Tag Archives: Level Up

Before the spell book arrives

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Notes. So many notes. Ethelred should have known. The warning signs were there. Both Ezrin and Alexis have notes. So many notes. For building in Aegier there was always plans, receipts, measurements, invoices. But those were are temporary. Sure his father had a ledger. But he didn’t carry it around, didn’t read over it at night.

Ethelred realized the proper book he order wasn’t going to arrive anytime soon. So he did what creators do, he made a temporary note book. Quarter master wouldn’t give him more than a few sheets at a time. But with some patience he gathered the materials to make a book, of sorts. Neither Ezrin or Alexis seemed too keen to let him take apart on of their books. So Ethelred has to improvise a bit. He used too little glue. Stitched to far from the spine. Didn’t use the right weight of leather.

But he was able to take notes. And it was a good thing as Ezrin had many words. Early on he decided to record the other magic users on the right side of the book.

On the left side he would keep his notes. Which at first were very few. But as he learned a bit more, reflected on the little magic he already could do, his notes grew.

In the back he began a list of material he had gathered. He made a few columns. He wanted to able to keep track of his thoughts, his uses and other opinions.

He kept a few pieces of paper loose. These he used to ‘capture’ Ezrins words. Then, later, he could review and copy into his notebook, the ones that still made sense and he could make reason of. He marked through the idea copied over. Left the one he didn’t quite get, for future talks with Ezrin.

After returning with Gustav from the woods with much materials an idea struck Red. He cleared a space in their tent. Stashed all this tools and such under his bed.

He laid the rabbit he had captured in what he considered ‘the middle’ of the area he had cleared. He got out all his materials. He worked tentatively. Looking over the object. Viewing the rabbit. Placing thing in an order than made sense to him. Sand above the head on the left. Stump of tree at it’s feet (which will become a bowl). Pile of rocks on the right. And so on with many such items.

For a moment, placing the moss, he pauses and looks about. Ezrin has opened his eyes to how magic is more subtle and more available than is obvious. Could this arrangement of materials conjurer forth some chaos? He steps back, and reflects for a moment. There is not intention to use magic in what he is doing. Contemplating the material, their connection, their power, their place, their utility… that couldn’t cause any issues… could it?

Red’s next idea is to start drawing connection between the materials. Sketch in the ground lines, circles and connect the materials to each other. But before he does this he will consult with Ezrin… reluctantly.

“Ezrin, can you help me for a moment. I have been collecting materials and as you can see have been started to… categorize and organize my thoughts. What I want to do next is start to draw connections between the materials. Once done I was going to sketch and copy these diagram onto a page and then add more notes.

But with all the talk of sigils and protection, and how excited and worried you were about my bowl of water… I didn’t want to make any mistakes here. Any advice how to do this type of work and not cause magical effects… I desire to use not power… just to study”

Collegia Arcana 101: Lecture 3

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The Collegium teaches that almost every spell belongs to one of eight Collegia Arcana:  Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, and Transmutation.

A Collegia Arcana is a group of related rituals, incantations or workings that work in similar ways, they share some of the same… vocabulary and materials so to speak. Workings, incantations and rituals of the same Collegia share similar runes, gestures, materials, steps, and so on, some more than others  

Abjurations create physical or magical barriers, negate magical or physical abilities, harm trespassers, or even banish the subject of the spell to back it’s warren or other magical place. They are most often used as protective spells.

It is said that abjurative magical fields interfere with each other and create barely visible energy fluctuations. 

If an abjuration creates a barrier that keeps certain types of creatures at bay, that barrier cannot be used to push away those creatures. If you force the barrier against such a creature, you feel a discernible pressure against the barrier. If you continue to apply pressure, the spell will end. 

Conjuration can be separated into four sub-Collegia: Summoning, Calling, Teleportation, and Creation.

Summoning Conjurations bring objects, creatures, or some form of energy to you. 

Teleportation Conjurations transport creatures or objects over great distances.

Creation Conjurations create objects or effects on the spot. 

Creatures or creations you conjure usually, but not always, obey your commands.

A creature or object brought into being or transported to your location by a Conjuration cannot appear inside another creature or object, nor can it appear floating in an empty space. It must arrive in an open location on a surface capable of supporting it.

Divinations enable you to learn secrets long forgotten, to predict the future, to find hidden things, and to foil deceptive spells. Locating objects, detecting magic, detecting undead, clairaudience, clairvoyance, scrying, prophecy, dowsing, are all Divination. Divination can also be used to read thoughts and even communicate without speaking.

