"To understand the principles that underlie fundamental material existence is to be able to manipulate them to conform with one's own superior will, provided of course that one's own will is strong enough to overpower the manifest wills of the common mass. "
Pythagoras Mountainwind Doremarius,
The Principles of Magick
"The so-called 'reality' we see around us is only the result of the bovine beliefs of the vast unimaginative masses overlying the basic template of the Original Creator. For the being of extraordinary intellect, unorthodox vision, and sheer unrelenting force of will, the world is merely clay to be molded."
Zofus Zarinian Zar,
Re-Structuring Reality for Fun and Profit
"Do whatever you like. I don't care. And when suddenly you don't exist anymore, and nobody remembers you because you never did exist in the first place.... well, just don't come crying to me."
Deborah Madrigal Feathertouch,
in a letter to a pupil
As all creatures have a skeletal structure upon which the more complex and sophisticated systems that comprise organic life are built, so to does the reality around us have an underlying fundamental structure of principles that generate the basic shape and form of the world we exist in and perceive.
To understand this structure can be the work of a lifetime. There is more reason to devote oneself to studying the workings of our world other than simple love of knowledge itself, however. A clear grasp of the fundamentals of existential physics is rewarded by the basic powers of re-ordering the structure of reality itself... a mirror-image, no matter how diminished, of the very Power that must have been possessed by the Original Creator Itself.
For reasons unknown and perhaps undiscoverable, the basic material of reality itself is subject to the will and desires of a small fraction of the sentient beings that inhabit it. The vast majority of the so-called intelligent peoples merely perceive reality to be what the Creator intended it to be... and as they believe it to be that way, it continues to be that way. But this is by no means immutable.
A being of imagination and extremely strong will, born with that rarest of spiritual gifts, Magical Talent, can throw off the shackles of mere mundane vision, grasp the very fabric of reality itself with the vital hands of his superior intellect and force the world into a shape more to his pleasure.
More is needed, however, than merely that basic special spark of aptitude. One must also have the knowledge of exactly what one is doing, or the consequences can be disastrous. One who approaches the re-ordering of reality in a haphazard, hasty, overconfident or ignorant way may put in jeopardy their very existence itself. The fabric of reality is delicate, yet durable, and the slightest mishandling of it can cause backlashes of such force as to completely wipe from all of time any trace of the existence of person so foolish as to tamper with it unsuccessfully.
Magick is a difficult, demanding, and dangerous discipline. Those who master its convolutions wield great power, it's true; however, the road they tread is an arduous and hazardous one. Let the would-be wizard beware...!
Magick,
the power of Creation and DestructionRequirements: Magickal Aptitude
To be taught as an apprentice to an independent mage:
IQ 14, WP 16, MA 11, Exotic Background
To attend the River College:
65 Gold
Other means: High IQ, WP, MA, probably Luck, and a very high level of Exotic Background
Basic Thaumaturgy is difficulty 7 and has a skill base cost of 8.
Basic Magickal Rating: {IQ + [WPx2] + [MAx3]}/5 + ([X] x level of Basic Thaumaturgy)
Basic Thaumaturgy Level Rating Modifier
1-3 x1
4-6 x2
7-9 x3
10 x4
11+ x5
All Magick users MUST learn Math 4, Literacy Riverish 4, Scholar 4 (Unnatural History with a choice of emphasis on any of the following - Great Sorcerors of History; Magical Artifacts Throughout the Ages; Unnatural Creatures; General Metaphysics; The Spirit and the Flesh; or Sacred Sigils ), Attentiveness 4, and Basic Thaumaturgy 4 before going on to learn any spells.
The organized study of Magick as it is taught in all known areas of the World divide the discipline into 5 separate areas:
Natural Magick, the power to influence the forces of the Wild
Essential Magick, the power to influence the Life Force of Sentient Creatures
Necromantic Magick, the power to influence the Dead
Temporal Magick, the power to influence Time and Space
Dynamic Magick, the Power to influence Energy
When learning spells, one must begin with one of the three Lesser Circles -- Natural, Essential, or Necromantic. Before moving from one Circle to another, an adept must memorize ALL the basic spells in a particular Circle. Once all of these have been mastered, the magick user may then study another area. Or, if he prefers, he may simply devote himself to researching original spells in his or her area of proficiency, and becoming better at the skill of Basic Thaumaturgy, which will allow him to utilize the area he has already mastered with greater proficiency.
Because of the inherent nature of magic, all wizardly masters teach the basic three schools of Magic -- Essential, Natural, Necromantic -- to allow their students to understand the basic principles of thaumaturgy, before attempting to teach either the Temporal or Dynamic schools. No matter how much student mages whine, beg, plead, threaten, browbeat, or cajole, under no circumstances will any master teach any student a Temporal or Dynamic spell before that student has fully mastered at least two of the three basic spell schools. All wizards follow this general course in passing on their learning to their students, whether those wizards be teaching at the River College or independent mages working on their own. It is far too dangerous to attempt to teach an unskilled novice the elements of more than one magical discipline at one time; and much safer for the student's sanity and the master's wellbeing to concentrate on each area in its own turn.
