Magic System¶

Magic is compositional: a caster does not select spells from a list but learns elemental words and speaks them together as an incantation, which the engine resolves live. The mechanics are fully deterministic — every number below is a pure function of the words, the caster's lore, and the dice.

Grammar¶

INCANT [FORM] <ELEMENT> [ELEMENT] [target] (alias CHANT)

The parser reads recognized words left to right; the first unrecognized token (optionally after a linking AT/ON) begins the free-text target. A missing form defaults to Bolt. At most two elements are used, and they must be from different domains — a second word from the same domain is ignored.

INCANT BOLTAR IGNIS kobold          firebolt at the kobold
INCANT VORTHA AERIS                 air vortex; hits every hostile in the room
INCANT SELOS PETRIS                 a stone ward on yourself
INCANT BOLTAR IGNIS AERIS kobold    fire + air → a firestorm

Form words¶

Word	Shape	Effect	Needs target?
`BOLTAR`	Bolt	One seeking strike at a single target	Yes
`VORTHA`	Vortex	Area effect — every hostile creature in the room	No
`SELOS` (`SELF`)	Self	Turned inward; the shape of wards/buffs	No

Omitting the form yields a Bolt.

Element words¶

Four domains, three tiers each, escalating by suffix. Each domain is a lore skill (skill.lore.<domain>).

Domain	Tier 1 (lesser)	Tier 2 (greater)	Tier 3 (master)
Fire	`IGNIS`	`IGNARA`	`IGNAGA`
Air	`AERIS`	`AERARA`	`AERAGA`
Earth	`PETRIS`	`PETRARA`	`PETRAGA`
Water	`AQUIS`	`AQUARA`	`AQUAGA`

Single-element rider¶

A one-element spell carries a rider effect from its domain:

Domain	Rider	Effect
Fire	Burn	a burning wound that bleeds
Air	Shock	a jolt that can briefly stun
Earth	Crush	a crushing blow that can stagger
Water	Freeze	cold that locks the limbs (brief stun)

Safe tier by lore rank¶

Your lore rank sets the highest tier you can speak safely:

Lore ranks	Safe tier
1–9	Tier 1
10–24	Tier 2
25+	Tier 3

Speaking above your safe tier is allowed but adds a steep difficulty penalty and risks a backfire — it is also how words are discovered (below).

Combination table¶

Two words from different domains fuse into an authored combination. Because there are four domains, there are exactly six possible pairs — and all six are authored, so every two-element incantation you can currently compose is a stable, defined effect. (The "unstable" path below is reserved for domains added in future updates.)

Pair	Result	Rider	Power bonus	Notes
Fire + Air	a roaring firestorm	Burn (bleed)	+6	forces Vortex (area)
Fire + Earth	a gout of molten magma	Burn (bleed)	+5
Fire + Water	a scalding burst of steam	Blind (attack debuff)	+3	forces Vortex (area)
Air + Earth	a howling sandstorm	Blind (attack debuff)	+4
Water + Air	a lance of jagged ice	Freeze (stun)	+4
Water + Earth	a surge of clinging mud	Crush (stagger)	+4

A combination that "forces Vortex" becomes an area spell even if you said BOLTAR — unless you explicitly chose a form, in which case your choice stands. The first time a given combination is cast, it gets a one-off narrated flourish.

Mana cost¶

mana = shapeCost + Σ tierCost(element) + (2 if two elements), minimum 1

Component	Value
Shape — Bolt	1
Shape — Vortex	3
Shape — Self	2
Tier 1 element	2
Tier 2 element	5
Tier 3 element	9
Two-element surcharge	+2

Incantation	Cost
`BOLTAR IGNIS`	3
`BOLTAR IGNARA`	6
`BOLTAR IGNAGA`	10
`VORTHA IGNIS`	5
`VORTHA IGNARA`	8
`SELOS IGNIS`	4
`BOLTAR IGNIS AERIS`	7
`VORTHA IGNARA AERARA`	16

Mana is consumed on every attempt — success, fizzle, or backfire. Train Harness Power to deepen the pool; see Health & Wounds for regeneration.

Cast roundtime¶

cast RT = 3.0 s + 1.0 s × (sum of element tiers)

So BOLTAR IGNIS is 4 s; BOLTAR IGNAGA is 6 s; BOLTAR IGNIS AERIS is 5 s. Casting a memorized spell with CAST takes half this roundtime.

