Dermamancy

Dermamancy is the school of leather, hide, and skin manipulation, allowing the caster to alter strength and material properties. While originally developed for use in leatherworking, technological advances have since discovered an array of useful medical applications. Full mastery requires years of study and supervised hands-on experience.

Utility

Dermamancy's original uses focused on strengthening leathers, and speeding up the preparation process through the use of the caster's Imperium. Healers have since expanded its use to include treatment for burn victims and an assortment of skin diseases.

Leatherworking

Leather Preparation

The preparation of leather by mechanical means requires a time consuming process involving stripping hair and multiple hide preparation steps to cure the leather. Dermamancy helps speed this process considerably, allowing the caster to focus more time and attention on the later phases of their craft.
Advanced applications of leatherworking spells also allow for the addition of new features into the worked leather, such as waterproofing.

Leathershaping

Shaping leathers using Dermamancy allows for more precise results than traditional leather shaping methods. The spells can also be used in conjunction with traditional methods, resulting in magically enhanced results requiring less effort or Imperium than if using only one method.
Leathershaping can also be used to alter the strength and suppleness of the leather being worked, allowing for unexpected strength and flexibility properties compared to leathersmithing alone. When combined with Fibramancy, a skilled practicioner can even seamlessly bind the joints between leather panels, allowing the final product to appear as a single piece.

Chromatic Dermamancy

Dermamancy can also be used in combination with Chromamancy to alter the colorations of metals. This requires the use of the desired dye to color the leather, but the use of both magic types allows for vibrant, colorfast hues as well as more intricate dyeing patterns.

Medical Applications

The same processes for working leather can also be combined with Curative Magic to help heal skin damage. Spells to stitch leather also provide powerful ways to repair seams and cuts through skin. Hide-strengthening spells can help counteract the effects of skin-weakening diseases. Leathershaping spells provide useful methods to restore lost or damaged skin, correct stretch marks, and even remove excess skin after weight changes. Hair and fur removal spells are often applied for cosmetic purposes, or reversed to help stimulate regrowth.
Medical Dermamancy is still a young and rapidly advancing field, with its application limited only by the imagination of the skilled casters choosing to stretch the boundaries of its currently known uses.

Parent Technologies

• Zokinesis

Alternate Names

Leathermancy (Archaic)

Further Reading