Many of you may wonder how such an inferior spell as 'Energy Shield' could come to replace the much more useful spell of 'Mana Shield', even when it is blatantly clear that the knowledge of 'Mana Shield' had not yet been lost to the ages. Well my friends, the spell known as 'Mana Shield' has a darker side...

The Sorcerers of Tristram

A short while after the "Battle of Tristram" it appeared as though a horrible "brain fever" had struck the Vizjerei. The "brain fever" wasn't as much a disease as it was an epidemic, all at once many of the Sorcerer's began to show signs of memory loss, for some it was minor, but for most it was severe, with the mages forgetting even the simplest of spells, and some even forgot who they were. And almost all of them died within weeks. The great healers of the land were called upon to try to discover what the cause of this plague might be. The healers findings showed that almost all of the now-dead mages had died due to heart-related problems. It wasn't unheard of for a mage to die of heart problems, nor was it unheard of for that same mage to experience memory loss, but with this many all suffering from those same effects all at once was inconceivable!

The Vizjerei leaders decided to call for a meeting of all the mage clans, at this meeting a group of the brightest and most opened minded mages was formed, this group's task was to find out what had befallen so many at once, yet had left others completely unharmed. After weeks of study, the cause of death was certain. Use of the spell known as 'Mana Shield' had killed all of those mages, for it was discovered that prolonged use produced mind/heart wreaking side-effects.

The Vizjerei's age and weak hearts proved to be their one saving grace.

Mana Shield

All living beings posses two sides, the spiritual, and the physical. Most beings are unable to tap into the potential of their spiritual side, but man is one of the few who can. The spiritual is what allows mages to create what are known as 'spells'. Spells are formed when a mage converts a portion of his spiritual side into energy, or 'mana', mana is merely a simpler term that means "spiritual energy/force", by utilizing this mana mages are able to make changes to the physical world around them.

A mage of the past once discovered that the spiritual side of living beings could be tapped, in order to protect the physical side. The way this works is that a small amount of mana is used to create a "detection" barrier around the mage, when something sets off this barrier, the mages sub-conscious responds by converting a portion of mana into a type of "shield" which absorbs the entire force of the blow, thus leaving the physical half of the mage unharmed. But what wasn't counted on was this...

When the physical side encounters 'strife' (anything that may physically effect it) then there is usually a flair up of 'pain' as a direct result of it, but what isn't well known is that when the spiritual side encounters 'strife' it too tries to produce pain to alleviate the stress. But the spiritual side has no direct outlet for pain, so all the "spiritual strife" is stored up until it can find a vent, one such vent is for the physical to experience pain, then the spiritual is able to 'release' some of its pent up strife as physical pain. Mana shield, by absorbing physical strife, builds up its own supply of it. And since the body is protected from strife, there is no easy outlet for the spiritual strife.

If the spiritual strife is allowed to 'collect' for a long enough of time, it begins to effect the physical side. More precisely, is effects the parts of the physical that are most closely associated with the spiritual, the heart and brain. The brain holds the knowledge needed to control and create the spells, the heart is, well, the 'heart' or will needed to form spells. When the spiritual strife attacks the brain it damages all parts equally, but because the memory center is the most delicate piece of the brain it seems to be effected the most, this accounts for the mages memory loss. When the spiritual attacks the heart, it causes additional stress, thus weakening the heart, 'aging it' if you will.

Because of the mages' overall age their heart was stressed to the breaking point, the Warriors who had used Mana Shield experience almost no side-effects, as they had taken their share of physical pain, which vented off the spiritual strife.

But the Rogues were not so lucky....

The Sisters of the Sightless Eye

Some of the Rogues who were at Tristram chose to use Mana Shield, these Rogues experienced 'side-effects' similar to the Vizjerei's. Their minds slowly degraded until most were unable to use anything as complicated as a "bow". But being younger and stronger then the Vizjerei their hearts still functioned, keeping the body alive.

Having access to a host where the mind is weak and the body strong is the ultimate temptation for the demons of hell, and these Rogues were the perfect targets. Most of the 'corrupted Rogues' were possessed early on, before the other Rogues even knew of their companions mind loss. The "Corruption of the Rogues" occurred when the possessed Rogues’s minds had degraded to a point where the demon had full control of the body.

The List of Forbidden Spells

Now most 'outsiders' are led to think that the List of Forbidden Spells contains spells of such power that the caster of them could either rule the entire world, or destroy it. This is far from accurate, instead "The List" mostly contains failed spells, spells that usually do more harm to the caster then anything else. Recorded on The List are a total of 29 failed "teleportation" spells, let's just say the results were far from pretty.

After the long-term side effects of Mana Shield were discovered it was unanimously agreed that it too should be added to the list, it became "Forbidden Spell, Number 74". Healing was already added to the list, for it was long ago determined that if the physical side were directly exposed to mana it would greatly aid in the process of healing wounds, but would also have a "lessening" effect on the overall health of the body. Healing uses mana to heal physical wounds almost instantly, but it also teaches the body to be "lazy". Thus overtime the body becomes more susceptible to diseases and the like because it has forgotten "how" to fight them. Heal Other had likewise been added to the list. The only reason healing spells were allowed to be used at Tristram was the fact that you were most likely to die there anyway, so why not try and last a bit longer? That and since the church there was so old it still contained many tomes of forgotten and disregarded magiks.

But now the mages were in a bind, if they could not use Mana Shield to prevent themselves from being harmed, what *would* they use to protect themselves?

It was the Sorcerer Karoney who devised a 'strategy' to account for this new weakness.

Energy Shield

If Mana Shield produces spiritual strife which can harm the body long-term, and if spiritual strife can be 'safely' bleed off by allowing the physical side to come to harm then a consensus must be reached between the two. Since it is impossible to form a "partial Mana Shield", a spell that only absorbs 'some' physical pain, then Karoney either needed to come up with something completely new, or hope for a miracle. He asked for, and was given a copy of The List of Forbidden Spells. What he sought was a spell that would cause physical harm to oneself. And he found it.

A long time ago a sorcerer by the name of Da'Oasli thought it would be extremely useful were it possible for a mage to form weapons and armor out of mana. "Supernatural Security", as he came to call it, would be very light and all mages should be able to easily heft a Full Plate of energy. His first attempt was to create a Dagger of Mana, something that would be light and easy to manipulate. On his first attempt he went a little overboard and poured too much of his life essence into the Dagger. Upon full materialization it began to behave absurdly and chase him around the room. It eventually "gave-up" the chase and faded away to nothingness.

Not content with his failed attempt Da'Oasli tried yet again, this time making sure to form it already in his hand, and to not use waste so much mana on it. It lasted for nearly 5 seconds before disapating, and even with such a small amount of mana used, he could feel its pull. If mana is not in direct contact (as much as something spiritual can be) with a living being, then it seeks to go back from whence it came, in this case, Da'Oasli's head. Pure, unformed mana would have had no problem re-joining with a living being, but the dagger that was created had already been formed into a solid tangable object.

Not to be completely defeated, Da'Oasli tried once more. This time he choose to create a suit of armor, for by his reasoning a suit of armor would not be able to stab him and would, more or less, be held firmly in place. Da'Oasli's suit was his downfall. He, yet again, used to much mana. The moment it formed it began to crush him, Da'Oasli was to shocked by the pain to remember the counter-spell. Right before the armor dissipated, Da'Oasli died.

Karoney decided that by combining the spells of "Mana Shield" and "Mystical Armor" it would be possible for a Sorcerer to protect himself from the full force of an attack, then by causing himself physical pain he would alleviate any built up spiritual strife. This new spell was dubbed "Energy Shield".

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