Greystone Tavern

First and foremost, welcome to the all around guide for Magic in Greystone! Here you will be learning what is and is not okay for Greystone magic. Say hi to Smee folks. He will be our visual aid.

First rule, is to relax. This will be easy as pie (the cake is a lie. I won’t say cake.)

Things to be noted:
-We are okay with made up spells, just like with many things in the dream all we ask is be reasonable. If there is any confusion or concern come talk to us!

- Mixing spells is also a-okay! Once again if there is any concern please do contact one of the staff members. We are here to help.

Things that are a Must:
-Preps or Magic Preparations are a must, this lets folks know “Hey! I am casting!” And gives characters a proper chance to react. These do not have to be numbered however, one can have their char flailing and obviously casting (Or writing) and call it a prep. As long as there is a description for however long the mage is casting. Once again we ask players to be reasonable, if it is a master spell, chances are it cannot be done in one or two (even three or four) preps.

-If you have a spell charged/charging, and do not use it, it can backfire and hurt you. You are very much so allowed to have your char blast random things (within reason) to avoid this. A spell interrupted can have the same or similar effect, depending on at what point the interruption occurs, manner of interruption, and the caster's concentration and skill.

If you focus, you can hold it; if it fizzles, you restart. Use discretion and be logical about this. We trust you all to it. In the event two players cannot agree on a what happens contact a mod. We'll be fair about helping both players.

-Play, fair! We all want to have fun. Play fair with magic!

We have done the introduction. Congratulations! Now onward to you guessed it, method's of casting!

Each mage can have two methods to cast. A main method and a secondary method would should be harder for them to use. Think of it as having used one hand your whole life then wanting to try the opposite hand. It is a bit difficult and a little awkward. (Unless you are ambidextrous, good show!)

The methods to choose from are as follows:
-Gestures
-Talismans
-Runes
-Cards

Description of each provided by Furcadia's Canon as well as their relative speeds and drawbacks can be found after this post! Mind you, some forms of casting have been reformed for the sake of clarity and fairness.

This requires no tools, but if the Mage is interrupted (by an actual combat attack, not merely by being hit by a pebble), they lose their concentration and must begin anew.

Use common sense in terms of preparation.

Benefits of Slow casting:
Stability - Of all the casting this is the most stable and the one for highest success.

Subtly - Paw signals can be hidden if done slow enough. They have the potential to look like everyday movements.

Grandstanding - Scare the locals with huge gestures and loud noises!

These are items at least as large as a typical furre's palm that must be touched and exposed to be activated.

Talismanic magic is not interrupted by a physical attack. Use common sense in terms of preparation.

If runes are tattooed or scarified onto a living furre, they technically become Talismans; they must be exposed for use in casting.

Note: It takes a very delicate paw to carve a talisman that won't backfire.

Benefits of Talismans:
- Cannot be interrupted by a physical attack & mild failure rate.
- Can be prepared before a battle & can be reused.
- Talisman can be attach to an object, to channel through. (Note the object does not become magical. One still needs to touch the talisman to activate the magic.)

This requires some kind of writing tools. It requires the completion of an inscription, some kind of glyph, scroll or book. Rune casting takes one full turn during which the Mage can not move or take other actions.

The advantage is that the spell can be pre-prepared, even by someone else. The down-side is that the chance for failure is greater The magical investment that occurs while setting down runes fades after a while.

Use common sense in terms of preparation.

Rumor has it that a more potent stabilized rune can be created by using items such as: Phoenix feather's quill, roctopus ink, merfurre fins or wyrmme fins.



(As you can See Smee is having some issues with his runes, that is because he's shown aptitude in gestures and talisman casting. Two only guys!)

Mages who use these are known as "Cartomancers". Cartomancers work by creating (or possibly capturing) Elementals and placing them into a dormant form that looks much like an elaborate playing card. This is the most unpredictable power-- a Card entity can be anything from mostly-mindless to fully intelligent.

These entities can be killed in the service of their master/mistress. They may also have quirks, weaknesses, and goals of their own. Once bound as a card, they may not, however, hold motives secret from their owner.

OOC: Cartomancers do not get to choose what their next spell is; it is random. There is also one more possible weakness: some Cartomancers get so attached to their card-friends that they no longer wish to risk them in battle or other dangerous situation.

