Pages about Sympathetic Magic: | Ceremonial Magic | Enchantment | Symbolism | Symbols | Mikhail Mao Formulas

Description: Mind magic which is invoked by crafting objects. Like ceremonial magic, enchantment operates on a sympathetic rather than functional basis, and thus requires more than simple language to work. Shapes, colors, and other physical properties are the "words" an enchanter uses to construct their magic. Like a ceremony, the power of an enchantment is based on its ingredients - mere effort brings one part of the way, but rare gems, the organs of certain creatures, and historical relics are even more essential. Unlike ceremonial magic, enchantment uses this power a little bit at a time, over a long time, rather than all at once. As a result, enchanters are considered to be less dangerous and more reliable than ceremonial mages.

Enchanters themselves come in two varieties: those who distinguish the art of the craft from the art of the enchantment, and those who do not. The products of the latter are found to be of higher quality, but they must learn how to craft whatever object they wish to enchant, and end up specializing in enchanting a specialized category of object. Generalist enchanters, however, must find an artisan to work with.

Enchantment can be effected through any style of magic focused on an object. The stronger the spell, the longer it will last on the object. The most powerful magical objects can last millenia or longer, but all eventually wear out.

An enchanter is usually a ceremonial mage who effects magic as he crafts an item (as above), a craftsman who incorporates ritual into his work. This style of enchantment is the most powerful, for it invokes powerful magic in the course of creation, creating works that can theoretically last almost forever. Other style mages who are enchanters generally have trouble fashioning an object & casting a spell at the same time, or casting a spell at the right moment during the creation process.

A resomancer is a person who relies on magical objects to cast their spells for them. These are usually charlatans pretending to be other styles of magic users, relying on items crafted by others. Sometimes, however, they are either ceremonial enchanters who have created an arsenal to pull from or folk who have made a living off finding & using enchanted items. A resomancer's central article of magic is usually a magical wand, & the abundance of charlatans pretending to be magic users who have acquired a minor magical wand to help them through their cons are the reason magic users are so strongly associated with wands.

Most mages on Shem, however, prefer the more sturdy & practical staff to the small & pathetic wand.

Ingredients: Every sphere has its own preferred ingredients for various objects. The most common materials are metals, stone, cloths, jewels, wood, and papers. Each sphere has its own of each that works best with it. Crafting:

Sphere	Metal	Stone	Cloth	Jewel	Wood	Paper	Fluid	Plant	Animal	Color	Other
Chaos							Vitreous Humor	Hellebore, Crabgrass	Bat, Crab		Eye
Darkness		Brimstone	Gossamer		Daemonwood		Blood	Lily, Nightshade, Spider Plant, Laburnum	Serpent, Python, Spider	Sable	Web
Cosmos		Meteorite		Quartz	Kyellezhian Wood			Starflower, Stellar Avangeline	Space Cow		Stardust, Starsphere
Dream					Faewood		Indigo Ink	Morning Glory	Fox, Parrot	Indigo	Net, Mushroom
Moons	Moonsilver	Moonstone, Selenium	Lunar Mothsilk				Lunar ice	Cereus	Wolf	Teal	Three Crescents
Fire		Basalt	Teflon		Charcoal		Lamp oil	Tiger-flower, White dittany	Tiger, Firefly	Red	Flame
Light	Gold	Alabaster			Dogwood			Daisy, Rowan	Swan, Golden Hind	White, Gold	Cross
Pestilence			Sickbed linens			Skin	Liquid poisons	Belladonna, Hemlock	Rat, Scarab	Green	Skin patch
Destruction	Titanium			Morag crystal			Morag acid	Black moss, Black-eyed Susan	Hornet, Wolverine	Three
Earth	Ore	Flint					Lava	Rockcress	Badger	Flinty grey	Pick
Hatred
War
Water
Knowledge
Famine
Peace
Sun
Hope
Flora
Harvest
Music
Order
Creation
Death
Despair
Life
Silence
Meta
Fauna
Healing
Truth
Weather
Air
Celebration
Luck
Time
Dragon
Fate
Undeath
Love
Wealth
Envy
Vision
Ice
Travel
Home
Change
Balance
Metal
Might
Wisdom
Mischief
Connection
Hunt
Insight
Skill
Family
Story
Force
Nightmare
Deceit

Learning:

Lowering:

Fatigue:

Casting:

Failure: MagicFailure (See here).

Sensing: CastSensing (See here).

Auras: MagicAuras (See here).