Alkahestry of the Flesh

[Raistlin Ambros]

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CASE FILE: Transmutation Equipment

Raistlin Ambros
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NAME:
→ Purification
Contortion
Cessation
Miasma

TYPE:
→ Alkahestry: Poisoner’s Folly (Purification, Cessation, Miasma)
Body Formation (Contortion)

LEVEL:
→ Level 3

FORM:
→ Purification: Raistlin’s purification array is located beneath the skin of the back of his neck; formed by subdermal skin cell pigmentation.
Contortion: The array for Contortion is located across Raistlin’s right arm starting from the palm of his hand and snaking up to his shoulder in a complex web of markings, circles, and patterns. The entirety of this array is actually a series of the same transmutation circles repeated across the skin of his arm and connected by a network of lines and markings. Carefully and meticulously, this array was biologically and alkahestrically programmed to be self-preserving. In other words, should one area of the array be damaged, one of the three circles for contortion would activate and repair the damage and reapply the skin pigmentation to repair the damaged portion of the array via signals transmitted along the nervous system within the arm. This complex system was implemented to prevent minor damage to the integrity of the transmutation array from rendering Raistlin unable to use his alkahestry all together. The system would, of course, be broken if all three interconnected circles (located on his palm; outer shoulder, and mid-inner arm) were near simultaneously disrupted, or if Rai’s arm was completely taken off all together.
Cessation: The circle of cessation is located on the gauntlet Raistlin wears on his right arm: engraved directly into the metal of the gauntlet’s palm.
Miasma: The array for Miasma is located nowhere on Raistlin’s body. Because it is a far more situational alkahestric practice, there is no need to have a circle pre-fabricated for the purpose of quick on-demand use. Instead, when he has need of a circle, Raistlin can quite readily and easily use contortion to alter the skin pigmentation or even the flesh of his skin itself to render the circle he needs.

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BRIEFING:
→ Raistlin’s alkahestrical circles and arrays are unique in form due to the elements used with them. While the typical Xingese alkahestrical pentagram is present within all his circles, he heavily borrows from elements of alchemical theory to modify these circles to apply the more precision scientific element to his alkahestry in lieu of typical Xingese spiritual and metaphysical schools of thought. Most of the symbols that act as catalysts in Raistlin’s studies are derived from archaic Xerxian alchemical practice.

The function of purification is simple enough that it requires little focus to activate whilst the array of purification is fine tuned and complex enough that it can function on its own if alkahestrically integrated into the immune system of a human being via contortion. In such a set up, the detection of foreign microbes, toxins, contaminants, and irregularities is quick and simple enough for biological programming to manage and the act of activation of purification to purge contaminants nad irregularities from cellular structure and tissue can be done automatically.

Contortion is more complex than cessation or purification as it requires extensive use of the Dragon’s Pulse to map out the organic body being acted upon and a deep understanding of cellular biology and human anatomy for a successful practice.

Cessation is far more simple than contortion as it requires less understanding of the organic compounds being acted upon and can be used without even a “ping” of the dragon’s pulse to map the tissue being acted upon, though that would negate any possibility of precision use of cessation.

Miasma is perhaps the most precise alkahestry in Raistlin’s arsenal and therefore requires more focus and tedium in its use. Because of it’s nature as a precision instrument, Miasma itself is of little use on the battlefield. However, the toxins and viral vectors produced by miasma are of immediate use in combat situations or other applications, though a proper use of them would require foreplanning and preparation. The products of miasma: be it viral, bacterial, or organic toxin in nature, are typically stored in small glass vials stored in cooled, ejectable chambers located inside Raistlin’s gauntlet.


PICTURE:
→

Spoiler:

^ Example of the circle for contortion.

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SPECIAL ABILITIES:

→ Purification: The most basic in function of Raistlin’s alkahestrical arsenal, purification serves one dynamic purpose only: the preservation of health and bodily equilibrium through the monitoring of vital statistics and possible foreign contaminants. Simply put, this circle protects against toxins, poison, venom, viral and bacterial disease, life threatening cellular mutations and other similar microscopic elements. It does this by locating contaminated cells within the body and purging them of undesirable contamination by reverting them back to a previous stable state. The trade off here is the toll on the individual cells affected by purification. While the trade off is very minimal in this case, it is still important to note that all cells have a lifespan that transfers seamlessly to its “offspring” when it undergoes mitosis. The decay of the cell’s expiration date is very slow, and in humans, seem to take a full century before the cellular composition of the organism begins to fail from its slow decay. The proccess of purging a cell puts a stress on its life expectancy-- accelerating its decay by anywhere from a few hours to a few days. However, due to the health-saving nature of the purification proccess and the negligible effects of accelerating the decay of a minute number of cells, the trade-off tends to be in the favour of the purified organism.
In a manner, Purification is the panacea of all alkahestry when it comes to disease and toxin. However, Purification’s function is unable to repair physical damage done to the body. Open wounds, cuts, burns, or other instances in which tissue dies is far out of the jurisdiction of Purification’s function as cells that have been killed can not easily be brought back to life (not without the use of stem cells anyway)
Perhaps the most remarkable use of purification is it’s application as a permanent enhancement for the human immune system-- a function that Raistlin readily employs through the use of the purification circle beneath the skin of the back of his neck. By using the precision manipulation of tissue through Contortion, Raistlin is able to seamlessly integrate a purification circle into his own immune system-- programming it to respond to contaminants and similar threats just as his body does-- but with far more efficiency. As long as Raistlin’s integrated purification circle is active, he cannot get sick, he cannot be effectively poisoned, and the effects of foreign biological elements such as hallucinogens or intoxicants are completely nullified.

