Warding Circle
Dormandred's Legacy
"Frankly, if you fancy yourself an arcanist and can't properly create a ward? You're as much of a danger to allies as you are enemies."Arcane magic has a number of foundational mechanics taught to apprentices, each one developed ages ago by powerful arcanists and mystics. Failing to fully grasp any one of them is a sign of flawed instruction, but none are as important to get correct than the simple warding circle. This magic is simple enough in appearance, being a circle drawn or inscribed on the ground with runes describing the scale and target of the effect. When the ward is complete and active, energies of a particular type may not pierce the boundary of the circle. Beings whose nature falls within the effect's chosen target also may not physically cross the boundary, nor may they send any magic outside of it. Making sure the warding runes are calibrated correctly is crucial, as this is the heart of the magic and what keeps it powered. Failing to use the circles properly can leave the caster open to assault from malicious forces, at best. At worst, an improperly created circle can leave the caster open to possession by spirits expected to be guarded against.
The warding circle is derived from experiments done by Dormandred, the Black King. Legends say he would summon entities from outside Erisdaire and attempt to bind them to his will within circles of magical runes. The art of conjuring creatures went out of favor for many ages, carrying a stigma by association with Dormandred. However, these summoning circles were created with two distinct parts to their construction. One of these was to keep all energies within the circle from affecting anything outside of it, while the other part was meant to act as the active conjuration.
Mystics and arcanists before the rise of the Rhyliss Empire had deconstructed the summoning circles to learn how the Black King had done his work. Originally the effect was known as "Dormandred's Key", but the association was dropped to prevent it being linked back to such an unsavory person. Further research discovered how the wards could be attuned to specific energies, or extraplanar sources, which was later used to study elementals summoned from beyond Erisdaire. This helped reduce the stigma of conjuration magic, though arcane magic still faces unwarranted hostility in much of the Rhyliss Empire due to "tradition".
Practitioners of divine magic have similar procedures they can call upon, though the runes used are different entirely. They also perform conjurations, usually by beseeching their patron deities for assistance and receiving extraplanar creatures as temporary assistance. They do not face the same reactions within the Empire, due to belief this is the will of divine beings, however Myrisian people are dismissive of it versus their own arcanists' summoning magic. There are also rumors of other arcanists who practice summoning to bring creatures from the Faeweald, Umbral Realms, even demons or devils from unknown places. Summoning of this nature faces severe reactions no matter where one travels on Erisdaire, as the foundation of such summoning is the original Dormandred's Key with only a little variation.
Comments