EDRulebook: 10 Workings of Magic

MAGICAL THEORY

To fully understand the use of magic in our world, it is necessary to explore the theoretical foundation of how magic interacts with the world.

Understanding magical theory requires a grasp of six key ideas. These are Patterns, Names and Name-Giving, True Patterns, Pattern Knowledge, Pattern Items, and Threads. Of these six, the first five apply mostly to heroes finding and using magical treasure. Quests for magical items may be the main objective of most adventures, and heroes can use the information given here about Patterns, Names and Name-giving, True Patterns, Pattern Knowledge, and Pattern Items to increase their chances for success in their quests. The information on Threads is also used by magicians to cast spells (see Spell Magic). Each of these concepts is described below.

[An Important Event]

PATTERNS

Our world is alive with magical energy, which is ordered into patterns. Because magic permeates everything in the physical world, all people, places, and things have patterns. These patterns allow all things to exist in our magical world, and make it possible for magic to affect or interact with any person, place, or thing.

Any being that wants to use magical energy to cast spells or use talents and other magical abilities must form a tiny part of the magical energy of the world into a pattern. This pattern holds the true form of a magical ability. For example, a pattern may represent the true form of a spell, defining its form, structure, and use, much like a formula. When the magician casts that spell, he is expressing and using the spell’s pattern.

Everything in the world—people, places, and things—can be connected to magical energy through its patterns. However, patterns of people, places, and things are static in nature. Left to themselves, they do not change over time. A pattern only changes by interacting with the magical energies of the world in important ways. When the pattern of a person, place, or thing interacts with magic in an important way, the pattern grows in complexity and power.

NAMES AND NAMING

The act of Naming is important in our world because it focuses the world’s magical forces into a True Pattern. From that moment on the Named person, place, or thing is important in the world. Naming only occurs in conjunction with the interaction of magic and a person, place, or thing. Magic can be introduced deliberately, through a talent, spell, ritual (such as a Weaponsmith’s Forge Weapon talent, or a child’s coming-of-age Naming ritual), or accidentally. The use of powerful magics near a person, place, or thing might spontaneously Name something (the site of a major battle, the grove of trees where a great hero died, and so on).

For example, you may have a name for the stand of common trees behind your home such as “the grove” or “those trees out back,” but there is nothing important about those trees. The stand has its own pattern and, like everything in the world, is inherently magical. But this inherent magic is so weak you do not notice it.

Say that one terrible night a pack of malevolent shadowhounds chases the wounded hero Samaran into that grove of trees. There, despite all the courage, bravery, and strength he can muster, Samaran is slain. The death of a great hero is a sufficiently powerful enough event to focus the forces of magic and give the nameless grove of trees a Name. The no-longer-ordinary stand of trees becomes Samaran’s Demise. It now has a Name, and therefore a True Pattern.

What qualifies an ordinary thing or person for a Name? Association with magic or with some important event confers a Name upon the nameless. The following information describes those things most likely to be Named.

People

As intelligent, aware beings who are Name-givers, people must always have a Name. After all, how can one give a Name without having one? By definition, all Name-givers have Names.

People can be Named, and re-Named, at various stages of their lives. Different cultures Name at different times. In many cultures, Naming occurs just after birth, usually as part of a spiritual ritual. Some cultures allow a child to choose a new Name for him or herself upon reaching majority, including such Naming in a coming-of-age ceremony. In other cultures, a person can choose to be re-Named at any time as a symbol of a new beginning or a new stage of life.

Naming a person forms his or her True Pattern. If that same person is re-Named, his or her True Pattern changes; the power of the magical energy focused on him alters much of what he previously was. This change is more than symbolic; because a person’s talents are made up of threads that weave those talents to his True Pattern. If the True Pattern changes, those threads disappear, and with them, the individual’s ability to use those talents. The person also loses the teachings of his chosen Discipline, as well as any special abilities or protection it brought him. The re-Named person can begin again, and learn an entirely new Discipline (or relearn the old one) but who and what the person was is gone forever. He or she has a new Name, and has become a new person.

