Ensorcelling

Ensorcellers understand Metaphor in order to dominate it with Glyphs for the purpose of creating Abjurations and Conjurations fueled by Alkahest, or informing how such Arcana should function. Ensorcelling is a Theorem that does not require a Merit to pursue, and it qualifies for Dominion like any mundane skill.

Ensorcelling

History

While Ensorcelling did not come about as a formalized discipline until the last 30,000 years, ancient magi among the Fae have always tampered with Alkahest, inscribing upon it meaning. In this way, they learned the truths behind Metaphor, and in time there was this sense that power could be had by speaking to these glowing stones. Before long, Ensorcelling became a mainstay adopted by denizens of the Ur'Duun, and its formalized study paved the way for a rudimentary understanding of Arcana on the whole.

Practices arose to prominence, empowering humanity to fight back in a world fraught with dangers such as Dragons and the Vokhai with Spell Arms and scrolls for self defense. Institutions arose to impart the wisdom of Ensorcelling upon regular people, and such hedge wizards became vital parts of society, able to perform the miracles of Alkahest necessary for those without magic of their own to defend themselves, or to cure fantastical illness that no surgeon could otherwise handle alone. Ensorcelling has allowed for humanity to achieve a kind of baroque utopia built upon the backs of those who would mine and sacrifice themselves for vital Alkahest.

Acquisition

Ensorcelling is a Theorem taught by magi to their students, oft as a prerequisite to initiating them into Personal Arcana, as understanding Metaphor leads to better control, and better decisions. Many learn at academies, or primary forms of education in countries that rely upon its populace understanding Metaphor to some degree. Often Ensorcelling is considered as a prerequisite before the study of Practices, as its theory is rooted in their make.

Concepts

Ensorcellers utilize Glyphics to better control and empower their active spells, or derive such from Alkahest.

• Glyphics: Formed by drawing the symbols of Metaphor, Glyphs are inferences to ideas that the mage natively understands. In a way, these are like a ritual of language unique to each Ensorceller, and in this same sense they can be wielded as three-dimensional shapes and knotwork woven into braids. A Glyph can have further information woven into it through the various Techniques available to an Ensorceller. Ensorcelling skill determines the equivalent tier of Alkahest controlled, or Personal Arcana allowed, or even the active components of Wild Glamour they may utilize with Glyphics.

• Metaphorics: Ensorcellers study not just their own Arcana, but all Arcana. They are the ones who spend their time deciphering other Arcana, intuiting its existence through old books and ancestral heirlooms. By Expert, an Ensorceller will know the existence of every Arcana in the Arcana List save for Blights which are governed by the Illuminary variant of Mysticism. A Master will then know common methodologies for dealing with Arcana based on understanding their Metaphor.

Glyphics

Methods

Pen & Ink: Drawing Glyphics upon paper is as simple as writing one's language - the language of their own Glyphics, in this case. They often look like sprawling charts of flowing symbols linking and circling individual symbols representing Metaphor.

Weaving: Glyphs can be woven three-dimensionally, braided into hair or sewn into clothing. They might also utilize a Druid's Floramancy tucked inside the body as Bound Flora.

Crafted: Tradesmen might build Glyphs into their crafts. A mason could chisel an entire building or street with argued Ensorcelling, while a Carpenter might carve Glyphics into wood and make figurines out of such. Artificers often build this functionality into magic guns and implants they embed within themselves, while Maltricians can inscribe such things as tattoos and scrawlings upon bone and organs, achieving the same result.

Source

All forms of Ensorcelling draw upon Metaphor to conjure spellwork, derived from a Source. The 'Source' is embedded raw Alkahest which is then encircled with Glyphics. It must be made to size; in a book, the Source would carry Argumentation across its cover and into the book binding, while for weaving, the Source would be woven in to the arrangement like a hanging bauble. Three same-sized Sources of Alkahest at the same tier will satisfy Source requirements for the tier above. This means that nine grams of Alkahest Dust is equivalent to three Slivers or a Shard, capable of fueling a Journeyman Conjuration and Abrogation. See Alkahest.

Conjuration

A singular Glyph of Metaphor can contain within it the inferred idea of any active spell from any Personal Arcana its author knows, or a form of Alkahest connected to the Source. This is written or manifested instinctually upon that symbol in the form of accents and runic motifs. When woven into a Glyph this way, it is referred to as a Conjuration, but it must then be powered by either Alkahest of the appropriate tier and Metaphor, or a mage's own Spell Reserves of that Metaphor; in order to use Spell Reserves, the mage must be channeling a spell derived from the Alkahest itself, or a spell they already wield which has been altered through Glyphics.