Once again, Use common sense in terms of preparation.

(As you can See Smee is also having some issues with his card, that is because he's shown aptitude in gestures and talisman casting. Remember, Only Two guys!)

The Elemental College is a Kasurian institution. They work with the support of the King and the Council of Lords and Ladies. Much of their good reputation comes from their defense of the commoners against Vampfurres and Lycanthians, and there is much enmity between Mages and those two groups of Supernaturals. Faeriefurres, on the other paw, tend to have a long ongoing friendly rapport.

The five Schools making up the College are Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Essence.

Essence is not 100% equivalent to "soul" or "spirit"; it is perhaps best translated as "magical identity". At Greystone we treat the mage schools like college "Majors & Minors" You can have up to two majors and one minor. Whatever your char can realistically, handle. Mixing and matching spells form these colleges are fine!

If, you are creating a spell please makes sure it is the following:
- Balanced
- Written someplace for public access

Note:
- Remember, creating a spell is more difficult than learning one that has been passed down from college to college.
- Remember, to have your character learn spells realistically. Anything above apprentice spells needs a college or mage teacher.

APPRENTICE

• Mage Sight - Before, during, and after magic use, an image is left in the air all around the Mage that anyone with Mage Sight can see.
  
• Mudslip - when they try to move, the ground beneath the target will momentarily becomes so slick that they slip. The victim must perform their next physical attack action that scene at a -15.
  
• Bladesharp - magically sharpen a metal tool.
  
• Unsoil - cleanse dirt from all over a 3' cube of stuff (of clothes for example).
  
• Faeriefurre Affinity (Earth)- Something about the Mage makes it more pleasant for Earth Elementals to be around. They are more likely to listen to, respect, and help this furre. Earth Mages receive a +1 to earth-related abilities when a friendly Earth Elemental is present, and vice-versa.
  
• Earthwhispers - The Mage can communicate at a very very simple level with creatures that spend a large part of their time underground: snakes, WatchWyrms, Burrowing Owls, etc.(Invertebrates do not understand Earthwhispers.) This also permits magical speech with other Earthwhisperers.

JOURNEYFURRE

• Disrupt Earth Spell - The mage can attempt to block the proper forming of an Earth spell from up to 24' away.
  
• Refresh - This causes the subject to feel less tired, replacing the need to sleep for one sleep cycle.
  
• Boneset - Specifically for healing broken bones, this causes even nasty complex fractures to be undone painlessly, in a matter of hours.
  
• Prospect - detect gems in a 6' cube up to 6' away.
  
• Stonewalk - pass thru up to 10' rock as if walking or falling through glue
  
• Refine - half a pound of metal can be extracted from the appropriate ore.

MASTER

• Earthbind - cause rock to swiftly encase a Furre's paws in a crystal crust. It takes 2 minutes to free them. Requires rock beneath the target to start with.
  
• Stoneshift - temporarily turn 6 cubic feet of stone to warm liquid rock (like wet glue for a few minutes). After it hardens, the stone is soft, like perlite or foamy chalk.
  
• Coldsmith - metal can be forged without a fire. Note that this still requires a hammer and anvil for making a sword, etc.
  
• Bladewarp - Metal up to 24' away can be turned to the consistency of wet leather. The spell will eventually wear off but weapons such as swords will be ruined.
  
• Crystalcraft - make beautiful items of softened quartz, using tools as if sculpting clay or plasticine. Crystal knives and crystal swords are possible, but they are not durable enough for parrying or penetrating armor.

APPRENTICE

• Mage Sight - Before, during, and after magic use, an image is left in the air all around the Mage that anyone with Mage Sight can see.
  
• Freshen - cools a room for three hours. If performed in an enclosed space, air will remain oxygenated (as if it was being recycled by a re-breather) for that length of time.
  
• Waft - lift a very light item such as a single piece of paper or a feather and move it up to 6'.
  
• Odor - This is a subtle ability that gets better with practice. The caster can simulate a particular scent, faintly, in the air around them.(Furres who exhibit this as a Wild Talent may end up being brought to the Elemental College after all.
  
