Since the old days of queen Failla of what was used to be Wyrm Wood, Until these days which is now Blood Wood. There were always those Elves who guarded their forest, used blood magic and made experiments with Horrors, built the great wooden kaer, made up with the Thorns Ritual and the secret Re-naming of the Wood, and always, never mind what was the queen saying they always obeyed her. They were the Blood Warders.

The Blood Warders were also known in the days before the Scourge as the Queen's Warders. They were those who protected the Wood, they were responsible to keep it's paths clean, and to let their beloved wood grow without disturbing it denizens.
The Queen Warder once learned Martial fighting as magical control, but as time past they left the Martial training for the Exholars, the Queen personal guards.
Their magic capability grew more and more and their experiments were dangerous more and more.
Not only their magic were dangerous for the court, the warders wanted privacy, and such a thing was not even a request in the court when the other noble families stick their noses into others business.
So the Head of the Escalanas Ranelle (The noble family which most of the Blood Warders come from) in the time of Queen Failla who was Darelon Escalanas made a request from the Queen for a new place. Queen Failla who did not mind at all where Her warders will be as long as they keep performing their duties as they should and because of their great loyalty to her told them every where they want.

The Queen's Warders chose their place at the forest heart, near the great Oak tree (which the legends say that all the Wyrm Wood forest grown from that tree). The Warders chose that place because the magical supply was great and there was also a lot of true wood, the Warders went there to build their new home, though many protested that the Queen's Warders will live there since most of the elves see it as a holy ground.

The Queen's Warders continued with their lives and made more and more experiment and their loyalty grew more and more, and as much as these things grew, so did their power in the Elven Court.

Then, a day has come who changed everything there was, the day when the Theran Empire offered the "Theran Rites of Protection and Passage", but Queen Alichia refused because the agreement was that the kingdom will hand itself for the Theran rule, an act that Queen Alichia would never do.
The Scourge was coming near and the Queen ordered her Warder to find a solution and quickly, and for a moment they thought they did. They built a huge wooden Kaer to protect themselves, but not all the elves trusted their Queen this time and many ran away to the Theran Kaers, those who left the Wood were banished forever.

After Two centuries the wooden Kaer's magical Wards began to fell, and something must have been done before the horrors would invade and kill them all.
Several Horrors managed to enter and to kill many elves, but then an old plan made by a Blood Warder named Kethos Escalanas offered his idea again, the plan was the Thorns Personal Ritual. The Thorns were supposed to take the elves into a state of never ending pain so must of the Horrors that would be feeding from pain will leave them alone. This time Queen Alichia accepted the plan, every boy knows this, but there was another part that only the warders and the queen knew, and that was the Renaming of Wyrm Wood.

By changing the name of Wyrm Wood they changed it's true pattern to a whole new shape and kept the horrors away. But the Renaming also corrupted the Wood from the very essence of it. Now the Corruption is growing bigger, and one of the Blood Warders duty is to guard that no one will enter there, and if they don't stop him, he will never return from the Forest Heart to tell what he saw.
The Wyrm Wood Forest was Re-named to Blood Wood Forest because of the Elves blood which leak from their thorns to the ground and help to keep the magic that protected them from the horrors operating.
So after the Scourge the Warders decided that for a new place a new name was needed, so they called themselves, The "Blood Warders".

In the Blood Wood sourcebook it is said that the Blood Warders are simply normal people whom follow several disciplines, most magically and guard the forest. I have decided to take it upon my self to create a discipline of it's own.

"Our forest is our body, and its heart is like our soul. Our soul was damaged and we must fix that, but first we must protect our bodies so no one can interfere, no one."

-- Ferillia, Elven Blood Warder

The Blood Warder is in fact a combination between a thief, wizard, Weaponsmith, spy and a warrior.
This is a deadly character and in a way may ruin the balance if not played well, but the character can only be played by a Blood Elf, and most of the Blood Elves can't stay for too long from the Wood.
The GM should decide whether he/she want's such a powerful character in their world, or they can use it for an NPC, and a crazy Blood Warder with these abilities is the most difficult villain. And if you think that's too hard for the players, then don't feel any mercy, after all, what an adventure would be if the GM were a softy and a nice guy?

Important Attributes: Perception, Willpower, and Dexterity

Racial Restrictions: Blood Elves only.

Artisan Skills: Runic Carving (Armor/Weapon), Acting, Rune Carving, Robe Embroidery

Karma Ritual: The Blood Warder must create a circle a 2 yard big, and to dig 6 small holes in the ground in a circle shape. Then the Blood Warder must sit and wait for half an hour until the small holes are sodden with the blood leaking from his thorns. Then he must plant small trees, like the Blood Warders did in Blood Wood right after Scourge. After the Blood Warder checks for evil creatures or monsters in the area of 10 yards from his location he installs wards in his mind. The Ritual ends when all the small trees are planted. If the Karma Ritual is done outside of Blood Wood then the Blood Warder loses two Karma points since his true pattern is tied very strongly to Blood Wood.

