The Magic System

### Introduction

Magic is of utmost importance in the Hearth, as it's the earth's very life blood. It acts as its own force of nature, bending the others to its will. It lets the reefs in the Seastacks grow exponentially. It tore apart Rocden Ridge and now holds it's broken remains in the air like flower petals, as if these huge chunks of stone weigh nothing at all. It holds the shattered moon together, preventing it from crashing down onto the Hearth and annihilating all life. And it alone is what birthed the gods.

Over time, the various creatures of the Hearth have learned to harness it and channel a tiny fraction of its power into a desirable effect. These creatures are known as mages and are very widespread.

Magic is hereditary, meaning if your father was a high level fire mage you have a pretty good chance of becoming a high potential fire mage. I say high potential, because magic needs practice. Your natural limit may be level 4 fire magic, but you're not hatched immediately aware of how to cast level 4 spells. That takes patience, practice, and probably a good mentor too.

Your species has nothing to do with what type of magic you possess. A StormChaser can have blight magic, a FrostWalker fire magic. The only exception to this is wild magic, which is exclusively found in griffs.

### Types of Magic

Amongst mages, 6 types are most common. These are also associated with specific deities:

***Fire-*** The manipulation or summoning of flames or heat

***Water-*** The manipulation or summoning of water

***Shock-*** The manipulation or summoning of electricity

***Ice-*** The creation and manipulation of ice

***Life-*** Healing and plant control

***Blight-*** Cursing, draining other's energy

***Guard*** magic and ***Wild*** magic also exist, but they work somewhat differently and will get their own explanation.

### Magic Levels

The six primary magic types are categorized into 5 levels, depending on mastery. These levels greatly impact the types of spells one can cast and how powerful and influential the effects are. As a general rule of thumb, this is how the levels scale:

Lvl 0-

No Magic

Lvl 1-

Small, quality of life spells

Lvl 2-

Stronger spells which can be used more like tools

Lvl 3-

Full learned magic; Tools, totems, and weapons

Lvl 4-

Influential spells and enchantments; All other options gain strength

Lvl 5-

Highly influential spells and more powerful options for enchantments and totems, the Call

### Magic Uses

There are a few broader uses of magic spells can fall into.

##### Manipulate

These are the simplest kind of spells. They have a small effect on something that already exists, like dropping the temperature a few degrees or rippling a pool of water without touching it.

##### Control

These are usually a much stronger version of *manipulate* spells. It allows the user to control something in their vicinity that corresponds to their magic type. For example, bending a forest fire so you can safely pass through or bringing down the vines of a tree to ensnare someone.

##### Manifest

These spells create something corresponding to the caster's type. These range wildly in power. A weak spell would be conjuring up fire at your fingertips while a strong spell would be conjuring up an entire storm.

##### Totems

These spells are temporary enchantments with a set area of effect and typically appear as a semi-transparent glowing symbol on or over the ground. They typically take 10 minutes or so to setup and fizzle out after 1-8 hours, depending on how strong the spell was. Examples of this would include a blight mage lowering everyone's heartbeat a little so they can sleep easier, or a spell which sets anyone on fire who enters it. A totem can be set that only targets specific individuals, but it takes much longer to set up (about an hour) and fizzles out quicker as well and for the spell to "recognize" its targets, you need something of theirs. Blood and scales work best, but dear objects can also work. These are used up during the casting and disappear. Only level 3 and up mages can set totems.

##### Enchantments

Unlike *totems*, these are permanent effects anchored to an object. Not everything can be an anchor. You need either *strykewood* (more on that later) or a genuine gem. The size of the object is also important as it reflects the power of the spell. Smaller objects can only contain weaker spells. You cannot have an instant tsunami in a pea sized ruby. Enchantments, depending on how powerful they are, can take a long time to cast. It takes a week minimum for even the simplest spells, while something as huge and influential as the sun dome took 3 years. Level 4 and up mages have access to enchantments, but even then they need to know what they're doing. Typically, enchantments are made by professionals whos services you are expected to pay for.

Enchantments cannot be commands. You cannot make a knife with a strykewood hilt and enchant it to "go and slit x's throat." You can, however, make them targeted and only trigger under certain conditions. An enchantment on a pretty emerald set in a necklace that reads "when x puts this on, heat up rapidly" is acceptable. This, much like the totem, has a material cost. In order for the spell to "recognize" its trigger, you need to have something of that person, typically something that they have been in contact with often. Scales and blood work best. These are used up during the casting and disappear.

##### Weaponized Spells

Pretty self explanatory, these are spells cast with the express purpose of harming someone. Most conventional weapons are unlocked at level 3 but with enough creativity everything can be a weapon. Chuck a fireball at someone, see how it goes.

##### Curses

Only blight and wild magic can curse and it requires level 3 mastery or more. Curses are basically enchantments but on people. Once again, you need something of that person's to accurately target them, ideally blood or scales, which is used up in the casting. A curse affects the health of an individual in a negative way over a period of time. Some particularly strong curses can even be permanent. The only way to get rid of them then is to either find a particularly strong life or wild mage to help you or to track down the person who cursed you and get them to lift their curse. You can also have an item enchanted to protect you from curses, though its powers are probably limited so extremely strong curses might still be able to slip through.

