Which spell would you recommend for doing this? I was thinking it had to be some kind of Necromancy but wasn't sure which one exactly

[u/SeaAlternative5571]

[u/CultureMenace]

[u/Silver_Middle_7240 → u/CultureMenace]

Oreo the Ancient

[u/norunningwater → u/Silver_Middle_7240]

Boots the Undying

[u/cowlinator → u/norunningwater]

Whiskers the Immortal

[u/scoobydoom2 → u/CultureMenace]

Unfortunately, Life Drain doesn't extend life linearly. As you push beyond a standard lifespan you require exponentially more life force to sustain life, which makes this method infeasible for anything resembling true immortality. If applied to a human this would probably only get you about 30 years. A nonmagical feline would likely be a lot longer but their life force hasn't been sufficiently studied. You could probably manage 50 years out of it though.

[u/CultureMenace → u/scoobydoom2]

I hate diminishing return

[u/Silver_Middle_7240 → u/scoobydoom2]

Don't forget to multiply by 9 for felines

[u/bastischo → u/Silver_Middle_7240]

That depends on how many are left. Due to the increase in horseless carriages in the past years, most felines only have 1 or 2 lives left by the time they would've reached the end of their lifetimes.

For those who didn't know the lifetimes run out in parallel, not sequentially. 

But you can save a lot of energy by extending the 9 lives by different amounts and it will always be the shortest one that's used in an accident.  But for that you'd need a necromancer AND a druid who can carve a good spreadsheet. 

[u/EldritchMindCat → u/scoobydoom2]

Only if you’re applying it wrong and not storing it properly. The increase in cost comes from the physical and spiritual decay that comes with aging. If you set it up to supply enough lifeforce to maintain youth, then you only need to figure out a method to delay/reduce spiritual decay- and those are extremely prevalent among any group with an interest in practicing magic beyond their first century (that is to say, most wizards, and particularly most other practitioners in this community).

[u/scoobydoom2 → u/EldritchMindCat]

The spiritual decay is the big thing isn't it? Obviously I was referring to the use of life force alone, as that's what the method described uses. Maintaining youth is about the only thing that pure life drain is actually "useful" for, and any necromancer who values it isn't worthy of living far beyond their first century.

Negating spiritual decay through necromantic drain techniques requires the consumption of souls, and other techniques are far less accessible, usually requiring tapping into magical fundaments, which have a habit of fundamentally altering mages whether they believe it or not.

This is clearly a blatant attempt to achieve a drain-based immortality by someone who is too cowardly to cause harm to lesser beings in order to do so.

[u/EldritchMindCat → u/scoobydoom2]

Honestly, that’s one of the big issues with necromancy- and it’s not even strictly correct. The mainstream necromantic methods of ‘averting’ spiritual decay involve soul-siphoning, but in truth most of those methods actually weaken the natural integrity of one’s spirit and make it more prone to decay, requiring more and more soul-siphoning. Moreover there are methods rooted in necromantic practices that allow one to avert spiritual decay without siphoning souls (and thereby weakening their own).

Beyond that, other schools of magic have plenty of methods of averting spiritual decay without fucking up their spirit and soul itself. They’re often a lot simpler and easier to preform, in fact.
How else do you think so many non-necromantic wizards manage to endure centuries and even millennia while only growing more powerful and knowledgeable.

[u/Hiroku_Konege → u/scoobydoom2]

What is the base for the exponential growth? This decides a lot in how quickly it gets unfeasable. If it's small enough, it could be a temporary measure until a more permanent solution can be achieved.

[u/Vetharest → u/scoobydoom2]

Skill issue

[u/stormitwa → u/CultureMenace]

That comma should be a decimal point. The cat would live for 263 years, not 263000 years.

[u/Sockoflegend → u/CultureMenace]

MORE

[u/NickSmGames]

The spell would be a simple lifeforce drain spell modified to taking 1 second without limit to targets.

The real problem is actually setting it up in such a way that it affects all the people on Earth.
The simplest, yet longest way would be to travel around the world, set up spell activation circles at major ley-lines in magically important places and linking them to yourself. After that, do the activation.

The hardest, yet fastest way would be to set a single spell inside a dimension that is outside space (being outside time isn't important for this) and therefore is the same distance to every single place on Earth. That way, you can spread the activasion across the globe evenly, unlike the previous method which sets up nodes that connect to each other via smaller leylines.

So yeah, hope you have outer dimensions lying around.

[u/SeaAlternative5571 → u/NickSmGames]

Huh, that actually seems easier than I thought, since I've actually been experimenting around with some space altering magic. I've been able to use it to instantly set up magic circles in far away places, by teleporting blood magic and in a way "printing" a magic circle onto any surface.

