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moustre ([personal profile] moustre) wrote2018-10-20 11:09 am
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COVEN



Aefenglom houses the largest branch of the Coven, a community of those who have decided to hone their innate magical skills and become official Witches - all inhabitants of Geardagas have access to magic, but not all of them decide to pursue their talents for one reason or another. Responsible for helping to keep the city safe from the Wilde and the Cwyld, the Coven takes the study of magic and its applications very seriously. Contact with other branches of the Coven is possible, but has become increasingly difficult as the lands outside have gotten more and more dangerous.

While fighting and culling potential threats is still a priority, the Coven has decided to look elsewhere to see if there are easier ways to go about such things; this lead to the formation various groups, from ones whose skills sets focus less on pure magic power to those researching the effects of widespread destruction on the Wilde. Most prominently is a small group of Witches known as the Wilders, who volunteer to traverse past the Wall and into the Cwyld-infested lands in order to better the Coven's understanding of it. Unsurprisingly, they're always open to new members, provided they have a partner.




The Coven invites all initiates and Witches to try their hand at almost any manner of spellwork, and offers classes for such led by their most experienced seniors. While one could specialize in any kind of magic, it's encouraged to dabble in a few here and there to maximize your magical potential. The rate of learning will be different for everyone, but classes for each are formally held once a week per study (with instruction to practice minor spells outside with a partner or a group).

Only participating in class means your character will learn it slower than a character doing everything they can, and while the mods will leave it up to your discretion for this, we do ask you keep it realistic; please don't have your character completely master anything the first month they arrive, even if they're familiar with with concepts provided. For a rough estimate, a character taking it casually might take up to a full year to reach higher-level magic, while a character cramming like their life depends on it might take as little as four months.

MAGIC CLASSES

Abjuration ✱ spells of protection, blocking, and banishing
ex: barriers, counterspells, dispelling of magics, medium-level healing spells

Alchemy ✱ the process of transformation, creation, or combination through ingredients
ex: potion making, using arrays/circles to combine ingredients magically, creation from preexisting matter as opposed to evocation

Conjuration ✱ spells that bring creatures or materials
ex: creating fires and food, temporarily summoning animals; not to be confused with evocation

Divination ✱ spells that reveal information
ex: speaking with non-humanoids (such as animals), interpreting dreams, finding hidden things, scrying using a reflective surface

Enchantment ✱ spells that magically imbue the target, or give caster power over the target
ex: charm spells, spells that strengthen someone or something, spells that imbue some sort of element

Evocation ✱ spells that manipulate energy, or create something from "nothing"
ex: most "offensive" spells, such as fireball, lightning bolt, and ice strike; high-level/multi-person healing

Illusion ✱ spells that alter perception, or create false images
ex: disguising oneself or others, fooling the senses, creating noises from nothing; not to be confused with enchantment

Transmutation ✱ spells that transform the target
ex: transforming into an animal, mending broken objects, altering one's form

Universal ✱ spells that are easy to learn, usually lower-level spells from other classes
ex: minor versions of healing and teleportation; spells like prestidigitation, identify, detect magic

Spells which bring back the dead for any purpose, such as necromancy and its related resurrection capabilities, are considered banned magics; only Witches native to Aefenglom can even consider studying and performing these rituals due to their high rate of failure by those unused to wielding the world's specific type of magic. Even then, these rituals can still fail, regardless of their intent, and the majority of students and their elders stay away from this class of magic as a result.

Spells for the use of enslavement or mind control are taboo, but not outright banned. Anyone caught using these magics will be judged by Parliament according to the level of the crime they've committed.

Of course, none of this stops people from trying, whether native or arrival.


TOOLS & EXECUTION

Magic will typically vary depending on the practitioner as well as the class. For example, alchemy requires ingredients and written out "instructions," as it were, but no spoken magic - transmutation circles, arrays, runes, etc. Foci in the forms of wands, staffs, pendants, etc have historically been used by many Witches, but this style of magic is more in trend with older Witches than the newer generations as they use Monsters as a sort of foci instead.