A Comment: A Blood Warder should be considered as a spell caster from one lower circle then the Blood Warder current one. A Blood Warder in Circle two will use spells like a spell caster in Circle one

FIRST CIRCLE
Talents:
Climbing
Karma Ritual
Missile Weapons (D)
Read &Write Magic (D)
Read & Language
Spell Matrix

SECOND CIRCLE
Talents:
Durability (5/4)
Spellcasting (D)
Thread Weaving (Wizardry) (D)

THIRD CIRCLE
Talents:
Mystic Aim
Spell Matrix

FOURTH CIRCLE
Karma: The Blood Warder may spend Karma points with Perception only
Talents:
Forest Language (D)
Spell Matrix

FIFTH CIRCLE
Spell Defense: Increase the Blood Warder's Spell Defense by 1
Talents:
Astral Sight (D)
Thread Weaving (Wood Weaving) (D)

SIXTH CIRCLE
Recovery Test: The Blood Warder gains an additional Recovery Test per day
Talents:
Book Memory
Silent Walk

SEVENTH CIRCLE
Enhance Senses: For the cost of 2 Strain Points, the scout can enhance one of his natural senses, adding +2 steps to his Perception when making Perception tests based on the enhanced sense.
Physical Defense: Increase the Blood Warder's Physical Defense by 1
Talents:
Enhanced Matrix
Willforce

EIGHTH CIRCLE
Social Defense: Increase the Blood Warder's Social Defense by 1
Talents:
Book Recall
Tracking (D)

NINTH CIRCLE
Clear Paths: The Blood Warders use this ability to take care that the paths of their beloved forest would stay clear from growing plants. This ability clears a road and prevents from any future vegetation to grow on it. The Blood Warder makes a Willpower-based half-magic test against the spell defense of the path. The effect lasts forever, and a point of karma is required to fuel this ability.
Karma: The Blood Warder may spend Karma points with Strength and Charisma only
Talents:
Enhanced Matrix
Thorny Arrow
Quick Growth (D)

TENTH CIRCLE
Spell Defense: Increase the Blood Warder's Spell Defense by 1
Initiative: Increase the Blood Warder Initiative dice by 1 step
Talents:
Ritual of Thorns (D)
Wood Skin

ELEVENTH CIRCLE
Social Defense: Increase the Blood Warder's Social Defense by 2
Physical Defense: Increase the Blood Warder's Physical Defense by 1
Talents:
Missile's Path
Enhanced Matrix

TWELFTH CIRCLE
Spell Defense: Increase the Blood Warder's Spell Defense by 2
Blend: For a cost of 3 Strain Points, the Blood Warder can blend with his surroundings. This effect is the same as those of the Earth Blend spell (p. 158 ED). Each use of this ability lasts for 10 minutes.
Talents:
Open Wood (D)
Unarmed Combat

THIRTEENTH CIRCLE
Physical Defense: Increase the Blood Warder's Physical Defense by 1
Karma: The Blood Warder may spend Karma points with Toughness and Dexterity
Talents:
Armored Matrix
Devil's Water (D)

FOURTEENTH CIRCLE
Spell Defense: Increase the Blood Warder's Spell Defense by 1
Initiative: Increases the Blood Warder Initiative dice by 2 steps
Talents:
Installing Wards
Metal Thorns

FIFTEENTH CIRCLE
Mystic Armor: Increase the Blood Warder's Mystic Armor by 2
Recovery Test: The Blood Warder gains an additional Recovery Test per day
Talents:
Devil's Winds (D)
Share Matrix

New Talents

Forest Language

Step Number: Rank + Perception Step
Action: No	Skill Use: No
Karma: Yes	Strain: 2
Discipline Talent: Blood Warder

With a cost of 2 Strain points the Blood Warder is able to communicate with other plants or animals near him. If the Blood Warder will try to communicate with animals, plants or trees which he cannot see, the Blood Warder must at least know the exact location. Most of the time this talent is used when the Blood Warder is in the Blood Wood borders, and most of the Blood Warders know most of Blood Wood like the back of their hand. The difficulty number for this talent is the animal Spell defense, or in cases of a tree or plant then the difficulty number is 5 unless the Spell defense number is given.