• Spell Conjuration: To cast from Conjuration, one must simply possess the object on their person or touch upon it, and then seek within their minds the idea of the spell they have imparted, mentally tugging upon it. At this point, it will draw upon any Alkahest touched to or embedded within the object, or the Spell Reserves of the mage themselves. Like regular spells, a Conjuration cast from Spell Reserves may be downcast from its most potent idea by feeding less power into it, but Alkahest is always a fixed power of its tier.

When casting this way, the spell is operated as if a mage had personally cast it. In the case of Draoidh Floramancy, they would be able to manipulate any flora around them as normal with their Grove efficiency intact, while with Elemental Galdr, a spell is much more efficient when wielding elements that already exist, as much of the Metaphor is wasted on generating it out of nothing. Any bonus to efficiency is lost when burning Alkahest to cast, however. For an easy way to obtain Alkahest, see Seasonal Points.

Abrogation

Abrogation is done by encircling a Metaphor in protective inferences, denying its ability to manifest in unnatural ways by infecting active spells that come into contact with it.

• Quashing: Abrogation quashes spells. It does not negate them. Rather, it mitigates. An Abrogation has little effect from a distance, only dispelling that which touches its surface. Should a dragon's breath touch upon an Abrogation, it will drain the Metaphor of the spell, Saol in this case, in the form of supplied Alkahest of an equivalent tier. Then it will manifest a chain reaction of undoing through the spell, robbing it of what makes it more potent than natural Metaphor. However, it would do nothing to the heavy boulders, crushing waves, or lapping flames already slung at the Ensorceller. To dispel an illusion, it would have to touch one as strong as or weaker than itself - expensive, when considering Globes of Alkahest are scarce. Consider also that a mage risks dispelling their own spells with Abrogation should their spell fit its Argumentation - for this reason, Abrogation does not work with Spell Reserves, and may only be enabled by Alkahest.
• Partial Undoing: Abrogation cannot know the potency of a spell, even with Argumentation. It will detonate its Alkahest to defend, reducing the potency of a spell by that same fractional amount. An Ascended level spell necessitates a Globe of that Metaphor, meaning a single Sphere would protect against 1/3rd of the spell. Introducing further Spheres would bring the fractional amount abrogated up to 2/3rd, or fully, and so on.
• Permanence: Abrogation has no effect on permanent sources of magic such as the magical properties of Contrivances or Mutagenics unless they discharge a spell to then Abrogate. They would work against the curses of an explosive, or they might indiscriminately dispel a curse or a boon alike if touched to the skin being afflicted with either.

Against alterations to a state of being such as those an Apparator does, an Abrogation would return them to their original form or baseline - their Frequency in this case, if powerful enough, or else force a Ghost out of a Possessed body. It would have no effect on something idly native to its being like a Tendril, however.

• Dominance:

When one Metaphor dominates another, Abrogation will work on either Metaphor. In this way, Miasmata Abrogation would work against the Miasmic spells of a Scourge, or the Psionic Field of a Deep One.

Argumentation

Ensorcellers may spell out Arguments for how their Conjuration or Abrogation should function in spite of the mage's intention or lack thereof. Conjuring or Abrogating with Argumentation allows for a mage to exempt specific targets or require that certain conditions be fulfilled to harm, or to efficiently shape the spell in complex ways that might be too burdensome for someone on their own. Manifesting cats made from the fire of Fulgur that then leap at your foes would be a form of complex Argumentation. Similarly, a Terarri could impart their knowledge of crafting skills known to them to readily create structures with fine detail, or implements in the heat of battle. Argumentations are drawn with jagged lines, swishes, or points, and woven with tied-on accessories of further knotwork

• Trigger: A trigger is a spoken word, action, or even thought that validates an Argumentation to fire. These may be used to create spell armaments, wands, alarms, and traps that can be utilized by anyone able to supply the necessary Alkahest. In this way, a common soldier or even a being without a soul could wield a Conjuration or an Abrogation, but they would not have any control and would be relying upon the diction of its Argumentation for the sum of what does or does not happen. A very common use of this is setting up an alarm system hooked up to a weak Conjuration.
• Deferment: To Defer a spell through an Ensorcelled item is to weave Argumentation for where the spell should begin on its surface, streaming the information in a direction; this may also be used with regular spells cast by a mage which are not Conjurations. In this way, an Ensorceller could spew flame from the tip of their sword, or convey a spell that requires touch through a staff. They also might extend the range of their spell through by sitting upstream at a point of Deferment they have woven into the ground, or carved into infrastructure to cast from far away. Talismans making use of this could Defer an Abrogation ward over a broad, sometimes vast area.

Expression

Each spell made manifest by Metaphor possesses the capability to be empowered. An Ensorceller learns to replace Canting with Glyphics, utilizing the art of its composition as a whole, or individual flowing ideas that each represent one of the Six Orders of Expression. In this way, a spell woven from Conjuration might be more powerful than one cast outright, unless that mage was themselves Canting appropriately.

