“From beyond the firmament there are things from which all amidst humanity can say, ‘no eye has seen, no hand has touched, no ear has heard, nor mind has thought!’ These shall be delivered unto you from those whose eyes have witnessed, whose hands have wrought, whose ears have tuned, whose minds have dreamt of them.”
— A passage from a High Marathan papyrus titled ‘The Virtues of Heresy’.
Magic in the world of Yiegdra is a force hard bargained for, something to prove the prowess of gods and the hubris of humanity. Its power is unique and awe inspiring, but has yet to supplant the rule of iron, and so, kingdoms are raised and felled by legions of soldiers, not through the work of miracles. There is but a solitary source of magic throughout the world, but the methods of interaction are twofold: theurgy and thaumaturgy. Theurgy entreats gods long worshipped to invoke their power within the physical world, while thaumaturgy relies on a self-deifying process to ape the performance of a miracle without prayer. Regardless of the method chosen, the means are always the same: magic does not exist here and must be allowed entrance by use of a inscribed threshold, commonly referred to as a Gate. Gates allow an exchange to take place between the physical and the metaphysical with the ultimate result of this exchange being the foundation of the arcane.
Gates and Keys
Whether it be as small as a keyhole or wide as a caldera, Gates serve as both physical and spiritual junctions where humanity’s home can intersect with the domain of their gods. Gates always present as thresholds of some variety, their edges lined with glyphs that reckon with no spoken tongue, but are necessary for the confluence of planes to occur. When presented with a Key (an object bearing a symbol specific to the god or thaumaturgist being invoked), a Gate will open and allow clergy to present offerings or potentially commune. Depending on the particular construction of a Gate, they will require regular maintenance in order to function appropriately, or else break down and begin to exert unguided influence on the world around it. It is for this reason that the creation of new Gates is frowned upon and regarded as a wholly unnecessary risk. Keys are the way that Gates are opened, but also act as conduits through which a Gate’s power can be transmitted. So long as the Gate to which a Key is bound still functions, a theurgist or thaumaturgist wielding such a Key may perform magic. The degradation or destruction of a Key has a marginal effect on the world as to be nearly unnoticeable.
Theurgy
Ancient rites spoken not in the tongues of men, but the tongues of gods form the basis for the invocation of a miracle by a theurgist. Every church possessing clergy who invoke the divine also possess particular sets of rites that lack appropriate translations or transcriptions, instead being transliterated into something easier for the minds of mortals to grasp. The gods above are not so easily swayed and must be convinced of a theurgist’s devotion through the appropriate sacrifice of goods via a Gate, an act that if performed properly results in favor. With the appropriate prayer, Key, and sufficient favor a theurgist can beg the work of miracles from their god.
Thaumaturgy
In contrast to theurgy, but certainly borne of it, the work of a thaumaturge is that of a meddling tinkerer who acts as their own god. These mages are artificers of the arcane, able to work magic without intervention of any others, albeit on a much smaller scale and at great personal sacrifice. The creation of a thaumaturgist’s personal Gate requires a piece of themselves to be left behind as an anchor within their domain that was hewn from the void. As thaumaturgy finds no use in spoken rites, it forgoes it in favor of somatic movements, fluctuations of one’s own body and hands so as to pluck the pieces of a spell directly from the ether, then assemble them into the desired effect in the material. Despite its apparent advantages of flexibility, these spells still require the possession of an appropriately linked Key and must be worked in advance of being cast as they take time to form.
Additional Notes
As magic functions quite differently in various settings, it is in everyone’s best interest that it be made clear what can and cannot be performed by it. The following list describes what magic is not capable of and should illuminate the extent of its functions:
- “Charm” style effects (ie, Detect Thoughts or Charm Person)
- Teleportation (ie, Misty Step or Teleportation Circle)
- Healing or resurrection (ie, Reincarnation or Cure Wounds)
- Truth determination (ie, Truesight or Zone of Truth)
- Extended flight (ie, Fly or Levitate)
- Perfect transmutation or fabrication (ie, lead to gold)
- Flesh shaping (ie, adjusting appearances infallibly or accurately)