Spells and magic are always difficult to explain from the writer to the reader, so I’ll give it my best shot.
The spell arctypes within Wicthwine are Missile, Orb, and Manipulation. The spell arctypes within Myrten are Creation, Illusion, and Law.
Most spell subtypes can pass through static physical objects with some ease, and hold little or no mass or matter, but can be easily manipulated by objects in motion or other spells with greater thaumaturgic power. The only exceptions to this are that spells can never pass through natural ground, and will struggle to impale manmade objects. A spell dissipates or explodes once the caster can no longer visibly see it, and spells cannot be cast in a place where the caster cannot see, including in pitch-black darkness.
The Wicthwine spell arctypes require the user to have an intellectual capacity to contribute to their inner thaumic pool of energy, known as Mana, to be able to cast the spell (Manipulation also require some physical capacity as well). If the caster doesn’t have enough Mana to supply to a spell, the spell will siphon physical energy out of their body, known as Mere, until they become malnourished and die; there is no reverse to this effect. Thus, most thaumaturgists are cautious to try new spell powers that they are unsure if they can cast, because if they mess up, it means death, and no turning back. Mana is restored through rest and nutrition, but Wicthwine spells take a very small percentage of Mana, so a master of thaumaturgy can fight for hours before they run out of Mana, and even a novice would be able to cast dozens of spells before tiring.
With the Myrten spell arctypes, however, the pool can become depleted without the user’s death, and restored by rest and nutrition. If a caster’s Mana is gone, and they try to cast a spell requiring more Mana, the spell will start to take from the Mere pool to try to supplement for power, but this effect can be treated by rest and nutrition, unlike Wicthwine spells, so long as it is not dire. Myrten spells first take from the stores of Mana then take from the stores of Mere in terms of energy consumption, but only take all of the Mere if the user is not powerful enough in terms of both pools. The Law spell cannot be cast with the user’s Mana alone, and must take the complete Mana and Mere of another sentient being (usually fellow humans, but in the old ages dragons were also sacrificed), killing it in the process and injuring or killing the caster as well (this is elaborated below). Myrten spells require much more Mana than Wicthwine spells, but can also take from Mere, balancing out the two different systems.
Missile is a laser sort of spell, about the length of an average arrow shaft, but diameter varies with the power of the caster. Picture a long cylinder with cones stuck on the base faces of it, and that’s what a missile spell looks like. Or, at least, close to it. It is a solid piece, not hollow. It can impale objects, usually stopping at hard material like solid rock or bone. It can hurt quite a bit, depending on its velocity, and might even pass through and obliterate bones. It’s mostly impaling and stabbing kind of action. Missile has the highest capable velocity of all three Wicthwine spells (a novice can achieve from 15-32 kph (9-20 mph) while a master can achieve 60-105 kph (37-65 mph)), and is the only one that can accelerate its velocity midflight.
Orb is a literal orb; a sphere, impossibly smooth, and hollow. It can be commanded to be active or to dissipate at the caster’s command, unlike Missile. Imagine being hit with a cannon ball, and that’s what an Orb spell feels like. This is usually for blunt and crushing damage, and can even be used in substitution of catapults and battering rams if the caster is powerful enough. It has the slowest speed of the spells, getting from 10 kph in beginners to 72 kph in master (6 mph to 45 mph).
Manipulation is a spell only acquired through heritage from the old Wurm races. Its power comes from not only power of the mind, where thaumic power comes from, but also power in the body. The most common users of this spell are the Outnorthmen, descendants of the Uarnings, an old human race, and the Wurmthings, an old dragon-like race. Manipulation is arguably the most useful and powerful of all three Wicthwine spells. This is justified through its uses: it can be used for creating explosions, avatars, and amplification. Explosions can range anywhere from a diameter of 10 centimeters to 10 meters, and are composed of thaumic energy, not fire like a bomb. The explosion works in a crushing and imploding way, so it can be used to crush limbs and shields, but also can be used to condense industrial materials. However, explosion is technically an invisible projectile, and takes time to reach its destination. The velocity varies in power of the caster. Avatars are another aspect of the Manipulation spell; casters can create an ethereal object, including a ragdoll-like copy of him/herself, that can act as a weapon, but it has little other uses than destruction or distraction. There is also amplification, which is simply used to amplify their hearing or their voice, and can even direct their voice to be heard in only one direction.
There are six subtypes to the Missile and Orb spells: Normal, Illuminate, Health, Death, Feint, and Counter.
Normal spells go forward from the caster’s palm(s) and can theoretically reach the speed of sound. Spells do not obey the laws of physics, and as such Normal spells and all other subtypes do not have mass or weight, but do have net force and can be manipulated by outside forces, such as its velocity stopping when hitting a wall. Normal spells can deflect other spells if the size and velocity adds up to be greater than the other spell’s size and velocity, because every action has an equal and opposite reaction, as we all know, and though spells have weird physics, they do obey this law when it comes to interaction with outside force. Normal spells also make a sound when cast; in the case of Missile, it is a fiery, snapping sound, and in the case of Orb, it is a watery, slushing sound. It also glows slightly, but not enough to light anything around it significantly.