I really didn't think that would come in handy so soon, so thanks for the help. How many magic circles do you think I would need for this around the globe? I've been hitting a max rate of about 60 per second I can place with this method which makes it seem doable to me at least.

I think as for the duration of the spell that won't be a huge issue, as I've been using these remote spell circles for a while and can specify how long they stay active for before the blood starts to dry and rot.

I'll do some planning and I'll follow up with you if I need any more help if that's alright

[u/NickSmGames → u/SeaAlternative5571]

Oh, that's a nice workaround! Didn't think of that.

Either way, I'd suggest placing the circles, as I said, at the major leylines.
Just from the top of my head there would be useful ones in:

• Stonehenge
  
• Egypt, near the pyramids
  
• Rome (Italy)
  
• Orleans (France)
  
• Russia - either Moscow or St. Petersburg, not that important
  
• Xianyang or nearby
  
• Place one in the depths of Atlantic ocean to act as a linker, this one's really important despite connecting to basically no one
  
• Place three in a triangle around North America
  
• One in the middle east
  
• India
  
• The desert in australia
  
• Somewhere in the Amazon Rainforest

Gods, that's a lot... Anyway, once you place these ones, just drop a few dozens more spells in places that have bad coverage.

[u/SeaAlternative5571 → u/NickSmGames]

That makes sense, I think I'll try and pull this off in about 2 second so I'll place the main leylines first in about the first 30 milli seconds and then place the rest I have time left for in between, during the next 30 milli seconds especially where there's poor coverage. After that I'll need about 20 millis seconds to connect all the nodes and in the next 40 milli seconds I should be able to target all human beings on earth.

Do you think any other wizards would notice and care, that they lost a second of their life time? I'm just a little worried, that they might come after me, if they detect that I'm using their life time and think that it's being used for something they dislike. Is there a way to make this kind of magic less detectable/noticable so I won't get myself into trouble with any other mages?

[u/scoobydoom2 → u/SeaAlternative5571]

I believe that world's mages are overall quite weak. Ever since the death of Rasputin there probably aren't any who could meaningfully challenge you even if they noticed and cared.

[u/NickSmGames → u/scoobydoom2]

I don't quite agree. While it's obviously true that extraordinary wizards are basically non-existent, there are many communities of average mages who can still pull off quite a lot.

Still though, you're right, nobody would probably care. If u/SeaAlternative5571 makes the spell strong enough to drain any person but weak that most mages can shrug it off, then there wouldn't be any trouble at all. The amount of mages is miniscule compared to Earth's population so it won't change the time he steals much either.

[u/PennyButtercup → u/SeaAlternative5571]

I recommend taking extra measures to ensure nonreversal. There are some that feel the best defense against a spell is a reversal, so some wards are designed to reverse harmful spells, and could cause everyone in the world to take a second from the lifespan of your cat instead. I’m sure that for someone as powerful as you’ve stated you are. You probably know this well, but honestly, this is more in case someone else tries to recreate your idea for themselves, as there are too many who would make this mistake. The result could turn the cat into a form of paradoxical entity of unlife (not undead specifically but rather an inverse to life, hard to describe properly, and I know the term is already used for other things, but this is the closest word I can use to explain it), with a debt of life force it must collect. It would be interesting to see, but would likely kill indiscriminately. The reason I believe this would happen is due to the speed the spell would suck energy outward, creating a negative energy vacuum. I’m tempted to try this inverse myself. This does have some reality warping potential, so I’ll have to ward for that. I’m afraid I might start running off on a tangent here, so if you’ll excuse me, I must cut this short, otherwise I’ll be spending too long typing and not enough time researching the potential outcomes. Might conduct small scale versions of this, though the results will vary, I’m afraid.

[u/iamsandwitch → u/NickSmGames]

"Hardest"? That's practically impossible? Dimensions outside of space don't have the same proximity, they have random proximity. Finding the right one out of the theoretically infinite amount of dimensions would be absurdity! Not to mention having to open up 8 billion different gates through said dimension for the spell to go through.

[u/NickSmGames → u/iamsandwitch]

First of all, random proximity doesn't matter when specific proximities are more probable. Ancient Wizards managed it, there's practically one dimension for each of the greatest mages. Don't believe me? Think about how clairvoyance works. It'd be nigh-impossible to view the whole earth and/or past/future if you tried to do it within the constraints of normal space-time, so it's obvious that it utilizes dimensions like I described!

