Titanic Pledges

Titanic Pledges - The Magic of Binding Sacrifice

Overview of Titanic Magic

Among the most formidable and perilous forms of magical practice known to scholars of the four trees, Titanic Pledges represent a system of magic that draws upon an individual’s future potential to empower themself in the present. Only aether souls possess the innate capacity to channel the raw flow of Titanic Magic in a way that allows them to make a Pledge by tapping into currents of power that surge through the Cosmic Stack.

The Nature of the Pledge

A Titanic Pledge is not merely a spell or incantation, but rather a cosmic oath written in the language of sacrifice and consequence. The practitioner, known as a Pledge-holder, must surrender something of genuine value in exchange for immediate power or the ability to fundamentally alter existing phenomena. This exchange operates on principles far more chaotic than conventional magic, governed by manuable laws that can induce many into a diabolical fall from grace.

The Five Foundations

The practice of Titanic Pledging is bound by five inviolable principles, each serving as both guideline and guardian against the catastrophic misuse of such profound power:

First: The Pledge must impose a genuine restriction upon the practitioner. No false limitations or meaningless constraints shall satisfy the cosmic balance.

Second: The restriction cannot be subject to chance, luck, or random circumstance. The sacrifice must be certain and measurable.

Minor Second: While not a full foundation, scholars agree that a benefit of a Titanic Pledge that is not subject to chance, luck, or random circumstance increases in potency and power.

Third: The restriction must align with the Cinder-Kin doctrine as judged by those possessing "ordered eyes.” Often, this falls into the domain of Devils or Angels, with the two factions being interchangeable in their viewing of the doctrine and their interpretations thereof.

Fourth: The cost demanded by the Pledge must invariably exceed the power gained. This fundamental imbalance ensures that Titanic Magic serves as a tool of desperation rather than casual convenience.

Fifth: Each subsequent Pledge undertaken by the same practitioner must demand exponentially greater sacrifice than the last, creating a progression that few can sustain without ultimate ruin.

The Consequences of Violation

The breaking of a Titanic Pledge triggers one of three outcomes. Scholars have yet to understand the complex web of forces that result in each outcome.

Complete Dissolution: The Pledge-holder loses all magical abilities permanently, their connection to all magic severed forever. They become as mundane as any ordinary soul, their aether essence rendered inert.

Translation: You lose all powers and abilities without the option of ever regaining them.

Twisted Burden: The Pledge-holder retains their restriction while losing the associated power. The cosmic imbalance grows ever more severe with time as the Pledge becomes an eternal burden that the Pledge-holder must maintain.

The Mark of the Unrooted: Most dreaded of all outcomes, this mystical brand appears upon the violator, marking them for death within mere days. The Mark represents complete severance from the natural order, and no known power can prevent the inevitable doom it heralds. Intercession by Material Gods, Titans, and the Twin Empresses have all proven unsuccessful in preventing this eventual demise.

Scholarly Warnings

Students of magic are cautioned to view Titanic Pledges not as a path to easy power, but as a system of magic that embodies sacrifice in its purest form. The escalating nature of successive Pledges creates an inexorable spiral toward increasingly devastating personal and societal loss. Even the most disciplined practitioners rarely survive more than three or four Pledges without succumbing to the accumulated weight of their sacrifices.

The wise scholar observes Titanic Pledges from a distance, understanding that while such magic can reshape oneself, it invariably extracts a price that transforms the wielder into something far removed from their original self. This is why knowledge of Titanic Pledges are heavily restricted and taught only to experienced scholars of Titanic Magic.