magic system

Starward Covenant

Rare long-distance workings that bind a promise to a star’s return and consume the speaker’s remaining years.

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Codex of Power · Void essence

Starward Covenant

Discipline: Soft; consequences are consistent but fulfillment takes indirect forms
Rarity: Very rare, fewer than one witnessed covenant per generation
Reach: Across a kingdom or the world between named endpoints, independent of distance
Regarded: Revered in songs, feared in law

AThe Source. A witnessed promise fixed to a recurring stellar alignment

Who wields it. A willing speaker, a named beneficiary and three independent witnesses

The rite. Speak the same exact promise under the appointed star at both endpoints

Known practitioners. Historical starward witnesses; no living practitioner publicly claims mastery

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 Grimoire2 workings across 2 disciplines

Sanctuary1

A Light at the Last DoorExceptional

Ensure a named traveler encounters a possible refuge

Price An unknown number of the speaker’s remaining years

Range Between distant named placesLasts Until refuge is offered onceCast by Promise under the same star at departure and destination

Countered by The traveler can refuse; a false identity invalidates the named promise

Temporal reach1

The Season Held OpenUnverified historical

Delay one named place’s final frost until a specific harvest is gathered

Price Permanent pledged years; unpaid cost falls due when the promised harvest ends

Range A named valley or kingdomLasts One specified harvestCast by A witnessed seasonal promise renewed at the stellar return

Countered by Cannot renew a promise already fulfilled; ambiguous harvest names are perilous

A promise with an address

Unlike Hearthbinding, a covenant does not carry a substance along a route. It binds two places through a promise and waits for an opportunity to fulfill it. A speaker might vow that a lost traveler will find a light, but cannot dictate whose house lights the lamp or who pays for the oil.

The years promised

A working consumes future years, not immediate vigor. Nobody can measure the loss safely before it is due. Courts therefore forbid using a child as speaker, even with parental permission. The earliest treaty predates that prohibition.

A dangerous explanation

Some priests believe the first summer was secured by a covenant disguised as engineering. This would explain why a chamber can appear to produce heat without a visible source: the source could be a future that has not arrived. The theory remains disputed. It must not be used to excuse failures that ordinary inspection can already explain.