C20 Magic

Call of the Occult

There are many names for those who pursue the occult: witches, warlocks, sorcerers, oracles, magicians. Some names carry connotations others do not, but since the first magicians of the very beginning of the Common Age, when Bogov and Ulgary led the first Duekmen to conquest and eternal fame, it has been recognised that magic, true magic, is both inscrutable, and potentially very dangerous. Magic has been used, intentionally and accidentally, to complete works of great destruction and desolation, but also great wonders. For most of its history, the common man regarded magic with awe; it was both a wondrous and fearful thing, a piece of the gods’ divine might harnessed by mortal hands. The Furanists decried the gods from which magic came as evil, and magic with it. Many works were lost, intentionally destroyed by the inquisitions, or simply vanishing into history. Some believe works of magic have a will of their own, and many chose to disappear, now waiting for an opportune moment to appear again. While today, the Furanist purges are over, and many restrictions relaxed, a general fear and mistrust remains. Magic did cause great suffering in the past, and having flourished for half a millennium without it, to many, the potential costs are too high. Yet there are still those for whom the allure of the occult, the secret powers wrought by forces beyond mortal reckoning, are a siren song impossible to resist. Some study out in the open, in universities, publishing the findings of their investigations, while others study in secret, often breaking laws in their pursuits. Magic today is very different to how it was in the past. Most countries impose some restrictions on magic, from simple things like the usage of magic in the commission of a crime being an aggravating factor, to laws that prohibit possession of certain magical artefacts, to prohibitions of contact with extraplanar entities, etc. Some countries, like An Then and Somorica, are rather laissez-faire, and others like Enzim and Dvekmenia are more restrictive. Many places also levy legal penalties against so-called “folk magic” being passed off as true magic, though such laws are relatively recent and restricted mostly to Oecumene. Beyond just the legal restrictions placed on it, magic itself has changed fundamentally, becoming weaker, more difficult. Some have described it as “vexing”, or more concerningly, “willful”. It is harder to perform magic now than it once was, and while certain acts, like Erizur Saelugek's Sealing of the planes certainly can explain some of this, the exact causes are unknown. The most common explanation is overuse and pollution: too many sorcerers over the centuries using the Weave and leaving behind some sort of refuse or in some way deteriorating it. The exact mechanism for this is as yet unknown, and there are alternate theories. Magic is broken up into 7 known powers: Augur, Blink, Combustion, Fortitude, Poltergeist, Shadow, and Stasis. Each of these powers is invoked by runes, each in a set of three. To use a power, the rune(s) are inscribed in the mind’s eye and then spoken by the psyche into the Weave. The words resonate and fold the Weave to the user’s will, manifesting the outcome. Each power has three rune words, which, when "spoken" together, create new or stronger effects. In-depth Lore Explanation