The Temporal and Dynamic Circles are easily the most difficult of all Magical areas to learn and master. Before any spells in these areas can be learned, the student must have Math level 7. Difficulties for the casting of these spells are very high, meaning that, in general, only a Master Thaumaturge would dare even try to cast any of them.
It is important to understand that NO spell can be cast unless it is fully learned/memorized/understood. Thus, spells cannot be cast simply from notes or another mage's spellbooks.
Each of the 5 Basic Thaumaturgical Schools is composed of spells that represent the basic principles of those particular aspects of reality. These are far from the only spells that exist in each area, but a mage must master them in order to gain a comprehensive grasp of the workings of that particular thaumaturgical area. Virtually any other sort of spell imaginable is possible, but mages ideally should research their own once they move beyond the basic. It is, though, possible to use spells researched by another mage, provided they are studied, memorized, and understood like any other spell.
To memorize a spell as a starting character, no dice roll is necessary; the beginning Mage simply pays the learning cost out of his starting skill points.
Magic is, by and of itself, contrary to "common sense" and all public belief as to what is possible and what is not, requiring not only great intelligence and iron hard will, but a rare spark of godlike talent known as Magical Aptitude. Only a very small percentage of sentient beings are born with Magical Aptitude. In roleplaying terms, Magical Aptitude is a 10 point Positive Attribute. Once bought, it is rolled as a normal Statistic, on 2d10. While all sentient beings are born with some Magical Aptitude, the vast majority have a score so tiny it can only be incremently rated at .01. Any sentient being possessing a positive Magical Aptitude score at all, no matter how small, will also be an Extremely Fast Learner at Math and have a very creative and active imagination. Their dreams will be especially vivid and always in color. They will tend to view the world around them as a vast canvas on which their own designs can be drawn. Those with very high Magical Aptitudes will find themselves instinctively attempting Magic even if left untrained. As this can be very dangerous, most master wizards spend at least some time actively seeking out gifted beings to be trained as apprentices.
MECHANICS
Casting
In order to cast a spell, a roll off must be made of the caster's rating vs. the total difficulty of the spell.
If the roll off is successful, the caster must roll a d30. If the caster rolls his (Int + WP)/2 or less, the spell is cast so utterly perfectly that the caster suffers only a brief disorientation for a few instants-- a -1 for the next round, accompanied by the inability to cast a spell for that amount of time.
If the caster rolls over his (Int + WP)/2, however, he suffers -d6 for the next d6 minutes.
a. Miscasting
If the caster does not successfully cast the spell, he automatically suffers a d6 of minuses for another d6 minutes.
If a caster fails the roll off by 10 or more, he must roll d100 on the dreaded Backlash Table to see just what terrifying consequences of his own incompetence he must suffer. If a caster fails a roll off by 30 or more, he must ADD his Magical Talent score to the dice result.
b. Time Constraints
Spells require their difficulty in rounds to cast. Magick is NOT designed to be used instantly, on the spur of the moment; it is something that MUST be approached with care, deliberation, and an adequate amount of time to channel the vast energies you are manipulating properly.
It is possible to hasten the casting of a spell; however, it is very dangerous. For every round taken off the total casting time, add 1 to the difficulty of the spell. Failing to cast the spell results in an automatic roll on the Backlash Table, adding the caster’s full Basic Thaumaturgy rating to the result. Failing to cast the spell by 10 is instant destruction, total and complete... the character will be retroactively and irretrievably wiped from the sands of time, never to be seen again for all of Eternity. (It's bad. Don't do it.)
c. Spending Essence
A spell caster may attempt to get around some of the above limitations by powering a spell with some of his own Essence.
If he chooses, the mage may either subtract 10 from the difficulty of any spell, or perform the spell instantly (initiative: 24) by taking a d4+1 in minuses at the completion of the spell.
If a 4 is rolled, it may be increased by every 5-6 subsequently rolled on a d6. These Essential Minuses act as normal minuses, and heal at the rate of a level 1 Bashing wound.
All normal rules apply, thus, a magick user who draws on his own life force to speed or simplify a spell and who takes half his pain level or more at once in minuses may be stunned, driven to his knees, or even knocked unconscious by the unexpectedly large drain the magick has had on his vital essences. (A caster who takes 2x his pain level in minuses at once will be Instantly Killed.)
If a spell caster wishes, he may both subtract 10 from a spells's difficulty and perform the spell instantly by rolling 2d4 +2, with any 4s backed up as stated above. Obviously, this isnot advised.
Quadratic Scaling
For certain spells, knowing the exact Spatial Coordinates where a caster wishes an effect to take place is very important. Anything the caster is touching, or that is within easy reach without moving his position, can be cast on without such Coordinates, but anything beyond this range is out of the caster’s instinctive knowledge and will require such Coordinates to be precisely targeted. Without such precise targeting, most spells simply will not function. Others will, but cannot be ‘aimed’ with complete reliability.