Enchantments affect the minds of others, influencing or controlling their behavior. All Enchantments are mind-affecting. Two major types of enchantments grant you influence over a subject creature: Charms and Compulsions.

Charms change how the subject views you, typically making it see you as a good friend.

Compulsions forces the subject to act in some manner or changes the way her mind works. Some compulsions determine the subject’s actions or the effects on the subject, some compulsion spells allow you to determine the subject’s actions when you create the enchantment, and others give you ongoing control over the subject.

Evocation manipulates energy or tap an unseen source of power to produce a desired end. In effect, they create something out of nothing. Many of these spells produce spectacular effects, and evocation spells can deal large amounts of damage. The energy manipulated in Evocations has been described as coming from various sources, Good, Evil, Force, Fire, Light, Water, Darkness, Shadow, Sound, Lightning, Law, Chaos and more. 

Illusion spells deceive the senses or minds of others. They cause people to see things that are not there, not see things that are there, hear phantom noises, or remember things that never happened. Illusions can be divided into Figments, Glammerie, Patterns and Phantasms. Some place Shadow-magic in the Illusion category.

A Figment Illusion creates a false sensation. Those who perceive the Figment perceive the same thing, not their own slightly different versions of the figment. (It is not a personalized mental impression.) Figments cannot make something seem to be something else. A Figment that includes audible effects generally struggle to duplicate intelligible speech. In some cases, intelligible speech may be possible, but it must be in a language you can speak. If you try to duplicate a language you cannot speak, the image will produce gibberish. Likewise, you cannot make a visual copy of something unless you know what it looks like.

A Glammerie changes a subject’s sensory qualities, making it look, feel, taste, smell, or sound like something else, or even seem to disappear. 

Because Figments and Glammerie are unreal, they cannot produce real effects the way that other types of illusions can. They cannot cause damage to objects or creatures, support weight, provide nutrition, or provide protection from the elements. Consequently, these Illusions are useful for confounding or delaying foes, but useless for attacking them directly.

Like a Figment, an Illusory Pattern creates an image that others can see, but a Pattern also affects the minds of those who see it or are caught in it.

A Phantasm creates a mental image, that usually only the caster and the subject (or subjects) of the spell can perceive. This impression is totally in the minds of the subjects. It is a personalized mental impression. (It’s all in their heads and not a fake picture or something that they actually see.) Third parties viewing or studying the scene don’t notice the phantasm. All phantasmagoria are mind-affecting Illusions.

Creatures encountering an illusion usually do not recognize it as illusory until they study it carefully or interact with it in some fashion. A figment or phantasm remains as a translucent outline when it is known to be an Illusion.

Necromancy manipulates the power of death, unlife, and the life force. Spells involving undead creatures make up a large part of this Collegia. Some place Fear-inducing magic in the Collegia Necromantic. Some place shadow magic in the Necromancy category, or at least some shadow magic seems to be Necromancy. 

Transmutation spells change the properties of some creature, thing, or condition. Polymorphic transformations, levitation, flight, temperature shifts, lead becoming gold, reshaping wood or stone, these are all transmutations. 

Shadow magic is somewhat… controversial, some place it in its own category, others in Illusion and many in Necromancy. Perhaps  by all accounts, creates something that is partially real. Damage dealt by a shadow illusion is certainly real, and sometimes seem similar to that caused by certain undead, other times seems caused by whatever the shadow is a shadow of. A shadow of fire for example, may harm your very life force, or it may burn you. Many speculate about why this might be, if it is even true or simply part of the Intrinsic Nature of the Illusion of Shadow.

Collegia Arcana 101: Lecture 2

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After working through a couple individual spells, Ezrin begins to lecture Ethelred daily on magic.

“We should start from the beginning, I have been trying to reconstruct the initial teachings I was given. Some of it will be tedious or maybe even repetitive, I’m sorry, but I believe it will give you the necessary foundations required by the Collegium and for your own, and all our safety.

Let us begin with the Basics of Invocations, Rituals and Workings.

All magical rituals, invocations, workings or spells, are epiphemomena emergent from the alignment of phenomena and noumena. Thought made real. The precise replication in reality and in the mind of the correct gestures, sounds, and materials, when combined into the applicable weave-matrix patterns, are charged with energy from the relevant Warren, Warrens and or Weave-elements.

