Urban Fantasy: Baleful Magic

Magic is difficult and require commitment. Magic is also quite a bitch and the shortcuts can more often than not lead to damnation and a monstrous transformation. There is a near infinite choice when it come to 'flavor' of magic. Unfortunately for humanity, many of these flavors are blood, life and souls among other things. There are dark secrets out there in the world, wicked and foul tricks which people can fall prey to. There are also new ways, new techniques which humans can stumble upon, sometimes by accident, whose consequences can be unforeseen. These are the Baleful Magics, the spells, techniques, methods and traditions which are not spoken of even in the company of other dabblers of the arcane.

Human Consumption

Art by Sean Donaldson.

One near-universal taboo across cultures can be boiled down to cannibalism is bad, man. Partaking into the consumption of human flesh is considered one of the most disgusting and depraved things someone can do, about on par with the level of a child rapist. It's considered quite foul and also carries a medical risk. Even the most primitive of cultures, going back far into our history, figured out that eating another man or woman is not only disgusting but unsafe. Of course, when one look at it divorced from morality and culture, with knowledge of the arcane arts in mind, a different picture emerge: why not consume another human?

Human Consumption Magic refer to any spell, ritual or even entire traditions which make use of the practice of consuming something from a still-living or freshly deceased human. It can be flesh, blood, memories, youth or something else. The metaphysical energies and life force is violently ripped from its body and incorporated into the spellcaster to empower them in some shape or form. It is a form of artificial vampirism and maybe True Vampires have recruited a future minion or even 'child' from particularly depraved individuals who regularly consumed the life force of other humans. The problems with such magic are readily apparent for all to see: for one thing, it's disgusting and very much criminal, obviously. The other problem is that such 'power source', once cut from its original body, has a bad habit of decaying quite fast. Think the classic of a Vampire bathing in the blood of virgins to retain her youth. It ain't sticking for long. The other problem is that it's also quite addictive. As a result, such magic fueled by the consumption of human lives requires a constant supply which is difficult to easily acquire in the modern age.

• The form which this magic can take is extremely varied, as it is only tied together by the fuel source more than anything else. Blood magic, for example, can heal and regenerate wounds. Stealing memories can enhance one's knowledge and skills while face-stealing can enable limited shapeshifting.
• The downsides are fairly obvious, beyond the risks posed by the clearly criminal acts being performed. Such magic has a habit of warping its user physically and mentally, making them less and less human. Even those who do not degenerate physically will start to become mentally warped. For one thing, the addictive nature of these acts and the violence they entail implies the one doing it was already a violent and deranged individual. Generally speaking, these tendencies will only grow through the supernatural addiction while also leaving a 'hole' in the individual when not partaking in it. Food taste like ash. Colors lose vibrancy. Emotions are dulled. The only spark of life they experience is during consumption.
• A human which become fully imbued with the magic it wield is no longer human. In the case of those who practice such cannibalistic magic, the end result is never pleasant as the concepts they have internalized and embodied are those of 'consumption', 'cannibalism' or 'parasitism'. Just what exactly turn into can vary in appearance and function. For some, transformation into one of the undead might be their eventual fate, as the leftovers of the stolen lives sparks back to function their bodies upon death. One cool example I would gladly steal are Ghasts as written by Arnold K at Goblin Punch.

Demonic Magic

Art by Sean Donaldson.

If Consumption Magic is foul by its actions, then Demonic Magic is foul by its nature and origin: Demons are creatures of suffering and imperfection. The world has the potential for evil and wrongness, from extremely petty and minor offenses to the most horrible of acts. The Demons are born of this, or maybe they birth it. No one is really, entirely sure. It's a chicken-and-egg thing. The point is, Demons are as close as one can get to evil. They are utterly without any kind of humanity, mercy, kindness, love or anything good. The best they can do is fake it as part of some long term goal. Demons cannot bring about good. They can only cause suffering, death, madness and worse. It is their nature. It's what they are.

It's not surprising that Demons can become patron of mortal spellcasters, then. Such an occurrence is quite rare, of course. Your average wannabe satanist punk isn't likely to attract the attention of such creatures and even then, only a small portion of demons possess the requisite knowledge to ensure the creation of a true mage. It does happen, however. There are generally two main scenarios:

• The Demon lie about its origin and/or purpose, pretending to be something else as it impart twisted knowledge on the human. The side effects and the cost of the magic wielded are always obfuscated.
• The Demon is fully willing to reveal itself as a demon and does not hide what it will cost.

The latter is much more rare. Very, very few people are truly evil enough to become a mustache-twirling villain who openly consort with demons. They do exist, but they are rare. Most who do often start in the first category and spend years under tutelage of a demon, their magic always backfiring enough to harm them and others but never enough to kill them. In turn the demon demand more and more sacrifices. Eventually, these people just snap. So suffused with the powers of demons they completely and utterly abandon morality and sanity, becoming so tainted as to be demons in spirit rather than in the flesh. After all, does anything truly matter? When you've seen the endless, timeless suffering humanity has inflicted upon itself, the very idea of 'good' become laughable. 'Good' is just evil in denial to them.

