The Magic of Ayrelon: Spellcasting

The art of creating magical effects is complex, often requiring several components in order to accomplish the desired results. The more powerful and skilled a caster becomes, the less they require these components. However, they might still choose to use them out of habit, or to gain additional focus or control over their spells.

Verbal

Spoken words, chants or songs are common when casting spells. This is especially true for Wizards and Channelers, though can often be used by other casters to help them focus on what they are attempting to do. For most casters, Verbal commands are always required. Only the truly skilled grow beyond the use of words when casting.

Semantic

The casting of spells often requires specific movements, especially for those reliant upon predefined, learned and memorized spells. These movements can be as simple as the wiggle of a finger, or the wave of a hand. Semantic casting can also be as complex as a dance, or the drawing of runes in the air or on the ground with one’s feet.

Focus items, when used, are often accompanied by Semantic gestures. This is most commonly seen when using wands or staffs to focus energies. One caster might wiggle, wave or draw runes in the air with their wand. Another caster might drive the butt of their staff into the ground, or wave their staff toward an area.

Some spells require the use of a wand or staff, and often Semantic hand gestures can be replaced with wand or staff usage, depending on one’s teacher and the student’s ability to learn the different styles of casting.

Use of Semantic tools, such as wands or staffs, also affords the caster an increased level of precision. As such, even extremely powerful casters will keep one or both at hand for when the need arises. As with Verbal casting, Semantic casting is very common, even if not always required.

Reagent

Reagent casting is the use of materials which act as a focus for a given spell. This is most commonly seen in Sorcery, where the material itself is the source of the power being used to create the magical effects. It is also common for many predefined spells to include a Reagent component for the sake of making the spell easier for a novice caster to succeed.

The materials used in Alchemy could also be considered Reagents, as more often than not the materials used to cast a spell are consumed in the process. More often, a spell might require a bit of hay, a pinch of salt, a splash of water, or other piece of commonly available material. Rarer and more difficult spells might require more extreme reagents such as a bit of dragon flesh, or the heart of an elf.

Reagent casting is one of the quickest to be abandoned as casters grow in skill, as the nature of Reagent casting imparts too many limitations and stifles advancement in the arts. Further, reliance on Reagent casting generally precludes mastery of Weaving.

Thought

Focusing one’s thoughts on the task at hand is critical for a caster. As such, nearly every caster is at some level a Thought caster. However, there are those who have achieved the ability to cast without Verbal, Semantic or Reagent components and can produce spells and effects with Thought alone. Some of the most powerful casters to ever exist are Weavers who cast with Thought alone.

Thought casting can be as basic as reciting a spell in one’s mind while concentrating on the desired effect. However, underlying all casting is the reality that magic use is, at its heart, a form of forced optimism and belief. Both of these facets require conscious Thought and control of ones subconscious. Fear and doubt are the internal forces that prevent most who attempt magic from succeeding.

All casters use Thought casting to some extent, with one possible exception: Will casters.

Will

Creating magical effects through the sheer force of Will, in an instant, without having to think about what one is doing. This is the penultimate form of casting, and the most rare. Most gods cannot cast by Will alone, let alone mortal man. There are only two beings known to have ever achieved Will casting in all recorded history.

In fact, it is such a rare thing that only a few extremely well informed casters are even aware that it is possible, or who might have achieved it.

Weaving

Weaving is less a way of casting and more the art of creating magical effects without the use of predefined, documented and learned spells. A caster who can Weave is capable of creating their own magical effects on-the-fly without preparation, and those effects do not have to align with spells as a Wizard might know them.

While a learned spell might indicate that a ball of fire will spring to life upon your victim and burst it into flames, a Weaver might produce fire at dozens of points amidst a crowd, striking specific individuals without harm to anyone else nearby.

Weaving is an art that is pursued by nearly every single caster, but is attained by few. It requires the caster to reach a level of control and focus that allows them to directly control the outcome of magical energies on-the-fly without fear of failure. This is a level of mental control, restraint and self-awareness that most casters never achieve, for that control must extend to their subconscious without question.

Weaving allows one to simply do what they desire. Their imagination and ability to withstand the forces they are wielding become their only limitations.

This level of skill is absolutely required to successfully utilize Elementalism, advanced Sorcery, and significant abilities in Soulfyr, and is thus the largest barrier of entry in accessing those sources of power.