Thread Weaving (Wood Weaving)

Step Number: Rank + Perception Step
Action: No	Skill Use: No
Karma: No	Strain: None
Discipline Talent: Blood Warder

This talent is a very limited form of the Elementalism talent. It allows the Blood Warder to cast only those Elementalist spells that involve wood or plants but none of the other Elementalist spells. A list of published wood spells appears below.

Thorny Arrow

Step Number: Rank + Willpower
Action: No	Skill Use: No
Karma: Yes	Strain: None
Discipline Talent: None

This talent is not an uncommon one that is never used. Not many of the Blood Warders used it, because they don't have to handle attacks too many times. This talent changes a wooden stick into a thorny arrow with a damage step of +5 for use with a bow only.

Quick Growth

Step Number: Rank + Perception
Action: Yes	Skill Use: No
Karma: No	Strain: See Below
Discipline Talent: Blood Warder

The Quick Growth talent was used many times by the Blood Warders right after the Scourge. Since some of the Wood's parts were destroyed from the invasion of several Horrors through the Wooden Kaer, Queen Alichia demanded from her Blood Warders to restore the Wood to his status before the Scourge. The Blood Warders then used a blood magic (Which is now a Talent) to haste the growth of plants. The Blood Warder may use this Talent to cover up on his leads, or to build a shelter for night. This Talent cost 1 strain point for 2 plants, and it haste the growth of a plant in 2D10 years.
The Blood Warder cuts his hand and let the blood leak to the plant's soil.
Then he springs small parts of wood into the ground and what do you know! We have an older plant then what it was.

Ritual of Thorns

Step Number: Rank + Willpower
Action: Yes	Skill Use: No
Karma: Yes	Strain: None
Discipline Talent: Blood Warder

This talent allows the Blood Warder to do the thing that makes him respected in Blood Wood, The Personal Thorns Ritual.
The Blood Warder makes the blood magic, which binds the true pattern of the creature with the true pattern of a plant.
The difficult number is the Spell defense of the one who is been cast on, more then the Spell defense, the Blood Warder must not be interrupted at any way, because if that happen the talent won't work. Also, the victim must not move, small movements like shaking his head or moving his fingers does not count. The victim can be tied with ropes, if he does not wish to be full of thorns but the character wishes to do it for him, then tying him up is the only way.

Missile's Path

Step Number: Rank + Perception
Action: No	Skill Use: No
Karma: No	Strain: None
Discipline Talent: Blood Warder

The Missile Path talent helps the Blood Warder use his or her missile weapon in places that have a thick growth when missile weapons are hard to use. If the Blood Warder can sense an enemy near (Catches a glimpse of him, hears him move or even breathing), then he or she may attempt to use Missile's Path to fire at the target through whatever plant life is in the way. To use this talent the Blood Warder makes a Missile's Path test against the target Spell Defense. If the Blood Warder succeeds then the forest opens a narrow path to the target along which he or she may fire his or her missile using any appropriate talent or skill. The maximum length of this talent is 5 yards multiplied by the Missile's Path test result. The path created by this talent lasts only long enough to make a single shot.

Open Wood

Step Number: Rank + Willpower
Action: No	Skill Use: No
Karma: Yes	Strain: See Below
Discipline Talent: Blood Warder

This talent enables the Blood Warder in times of necessity to open a hole in a large tree (Bigger then the Blood Warder itself, and if necessary then bigger then the Blood Warder and his companions), which he can hide in.
In cost of 1 Strain point for two persons, the Blood Warder may open a hole in a tree, and enter to it. The tree will then close itself and will look the same as it was, leaving no evidences for the hole inside it. After the Blood Warder and his companions will exit their hiding place the tree core (heart) will return and the tree will go on living without problems.

Devil's Water

Step Number: Rank + Perception
Action: Yes	Skill Use: No
Karma: Yes	Strain: 3
Discipline Talent: Blood Warder

This talent is mostly used by the Blood Warders to keep guarding from invading Trader's ships and Warships as one. The Blood Warder must take a True Fire and True Wood and combine them together inside a small vase. Then he must make a small cut in his hand and to let his blood leak into the vase, which contain the True Fire and the True Wood. Somehow the blood catches the True Fire and True Wood. The Blood Warder must spill the contents of the vase into the water. Then the player rolls against a Spell Defense number 6. If he succeeds then the water would start boiling and smashing waves will strike the target ship or person. After five rounds storms will come, no matter where would the ship go there will be only storms. The storm makes a damage step 20, and the boiling waters are simply to get the ship out of control. First, when using the boiling water there must be a strength test for the Ship navigator whether he or she can take control over the ship or not, if the navigator loses control then there is a 60 percent for the ship to crash. Then, if the ship survives, when the storms arrive there must be done a Spell Defense against the highest score of a crewmember on the ship, if it fails, the ship takes a damage step 20 for each round until it is destroyed.