The actual practice of magic is more complicated than the above paragraph would lead you to believe. A power is more than a word or few, but more a sentence constructed around certain loci, the tārym vega, or "special words". The three "words" of each power are these tārym vega, but they can't simply be inscribed in the mind and projected into the noosphere (called the Weave in older literature) in isolation, but must be strung together in a particular way with additional menym vega, or "helper words". For example, the Augur effect is composed of three tārym vega: ꗂ, ꗉ, and ꔮ. Each of these symbols could be written out alphabeticaly as ሌነሰ, ፎ, and ሳረ, respectively, but the symbols are meant to aid in invoking the psychic sensation of the meanings of the words. The first tārym vega, meant to invoke the first effect of Augur, is specifially invoked as ሰኬረ፡ሑመ፡ꗂ, "skēra hum lēns", while the third effect is invoked as ሞኬነ፡ꗂመ፡ፈቶሒተ፡ꗉ፡ኀሮነ፡ꔮኪለ፡ተረ፡ፂቲየመ, "mōken lēnsem ftōhyt fō ām khrōn saurkyl tār zītiam". The sentences for different effects involving the same tārym vega need not be related to each other, and as a general rule, the more different the effects of a single power are, the more different the sentences for each "level" of the power will be. Menym vega are not entirely auxilliary, though, as careful manipulation of the menym vega in a power sentence can twist the effect manifested in what is often called Vegiliansian transmutation. Without both the correct sentence and the correct inscription of the tārym vega within the mind, the power will fail to manifest. The former simply requires knowledge, while the latter requires meticulous training to properly learn the psychic sensation meant to be imprinted by each new tārym vega. When properly performed, the sentence taps the "speaker's" consciousness into a sort of egregore that resides within the noosphere, which causes the effect to manifest in reality. Magic was first learned through Elvish, which was written using these tārym vega runes, in addition to a great many runes invented specifically for writing the Elvish language, and so, combined with the longstanding cultural fear and prejudice towards Low Planar, most academic work has been conducted on an Elvish basis, as the sentences, when actually psychically inscribed, are not dependent on language as traditionally understood. Certain grammatical constructions and other oddities in power sentences indicate, however, that the Elvish tradition was itself derived from an earlier Low Planar one, though this idea was heavily repressed, discredited, or otherwise ignored by commonly accepted scholarship for millennia. Over the centuries, the noosphere has been muddled by misuse, certain egregores dissolved or made unreachable by normal means, and the knowledge of many tārym vega has been lost, relegating many effects to history, and leaving only the common seven to most who even pursue magic at all in the current day and age.

Magic introduces a whole new system to interact with, and presents the closest thing to a class choice, though a character with a high enough Occult skill can theoretically gain access to magic at any level by taking the Dark Pursuits perk. Within combat, each power can only be used once per turn. This is per power, and not per rune, meaning a character could not use Blink at level 1, then on the same turn use Blink again at level 3. Effects that are not used on the character’s turn, such as the level 1 effect of Stasis, which is a Reaction, do not count towards this.

Focus

Like most things occult, using these powers requires will and mental fortitude, and using too many too often can be mentally taxing. Using a power requires the user to attune to the ideas in the runes, inscribing them in their mind’s eye while whispering the words they represent. Someone who has already stretched their mind doing this repeatedly without rest will find themselves unable to effectively focus on the runes enough to use them. This is represented through the system of Focus. A character with access to magic starts with a maximum number of Focus Points equal to their Willpower score plus one and a half times their Intelligence score. For example, a character with a Willpower score of 6 and an Intelligence score of 7 would have 17 Focus: (6 + 7 × 1.5) = (6 + 7 + 3.5). Using a level 1 power uses 2 Focus, using a level 2 power uses 3 Focus, and using a level 3 power uses 4 Focus.

Augur: ꗂꗉꔮ – LENS-FO-SAUR

Level 1: ꗂ – LENS

Sense living creatures within 120 feet. Living creatures are revealed to you as if you can see them through solid objects, revealing their size and shape. This effect lasts for 10 seconds. This effect costs 1 Action.

Level 2: ꗉ – FO

Speak a message up to 50 words telepathically to another creature you can see within 120 feet. The creature hears your voice within their head. The creature cannot reply telepathically. This effect costs 1 Action.

Level 3: ꔮ – SAUR

Flood the mind of another, preventing them from using magic for 1 minute. At the end of each of their turns, the target can make a DC 15 Willpower check to end this condition. This effect costs 3 Actions.

Blink: ꖴꖧꘉ – SU-FTHA-YES

Level 1: ꖴ – SU

Teleport to a position you can see within 30 feet. This effect costs 1 Action.

Level 2: ꖧ – FTHA

Teleport to a position you can see within 60 feet. This effect costs 1 Action.

Level 3: ꘉ – YES

Exchange the positions of two creatures you can see (including yourself) within 60 feet. This effect costs 2 Actions.

Combustion: ꕔꔰꗣ – WA-ETH-NAM

Level 1: ꕔ – WA

Create a small flame at the tip of your fingers for up to 1 minute. This flame cannot be extinguished except for being dispelled by you as a Free Action. This effect costs 1 Action.

