Magic (DoN)
From Storing Don
Revision as of 04:48, 15 September 2007
Magic is powerful and elemental, and weaker than it has been in some time. Before the Sundering, a powerful mage could lay waste to an entire army single-handedly. Now, though, there is a balance between martial and magical prowess, best described like this. A spell hitting someone in the chest hurts and may kill them, but a sword thrust or an axe strike will kill.
Before the Sundering, magic was a thing of every day life. Elevators powered by wind spells and ovens utilizing controlled fire spells were common if not universally available, and the weapon that was not enchanted was a rarity. However, because of the magical fluctuations caused by Valistrix's death and the continent shaking explosions that created the two inland seas, most if not all of that was lost. The people were thrown back thousands of years of development, and strive as they might, they will never be able to match the skill of pre-Sundering mages, for the curses that Valistrix foolishly laid on the event of his death ruptured magic's flows throughout the world, weakening it perhaps forever.
Magic is divided into five main spheres - Anima, Dark, Light, Rings, and Staves.
Anima is the conjuration and manipulation of the four primordial elements - Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. Air is split into the Wind and Thunder sub-schools, as it is the most versatile and changing branch of the Elements. Anima magic is balanced between speed and power, and is by far the most versatile school, as well as being the most easily manipulated. The Four Elements are the building blocks of reality, but they are the easiest to control despite that.
Dark magic, called Elder Magic by defensive shamans, is the control of the primordial energy of chaos and evil, and has the largest appetite for destruction, but is also the slowest. It is split into the Destruction and Affliction subschools, with Destruction focused on its name-sake and Affliction focused on gifting targets with diseases, curses, and other nasty status effects.
Light magic is not controlled, as it is a gift from the primordial energy of good. It is split into the Judgment and Benediction subschools, each of which is unique. Judgment is the offensive arm of Light magic, and it is the fastest and most accurate of all offensive magic schools. It is, however, the weakest in brute force, although it has an increased chance to deal critical hits by some unknown property. Benediction is focused on blessing the target with various, beneficial status effects.
Rings are the least understood branch of magic, as they are connected to the magic of music and movement. Rings affect the mind of the wielder, filling them with this or that emotion or feeling, which can drive them to greater heights or damn them forever to the valleys. Calling this school Rings is a euphemism whose meaning has been lost with much of the knowledge of pre-Sundering Elibe.
Staves are perhaps the most widespread branch of magic around, as they can do anything from drive the target wild to enhance the target's strength or heal someone back from the brink of death. Staves are not understood near as well as Anima, Dark, or Light, but they are understood better than Rings. Staves affect reality or time: for teleportation staves, the time needed to get to place is reduced to zero, or alternate theorists argue that reality is affected so that they were there, with time being unimportant. There is argument on either side for what is the real nature of staves.
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Anima
The Nature of Anima
As already stated, Anima is the control of the four basic elements that are the building blocks of creation. All living and unliving things are composed of different mixtures of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water, and it is from these natural energies that Mages and their ilk draw power. Anima has no natural personality, being the building block of nature, and is easily accessed and used by anyone of any inclination. Because of this wide aptitude for control, Anima is easily the most versatile and balanced school of magic.
Although the Four Elements that Anima controls are the building blocks of reality, many of reality's laws are bent or outright broken by this school. For example, Elemental Fire spells can create fires that cannot be quenched by anything, which breaks the law that fire is extinguished by water. Likewise, a thunderbolt can strike from the ceiling to the floor inside a building and be just as effective as a bolt from the sky. In order to break the natural laws, though, extra concentration must be exerted, and if it lapses, the natural laws will take effect. If a gust that was going against the normal wind was cast but the Mage lacked the concentration, the gust would immediately reverse and probably imbed the caster with the projectiles he sought to avoid.
