Techniques are elaborate weaving systems that weavers use for all kinds of purposes. Each technique incorporates one or more modes. In order to learn a technique, a weaver must train it until their body absorbs it into muscle memory.

Common techniques

Common techniques, which include simple and compound techniques, are easy to learn and accessible to any weaver, but they are not passed down genetically.

Simple techniques

The five Simple Techniques are the pillars of blood weaving, as they enable weavers to practice the most basic form of blood manipulation on their bodies. Each technique belongs to one of the blood signs and the quality of their effects depends on the skill of the user. All of these techniques are activated with the respective hand signs and chants of the sign they belong to.

Cognition

The Cognition Simple Technique is based on the element of Fate and enhances the mental abilities of the user, allowing enhanced thinking to work on the abstract. It directs more blood towards the head, depriving the rest of the body of oxygen to empower the brain and the sensory organs. It can also provide supernatural levels of awareness, enhancing perception beyond what a human is normally capable of, though this takes a lot of skill.

Its hand sign is made by touching one hand’s fingertips with the corresponding ones on the opposite hand while keeping the rest of the hands apart.

Mending

The Mending Simple Technique is based on the element of Life and restores the bodily functions of the user after they’ve been harmed or fell ill. Regenerating large chunks of flesh is possible but will require knowledge of the Constructing Compound Technique and will consume considerable amounts of blood.

Its hand sign is made by joining both hand flat against one another.

Zenith

The Zenith Simple Technique is based on the element of Harmony and releases the effects of all other simple techniques at once on the user, furthering a state of enlightenment during which they unlock their full potential, even going beyond the limits of their body. Weavers with traditional techniques will unlock a new and incredibly powerful form. In order to activate this technique, the user must be in a deep state of focus or they must be in a life or death situation.

Its hand sign is made with both hands holding each other by the fingers, which will curl and form a double spiral pattern between the palms with the thumbs pressing in with their tips.

Amplification

The Amplifying Simple Technique is based on the element of Power and increases heartbeat and blood pressure to superhuman levels, giving the entire body more energy and strength. It also naturally empowers all other techniques, especially traditional techniques, which gain a boost to all their effects because of the blood being empowered.

Its hand sign is made with clasped hands.

Ward

The Warding Simple Technique is based on the element of the Occult and reinforces the user’s birthright through their blood, making it more resistant and preventing serious damage.

Its hand sign is made by pressing two fists together so that the knuckles and the back of the hand is facing away from the center, where the middle sections of the four fingers are touching.

Compound techniques

A Compound technique activates two simple techniques simultaneously to obtain a more complex effect. These are much more difficult to learn, as they require a deep understanding of weaving and an extensive experience with common techniques.

Construction

The Constructing Compound Technique combines the Cognitive and Mending simple techniques to turn an abstract concept into material form. What it does, essentially, is transform blood into different materials to create objects.

This is a moderately complex technique, not because of its principles, but because it requires extremely advanced knowledge in the fields of chemistry and physics as well as the precise structure of the object one wishes to create. The Mending Simple Technique and some traditional techniques such as Hemokinesis use this technique with minimal knowledge required. Mending simply uses already available information (from the weavers mind and genome) to reconstruct their body, it simply enhances an already existing physical property. Hemokinesis, on the other hand, allows for simpler constructions which still require knowing the structure of the object.

In any case, Construction is activated by snapping one’s fingers and will materialize the product instantly.

Nullification

The Nullifying Compound Technique is a secret technique developed by the Carini family¹ and passed down the most worthy and loyal weavers in the organization. It prevents everything under the user’s birthright from reacting to any external input while the technique is active. This also means that, as the body cannot react, any movement from the user will be met by infinite resistance from the environment, meaning they will be in a state of complete stasis until the technique is released. It combines the elements of Fate, Harmony, and the Occult.

This technique cannot be cast with a hand sign. This was a choice made deliberately for three reasons: the hands making the hand sign cannot move once the technique is activated, making it harder to release; not having a hand sign makes the technique unnoticeable to the untrained eye and makes it easy to hide; finally, a technique without a hand sign is also incredibly hard to learn and use, meaning that even if someone found out about it they would not be able to learn it.

Traditional techniques

A traditional technique is based on the genetic information passed down through the weaver’s lineage which contains several blueprints for different kinds of micro-systems (or micro-techniques), they are rare and are most common in the bloodlines of powerful families who practiced controlled reproduction in order to maintain them.

Many traditional techniques were created by weavers and passed down through generations within the major families such as the Medici and Ari. These techniques often have different forms, specific ways of channeling the weaving principles of the technique to produce a specific effect.

With enough skill and effort, any weaver can learn a traditional technique without inheriting genetically. The acquisition process, however, requires decades of constant effort so weavers with a traditional technique prefer working on improving their own while those without it learn simpler traditional techniques if any.

Footnotes

1. The Carini Family is a criminal organization in Southern Italy that is known to possess a strong bloodline of combat-oriented blood weavers. The Nullifying Compound Technique is their most closely guarded secret, and they have murdered any weaver who has dared to learn about it without their permission ↩