Earth Mage

Wearers of robes made of soil and dirt who connect to the earth itself and draw up the kazaddarean, which they channel through staves and use to control stone and loam. They are usually covered in dirt.

Twelve Perfect Stones

There are twelve kinds of stone which are either made of pure kazaddarean or have it in the strongest, purest quantity. They are

• Granite
• Schist
• Flint
• Galena
• Geodes: hollow stones filled with crystals which have a vast importance to earth magic.
• Khreoc: bauxite potent with earthpower.
• Umgyead: found deep underground among the chthonians, it is sacred to them and considered their symbol.
• Ianthinis: jasper potent with kazaddarean.
• Nekkuar: flint potent with kazaddarean. Sometimes called the "Bones of the World" or ultraflint.
• Akaz: kazaddarean viridianites, elementals of earth.
• Odzib: diamond potent with kazaddarean. Only found in the Low Mines.
• Alatyr: a unique stone considered the "Father of All Stones".

Though not one of the twelve perfect stones, an omphalos is a stone that sits at the center of each continent. These are potent with earthpower and thus also important to earth mages.

Earth Magic

All earth mages must learn earth magic from another who knows it. Part of their training is to learn about earth and stone, geology and agriscience, and the geological history of the world. They must also seek out their own geode.

Earth Communion

To become an earth mage, one must commune with the soil and rock. To do this, one must connect with all twelve layers of earth, either by visiting them or using something that appropriately represents them:

• Mountaintops: climb to the highest natural point of earth and stone within ten miles to meditate. If one is underground or underwater, find a way to acquire fresh air to breathe while you do it.
• Surface: bathe in the dirt and mud of the surface, once a day for eight days, and meditate. Do not wash off until the eight days are over. If underwater, the seafloor is sufficient, but one must bury themself partly in it, as the water will wash too much away otherwise. If underground, go as high as possible to wash in dirt or mud, preferably where fresh air can be acquired.
• The Lithosphere: enter a cave and meditate. If no cave exists within ten miles, one may stack large stones to form a sort of rudimentary room to meditate within.
• The Grottos: meditate within one of the actual Grottos or meditate with a geode.
• The Hollow: meditate within the actual Hollow or meditate with a set of crystals attuned to the earth.
• The Hypogaeum: meditate within the actual Hypogaeum or meditate with petrified wood.
• Lower Bedrock (The Low Mines): meditate within the Last Mines or meditate with earth-rich ores.
• Unlighted Layer (Shadowdeep): meditate wtihin it or within a mostly natural stone structure with no windows and as little light as possible. If bats are present, all the better.
• Lost Layer (Voidbarrens): the void will disrupt the communion, so one must approximate this one no matter what, usually by using the same room as for the Dark Layer, but completely empty of anything but oneself and air.
• Mantle (Barathrum): meditate within it or use super-heated but not molten rock.
• Stagnum Ignis: meditate within it or with molten rock.
• Inner Core: meditate within it, in a circle of as many perfect stones as possible, or atop an omphalos.

Once the novice has meditate within each of these and received a blessing from the spirits of earth and stone (usually a minor akaz), they must then carry twelve stone (including their geode) to a stanenge to perform the final rite.

Stanenges

(Inspiration: Stone Henge)

A stanenge is an ancient stone circle constructed with massive, rough-hewn bluestones maintained by earth mages for their most powerful rites. A novice will only be allowed to enter the circle once they have finished their meditations. Then, they must offer up their twelve stones in the center of the circle and place their hand upon the geode, which should be in front of them. If they are worthy, the geode will thrum with power, which will then fill them.

Geodes

All earth mages carry their geodes with them everywhere. If they lose their geode, they lose their powers. Geodes store kazaddarean and serve, essentially, as batteries for earth mages. They must be recharged within a stanenge once they are depleted, or they will crumble. If they get too full, they will hatch, and an akaz will be released.

