The Ayrelon Times

Enchanting on Ayrelon offers many benefits, and many challenges. The majority of enchantments are temporary, and often come with side effects. Enchantments can be placed on living things or inanimate objects. Their strength and duration depend greatly on both the caster and the resilience of the target. The more powerful the enchanter, the stronger their enchantments can be and the longer they will last. However, the side effects will also be more severe. Living flesh, for example, can be imbued with greater strength, haste or increased stamina. These forces provide benefit for a time, but also degrade that flesh and can cause permanent damage. Such enchantments also suffer from diminishing returns, due to that degradation. A horse might be enchanted to run faster and farther than normal, but those effects cannot be persisted indefinitely without causing the poor creature’s death. The same is true of enchantments placed upon inanimate objects. Objects imbued with spells also degrade as...

There are two types of Alchemy on Ayrelon. Chemical Alchemy involves the blending of ingredients using precise formula and processes to create salves, elixirs and the like. Magical Alchemy takes those techniques and enhances them with magical ingredients and is often enhanced through spells. Chemical Alchemy

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

Soulfyr or Soul Casting is so named because the source of its power is generated by, and derives from the caster’s own being. The caster gains an inexplicable bond with the planet’s living essence, and that bond causes them to generate their own internal magical weave. Those with the power to cast Soulfyr magic are born with their abilities. This form of magic cannot be gained through study, or practice. Many have tried to do so, and all have failed. Furthermore, those born with the gifts do not always realize their abilities. Many live and die natural deaths without every discovering their potential. This is due to the fact that such abilities, while present from birth, lie dormant until unlocked. Unfortunately for the person so imbued, unlocking those abilities seems to require a violent, untimely death. It is unclear why this is the case, though some who have studied it believe the reason to be spiritual in nature, and this extremely hard to define. Unlike other casters who must mem...

Sometimes known as Primal casting, or Primal Elementalism, this type of magic involves accessing the underlying forces which comprise and govern reality. Few casters attain the ability to sense or interact with these forces. Fewer still survive their first attempt to access them. These sources of power are unrefined and without limit. Their nature is nearly impossible to understand without experimentation. No spells have ever been written for such primal forces, and so few casters gain mastery of these arts that there are very few tomes which detail the process of using or controlling them. He opened his mind again, reaching out to the primal essence of water. Leveraging a lifetime of experience with the arts, he focused his mind with a will few could achieve. He’d reached the limits of what wizardry would allow him to achieve, and fate had introduced him to these forces at just the right time. The army that threatened Haern wouldn’t wait for reinforcements to arrive. He had to act now...

Ayrelon is surrounded by a magical weave comprised of ley lines and nexus points. To those that can see them, ley lines appear as a white and blue stream of electricity-like energy coursing through the sky, high above the clouds, and nexus points where the lines cross glow like beacons of unbridled power. There are those who are born with the ability to see these forces, slowly developing the ‘sight’ as they grow to adulthood. Others obtain the ‘sight’ after reaching great heights of power in other forms of magic. Those that grow strong enough to see and interact with the weave are said to walk with the weave or travel the ley lines. They come to be known as Leywalkers, and they are some of the most powerful beings to exist on the world of Ayrelon. All Leywalkers begin their journey with the use of spells. Though, in contrast to Wizards they do not need to memorize those spells and store power within themselves. They can, instead, call down power from the heavens on demand to cast thei...

Of all the types of magic on Ayrelon, Wizardry is one of the few that can be learned through study and persistence. Channeling is learned through study and devotion to a host which provides the power for spells. Wizardry requires far more study, as there is no host entity to provide assistance in casting spells. Many who seek to cast spells have no natural affinity to do so. They are not born attuned to a source of power, so Sorcery is beyond their reach. They are not born with an attachment to the magical weaves and the ley lines which comprise it, which puts Leywalking beyond their grasp. In fact, the functions and forms that differentiate the various types of casting from one another are unknown to most of the inhabitants of Ayrelon. Many see terms such as Sorcerer, Mage or Wizard as generic terms that ultimately point to the same thing; someone who can cast spells. The truth of the matter is that a Wizard is a distinct style of caster; one that forces themselves to become what they...

Sorcery is one of the most volatile forms of magic. It is dangerous, limiting and the process of casting spells with Sorcery requires the consumption of a source of power. Unlike Wizardry and Channeling, Sorcery cannot simply be learned. The act of drawing energies out of an object, or substance, and twisting them to produce a spell, is one of the most difficult methods of casting. Most practitioners of Sorcery are born with a natural gift. Through the course of their life they discover an affinity for something in the world around them. They feel drawn to it, and more at peace when in the presence of it. Not all who are born with the gift recognize it for what it is. Many live out there lives in typical fashion and never seek to further their attachment or learn to cast spells. Sorcery casters are, therefore, one of the rarest types of spell-caster on Ayrelon. Casting spells through Sorcery requires access to the caster’s source of power. A Sorcerer who is attuned to rubies needs to d...

Channeling is the art of drawing power from a host entity or that entity’s plane of power. Spells of this type often take the form of prayers, rituals, curses or callings. Channelers learn to pass a host’s power through their form to create magical effects, or cast spells. Through practice and study, they learn to enhance these abilities and withstand greater, and greater magical forces. Channeling, by itself, does not offer access to any other source of power. One who learns and focuses on Channeling is powerless if they cannot access the powers provided by their host. Should a Channeler lose favor with, or depart from, their host they lose all powers afforded them by said host. As a result, many who desire to leave the host that they Channel seek training in other forms of magic before doing so. What types of Channeling Casters are there? Clerics / Priests

This is the first in a multi-part series detailing the magic of the world of Ayrelon. Sit back and buckle in… this is going to be a wild ride! Ayrelon’s magic is complex, like it's people. There are many different sources of power, methods of casting and intricacies when it comes to magic. Nothing is more difficult to master, or as dangerous to wield. To the inhabitants of Ayrelon, magic is part of existence. It is present in all things, and constantly around them… even if they cannot access it themselves. Those who are capable of wielding its forces are rare. Items imbued with magical effects are rarer still. Some casters extract power from inanimate objects, others from the environment around them. Stronger casters are able to pull their power directly from the magical weave that surrounds the world, and can interact with that weave directly. The most powerful use the powers of the raw, primal elements; the building blocks that form reality. From memorizing magical spells to weav...