Arcana

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Arcana

Arcana is born of the Metaphorical Forces; more precisely, foreign Arcane Forces are antithetical to the individual
dreams of the Godheads bleeding into one another, creating miracles that defy the natural laws each uses to ground
reality. Every form of matter or Arcana can be traced back to the laws of another Plane by a Theorist.
Upper-case Metaphor always refers to one of these forces.

Click here for the Arcana List ☰

Overview

Magic—or Arcana as it is formally referred to—is a constant factor of every day life for the denizens of Antarok. This inborn power is seen as a holy right to some, and sacrilege to others. Much of the strife in Antarok can be attributed to this supernatural power and the practitioners who use it. Whether it is the humble Artificer manufacturing golems to aid his Duties, or the ascetic mage who cultivates his power to devastating affect, these unnatural abilities are wielded to decide the outcomes of conflict while advancing societies across the world.

In spite of its prevalence, Arcana remains misunderstood and vilified, and its failings are often overblown by its detractors; Galsterei die when they fail initiation, an outcome that rends their soul and denies them the afterlife, and the devout opposed to magic will say the same about those powers of Welkin and Glamour which are antithetical to their views.

History

Known since before written record, before humanity devolved from the Æld'Norai, and before the Ælves devolved from the Faefolk, Arcana is a fundamental part of existence made possible by the planar Metaphor existing in all things.

Personal Arcana

Personal Arcana refers to various disciplines split between the inborn powers of Galdr, Glamour, and Welkin, earned by birthright, circumstance, implantation, or ritual initiation.

Initiation

Each form of Personal Arcana has its own Initiation ritual to contend. Failing this ritual is often random and fatal, but as we are writing the story, we get to dictate if those in our purview should live or die. Initiating into a Personal Arcana requires expending a Minor Merit, but you may delay this so long as you cast none of its spells nor allocate XP to the discipline.

Magi who initiate but avoid their Arcana are referred to as the Inconsummate.

Longevity

Personal Arcana influences the lifespan of a mage. For every Personal Arcana one achieves mastery within, forty years are added to ones lifespan. Ascendancy would confer eighty years. Particularly talented human wizards have been known to live for hundreds of years.

• This does not apply to Arcane Potential.

Spell Reserves

A mage can cast one spell at their highest tier before experiencing Mageburn should they cast again. They may cast an additional spell at their highest tier for every discipline known of that same tier. Additional spells beyond this limit will push them towards Light, Moderate, Heavy, and Fatal Mageburn.

The highest tier spell a mage can cast is worth three of the one below it. In other words, if you are at Expert skill, one spell becomes the potential for three Journeymen spells, three Journeymen spells becomes nine Apprentice spells, and nine Apprentice spells becomes a capacity for twenty-seven Novice spells.

If you are an Expert and you cast a Journeyman Spell, then you have two Journeyman Spell Reserves remaining. If you
instead cast an Expert spell, then you are out of Spell Reserves.

Additional Terminology

Efficient Spell: Efficient costs two Spell Reserves of the tier beneath. (Total: 0.66x or 2/3)

Inefficient Spell: Inefficient costs four Spell Reserves of the tier beneath. (Total: 1.33x or 4/3)

Writing Spell Reserves

Important!

If any of the below information is intimidating or confusing to you, please reach out to the Support channel in
Discord, or to Vicissitude or Haruspex directly and we will happily help you out.

When casting a spell, please mention the spell name that was cast, from which Arcana, and at which tier of skill. This will help us to understand which spell reserves are in use during canonization to verify the use was correct. A common error might be using two spells when you think you're using one, such as Apparating which is two separate casts for changing Frequency to high and then back down to low.

Using decimals is generally the easiest method, though fractions may be used if that's your preference. For example, if your PC has 1 Master Spell Reserve, their Spell Reserves will have the following values:

Master = 1

Expert = .33

Journeyman = .11

Apprentice = .04

Novice = .01

If you're an Expert or any lower rank you just move the numbers all down the list, discarding the lowest value.

The example below is for a character called Kirin, a Dryad utilizing both Draoidh and Zephyr.

Spells listed:

¹Apprentice usage of Plantmeld from Draoidh.
²Expert usage of Reinvigoration from Draoidh.
³Journeyman usage of Invigoration from Draoidh.
⁴Apprentice Aeroresonance and Novice Aeromancy from Zephyr.
⁵Journeyman usage of Invigoration from Draoidh.
⁶Expert usage of Floramancy from Draoidh, at 1/4th the normal expenditure for this level while in her grove.