The spells born of demonic knowledge are always abominations which taint the world. Just how much of a taint it carries can vary, from absolutely minimal to abomination-spawning. Any offensive spell fueled by demonic powers has a habit of leaving behind ugly and disfiguring scars, be it on people or objects. Wounds caused by such magic have a tendency to leave discolored scars which still ache decades later, while objects blasted by its power become discolored and ashen or even warped. Of course, such cosmetic damage is the best case scenario, compared to being cursed and haunted by the demon's malice. For less destructive spells, the cost is generally paid by the spellcaster. Many of these warlocks become physically warped and tainted, growing frail and sickly as the demonic corruption ravage their bodies - only for their demonic master to be all too happy to provide some means of restoring it (see the section above).

Time Magic

Artist unknown.

One of the hardest and most dangerous force to tamper with is time itself. While lesser sorcery may be able to slightly bend the rules of the universe in some limited capacity (such as temporarily restoring youth or stopping the decay of an item or corpse), true temporal manipulation is generally held to be the sole province of beings of cosmic power. That obviously has never stopped people from trying. Of the other example presented so far, Time Magic is less seen as 'evil' and more as 'foolish': attempting to master its power is seen as the mark of a reckless fool who will doom himself.

Time Magic can take many forms and most of them are a terrible thing to meddle with. Casting on oneself a spell akin to the 'haste' spell of tabletop RPG and videogames has a fairly obvious downside: accelerated aging. Repeated and constant use of spells which alter one's passage of time in relation to the world is dangerous as the physical strain will accumulate over time. The human body is not meant to operate inside a 'bubble' of altered time and so repeated use will slowly add up and age the user (which may lead to the user attempting to use foul secrets to undo or temporarily reverse the damage). Of course the ultimate goal of any dabbler in the powers of time is to time travel. Of course, true time travel (at least backward) is considered to be impossible. If such a power was truly usable by mortal mages, it would be well known and actively sought and then promptly abused. The best one can hope to achieve is to leap forward in time, blinking away from existence and reappearing in the same place at a further point in time. It might be possible to extract power from temporal and/or dimensional anomalies but such attempts would always place a massive strain on the user. One theory on why there is so little recorded on the matter of time travel is that it can be done but will always backfire on the user, warping time and space to the point they might undo their very existence and never have been born. A terrifying thought.

Devourers

Art by Marc Delano.

Magic, spirit, gods and all that stuff: to some people it's kind of bullshit and a nightmare to keep track of. The world is awash in all manners of supernatural entities. If not for some unspoken 'rule' of reality (perhaps this is simply the Age of Humanity and that's how it is) we'd be at the mercy of malicious entities. At least, this is what some people believe. The 'Devourers' are a relatively new phenomena which has emerged from the normally-decently-heroic circles of monster hunters and supernatural investigator (aka people who would normally be good Player Character material): these individuals have realized they can do more than hunt supernatural beings, they can also consume them to fuel their own powers.

Perhaps these so-called Devourers had good intentions. All they wanted was to be rid of dangerous spirits and ensure they'd still have the power to fight against the forces of darkness, to keep supernatural dangers away from humanity. While the intentions are noble, it is the methods which are dangerous and corrupt. Those who wield supernatural powers tend to eventually embody the concepts and ideas their powers derive from. To destroy and to eat a supernatural being repeatedly is to trap inside one's metaphysical patterns and nature the idea of 'consumption', 'devouring' and 'hunger'. This power grows like a cancer and metastasize, changing the individual permanently. From them a new concept, a new idea and a new monster is born and once the concept exist, it will always exist.

• Devourers derive their powers from the slaying of supernatural beings. Their consumption is more metaphysical than corporeal and they don't eat flesh or anything like that. Like the Phantovores have an anti-spirit nature.
• The exact abilities of a Devourer can vary, as some were some other type of supernaturally-infused human before their powers 'mutated'. Some can weave enchantment and spells like a mage, others are expert at sensing spirits and trapping them while others are physical powerhouses. Their powers are increasingly changed and tainted, growing stronger but also over specialized. They also excel at cancelling and negating spells and enchantments placed on them.
• Wounds inflicted by a Devourer on a supernatural being have a hard time healing.

Physically, Devourers don't look any different than their previous human selves. Their corruption is mental and spiritual rather than physical. They act and talk normally. The difference is that, inside their minds, is a burning desire to trap and kill spirits and other beings to siphon their energy. The worst thing is that young Devourers don't really see it at that way. Most see themselves as and often still act as if they were the hero they likely used to be. The devil is in the details: Devourers are cruel and obsessive and filled with a nagging desire to consume. Many slowly turn on their allies and soon anything else with supernatural powers is deemed a threat only they can handle. It's all for the 'greater good'. The end state of their transformation is currently unknown but, should it exist, it would be a true monster.

Astral Beasts

More Marc Delano.

Finally, a concept which ties into/can overlap with much of the above is the concept of 'Astral Beast' or 'Astral Vampire', such as certain takes on the Berbalang. Combining astral projection, vampirism/parasitism, consumption of power and possibly demonic influence, these cases are a form of spellcaster whose magic enable them to project a monstrous form. Their consciousness is separate from their body and become incarnated as a Spirit: a horrible monster which could feed off human (and other beings), be it their mind, bodies or even total lifespan!

The core concept of this form of magic is that the sorcerer project their mind/spirit as an astral form which has been reshaped into some sort of predatory monster. They allow the foul and predatory side of humanity, the 'beast within' to become loose. While technically they are still in control of themselves (and such process is always willing), the transformation nonetheless changes the human nature. Much is 'excised' away when the mind is projected as such an astral entity: just as they are unshackled from their body, their minds/soul is unshackled from humanity and morality and free to fully indulge in its dark desires.