Staves

The next step for an earth mage is to create their staff. They must shape it themselves using stones which they prepare by smoothing out such that they have a perfect circle within them. Flint or granite work best. They must then use this stone to shrive a branch of its limbs, smooth it out, and shape it into a mostly straightened staff. The staff should be made of either some mundane wood, especially kaya wood (an eastern kind of conifer) or plain oak, or of granite spruice, a subterranean non-petrified tree (though it is hard and brittle enough to seem petrified). Actual petrified wood will also work if one has an entire branch to use. Once the staff is shaped, it must be bathed in dirt and mud, then capped with stone on either end. The stone must be one of the twelve perfect stones.

Robes

Once the staff is formed, it may be used to channel kazaddarean (or earthpower, in rare instances). The first thing an earth mage is expected to do with it is to enter the stanenge and tamp it upon the earth in the center of the circle, thus summong robes of earth and dirt to encase themselves in. This becomes their clothing and armor and keeps them connected to the earth.

Powers

Once an earth mage has completed their communion and fashioned their staves and robes, they must learn to control it, usually from the earth mage(s) who have guided them thus far. All of the powers and spells they learn are fueled by the kazaddarean they gather in their geode and the earth and stone materials they collect.

• Moving earth/stone: this is the most basic power and one of the most useful, as it is extremely versatile. If one has a bit of dirt or stone, one may draw the kazaddarean from it and place it on the end of one's staff, which will then be able to direct earth and stone at the caster's will. Depending on the amount of kazaddarean and the will of the mage, they may be able to move a little dust and a few pebbles, or to draw forth mountains and create massive rifts in the ground. The more solid earth or stone is, the easier it is to move - molten stone or gaseous stone is much more difficult.
• Shape earth/stone: this varies from the above in that the stone or earth mostly stays where it is, only moving if doing so aids in the shape change. This is done by drawing kazaddarean into dirt and throwing it on the target, then willing it to alter.
• Cleansing: the removal of pollutants (esoteric or mundane) is a critical power for earth mages, as this is part of their purpose. They may do this by drawing kazaddarean directly into one's staff and thrusting it into the target earth or onto the target stone.
• Sense earth/stone: this is never so broad (unless one is at sea or in the sky or somehow far from earth and stone), but rather, specified (sense gemstones, sense arable earth, sense flint, etc.). The staff is simply used as a long compass.
• Strengthen earth/stone: making stone or earth stronger, more compacted, more resistant to impacts, or more arable - improved in any way - is done by drawing kazaddarean into mud, then mixing the mud with the staff and flinging it at the target.
• Cave sense: sensing where caves are and how far they go is the most important power most earth mages have (as most live underground and serve their people in this way). It is done simply through using the staff to channel kazaddarean into the ground, wall, or ceiling and tracing its direction.
• Calm the earth: if the earth shakes, an earth mage of considerable power can calm it by tamping their staff upon the ground.
• Petrify/crystallize: to cause something to petrify or crystalize, the earth mage must cast salt upon the target.
• Crumble: an earth mage can make stone crumble and earthworks decay if they have enough power and some stones to crash together.
• Rockfish: "rockfish" is the state of being able to treat solid rock or earth as if it were water. This elite skill is only possible if the earth mage is covered in diamond dust.
• Stoneskin/bones: turning one's own skin or bones to moveable, living stone in order to make oneself better able to resist attacks is done by using mud and dirt to cover oneself and then channeling power from the geode for a minute or more.
• Tectonic shift: one of the most potent weapons of an earth mage, they can create small tremors or massive earthquakes by commanding the tectonic plates themselves, usually by slamming the butt of their staff as hard as they can into the ground and channeling not just the kazaddrean in their geode, but as much as they can from around them and from themselves, which may kill them if they are not careful.
• Gravity: affecting gravity is extremely difficult and requires completely channeling an akaz of considerable power.
• Stonespeech: speaking to the earth itself is a profound power of earth mages that requires long hours of meditation in mudfloes, deep caves, or buried to the neck in dirt.
• Earth form: to take the form of living earth or stone completely risks not being able to return (and thus becoming unliving earth or stone), but it allows the earth mage ot channel more kazaddarean (or even earthpower) than otherwise, and is thus used in extreme circumstances. It requires the earth mage open their geode (thus losing it).

