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MARTIAL TRANCE MARTIALTRANCE (1654)

Syntax:  martialtrance

Assassins are served well by their secret arts of meditation and mental focus, 
learning to sharpen their mind and senses to ward off magical assault and 
notice things nearly unseen.  It is whispered that the shadowy masters of 
their deadly craft have made careful study of still more obscure and powerful 
techniques of mental and spiritual discipline, cryptic arts of the dark parts 
of the mind that only the most skilled practitioners of the lesser meditative 
techniques might attempt without irrevocably snapping their fragile psyches.

Perhaps the most fearsome of these is the martial trance, a thing so terrible 
to behold that many who witness it would swear that the assassin has learned 
the black magic of their ancient predecessors, although there is nothing of 
the kind in it.  It is simply perfection, discipline, and killing grace made 
flesh.

Having calmed themselves utterly and freed their mind from the burdens of 
emotion and confusion, the master assassin may evoke the martial trance.  
Although this sublime state of mind may be maintained even by a master for 
only a short time, its effects are quite striking.  While in the trance, the 
assassin may shrug off blows and terrible damage to their person which would 
kill or incapacitate a lesser being.  Pain means nothing to an assassin in the 
perfect calm of the martial trance.

The technique is not without some drawback; so intense is the focus required 
to attain the martial trance that the assassin loses their grip on the trivia 
and minutae of a potential victim's habits and quirks so necessary to perform 
the flawless single-strike kills for which the guild is famed.  Although this 
knowledge, gained previously through careful study of a potential victim, 
becomes useless to the assassin for striking a single killing blow, it is 
subsumed into their subconscious as they enter the martial trance.  An 
assassin who fights a victim they had long watched while in the martial trance 
will find they retain an instinctive knowledge of the victim's weaknesses, 
gaining significant advantages in melee.

During and after the martial trance, assassins are unable to hide or
sneak until having recovered from their exertion.