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The Codex of Power · Magic systems
Every magic system is laid out as a sourcebook spread - its laws set in prose, its price and its wards called out where a writer looks for them, and a stat line for the hard facts. The essence drawn from its source lends each entry its accent.
Riftcraft’s grimoire deliberately holds one working that crosses its own ward, so the guardian has something real to catch here.
The Concord
the powers of this world, set against one another
Bearing is the essence a power draws on. Powers that keep their mystery lie in close to the mist; the more a magic is governed by law, the further out it sits, where the plate is ruled and certain.
IThe EmberbloodEmber essence · 5 workings · Braced against its own reach
IIThe Deep SongSpirit essence · 4 workings · Braced against its own reach
IIIRiftcraftVoid essence · 5 workings · Reaches further than it pays
None of these powers acknowledges another anywhere in its laws. A world with several magics in it usually has opinions about the rest.
Codex of Power · Ember essence
The Emberblood
Discipline
Hard
Rarity
One in ten thousand still carries the ember
Reach
From a lit hearth to a city put to the torch, scaled to the life spent
Regarded
Feared and outlawed; wielders are branded and watched
TThe Source. The inherited fire carried in the blood of the old dragon-touched houses
Who wields it. Only those born of a scorched lineage, and only after the awakening survives them
The rite. Spoken oaths over an open flame, the blood offered to the coals
The Balancea reading of what is written down, not a judgement of the magic
Reach7
Price7
Ward6
Braced against its own reach
What it can do and what it costs are written at about the same weight.
Nothing to flag. Every working on record keeps to the laws this system sets, and each one names a price.
The Grimoire5 workings across 3 disciplines
Blood-calling2
KindlingAdept
Wakes the ember in a scorched-lineage child before their years are ripe.
Price Half the child’s span, and the caster’s certainty
Range TouchLasts A life
Countered by Nothing yet found
The Scorched NameGreat work
Burns a name from every tongue that ever knew it. The bearer remains; the word does not.
Price The caster forgets it too, and one name besides
Range Anywhere the name is spokenLasts Permanent
Countered by A name written in stone before the working
Oathwork2
CoalsleepNovice
Banks a fire so it will not die, and will not spread, for as long as the promise holds.
Price A night of the caster’s warmth; they wake cold
Range TouchLasts Until dawn
Countered by Deep water
The Long QuietMaster
Stills a battlefield to a whisper: no blade drawn inside the ring will strike true until the caster draws breath again.
Price Four years of the caster’s life, taken at once
Range A ring the length of a shoutLasts One held breathCast by An oath spoken over an open flame
Countered by Any oath sworn on the same coals
Unsorted workings1
EmberwardAdept
Turns a house’s hearths against anyone who has spilled the blood of its line.
Price A season of the caster’s health
Range One householdLasts While the hearth burns
Codex of Power · Spirit essence
The Deep Song
Discipline
Very soft
Rarity
A handful in a generation
Reach
A calmed storm, a healed wound, a drowned fleet
Regarded
Revered as saints, or drowned as witches, depending on the coast
TThe Source. The half-heard song of spirits that dwell beneath the tide
Who wields it. Those the spirits choose, who hear the song in dreams and do not go mad
The rite. Sung true names and old harmonies, never written down
The Balancea reading of what is written down, not a judgement of the magic
Reach6
Price7
Ward6
Braced against its own reach
What it can do and what it costs are written at about the same weight.
Nothing to flag. Every working on record keeps to the laws this system sets, and each one names a price.
The Grimoire4 workings across 2 disciplines
Harmonies2
The Mending AirAdept
Closes a wound as though it had years to heal, provided the wounded can hear.
Price The singer forgets the face of someone they loved
Range Within hearingLasts Permanent
Countered by Deafness, and iron
The Calling TideMaster
Sung true, it turns a tide early. Sung false, it turns it early anyway, and takes the singer.
Price A memory of dry land
Range A coastlineLasts One turn of the waterCast by Sung in harmony, never alone
Countered by Iron in the water
True names2
The Drowned ChoirMaster
Wakes the voices under a wreck to answer one question, honestly and at length.
Price A year of the singer’s own memories, chosen by the dead
Range A wreck, touchedLasts As long as the singing holds
Countered by Salt-fire
Names Held UnderGreat work
Gives a true name to the deep for safekeeping. Nothing that hunts by name can find its bearer.
Price The bearer cannot be called home either
Range One personLasts Until the deep gives it back
Codex of Power · Void essence
Riftcraft
Discipline
Very hard
Rarity
Taught openly in three academies
Reach
A lock opened, a wall unmade, a keep folded out of the world
Regarded
Licensed and taxed like any dangerous trade
ZThe Source. Zero-point energy bled from tears in the void between stars
Who wields it. Anyone with the graft and the years of study to hold a rift open safely
The rite. Etched glyph-arrays and precise, memorised sequences
The Balancea reading of what is written down, not a judgement of the magic
Reach7
Price2
Ward5
Reaches further than it pays
The effects on record are larger than the price and the wards behind them. This is the point where a reader stops believing, so it is worth either charging more or promising less.
Quietmind may cross a wardRiftcraft can never touch living minds, and this working reads on touch, living. Either it is an exception worth explaining or the ward needs rewording.
The Grimoire5 workings across 2 disciplines
Aperture work3
The Hollow KeyNovice
Opens any mechanical lock by folding the space between its tumblers.
Price Two grains of void-salt
Range TouchLasts InstantCast by An etched glyph-array, laid on the plate
Countered by A lock inside a strong gravity well
QuietmindAdept
Reaches through a fold to touch a living mind and still its panic before a rift is opened.
Price A measure of void-salt, and the caster’s own composure
Range Line of sightLasts Until the rift closes
Unmaking of WallsMaster
Removes a wall from the world. It does not fall; it was never built.
Price A pound of void-salt and a licensed witness
Range Line of sightLasts Permanent
Countered by Load-bearing wards, which fail loudly
Structural folding2
RiftsightCantrip
Shows the caster where the void is thin enough to work, and where it is thin enough to kill them.
Price A pinch of void-salt
Range A quarter mileLasts A quarter hour
The Folded KeepGreat work
Folds an entire holdfast out of the world and holds it there, garrison and all.
Price Void-salt beyond most treasuries, burned continuously
Range One structureLasts While the array is fed
Countered by Interrupting the array, which is why it is banned near cities
A single working · the spell plate
Opening a spell gives the same plate, tinted by the system it draws on and pointing back at it, so its price can be read against the system’s own.
A working of The Emberblood
The Long Quiet
Difficulty
Master
Range
A ring the length of a shout
Lasts
One held breath
Discipline
Oathwork
SStills a battlefield to a whisper: no blade drawn inside the ring will strike true until the caster draws breath again.
The casting. An oath spoken over an open flame
What it takes
Four years of the caster’s life, taken at once
Undone by
Any oath sworn on the same coals
A working of The Deep Song
Names Held Under
Difficulty
Great work
Range
One person
Lasts
Until the deep gives it back
Discipline
True names
GGives a true name to the deep for safekeeping. Nothing that hunts by name can find its bearer.