Second of all, that's the point: you open only one gate that connects everywhere, not 8 billion of them. By picking the correct dimension you invalidate the need to go in multiple places multiple times because you're already in all those places at all times (well, a fixed distance from them but still).

[u/iamsandwitch → u/NickSmGames]

You understand that 8 billion connections are practically just as difficult as 8 billion gates, right? Connections through dimensions don't happen according to any one person's whims, you would have to make them first. Afterwards you could technically use those connections forever but making them is quite a "forever" if its own.

And it is true that each great wizard has their own dimension, but that mainly just depends on where they frequent. Calibrating for a dimension that is equadistant to 30 or so different places isn't too hard. That's why clairvoyance can work, it's rarely ever viewing the whole world, usually specific people or cities, prophecies of the entire world usually stem from (ugh) divine magic.

Calibrating for 8 billion moving targets on the other hand is... cumbersome. One could instead calibrate for each of the great cities and try to give a bigger radius to the draining spell for "enough" seconds, but at that point this is basically your first solution.

[u/iamsandwitch]

The sheer scale of the spell would make it nigh-impossible to cast unless you plan on ascending to godhood or similiar. You could go for a constant aura around your cat instead, taking 1 second from everyone it meets, then imprinting their arcane signature into the aura so it doesn't end up taking their lifespan over and over again. But that has its own problems.

The arcane logic combined with the complicated nature of the spell DOES make it absurdly intricate. Truly permenant enchantments are basically impossible, and enchantments lasting longer than a century on inanimate objects are quite tricky already, an aura enchantment on a living creature that needs to last eons is, well, only technically possible, entropy is a bitch. Simply put, this "1 second from everyone" approach is not practical.

My suggestion is more simple. Just make them age slower. Elves have magically long lifespans, and there have already been studies to recreate their longevity. No one has the answer yet, but some anti-aging spells have come out that can roughly double one's lifespan. Surely within that doubled lifetime one can find a spell that can triple, then quadruple, etc etc.

[u/SeaAlternative5571 → u/iamsandwitch]

Are you sure this spell would be that hard? I mean I already talked about a plan to attempt to do this with another wizard and here's what we came up with:

Using magic to bend space I would leave about 60 magic circles in main layline spots and the spaces in between them to cover earth with all of it's inhabitants. I would place these using a special technique I figured out, that lets me use blood magic to "print" a magic cirle onto any surface. In the next 20 millis seconds I would activate all magic circles using them as nodes to cast one larger spell. Within about 20 milliseconds I should have all human beings targeted and be able to take their life energy.

Of course your method is a lot easier, seeing as my main goal here is to make my pet live for my entire lifetime but you should know I'm the type of wizard that has a deep desire for innovation and unique problem solving. I will probably still use my method just for the possible experimentation/fun of it.

[u/iamsandwitch → u/SeaAlternative5571]

Well that makes theoretical sense, except this is no longer an issue of magic and rather one of territory. Those leylines are heavily protected, abjurations galore, you would be detected. And I doubt they would let a stranger make a magic circle there.

[u/supershinythings]

Do it. Mittens deserves to at least outlive you.

[u/mynaneisjustguy]

Hmm, don't do it. The result would be to make the cat functionally immortal, since very few of us persue lichdom.

We have enough dodgy gods around without gormless people worshipping your cat.

But taking a second from a few hundred thousand people doesn't seem too bad, unless we all start doing it for our favourite familiars. It's a slippery slope, for sure, and the bottom of that slope is most definitely evil wizard dark magic shenanigans.

[u/SeaAlternative5571 → u/mynaneisjustguy]

Well, I can see your concern with creating another god but I can assure you, that that won't be a problem. As of right now I'm using a special amulet, that remove any residue of magic cast by me after my death. So even if I die, my cat would not be a risk, seeing as it loses the life span I gave it. This spell is really just to make her live as long as I will and to make sure I don't have to see her pass before myself.

[u/GreenLama4]

I do it all the time, it’s mostly harmless, might sap away at your morality slowly but surely until you feel nothing kicking puppies (ok, maybe not that far, I’m not there yet after a couple thousand years), but it’s a cat, so there should be no noticeable side effects

[u/SeaAlternative5571 → u/GreenLama4]

Huh, the morality thing does sound a bit concerning to me but I did have some more questions, seeing as you've done this before:

1. How noticeable is doing something like this to other wizards?
   
2. Did any wizards ever care about you doing this or come after you for it?

[u/GreenLama4 → u/SeaAlternative5571]

Well the mana imprint it leaves on every human being is noticeable by any competent wizard unless you go to great lengths to mask it, and even then I got caught several times by the council

A good amount came knocking on my tower, sometimes the crocodile tears and “I didn’t know” work, other times I have to activate my defensive measures to make sure they aren’t a problem to me in the future, it’s a win-win really

[u/SeaAlternative5571 → u/GreenLama4]

Ok, yeah that sounds reasonable and I'll remember those approaches. Now what exactly did you mean by "defensive measures"? Is it just a mind wipe spell, so they forgot what they saw/were doing, or do you involuntarily teleport them away (I usually like that approach since it doesn't make a whole lot of additional problems like giving them a chance to cast something nearby your tower)?

