differ from person to person.One such example would be going temporarily color blind and only being able to truly see the color red or some other color the individual fixates on. For those who are more magically inclined, certain magical effects that are unintended may occur such as red electrical arcs emanating from the body to the ground and a glowing of the eyes. The first time an individual experiences rage I can be a very terrifying experience. This fear dissipates very quickly as the rage takes over and begins guiding individuals actions.
Thank you for the Authors notes. This article certainly needs some proofreading but conceptually and content wise it is on point. You do a great job exploring the topics of this physical law. It almost feels like a condition as well, an affliction on these souls to grow into such a rage. You mention training a few times in the article, stating that it requires training to get a mastery of it. Is there a place or process you have to go through to hone your ability to enter this rage? From a players standpoint it might help to learn how they can refine this ability to use it more efficiently. Also I feel like if you really wanted to go the extra mile, you could intersperse a narrative within this article. A warrior learning to use his rage or something of the sort. Keep up the great work!