Earth mages may transmute flesh to stone, but they cannot create stone out of nothing.

Specific Spells

Some common uses of the above powers have specific designs or purposes:

• Boulder toss: a common attack used to deter large opponents.
• Stalag stream: the rapid rise (or fall) of stalagt/mites to skewer opponents.
• Stone bullets: sprays of small stones with great force.
• Rock fist: using stoneskin to turn one's fists into stronger weapons.
• Earthen wall: raising a wall of earth to block paths, floods, missiles, or armies.
• Stone shield: a shield of solid stone that has the power of the mage's will.
• Tunneling: rapidly forming safe tunnels.
• Seal tunnel: sealing off caves and tunnels, usually to prevent people from going the wrong way.
• Avallance: causing a dangerous rockslide, earthslide, or mudslide. This often gets out of hand.
• Cave-in: an illegal action in the Subterranean Realm, but one that can kill effectively.

Earth Sources

Forms of earth and stone can have different effects or powers.

• Dirt: dirt, mud, dust, powdered stone, loam, or soil is best for self-application.
• Stone: rocks, stones, slabs, boulders, or pebbles are essentially little batteries, packets of kazaddarean to be unleashed.
• Gems: gems and jewels are good for very focused uses of kazaddarean.

Limitations

Kazaddarean is not infinite. It must be regenerated. If one uses stones or land to draw kazaddarean from, that stone or land will be susceptible to other powers until it naturally regains its power. If one draws too much, it may be left permanently barren. It is best for an earth mage to use their geode, which can be recharged at a stanenge.

Earthpower

Earthpower refers to the combined energies of the world taking the form of an intense aetherial flame, usually green in color. To create earthpower, an earth mage must commune with the world and its ancient geological past via an ancient ritual of blood, stone, and meditation. First, the earth mage must either make blood sacrifice of an animal, a mortal, or their own blood, in the center of the stanenge, under a dawn sun. Then, they must use the spilled blood to mark each of the circle stones with secret runes, then sit and meditate through nightmares, violent memories, and unspoken eras, to find the raw earthpower at the dawn of the world. Through this, they must face ancient spirits, hidden terrors, and questions unknown. If they succeed at this, they will be able to store some earthpower in their geode and use it as kazaddarean. However, once they are out, they must repeat the ritual.

Variants

Some variants include

• Brahukkan: an earth mage who uses primarily percussive methods to invoke their magic, smashing together stone and rock to cause catastrophic earthquakes.
• Dakhaddha: an earth mage who primarily uses their powers to shape stone into statues for the sake of art or decor.
• Felakgundu: an earth mage who works as a mason, or for a quarry.
• Gemfinder: an earth mage who creates a stone-capped pick intead of a staff, which is attuned to find gems.
• Geologer: an earth mage who uses geology to improve their magic, or magic to improve their geology.
• Ghunaukh: a chthonian earth mage who uses their magic to investigate the causes of cave-ins.
• Karlandik: an earth mage archivist of stone tablets and cave etchings, made and preserved with earth magic.
• Megaud: an earth mage who paints on cave walls, creating tableaus of power.
• Runkazal: an earth mage who uses their arts to improve architectural designs.
• Stonespeaker: an earth mage whose powers are focused on stonespeech.
• Thandaguull: an earth mage who makes games with stone pieces for children, usually a retired old earth mage among chthonians.
• Tunneler: an earth mage who focuses on digging tunnels. They often have badger or annelid companions.
• Zandaukh: an earth mage who works for one of the chthonian crime syndicates.

Persecution

In the Subterranean Realm, earth mages are revered above almost all, as they save miners and create cities, defend communities from armies and earthquakes, and often are the reason people survive. But above ground, they are often limited by laws in many countries, who fear their powers to cause disasters, or enslaved to work in mines.

Skills

Some common skills include

• Masonry
• Digging
• Mining
• Tunneling
• Mine engineering
• Geology
• Geological history
• Farming/agriculture
• Architecture

Stats

Modifiers from base of nation/species:

PRO -2
ATH -2
STR +2
AWA +1
WIL +6
STH +1
PRS -1