Because re-Naming changes virtually everything about the person, few people choose to be re-Named. Legends tell of spells and abilities that allow people to be re-Named without losing what they were, but these remain merely tales.

Places

A place is usually named for its association with an important event or powerful magics. Many cultures have specific Named places for birth and death (usually different places, but not always) to keep from having scores of individually Named places scattered all over town serving the same purpose.

The site of a major battle might be Named, as might the place of a subsequent surrender or treaty signing. A husband and wife might Name the place where they first met. The site of weddings is often Named, for the same reasons as the places of birth and death.

A place where people regularly work powerful magics is often Named. The Naming of such a place contributes to its power, making any magical workings there even stronger . A magician often names his inner sanctum or workplace for this reason.

Places where powerful magics were used, even if only once, also can be Named, though they rarely are. Such a place might be the site of a great battle fought with magic or simply the spot on which a magician stood to cast a high-level spell. Only the highest-ranked spells (Circle 14 or 15) are powerful enough to create a Name, and only dragons and very powerful magicians can cast them.

A great temptation exists to Name places in honor of a powerful individual or creature. But because Naming a place for its association to a person builds an echo of that individual’s True Pattern into the True Pattern of the place, such Naming is discouraged. An item taken from that place could be used as a Pattern Item (see Pattern Items) against that person.

[A Pattern is Born]

Things

Important items and objects are commonly Named when created. Creation of a magical item demands a Name; Naming focuses the magical forces to create the item’s True Pattern. Without its name, the legendary weapon Fireheart would be a simple broadsword, and Orc-Cleaver nothing more than a well-made dwarven axe.

Non-magical items can also be Named, usually by a person who wants to link personal items more strongly to himself. For example, an ordinary person aspiring to become a warrior might Name his weapon: this is a heroic thing to do, and the self-confidence such an act would inspire might spur the person to perform heroic deeds. This kind of minor Naming also poses a disadvantage; the item automatically becomes a Pattern Item for that individual (see Pattern Items).

TRUE PATTERNS

As stated above, everything in the world has a pattern that defines its form, structure, and use. The patterns of important people, places, and things are known as True Patterns. A True Pattern can be viewed as a blueprint for what it represents. True Patterns not only define physical nature (like a builder’s plan for a house), but metaphysical nature as well: how a person, place, or thing is formed by and interacts with the magical world. A person’s True Pattern defines that person’s abilities, talents, skills, knowledge, psychology, and history. All that the person is makes up his True Pattern. The same holds true for places or things; everything that defines that place or thing from the moment of its creation up to the present moment is woven into its True Pattern.

Only Named things have a True Pattern (see Names and Naming). Un-Named things have a pattern (everything in existence does), but these patterns are less complex and powerful than a True Pattern. Naming gives a pattern its power.

A True Pattern identifies an entity, place, or object as an individual, something separate from others of its type. True Patterns consist of three intertwined parts:

The name associated with the pattern, usually what we would refer to as a proper noun.
A history of that pattern; interactions with magic, significant events, important behaviors.
Rules or ways in which the pattern uses, is affected by, or interacts with magic.

A True Pattern designates a specific person, place, or thing, along with its history and ways of interacting with magic. A person, place, or thing can have only one True Pattern.

For example, dwarven magicians tell their apprentices that a True Pattern is the sum of an individual’s important interactions with magic, behaviors that affect an individual’s use of magic, and a record of events that led to his or her use of magic. The True Pattern defines everything magically important about the individual, what the individual has done/can do that is important to magic, what magic has done/can do that is important to the individual.

Because True Patterns represent things that interact with magic, they change over time. The True Pattern of a person, place, or thing is dynamic, changing as it continues to interact with the magical energies of the world.

Because a True Pattern contains the information that defines the person, place, or thing, a skillful magician or Adept can use the knowledge gained from that True Pattern to his or her advantage. Knowledge of a True Pattern brings insights into the person, place, or thing to whom the True Pattern belongs. And knowledge, some say, is a form of power. But before a person can use a True Pattern to affect another person, place, or thing, he must first learn its Pattern Knowledge.