Layering

To Layer is to Ensorcell Glyphics such that lower tier Conjurations or Abrogations can be transcribed atop more powerful ones. This is done by weaving a Knotwork or Glyph with descending patterns of size atop a Glyph that is larger than the one before it, while making sure to have each necessary size of Alkahest embedded in the object.

• Layered Conjurations: Layering a Conjuration adds another downcast from the current tier, and another below that, down to Novice. This can be created from layered forms of Alkahest, or else a mage's own spells.
• Layered Abrogations When applied to Abrogation, Layering ensures only the appropriate level of Abrogation will attempt to Quash an oncoming spell. These are both answered by and a counter for Layered Conjurations.

Mirroring

Mirroring allows for Conjurations to be split-cast. This enables a mage to conjure multiple spells at once, combining them together in ways that might be outlined by Argumentation. In this way, a mage with multiple disciplines might connive entirely strange spells that are in actuality many in one. Unlike Layering, the spells must be woven from the same tier of Spell Reserves, and the same tier of Alkahest, or they will clash. Mirroring is accomplished by adjoining two Symbols at the center of a creation in a replicated pattern, and then diverging into Argumentation and other such ideas as one expands further away.

Mirroring can be combined with Layering, but this would be kaleidoscopically complex, unfurling outward in every direction such that it would take many weeks to devise a Conjuration of this magnitude.

Working with Personal Arcana and Mirroring can be dangerous for a mage, as they might more easily overstep their bounds into Mageburn.

Exaltation

An "Exalted" Conjuration or an "Exalt" possesses its own replenishing Spell Reserves in the form of a symbolic reservoir. Fashioning any Conjuration with at least ten times the amount of Alkahest necessary will create ambient Metaphor which can then be gathered and stored within a connected Symbol that then links to the Conjuration itself. When the Glyphics reservoir is empty, a spell cannot be Conjured, nor will an object be able to enter Mageburn.

Abrogation cannot be Exalted.

Metaphorics

Deciphering

By studying the Glyphics of others, an Ensorceller can intuit the Metaphorics of an object, inferring what kind of product it is at a glance. With closer inspection, they might be able to read the Argumentation should it be left exposed, thus circumnavigating a Spell Trap or a Talisman. Once fully deciphered, they can make changes by 'copying' the style of its creator and weaving new information into it, thus nullifying or adjusting its Glyphics.

Products

Grimoire

The Grimoire is a large collection of Conjurations and Talismans bound into a book, or else woven into massive braids called Grimlocks that may or may not be woven into hair, tails, or the body itself. Countries revolving around industry and fashionable nobility oft favor the Grimoire, while those who have a strong cultural attachment to their roots favor weaving the plants and braids of a Grimlock into their hair.

• As an Ensorceller fills out their repository of spells, they develop a relationship with it; more precisely, it forms a relationship with them, responding by flipping to desired pages or yielding braids for Conjuring with a wave of their hand. It might be called to the hand from several feet away as a Grimoire or else be used as a counterbalance during feats of acrobatics in the case of Grimlocks.
• Stored Conjurations possess the Canted Metaphor of whatever Sovereignty they are inscribed with. Even Mystic and Animist ritual can be invoked from a Grimoire in this way.

Talismans

The product of Abrogation is referred to as a Talisman. Respecting the concepts of Quashing, Partial Undoing, Permanence, and Dominance, they function to hinder and dispel Arcana which befoul them. These may or may not have Argumentation, or Layering, often sold as small ornaments or paper talismans one might hang upon their person. Else, they are inscribed into an object so that they might be reusable with further supplied sources of Alkahest.

Scrolls

Conjurations packaged for sale are the most common commodity of an Ensorceller. Scrolls and trinkets for nearly ever discipline of Arcana exist, conferring specified results. A scroll is typically bound with the Alkahest Dust it needs, Triggering upon a spoken word while unfurled. These could be reused if supplied with more Alkahest, but they are easily worn out and damaged so they rarely last all that long.

Spell Traps

When a spell is rigged with Argumentation to fire independent of anyone's present intention, this is referred to as a Spell Trap. These are used to booby trap facilities with dangers or alarms, leave land mines for pursuers, and protect written knowledge from those who might steal it by burning up the book, or cursing its reader. Many ruins from fallen civilizations are protected by these traps, and some doors will not open without an appropriate sacrifice of Alkahest.

Spell Arms

Spell Arms, sometimes referred to as Magitech, are devices manufactured by an Ensorcelling Engineer and/or Artificer for the purpose of incorporating spells as a force multiplier in their make. They typically have a Trigger, such as on striking, on word, or on being struck, and when they do fire, they often have machined barrels or complex machinations that accelerate a spell like a projectile using physics. In this way, even a few grams of Alkahest Dust fueling Novice-level Fulgur or Terra can be deadly if fed by Zephyr. These are often sold with Spell Shot, small pouches of the appropriate Dust amounts that are loaded into a chamber. Ramrod muskets are common, but more advanced Artificers are capable of manufacturing revolvers. See the Price List for these.