Spells can also be pre-written on paper (or other surfaces) to be activated by a touch, word, emotion - anything the spellwriter enchants it to react to. This is very in line with how magitech operates, as a spell has been effectively pre-loaded by enchantment into the mechanisms of the device, possibly in a stone or by carving in runes or spellwords to make it a sort of battery. Enchantments and magitech allow for Monsters to use magic by proxy.

Non-verbal magic isn't uncommon, but requires a confidence and focus that typically comes with experience. The more used to magic/using magic you are, the more likely you are to be able to cast it without having to say or write anything in the world of Geardagas. Interestingly, there's no set language or spellwords for any class of magic, as if it's all been compiled together. As such, new arrivals would likely be able to adapt the phrases and methods they're used to from home in their newfound life here until they reached that level of adeptness.

Blood is always a powerful ingredient in magic, and can even be used as a focus to enhance a spell. Desperation has allowed healers to accelerate the recovery of a wound simply by using the very blood from the injury itself in their healing spell. Typically, however, animal blood will do just fine, especially for largescale spells. The use of human blood in large quantities is banned by the Coven, due to the questionable sources that it came from. This doesn't stop sellers in the goblin market from trying to skirt under their noses, though.


MAGICAL "PRESENCE" & AFTER-EFFECTS

Depending on the sort of magic that a Witch decides to specialize in, or perhaps finds themselves using the most, they may find themselves with a sort of magical "presence." This means that those around them that are perceptive to magic will be able to detect - on a base level, with enough practice and exposure to it - what sort of magic they've cast recently and frequently. A Witch that mostly practices fire evocation will radiate a warm magical presence. An active healer has a calming magic, even if they aren't necessarily the calmest person around. A necromancer's presence, if they practice heavily, will cause discomfort to those around them.

These are also after-effects of their magic, a manifestation of traits associated with the spells and classes they use the most. These traits can be tempered, and even abated, with discipline and practice, and an understanding of moderation and balance.

For example:
    ▪ A Witch who specializes in ice magic may find their body temperature dropping, and objects they touch being coated in a layer of frost, if they've overused ice spells.

    ▪ Someone who uses teleportation magic frequently could become a little scatterbrained, and may pop in and out of "existence," as it were, as their magic works out some of the residual energy used to teleport.

    ▪ Healers must especially take care, as their magic may naturally draw on life around them (typically from plantlife, but may run the risk of harming others) to heal their own injuries unconsciously.

    ▪ Necromancers who practice the art too frequently will effectively taint their magic, and it will build up to a degree that allows others to sense the inherent wrongness in the magic that they cast. It can even drain their own life force if they go too far.


LIMITATIONS

A common saying in the Coven is that the only limitation on magic is your imagination - and while technically true, it isn't the whole truth. Experience factors in heavily with regards to spellwork, as it does for most any skill, as does specialization. For example, someone who spends the majority of their time studying and working with conjuration spells will be able to conjure any manner of food, drink, furniture, and so on with pinpoint precision - no discoloration, no size mishaps, no quantity issues. Meanwhile, someone who's new to it might try to conjure a few chairs for them and their friends, and end up with enough to fill a concert hall instead, or they might have spikes on their seat, and so on.