Anima spells are capable of short-range teleportation, like all schools of magic save Rings, that are dependent on the element being used. Flamewalking has the longest range (about 300 yards), but is the hardest to pull off due to the need for fire at the start and end point of the jaunt. A mage who is Firewalking disappears in a burst of flame that comes out of the present fire, and appears at the target zone in the same way. Windwalking and Stonewalking are the shortest ranged (200 yards). A mage who is stonewalking sinks into the earth only to rise out at the desired point an instant later. Windwalkers are seemingly erased by a suddenly gust of wind, only to be drawn at the target point. Waterwalking has a medium range of 250 yards, but it requires enough water to fully immerse yourself. The person walks into the water and seemingly disappears, only to reappear an instant later in a different pool.
Elemental Air
The only element with two subschools to its name, Elemental Air is the force that drives weather, be it a drought (a little of Elemental Fire) or a rain that causes flooding (a little Elemental Water). The Tornado is the ultimate destructive impulse of Elemental Air. Non-offensive Air spells are capable of driving ships faster or slower, depending on the direction, or creating a back wind for additional speed when running or riding. Elemental Air spells are also capable of holding people bound, gagging (does not affect spellcasting), eavesdropping, stopping someone's ears, as well as lifting objects.
The Wind subschool of Elemental Air is more versatile than the Thunder subschool, due to the wide amount of things Wind can do. Wind can create invisible barriers of hardened air, or rip someone to shreds from afar with invisible blades of hardened air. Wind is the fastest subschool of Anima magic, and the most accurate, but it tends to deal the least damage on a normal hit.
The Thunder subschool of Elemental Air is one of the least versatile Anima schools, if not the least versatile. Thunder spells pack a powerful punch and are fast, but if enough control is not enforced, the natural laws will make it hit the tallest thing nearby, instead of the desired target. Thunder spells are, depending on which mage you ask, the second or the most offensive spells Anima has at its disposal (Thunder mages argue for the latter, everyone else says the former).
When amalgamated with Earth, Elemental Air spells lose their speed but pick up power. They tend to involve small, sharp shards of rock or a windstorm that throws chunks of rock around. When combined with Fire, Air spells pick up power and lose none of their speed. Air-Fire spells usually involve extremely hot wind with a slight red color, or small tongues of flame thrown about by the wind. Air-Water spells are the most versatile of the amalgamated Air spells, and can be anything from a swirling pillar of wind and water to a driving sleet than freezes and soaks the target in addition to battering them down.
Elemental Earth
Elemental Earth, in conjunction with Elemental Fire, is the force that drives the tectonic plates that shape the world. Elemental Earth is undyingly strong and eternally resisting, the Unstoppable Force and the Immovable Object combined in one. Elemental Earth is found everywhere - the soil under your feet, the mountains in the horizon, or even the sea bed, leagues below.
Spells utilizing Elemental Earth tend to be slower and heavier than any other Anima spell, perhaps even matching Dark magic for terms of sheer power. It is also the most defensive subschool of Anima magic, and is more than capable of drawing up small walls or quickly digging a foxhole. Of course, Earth spells are more than capable of going on the offensive, with offensive spells like shooting impaling spikes of stone out of the ground or ripping a chunk out of a mountain wall and hurling it on the enemy. Non-combat Elemental Earth spells are often used to construct buildings such as castles, royal palaces, or mage towers, and buildings created such are almost indestructible. Earth spells are also capable of things like growing plants, rebuilding a shattered wall, or strengthening the side of a cliff (to avoid nasty accidents in a pass).
When amalgamated with Air, Elemental Earth spells lose a little power but pick up speed. They also usually involve jets of air shooting rocks out of the ground at the target. When amalgamated with Fire, they tend to pick up a little more power but become even slower, and usually evolve miniature volcanic eruptions. Earth-Water spells are usually similar to Earth-Air, except that it is water jetting up from the ground carrying the shards of rock. Earth-Water spells tend to be a little less powerful and a little faster, but not to the extent that Earth-Air spells are.
