Shadow Ops 3: Breach Zone (41 page)

TERRAMANCY

Commonly called ‘Earth Magic’, Terramancy permits the manipulation of earth and associated flora. Terramancers are sometimes referred to as ‘Druids’. Terramancers can raise roads out of swamps, create buildings out of mountains, and spur plant growth to feed an army. While Terramancy permits the Sorcerer to communicate with fauna, the practice is strictly prohibited. Terramancers are commonly employed as military engineers, assisting with the movement, feeding, and housing of troops. Combat Terramancers frequently use suddenly shifting landscapes to destroy armored columns or to turn vegetation against enemy troops using it for cover.

Gran had a favorite apple tree in the backyard. It was old when I was a kid, and dead by the time I was six. She saved a couple of dried-out seeds as a memento. Called them ‘heirlooms’. I kept them in a cigar box until I came up Latent, then I took ’em on my first tour. Good thing, too. We were cut off for two weeks, hiding out before they could extract us. I opened up the ground and built us a nice hidey-hole down there, and we lived mostly off Gran’s heirloom apples until the QRF got us out. The guys said I saved us. But it was Gran, wasn’t it, really?

– Lieutenant ‘Harvest’ (call sign), SOC Liaison Officer (LNO), 10th Special Forces Group, US Army

AEROMANCY

Commonly called ‘Air Magic’, Aeromancy allows the Sorcerer to manipulate air. Aeromancers can heat or cool air and cause it to retain or discharge moisture or to gust at terrific speeds. Aeromancers can also agitate particles of air to release electrical charges. Aeromancers can fly, though they are actually manipulating air currents to lift their bodies. They are frequently employed as forward observers and in reconnaissance roles, as well as for close air support. Aeromancers often work in conjunction with Hydromancers in weather-control operations.

The irony is that everyone thought the future of aviation was drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles. But magic turned that on its head. You got the opposite. I’m an unvehicled aerial man.

– Captain ‘Sparrow’ (call sign), SOC Liaison Officer (LNO), 1st Special Operations Wing

PHYSIOMANCY

Physiomancers are commonly known as ‘Healers’, and Physiomancy is sometimes called ‘Body Magic’. Physiomancers are able to manipulate living flesh. Under the McGauer-Linden Act, Physiomancy may only be applied to heal living things. All other uses, including wounding or deliberate alterations of the body for practical or cosmetic purposes, are strictly prohibited. Physiomancers are employed exclusively in a medical capacity.

I know it hurts. I have to get the bullet out. I can only do that by getting your body to push it up through your thigh. I have to knit the flesh and close the blood vessels as we go, make sure you don’t bleed out. That takes pretty much all of my concentration. I can’t worry about the nerves at the same time. They’re everywhere and they’re complicated as hell. You’re just going to have to suck it up. Look at me. Look at me, damn it! You’re going to live. Now just bite on this and hold the fuck on.

– Captain ‘Second Chance’ (call sign), SOC Liaison Officer (LNO), Tactical EMS Support Detachment Alpha, 1st Marine Expeditionary Unit

Prohibited, A.K.A. ‘Probe’,
Schools and Practices

NECROMANCY

Necromancy permits the manipulation of dead flesh. Most Necromancers use this power to reanimate corpses. The results of this work are commonly known as ‘zombies’ and function as magical automatons, able to perform simple tasks (such as moving and attacking) at the direction of the Sorcerer. Because zombies are structurally coherent on their own, Necromancers can focus their magic entirely on command and control functions, permitting a single Necromancer to command a vast army of the risen dead.

Hello, Carlos. You remember my wife, Maria, don’t you? You should, you killed her. That’s made us both rather upset. But, since she’s the dead one, I figured I’d let her do the honors of ripping your head off. After twenty years of marriage, I’ve learned to let her have her way.

– Witness transcript following the decapitation of drug kingpin Carlos Mendoza, Brooklyn South Task Force, NYPD

NEGRAMANCY

Negramancy is commonly known as ‘Black Magic’, or ‘Witchcraft’, and its practitioners are frequently referred to as ‘Witches’ or ‘Warlocks’, This rather dramatic nomenclature covers the simple manipulation of decay. Negramancers employ their magic to vastly accelerate the process of decomposition, causing complex structures, such as a building, an airplane, or even a human body, to break down to their component elements nearly instantly.

Feeling sick? Me, too. The difference is, I’ll feel better once I don’t have to look at your ugly face anymore.

– Supposed statement of the Warlock known as ‘Ghoulish’ prior to his murder of the Bulgarian ambassador

PORTAMANCY

Portamancy, also known as ‘Gate Magic’, is the rarest of all magical schools, with fewer than five Portamancers documented since the Great Reawakening, though more have been rumored. Portamancers are able to manipulate the fabric between dimensions, opening portals between them and permitting transit. Gate Magic can be employed to ‘summon’ living creatures from either side to the Portamancer’s defense. The gates themselves have micron-thin edges able to cut through any material instantly.

Israel does not now possess nor have we ever possessed weaponized fissile material or fully assembled nuclear weapons of any kind. The accusations that we are hiding such devices in some alternate magical dimension is the stuff of fairy stories and shows that the Iranian delegation is not serious regarding these negotiations.

– Gili Chayad, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations

SENTIENT ELEMENTAL CONJURATION

Sometimes known as ‘Elementalists’, Sorcerers in this school of magic can manipulate various forms of energy to create sentient (self-aware) elementals. Elementals serve the Sorcerer’s interests but do not require direct control, as zombies do. Elementals must be conjured from kinetically active sources, such as burning fire, sparking electricity, or blowing wind.

You want to kill me? Get it over with. I know what I did, and I’m not sorry. Would you blame a mother for killing to protect her children? Because that’s what they are. I brought them into this world, and I love them with a ferocity that only creators can have for their created.

– Alison Berger, Statement during the sentencing phase of a closed hearing

OFFENSIVE PHYSIOMANCY (PROHIBITED PRACTICE)

Physiomancers may defy the law and turn their magic to the wounding or killing of living things. Such magic is commonly called ‘Rending’ and its practitioners ‘Renders’. Rending reverses the Physiomantic application, severing blood vessels and muscle, changing bones into blades that turn against the flesh they once supported. A Rending death is inevitably painful and bloody. The public outcry against this practice is understandable.

The only thing he said to me was: ‘Your bullet is fine, but my magic’s a crime? Dead is dead, you fucking hypocrite.’ That’s all he said, I swear.

– Sworn statement from captured US Marine after rescue from the Houston Street Selfer Gang