Other examples include, but are not limited to:
    • Abjuration ✱ a healing spell might be not manifest at all, or it might manifest too well, causing a brief bout of nausea and sickness due to the sudden injection of too much magic; or a shield of magic might have multiple weak points and be easy to break, or - if it should be mixed with another magic class and made of something else, such as fire or ice - it could be misshapen and dripping.
    • Alchemy ✱ while more grounded in "science" than magic, inexperience can still affect alchemy via potions and materials exploding, effects being the complete opposite of expected unless instructions are followed insanely closely - and even then, even the slightest bit of air could ruin an alchemist's day.
    • Conjuration ✱ in addition to the example given in the paragraph above: attempting to conjure a picnic, but ending up with a banquet; a surplus of rabbits, cats, etc. depending on summon; instruments always out of tune, or a building that's just one giant, empty room; and so on.
    • Divination ✱ surfaces may crack or grow murky or spotted, essentially rendering them unusable; symbols may be too blurry to make out, or spells may backfire and cause any information to be the opposite of the truth; finding spells may also lead to technically correct items if not focused correctly (looking for your keys might bring you to a locksmith, someone else's keys, or to the music hall for its pianos).
    • Enchantment ✱ over-enchanting or under-enchanting items or people, essentially giving them too much of something or not enough; swords imbued with fire being hot to the touch even on their hilt, when normally it would be restricted to their blades; charm spells and other "status effect" type things such as sleep, poison, paralysis, and so on backfiring onto the caster instead, or turning into a different effect entirely.
    • Evocation ✱ either very big or very small, in size and area-effect; backfire potential is much higher in evocation spells, as well as very dangerous given their dealing with the elements or with higher-level healing, which can take a significant amount of energy, blood, sweat, and tears.
    • Illusion ✱ glamours may fail entirely or be discolored, misshapen, and so on; illusions might be sustainable for only a brief time, dissipating at the worst time possible, or they might be eternally flickering in and out of existence until dispelled; for illusions dealing with smell and sound, rotten smells for the former regardless of what it originally was and a tinny-version of a sound for the latter.
    • Necromancy ✱ the revived being mad or feral, attacking the caster and causing destruction; risk of shortening the caster's own life or those around them by years; dying or killing others in general (essentially, an unexpected loss of life)
    • Transfiguration ✱ incorrectly transforming, with transformations being disfigured in some way; the caster or the person on whom the spell was cast may be stuck in the transformation for longer than the intended time and require higher-level dispelling or an apothecary's assistance, with some personality traits of whatever they were transformed into remaining for a few days (such as the urge to mark if transformed into a cat, or reflexively licking people if dog); items being permanently changed.
    • Universal ✱ the same effects as whichever class above, but smaller in scale; spells also might simply not manifest at all; teleportation technically falls under universal in general, and with teleportation specifically the caster might wind up somewhere completely unexpected within a range of fifty to a hundred feet.
Experience isn't the only thing that factors in, however; while fine manipulation depends on how comfortable a Witch is at using a particular magic (and magic in general), the rule the Coven teaches - that all of Aefenglom feels - is thus:

Magic comes at a price.

What this means is simple: magic costs something. For most spells, this is simply stamina and energy. Magical exhaustion can occur if a Witch expends too much of their magic stamina; they'll feel light-headed and sick, and will find their spells backfiring for several days if they attempt to use their magic while recovering. Like ordinary stamina, this can be built up through exercise (both of the physical and magical kind - that is, practicing spells), and as a Witch grows their risk of exhaustion lessens.

For other spells, however, the cost is a little different. Alchemy requires ingredients, such as herbs, fur, bodily fluids, etc - the majority of the time, while spells that are large or more powerful in nature - such as major healing spells, reviving the dead, forming massive barriers, teleporting a group of people larger than twenty, and so on - require materials that are a little harder to find, or are difficult to part with.

Greater healing magic is particularly notorious for this, requiring blood and in some cases parts of the caster themselves to be cast. Necromancy and resurrection magic both require a loss of life, as it's transferred to the deceased, with the former drawing on larger quantities due to the body being much longer dead than in ordinary resurrection. This can come in the form of humans, of animals, of plant-life - the experience of the caster is key here, as the more experienced they are, the more fine-tuned their control of what pays the price of bringing back the dead is. An inexperienced necromancer runs the risk of severely shortening their own life or anyone else's who might be around, if not straight up killing them depending on how large their spell is; though some argue that this risk is present regardless of experience.


