Rules of Magic

by Felixora

Basic principles

Magic is divided in 4 different categories, each of them belonging in more or less regard to either Order or Chaos sides of the world.

As Order and Chaos are the leading forces in Mriyar, they influence many parts of the universe. Chaos is represented by the endless, ever moving and evolving darkness clouds, while the Order is represented by the blinding yet stagnant ever glowing light.

Arcana fully belongs to Chaos side, Ciphering is closer to Order, after it goes Druidism and then Divine magic.

Many scientists believe that use of each types of Magic influences the

balance of Chaos and Order forces in the universe, which added more reason to the anti-Arcana propaganda as "dangerous and uncontrollable force, that will lead the world into unending Chaos". Ciphers and Ciphering largely fell into the same category, due to its close nature to the Chaos and its chaotic origins, though much fewer ciphers face the same hostility and animosity, as arcane users.

According to ancient manuscripts from elven archives, Nichar is considered the creator of Arcana, as she brought it into the Material Realm as a gift to her worshippers and a tool to both built their kingdoms and protect themselves. This is also supported by the large amount of arcanists among drow, rather than any other elven subgroups - wood elves suppress any teachings of the arcana, and, though high elves have high predisposition to the arcane, many of them end up as scholars rather than mages. This fact started to change around the conquests of Magior Empire, where one of the most powerful magisters were high elves, though, according to unofficial records, many of them were devoted followers of Nichar.

As Nichar is the creator of Arcana, the patron of specifically Arcana studies is Veles, having adopted this role after the elven wars and appearance of new dangers in the world, as a way of teaching other races the craft of arcana, spreading and expand the borders of the known knowledge over the years.

The ciphers are one of the closest to arcane wielders and druids group, that is largely accepted by Mriyar societies and in some cases even actively incorporated into different fields of day to day life (be it serving in churches, as Raven Heralds, or serving as private diviners in noble houses).

Reincarnation and resurrection

In the Era of Rebirth, thanks to the Wheel of Rebirth and Lada's powers of life, all mortal souls were going through the cycle of rebirth, giving people the ability to remember their past lives through rituals and granting clerics the powers to bring the fallen fully back to life. But, as the link between Lada and the Wheel of Rebirth has been broken in the events of War of the Burning Skies, all people lost those abilities. In large part, in the Era of Searching that leads to the surge of necromancy and studying of the death.

Effects of Alatria

Any magic of arcane nature near Alatria (by bards, sorcerers, wizards, ciphers, some rogues and fighters) causes bursts of energies of Chaos. Large crystals and deposits of Alatria cause this effect in up to 500 meter radius, while small stones effect only the nearest magic users. Depending on the strength of the spell, the manifestation will vary, which is reflected in the following Tables: Cantrips, 1st and 2nd level spells cause the effects of Table of Chaos Manifestation v1; 3rd, 4th, 5th level spells cause the effects of Table of Chaos Manifestation v2; 6th and higher level spells cause the effects of Table of Chaos Manifestation v3.

	Table of Chaos Manifestation v1 (For Cantrips – 2 level spells)
Die Roll	Result
01-10	Witchery: Within 25ft of you, milk curdles, wine goes sour and food spoils.
11-20	Haunted. Ghostly voices fill the air for the duration of your spell. Everyone in 10 ft radius of you must take Wis. Saving through or be Frightened
21-30	Breath of Void. A cold and unnatural wind blows through the area, making everyone vulnerable to cold damage (or negates resistance to cold dmg) for next d6 turns.
31-40	Guilty Tears. Your eyes are filed with burning pain and you start to tear up with blood. You have disadvantage on any actions that involve sight for the next hour.
41-50	Primal Fear. All animals in 40 ft radius around you are frightened and run away, unless someone calms them down with successful Animal Handling check.
51-60	Uninvited Presence. Summons 3 Quasits that attack you next turn.
61-70	Storm Caller. A bolt of lightning zips through the skies above, accompanied by the rolling thunder. For the next 3 days the weather is heavy rain.
71-80	Chaotic Combustion. All flammable surfaces in 20ft radius of you instantly ignite.
81-90	Explosion Party. You begin to vomit worms as well as 3 two reddish purple frogs, 1 each turn. The frogs are explosive and explode in the end of your next turn, or after being thrown. You can throw a frog using a bonus action and dealing 1d6 of fire damage.
91-00	Unlucky. Roll on Table of Chaos Manifestation v2 instead.

	Table of Chaos Manifestation v2 (3-5 level spells)
Die Roll	Result
01-10	Fiery Sight. Your eyes start to shine with unnatural purple fire for the next 24 hours, granting you the ability to see through any illusions and invisibility.
11-20	Lights out. All natural and unnatural light sources in 40 ft radius around you are extinguished. The sun covers with clouds for the next hour.
21-30	Visions of the Void. Area around you fills with illusory images of Void creatures for the next minute. Everyone in the 20ft distance of you is filled with dread and has disadvantage on their attack rolls and ability checks.
31-40	Silenced. You lose your voice for 1d10 turns.
41-50	Wild Surge. You lose control of the magic you’re casting. Everyone in 40ft. radius around you, including you, must make Str saving throw. On failure, they are knocked prone and suffers 4d8 force damage, regardless of their armor, on success they only suffer half the damage.
51-60	Natural Mutation. Ground under your feet in 40ft radius around you starts to be rapidly covered in different plants and spikes, changing the terrain to difficult.
61-70	Shadow Parasites. From your shadow appears 2 Shadow Demons, that attack you next turn.
71-80	Time Bend. You feel time speeding up around you. You can take another action right away.
81-90	Time and Space. You are displaced into the Bottomless Depths of the Void for 2 turns, after which you return back, but appear in random point in 40 ft radius of your previous location.
91-00	Cruel Gift. Roll on Table of Chaos Manifestation v3 instead

	Table of Chaos Manifestation v3 (6 and higher level spells)
Die Roll	Result
01-10	Void Eye. A thick layer of black goo covers your eyes. You are blinded for the next minute.
11-20	Life Drain. You gain one level of exhaustion, but don't expend your spell slot.
21-30	Energy Overflow. You are overwhelmed by the chaos energies and stunned until the end of your next turn.
31-40	Spell Confusion. The spell you're casting has no effect, or if it must cause damage it is redirected on different nearest to you target.
41-50	Surge of Power. You feel a surge of Void energies. You restore all of your spell slots.
51-60	Rise Up. All bodies in a 1 mile radius around you rise from the dead and become undead.
61-70	Possession. You are possessed by a Demon entity for one minute. During that time, the DM controls all your actions and when you take control of your body again, you’ll have no memory of what you just did.
71-80	Arcane Burnout. Your ability to use magic is burned out of you. (This effects cantrips as well). After 24 hours, each day you recover one level of spells, starting from cantrips.
81-90	Void Guest. A portal opens to the Void and a powerful large Demon (Glabrezu?) steps out of it, bearing death and destruction with it. It attacks anyone it sees.
91-95	Black Sun’s Blessing. A rune is burned out on your skin that can’t be removed by simple means. While you have it, all your magic attacks deal additional 4d6 psychic damage and you have advantage on mind affecting spells, but spells of any level near alatria will trigger Table of Chaos Manifestation v3. With each new rune you’ll start hearing Temriaz more and more: first in your dreams, then in your thoughts, then as visual hallucination. When you get 5 runes – you get permanently possessed.
96-00	Called to the Void. You are sucked into the Bottomless Depths of the Void and are forever lost.