Alrighty! Its time for a ramble on the second sort of Dragon Magic? this one on magic! But of the two big common sorts of dragon magic this

Alrighty! Its time for a ramble on the second sort of Dragon Magic?

this one on magic! But of the two big common sorts of dragon magic this is the notably less common as its a lot less flashy and a lot less 'badass' in many senses. But it has a lot more versatility and potential than the far more common, easier and generally safer form of DragonMagic Breathrowing

Which has been the sort of dragon magic used by folks like Sarah and Jat in the Long Hike

So. What is Scalewarping?

Now first as a catchup, Dragon Magic is the process of any animal, including éldimor like drekir, in which they consume mana in one way or another and then elementize it with their spirit. As prior said Breathrowing is a far more common form of Dragonmagic. Its a lot simpler, functionally its elementizing and immediately vomiting up magic in a controlled way, its kinda like a mage if hijacking their natural manaventing instincts and reworking them to do magic!

But Scalewarping is far more complicated

Scalewarping is the process in which, after consuming and elementizing mana, the mage uses their spirit to will that magical energy into different regions of their body to empower themselves and their capabilities! This can be used for a TON of things, its a very versatile form of magic as what sort of elementization a mage knows and how they direct it can create a lot of vary different effects and abilities for them. If they're a fire mage they can do things like warm their blood and become practically immune to the cold. they can concentrate heat into their claws to burn into wood and carve it with the tips of their fingers. They can buiild up intense heat into their maw to cook food while eating it raw (takes a lot of skill for that sort of thing)

Lightning mages can overcharge their nervous systems to react quicker and perceive the world with hightened sense, they can concentrate electricity into their eyes to see in the dark, they can electrify their tail to shock people with it (or electrify any other body part for that matter)

Ice mages... usually don't scalewarp due to the particular dangers and more limited uses. But there are Scalewarpers who have been known to excude frozen plates to protect themselves from dangers. Acid mages are likewise more niche (though I did draw one here), with most of the focuses being improving their ability to digest and devour things safely while also being able to exude acidic energy from their limbs and body parts to etch into materials. Wind mages can utilize the kinetic energy of their elementization to launch themselves great distances, move faster and strike harder (at the risk of breaking their own bones, more on that soon). They can perform far better in physical tasks. They can also channel that kinetic energy out of their body, say, to launch a rock in their hand at high speeds

While its very rare to see mages that know more than one elementization that they can complete reliably. Mixed elemental mages are capable of even more creative things via the mixing of elements and properties. Dual elements like Plasma, Melter, Frigid mana, etc. are themselves quite versatile. Really there are likely other potential uses of these sorts of elements that I haven't thought of!

And of course scalewarping amongst skilled mages can be done with very little mana or a lot of mana

Unlike breathrowing there isn't a minimum amount of mana to get things done. Any skilled firemage could light a smoking pipe with a bit of focusing whatever ambient mana is in their body into heating up around the tip of their finger. Things like that. Of course the more mana the mage drinks, the more risk they have to deal with but the more potent their scalewarping becomes!

But Scalewarping isn't without serious dangers

Even moreso than Breathrowing.

With breathrowing the ways things can go wrong is if your spirit, the thing you will to keep the magical energy and mana from hurting your insides, fails. A burned throat or mouth, some blown out teeth, a broken jaw. Breathrowing can kill you, but due to the brief amount of time between drinking and elementizing the mana before spewing it out, its a style of dragon magic that is a lot easier to quickly abort on.

If things aren't going well, you're already spewing it out so you just need to spew it out faster

But Scalewarping is something you have to commit to. In scalewarping magic, the mage is dispersing magical energy throughout their body. This of course requires a lot of concentration on the part of willing their spirit to keep all this wild magical energy from having undesired effects in their bodies as frankly, if they mess up, they will die

If a fire mage messes up their scalewarping, they will quite literally cook themselves from the inside out.

If an ice mage screws up their scalewarping, they will at best freeze to death, at worst have icecicles skewer them from the inside out.

Electric mages that mess up can quite literally fry their nervous system or otherwise electrocute themselves.

Acid mages can horrifically melt themselves from the inside out.

Wind Mages can quite literally snap their bones and rupture organs with all that kinetic energy in there

So Scalewarping is very dangerous, even with the normal problems of mana sickness and meltdowns killing people aside. It requires a lot of discipline, willpower, and concentration. And unlike breathrowing if you mess up you're at the mercy of magical energies far beyond your understanding.

But that doesn't mean people don't get good at it

The sorts of mages who learn to scalewarp are typically a lot of specific sorts of people. Thrill seekers, Perhaps overly confident in their own abilities, or particulartly talented or well practiced mages that are acting within their own understood limits

But while scalewarping is far less common than Breathrowing, it is inarguable that they exist.

Sometimes its for personal or communal utility. Having a guy who can magically see in the dark via lighting scalewarping has incredible utility. Or perhaps a wind mage who can leap massive gaps in complex terrain!

Sometimes their uses are more combative, though combat is rarely the focus of magic. But if a lightning mage is trying to bite you, they may as well electrocute their maw while they're at it.

And often it serves cultural purposes!

A powerful religious figure able to push ice from their bodies, or fire, or someone who has the ability, with the whip of a tail to launch objects often is believed to have associations with various gods, animistic or shamanistic spirits, or other culturally known supernatural entities.

There is a reason a lot of religious figures, though not at all all of them, know some degree of magic

So yeah scalewarping

For if you really wanna get your blood boiling!.. but not too much