If Spatial Coordinates for a certain target object or area are known, the caster can weave those Coordinates into any particular spell by creating a Quadratic Scale. This generally requires ten rounds of calculation, assuming the caster has the appropriate tools (writing implements, or some sort of calculating apparatus), or 37 rounds of purely mental calculation. The base difficulty for doing this at full required time is Math Rating vs. 18. For every round taken off this time, the difficulty is increased by 2. The minimum time for a caster to create a Quadratic Scale using proper tools is one round. A caster may attempt to make mental calculations instantaneously, although obviously only a true math genius will have a remote chance of succeeding in a roll vs. 18 + (37x2=74) = 92.
If a caster knows his current Spatial Coordinates, and wishes to calculate Coordinates for a certain arbitrary distance away from himself ("100 yards straight ahead of me"), this calculation can be done in one round with the proper tools, or in ten rounds in the caster’s head, for a roll off of Math Rating vs. 18. The same modifiers apply if the caster wishes to shorten this time if calculated in the caster’s head. If the caster uses tools to make the calculation, then one full round is the minimum time allowable.
A necessary part of Spatial Coordinates are Temporal Coordinates, which of course change all the time, although usually the variation is a known mathematical progression. Any caster who has memorized both Find Spatial and Find Temporal Coordinates, and who has at least Math 7, will know the basic ‘time equation’ and is assumed to automatically correct previously taken Spatial Coordinates prior to current use. Most experienced mages do this without conscious thought, and no roll off is required. However, a Temporal Backlash can often be explained by an absent minded mage dropping a decimal point in this sort of routine correction.
There are some areas within the World where the basic ‘time equation’ does not apply.
Spells
NATURAL MAGICK
Spell Cost Difficulty
Change Growth Rate 1 15
Influences the growth rate of non-sentient natural organics; can either accelerate or retard it. Generally used to hasten harvests, but also makes a handy healing spell for veterinarians or in animal husbandry when quickly maturing livestock are desirable for some reason. Can be adapted to function on non-organic matrixes such as crystals, but this requires some additional research.
Plant Commune 3 22
Don't expect learned discourse; plants are pretty stupid. This spell allows a mage to absorb very basic impressions from the surrounding vegetation, along the lines of 'something big just crashed through here' or 'they were carrying fire!' Plants can also be encouraged to grow better using this, or frightened into falling sick, assuming that one doesn't want to just cast Change Growth Rate for some silly reason.
Animal Commune 2 18
While animals are rather brighter than ferns and mosses, still and all, don't expect much. Animals can't count, but do know the difference between large and small, one, few and many, basic directions, smells and general visual impressions - usually black and white - and even humans and nonhumans, and can communicate such on a basic level. However, most animals are not inclined to be cordial to humans, and while this spell does tend to have a slight calming influence, it should not be relied upon if a rash natural mage decides to try and get information from a hungry or angry predator
Influence Plant 4 26
Allows one to cause a plant to do pretty much anything it would be capable of doing anyway; does not allow entangling the enemy in vines, raking him with thorns, gassing him with sudden outpourings of floral musk, etc.
Influence Animal 3 23
Generally allows a mage to project and imprint a certain emotional state on a target non-sentient creature; usually fear or friendship. Young animals are especially susceptible; repeated uses can be very effective. Does not work well against angry or hungry predators.
Wind Speak 2 19
In general, this spell is used to amplify the mage's voice, allowing him or her to speak to vast multitudes in a fearsome, roaring, elemental shout. For +10 difficulty, the mage can fine tune this, carrying his natural speaking voice to one person only on a vagrant breeze totally under his control, and even allowing him the use of such skills as Mimic during the spell's duration.
Influence Wind 3 18 + 1 per mph, + x
Why one would want to is beyond most mages, but this parlor trick can be entertaining when combined with pillars of colored smoke. Otherwise, one has to learn the basic principle, but unless a mage is the modern Grandio, he or she shouldn't seriously plan to knock anyone over with a focused blast of wind, especially if he or she plans to make that wind blast curve around six other people to hit the mercenary leader standing ten feet behind them.
Generate Mist 3 20 + 2 per 30 sq.ft.
This spell does not generate immediate billows of thick fog; rather, it gradually raises a steadily increasing mist that will become visually impenetrable over the course of the next 30 minutes or so.
Generate Rain 3 18 + 2 per 30 sq. ft
Works much the same way as Generate Mist.
Storm 2 15 + 4 per (-20 sq ft.)
On a clear, sunny day, this will cause a shift in weather conditions, bringing a storm into the area in (48 - {# roll was made by}) hours. If conditions are already overcast or rainy, the weather will intensify to a full thunderstorm within five minutes. If the weather is already stormy, use of this spell can create massive blizzards, hurricanes, monsoons, cyclones, dust-storms, etc. The negative integer in the casting formula indicates how difficult is is to EXCLUDE small areas from the effects of a storm. Storms normally cover fronts measured as a d30 miles to each side; to keep the rain from falling on a 100' sq yd field, the caster would have to exclude all the rest of the storm's area... making it impossible for any mortal mage and best left to Jeopard shamans.
