Spellswords

=Overview= Magic knights. Spellswords are a balance of magic and melee. They do not have as much power in their spells as a mage would, but are skilled with weapons. Their weapon is used to channel and amplify their magic. (Spellswords do not have to actually wield swords as their weapon of choice, to note! They can channel magic through other melee weapons.)

While Spellswords cannot see the strange reality of the world as mages can, they can see magic in general, and very, very well. They would be skilled at combating mages because of their ability to see a spell as it comes together, and what those spell threads mean. This ability to see magic turns their eyes gold, which is considered to be their defining trait.

=History= The founder of the spellswords was the Mazda, who ate Xumurdad's eyes and gained Its insight. She quickly established a relationship with the Alchemists, and set up her guild to be their sword.

Headquartered on a hill outside of the Nenakret in a highly defensible position that occupies an old fortress used by old Saftran royalty, the spellsword guild serves as the core of the country's military power. All members must complete two years of mandatory service in the Amber Gaze, so named for the distinctive eyes of the spellswords. Afterward, guild members are free to stay enlisted or leave as they please, though they will always remain beholden to the guild. In times of need, those who have left service may be called back. However, since Safta is a neutral territory, there is rarely need.

The current Mazda, also the Admiral of the Amber Gaze, is Lera Savinkov.

Members of the Amber Gaze, known as Ambereyes, rank above the rest of Safta's military. They have a reputation as fierce and strict enforcers of the law. They are greatly respected, or at least greatly feared, and anybody who may dislike the Amber Gaze would never express it to an Ambereye's face.

=Details= Spellswords as a combat class are melee oriented, with limited casting ability. Their weapons are used as a focus for their spells. They cannot use magical AoEs as other caster classes can, but they do have a fair number of splash damage effects and use magic to supplement their melee skills.

As a support class they are buffers, with limited healing capability. They have a single touch-spell regen that mimics accelerated natural healing and requires a good deal of support-based pre-reqs. They use elemental buffs and debuffs, and have a sizable mana pool. They are also capable of restoring mana to others by giving away their own, and of restoring their own mana by trading blood for it (in game terms, exchanging HP for MP); these are both very advanced abilities limited to those who specialize in support.

There is crossover in that combat builds can learn low-end buff/debuff spells, and support builds can learn low-end melee skills, but high-end skills will be limited to those who specialize in that area.

Because the hiding skills of assassins, rogues, druids and hunters are all magic-based, spellswords are technically able to see these skills. However, their presence would be subtle, appearing like a gold sheen in the air that you'd have trouble noticing unless you were looking for it. Spellswords will not be able to see through these skills, only the magic itself.

=Organization= The Amber Gaze is organized along naval lines, despite being a largely ground based force. It consists of six legions, two of which are based in Nenakret at any time, with the remaining legions generally protecting the borders and patrolling for bandits. Each legion is commanded by a Commodore and has an Ambereyes attachment with them. Legions are divided into brigades, commanded by Captains, and brigades into squadrons, commanded by Lieutenants.

The high command of the Amber Gaze is a council led by the Mazda. Present members include:
 * The Mazda: Admiral Lera Savinkov
 * Vice-Admiral Morvarid: The former Mazda who voluntarily passed her power on to Lera. A middle-aged woman with greyed hair and a blindfold to hide her missing eyes. She is a militant woman who does not tolerate nonsense or failure. Currently acting as the Mazda's advisor.
 * Commodore Aderei Marsal: A fifty year-old veteran spellsword, originally from Mianeh. Known for a big, bushy beard and a good sense of humor. Some people say he should have been a berserker. He is a support build. He is the most popular commander in the Amber Gaze, having protected the Nenakret for almost thirty years, and is well known throughout the city.
 * Commodore Nevaneh the Quick: A twenty-nine year-old spellsword who grew up in the Nenakret; she is notoriously fast and good with speed-enhancing buffs. She is a combat build and widely regarded as the best duelist in the Ambereyes.
 * Captain Nicolas Villiers: A thirty-two year-old French gendarmerie (military police), who was made a spellsword when he was merged over with the Eiffel Tower. He acts as the French representative to the Ambereyes. He chose a disrupt build, but is known to channel his abilities through his combat knife and prefer his combat shotgun for actual combat. He specializes in non-lethal combat.

=Members=
 * Mazda: Lera Savinkov
 * Malachai Dominga
 * Marlene Reliace
 * Nadir Kahil

=Headcanon=

Skills
Spellsword abilities come in three varieties: disrupt and environmental effect spells, enhancements, and direct attack abilities. Most of their direct attack abilities require being up close and personal with an opponent, imbuing their weapon with elemental energies that release on impact.