• Airwhispers - The Mage can communicate at a very very simple level with creatures that spend a large part of their time in the air: birds, Dragonmounts, etc. (Invertebrates do not understand Airwhispers.) This also permits magical speech with other Airwhisperers

JOURNEYFURRE

• Disrupt Air Spell - The mage can attempt to block the proper forming of an Air spell from up to 24' away.
  
• Glide - fall for up to a minute. You can move the same distance horizontally as you moved vertically.
  
• Windswift - You can run at 2X the usual rate due to a gentle push from behind.
  
• Suffocate - For three minutes, the victim can draw breath yet they are still suffocating. (This is the opposite of the Water breathing spell.) Cast at a range of touch, it does not kill the victim but if they attempt to fight under its influence, they suffer a -5 penalty to die rolls.
  
• Zephyrtalk - One breath's worth of words is whispered and heard by someone up to a mile away, as if it were being whispered in their ear.
  
• Calm - The mage can calm the mind of another and even temporarily block a phobia. The target feels soothed and is better able to concentrate for an hour.

MASTER

• Windstorm - A wild chaos of winds makes vision and breathing very difficult for all but the caster. Combat and spellcasting both become impossible, and communicating is reduced to loud yelling.
  
• Soar - The mage falls but goes twice their horizontal distance as they fell downwards.
  
• Lift - A neat dust-devil lifts or lowers the mage, as they please. This does not confer flight, it merely grants the mage a change in altitude. In combination with Glide, the Air mage can travel up to a mile effortlessly in five minutes. With Soar, the mage can travel two miles in that time.
  
• Thoughtsend - The mage can send roughly a sentence's worth of words to another, who hears them as if they were a whisper in their head. Range is up to a mile away.

APPRENTICE

• Mage Sight - Before, during, and after magic use, an image is left in the air all around the Mage that anyone with Mage Sight can see.
  
• Firestart - as if lighting a match.This ability requires touching the substance to be lit.
  
• Harden - turn light weak wood into something as heavy and strong as teak or ebony. (This is usually how stakes for use on Vampfurres are made...)
  
• Woodmend - This ability was originally used to get living branches to grow together, but is also usable on cut wood. With a bit of practice, this ability can be used to cause a wooden handle to grow around other tool parts, or seal a leak in a wooden bucket, etc.
  
• Firewhispers - The Mage can communicate at a very very simple level with creatures that spend a large part of their time near (or in) lava: Volcano lizards, Dragonmounts, etc. (Invertebrates do not understand Fire whispers.) This also permits magical speech with other Firewhisperers.

JOURNEYFURRE

• Disrupt Fire Spell - The mage can attempt to block the proper forming of a Fire spell from up to 24' away.
  
• Gardenglory - make a 6'X6' area of foliage burst into rich blooming within the hour. "Herbaceous" plants only; not usable on "woody" plants, i.e. trees.
  
• Treeshape - Living wood is grown to the caster's wishes. The results are somewhat crude and rough, and can be used to make something the size of a chair. This takes about
  ten minutes. Fine details cannot be done with Treeshaping, however.
  
• Dispel Zombie - This spell disrupts a magical lichen that has invaded the zombie body, and the corpse falls to pieces. It can be cast from up to 24' away. The interaction causes a flash of daylight that will give any nearby Vampfurres a painful sunburn if they are within 2 tiles of the target.

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APPRENTICE

• Mage Sight - Before, during, and after magic use, an image is left in the air all around the Mage that anyone with Mage Sight can see.

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This is not a legitimate Kasurian college, it is an underground movement in Drakoria. It is made up of the Schools of Necromancy, Shadows, and Corruption, headed up by the elitist School of Dark Bindings, whose members are Masters in one or more of the other Schools.

Individuals who possess "Shadow" Mage abilities do tend to be loosely affiliated because of intricate networks of loyalty. Vengeance is a passion amongst these mages. They will avenge a minion or ally's death as a matter of pride. Those that do not play "The Game of Shadows" are very vulnerable and must hide most carefully.

Wild Talents of THESE abilities face severe prejudice amongst Elemental Mages. They are likely to be exiled and imprisoned. Shadow Mages slay Wild Talents out of hand unless they know they can be controlled. They do not particularly want the competition.