Lightning Bolt 5 32
Requires some sort of cloud cover to be cast. Calls down a natural lighting bolt roughly in the area wished by the caster; if the caster is capable of calculating Temporal Coordinates, control is much greater. Natural lightning does 3 d100s in damage, and such bolts are Damage/10 in feet across. Temporally unskilled mages can generally only rely on hitting within a d30 feet of their intended target, so caution is advised! If Temporal Coordinates are known for the site the mage desires to strike, exact targeting is possible.
Influence Water Flow 3 10 + 2 per 5 mph/liter
Again, the accomplished Natural Mage must learn this spell to understand the principle, but to all practical purposes, this is something best left to a Nature Priest.
Earthquake 4 12 + 2 per 10 psi
Highly dangerous; not recommended. Earth elementals are rarely happy at having their domains disturbed by magic, and small earthquakes have a bad tendency to get wildly out of control due to this. In general, it seems that for every 10 PSI, there is roughly a 1% chance of the earthquake generated cycling wildly out of control. If one simply must do it, generally 40 psi is enough to knock a strong man off his feet. Remember, the earthquake begins at the caster's feet and radiates outward for a distance of at least the spell's PSI x 10 yards. Above 40 psi tends to knock down lightly built structures, and at 50, sturdy stone walls start to crack and topple. Fissures also begin developing at this point. In general, this is a spell that needs to be learned so that the natural mage will understand basic thaumaturgical tectonic principles... but don't use it.
NECROMANCY
NOTE: Necromancy, also known as Black Magick, is forbidden by the Laws of the Church of the One True God AND the laws of the Realm of Ona Tengu.
Spell Cost Difficulty
Pentacle 5 20 + 1 per 10 minutes + 2 per 10 sq ft.
A pentacle is necessary for the casting of any other Necromantic spell. It must be properly drawn and then the "Pentacle" spell must be properly cast in order to give it its power. Any materials necessary or helpful to the spell being cast must be placed within before the actual spell is cast. The Necromancer must cast all additional spells from outside of the pentacle. A pentacle takes 10 rds to draw properly; it can be done more quickly, but requires a roll off of PRECISION vs. 5 + (2x amount of rounds less than 10) in order to be successful. A properly drawn pentacle without power cannot be used to summon spirits or Undead, but has a small chance of holding in or out such a being. Using material components such as salt, blood, powdered gems or various others can strengthen such a pentacle, but are really no substitute for the spell itself.
Summon Spirit 4 21 + 2 per 10 minutes
The basic spell for summoning a random denizen of Hell; this spell must be cast into a necromantically activated Pentacle. Proper spirit names, if known, can be woven into the Summons to make it more specific. Once summoned, the Spirit is not bound or limited in any way except by the Pentacle itself, which keeps it from physically manifesting outside the planar interface. However, psionic effects can cross the Pentacle, and many of the more powerful spirits have the ability to attempt to take control of the Pentacle from the casting mage, effectively giving them much more opportunity to cause harm.
Once in a Pentacle controlled by a mage, however, spirits may be bound or commanded. Again, more powerful spirits have better chances of resisting such spells, and of doing harm to foolish mages attracting their ire.
Only those spirits who reside in Hell may be summoned forth to do service or answer questions. Of those, not all have particular abilities in spirit form, although any disembodied spirit will at least be capable of Direct Perception and Telepathic Voice. Thus , to power any sophisticated enchantment, the spirits of known mages, witches, and powerful demons are in great demand. Unfortunately, many of these more powerful spirits have relatively high status in Hell, and are thus reluctant to be summoned back to the material plane to do service to some pathetic human wizard. Let the would be enchanter beware...
Speak With Dead 4 18 + 2 per 10 minutes
Generally considered useless, since a Summoned Spirit can be spoken with anyway. If cast out of direct sunlight and other pernicious influences inimical to necromancy, this spell can be targeted on a necromantic bind in the immediate area and used to speak with the spirit caged therein, even if the strictures of that spirit's binding normally render it somnolent.
Command Spirit 4 23 + Spirit's WP/2
This spell has only certain limited uses, and is mainly intended to be used on spirits summoned into a pentacle but not bound to the material plane. Its function is to create a "leash" of anti essence that will impress your will upon a spirit within your pentacle. Thus, you can use it to force a spirit to answer your questions truthfully, or to fulfill any other simple function within the pentacle. This may also be used on spirits either roaming freely or bound with a Bind Spirit 2 or higher spell, but without the pentacle's energy to confine and bolster the spell, will probably fail... although it will certainly attract the spirit's attention. A word to the wise...!
Bind Spirit 1 4 30 + Spirit's WP/2
Bind Spirit 1 is a spell that has been especially formulated for beginning necromancers, to limit the damage that the inexperienced mage may do. When a summoned spirit is bound using this spell, a particular stimulus or occurrence is woven into the bind itself, along with a command that the spirit is to obey when it senses this stimulus or occurrence. The command must be a simple one that the spirit can perform more or less automatically. Thus, spirits bound this way may perform no actions that require conscious control, judgement, or continued concentration, i.e., things that would have a definite duration. Thus, the potential damage that can be done by a spirit bound this way is small.
