Blood Magic
Blood magic is a spell-casting technique that uses one’s own body to modify other natural entities, usually people or animals. The technique earns its name as the most common part of the body used to cast spells is the user’s blood, though other body parts may be used for stronger or more specific spells. It is not to be confused with dark spells (in which the caster uses another person’s body to channel energy for their casting), though both magics are considered a form of hemomancy.
Blood magic is not defined so much by the final effects of the spells, but in the way that the magic is cast. Because of this, a large variety of magical spells can be cast using blood magic, from curses and blessings, to necromancy and shape shifting. It is almost always an active form of magic to cast, though the effects of the magic on receiving entity may be passive or triggered as well.
It can be a very powerful way to cast spells. However, it can also be very dangerous for the spell-caster, as it draws upon their own energy and a miscast spell can have severe affects on the magic user’s health. And alongside backfiring spells, some forms of blood magic may require more than a few drops of blood and several blood mages have been found dead after severing their own limbs or removing their own organs in order to preform their craft.
Because it is a magic that carries great risk to use it has has become less common over the years, even being banned on several continents including Carra’Jor, Latau, and Anarmi. It used to be categorised as simply unconventional, but became controversial in 11,532 AE when a school in the Gallamor dedicated to its education opened and several of the allied territories disputed the ethics of providing an education on such a potentially-mutilating magic.
It is believed the first instance of blood magic was used by the Har’py goddess, Zen’efay, when she tore out her own heart and created Au’ku.