Elemental Fire
Deep beneath the Earth lies pure and unadulterated Fire. Elemental Fire is at the heart of the world, and it is the churning maelstrom of Fire that moves the world. Elemental Fire is chaotic and difficult to control, but the mage who can do so well is a more fearsome force on the battlefield than perhaps any other. Elemental Fire is what most think of when thinking of Anima, but in truth, skilled Pyromancers are rare everywhere save Endal, and even there they are a minority.
Elemental Fire is purely and completely offensive. Even when used on the defensive, it works simply because of damage output. A wall of fire blocks nothing materially, it is the fact that it would burn anything to a crisp that tried to get through that prevents movement through it. Elemental Fire can be used to simply batter its opponents into the ground, or it can be used creatively - a burst of fire from the ground,from the sky, fire flowing like a river, these are the techniques that make a Pyromancer deadly on the battlefield. Non-combat Fire spells are capable of putting fires out or starting them, as well as creating small tongues of flame to provide light.
Fire-Air spells are faster and less powerful than most Fire spells, but often, the speed is enough to make them worth it. Fire-Air spells usually involve a group of flames being borne aloft on a powerful wind, or just a large fire fanned by wind. Fire-Earth spells typically involve shards of molten rock or metal being thrown or shot at its enemies. Fire-Water spells are balanced between speed and power, and usually involve strange blue fire or ice so cold it burns.
Elemental Water
Rain and storm, crashing wave and calm seas, Elemental Water is the driving force behind the tides, the currents of the sea and the rain over the earth. Rivers are the providence of Elemental Water, as is the rain that falls from the sky, although Elemental Air controls where that rain falls. The ice cap and the blizzards of the northeast are also the providence of Elemental Water. Water magic can be either blindingly fast or devastatingly powerful, and as such, it is the most balanced form of Anima magic, the magic that strives for balance.
Combat spells using Elemental Water can be anything - from a driving rain storm to a massive tsunami. Ice spells tend to be extraordinarily balanced, even for Water spells, although most mages only see their use for the defensive. Water spells that utilize rain or jets of water tend to be fast and accurate, whereas the ones that use waves tend to be slow and powerful. As already mentioned, Ice is usually extremely balanced. Water spells are also very unique aesthetically, as water is an extremely morphic substance. Noncombat Water spells are capable of creating localized rain storms, moving water around, snuffing fires, creating small pools of water, affecting the temperature of water (includes freezing or vaporizing), and even removing moisture from clothes, hair, and skin.
Water-Air spells tend to pick up a little speed and lose a little power, but they stay mostly balanced. A lot of Water-Air spells involve precipitation in some way or another, so a preternaturally strong blizzard would be a Water-Air spell. Water-Earth pick up power and lose some speed, but as a whole stay pretty balanced. Water-Earth usually involve mud, or jets of water spewing out of the earth. Creating a localized Tsunami is a powerful Water-Earth spell, although it can be accomplished to a lesser degree with either school individually. Water-Fire spells tend to utilize super-heated steam directed in a stream.
Dark Magic
As all living things are made of the Four Elements, all sentient beings possess Light and Dark in varying degrees. The two energies war over the being's mind and soul, although many men and women have one or the other to such a degree that the battle was over when they were still in the womb. The energy utilized and controlled by Dark magic is utterly unforgiving, vicious, merciless, and corrupting.
It is considered a stereotype by many of the nicer users of this magic that all Dark casters are as evil as the energy they control. These casters prefer to call it Elder Magic, and take pains to make sure everyone around them calls it such as well. Unfortunately for these few good souls, the stereotype is more true than not. Most Dark casters do not use Dark magic because of that stereotype, they use it because the energy is so perfectly suited to their needs and tastes.
The energy used by Dark Magic is, both aesthetically and factually, dark. Although it's use is not inherently evil, the energy used is, and the more that the magic is used, the harder it is for someone to stop using it, and the harder it is to resist the evil in the mind and soul. The longer someone uses Dark magic, the more likely they are to succumb to it, and become the evil, maniacal druid of stereotype.
