Psychic Surgery
You wont feel a thing...
Psychic surgery is an ability used heavily by The Magicians of Carthage . At its most basic level, psychic surgery is defined as an operation designed to alter a biological subject in mind, body, or spirit through the use of psionic power. This definition is vague but provides a good idea as to what it is that one can do with this power.
The most common implementations of psychic surgery involve the procedure used in conjunction with Bliss to rewrite the memory of a patient. Another common form is the infamous Oedipist Rite, A ritual where a student of The School Of Carthage uses their psionic surgical tools to remove their own eyes, thus reaching a higher rank of magician.
These are not the only ways that psychic surgery can be used. In fact, practitioners of the art say that these are the crudest, or at the very least simplest, implementations of the skill.
Knowable and Unknowable Shapes
The first principle of psychic surgery is that of knowable and unknowable shapes. Due to their enhanced connection to The Candlelight, practitioners have an awareness of the universe's geometry. They feel the nature of shapes on a deep and intimate level, and in turn, know exactly how to alter those shapes into forms that are so enigmatic to the physical universe itself, that to gaze upon these shapes would cause the vision to blur and the head to throb with pain.
It is these principles that allow a magician to alter any aspect of a patient they need to accomplish their goal. They can reach through a patient's body, as if reaching between folds of space. They reach behind the ear of physics and pull out a cancerous tumor, leaving behind no wound as if their hands simply phased through the skin and tissue. They can traverse through another person's dreams, or pick through the mind of an individual and remove traumatic memories or simply repair the damage these traumatic memories have done. Psychic surgery is a breakthrough in psychological treatment as it can completely cure mental illnesses of all kinds.
Burn in Lavender Light
This process is not painless nor is it without its complications. Individuals who actively fight against the intrusion made by the magician can be left in many less-than-favorable states. From brain death to chronic migraines, there are those put under their care that don't leave unscathed.
This may seem like a deterrent that would make anyone give pause before agreeing to such an operation, but many in The Web suffer from a delusion. They believe that what they do is a sacrifice as opposed to a choice they make based on preference. Knowledge is power as they say, and remarkably few members of The Web wish to return to a life of ignorance, despite the fact that a magician could easily do so with next to no complications.
On top of this delusion, some people who end up going under the psychic knife become addicted to it. There are entire groups of individuals who reside within the halls of The School Of Carthage. They are not training to become a magician nor have any desire to. They stay there so they can routinely be subjected to the sensations of psychic surgery. The first time they felt the lavender light pierce into their mind, they felt free for the first time In their life. These individuals act as a defensive force for the school of Carthage and also do menial tasks within its walls.
On top of this delusion, some people who end up going under the psychic knife become addicted to it. There are entire groups of individuals who reside within the halls of The School Of Carthage. They are not training to become a magician nor have any desire to. They stay there so they can routinely be subjected to the sensations of psychic surgery. The first time they felt the lavender light pierce into their mind, they felt free for the first time In their life. These individuals act as a defensive force for the school of Carthage and also do menial tasks within its walls.
To ensnare the senses
Psychic surgery is in many ways a miracle cure. You can fix any problem in individual has from a deadly disease to a simple lack of excitement in one's life.
Task Force: Freud of The Alexandrian University works very closely with The Magicians. They wish to fully understand dreams and how they function and the best way to do this is the use of psychic surgery to induce said slumber, allowing the members of the task force to gain qualities while they dream such as lucid dreaming.
...With the loss of your eyes, you gain sight. Beyond the wonders and horrors that await you. Give up the shackles and free yourself. Do you see what we see?
Harden The Soul
Magicians routinely offer to have others on their table for one reason or another. The operation comes with a promise to harden the soul. The process of hardening the soul comes involves actively tampering with the way the soul of a person works. They patch up holes that would easily be exploited, tighten up the strings that bind us all to one another, and coat the spirit of their patient with psychic energy that acts as a shield to protect them from any who would do them harm. A hardened soul is resistant to all psionic abilities that mean them harm.
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That's a considerable power. The first thing that comes to my mind reading about it is what kind of limitations I would add to use it in a story. Anti-magic runes in walls and clothes, perhaps ? Moral rules imposed by direct Divine Intervention, maybe, is is that kind of scenario. A external enemy so powerful that war effort make all uses of magic justifiable; I think that would be my option. On the other hand it could be a full magicracy where mind police is everywhere; but even them we could have some conflict if the psychic surgery only worked in individuals one by one and not in groups, then the only protection for sense of individual freedom would be give up all privacy and remain in a cluster 24/7 (a curious paradox) . I do have some more or less similar on Sharitarn. But it is divided in at least four different magic Ways (Self-somatic Transmutation, Somatic Transmutation, Mind Whisper and Mind Carving ), and I do have a Anti-magic Way which provide spells capable to balance them up to some degree.