Vitakinetics - healers and scientists

About the discipline

Vitakinetics, not to be confused with kineticists, are on the more uncommon side of magical disciplines, as it is a difficult discipline to master. This type of adept magic utilizes life energy as its source of power. Every living thing, animal or human, mortal or sorcerer needs life energy to stay alive, and a healthy body generates a certain amount of it. It takes a vitakinetic to be able to control this life energy, however. With training vitakinetics learn to generate this energy on command, and to expel it through physical proximity. Vitakinesis is a healing-focused discipline, and those who have chosen it as their discipline usually work as doctors or scientists. While vitakinesis only gives its beholder and advantage in healing-focused science magic, many practice other types of science as well, as an extension of their profession, rather than their discipline. Some researchers consider vitakinesis and energy throwing sister disciplines due to the generation of energy within the body. Uses of vitakinetic energy can be roughly divided into three different groups: healing, defense and offense. 

Healing capabilities

Vitakinetics have two different types of magical healing they may choose from. One vitakinetic doesn’t have to solely specialize in one or the other, and many alternate between the two methods depending on the situation.

Energy healing

Energy healing is vitakineticism in its rawest form, and what most people think of when they hear of magical healing. When using raw life energy to heal, the vitakinetic transfers life energy to their patient. The typical way of doing this is placing their hand near or on the wound, or if the ailment is unseen, simply placing their hand on or near the patient. This type of healing works best on acute injuries, but a talented vitakinetic could possibly use it on something like lead-based liver damage as well, or to hold back acute symptoms of illness. For example, if a patient with pneumonia was experiencing a collapsed lung, the vitakinetic treating them could heal their lung, but not get rid of the illness itself. This type of healing also doesn’t affect things like psychological damage, terminal illness, infection, disabilities, chronic pain or certain types of injury. It is not possible for a vitakinetic to heal someone’s wound and accidentally make them not need reading glasses anymore, for example. No type of vitakinetic healing is foolproof, either. Sometimes a wound may be healed, but the effects of it on the part of the body in question might persist. The advantage of energy healing is that it is very quick to take effect. It does, however, have its weaknesses and risks. For one, it takes a lot of energy from the vitakinetic depending on the size and gravity of the ailment. The average vitakinetic will be completely exhausted after healing a fully grown adult with a life-threatening injury. This leaves the vitakinetic vulnerable. When dealing with grave injuries there is also the risk of the patient ending up in a state of shock if the healing is done too quickly. This means that energy healing takes a very talented and experienced vitakinetic, and in combat situations it is advised to only use it to stabilize a patient. The appearance of vitakinetic life-energy varies somewhat, and some think that the appearance of a particular vitakinetic’s life-energy corresponds with their personality, however this is just speculation and nearly impossible to prove, as there is no objective way of assigning visual elements to something as abstract as human personality. Vitakinetic life-energy’s appearance may range from a dull glow to resembling fire or even electricity. This energy can be any color, but some notable common ones are dull greens and blues, gold, white and opalescent. When doing energy healing, the vitakinetic’s hands typically let off warmth as well.

Science magic

Science magic is the more technical, modest version of vitakinetic healing. It’s slower to take effect, but it takes less energy and can help with a wider variety of ailments. For example, a vitakinetic may channel their magic into medical plants or chemicals to heighten their healing properties. Not even science magic can heal everything, but it can often alleviate symptoms. Science magic in healing can be many things, like mobility aids that utilize sigils, painkillers that are quick and precise, more effective treatments for infections and illnesses, healing broken bones without a cast, et cetera. Not everyone who practices science magic is a vitakinetic, but vitakinetics do get an advantage in the field from being able to distill their magic into their creations. This distilled magic is more potent, and the vitakinetic can do more without being subject to vitakinetic exhaustion.

