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.