Curses are also extremely draining for the caster, often making them bedridden for at least a few days afterwards. Some say this is because the caster has to sacrifice a part of their own life force to harm another. Other possible consequences include but are not limited to and heavily depend on the strength of the curse: severe nosebleed that refuses to let up for hours, a sense of vertigo, seizures, temporary paralysis, temporary blindness, you get the picture.

Now, when it comes to what a curse can actually achieve you have a lot of playroom. A simple curse would be "I curse x to fart every time they kiss their crush", while a difficult curse would be "I curse x to slowly go insane." We ask you that you talk to your rp partner beforehand with what you'd like the curse to be and how you're going to implement it as these can obviously have life altering effects on a character. Roleplay responsibly, please.

##### Blessings

Blessings can be cast by life mages of level 3 or higher and wild mages. They work nearly identically to curses, only their effects are generally positive, albeit more limited. We don't want people walking around with invincibility because their awesome friend blessed them. Effects of blessings typically range from disease protection to poison immunity. You can also protect from infections or, for a very strong blessing, prevent a person from bleeding out. Blessings also last much shorter than curses, typically no longer than a week or two.

### Requirements, Dangers, and Mishaps

Magic in general is draining. It takes a lot of focus and discipline which can be difficult to maintain, especially in a fight. Casting a spell, particularly the stronger ones, can have unwanted physical symptoms including but not limited to: nausea, headaches, physical exhaustion, mental exhaustion, blackouts, sudden and extreme bleeding from various orifices, seizures, even death. This is because in order to cast, a mage lets natural magic flow through them and its volatile nature can easily harm them. In order to avoid this, mages use *strykewood.*

##### Strykewood

Used as an arcane focus, this material is a must for mages levels 2-4 as without it, the strain on their body would be too great and they would most certainly perish. It can be held as a wand, staff, even carved and painted and made into jewelry. As long as its somewhere of your character's body, it can be used. *Strykewood* cannot entirely remove all strain and has nearly no bearing on the consequences of curses, blessings, and enchantments but it wards against the worst of it. You may still fall unconscious after a period of overexertion but at least your brain won't be boiled alive in your skull.

*Strykewood* is incredibly rare, in fact, only the dreaded rocs know how to quickly sniff it out. For a dragon or drake, it is impossible to tell the difference between *strykewood* and regular wood without testing it, but some griffs have almost a sixth sense for the material, making griff traders the quickest and easiest way to acquire some of it. Sadly, it doesn't come cheap. Due to this, *strykewood* focuses are often prized family heirlooms, passed down from generation to generation.

For those who score above average in the bravery (or insanity) department, you can also acquire lots and lots of *strykewood* by raiding a roc den, since they make their nests exclusively out of that material. On the one hand, it will make you rich. On the other, rocs are horrifyingly intelligent, bigger than a FlameBringer, live in large flocks, love eating draconics, are entirely silent to the point where they *can't* make calls like normal birds, have an impeccable sense of smell ensuring they'll find you even if you hide, employ pack hunting strategies, periodically orchestrate organized raids on local draconic settlements, and, well...

just steal it from a griff.

##### Mishaps

Sometimes, even with the best possible equipment and preparation, you just blow it. This can happen when: you lose focus halfway through a spell because someone punches you, the material you provided for a targeted totem isn't sufficient, you don't stop casting when you feel the strain on your body increase, causing your magic to spiral out of your grasp, or other similarly unfortunate situations.

When you lose control of a force of nature capable of overwriting all other laws and bending reality to its very incomprehensible will, that is called a *mishap*. The consequences of the *mishap* range wildly depending on what spell you were casting and at what point you lost control. If you were barely into a spell that strains your water, when you mess up it'll probably just fizzle. If you were one syllable away from a cataclysmic rain of icicle blades, it'll probably fall onto your head instead.

This is why it is generally advised for level 5 mages to carry around *strykewood* as well. They've achieved mastery and become an arcane focus themselves so are generally less affected by negative consequences, but if they mess something up it'll be the wood that explodes instead of their face. Since level 5 mages have access to very powerful spells it's better to be safe than sorry.

### Fire Magic Scaling

Level 1: Very small flames (conjured up at the fingertips)

Level 2: moderate flames conjured at the hands

Level 3:  Greater control over flames/Ability to conjure flames apart from the hands

Level 4:  Area of Effect spells & Weaponized spells

Level 5: Mastery

### Water Magic Scaling

Level 1: Concentrate water out of vapors

Level 2: Strain water to be safe to drink

Level 3: Control water movements water bender

Level 4: Area of Effect spells & Weaponized spells

Level 5: Mastery

### Shock Magic Scaling

Level 1: Small sparks at the fingertips

Level 2: Sparks conjured at the hands

Level 3: Greater control over bolts/Ability to conjure bolts apart from the hands