This pattern-matching of gestures, intonations, and visualization of the sigaldric formalae is what we study when we memorize a spell, in addition to the local adaptations required to take into account astrological alignments and influences, and any other locally variable pheonomena.

When properly and precisely uttered or gestured, while mentally recalled, the correct arcane invocations combined with the correct material foci, create an arcane entanglement and then a release of this energy from the weave matrix, which in turn triggers a set reaction. The release of the energy contained in these words, and gestures is what causes the spell to be forgotten or the inscribed sigils disappear from the surface upon which they are written.

The triggering action draws power from one or more Warrens. Whether the spell is an abjuration, conjuration, alteration, enchantment, or whatever, there is a flow of energy — first from the spell caster, then from some warren to the area magicked or enspelled by the caster. The energy flow is not from the caster per se, but in the cases of vocal intonations, it is from the utterance of the sounds themselves, each of which is charged with entangled audiosymbolic energy which is loosed when the proper formula and ritual is completed with their utterance and demonstration. This power then taps the referenced warren or warrens (in some cases whether or not the spell user has any idea of what it is) to cause the arcane entanglement to function.

Many spells also require somatic motions in conjunction with words. The spoken words trigger the release of the magical energy, and the hand movements are usually required in order to control and specify the direction, target, area, etc. of the spell effects.

Materials are often but not always required. In general, the material requirements are shaped by the Principle of Similaritiy. Fireflies and Light for example. In the case of more powerful spells, certain common components become necessary. Gems, crystals, silver, gold, pearls, and so on. Some say these items are necessary to properly channel the energies, some say they a required sacrifice, and others maintain that they contain power that is amplified and consumed. Either way, in the common vocabulary suggest ‘materials’ are consumed, and some items are used as a focus.

When spell energy Is released, it usually flows to a given warren to reality. To replace It, something must flow back in reverse. The dissolution and destruction of material components provides the energy that balances out this flow, through the Principle of Similarity. Sometimes this destruction is very slow. Some say that those spells without apparent material components are actually utilizing the air exhaled by the magic-user in the utterance of the spell.

When performed properly, with the correct sigils, gestures and materials, the release of stored Warren energy is not usually particularly debilitating to the spell caster, as he or she has ensured the correct conduits and protections are in place through the proper use of the correct sigils, gestures and materials. As long as the incantations and rituals are done correctly and accurately, the power comes from outside the spell caster, not from his or her own vital essence. The power to activate even a simple and relatively weak spell would leave a spell caster weak and shaking if it were drawn from his or her personal energy, and a powerful spell would most certainly totally drain the caster’s body of life!

It cannot be emphasized enough that because spells utilize arcane energies from Warrens of Power tested methods always be used. Any improper casting is likely to cause the arcane entanglement to malfunction dangerously, create intransitive oscillations of the Weave, and unleash eldritch abominations. The Principal of Similarity is called the First Principle of Corruption by some. Careful attention must be applied to using the correct sigils, symbols, gestures, and materials, lest the caster be harmed, or worse yet, the caster may unleash unknown horrors upon the world.

After the Light has Lit a Bit

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After the lessons in light have ended the very next morning Ethelred brings up his next interest in magic.

“I have seen how there are ways to sense the world around you through sense beyond the ones given at birth. For example Ezrin you have been able to sense that items contain magic. Alexis you have been able to detect the location of objects.

My naive sense would be these two detections are connected. I have some ideas on how I could sense where at type of material is located. But I have little idea how to tell if some item contains within it something more that just the basic materials.”

Cabin Feverish Preparations

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For many days, it seems to Gus that everyone is reading books and writing onto parchment and saying to themselves “Hmmm” and “Oh, interesting”. He finds it more and more annoying and spends time each day traveling to the nearby forest looking for materials to make arrows and backup bow strings. Every once in a while Ethelred or Ezrin ask for help in gathering materials from the forest which Gus enjoys quite a bit and it raises his spirits. When he goes to the forest each day, he first asks if anyone needs anything.

The crow seems glued to Gus’s shoulder while in the fort and tent. When in the forest the crow leaves the shoulder and attaches to random nearby tree branches moving to be within 50 feet of Gus. Gus seems to never acknowledge the “bird” except to give it random found nuts or mushrooms from the forest. When the crow caws randomly and annoyingly Gus looks dead eyed at the ground like the mother of an unwanted child.