Using Dark magic requires complete and utter concentration, because if a Dark caster's mind ever slips, the evil energy will blast it into madness. Many a Shaman has been lost to the quiet, staring madness that comes with the destroyed mind. Even the most powerful Dark casters are subject to this, and it is for that reason that most powerful Dark casters are either insane, borderline, or irrevocably evil. Only those with the strongest of personalities can have any strength in Dark magic and retain a Light-dominated soul.
Non-combat Dark spells can do things like creating impenetrable darkness, temporarily disabling a sense such as sight or hearing, single-person teleporting from shadow to shadow (maximum range of 200 yards) or moving objects with tendrils of darkness (usually not strong enough to hold a person).
Destruction
Destruction is named such for its skill at destroying anything and everything. Destruction magic is slow and powerful, more so than even Elemental Earth Spells. Usually Dark in appearance, Destruction spells are relentlessly slow and strong. In a toe-to-toe fight, nothing can out power Destruction, but due to its speed, it is not exactly the most accurate of schools. However, its accuracy is usually unimportant, as Destruction spells are the best at destroying blocks of troops or blowing apart a fortress wall - not even Geomancy can match it.
Destruction spells can take any form, to a blast of corrupted fire or lightning bolt to a crushing tendril of darkness, but all of them are irrevocably evil and dark in appearance. Wounds caused by Destruction spells are nasty in appearance, although none approach the revolting image caused by the Corrupting characteristic.
There is no such thing as a Non-combat Destruction spell. All Destruction spells are useful in combat, as the only thing they can do is destroy.
Affliction
Concerned only with causing pain and suffering, Affliction spells are even harder to kill with, but that is not the point. An Affliction spell with no modifiers other than Strong, or High Powered, inflicts pain in varying intensities upon the target, although even the weakest Affliction spell is excruciating. Combined with other modifiers such as Pestilent, Affliction can lay terrible diseases or curses upon the target that can take years to remove if a friendly cleric or troubadour is not to be found.
Combat Affliction spells are usually faster and more accurate than Destruction spells, but they are even less likely to kill someone than a normal spell is. Affliction spells rarely have any aesthetic appearance, the target just doubles over in pain, usually screaming. However, some even more sadistic Dark casters will create visible things, so when one unit or person has already been targeted by the spell, the next person knows what's coming, and that makes it all the nastier.
Noncombat Affliction spells are used only for one thing - torture. They are slower and even more excruciating than combat Affliction spells, but unlike combat Affliction spells, these carry no risk of killing the target, as it would be completely pointless if they did not survive the questioning.
Light Magic
The opposite and enemy of Dark Magic, Light Magic is the universal and primordial energy of good. It is ultimately strong and powerful, and no one can control it. In order to truly use Light magic, you must surrender to the energy. Only then may it be directed. Light magic is faster and easier to cast than any other style of magic, but because it cannot be controlled, it has the least power per strike. Light magic also has the greatest chance of dealing more damage, in a sudden burst of power.
Due to the influence of Ainor, Caread, and Artal, Light magic is considered, rightfully so, to be the 'holy' branch of magic. Defensive shamans protest this label, pointing out that not every Light caster is holy or good. This, however, is foolish, as the evil or neutral Light casters are a tiny minority, as very few people of that disposition can accomplish the true surrender needed to successfully cast Light magic. However, the few evil casters that exist are extraordinarily dangerous, as they seem to have a special knack for using spells that strike with more force often.
Non-combat Light spells include things like illumination, short ranged self-teleportation (about 200 yards max range, and disappears/reappears with a burst of light), or even things like determining truth from lie (very useful in trials).
Benediction
Judgment
Rings
Coming soon.
Staves
Coming soon.