Raise Dead/Create Undead 5 26 + 2 per day dead
The basic spell for creating non-sentient undead (the vorinkalla) this infuses an unliving body with necromantic energy, causing it to become reanimated. Such a body has no true sentience, but can have a high level of instinct and even non-self aware intelligence, depending on how much biological brain damage occurred to it prior to its reanimation. Any body that has been dead longer than an hour, however, will have effectively no intelligence. Reanimated bodies have no functioning metabolism, but the animating anti-essence is drawn to the life essence of sentient creatures and will attempt to consume it whenever possible.
Necromantic reanimation works best on bodies that previously housed a spirit and that therefore generated essence in life, since essence and anti-essence are drawn to each other. To re-animate the body of a dead non-sentient biological creature, +10 should be added to the base difficulty.
To create a sentient Undead, a spell for binding a re-Summoned or previously Bound spirit to a body-housing that will allow the spirit to function without limitations on its awareness or consciousness is needed. Such a spell is not taught to beginning Necromancers.
To bring non-Sentient undead under one’s control, see Command Undead.
Command Undead 5 8 + 1 per hour's duration
This spell is specifically used to imprint basic commands into the reanimating necromantic energy of a particular non-Sentient undead or group of non-Sentient undead. In general, most casters utilize this spell after raising/creating the undead in the first place, while the newly reanimated servant is still within the original pentacle. The non-Sentient undead must be within a charged pentacle for this spell to have any effect. Non-sentient undead may be placed in a pentacle at a later time and given commands, although if the caster giving the commands is not the same as the caster who created the undead in the first place, the base difficulty is modified by +10.
Most necromancers who keep vorinkalla servants around the house on a regular basis cast this spell once per day or so. Once the command spell wears off, the vorinkalla will revert to its more normal, feral behavior.
If one somehow manages to get a Sentient undead into a charged pentacle, one can attempt to use this spell on it, but chances of success are vanishingly small.
Destroy Undead 4 15
The good news is, this causes the necromantic energy animating that particular Undead who keeps annoying you to depart, causing the Undead itself to fall down and resume decomposition. The bad news is, you have to get the Undead into a pentacle for this to work. Intelligent Undead tend to put up rather strenous arguments about entering pentacles, but vorinkalla, at least, can usually be tricked... assuming you have a pentacle conveniently drawn for them to be misguided into.
Turn Undead 6 26 +2 per target
A pentacle is not necessary for this rather difficult discipline, as one is simply releasing a great deal of anti-life energy in an attempt to dissuade those pesky vorinkalla and other nasties from doing terrible things to your body. However, channelling the power without a pentacle is somewhat hard, even in so basic a way; thus, it is hard to learn (hence, the high cost) and quite hard to do (hence, the high difficulty). The higher level Undead--the arakana, the sukaru, and the losai--which possess an intellect and a will power have a chance of resisting this.
ESSENTIAL MAGICK
Spell Cost Difficulty
Strengthen Life 4 14
Metabolic Control 7 12
*Control Blood Flow 10 +1 per Blood Point
*Control Heart Rate 12
*Control Breathing 12 + 2 per Exhaustion
*Control Fatigue 10 + 1 per hour
*Control Pain 14 + 2 per minus
(-4 MAX), + 2 per hour
*Enhance Sensory Input 15 (each) + 2 per hour
When enhancing sensory input, each sense may be increased by a maximum of +6 to Attentiveness rolls concerning that sense. For every one a particular sense is increased above +6, -2 to is taken off another sense, as follows: Sight subtracts from Hearing, Hearing subtracts from Smell, Smell subtracts from Touch, Touch subtracts from Taste, Taste subtracts from Sight. If more than one sense is increased beyond +6, the other three are reduced by -3 per 1 each of the other two is increased by. Any sense decreased by 6 or more is considered to be below the usable threshold, i.e, nonfunctional. Enhance Sensory Input, once done, can be undone by casting the same spell for the same difficulty, unless senses have been increased by more than +6, in which case, the spell must wear off after its natural duration expires.
*Induce Sensation 11 + 2 for each sense involved
Healing Sleep 6 9 + 2 per minus
Healing Sleep causes a deep, almost comatose curative state that lasts (total minuses x 6) hours, times the total number of crit levels of damage taken. Thus, a total -15 generated by 3 level 1 crits and 1 level 3 crit would take (15 x 6) x (1) x (1) x (1) x (3) = 270 hours, or 11 days, 6 hours of Healing Sleep. During this time the target cannot be awakened, and must be given nourishment and at least some skilled medical care, since Healing Sleep draws on the body's natural reserves severely. Without nourishment, extended Healing Sleep will kill through thirst in a matter of hours. Healing Sleep has no effect on the uninjured, but will cure most diseases. Healing Sleep has no regenerative properties.
