magic system

Hearthbinding

A measurable craft that moves existing heat through prepared vessels and living roots.

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Codex of Power · Ember essence

Hearthbinding

Discipline: Hard; measurable transfer with uncertain historical infrastructure
Rarity: Common small-work craft, rare network expertise
Reach: A room or city through connected channels; realm-sized networks require fixed chambers
Regarded: Necessary public service, distrusted monopoly

EThe Source. Existing heat in bodies, fires, water and rooted wood

Who wields it. Trained binders using calibrated garnets

The rite. Close a conductive circuit with a matched pair of garnets and a living cedar root

Known practitioners. Hedra Halvek; Ossa Sere; Mira Pell

The Balancea reading of what is written down, not a judgement of the magic

Reach6

Price7

Ward7

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 Grimoire3 workings across 3 disciplines

Containment1

Carry the EmberAdept

Store a bounded quantity of warmth in a sealed ceramic jar

Price Heat from the source; jar loses charge over three days

Range TouchLasts Up to three daysCast by Charge through a root wick and remove it before sealing

Countered by Crack the glaze or immerse in a large cold reservoir

Infrastructure1

Open the Winter RoadMaster

Keep one prepared stretch of paving above freezing

Price Fuel and sustained crew labor; dangerous bodily overdraw if supply fails

Range A maintained passLasts One shift before recalibrationCast by Synchronize buried root channels with the pass furnace

Countered by Sever a buried channel or overwhelm it with meltwater

Transfer1

Borrow a HearthNovice

Warm one room from a measured source

Price Fatigue; the cistern cools equally

Range One roomLasts Until circuit opensCast by A paired-garnet circuit around a cistern

Countered by Break the circuit or remove the source

A transfer, never a gift

A binder can warm a sickroom by cooling a cistern, but cannot make both warm at once. Matched garnets measure the change while a prepared root carries it. Household circuits are short, visible and usually safe. The old realm-spanning network disappears into foundations nobody can inspect.

The human reserve

When a source runs out, a careless binder becomes the nearest available source. Early symptoms resemble ordinary exhaustion; repeated overdraw damages the heart. The Sisters of the Unspent Hour insist this is injury, not a noble spiritual price.

The present dispute

The stones used in the original treaty undercount prolonged cold. Mira Pell is repeating their calibration in public. A correct new standard might prove that the northern march supplied more than it agreed to, but a standard alone cannot return a lost harvest. The warm jar from The Aranea Sounding appears to keep giving heat without cooling anything nearby. Good binders treat that as a reason to look harder, not permission to declare free energy.

Links to

Sisters of the Unspent Hour Mira Pell The Aranea Sounding