Tiers of Mastery

Novice

• Glyphics:

• An Ensorceller is able to work with Alkahest Dust at this tier.
• They are limited to experimenting with Conjuration or Abrogation.

• Metaphorics:

• The Novice may Decipher other Novice-tier Arcana.
• They know the names of each Metaphor if it makes sense for them to know this.

Apprentice

• Glyphics:

• An Ensorceller is able to work with Alkahest Slivers at this tier.
• Conjuration, Abrogation, Argumentation, and Exaltation are available to the Apprentice.
• Argumentation is limited to simple exclusions and targeting parameteres at this stage.

• Metaphorics:

• The Apprentice may Decipher other Apprentice-tier Arcana.
• They know roughly about the categories of Arcana - Galdr, Welkin, and Glamour.
• They know the names of each Metaphor. Someone without Ensorcelling could still know this much, if they had a reason to in their background.

Journeyman

• Glyphics:

• An Ensorceller is able to work with Alkahest Shards at this tier.
• Conjuration, Abrogation, Argumentation, Exaltation, and Layering are available to the Journeyman.
• Argumentation is limited to individual phrases of logic at this stage.

• Metaphorics:

• The Journeyman may Decipher other Journeyman-tier Arcana.
• They know roughly a summary of every form of Arcana except for Blights.
• They know roughly what each Metaphor represents. Someone without Ensorcelling could still know this much, if they had a reason to in their background.

Expert

• Glyphics:

• An Ensorceller is able to work with Alkahest Crystals at this tier.
• Every aspect of Glyphics is available to the Expert.
• Argumentation by Expert is able to expand as necessary for nearly any aesthetic or logical purpose.
• The Expert may Mirror 2 Conjurations.

• Metaphorics:

• The Expert may Decipher other Expert-tier Arcana.
• They know roughly what to expect from every form of Arcana and the types of spells they wield up to Expert, in a general sense. Except for Blights.
• They begin to understand the ways in which each Metaphor represents itself across the Planes.

Master

• Glyphics:

• An Ensorceller is able to work with Alkahest Spheres at this tier.
• Every aspect of Glyphics is available to the Master.
• Argumentation by Master is able to expand as necessary for nearly any aesthetic or logical purpose.
• The Master may Mirror 3 Conjurations.

• Metaphorics:

• The Master may Decipher other Master-tier Arcana.
• They know roughly each individual spell but not its potency from every form of Arcana up to its Mastery. Except for Blights.
• They fully understand how Metaphor represents itself across the Planes, within the Psychoplasm of Ghosts, and so on.

Grandmaster

The Grandmaster may develop a Dominion Arcana to further influence how their Ensorcelling functions,

• Glyphics:

• An Ensorceller is able to work with Alkahest Globes at this tier.
• Every aspect of Glyphics is available to the Grandmaster.
• Argumentation by Grandmaster is able to expand as necessary for nearly any aesthetic or logical purpose.
• The Grandmaster may Mirror 4 Conjurations.
• The Grandmaster may develop a Dominion Arcana to further influence how their Ensorcelling functions,

• Metaphorics:

• The Grandmaster may Decipher other Grandmaster/Ascended-tier Arcana.
• There is very little a Grandmaster does not know about individual Arcana and the dangers their spells represent. Except for Blights.
• They fully understand what is known to the world about each Metaphor.

Contrivances

Any attempt to Cant the Metaphor of Sovereignty may be at least partly embedded in equivalent-tier Glyphics, enabling those skilled in Ensorcelling to minimize the needs of their rituals. This language may also be used to inform or establish guard rails around how creations from the Practices should act, and when.

Sundering

Sundering Implements use Glyphics in their make, which may contain Talismans or Conjurations.

Alchemistry

Glyphics can be used with Contrivances made from Alkemicals to create Spell Arms with additional magical properties.

Artifice

Argumentation can be used to give Thoughtformes rules to follow. Conjuration allows Artificed creations to wield Spell Arms as a part of themselves.

Malediction

Glyphics can be tattooed upon the mind of the undead, even sapient or shambling ones without Tethers in order to enslave them with rules.

The Talisphere: The first Archon of Dullahan wisely commissioned every Master Ensorceller in his country to construct a sphere of Layered Wards unlike any known before it. This Contrivance rests in a grand cathedral square within the Political Quarter of Empire, fueled by magi dominated by state Maltricians and winding Alkahest mines spiraling deep into the earth. Should any Ascended mage with far reaching talons attack the empire, the Talisphere will limit some of the damage.

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