The Art Of Channeling

By Frantica Karrash-Morr

There is no dark without the light. The candle creates the shadows that hide and flicker and also the light that illuminates and comforts. Look to the light for good and justice and righteousness, but in doing that blind yourself in the dark. The more light you see, the less dark you understand. The more dark you confide in, the more the light hurts you. There is no way to understand both. But you can be plunged into darkness without guidance and you can be blinded by the light momentarily.
The only way to create light and dark is to be the candle.

The Art Of Channelling

Channelling, more commonly termed as healing, is more complex than many people would believe. For a start, healing is not the only form of channelling. Each form of magic channels in its own way, but incantation and spellcasting channel from ancestral and personal sources. Both of these powers call upon the sources to give them the power, but with pure channelling the power is taken from the appropriate plane and put to use by the user for their own purpose. This draws us to the fact that without faith an incantor can not incant, and without elemental power a mage can not cast. But a channeller can channel regardless of faith and the elements.

Planes

Channellers channel from planes. Depending on the plane the channeller can cause different reactions. The most common plane that can be accessed is the Plane of Life. This is where the power for healing comes from. This plane is part of a bigger circle. The Circle of Life is often referred to in teachings about religion. Within this circle are two planes, as shown in the diagram below.

AoC Cycle of Life

Patterns in this cycle are uncorrupted. They continue around this circle for all eternity. Every time the pattern reaches death it returns to the Plane of Life where eventually it is given new life through birth. Patterns when dedicated to the ancestor of the incantors choice return to the ancestral plane. When a pattern is dedicated it is sent directly to the Ancestral Plane without the usual attachment to the body for a day. Once this has been done it is at the Ancestors discretion as to when the pattern is returned to the circle of life. This cycle is termed by many people as the good, light or normal cycle. The Circle if Life, bringer of all that is good, life energy and healing, which affects us all.
To get an accurate picture of channelling the other planes that channellers have access to have to be taken into account. In the same way that channellers can heal, channellers can also do the opposite. This is done by channelling from the Planes of Unlife.

AoC Cycle of Unlife

As it can be clearly seen in the diagram, both planes have similarities, but in order for the pattern to go to the Plane of Unlife after death it has to be corrupted. This means that the pattern has been changed and exchanged from one circle to the other. It also allows for the pattern to be called upon using necromantic channelling. The pattern can be removed from the Plane of Unlife and placed in a pattern-void body, such as a dead body. Once a pattern has been corrupted it can not enter the Plane of Life unless it is corrected and vice versa.
The term Plane of the Living has been used for want of a better term for the plane that we know and exist on.

AoC Cycle of balance

The plane that we live on is the link between opposing planes. From our plane both planes can be accessed using channelling.
Both planes move in rotation where they are closer to the Plane of the Living. When a Plane is closest to the Plane of the Living the ability to channel from that plane is renewed. Healing abilities are renewed at dawn when the Plane of Life is closest and Necromantic abilities at dusk. These ascensions may also have something to do with the beliefs that healing is light and necromancy is dark.

Corruption
From recent studies, the status of the channellers pattern has a bearing on the form of channelling they can perform. In theory it looks as easy to channel from one plane as it is from the other, this, however, is totally wrong.
As it has been indicated in the last diagram the cycles depend on whether the pattern is corrupted or uncorrupted. For a pattern to enter the Plane of Unlife after death it has to be corrupted, and in the same way it is easier for channellers with corrupted patterns to channel from this Plane. In fact studies show that channellers with corrupted patterns can not channel from the Plane of Life at all. This seems to be a strong factor in which plane can be channelled from. Unliving can not be healers at all. Their patterns have to be corrupted in order for them to return as unliving. It also explains the higher percentage of healers to necromancers, because it is very hard to corrupt a pattern and equally as hard to correct it.
If this is taken as a rule, there are the exceptions. In extreme cases a person with an uncorrupted pattern can channel from the Plane of Unlife, but it is very very rare. It leaves them drained and confused. If this happens it will be almost impossible for them to return to channelling from the Plane of Life. It seems that while theoretically it would be possible to channel from any which plane you choose, each individual is tuned into a specific plane and they can only channel from there.
Studies have not yet discovered whether channelling from the Plane of Unlife has any lasting effect on uncorrupted patterns or whether high amounts of necromantic effects can indirectly corrupt the pattern. I say indirectly because with necromancy the pattern can be directly corrupted with a fatal wound.
The differences between the light and dark side of healing are even more pronounced than the light and dark side of incantation. With both forms of incantation there are incantations that are the same, these seem to be the most basic, the ability to halt, repel and counter. But channelling are total opposites. Healers can purge poisons, cure diseases and fatal wounds, remove fear and paralysis. Necromancers can cause almost all of these in some way. There is no cross over between the two sides at all. In the all too common arguments of today about who is the darker it would imply that necromancy is far darker than dark incantation due to the lack of cross casting.

Corruption and Necromancy
As stated above it is not possible to bring back a pattern to the Plane of the Living as an unliving unless the pattern is corrupt. Necromancers can pull a pattern from the Plane of Unlife into a pattern-void body to create an unliving creature. To create a simple unliving creature they can use patterns from the Planes of Unlife, which have already been corrupted. This is far simpler than picking a specific pattern. Any corrupted patterns can be drawn back in this way. The difficulty is in the strength given to the unliving creature rather than the actual raising. To take a specific corrupted pattern from the Plane of Unlife and raising it is more difficult again.
The most difficult raising is taking a specific uncorrupted pattern and putting it into a body. As long as the pattern was not dedicated on death, the uncorrupted pattern can be pulled from the Plane of Life, corrupted and forced into a suitable body. This body is usually the original carrier of the pattern; it has ties to it and will be easier to return the pattern to it. The pattern will have to corrupted during this process for it to be able to return. This type of raising is extremely difficult. It requires a ritual and a lot of power.
This is the same for advanced healing. It requires more power, skill and often a ritual to remove the more stubborn of diseases, wounds and petrifications. Although even the most powerful of healers have great difficulty correcting corrupted patterns.

Healing vs Necromancy
It is clear that if a healer and a necromancer were to take each other on in a battle that the healer would come off worst. But this does not mean that necromancy is any better than healing. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. There are also many similarities.
To begin with both types of channelling need concentration and a certain amount of time to be able to channel any power for any purpose. So neither form is faster than the other. Also they both work in the same way, power is channelled from a plane to be directed at another person. Both forms of channelling can result in a body being able to function again after being wounded.
The main difference between necromancy and healing is that necromancy is harmful to the pattern or person and healing is beneficial. Although there are times when healing can not be beneficial to alien patterns. Healing and necromancy will always be conflicting. There will always be people who cause the damage and those that fix it. Necromancers will always be as hated as murderers for being in possession of the ability to channel from a different plane and use it to defend themselves in the same way that others use a sword. They will also be hated for their ties with unliving, because of the belief that unliving are evil. This biased opinion comes from the fact that they are not part of the Cycle of Life and have their own cycle. Many people just believe that anything different is bad and evil.
Healers will always be underestimated and necromancers will always be feared