Level 2: ꔰ – ETH

Ignite a flammable object you can see within 30 feet. The object catches fire but can be put out as normal. A flammable object is something like spilled oil or kerosene, dry grass, or an ether soaked rag. This effect costs 2 Actions.

Level 3: ꗣ – NAM

Create a mote of flame from your hands which extends in a 20 foot cone. Any creatures within this area must make a DC 14 Agility check, taking 2d6 fire damage on a failure, or half as much on a success. This effect costs 3 Actions.

Fortitude: ꕑꗭꖡ – KAD-THU-SEMF

Level 1: ꕑ – KAD

A creature you touch gains 10 feet of movement speed and takes half fall damage for 10 minutes. This effect costs 2 Actions.

Level 2: ꗭ – THU

A creature you touch gains +3 to Skills associated with one Attribute for the next hour. This bonus is able to raise a Skill above its natural limit of +10. This effect can only be active on one creature at a time. This effect costs 3 Actions.

Level 3: ꖡ – SEMF

A creature you touch gains +4 Damage Threshold to 3 damage types across all body parts for 1 minute. This effect can only be active on one creature at a time. This effect costs 3 Actions.

Poltergeist: ꕥꕌꔧ – VAR-SIL-KHOM

Level 1: ꕥ – VAR

Move an object up to 1 pound up to 30 feet. The object can move beyond 30 feet from you (ipso facto up to 60 feet away). If the object enters another creature's space, the object stops moving. This effect costs 2 Actions.

Level 2: ꕌ – SIL

Move an object up to 10 pounds up to 60 feet. The object can move beyond 60 feet from you (ipso facto up to 120 feet away). If the object enters another creature's space, the creature must make a DC 14 Agility check, taking 1d6 crushing damage (or appropriate damage if a weapon is thrown) on a fail. The object stops moving if a creature takes damage from it. This effect costs 2 Actions.

Level 3: ꔧ – KHOM

Move an object or creature up to 100 pounds up to 60 feet. The object can move beyond 60 feet from you (ipso facto up to 120 feet away). If the object enters another creature's space, the creature must make a DC 14 Agility check, taking 2d6 crushing damage (or appropriate damage if a weapon is thrown) on a fail. The object stops moving if a creature takes damage from it. If a creature is thrown against something, it takes 2d6 crushing damage. This effect costs 2 Actions.

Shadow: ꖶꔆꔲ – AM-TSY-KHAIT

Level 1: ꖶ – AM

Gain darkvision for 1 hour. With darkvision areas in dim light appear as they would if they were in bright light, and areas in darkness appear as they would if they were in dim light. You cannot discern colour in dim light, only shades of grey. This effect costs 2 Actions.

Level 2: ꔆ – TSY

Change your appearance to impersonate another person for 10 minutes. You can seem 1 foot shorter or taller and can appear thin, fat, or in between. The changes wrought by this spell fail to hold up to physical inspection. For example, if you use this spell to add a hat to your outfit, objects pass through the hat, and anyone who touches it would feel nothing or would feel your head and hair. If you use this spell to appear thinner than you are, the hand of someone who reaches out to touch you would bump into you while it was seemingly still in midair. This effect takes 1 minute to perform.

Level 3: ꔲ – KHAIT

Become invisible for 10 minutes. An invisible creature cannot be targeted by ranged attacks, and melee attacks suffer a −5 penalty. This effect can be dispelled for 1 Action. This effect takes 1 minute to perform.

Stasis: ꔻꖀꗞ – IRKH-HYTS-RETH

Level 1: ꔻ – IRKH

Momentarily slow time, allowing you more time to react and causing an attack, ranged or melee, to suffer a −5 penalty to hit, potentially causing the attack to miss. You can declare your use of this ability after knowing an attack will hit you. This effect uses a Reaction.

Level 2: ꖀ – HYTS

Slow time to take 2 extra Actions on your turn. This effect does not cost an Action.

Level 3: ꗞ – RETH

Slow a creature you can see within 60 feet, skipping their next turn and preventing them from taking Reactions. This effect costs 3 Actions.