Magic

Magic in Kanturas is rare, powerful and closely regulated. It influences warfare, government, religion, medicine and everyday life, although most inhabitants of Kanturas will never personally perform a magical working.

There are two principal magical traditions: the inherited and scholarly Eightfold Art, and the ritualised agreements of Pactwork. Several specialised disciplines, including Druidism, Necromancy and the use of Oneirite, developed from these traditions.

The Eightfold Art

The Eightfold Art encompasses Sorcery, Wizardry and Druidism.

Sorcery is the inherited capacity to draw upon the magical force called the First Breath. This capacity is known as the Kindling. A person born with the Kindling is a sorcerer, but cannot reliably cast spells without education.

Wizardry is the learned discipline through which a sorcerer gives the First Breath a controlled Form. Wizards use precise combinations of movement, posture, breathing, visualisation and spoken formulae. Because Forms require unrestricted movement, a wizard cannot cast while wearing armour.

A sorcerer's discipline is determined by the phase of the moon at their first independent breath:

Lunar phase	Discipline	Principal abilities
New Moon	Stone Wizardry	Shaping stone, reinforcing structures and breaking masonry
Waxing Crescent	Water Wizardry	Moving and shaping existing liquid water
First Quarter	Lightning Wizardry	Lightning, thunder and electrical charge
Waxing Gibbous	Rising Fire Wizardry	Ignition, expanding flames and explosive fireballs
Full Moon	Druidism	Transformation into natural animals
Waning Gibbous	Falling Fire Wizardry	Controlled combustion, consuming flames, smoke and extinguishing fire
Last Quarter	Ice Wizardry	Extracting heat, freezing moisture and creating frost
Waning Crescent	Sand Wizardry	Moving loose sand, creating blinding clouds and accelerating erosion

Wizardry causes physical strain known as The Burn. Every discipline injures its practitioners differently. Fire may produce fever and burns, Lightning may damage the nerves and heart, while Druidism may gradually weaken the caster's certainty about their natural shape.

Druidism

Druidism is the Full Moon discipline of the Eightfold Art. Its practitioners, called Druids, transform themselves into natural animals through living Forms.

Every Druid begins with a single True Shape. Additional shapes require years of anatomical, behavioural and magical study. Druids cannot become Dragons, Chityra, imaginary monsters or specific individuals.

Druidism is particularly respected among the Norsidh. Their ancestral were-forms are not themselves Druidism, but Norsidh Druids may learn animal shapes beyond their inherited bear, wolf or cat form.

The Null Aspect

A Kindled child born beneath a solar eclipse develops the exceptionally rare Null Aspect instead of one of the eight ordinary disciplines. Such individuals are known as Eclipseborn.

Eclipseborn cannot control an element. They perform Counter-Forms that interrupt, suppress or absorb the Wizardry of others. Their abilities are used by Idhelin's secretive Umbral Guard.

The physical damage caused by Null magic is called The Hollowing.

Pactwork

Pactwork is the art of negotiating agreements with spirits, ancestors and inhuman powers. Unlike Sorcery, it does not require the Kindling and is not determined by the moon.

A Pactwright constructs a working through runes, circles, names, offerings, boundaries and conditions of release. Every successful pact requires a personal price. Spirits may demand pain, warmth, sleep, tears, memories, years of life or permanent obligations.

Pactwork is slower than Wizardry but can accomplish things beyond the Eightfold Art. It may contact the dead, bind supernatural agreements, influence memory, uncover hidden knowledge or invite a spirit to act within the world.

Important branches and applications include:

• Ritual Pactwork — the direct negotiation and performance of a pact.
• Battle Pactwork — wards, bindings and prepared workings used during warfare.
• Healing Pactwork — agreements used to preserve life or assist recovery.
• Witness Pactwork — supernatural witnessing of contracts, testimony and identity.
• Necromancy — forbidden rites used to question or farewell the dead.
• Oneirite Pactwork — the storage of a completed agreement within oneirite.

Oneirite

Oneirite is a rare form of salt crystal infected by the lucid-dreaming fungus Arcadia Mycota. Under exceptional conditions, the fungus causes the salt to form a crystalline structure capable of holding a completed pact.

Oneirite is not a separate source of magic. It is a means of preparing Pactwork in advance.

A properly inscribed oneirite shard releases its working when broken. Military shards may explode, silence an area, reinforce a position or delay death. This allows soldiers without the Kindling to carry magical effects into battle.

Illegal oneirite is used for smuggling, assassination and Necromancy.

Necromancy

Necromancy is a prohibited branch of Pactwork concerned with temporary communication with the dead.

Necromancy cannot resurrect the deceased or create an undead army. Its principal rites are:

• The Last Audience, through which the dead may say farewell voluntarily.
• The Black Deposition, through which the dead are compelled to answer questions.

The dead cannot act physically and know only what they knew or believed while alive. They may lie, misremember or refuse to cooperate.

Necromantic rites commonly consume the living participant's memories. Tradition permits no more than nine questions:

Nine questions reach the dead. The tenth asks what followed them.

Innate supernatural abilities

Some beings possess powers that are not classified as Human magical disciplines. Dragons, ancestor spirits and certain other inhuman entities may alter their shape, perceive hidden things or influence the world without performing Wizardly Forms.

These abilities are not necessarily Sorcery or Pactwork. In many cases, scholars do not understand their source or limitations.

The abilities of the Chityran Chorus are similarly disputed. The Chorus can exchange memories, sensations and warnings across many bodies, but whether this is magic, shared consciousness or a consequence of the Great Extinguishing remains uncertain.

The principal distinction

The two great magical traditions are commonly distinguished through a simple comparison:

Wizardry shapes the power already within the world. Pactwork asks something beyond the world to intervene.

A wizard may burn through a locked door.

A Pactwright may persuade the door that it was never closed.

See also

• Eightfold Art
• Sorcery
• Wizardry
• Stone Wizardry
• Water Wizardry
• Lightning Wizardry
• Rising Fire Wizardry
• Druidism
• Falling Fire Wizardry
• Ice Wizardry
• Sand Wizardry
• Null Aspect
• Eclipseborn
• Umbral Guard
• Pactwork
• Ritual Pactwork
• Battle Pactwork
• Healing Pactwork
• Witness Pactwork
• Oneirite Pactwork
• Oneirite
• Necromancy
• Arcadia Mycota
• First Breath
• The Kindling
• The Burn
• The Hollowing