Heal 8 14 + 2 per minus
The most basic Healing spell, this mends the trauma, but cannot help essential minuses... thus, the most an actual wound minus can be Healed is up to half of its original amount. The casting mage must still pay for the full minus, and the damage becomes an essential minus, which will heal fully in 2 days, instead of whatever type of damage it was originally. Heal does fully heal physical trauma, although Regenerate may be necessary to get rid of scar tissue.
Regenerate 7 9 + 2 per ounce
Not a healing spell per se; this has no effect on actual damage, merely on the problems that linger after a wound is healed. This spell is used to create new, healthy flesh where there is none, either because that anatomical portion is missing entirely, or just non-functional. Virtually any mage can get rid of scar tissue this way. Regenerating non-functional organs (eyes, spinal column, kidneys, testicles, etc) requires physicking and chirurgeon skill, as, without knowledge of the proper functioning of these organs, the mage will not be able to guide the spell properly, and may end up giving the target a lump of healthy but completely non-functional tissue instead of a proper kidney. Regenerating fingers, hands, arms, legs, feet, toes, etc is not as complicated as this, but given the ounce modifier, can take an enormous amount of time. It's much simpler to use regenerate to simply reconnect the severed body part, regenerating the nerves instead of the entire appendage, although again, doing this properly requires a physicker's skill roll off. The most difficult thing to regenerate is burn tissue, since such tissue is not only dead, but fused on a cellular level. Burned tissue can be regenerated, but such damage is among the most difficult to repair (on a level with actually regenerating brain cells), which has given rise to the tendency among many River bosses of punishing those who displease them by maiming followed with cauterization... or simply maiming with hot irons in the first place. The common superstition is that such wounds cannot be healed magically.
Death Ward 14 27
This spell places a still-living sentient creature into a comatose state which will last the target’s FRT in days. For that time, the target will suffer no further minuses or effects from current wounds, injuries, sickness, infection, poison, or any malady of any sort, including bleeding and shock. When the Death Ward expires, any and all such will resume taking effect immediately. Any further damage done to a target under a Death Ward will have only Instant Kill effects applied; otherwise, all other effects will be deferred as above.
A Death Ward may be removed from a target before it would normally expire only by having the original caster re-cast the spell to reverse it, at the same difficulty. If a mage attempts to remove a Death Ward they did not originally cast, the difficulty is modified by +10.
Transfer Life Force 10 16 + 2 per (+1), d4 +1 minuses per +1
If Life Force is transferred to a healthy, uninjured person, they can receive a total plus of 1/2 their FRT, rounding up, to all rolls, for the number of hours the roll is made by... if the roll is tied, the plus lasts only the recipient's FRT in minutes. For the duration of the spell effect, the Life Force recipient need not eat, drink or sleep. If Life Force is transferred to a person suffering minuses, the source of those minuses is not in any way healed, but for the duration of the spell effect, the minuses will be offset and no further minuses from those particular sources (say, internal bleeding) will be taken. When the spell effects wear off, the minuses and any other effects will return.
The following spells are only useful when used on another. As with all essential magick,these require actual flesh-to-flesh contact to be cast. A willing target is also desirable, as an unwilling victim's natural resistance will add +5 to all difficulties.
Telempathy 3 11
Telepathy 5 16 +1 per 10 minutes
Suggestion/Control 6 16/18 + 1 per hour
Possession/Exchange 8 24 + 2 per day
*Permanent Possession 32
--requires WP roll vs. (subjects WP + 10); if unsuccessful, caster DIES.
All Essential Magick spells are broad based and capable of liberal interpretation. It is, for example, not necessary to use Control Blood Flow to stop someone's bleeding; it could also be used to sustain an erection, or to create internal hemorrhaging in a person the wizard is supposedly trying to heal but actually doesn't have a whole lot of use for.
Those spells listed under Metabolic Control require that a Metabolic Control Trance first be entered before they can be used. Such a trance requires the total concentration of the wizard performing it. The trance will endure for as long as the disciplines require to be properly performed.
Ten minutes or so of Metabolic Control a day is generally enough to "fine tune" a wizard's individual metabolism to the point that, if performed daily, the wizard may add a +1 to all roll offs for that 24 hr. period. If the spell is failed, however, the wizard will feel out of sorts and will have a -1 to all roll offs for that day. Metabolic Control also corrects gross physical defects, like flawed sensory apparatus, minor illnesses, infections, etc.
