The Strain of Profanity

What have I done?

A strain developed through the addiction and desperate needs shared by all practitioners of The Scarlet Arts, those who use it never use their own blood or the blood of allies. They take their blood by force. They strip the dead and the living and transform the blood. They taint the blood by doing this, and that corruption manifests as dreadful contagions. These ailments infest the blood. It is a product of their desires as the practitioner turns it on their enemies.

A Profane Art

Most who practice The Scarlet arts are not sadists. While it may seem like it, the reality is they want to show you the world as they see it. They want to help others understand them the way they understand themselves. The Scarlet Arts have always lived in infamy.
Others look at these men and women in contempt and disgust. It isn't fair to these precious few, but it's all they have come to know. They have a desperate need to share their passions, but not everyone wants to see. While these practitioners do not consider themselves sadistic, finding they are masochists in almost every way, it is easy to look at this strain and see it differently.
There is no power in this strain that doesn't cause immense pain or gruesome death. The pains experienced by these spells have driven survivors mad, and some of these spells have chilling effects that stick with you for the rest of your life.

Infections and Transformation

This strain possesses horrific abilities. While The Strain of Passion Is violent and brutal, death is often quick and the abilities rarely have lasting effects given time to heal. The mixture of tainted blood, the pain and fear of the victim, and the desires and added traits of the caster, create effects that are horrible to behold and even more so to experience.
The mage taints the blood they harvest and that corruption takes many forms. One can add diseases to the blood and force it into the victim's veins. Another can cast out bloody spores that infect and transform their hosts, and others inject parasites into their victims that invade and spread with reckless abandon. The effect is often just as horrific to the caster as it is to their victim. The passion blinds them to it at the moment. It's only in the aftermath that they become aware of the atrocities they committed. It gets easier for most, and some do come to appreciate it. Others never get over the fact that those they kill never get to understand them.

The First Mutation

Learning this strain doesn't happen with experience or training. It happens by accident. They learn the strain by casting an ability only to have it changed to one of the abilities in this strain. Below are some details on abilities that come from this strain.

• THE SCARLET BLOOM The Scarlet Bloom is an effect that tainted blood can have on spells. The blood coagulates and begin to behave like fungal spores. Any biological material touched by the spores begins to mutate in a violent burst of pink and red mist. Stalks grow, using the biological material for nourishment to fuel the growth. If a person or animal is afflicted, the spores work against the immune system and strive to control the host.

• PATHOGENS Tainted blood can also be diseased. It can carry many horrible afflictions that corrupt the host. These maladies result in hindrances that cannot be cured. The blood wont allow it. The victim will suffer for the rest of their days if they survive.

• MONSTERS WITHIN Tainted blood can carry parasitic life forms within that can kill a foe quickly. These parasites often grow as they fester within the host and some burst forth after so many turns as the magic accelerates the growth. These parasites come from The Wetworks and represent the longing of the caster.