Alternate Casting Methods, and Unique Magical Abilities
Glass Magic
Coming soon.
Imbuing/Enchanting
A very important part of warfare is the art of Imbuing/Enchanting. The two differ from each other in the length of time they last. A sword imbued with a fire spell might have it for one hit or even a few minutes, but a sword enchanted with a fire spell never runs out. Imbuing can be done on the battlefield, as it takes around 30 seconds to complete for an average caster, but enchanting would be suicidal at best to even attempt on the field. It takes a full day of effort to make even the most basic enchantment, and for some weapons created before the Sundering, whole months were devoted to the enchantments. Escalon itself took a month and a half to complete. Enchant and Imbue are the same words as far as the public is concerned, but casters and other magical theoreticians use them differently, according to the length of time. Enchantments are permanent, and Imbues are not.
Virtually anything can be enchanted or imbued, from the mightiest Adamant Sword to the tiniest pebble. What is being enchanted or imbued does not affect the time it takes to be modified, only the strength of the spell to be placed within.
Average Imbue/Enchant Times by rank of Spell
- E rank - 5 seconds to Imbue, 12 hours to enchant
- D rank - 10 seconds to Imbue, 1 day to enchant
- C rank - 30 seconds to Imbue, 4 days to enchant
- B rank - 60 seconds to Imbue, 8 days to enchant
- A rank - 240 seconds to Imbue, 15 days to enchant
- S rank - 420 seconds to Imbue, 30 days to enchant
- S rank+ (national weapon level) - 600 seconds to imbue, 45 days to enchant
The power of the caster determines how long something can be held inside a weapon when it comes to imbuing, although the time it takes to imbue can be increased in order to lengthen the imbue, conversely, the time can be reduced to shorten the time. A low level, weak caster could only make something last for about five seconds, but a powerful 3rd tier could make something last for an hour or more. Commonly Imbued Items:
- Ammunition - Arrows, Crossbow Quarrels, Ballista Bolts, Catapult Stones
- Weapons - Especially in Lequallian units with a War Mage
Commonly Enchanted Objects:
- Fortifications - If they weren't enchanted, Geomancy would rip them to shreds.
- Ships - Too expensive to lose to a single Fire or Water spell.
Virtuosos
Coming soon.
Rune Magic and the Webway
Counterspelling
A talent that is absolutely necessary to the success of any given spellcaster, Counterspelling makes any mage duel an unpredictable, sometimes messy affair. Any spell can be countered, but what it can be countered by is a whole different matter. The time it takes to counter a spell is different from spell to spell that needs to be countered, but they cannot be countered once the effect begins. In explanation, a fireball can be countered while its streaking towards its target, but once it explodes, the pain and damage cannot be countered. Countered spells do not fizzle out or fade away, they disappear instantly.
Anima, Light, and Dark spells all counterspell by using an equivalent amount of energy to neutralize the effect. Staves, with their control over reality, erase the spell from existence. Rings counterspell by utilizing the magic inherent in song and dance to disrupt and unravel the energy inside the spell.
In order to counter a spell, the would-be dispeller needs to have the same rank as the spell being countered. In other words, a caster would need a Rank of B to counter a B rank spell. The weapon triangle affects the ranks needed to counter, and for an Anima caster to counter a B ranked Dark Spell, he'd need an A rank. Conversely, a Light caster would only need a B rank to counter an A rank Dark spell. Staves and Rings require a rank higher to counter any spell, as well as a rank higher to be countered. I.E., an Anima caster would need an S to counter an A rank Staff or Ring, but a Staff or Ring would need an A to counter a B ranked Anima spell. Rings and Staves do not require a higher rank to counter each other (A B Ring can counter a B Staff). Dispel staves can counter spells two ranks above them, as in a C rank Dispel staff countering an A rank spell.
- Note: A spellcaster cannot determine the rank of another spell. He has to guess, and if he isn't powerful enough, nothing will happen to the oncoming spell.