PATTERN KNOWLEDGE

Pattern Knowledge is the specific knowledge contained in a True Pattern. This includes its Name, all events in the True Pattern’s history, and how it has interacted with magic.

The Pattern Knowledge of a True Pattern is made up of Key Knowledges. Each Key Knowledge represents one specific piece of information about the True Pattern. Together, all the Key Knowledges of a True Pattern form its Pattern Knowledge. Only rarely can an entire Pattern Knowledge of a True Pattern be learned; most True Patterns have too many Key Knowledges to be learned in the course of a single lifetime.

Key Knowledges can take many forms. For example, the Key Knowledges of a certain place might include the Name of the place, the name of the last person to die in that place, and the date the place was built. The Key Knowledges of a person might include his place of birth, his strong hatred for another person or persons, and the Name of his favorite weapon.

PATTERN ITEMS

People and places with True Patterns may become associated with items that reflect the knowledge stored in their patterns. Usually personal possessions or items directly associated with the person or place. These items are called Pattern Items. Objects cannot have Pattern Items associated with their True Pattern; an object is its own Pattern Item.

Study and examination of the magics present in a Pattern Item yields insights into the True Pattern that influenced it. Think of a Pattern Item as a keyhole through which the True Pattern can be viewed. Though restricted, such a view can enable a magician or Adept to grasp the Key Knowledges of a True Pattern.

Proximity to or association with the True Pattern infuses an item with the magics needed to make it a Pattern Item. Because magic itself does this, the magician or Adept rarely controls which items become Pattern Items.

Because a Pattern Item contains a bit of a True Pattern’s Pattern Knowledge, anyone trying to affect the True Pattern must have a Pattern Item in order to weave a thread between two True Patterns. The Pattern Item serves as a material source of Key Knowledge.

There are three classes of Pattern Items: Minor, Major, and Core Pattern Items. Each is described below.

Minor Pattern Items

The weakest of the three types, Minor Pattern Items are also the most difficult to use to find Key Knowledges because their link to the True Pattern is the most tenuous. A Minor Pattern Item has no distinctive physical appearance. The proper magical inquiry will reveal its magical properties, but it has no increased resistance to damage or any other special properties.

Minor Pattern Items are usually spontaneously created by the whims of magic, objects that gain a True Pattern through constant proximity to the use of magic. They often seem to be peripheral elements; personal possessions, minor features of a place, and so on. A magician’s walking stick might become a Minor Pattern Item, as might a stone from a tavern where a questor of Garlen regularly performs healing for travelers and townsfolk. Minor Pattern Items tend to be physically important to the person or place, but rarely have any other importance.

Major Pattern Items

Major Pattern Items have a stronger connection to the True Pattern. The stronger, more direct magical link between the True Pattern and the Pattern Item makes them easier to use to gain knowledge about the True Pattern. Major Pattern Items are also more resistant to damage than that same item would be if it lacked magical energy. For example, books serving as Pattern Items might singe but not burn, or vials might only crack under conditions that would normally shatter them. Though it takes more effort to destroy them, Major Pattern Items are not indestructible.

Major Pattern Items must almost always be deliberately created. They only spontaneously occur in connection with significant events or magics. A Minor Pattern Item can transform into a Major Pattern Item if that item grows in significance in relation to its True Pattern, provided that the Minor Pattern Item has existed for at least one season (three months) prior to the transformation and that it remains in contact with or in proximity to the True Pattern. Major Pattern Items are almost always items of psychological importance to the person or place; a favorite weapon, a coat of arms signifying a great hall, and so on.

Core Pattern Items

Core Pattern Items have the strongest connection to the True Pattern. Like Major Pattern Items, they are rarely created spontaneously, but their creation invariably marks a significant event or turning point in the life of the person or place. Magical energy is most concentrated in Core Pattern Items, and they prove the most easily and effectively used for accessing a Key Knowledge of the True Pattern. Core Pattern Items are as durable as Major Pattern Items, but have two additional magical advantages. The first is the aura of luck that seems to surround them. If it is possible to save a Core Pattern Item from destruction, events often seem to arrange themselves in a way that saves the item. Fate and Lady Luck are on its side.