Enhancements (Buffs)
Blaze Beacon: makes an enemy light up with non-damaging ghostly fire; improves allies' accuracy again the target

Earth buffs: increase defense, durability

Ice buffs: increase focus (aim and casting speed)

Wind buffs: increase speed, strength

Disrupts
Earth debuff: slow an enemy

Ice debuff: decrease an enemy's focus (aim and casting speed) via an ice storm

Earth shield: raise a wall of earth between you and the monster

Fire shield: raise a wall of fire up, which will reflect spells that hit it

Ice shield: a dome of ice to protect an area around the spellsword from blows. Channeled, spellsword must concentrate to maintain the shield

Frost: encases an enemy in ice. can fail on especially mobile enemies, hitting the core will freeze the whole enemy but hitting a limb will only freeze that limb. the ice thaws after thirty seconds with no ill effects to the enemy. fragile enemies may be shattered if they take a direct hit while frozen.

Gale Rush: sends a burst of air up under an enemy's feet; generally causes clumsiness, but for human-sized and smaller opponents, can actually send them flying into the air. Some spellswords will self-target this to let them do ridiculous Jedi jumps, but it is considered gauche.

Direct Attacks
Arc Cutter: a lightning bolt that leaps from opponent to opponent, after stabbing/slashing at the first

Blazing Arc: the spellsword throws an arc of flame with their weapon. a short-distance attack, as the flame only carries for a few feet past the end of the blade. Can catch enemies on fire.

Gale Breaker: the spellsword slashes at the air and sends a blast of wind flying; basically a kiai strike, with some knockback

Ice Lance: the spellsword summons several lances made of ice and flings them at the target

Inferno Edge: a fire spell that releases explosively when the spellsword strikes

Rime Strike: the spellsword's weapon becomes coated in frost, which shatters into glass-like shards on impact

Stalagmite Burst: the spellsword stabs at the opponent and a rocky spike shoots up under their feet, which hilariously throws smaller enemies into the air

Stormburst: the spellsword shoots a lightning beam at someone; it makes a circle of crackling energy explode off their hand or sword when they fire the spell, perpendicular to the beam

Special Techniques
Dragon's Tears: A lengthy duration buff cast on yourself. When a spellsword is damaged by elemental energies, their resistance to that element strengthens. For example, if a spellsword has a dragon breathe fire on them, they build up a short-term resistance to fire damage. This can become complete immunity. In game mechanics, this involved getting ten "stacks" of an associated resistance buff that wore off after thirty seconds. They can dispel the buff and channel it into a powerful, explosive burst of energy of the opposite element; for instance, if damaged by fire, they would create a blast of icicles. The stronger the resistance, the stronger the blast of energy. Regeneration: A touch-spell that gives several days' worth of natural healing over the course of a few minutes, very weak compared to other class's healing and the only heal spell available to spellswords. The prerequisites for it are so heavy only support spellswords bother to get it.
 * Unlocked to all skill builds at level 75
 * Quest-based

Spectral Saber: A powerful passive ability developed by some combat spellswords, though hardly all because of fairly extensive prerequisites. It can be learned at approximately level 85. Once learned, it generates a magical sword, which looks ethereal but proves solid and sharp as steel, that floats near the spellsword and can independently attack foes. The sword appears when the spellsword draws a melee weapon; it vanishes if the spellsword sheathes their weapon, is disarmed, or is knocked unconscious. In game mechanics terms, it is a minion that can take very limited instructions. It can attack opponents with the spellsword, or engage them separately. It can be used to channel spells, like any of the spellsword's weapons.

Each spellsword's Spectral Saber looks different.

Mana Restoration
Support spellswords, while lacking in the physical heals department, make up for it in the magical heals department. They can give portions of their mana reserves to others, using their larger mana pool to restore another person's smaller mana pool. This makes them especially useful in a team with a mage or a DPS spellsword, because they can effectively keep those spells coming indefinitely by restoring mana whenever the damage-crew runs out.

However, spellswords who aren't careful about using this ability can easily find themselves suffering from mana burnout after draining their reserves too deeply.

Spellswords also have the ability to restore their own mana, but it requires a trade. Essentially, HP for MP. In gameplay it's a simple enough self-damage/mana-heal. In reality, a spellsword will spill their own blood and turn it into mana. This ability can get dangerous if overused, and is one reason spellswords work best with a healer in tow to heal for blood lost.

Guild Revokation
The Mazda can revoke membership in the spellswords by blinding. This uses an enchanted hot poker, which has to have a spell cast on it by the Mazda, though anyone can do blinding. Typically, revokation is limited to members of the Ambereyes judged to be guilty of high treason against the Amber Gaze and/or Safta. Legally, this does not apply to non-active members of the Ambereyes; for instance, a spellsword who becomes a mercenary and takes a job with bandits raiding Safta cannot have her status revoked. However, a member of the Ambereyes who tries to murder the Khshathra is legally eligible for blinding.