Installing Wards

Step Number: Rank + Perception
Action: Yes	Skill Use: Rune Carving
Karma: Yes	Strain: None
Discipline Talent: Blood Warder

This talent is in great and intense use in Blood Wood even in the days before the Scourge. This talent is one of the Blood Warder's main task, installing wards and defenses around the Wood borders and near the Forest's Heart. This talent allows the Blood Warder to install the wards. For that the Blood Warder must have a scroll containing the information of how the runes must be carved in the wood and the way to weave the threads in them so the wards will operate successfully. This action take a lot of time, at least several hours, and the Blood Warder must not be interrupted by anyway otherwise the wards will fail and he or she would have to start all over again. The success score tells what type of defense the Blood Warder was able to create. Average success- The Blood Warder summons a Thorn Man. Good success- The Blood Warder summons an Ethandrille. Excellent success- The Blood Warder summons a Root Walker.
Extraordinary success- The Blood Warder summons a Hulker.
The Wards will be activated when someone walks without a Blood Elf across the wards (For the monster statistics check the "Blood Wood" sourcebook, Pages 138-139, 142,143 and 145).

Metal Thorns

Step Number: Rank + Willpower
Action: No	Skill Use: No
Karma: No	Strain: None
Discipline Talent: None

This talent is used to create more damage in unarmed combat. The Hardened Thorns talent may not be used when the Blood Warder wears any type of armor unless it is a threaded one created by the Blood Warders them selves. This talent lasts for 3+Rank combat rounds. It makes a damage step +5 using Unarmed Combat.

Devil's Winds

Step Number: Rank + Perception
Action: Yes	Skill Use: No
Karma: Yes	Strain: 5
Discipline Talent: Blood Warder

This talent is much like Devil's Water but this one is for air defense. If most of you thought why the Therans haven't stroked the Blood Elves with their massive air fleet than that's why. The ceremony for this talent is like the one for Devil's water, but the Blood Warder must smash the vase at the ground instead of spilling the content of the vase the Blood Warder smash it right beneath the ship location. Then strong winds strike the ship from all directions and storms are coming about. The tests are like those written in the Devil's Water talent, with the same percents for crash. The storm does a 23-damage step. Either the ship crashes, or it is destroyed by the storm.

Half-Magic

Fifth Circle
Weave Elemental Wood
A limited Perception-based version of Elementalist half-magic ability that allows the Blood Warder to weave elemental wood into objects.

Seventh Circle
Gather Elemental Wood
A limited Perception-based version of Elementalist half-magic ability that allows the Blood Warder to gather elemental wood.

Fifteenth Circle
Create Thread Items
This is a Perception-based half-magic ability that enables the Blood Warder to create Thread Items. This action may take weeks and some times even months. The time and the Thread level are written below.

Thread Item	Materials	Time	Average success	Good success	Excellent success
Chair of Comfort	True Wood	Two and a half weeks	NA	NA	NA
Huntsman Boots	True Air, True Water and leather	One week and a half	NA	NA	NA
Oak-Leaf Cloak	Harvested leaves of Blood Oak tree	One month	NA	NA	NA
Arrows of Thunder Cloud	Dark blue silver Leather, Silver	Two months	Reaches Thread Rank one	Reaches Thread Rank two	Reaches Thread Rank three
Thorn Bow	Elven War Bow	Three months	Reaches Thread Rank two	Reaches Thread Rank four	Reaches Thread Rank five
Thorn Man Spears	True Wood and Silver	Three months	Reaches Thread Rank One	Reaches Thread Rank three	Reaches Thread Rank four
Thorn Sword	Wood, True Wood, True Earth and True Water	Six months	Reaches Thread Rank Two	Reaches Thread Rank four	Reaches Thread Rank five

Written by: Drystone
Edited by: Drystone, CyanBlade

Writer's note:
I must say it was hard creating this discipline. The idea first came to me after I finished reading the Blood Wood sourcebook, and I came down thinking after reading the came information, "How comes that there is no special discipline line for the Blood Warders?" I thought that FASA got lazy here and that someone needs to do it, so I did it. Using my fresh knowledge from the Blood Wood sourcebook I wrote the history, and then after searching for special abilities mentioned in the s! tories (again, written in the Blood Wood sourcebook) I pulled those things out and shaped them into talents.

More then that, I must thank to a great man who helped me shaping this discipline that I started. He helped me and gave me ideas since I didn't have enough knowledge myself. He even published it and for all the help he gave me, it would be a sin not to mention him. All this refers to CyanBlade, who helped me in sending me improved versions of the Blood Warder after I sent him the original discipline, in giving me, advises for talents.