DYNAMIC MAGIC
Spell Cost Difficulty
Channel Energy 20 see below
[x Radiation] -- 38 + 2 per 10 ft
Light (d .1) -- 35 + 2 per 1000 miles
Sound (d2) [x=1] -- 30 + 2 per mile
Heat (d3) [x=2] -- 26 + 2 per 5 degrees/per 10 ft
Kinetic (d6) [x=3] -- 35 + 2 per foot
Electricity (d8) [x=4] -- 24 + 2 per 100 ft
Fire (d10) (d10) [x=5] -- 32 + 2 per 10 ft
Energy Transformation 15 30 + x per Die (x is always the
highest Energy Value
Energy Creation/Destruction 20 28 + x per Die
Energy Storage/Release 14 32 + x per Die
As is briefly mentioned in the introduction, each School of Magic teaches the basic principles of that particular aspect of reality and its successful manipulation. Most beginning Dynamic Mages experience disappointment that these fundamental spells only teach how to Create, Channel, or Transform Energy, without teaching how to combine any of them. It is, of course, the dream of every young mage to throw fire from his fingertips at his enemies, and no such spell is taught in the basic Dynamic curriculum. This is because, again, this curriculum is intended to teach only the fundamental principles. Mages are expected to research their own combinations of the above basic spells in order to accomplish their own desired goals.
To combine basic spells (say, a Create and Channel Energy) requires research (see Research rules) and the spell arrived at will be 2/3 the combined difficulty of all basic spells involved.
The mage capable of accessing, understanding, and using Temporal Coordinates will find that he can use those coordinates in Dynamic Spells; as an obvious example, a mage could Create Fire, not simply at his own coordinates (generally, just above his outstretched hand, or in a lantern, etc - no coordinates are needed for such close proximity creations, the mage instinctively 'know' where the create is targeted) but at any distant point for which coordinates are known.
Temporal transformation equations can also be used in Dynamic Spells; the mage who understands Temporal Coordinates and is capable of successfully rolling off his Math rating vs. 18 can weave a quadratic scale into a Channel Energy to facilitate the transfer of energy from one set of coordinates to another, effectively setting up an entropic slope between the two points, greatly decreasing the difficulty of the Channel itself.
It should be understood as a given, however, that the dynamic interactions of energy and the subtle equations of space-time make Dynamic and Temporal Magic by far the most demanding and difficult spell areas to learn. A mage should not expect to be able to cast any of these spells with anything approaching adeptness until they have attained Mastery of their basic thaumaturgy skills.
TEMPORAL MAGIC
Spell Cost Difficulty
Spatial Orientation 8 37
The basic spell whereby a mage obtains the geographical coordinates necessary to weave a successful Spatial Displacement spell. Without exact coordinates for each area involved in the Spatial Displacement, the spell can not function. Most mages of sufficient skill to use Spatial Displacement casually carry around a list of coordinates for various areas, as Spatial Orientation gives only the coordinates of the mage's present location at the time he casts the spell.
Temporal Orientation 10 40
Like many spells, this is taught as a way of imparting a basic principle of Temporal Magic, but is rarely used. A mage would only need Temporal Coordinates if he planned to shift himself or some other person/object in Time, which is usually a very bad idea. See Temporal Displacement, below.
Spatial Displacement 12 42
The basic teleport spell. Requires two sets of coordinates to work; the mage basically changes their surrounding reality equation by converting through magical integers their current set of coordinates into the desired ones. Since the basic spell stipulates the object being displaced, it is vital that the coordinates used be the exact spatial coordinates of that object.
Temporal Displacement 14 44
Again, this is a theoretical spell only. Attempts to actually travel in time have rarely met with anything but disaster, although long temporal jumps into the distant past have been successful. The fabric of space/time itself is very resistant to tampering, and the mage who attempts to 'correct' an undesirable history will more than likely find himself stamped out like an insect by the built in tendency of reality to conserve itself.
View 10 40
Allows the mage to look at what is occurring at a certain set of coordinates. The vision itself lasts the amount the spell is cast by in minutes. Temporal Coordinates can be used to allow the mage to view the past. Theoretically the future can be seen this way as well, but as the future is composed of as yet unrealized potential, such glimpses are generally unreliable.
Entropic Change 10 32 + [4 per 10x normal rate]
One of the most difficult to grasp of all Temporal Spells, Entropic Change allows the mage to alter the very rate with which the flow of time interacts with a specific target object, person, or area. For the basic cost of 30 + 4, a mage can increase or decrease the flow of time around a target object by a factor of 10. For an additional +4 to the difficulty, he can vary it x10 again, for a total multiplier of 100. For an additional +4, he can increase the entropic flux another tenfold, for a total entropic alteration of 1000x normal. At this rate, 1000 days would pass for the target for every day that passes in normal time. This spell has no effect if cast on a sentient creature, as the presence of a spirit seems to inhibit such alterations in time flow. When cast on inanimate objects, the spell's aura is a localized phenonomon in the space/time continuum affecting only the basic rate of entropy on the target object’s own quantum structure. For example, a rock which has had its entropy greatly increased does not fly relatively faster if thrown; while a door that has had its entropy vastly reduced does not open or close more slowly.
