Healing is an advanced form of magic in Ilisara. It can be used to cure physical and mental injuries, as well as to remove curses and other magical effects. There are different types of healing magic, although most laypeople simply blanket all mending magic under the term "healing". The two types of healing spells known to any who study it are restorative and curative spells.
The Reality of Healing
You fall off your horse, and tumble to the earth. You feel a sharp pain in your side and gasp aloud as you try to sit up. A healer rushes to you. "Don't worry," the druidess exclaims, holding out her hands. "I can fix this."
You've just cracked a rib, and there's a nasty bruise on your hip. The healer conjures glowing green leaves and twinkling flowers around your body. The flowers bloom and fade into nothingness as the spell finishes. The purple bruise on your hip slowly fades away, and so does the sharp pain. Your side still hurts, though. The ache reminds you each time you take a breath that you need to rest.
In this example, you can see how healing is a practical fix for minor injuries. However, it can only help speed up the body's natural healing process for major injuries (called Lingering Injuries), or help manage pain. Physicians, surgeons, doctors, and others work throughout Ilisara. Their remedies combined with magic often create the best outcomes for lingering injuries. Magic alone cannot bring someone back from unconsciousness, fix a broken bone, or cure a deadly disease.
Healing has a mild effect on the body's natural aging process, and may prolong a person's lifespan by up to 10% depending on the quantity of magical healing received throughout their entire life. Because healing is not accessible to everyone and its long-term effects not particularly well-studied, this fact is not well-known in Ilisara.
Types of Healing
Restorative Spells
Restorative spells are used to heal physical injuries. Things like bruises, minor cuts, scrapes, and pain can be soothed by restorative spells. Restorative spells may function in many ways, depending on the school of magic they are cast from.
Examples of Restorative Spells in different spell schools
Curative Spells
Curative spells are used to cure diseases and afflictions, both magical and non-magical. Things like curses, paralysis, and exhaustion can be mended by curative spells.
Examples of Curative Spells in different spell schools
Specialty Healing (for Lingering Injuries)
A lingering injury is something that cannot be mended by conventional restorative or curative spells. It includes broken bones, cancer, kidney failure, brain damage, punctured lungs, or other serious maladies that bodily functions cannot easily recover from. A more powerful, specially-trained or particularly skilled healer is required to heal these. This specialty healing is usually just restorative or curative magic, taken to its highest, most potent form by a very talented healer.
Appearance of Healing
Healing always takes on the appearance of the spell school it is cast from. Here are the most common three methods of healing -- using Nature, Radiant, or Blood magic to mend a broken bone. The image shows what each spell school looks like in action.
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