BONDS & BOOSTS/DAMPENERS

Forming a Bond (or Bonds, plural) is the preferred way of strengthening one's magic and keeping a Witch safe; having a partner enables a Witch to reach new heights, much like having a familiar in the days of old. More about those can be found on the BONDS page. Aside from bonding, there are tools, instruments, and things that can be ingested that can help boost or diminish one's magic, depending on what a Witch might need. These can be found in the same places as materials for spells, or gathered on the Witch's own time, though some ingredients may be difficult to get. Every so often, tasks set by the Coven for such hard-to-get items may be posted in the Coven's main hall for those with enough time and power (magic or will) to attempt; see the QUESTS page for those and more.

Humans who aren't practicing - or don't have a strong spark of magic potential - aren't considered Witches, and don't have as much magical buildup they must release. They don't need a Bond, and can manage their magic by using small, everyday spells or by taking dampeners.


LUNAR EFFECTS

Because of the two moons of Talam, there's a strong lunar magic available to practicing Witches that dwell in this world, especially as they grow in experience. Many big spells are done based on the phases of the Sisters, to ensure that they're done correctly based on the needs of them. Native Witches are strongest on the full moon, and weakest on the new moon.

However, new arrivals find themselves - as they get more and more acclimated with the world of Talam after their arrivals in Aefenglom - considerably weaker on full moons. As if the draw of the moons' power has left them. Perhaps not completely, but their magic may fail if they don't take precautions to accommodate for the difference.

Their powers will actually increase on the new moons as they develop their magic as Witches, which is at complete odds with what the Coven has known for hundreds of years. Spells run the risk of going awry if they don't find some means of balancing their already existing skills with the increase of magic that they suddenly find themselves with, the immense boost that they're not receiving. Their emotions may also be a little higher, making them more prone to dropping all pretenses if they're caught off guard. Witches who don't heed the phases of the Sisters could very well lose an eyebrow - or worse - if they get a little too gungho about their spellwork on a new moon.

Eclipses are largely dependent on the time of year, and the alignment of the Sisters and the sun when this happens. Updates will be posted with detailed descriptions of eclipses, whether lunar or solar, as they occur.


RISKS & MADNESS

The reason for Bonds, or items to diminish or dampen magic, is that those who pursue magic and seek to become Witches are at risk of magical overload. The practice and pursuit of magic opens them to constant buildup, and individuals who don't use or channel that magic will find that it can have negative effects. This may result in a Witch feeling restless, agitated, and snappish. The feeling can intensify into aggression, as they start to feel a slippage of clarity. If they continue on this path, they may even encounter hallucinations and paranoia as the magic seeks an outlet.

Failure to cycle or otherwise expel their magic may result in something akin to the Witch going supernova. The magic finds that outlet, and the discharge can have dangerous results; at best only the Witch dies, in these scenarios. There's more than one story of a building being destroyed due to a Witch losing control.

Magical buildup can be hard to detect, at the onset. It can actually cause a bit of a high in some Witches, due to the fact that it's more power, and more magic, to work with. There are individuals who let it build up intentionally - effectively fasting - so that they can accomplish much bigger spells. But there comes a point where it feels as if a fire has been started in the heart of a person, spreading through their chest and outwards. Intense migraines will accompany this, eyestrain and blurred, reddened vision with it, and from that point on the clarity begins to slip. Magic literally burns through its host and eats them away from the inside out.

With consistent practice, a Witch can go Bondless for closer to four months before the magic buildup overwhelms them; they experience the effects of it slower over the course of the months, before a spell they use voluntarily or one their body simply uses to expel the extra magic turns into a very big, very bad explosion, leaving the witch - and anyone or anything around them - with a low chance of survival. Without that consistent practice, however, a Bondless Witch will find themselves at the same end in closer to two or three months, depending on player discretion.


