Esoterica

Esoterica is a broad term covering the study of the esoteric, a field concerning the powers of ossified tradition and ritual, often with reality bending or scientifically impossible effects. Other common terms for the field of esoterica are magic, ritual, and 'unexplored science.'

## The Primacy of the Rite

All magic emanates from accessing the energies and flows of the world of ‘becoming’ that ‘undergirds’ reality.  This does not really mean an alternate dimension, but a sort of reality atop, below and through physical reality.  The rite channels this, and the rite depends on invocation of tradition, older rites date back to a better understanding of this relationship itself.  Altering a rite generally represents a degeneration, especially with older rites.  As a result magic cannot be experimented with, only received or learned.  “New” rites have been given by the deities, such as the sacred table of Lavo, detailing the 12 basic Lavonian gates.

## Types of Esoteric Practices

Spells are cast in 3 primary ways. First is invocation, wherein the caster speaks a prayer or rite to create the power.  These tend to be holy incantations, weaker spells, or some form of battle magic.  Rarer spells of this type may even use song or music.  Famously, 7 organs in Heilegeterra produce images of parables and stories when playing one of the specific 7 positions of Henriech Ultrak.  The next is literation, writing and carving the spell itself onto a physical surface.  These can be activated by will, a physical touch of a finger and sometimes a simple command word.  Mages use literation for fast spells, magic locks, and weapon enhancements.  Literation does take considerable space, so that must be considered.  Further, the spell itself must be copied by a person, it cannot be automatically printed or projected to work.  To add to the complication, all literation requires an esoteric or archaic form of the language used to work, meaning any esotericist must learn this symbology to utilize this magic.  The third type is ritual, wherein some combination or either of the two aforementioned types are combined, with specific movements and actions.  Rituals comprise the most common type of spells, and among the most common are literations with invocations.

## Examples

Some of the most commonly used literations were codified by a Loremaster named Pinny Aurelicas of Estra.  His literations include the ability to customize the activation word, an uncommon feature, leading to their popularity.  The Esoteric Carved Tradition by Pinny often is characterized as a flavorful manual for learning mages and more copies of Pinny’s have been created than any other magical text.  Some simply buy a copy to use the example spells for general use.

## Mechanics

The only valid edge for spellcasting is the arcane background edge. All spells require specific trappings that entail their ritual, usually of one of the aforementioned esoteric practices. The more complex and high level a spell is, the more involved its requirement should be, this may include consumable elements and other aspects of ritual. Please talk to me about the specific rites of your spells prior to play.