Cast resolution¶

Difficulty¶

difficulty = 20 + Σ (8 × tier) + Σ (30 × tiersOverSafe) + (40 if unstable)

Incantation	Lore	Difficulty
`BOLTAR IGNIS`	Fire ≥ 1	28
`BOLTAR IGNARA`	Fire ≥ 10	36
`BOLTAR IGNAGA`	Fire ≥ 25	44
`BOLTAR IGNARA`	Fire = 1 (1 over)	66
`BOLTAR IGNAGA`	Fire = 1 (2 over)	104
`BOLTAR IGNIS AERIS`	both ≥ 1	36

The roll¶

skill = round(3 × average lore ranks of the domains used) + AUR bonus

castRoll = d100 + skill · margin = castRoll − difficulty

The cast succeeds when margin ≥ 0. (Note this is ≥ 0, not the > 100 used by melee — difficulty already encodes the target number.)

Outcomes¶

Result	Condition
Success	margin ≥ 0
Backfire	failure and (over-tier word, unstable pair, or margin ≤ −25) — the spell turns on the caster at reduced power, rider included
Fizzle	any other failure — mana spent, no effect

So a safe, in-tier spell that narrowly misses (margin between −24 and −1) merely fizzles; over-reaching is what makes a failure dangerous.

Magnitude and rider¶

basePower = round( (Σ tierPower + comboBonus) × shapeFactor ), where tierPower = 6 / 12 / 20 for tiers 1 / 2 / 3, and shapeFactor = 0.6 for Vortex, else 1.0

Result	Magnitude
Success	basePower + margin ÷ 3
Backfire	max(1, basePower ÷ 2), applied to the caster
Fizzle	0

Rider strength (bleed rate, stun length, debuff size) = max(1, highestTier + margin ÷ 20) when the spell has any magnitude.

Landing an offensive spell¶

A formed Bolt or Vortex still has to hit. A second endroll mirrors melee:

spell AS = 80 + level × 2 + skill · endroll = d100 + (spell AS − target defense), hit on > 100

Self spells and backfires skip this stage (they have no defender). The base of 80 means a well-formed spell reliably hits an ordinary target; misses come from a target's real evasion or warding.

Worked cast — level 10 Wizard, Fire Lore 25, AUR +20, casting BOLTAR IGNAGA

Difficulty = 20 + 8×3 = 44. skill = round(3×25) + 20 = 95. Even a low d100 of 10 gives castRoll 105, margin +61 → comfortable success; magnitude = basePower(20) + 61÷3 = 20 + 20 = 40, with a strong burn rider. The spell then rolls to land: spell AS = 80 + 20 + 95 = 195, almost always a hit.

Learning words¶

Path	How	Risk
Train the lore	Each rank raises your cast roll and lifts your safe tier (1 → 10 → 25). Tier-1 words come with the first rank.	None — the steady path
Dare it (discovery)	Speak a word above your safe tier and succeed with margin ≥ 30; you permanently grasp that word's tier in that domain.	Failure backfires
Read a scroll	`READ` (`STUDY`) a spell scroll to nudge yourself one tier toward its words.	None — slow
Learn from a mentor	`LEARN` asks a mentor NPC in the room to teach a word; gated by rapport built through `FEED`/`TALK`.	None — requires trust

A discovered tier stacks with your lore rank: your effective safe tier is the higher of the two.

Convenience ladder¶

INCANT <words> — raw composition; always available.
SCRIBE <name> <words> — saves the composition to your repertoire and drops a physical scroll at your feet. INVOKE <name> [target] then casts it (from repertoire, or a scroll you hold or stand on). Scrolls are real items: loot, trade, or READ them.
MEMORIZE <name> <words> — holds it in a limited mental slot (capacity scales with Logic and Discipline). CAST <name> [target] releases it at half roundtime; FORGET <name> frees the slot.

SCRIBE firebolt BOLTAR IGNIS
INVOKE firebolt kobold
MEMORIZE iceshard BOLTAR AQUIS
CAST iceshard kobold

SPELLS (MAGIC) shows your forms, each domain's rank and safe tier, your memorized spells, and which words are learned versus risky.

