Blood Peace

A blood peace oath seals a truce between two characters. Any two living characters of Name-giver races may swear a blood peace oath.

To swear blood peace, the characters each draw blood from their own dominant weapon arm. Each character suffers 2 points of damage, which the players record on their character record sheets under Blood Magic. This damage cannot be healed as long as the blood peace remains in effect becomes permanent if a character violates the blood peace oath.

Each character then presses his weapon into the other character's blood. As the blood fries on the weapon, the characters swear the oath. The oath varies across Barsaive and among races, but all versions include the elements contained in following example.

"As the sun shines upon the earth, so shall light illuminate my deeds. All people shall see that I mean no harm to [other character's name]. I shall take no action to bring harm to him or those of his blood, or by inaction allow harm to befall [other character's name] or those of his blood.

As the moon shines upon the earth, so shall light illuminate my intent. All people shall see that I honor my promise."

By swearing a blood peace oath, thwo characters promise that they will never harm one another or allow harm to come to the other through inaction. A character who knowingly or unknowingly violates a blood peace oath releases the other from the vow. In addition, the character recieves a magical Wound in the place from which he drew blood for the oath. This Wound lasts for a year and a day from the time it appears. A wqound created by violating a blood peace oath does not heal naturally during this time, but the character may attempt to heal the Wound by using a healing potion. Any Wound healed in this manner leaves a runic scar that permanently marks the character as a blood peace betrayer, though character may hide such scars with costumes, makeup or illusions.

If both characters keep their vow for a year and a day, the place on each character's body from which he drew blood becomes the color of gold, silver, rubies or emerals. The Damage Points taken for swearing the blood peace can now be healed as normal damage. Each character's Death Rating increases by 1 if both characters maintain their vow of peace after this time. The characters lose this Death Rating bonus if either breaks the vow, but neither suffers any damage for breaking the blood peace.

Alternatively, character may swear a new blood peace oath after a year and a day. Renewing a blood peace oath in this manner does not cause additional points of damage, but the characters do not receive any Death Rating bonuses. Though simply maintaining the blood peace may seem more advantageous then re-swearing the oath, re-swearing the oath represents a stronger commitment between the characters and therefore offers stronger magic. Characters may continue to renew blood peace oaths indefinitely.

A player's character may swear separate blood peace oaths with as many characters as the player wishes, limited only by the number of points of damage the character must take for each oath.