The Tomes: Section V Mind Alteration Spells: Confuse
To the advanced practitioner of magickal arts,
The staple in any form of combat knows thy enemy, since the beginning of history armies chose to delegate colors for uniforms of their troops in order to clarify who it was that needed to be terminated. Obviously a traveling group of adventurers know who is who and what to attack. But what happens when this basic perception is thrown for a loop and suddenly one is not sure who the enemy is? Here in lies the principle for the creation of the Confuse spell, one such spell whose sole purpose is to cause disarray amongst opponents. Rather than inflicting a physical obstruction or even physical damage, why not leave the destruction of one's enemies to their own works and devices?
Casting this spell might sound a bit like the Blink spell in terms that it is a distortion of images, but rather than attempting to alter the physical, the purpose of this spell is to alter perception from the mind itself. There quite different ways to actually go about confusing foes. As with any mind alteration spells, the degree of intensity will bring with it increasing levels of risk to the safety of the caster. First, let us begin with the weaker, novice version of the Confuse spell, which is to initially get the target to attack their allies. A simple way of doing this is entering the target's mind through a trance, and then using mana to alter their visual perception of their allies, usually by turning their visual representations into beasts and monsters alike; even at this level it should be noted that it would also be best to alter any sounds that the enemy's allies would emit as an attempt to break through the Confuse spell by literal voices of reason. By now one should definitely note that this spell gains maximum effectiveness regardless of apprentice or expert versions when the target should be in a party so that they may attack them in their state of confusion. Also, it is imperative to maintain the illusion with a constant infusion of mana, thus giving the spell basunic properties. Upon undertaking the next step in creating a better illusion would be to create the legitimacy in the target's mind that their allies have truly become monsters by actually conveying the grizzly transformation from people into monsters. Even then, this may not be enough for those with enough willpower to see through the Confuse spell, that is why more mana must be used in order to create a series of images by the "monsters" that they have actually turned on and attacked your target.
Using the full version of this spell leads to much more success in terms of getting the target to attack their foes, but as with all of the expert versions of mind alteration spells, it requires the caster to delve deep into the targets mind in order to gain relevant information for use in the creation of the illusion. With this version, instead of altering visual perception, the caster needs to alter the mental perception of the targets view on their party. One of the simplest catalysts for the Confuse spell is to set off pure unadulterated rage by finding what is most upsetting about a party member to the target then unleashing the thought exponentially. In hindsight, this spell is more true to berserking a target than the actual Berserk spell. Obviously when one reaches a more adept skill level with the Confuse spell, it can be made applicable amongst multiple targets, thus magnifying the effect.
Even further into the complexities of the Confuse spell, some have found that there can be an inversion of this spell which makes the target believe that they are on the caster's side. Some have compared this aspect to be parallel with the charming abilities that lamias tend to invoke in order to turn the tables in their favor. Like the monster's ability, the focus should be made into not inspiring rage against or anger against their fellow companions, but to cloud their judgment. This yields more benefit to the caster if the caster can convey a believable enough thought that makes the target actually devote healing abilities and even put them in harms way to protect the caster.
Being under the influence of a Confuse spell is as real as the caster permits it to be. While most mages, particularly black mages, have a degree of understanding of illusions they are prepared to see through such magicks of novice spell casters. But in one case, I recall a Confuse spell that worked in the opposite fashion described earlier. A witch had chosen me to do her bidding, while there was the normal effect of me attacking my allies because of an artificial allegiance to her, there was also another effect that made it abundantly clear in hindsight how experienced she was with the spell. I felt enamored to the malignant spellcaster, a point to which it felt sincere at the time. It was only after she was captured, that we realized she had tapped into the confusion magic as means of luring men from a nearby village to do her own bidding. She had repeated this process in other places, when the townsfolk discovered her plot, she ensnared men she had already controlled before and used them as personal protection. Once she was finished with their service, she sent them to their doom by having them walk off cliffs or drowning themselves.
As denoted by its uses, the Confuse spell is one of the more dangerous spells available in The Tomes and as such permission to learn this spell is not given quite often. The deception in this spell can be greatly abuse just as, if not more than the Sleep spell. Some have sought to use the confuse spell in situations ranging from the subversion of opinions, to constructing an army of unwilling soldiers through the use of this spell. Thankfully, no one has truly been able to maintain this much of a persuasive illusion. There are far too many minds to understand and control at once; furthermore the amount of mana required for such a spell is far higher than other basunic mind spells. Given all of these difficulties, there have been those who did risk everything to control other on a massive scale with the Confuse spell. Records of such attempt showed that when the would be "leader" of these armies gained control of and induced illusions of over twenty people, he suddenly lost consciousness and never regained it, but his body continued living through involuntary actions. It is speculated that when attempting to persuade so many people simultaneously, and while being occupied with their innermost thoughts, it overwhelmed the mind of the wizard.
"One who cannot tell friend from foe brings their party many woes. Confuse!"
It must be noted that in the case of using this spell against monsters, the initial variation need be enough for the Confuse spell to work, but one should only replace monsters as people as part of the magickal illusion. But take care not to go beyond this stage of the Confuse spell, it is best not to delve into the mind of a monster unless one is mentally prepared to be enveloped by the thought processes of beasts. This should be understood as a rule for all mind alteration magick.
Ebon, High Black Mage
Note: Two chapters for two weeks! For those of you taking notice I am trying something a little different with these chapters. I would really appreciate your feedback.