Spell Reserves:

2 Spell Reserves
-0.03 Plantmeld (Apprentice)
-0.33 Reinvigoration (Expert)
-0.11 Invigoration (Journeyman)
-0.11 Invigoration (Journeyman)
-0.08 Floramancy (Expert, in Grove)
-0.03 Aeroresonance (Apprentice)
-0.01 Aeromancy (Novice)
= 1.3 Spell Reserves

Mageburn

Each discipline utilizes a different form of Mageburn. This confers a consequence casting if one's Spell Reserves would go into the negative, possibly leading to death. The closer a mage is to emptying their Spell Reserves, the more they will feel something associated with the Metaphor they wield the most; for example, Aether will make the mage feel powerful and manic the more they use their magic.

Spells weaker than your current skill tier will confer exponentially less Mageburn.

• A cast at your highest tier while empty will send you into Major Mageburn. (9/9)
• A cast at 1 tier below your highest will send you into Moderate Mageburn. (3/9)
• A cast at 2 tiers below will send you into Light Mageburn. (1/9)
• A cast at 3 tiers below will move you towards Light Mageburn. (0.33/9)
• A cast at 4 tiers below will move you towards Light Mageburn. (0.11/9)
• A cast at 5 tiers below will not advance you towards Mageburn. (0/9)

• This would only ever apply if an Ascended mage casted at 5 tiers below, which is a Novice Level

Major Mageburn is always a crippling experience; a mage can no longer cast spells until they recover, and may even suffer permanent physical or mental injuries, or death. Empty is empty; even a mage with several Master-level disciplines would enter Mageburn if casting a Master-level spell while depleted. The only way to improve your Mageburn limit once you are a Master is to Ascend.

Spell Recovery

It takes about seven days for a mage to recover from empty Spell Reserves to their full capacity. There are many ways in which a mage might eke out more efficiency in their spells or recovery, some of which are Draoidh, the expanded Spell Reserves of a Dragon, Ensorcelling, and Alchemistry.

Entering Mageburn prolongs this recovery period. Light Mageburn will add a week, moderate two weeks, and three weeks or more for Heavy.

Note: If you overuse your spells without playing out Mageburn, a member of staff might ask that you keep a ledger.

Advanced Techniques

Several techniques exist in a general sense for altering how a mage might utilize their spells. Each relies on the fulfillment of a certain requirement or condition to be available to the mage.

Multi-Casting

Multiple spells can be cast in the same moment under specific circumstances:

• Personal Arcana may be Multi-Cast at the tier beneath ones' Meditation; an Apprentice of Meditation could cast an additional Novice spell at the same time, while a Journeyman could multi-cast Apprentice spells, and so on. Ascended-level Spells cannot be Multi-Cast via Meditation without a Conjuration.
• Conjuration may be multi-cast at a tier equivalent to Meditation.
• A Spirit Familiar may also cast spells up to its skill level, additionally benefitting from Meditation.

The hypothetical maximum number of spells that may be cast in one moment is 32x (4x Four-Mirrored Conjurations
limited by Meditation tier and a Familiar, each operating an Ascended of Shimmer's Permanent Simulacrum.)

Spell Hybridization

Hybridization is a technique common to several forms of Arcana such as Galdr and Grist-breath at higher tiers of skill, typically Master but sometimes Expert. If an Arcana allows for this, it will mention that a spell may be efficiently "combined" with other forms of known Personal Arcana more finely than and without the need for Multi-Casting. When this is done, that spell may be overlain with the properties of another; for example, an Aquari who is an Exodii could treat their liquids like Peripheries, attaching distortions to the volume of their water, or a Gristled could mix their breaths with the dust of Shimmer.

• The spell you hybridize with must be at the same tier as the spell cast.
• This is always an additional efficient cast of Spell Reserves at the tier you've hybridized with.

• This is 1 and 2/3 of a cast in total, or 1.66x the Spell Reserves.

Hybridization is not Multi-Casting; you are efficiently blending the spells together rather than casting twice. However, some multi-cast spells may seem indistinguishable from Hybridization.

Metaphorical Expression

Magi can wield Metaphor to empower their spells through emotive action and circumstance. See: Metaphor

Articles on Arcana

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