Data III - Curses
A magical effect, old as time itself, that latches to an entity by various means to, more often than not, grant them negative effects. That is the basic description of a curse.
But 'curses' are more than that, and can be created in so many ways that a list in any capacity is impossible to make and maintain.
Curses, similar to blessings, are a form of enchantment based magic. Whereas a 'blessing' is often designed to aid an entity or place, a curse is meant to debilitate them. This type of magic, much like blessings, does not need a spellcaster per se; a curse can be etched in the ground anywhere, the floors, walls or ceilings of buildings, engraved in rocks, tree bark and even tattooed on skin. Such things may even be found in talismans of many kinds, including the famous paper ones from the eastern countries.
However, it doesn't matter HOW a curse is made, the purpose, again, much like a blessing, is simple: To alter some properties of a person or a location. What is not rightly known is that a blessing and a curse alike can act in ways not expected. A blessing can debilitate, while a curse can reinforce.
But they can't do it in the usual ways.
Curses, by their nature, are, as you may expect, meant to harm more often than not. Even when a talented magic user crafts them to aid, curses are likely to hurt the recipient. This is by the nature of cursing itself: This kind of magic was originally designed to sap away strengths in many ways, be it physical or intellectual. Even the strength of the soul, of magic itself, was meant to be weakened by curses. The magic laws behind this art are designed to mimic decay, not growth, thus why only those truly experienced with this branch of magic can expertly twist it so the decay itself can empower growth… if at the expense of pain, discomfort or other negative effects while the curse still lasts.
The good that can come from curses is overshadowed by their ability to harm however. The reason behind this lies not in your usual and typical curse, but those that are truly long lasting.
Much like blessings, curses are often a momentary measure; most curses and blessings last from minutes to hours at best. Only those with an ungodly long preparation and costly casting requirements can last for days, months or even years. Those that request the rarest of materials (often coming from Heaven or Hell, requiring sacrifices, living or not, and also requesting things only found on Earth, the living world) can last for entire lifetimes. THOSE are the truly grievous curses.
Some people, like the mythical old crones and witches, usually had a few of these curses already cast in a 'portable' way. Generally dormant inside animals, their 'familiars', and ready to be forced onto anyone that displeased them. The typical 'curse of unluck', that made people miserable as their life unraveled around them, was always a favorite, but those that make a body shrivel in weakness, that makes one stupid or impotent, as well as weakens the body and mind in many other ways, are the typical 'permanent' curses that have been well documented through history and have many means to be prepared and cast.
Worse are the curses that last through generations. These usually require not only hellish powers and aid, but sacrifice of human life if one wants them to last for hundreds upon hundreds of years. A truly devious and spiteful act.
All curses have names, usually given by their creators or folklore as ages pass and these powers are used and mythified. The most infamous are those that lead to a person's death, but the one that creates more dread is the curses not meant for a single person, but a complete bloodline through generations. These generational curses may have many names, but they are usually known as a whole as a 'Mark of Sin'.
Marks of Sin do many things, one of them is taint everyone affected by them as marked by Hell. While this faint stench of devilish powers is lost upon death, or if the curse somehow fulfills its obligations otherwise, it will easily alert anyone capable of noticing demonic activity. Such curses are powerful enough to require divine intervention in most cases, but it is just as common for Heaven to be involved in as little as possible when it comes to lifting these powerful marks on humans' souls for one reason or another. Many believe it is to test the mortals whose fate has been tampered with and see if they are worthy of not only destroying the curse affecting them, but also a stay in Heaven, though some believe it has more to do with the power of the curse itself and the possibility of a Mark of Sin being passed onto a heavenly being.
Those are just rumors, however.
In the end curses are largely regarded, with ample reason, to be weakening and destructive. While they can be used for more purposes than that of harm, they usually also cause a good deal of that in the interim. Even if a curse can help a person it is not without cost. History is not only full of curses that destroyed people, but also latched onto anything going from landmarks, weapons, armor and other objects. Many of these curses granted great powers to individuals, areas and items, but the cost was usually so great that, no matter what positive the curse may have had, the negative was always far more prominent.
In Hell it is well and truly known that a curse can give great power with very few drawbacks if properly used. This, though, also comes at a cost: The intent of a curse is to weaken first and foremost, and while magic can be shaped with intent and will, too much may end badly. A common result of trying to apply curses with positive intent is pain, but just, if not more often, it will result in death as magic tries to fight back to make its intended purpose fall in place.
Masters of cursing generally circumvent many of the negative possibilities by taking their time and having willing participants when it comes to a positive aspect derived from a curse. This eases the process and makes death much less likely, but generally this is paid in pain for physical alterations and certain negative proclivities if they are mental, to say nothing of what may be going on inside a person's soul if magical potency and other supernatural alterations are the desired result. Generally only the more desperate for jobs and recognition, or the most skilled, will reach a point where they may end up using curses for positive effects.
Still, for harming or helping, curses are generally much easier to practice and get materials for than blessings. This is why, through history, curses have been so much more prevalent than their positive counterparts.
However, as denoted here, cursing or blessing, the effect comes with the intent and skill of the caster. Be not surprised to see an entity blessed, as the mortals tend to say, with 'suck'.
But that kind of talk is not fit for cerebral talk and more left up for interpretation. Just remember: Even the most powerful curse cast could be a weapon for good or ill if used correctly. Similarly, a blessing may end up backfiring tremendously, sometimes through no fault of the one blessed, or the one blessing them. Intent matters, yes, but situations may make a blessing turn into a curse, just as the opposite may be true.
Though, to be honest… it is not wrong to say that a curse is, more often than not, just a curse.