Stasis 15 47
Similar to Entropic Change, except that in this spell, the thaumaturgical equations are calculated in a way so that all normal entropic variables cancel each other out, forming a localized bubble of complete non-entropy within the overall space time continuum. Unlike Entropic Change, this spell can be cast on sentient creatures. The spell 'Stasis' is also the fundamental principle required to release a stasis; however, because each mage works magic in their own particular way, mages attempting to undo each other's stasi often find it very difficult to do so... if the casting mage is a higher level than the undoing mage, [5 + 2x the difference in levels] is added to the base Stasis difficulty. If the casting mage is equal or lower level than the undoing mage, +5 only is added. Mages may also deliberately increase the difficulty of the original Stasis as they cast it, to add still further to the difficulty of undoing the Stasis later.
Loop (Temporal Enchantment) 35 *
* + [2 per 1 days duration for first 5 days; 1 per 1 for next 10 days; 1 per 10 days thereafter ]
+ [2 per frequency of event occurence]
+ [1 per additional one sq ft effect aura]
The Temporal Loop is the most advanced basic form known for permanently enchanting an object with a magical effect or spell function of some sort. Temporal Loop is by far the most mathematically and conceptually demanding of all the primary magical curriculum. To cast a Temporal Loop for short durations is relatively simple; impressing a magical effect on an object for 5 days merely requires adding +10 to the basic spell's difficulty when weaving the Temporal Loop equations into the spell. Any non-sentient object the mage's mind can grasp as a coherent whole can be used as the target of a Temporal enchantment, as with a Necromantic bind. If the spell itself creates a continuous effect with a perceivable duration - such as, say, a field of non-noticeability, or the generation of a constant, high pitched shriek in a certain area - then only the desired duration of the Loop must be paid for.
If, however, the spell's effect is an abrupt, non-continuous event of no duration - such as the creation/release and channeling of a bolt of energy, or a basic, non-specific healing - then the desired frequency of such event's occurence must also be woven into the spell and paid for in the basic casting cost. At base, a Loop will allow such an event to be manifested 1 time per 24 hour period. To increase this, simply program into the Loop an increased frequency of events... if you want to be able to cast a stored Lightning Bolt 25 times a day for 10 days, simply enchant your storage container with your Release/Channel spell by casting the spell once at (+15 for 10 days + 48 for 24 additional events) = + 63 to the spell's basic difficulty. For the next ten days, a simple act of concentration will release and channel the Lightning Bolt up to 25 times a day. Due to the nature of Loop, the Bolt will not need to be recharged during that time, as basically the same bolt will be being released each time (thus, damage will be set the first time the spell is cast with the Loop woven into it).
As a general rule, the spell's effect will surround the object it is cast upon and will permeate any other object touching it... thus, a non-noticeability aura cast on a ring would permeate the ring's wearer, as well. Spell effects tend to attentuate as the size of the aura increases; beyond about 10 sq ft, the spell's effect will become nonfunctional, unless the casting wizard specifies a larger area of effect in the basic casting cost.
If so desired, casting costs of spells with Temporal Loops woven into them may be divided up into 10 equal parts and then multiplied by 2, each of which must be cast once per day for 10 succeeding days. All that is required is that the caster successfully cast the diminished difficulty once on each of the successive ten days in the enchantment period; if ever a day goes by without successfully adding a component of the developing enchantment, the whole thing collapses and must be begun again. For example, a difficulty 110 Release/Channel Energy [10 dice of flame up to 30 feet] is enchanted for a duration of 1 year for a frequency of 10 times a day. The total difficulty is 110 + 55 (one year = 10 for first 5 days + 10 for next 10 days + 35 for next 350 days) + 18 for the additional 9 occurrences per day = Casting cost of 183. The casting wizard divides this up into 10 equal increments of 18.3 x 2 = 36.6 rounded up to 37. He must cast the spell at difficulty 37 once per day for 10 consecutive days. Failing a roll does not mean automatic collapse of the enchantment, since he simply has to cast the spell once successfully during that 24 hour period. However, minuses due to failed rolls last days instead of minutes when incurred by failing to cast an increment of a Temporal Enchantment, so caution must be exercised.
Permanent Temporal Enchantment 50 +50 to
target casting cost
The Permanent Temporal Enchantment is not a basic spell, but was researched long ago by one of the very first practicing mages... some say Grandio created this spell; others insist its existence predates Grandio by thousands of years and attribute it to the primal mage, the mysterious adept Thauma Tiergon himself. Whether a basic spell or not, this has been inscribed and copied over in every book of basic temporal lore since the dawn of organized magic. Working of these equations will allow any magical effect to be permanently bound to any appropriate and susceptible target object as a completely self-contained, fully functional, thaumaturgically closed cycle. However, the mage casting the spell immediately takes 101 (d4 +1)s in Essential Minuses. The essence drained by this spell must be that of the mage casting it, and must be 'live' essence, meaning it cannot have been previously stored. If a mage has insuffucient Essence to power the spell, his entire essence is drained and the enchantment collapses. (Sentient beings normally possess 10 x their FRT in Essential dice at any given time, with each -1 representing one dice. Thus, a mage with a FRT of 12 has, at full health, 120 dice in Essence, 101 of which would be instantly drained by the casting of this spell. Obviously, only mages with at least an 11 Fortitude can successfully cast this spell, regardless of their relative skill.)