Defensive capabilities

Vitakinetics have one incredibly useful way of defending themselves: self-healing. The second that they become injured, their body starts healing itself automatically. This makes strong vitakinetics incredibly hard to kill, which is fortunate considering the discipline’s rarity. Self-healing takes a lot more time and energy than healing a similar injury on another person, as depending on the gravity of the injury the body might be working in overdrive, especially considering that larger wounds also deplete life energy. Small cuts and fractures are typically very easy for any vitakinetic to overcome, but a life-threatening injury could kill a weaker vitakinetic, and even stronger ones can typically only maintain a state of staying alive until they can be seen by another medical professional. Some vitakinetics have been known to be able to regrow small parts of themselves on their own, like eyes or fingers, but this is exceedingly rare. Things that can kill any vitakinetic are typically ones that start shutting the entire body down systematically, faster than the vitakinetic can keep up with. These things include, but are not limited to: god-killer weapons, the Sceptre of the Ancients, certain types of necromancer magic and certain illnesses. Vitakinetics are not immune to zombie bites, vampirism or remnants. Vitakinetics typically only sustain scar tissue from large wounds that take a lot of energy and time to heal.

Offensive capabilities

Vitakinetics also have one way of causing harm with their discipline, along with being able to use weapons. Some vitakinetics have a moral adversity against using their discipline to harm people, but they are capable of it nonetheless. This involves using their energy to overload the opponent, usually resulting in shock. Some experienced vitakinetics know how to simply make their opponent pass out instead, however. The downside to this ability is that it expends valuable energy on something that would much easier be done with a physical weapon of some sort. It can also leave the vitakinetic vulnerable if exhaustion starts to set in in the middle of battle. Because of this, most vitakinetics carry a weapon on the field.

Vitakinetic exhaustion

Vitakinetic exhaustion is a condition which sets in when a vitakinetic is nearing the limits of how much energy they can expend. It is the body’s way of making sure that the vitakinetic doesn’t use up the energy they need to live. Compared to the exhaustion state of other disciplines, like gist users, it is relatively mild. It can be painful, but not to an excruciating extent. Many describe it as a feeling of tenderness in the muscles, the slowing down of cognitive functions, and a general feeling of tiredness and sluggishness. It gets worse the more one tries to power through it. There have been no documented cases of uninjured vitakinetics dying from using up all their energy on healing, as the body will typically make itself go into a state of delirium or make the body faint until it has regained its energy. This condition may also weaken the immune system, and lowers the vitakinetic’s capability to heal themselves, often leading to scarring even from smaller wounds. You can tell a lot about a vitakinetic just by looking at what kinds of scars they have, if any. Perpetual cycles of vitakinetic exhaustion can leave the vitakinetic with a considerable amount of scar tissue if they sustained injuries in this state.

Vitakinetics during the war

Vitakinetics were highly involved on both sides of the war as medics and scientists, and were vital in the efforts of both sides. You could recognise a Sanctuary medic by their uniform, which was either white or light green in colour, the latter only in countries where white typically symbolizes death. The uniform belts had daisies embroidered on them, and the uniforms typically also included protective goggles. Stationary medics and scientists who stayed within the Sanctuaries were assigned uniforms with higher collars and ankle-length hems, for better protection against chemical spills. Field medic uniforms had tighter collars and shorter hems for better mobility. Both types of uniforms also included white trousers, shoes and gaiters that started just below the knee. These uniforms were generally regarded as very aesthetically pleasing. Mevolent’s side had uniforms that were similar in build, but aesthetically very different. Not all medics and scientists were vitakinetics, but it was more common than not. During the war field medics often traveled with troops on missions, and stationary medics and scientists did research in the Sanctuary facilities. Research topics ranged from weaponry, the study of different magical disciplines, remnants, and medical plants. These scientists are to thank for most that we know of gists and sensitives. Mevolent’s side’s scientists were responsible for some rather unethical experiments. The line between stationary and field personnel was not rigid: if work was slow in one area, vitakinetics would be transferred to other work, and if a particular vitakinetic’s skills were needed in one place, they would see to it, regardless of their position in the Sanctuary. Some vitakinetics underwent additional training in psychology and served as therapists and psychiatrists in addition to their roles as physical healers.