While in the tent Gus keeps himself busy with the creation of arrows and making backup bow strings. He whittles, cuts, guts, straightens, embeds, washes, curls and knocks. He seems to take longer than normal when going to the bathroom. When not busy he gets annoyed by the smarties sounding like they discovered the Westlands in their books and thoughts. Gus makes fun of them sometimes by repeating the strange words mockingly he hears them say. They usually look up and glare at him which makes Gus look away with a little shame..

After another forest retreat though, Gus seems to be refreshed and less biting towards his team temporarily.

Then There Was Some Kind of Light….

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During a breakfast after a few days of resting in the tent Ethelred addresses Alexis and Ezrin.

“I have been thinking much about new possibilities for manipulating matter. Many times I have seen Alexis bring forth light using a copper coin. From the limited time I have closely observed this happen his mechanism is clearly outside of my abilities. I am interested in the role the copper plays in bringing the light forth.

Ezrin do you have the ability to make light without normal fuel? Clearly creating light with wax, oil or woods is trivial. But I have been looking over the various supplies I have gather and I sense there is a way to bring forth light, but I need some guidance to make it actually happen. Seeing another non God way, as Alexis does, would be very helpful.”

Abra, Abracadabra! I Wanna Reach Out and Grab Ya!!

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Over the course of two weeks, Ezrin rarely leaves his cot. He is engrossed in two books and several scrolls. He occasionally finds a moment to speak with Alexis and to a lesser degree Ethelred about arcane weaves, auras, runes, gestures and invocations.

At some point, Ezrin retrieves an empty vial from his haversack, and removes a thin pair of gloves no one had noticed before, makes the gestures and invocations related to auguration of magical auras, and focuses on these items at length. When he is done he puts the gloves back on, they are barely noticeable, and he writes for a bit in one of his notebooks.

On another day, he raises the topic somnabulatory effects of certain enchantments, incantations and gestures, the impact of sand, crickets, and rose petals upon such.

A conversation regarding the use of transmutative and arcane imbuatative properties powdered silver, or “argentum,” as well as select transmutive incantations and gestures, with Ethelred continues off and on throughout the fortnight.

Ezrin makes frequent use of his crystals, several scrolls, incantations and gestures related to divination, aurgury and literacy of the arcane, and an adjustment of some sort to arcano-aura-auguracity incantations and gestures that seem to make it last longer then usual.

He is heard to mutter about atmospheric transmutations at length and practice several gestures and incantations that seem to related.

He makes frequent notes in one book, and regularly references another. Often mumbling about enchantments, mentalism, and somnabulation, or transmutation, aerotonomy, atmospherics, teleoration and anemonologistics. After ten days or so, he carefully writes three new pages into his “reference” book.

An hour or so after breakfast, a day or two after writing the new pages into the “Reference Book,” he performs incantations that seem to be related to teleoratory atmospheric transmutations, and then speaks “The stargazer climbed to the highest peak of the mountain, eager to gaze upon the night sky. She dreamed of one day traveling to the stars, of exploring new worlds and meeting strange and wonderful creatures.”

About two hours later, right on schedule, squire Perez enters the tent with lunch, looking even more confused than usual, and asks, “Did one of you say something about a stargazer who want to travel to the stars? It sounded like you were right next to me.” Perez looks over his shoulder to just outside the tent.

Ezrin smiles.

The Black (Feather) Speech

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Telosh helps Gustav forage, trap and hunt, and spends a bit of time talking with him about trap craft. He aids Ethelred with the ballista, tumbles and spars with all of his companions. He is clumsy with his off hand, and while is eyes are little empty, his feints are not less convincing.

He feeds the crow whenever it comes around camp, but doesn’t talk to it in front of Gus, or at least when he knows Gus is nearby.

One afternoon, when Telosh thinks he is alone with the crow, he tosses it a morsel, closer than when they are near the others. As it eats, Telosh speaks slowly,

“You only ever tried to help and protect me.

“Gus says your feathers were protected by an agent of M- the Corrupter of Animals, and he thinks you are an agent of Theirs…

“I’ve never understood why he didn’t like you…

“If you are in the beast lords thrall, I hope I can free you, crow friend.”

Tell Me About Your Father

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About a week after Barra has defeated Utiog, Gus has chanced on something close to a feast for the group. The group is at one of the tables in the Inn. Alexis is in good spirits. He turns to Telosh.

“We’ve never taken the time for you to tell us about your upbringing. About your father. Care to tell us the ‘Tale of Telosh’?”