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THE SCROLLS OF ELORATH
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XI. Separateness
Our strength and our weakness is life. We are slaves to the vital force, for lacking it ourselves; we are forced to glean it from others. In this we are self-serving and self-preserving, though good and evil cannot be applied to our state. We are predators and we move unnoticed among our prey for superficially we appear to be like them. Yet we know the difference and know that we can never truly belong. We tend to be solitary; feeding alone, though we seek out companionship among our own kind for it is here only that we find true acceptance and understanding. We may find friends and allies among the Awakened, but they can never truly understand what we are. There are some experiences they can neither accept nor share, and thus there is always something lacking when in their company. We are forever loyal to our own.
XII. Basic Feeding
We may gain what we need through feeding, drawing in life as we would breath. When we are the center of attention of a whole group, we may feed upon the emotions of those around us as they are directed toward us. This is an activity much Potential engages in, though they do not consciously understand what it is they do. This is one of the main reasons many Potentials are drawn toward the stage. Many become actors, musicians or other performers so that they may achieve the kind of focused attention they crave. For those who have become, this is a pleasing activity, but rarely satisfies more than the most superficial of needs. Even when a group is not focused upon us, we may feed generally upon them. No physical contact is necessary: we simply expand our awareness to encompass the group around us as if throwing out a net. Thus our energy extends beyond ourselves and, like embracing good friends, we pull bits of everyone about us into ourselves, breathing them deeply. This is less satisfying than a focused group draw but can sustain us in a time of desperate need when no other option is available. The two above techniques may be focused variably upon a single person for a slightly more intense effect. In general, the more feedback you receive from your targets, the more satisfying the drain, especially if they have some awareness of what is happening to them. It is like making love: the
best partner is the one who responds to your touch, whose reactions guide you in increasing their experience of the exchange. It is preferable to us then to feed off of those who are aware of the subtle reality, though care must be taken with such targets that they do not grow offended at what you do. To this end, willing partners are the most advisable as they will not retaliate for anything which they consider an infringement on their person. Single target, long-distance draws are convenient for establishing a connection to someone in order to draw them closer to you but before it is socially appropriate to engage in actual physical contact. In general, energy coupled with some strong emotion is more fulfilling than simple energy alone. One of the most intense emotions we can feed upon is fear. The next is ecstasy, either sexual or religious. Any emotion that is Tran formative in its power and depth pleasantly satisfies our needs. We may also feed upon energy gathered for religious purposes. This will sustain us in a time of need when no other sources are available, though feeding from this source is controversial to some. When people gather to worship, they generate a strong force of energy but few, if any of them, ever know how to properly direct it. Thus it curls up like smoke directionless through their place of worship or clings around those items, which served as the foci for the group�s attentions. Whether we sit in on the actual worship or appear shortly thereafter, we may affect a general draw using the net technique, which pulls the undirected energy into ourselves. The objects, which were focused upon by the crowd, can also be drained of the energy endowed in them, either from a distant, general draw or from the more direct drain of physical contact. Many find such activities scandalous and unforgivable, but in truth the groups that can be preyed upon in this fashion have little awareness that they have been victimized and suffer not from our predations. The energy of their worship was undirected anyway and would dissipate eventually on its own, having served to benefit no one.
XIII. Breath & Life
We can adequately feed from a distance, extending our subtle bodies and our wills beyond the limits of our physical bodies in order to touch the energies of others. Such techniques can be satisfying in their own right, yet we are not solely beings of energy. We are a balance of spirit and matter, as are all things, and so contact with more than just energy-bodies is necessary for us to feel satisfied. Physical contact coupled with that extension of our Selves that creates energy contact is the main method used to feed. The primary centers for achieving such contact are our hands and our mouths. The hands may tingle when used for this purpose. Our touch at this time is intense, often very cold but also shivering pleasant. In extreme cases, we may leave traces of our feeding, even with our hands. We can draw blood up through the very pores or leave barely discernible bruises at our points of contact. We draw energy in like breathe: this is a controlled breathing technique, which encompasses much more than our lungs. Even when the
primary focus is our hands or if our target is far removed from us physically, this breathing helps focus our intake of energy. It is one slow, sustained inhalation, almost like smoking a cigarette or sucking through a very small straw. If done correctly, it will seem that your are breathing in far beyond the capacity of your lungs. Like breath, energy is drawn in, filling us with life and vitality. You will feel it, like a rush, spread through you, tingling down to your fingers and toes. You will achieve an altered state of consciousness while doing this, where body and energy body are both clearly perceived. Time may seem drawn out and distance will be altered. Your perceptions can expand to encompass a whole room, seeing everything inside and out all at once. Like breath, energy may also be expelled, exhaled into the person you choose to give it to. This secondary
function of drawing energy is used in healing. It is the necessary counterbalance to our function of taking energy. We are creatures of balance above all else, and even as we can sap the energy of those around us, so too can we build it up in order to help and heal.
XIV. Assimilating Energy
When we feed, we must take the life energy of others. It cannot be given. It can be offered freely, but still we must do the taking. This is fundamental to the way in which we must process the energy for use ourselves. When we draw in energy from another, it is transformed through the feeding process into energy we can assimilate and use. If another, however well meaning, seeks to force energy into us, it will do us little good. The energy must be assimilated to match our own if we are to benefit from it. It is very difficult for us to assimilate any energy beyond that of life. Others may draw their strength from the earth, the elements, even the stars, but we are bound to life by our lack of it. Some of us are more disconnected from life than others, and this is reflected in what and how much we can feed from in order to sustain ourselves. Few of us can feed from alternate sources, but when we can, it is a blessing, which should not be ignored.

XV. Blood & Life
Do not mistake mere blood for life. We feed upon something far subtler. However, do not be surprised if, in feeding, you taste blood within your mouth, for blood and life are intricately interwoven. We are creatures of both matter and spirit, and thus we affect others on both of these levels. Blood is the physical substance of life, and so we are bound ever so slightly to this material expression of our spiritual need. Do not be misled by the juxtaposition of energy and blood. No cut or puncture is necessary for the transfer to occur. Our ways are far subtler than that. As you draw out life, you draw out a minute amount of blood with the life. Even when there is no physical contact between you and your partner, when the draw is deep enough, this will occur. For this reason, always take care in whom you feed from, for a taint in their blood may carry over to you. Never feed from the ill or diseased. Never feed from those who have drugs or
alcohol in their system. The taints in their bodies can transfer over to you. You will know those who are tainted by the sensations you get when near them. You will have an instinctual aversion to touching or getting close to such people. Likewise, your senses will warn you if you attempt to initiate a draw. Much of your awareness of the taint will occur on an unspoken level, so is attentive to your impressions and intuitions. Given time and careful observation, you will learn to
discern these sensations in order to identify the taint. This knowledge, however, may bring you great grief, for there are few left in this world that are not tainted in one manner or another.