The old necromancer's parchment lips peel back from his teeth in an unsettling expression of disgust. "Blackhealing," he murmurs, shaking his head. "It disturbs even me.
"Anyone gifted in the true art of Healing can Blackheal...if they have the will to harm. Thankfully, most Healers are either born to or trained to an abject lack of malice in all its forms. There are a few deviants--Healers gone mad or students of other magics, drawn to the Mending Arts because of their corruptibility--but they are hunted with all the fervor of black necromancers, or perhaps more. Even those of my ilk despise them. They are a blight upon this land.
"Blackhealing, like the Mending Art itself, is a blood magic. It is powered by the energies within the Healer, and most specifically the pain. A Healer takes the wounds of another into herself, giving her patient her own vitality since her lifeforce flows so much more strongly than that of a normal man. Healers, those born to the gift, regenerate flesh and blood at a remarkable rate, enough to survive taking on even the most grievous wounds of others. Many of them also stand proof against disease and poison, and somewhat against inborn ailments.
"While a true Healer takes the pain of others into herself, a Blackhealer forces his pain onto another. Cut a Blackhealer, and you will find that cut open on yourself. Poison one, and you will feel your own blood curdle in your veins while he stands hale and hearty before you. It is rumored that some can even force their age upon others, stealing youth away so that they may live forever. This, I can not confirm.
"More than pushing their own injuries on others, Blackhealers have a more vicious power: the power to undo healing. A touch from a Blackhealer's hand can open up all of a warrior's scars, down to the depth of the original cut. It can reawaken old illnesses, shatter once-broken bones, and even cancel out a true Healer's mendings. Any or all pain that has ever been felt can be returned; men have died that way, their hearts simply stopped from the shock of it.
"The use of blackhealing has been outlawed in all civilized nations since time immemorial. Its use is one of the gravest accusations to level upon any man or woman, and the only punishment for it is death. This, at least, a Blackhealer can not transfer onto another being.
"There have been tales of this dark art's accidental use, by true Healers in moments of extreme distress, and if one of those cases were brought to trial it may be that such a one--a Healer who suffered a momentary lapse, in self-defense--could escape such brutal punishment. However, it is considered that such power, once recognized, would be infinitely corruptive--even moreso than my own beloved and much-maligned necromancy--and that not even the purest of Healers could withstand the temptation. There is no record of such a case, though, and therefore the matter remains mere speculation.
"Is there more you would ask?"
Necromancy Undead Creatures The Boneyard The Deadlands Demons
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