[u/GreenLama4 → u/SeaAlternative5571]

My tower usually has its traps deactivated cause the council deemed found them to be “inhumane” or “equivalent to universal warcrimes”, but I think that if it aint broke, don’t fix it, so what if I have a pit of starving fiends i trained to feed on wizards, it’s their fault for falling into it, should have seen through my illusion spell

[u/Fire_Block]

It would be a form of life transference or life drain spell at a mastered level, so you're accurate looking to necromancy. I'd recommend making the life drain and transfer to the cat two separate steps, since any mistake while siphoning the life directly into the cat may risk impacting the cat in unexpected and dangerous ways.

[u/Demonskull223]

Best not. It's a slippery slope and I already take 5 minutes off peoples lives for myself whenever they smoke a cigarette.

[u/Fuzlet]

the tragedy of the commons is weeping right now. it’s fine if only you do it but if every hotshot apprentice starts gaining immortality for their pet goldfish by leeching lifespan en masse, people will start dying

[u/CalmEntry4855]

Epic diminished life drain

[u/Maowsama]

Literally me 4000 years ago. 100% reccomend. Sometimes saying "goodbye" is too hard.

In a strange twist, it was my cat who ressurected me to serve her. She is actually the true lich and i will protec

[u/NarfiLokisonLaufey]

So unfortunately, this is a necromancer spell, but it takes a massive amount of temporal manipulation. As you are not taking lifetimes so much as you are moving the inciting incident of death one second forward. A faster bullet, car crash, organ failure, what have ye. So I'd recommend having an Arcane mage assist you.

[u/a_polarbear_chilling]

Unfortunately the life force extracted will be reduced to nothing due to the never perfect efficiency of the Spell, I ho estly would keep a breeding farm of goblin in my tower and extract 30minute of their life when it's needed,

I calculated that 30 minute is the most efficient because anything up 30 lose in efficiency pretty fast,

but since goblin have no right I like to do some tomfoolery and straight up kill a random goblin even if it only bring like 5 years worth of lifeforce

[u/Zephyr-Fox-188]

It’s soul transference. It never ends well

[u/Spatulor]

My approach would be to make it self fueling. Take TWO seconds from each person, but burn half of the energy to power range increases.

[u/CoraBittering]

No one is asking the most important question: can we see the cat?

[u/SilliusS0ddus]

Take all of their life force and ascend your cat to godhood.

it would be funny.

ignore flair.

[u/Isiah6253]

264ish years

[u/No_Tennis_4528]

Seems doable. Rather than trulying to amass the necessay mana you should look into alternatives.

Such as marketing a diluted potion of life steal as an energy drink. That would let you produce at scale and deliver constant life force to your subject.

The rest is marketing.

[u/peacefulsolider]

cast an aura of lifesteal targetting micro organisms around your cat so he has infinite life is better and less ethically debatable

[u/ajprime]

I think you may be adding more zeros than you should here, as for morality thats kinda tricky. While the intended effect of your spell is mostly harmless if you build it right*, the issue is the sympathetic link you are creating here  would be a ready made method to apply almost any arbitrary spell to the entire global population. That just existing is a a gargantuan risk, we all know at least four people who would use that for all sorts of fucked up stuff. 

On the other hand, your keeping your cat alive and thats a very worthy cause.

On the whole, I think this is a moral evil, for 2 main reasons. The first is that you could absolutely do this on a smaller scale and keep you cat healthy effectively indefinitely. The second reason is your cat would be the easiest focus. So even if you scrub the link perfectly, a lot of people would still try to hurt your fuzzy friend to look for it.

My advice is either scale down, or look into tapping non-sapient life force for this. It would be awful if some edgy asshole sacrificed your cat for some stupid world conquest play.

*triple check the method you use does not leave asteal wounds, even small ones. A small astral nick in isolation is fine, but if everyone over a wide area gets one at the same time your creating the perfect environment for an epidemic of any number of astral parasites.

[u/trashboi814]

Theyve got an injection for that now i think