In its second advantage, if a Core Pattern Item is destroyed, the True Pattern it reflects will act upon the magical energies in the world to recreate the item. Recreating the item takes anywhere from a few days to a year and a day, averaging three to seven months. A Core Pattern Item may appear anywhere after the magical world recreates it.

Major Pattern Items can transform into Core Pattern Items, but only if the item continually grows in importance to the person or place and has existed for at least a year and a day. Core Pattern Items have intrinsic spiritual significance for the person or place, representing who or what they are in every respect. For example, a king’s crown could be a Core Pattern Item for the king to whom it belongs.

Troubadours sing many stories of unusual Pattern Items, items that seem to have little connection with the person or place they represent. The troubadours sing about these items because they are the exception rather than the rule. Most Pattern Items are common, familiar objects transformed because of their importance to a person or place.

THREADS

The magical energy flowing through our world can be separated into strands called threads. These threads can then be “woven” and used to better perform specific tasks. For example, magicians use threads to supply the power needed for their more complex spellcastings. Adepts use threads to activate magical items’ special powers and capabilities. (In this case, knowledge of an item’s history is key to the actual weaving of the threads. Without that knowledge, an Adept cannot weave the thread that will give the item power, and the item remains inert. But that discussion belongs elsewhere.) The use of threads in this manner, to give power to complex spells and magical items, is called, appropriately enough, Thread Magic.

Threads are created from the magical energies of astral space using the mystical talent of thread weaving. Each magical Discipline has its own variation of this talent that reflects the unique nature of that Discipline. Threads woven into existing Patterns, whether the Pattern of a spell, the Pattern of a magical item, or the Pattern of an ability, power and strengthen that Pattern. The magical energy fed into the Pattern through the woven thread enhances the Pattern and increases its potential. For example, each talent a hero possesses has a Pattern that is part of his or her True Pattern. As the hero becomes more experienced or more legendary, he weaves more threads to the talent, increasing that talent’s potential. As each talent Pattern is strengthened, the hero’s True Pattern becomes stronger and more durable.

SPELL MATRICES

When using spell magic, magicians often use astral constructs called spell matrices. A spell matrix is a structure of energy that exists solely in astral space and functions as a sort of container. Through a process known as attuning, magicians can shape a matrix into a mimicry of a known spell’s Pattern. Once this has been done, the magician can cast that spell repeatedly simply by drawing magical energy through the matrix. If the magician wishes to cast a different spell using that matrix, the matrix must be reattuned to reflect the new spell. Magicians can have multiple spell matrices, attuned as they wish, depending on their personal talent abilities.

The spell matrix was created as an alternative to directly shaping and using the raw magic of astral space. That technique killed many magicians during this and the last magical age. During and after the Scourge, spell matrices served two additional purposes. The first was to protect and shield a spell’s pure astral energy from the polluted energy of astral space itself. (See The Nature of Astral Space). The second was to dampen that spell’s “echo” in astral space and thus reduce the matrix’s and magician’s vulnerability to Horrors. The working of magic, the manipulation of pure astral energy, acts as a beacon to Horrors. By using a spell matrix, that beacon is dimmed. Before this dampening effect was perfected, some magicians took to “hiding” their spell matrices in physical objects to conceal them from the Horrors. Of course, if the item was lost or damaged, the matrices were lost with it.

Some spells are too complex for a simple spell matrix. When a spell matrix is attuned to reflect these more complex spells the mimic-Pattern of the matrix is created using a sort of “shorthand”. This abbreviated version allows the matrix to reflect the entirety of the complex spell’s own Pattern, but the magician cannot cast the spell with this form of the matrix. The magician must weave additional threads of power (the exact number dependent on the complexity of the spell) into the matrix. These threads power the matrix and expand its capabilities temporarily so that the complex spell can be properly cast. Once the threads have been woven, the spell must be cast. Once the spell is cast, the matrix returns to its “compressed” state. Each time the magician casts that spell, he must once again weave the required threads to provide the power for the spell.