Level 4:  Area of Effect spells & Weaponized spells

Level 5: Mastery

### Ice Magic Scaling

Level 1: Lower the temperature of small areas

Level 2: Lower the temperature of areas past freezing

Level 3: Able to freeze things on contact/better control over temperature

Level 4: Area of Effect spells & Weaponized spells

Level 5: Mastery

### Life Magic Scaling

1: Can help soothe pain and encourage healing, but can't properly heal yet

2: Able to occasionally heal small cuts, burns, scrapes, and rashes//weakly encourage plant growth

3: Consistently able to heal cuts, burns, scrapes, and rashes, can bless//Stronger plant management

4: Able to heal most surface wounds as well as prevent damage from poison. Also able to highly speed up healing rate of deep wounds//Stronger plant control, more influence

5: Able to heal virtually any physical wound, cleanse systems of any poison, and defend a being from harmed//Full plant control, larger scale

### Blight Magic Scale

1: Able to weaken/drain energy

2: Drain energy faster with more efficiency

3: Start to cause extreme fatigue/nausea, can curse

4. Can inflict diseases and poison-like symptoms

5: Capable of causing injuries, deplete most of someone’s energy (blood poisoning, instant unconsciousness, etc)

### Guard Magic

Guard magic works differently than regular magic. If an OC has guard magic, it cannot have another type of magic. It also cannot be learned, you either have it or you don't. It shields a being from direct spells from other magic. Physical, tangible elements caused by magic still have effects, but spells themselves cannot mess with Guard users. Guard Magic also increases the bearers physical capabilities. To put it in simpler terms:

Effects on the bearer:

Increased physical performance, better and more efficient healing, and stronger immune system

Effects on other magic:

Entirely blocks both Life and Blight Magic from affecting the bearer. Spells cannot be set directly on the bearer. Trap enchantments and other proximity/interaction spells are not triggered by the bearer.

### Wild Magic

Wild magic is exclusive to the griffs of the world, due to their divine heritage. There's many things one can do with wild magic, one of which is manipulating gravity around a specific area, item, or sometimes another. Examples of it would be making a necklace float a few inches above the ground, or crushing an opponent or intruders body like a can. The magic is primarily utility based, with hidden griff cities built under cliff ledges or the face of a mountain (another reason why it's difficult to reach them). It's noted that in the past there's been cases of griffons making bags with a never ending bottom that can fit anything the owner desires, creating portals for faster travel, and making an areas gravity permanently changed. However, these are extreme and at the very height of a users magic, do not attempt magic outside your range.

### Wild Magic Scale:

1. Able to weakly manipulate an area/objects gravity
2. Manipulate an area/objects gravity to a greater extent, expand the space (inside) bags by a few feet
3. Control another living being gravity strength/manipulate it, creating portals for short distances
4. Fully changing the gravity and energy of another being and objects, portals have no distance
5. Capable of creating homes on the underside of cliffs, having areas instantly compress or expand someone upon entering. Permanently changing the internal space for a bag, large areas gravitation pull

### The Call

This is a legendary spell that's exclusive to level 5 mages of any kind. With it, you call upon a god of your choosing and ask them to fulfill you one wish. Since it's a literal god helping you pretty much anything is possible. You can bring people back to life or you can smite them, you can heal yourself of any curse or wish for invincibility. This spell can only be cast once per character, so make it count.

But remember. The gods are not slaves. They are here because they heard you but they are NOT bound to your will. If the god you summoned deems your call unworthy or downright criminal, you will be punished. Because of this, it is important that you think carefully about which god you will call. Some may sympathize with your cause more than others.

Should you fail to convince them, they will turn you ***forsaken.*** Many legends speak of what this entails but one thing is clear. It will be a punishment tailored specifically to your kind of greed. An unshakable curse. You are lucky if they kill you.

##### Meta Information (IMPORTANT)

This spell's original purpose is specifically letting you bring your dead bois back to life and providing ample opportunity for edgy villain backstories. In order to actually have a call scenario, please dm one of the owners of the server depending on which god you wanna summon (Nyx for StormLord and TideMaker, Ghost for the Fallen/Stranger and RootWeaver, and Ash for the Everlight and the Jade Serpent) and then we'll further discuss what your plans are. This includes villain backstories because we'd like to keep the personalities of the gods consistent. Thanks and happy wishing.

### Potential Questions

**Can an oc lose their magic?**

It’s not that common but yes (by deities)

**Can an oc steal another’s magic?**

no

**Can my oc have x and x magic?**

No, an oc either has one type of magic or no magic at all

**Can I have two high level mages?**

No, only one. If you want another, the current mage needs to either die, or have their magic removed

**Can my oc have Guard magic and another magic?**

No, just one magic type per individual

**Why is the Guard magic so specific?**

It’s Nyx’s magic, all of those questions should be given to him.

**Can my oc summon the dead?**

No-as for the Big Wish spell-one time use

**Can one oc have Guard magic and the other a High Mage?**

Yes, you can have a max level oc for each type

**What if I’m super super careful about my magic, can I have two 5 mages?**

That’s still a no. It’s one for each, final