Contortion: One of Raistlin’s most complex alkahestrical applications is that of Contortion. In its basest summary, contortion is the use of alkahestrical energy to readily manipulate organic tissue in the same manner than an alchemist would manipulate inorganic material: shaping it and molding it to the will of the alkahestrist. Contortion requires extensive use of the dragon’s pulse to “see” the microscopic cellular building blocks it manipulates to be used effectively. While the user could in fact use contortion without this analysis of tissue being worked upon, the result would be far too crude an ineffective to be of any real use, as cells are for more complex than stone or metal. By manipulating the inner organelles and physical structure and shape of individual cells, Raistlin can repurpose them to new functions or simply change their shape or location. En masse, this manipulation of cells can be used to repurpose entire clumps of living tissue into new forms or functions. With time and surgical precision, a heart could be seamlessly implanted into a recipient without use of surgical tools. Or, alternatively, a heart could be refashioned into a functioning lung, though such a process would take much time and effort for seamless and effective results as with any complex medical procedure. On a more nefarious note, contortion could just as well be used to sever the tissue and ligaments connecting one’s arm to the rest of the body, or could be used to physical mutate one’s liver to protrude from their body. Bones can be twisted, organs warped and mishapenned. With one’s mind put to it, the entire human body could be twisted into an unrecognizable abomination if one so desired. Organs could be manually shut off; nerves and pain receptors could be disconnected from the nervous system to mitigate pain or feeling in a given area of the body. The applications of contortion are only limited by knowledge, imagination, and the physical limitations of the very nature of organic tissue. Because contortion does nothing to really “create”, as it only manipulates present materials, not much is needed but energy redirect from the Dragon’s Pulse-- much in the manner that alchemical reshaping of materials only needs the implication of outside tectonic energy to act as the catalyst. However, a stone formation reshaped to look like a horse will not fail to function and die. A living body will. There is only so much manipulation living tissue can be subjected to before the imbalance or trauma done to the overall anatomical system causes the organism to die. Because of this, for effective use of contortion, great care and restraint must be readily applied.

Cessation: Cessation is more similar to the single cell state altering function of Purification than it is to the tissue shape and function manipulation of Contortion. At a glance, Cessation seems quite simple in function and process: through physical contact of the transmutation circle in use the resulting energy of the release of energy appears to be used to destroy the functions of individual cells to an applied area, effectively killing them. However, closer observation would acknowledge that the process isn’t as straightforward as that. Rather than disrupting the functions of the organelle of the individual cells, Cessation actually transports the basic adenosine triphosphate from the affected cells en mass and moves them somewhere else. Usually, with no immediate reciprocal, Raistlin simply transports the AHP to cells within his own body to replenish his own cellular energy, or he could even use the energy as a partial energy sources for the transmutation itself.

Miasma: While Contortion focuses more on the physical shape of organic tissue, Miasma focuses on the creation of programmed agents to carry out a specific function in an organic environment. Only able to transmute a small group of cells at once, Miasma is an arduous process of purging a cell of all function, constitution, and organic programming to effectively create a blank template on which to work. This can be done with any given living cell type, especially with the aid of physical reshaping available through contortion. Once the cell has been physically repurposed to fit its new desired function, the actual process of miasma then takes place. Raistlin explicitly alters genetic code within the cell to carry out a new string of organic programming. He could program the cell to function like a red blood cell if he wished, or he could program it to actively seek out specific vital points in the human body to deploy a form of toxin that Raistlin may engineer it to carry. Through his method Raistlin can create living, dynamic vaccinations, or alternatively he could engineer a virus to carry a dose of lethal neurotoxin to the brain. The programming of the cell requires meticulous efforts that cannot be replicated in the heat of combat, and so miasma can only be used when Raistlin has the time and space to operate. Once the programming is finish, the process of physical reshaping to a form that best suits its new function as well as the installation of toxic elements or other organic tools to be distributed without harm done to the carrier itself is much quicker and simpler, though it still takes a bit of time and focus, perhaps minutes at a time, to complete. The easiest part is generating a vector of infection. A physical injection is the easiest and most effective vector, but its quite impractical when applying it to a large population or even to a hostile individual on the battlefield. The most effective combative vector would be to create an airborne vector to carry the virus. Though it requires extra engineering on Raistlin’s part, it is possible to adapt the virus to carry effectively on a specific type of gas it could then be introduced to as an environment it could thrive in. Once accomplished, it would only be a matter of containing a large enough sample of the virulent gas in a vial or other container and then the weapon based applications could be fabricated from there.

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[Reila Tsukino]

APPROVED

Just don't be OP with it.