Magic Overview

The Awakening

1805. A family of settlers is crossing the plains of the Midwest at dawn when the ground starts to shake: a vast buffalo herd, running with unnatural speed, bears down on their wagon. With nowhere to go, the mother begins to pray, and the father and children join in. As the lead beast reaches them, a soft white light pulses out from between them in time with their words and spreads over the wagon like a shield, turning the stampede aside. When the dust settles, the light fades. "A miracle," the mother tells her children. Behind them, unseen, a thin place has opened in the fabric of the world, and wild energy has begun to seep through from somewhere else.

Since that day magic has fueled the world and changed people's lives in unexpected and sometimes fantastic ways. It is not without risk: a Channeler whose skill falls short can lose control of the wild energies and end up somewhere very unexpected.

What Is Magic?

Magic is calling on the wild energy that has bled into the world from the Aether and beyond: drawing it into yourself through force of will, emotional discipline and clear intent, then focusing it to change the physical (and even the metaphysical) world around you.

Every magical effect, whatever it looks like, belongs to one of eight schools and is aimed at an intent: Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy and Transmutation.

In 1805 an event known as the Awakening opened thin places in reality, letting wild energy from the Aether seep into the world. Magic is the act of pulling that energy into yourself through will, emotional discipline and clear intent, and shaping it to change the world. It is powerful, but a Channeler who loses control can trigger dramatic and unpredictable results.

Spells

A spell is a repeatable technique you have practiced: a defined effect belonging to a school and aimed at an intent. Each time you cast, you pick a delivery (how it reaches the world) and draw the energy through the Aether. Every casting requires a Mysticism (Channeling) check against a DC based on the spell's total Strain. A success costs you nothing; a failure still produces the spell, but you take its Strain and trigger a Wild Surge.

• Complexity sets the minimum Mysticism Ranks needed to learn and cast a spell.
• The rules define what a spell does; your Trappings define how it looks and feels.

Cantrips

Cantrips are small, dependable spells. Each has a school and is shaped by Trappings and delivery like any spell, but is deliberately limited in power.

• Base Strain cost: 0.
• In an encounter a cantrip normally costs 2 AP.
• Push: take +1 Strain to cast it for 1 AP instead (for reaction cantrips, 1 RP instead of 2).