PHYLAXES

Phylaxes (fee-lahks or fee-laks-ees) and the art of summoning them was brought to Geardagas in Maiuril by travelers from the archipelago of Diasteros. A type of spirit familiar tied to the Witch's own soul, they take the form of an animal that represents that Witch in some way (the Witch does not choose this; it naturally takes this form when summoned). Phylaxes are integral to Diasteran culture and every Witch receives one on their 14th birthday as it is believed the soul is still growing into its own until that time, and the summoning will be most stable after that. The Phylax becomes a companion for life, taking on the form most suited to that Witch's soul, though on occasion it has been known for the Phylax to change shape, especially if the Witch goes through a life-changing event or tragedy. The summoning of a Phylax is a sacred art passed on since the dawn of history on the islands, and there are Witches from Diasteros who specialize in the summoning, caring for, healing and even dispelling or sealing Phylaxes (the latter only used as an extreme punishment for terrible criminals, for instance).

On Geardagas, this is a new, trendy kind of magic, taught by the Diasteran Witches to the Coven and to the Mirrorbound. After learning the spell to summon one's phylax, it can be done at any time. While the ritual can vary depending on the individual Witch's flair, it usually involves meditation, a nature walk, or otherwise centering oneself before drawing the circle and adding a drop of the Witch's own blood. From there, it's a matter of waiting for the Phylax to appear, which can take anywhere from an hour to a full day, the entire length of which the Witch has to remain in the circle.

What is a Phylax exactly?
It is a spirit-based creature made of magic and a little piece of the Witch's soul, thus becoming tied to it as a reflection of their true selves. If asked where these creatures "come from" or how they came to be, the Witches from Diasteros will simply say they've always been around as part of the world and magic itself.

What can it look like?
Any extant animal, not including mythological or legendary animals. The largest Phylaxes are about the size of a horse, so any animals larger than that would have to be downsized. Due to their nature as magical, spirit-based beings, Phylaxes can also change size if it's needed. You should think about what kind of animal reflects your character's personality in some way. They have a sort of ethereal quality to them and can't really be mistaken for a normal animal of that type, even if their shape looks like it. They might be slightly see-through, have odd coloring, or glow. They have a strong magical aura about them.

What can it do?
A Phylax can act as a magical battery of sorts for their Witch, allowing the Witch to draw extra power that would normally be much more difficult for them to channel or control. The better their relationship with their Phylax, the more control they'll have and the more benefit they'll get from this aspect. It is possible for the Witch to drain their Phylax to the point where it disappears for a brief time, about 24 hours, but it will always return and this doesn't "kill it", merely depletes its magical energy for a while. It will need some time to "recharge," as it were. Mirrorbound in particular will find that this process can be sped up by spending time with their Bonded to help balance out their own magical energy.

Phylaxes can also all fly, turn immaterial, and act as messengers for their Witches (by projecting the Witch's voice, rather than speaking on its own). They can perform minor spells taught to them by their Witch, even if the Witch isn't there, such as levitating small objects or brief elemental spells. Sometimes, they may do this all on their own if they're of a mischievous nature, or they might refuse to obey if their nature is stubborn and willful, etc. This will all depend on your character and how you want their Phylax to present.

In dire situations, the magical energy of the Phylax can be used to heal its Witch from a wound, but doing so depletes the Phylax's magical energy for a couple of days. It may disappear entirely while it recovers. When it returns, it will bear a scar where its master's healed wound would have been on its corresponding body. It's not recommended to do this often, as it will hurt the Witch's relationship with their Phylax, believed to be the manifestation of their own soul.

If they're not on good terms, the Diasterans have plenty of warning stories about Witches whose magic became too unstable to use safely, or who even went mad. Balance is key, they stress. Just as one can work in tandem with their Phylax to perform higher level spells and enhance their abilities, they can also abuse this to the point where they're constantly over-draining their Phylax and breeding resentment and lack of balance in their own soul.