Illuminate spells are like Normal spells, but do not rush forward as fast as normal spells do and emit a bright light. Depending on the skill of the caster, it can range from soft candlelight to bright starlight. It can’t deflect other spells.
Health spells are not physical and can pass through objects so long as the caster sees the destination. With the Health subtype, the more basic and novice the spell, the more stinging or burning the victim of the spell feels, and the less it heals the victim’s wounds. Originally, during the dragons’ time, Health spells had an overwhelming amount of burning in order to render the victim unconscious so a surgery can be performed, but Law spell users have changed this to a lessened stinging, so casters can cast Health spells on themselves without passing out. It can’t deflect other spells.
Death spells are physical like Normal spells but can reach higher velocities and can pulverize objects in its path, and also make no sound when being cast, at the cost of requiring more Mana. Death spells also emit no light. It can’t deflect other spells.
Feint spells are not physical, do no harm, and require no Mana; even an infant thaumaturgist could pull this off if they focused long enough. It is used only to fool an enemy that the caster is casting a Normal spell. It also glows like the Normal spell does. It can’t deflect other spells.
Counter spells are not physical and can’t hit and object, but can deflect incoming spells without needing a greater velocity than the incoming spell. Counter spells cost as much Mana as Normal spells, but considering it can stop the advancement of an incoming spell without needing much of a velocity, it’s considered to still be incredibly useful. This is usually only used with Orb, however, as Missile is difficult to stretch enough to make a shield, but with Missile it can still hit another spell and slow that down, just not completely stop it.
Onto the Myrten spell arctypes.
Creation spells are simple: the user can create an object of any shape or size for as long as they have the Mana to hold the spell, but the bigger the object and also the factor of solidity or hollowness makes the object cost more Mana. The object will be projected and physical for as long as the caster has Mana to take from, because the Mana is continuously used during the duration of the spell. The spell can dissipate once the caster commands it, or if the caster goes unconscious or the object isn’t in the caster’s line of sight. Objects can become animated and controlled to the caster’s command, much like the Avatar subtype of the Manipulation spell. Objects include, but are not limited to, sword, fire, fireball, water, ice, ragdoll human, ragdoll animal, rock, or tree. Pretty much anything imaginable can be made.
Illusion spells are Creation spells, only not physical. They can also be animated and cost less Mana than Creation spells.
Law spells are the center of all thaumaturgic abilities and the governing laws. A Law spell gives the user godlike abilities, but it can only be used to change one of the laws of thaumaturgy (for instance, the law that Wicthwine spells kill the caster if they don’t have enough Mana). To cast the spell, the caster must first find a sentient being to sacrifice. In the earliest days of thaumaturgists, Wurms were sacrificed, and even before then, Dragons sacrificed themselves in religious rituals in order to cast a Law spell. Usually, today, a human would be sacrificed, unless if the caster found a phantom or wraith to sacrifice, but those aren’t common in Wicthwine or Myrten lands. Once a suitable sentient is found and detained, the caster may cast the spell, using one palm to take all Mana and Mere from the sacrifice and the other palm to take some of their own Mana (and if they have a small Mana pool)
Some backstory on Law spells: it was only known to the Dragons, but not their cousins the Drakes and Wurms, nor their descendants of thaumaturgists when they bred with humans, but once the dragon races were going extinct, it was passed down by a Phoenix Dragon to one single family of thaumaturgists: the Ryri family, an ancient Myrten human family. The first Ryri to significantly use the Law spell was Anlawelers, a name literally meaning “Law Keeper.” Anlawelers also create the first form of artificial, manmade life, by using the Law spell to create the Creation spell, and she made her first descendant, a humanlike being known as a lers Ryri. From then on, Anlawelers took the ‘lers’ out of her name to become Anlawe, and gave it to her surname, so she was Anlawe lers Ryri, and her children would be known as the species of “lers Ryri”, or Keepers of Ryri. She then gave laws to all uses of thaumaturgy, making the Wicthwine thaumaturgists and Myrten thaumaturgists follow two different sets of rules. Over the centuries the laws have been subtly changed by the lers Ryri, but essentially the laws have stayed as-is since Anlawe’s time.
Now, every Wicthwine thaumaturgist can only know one spell arctype (Missile, Orb, or Manipulate) in their lifetime, save for the royal Scentral bloodline, royal Freir bloodline, and others descended directly from the Dragons (Scentral from the Draeksong Dragon Queen, Freir from the Drassong Dragon Queen). Manipulate cannot be learned, only known from birth. Myrten thaumaturgists can learn both Creation and Illusion, but can’t learn any Wicthwine spells. The only ones to know both Wicthwine and Myrten spells are the royal bloodlines and the lers Ryri.
Missile is most common in the Outnorth Scentral Province (North Macdha), North country (PDNP & Macsing tribes), Central Scentral Province (Scentral), East Scentral Provinceand Scoffing Tribe. Orb is most common in the West country (Macdha Country), East country (Dongguo & Gongren tribes), Island tribes, and some of the Southern tribes. Manipulation is seen only in the Outnorth slave soldiers because Scentral sent all known Wurmthing descendants to slave camps, and they were successful in doing that, so all Manipulation users are slaves to the Emprie.
That’s it with spells, then. I’ll see you in the next issue!
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