Magic

In the setting of Epee, magic can be ambient, environmental metaphysics native to Annwyn, or the power of fairies to alter the rules in the Human World or in the City of the Fireflies. Humans can perform magic, but only under very specific circumstances, mostly involving borrowing the power from either Fairies or Annwyn itself.

## Fairy Magic

All Fairies are capable of a certain degree of magic. In many cases these might not be spells so much as just magical abilities that are so intrinsic to the fairy's nature that they might as well be biological--like a dragon breathing fire, or human-sized fairies being able to fly on wispy gossamer wings in flagrant violation of the laws of physics. Shee almost exclusively use magic of this sort.

Some Fairies (almost all of them being of human intelligence or greater) are capable of **Sorcery**. Sorcery allows fairies to cast spells and perform limited acts of reality warping around them, limited mostly by their own knowledge or will power. The primary mechanism by which Sorcery works is for a Fairy to make a Contract with an abstract concept, such as Nature or Fire or the like, and exploiting the terms of those contracts to create the effects they need. Much like Contracts with Fairies, there is always a cost for forming a Contract with an abstract concept, but the cost tends to be less personal--for example someone forming a contract with Fire might have to avoid contact with water.

There are some low-level reality warping effects that fairies can do simply by willing them into being, and this is also classified as Sorcery. This sort of Sorcery works strongest within the confines of Annwyn, but within border areas like the City of the Fireflies, it can still be quite effective.

## Varieties of Human Magic

There are several different ways that humans can make use of magic.

### Contract Magic

*In-Game Rules: Other Magic Users*

Fairies can grant humans magical power through Contracts, for starters. Doing so usually has a big cost--if the user is lucky, it will be one that the Fairy Patron has stated up front. But often it is a hidden cost that isn't immediately obvious. Humans who gain access to magic through Contracts are known as **Warlocks**.

The power and the extent of magic depends on the nature of the Contract signed with one's Fairy patron, but can't be beyond the power of the Patron herself.

Contract Magic is also something that can be performed with magical phenomena or even the laws of physics in Annwyn, but humans doing so is almost unheard of--they don't, in general, comprehend how to communicate with abstract concepts. Generally those who can are humans with Fairy ancestry, and even those are extremely rare.

### Ritual Magic and Witchcraft

*In-Game Rules: Ritual Magic*

Humans can also make use of the ambient magic in Annwyn. This is known as **Witchcraft**, and consists primarily of using ritual magic, or of employing magical resources taken from Annwyn itself, such as using magical reagents to create potions. Witchcraft doesn't require any special powers, only the knowledge of how to perform the rituals or to create the potions or suchlike. Full-time witches are relatively rare, but many people know bits and pieces of witchcraft. Ritual magic doesn't work in the Human World, but does work in the City of the Fireflies, as it is on the border between the Human World and Annwyn. However, magical objects taken from Annwyn to the Human World do continue to function for at least a little while, so magical potions and devices created via Witchcraft may very well function in the Human World.

### Artefacts

*In-Game Rules: Artefacts*

Artefacts are objects that contain raw magical power that can be called upon by their owner. The most well-known of these, and among the most powerful of them, are the Emblems of the Knights, which combine this with Contract Magic with the Bound Spirits tied to those Tiaras, but they're not the only Artefacts in existence. Artefacts tend to grant the most power without being put into debt to a Fairy, though they aren't without their dangers. Flawed Artefacts can have contaminating effects on those who use them, warping their minds or bodies, or cursing them. Powerful Artefacts can be quite expensive or hard to come by as well, though there are magic-users who make their living selling minor artefacts and these tend to be reasonably priced.

### Wild Talents

*In-Game Rules: Wild Talents*

Wild Talents are the final possibility for humans using magic. Wild Talents occur rarely in some humans of fairy descent. They're vestiges of their Fairy Heritage that continue to persist even long after any other fairy traits have disappeared from the family line, and give the humans in question access to some small remainder of the power of their ancestors.

Wild Talents tend to be fairly weak compared to the powers of the Fairy progenitors they come from. And even the strongest Wild Talents are much more limited. Wild Talents don't have access to domains of magic, more often they just have a single talent or spell they can perform. In some ways they resemble superpowers more than magic. Examples of this would be the ability to mimic the magical powers of others who are near the talented individual, or the ability to speak to birds.