Restrictions¶

Offensive spells (Bolt, Vortex) strike only hostile creatures — never townsfolk or players.
Some rooms carry a no-magic flag; incantations fail there.
Mana and roundtime are spent whether the spell lands or not.

Casting in armor¶

Armor fights the gestures. Every CAST or INCANT made in worn armor risks being swallowed outright — the mana and roundtime are already spent; the spell simply dies in your hands:

Armor group	Untrained	Floor (fully trained)
cloth / robes	—	—
leather	6%	0%
scale	15%	5%
chain	25%	10%
plate	50%	25%

Training Armor Use buys the risk down (1% per 2 skill bonus — plate reaches its floor at 10 ranks), but the floor never trains away: chain and plate always carry some risk. Scrolls and wands are item activations, not castings — INVOKE and WAVE work fine in full plate. Casters who must wear metal learn to respect the leathers.

Scrolls & wands — magic for everyone¶

Charged items carry circle spells any profession can loose — no mana, no spell knowledge. A found vellum scroll is read aloud with INVOKE <scroll>; the Arcane Symbols skill gates it (ranks at least the spell's slot number). A wand answers to WAVE [wand] [at <target>] through Magic Item Use, the same way. Charges spend per use, and the spent vessel crumbles to ash. Treasure boxes drop them from tier 3 up; the temples sell blessing scrolls, the apothecaries a healing scroll, and the travelling tinker carries a wand or two. A Warrior with a wand of Minor Shock is a Warrior with lightning.

Two more disciplines round out the magic-adjacent studies: Spell Aiming trains your bolt attack (fired bolts aim with it or your circle ranks, whichever is better), and the Mana Controls (Elemental / Mental / Spirit) let you SEND <amount> <player> — pouring mana into a companion at 50% + 2% per rank efficiency (cap 95%; transfer is never perfectly lossless) — while quietly deepening your own pool.

The Rediscovery¶

The Lanternkeepers' numbering always carried more spells than this age could cast — slots that refused with "not yet rediscovered." A great tranche of them has now come back, restored from the old corpus across all twelve circles (over forty spells, ~155 castable in all). Highlights:

Wizards feast: 909 Tremors, 911 Mass Blur, 914 Firestorm, 916 Invisibility (the eye slides off you — a mighty bonus to hiding), 917 Boil Earth, 912 Call Wind.
The field crafts join the weave. New buff lines aid rolls the game already makes: 112 Water Walking (swimming), 618 Mobility (climbing — yes, it works on the Sunstead Steps, and on ice), 603 Foraging, 604 Skinning.
512 Ice Patch glazes the room's floor for a while — a real, slippery footing hazard under everyone who enters. Wizards versus doorways: solved.
417 Elemental Dispel tears a live magical effect off the target. The winds — 207 Purify Air, 612 Breeze, 912 Call Wind — clear a room's hanging trap-gas.
Crowd law: 201 Calm, 501 Sleep, 1001 Holding Song, 1005 Lullabye, 212 Interference.
The dark answers to 205 Light — a conjured glow the pitch-black places count as a carried lamp — and to 206 Darkness, which smothers a room's light for a while.
920 Call Familiar — the wizard's oldest company. The first cast opens a door the width of a thought and binds a spirit-familiar (an owl, cat, marten, raven, or stoat — the call decides) as a true pet: it follows, perches, feeds, and can be RELEASEd. Later casts recall it to your side from anywhere in the world. One familiar per wizard, and losing one is losing one.
Steel-side blessings: 304 Holy Blade, 411 Elemental Blade, 915 Weapon Fire, 902 Minor Elemental Edge, 1605 Arm of the Kindled, 216 Frenzy.
Area wrath: 314 Interdiction, 518 Cone of Elements, 914 Firestorm, 909 Tremors.
And the rest: 104/105 Resistances, 106 Spirit Fog, 115 Spirit Burst, 310 Warding Sphere, 402 Presence, 412 Weapon Deflection, 513 Elemental Focus, 609 Sunburst, 703 Corrupt Essence, 706 Mind Jolt, 715 Curse, 1004 Purification Song, 1107 Adrenal Surge, 1201 Force Orb, 1205 Soothing Word, 1207 Force Projection, 1603 Faith's Clarity.

Ranks you already held toward these slots count immediately — if you trained past a gap, the spell is simply yours now. Scroll and wand treasure draws from the same catalog, so the rediscovered spells turn up in boxes too.