Binding

The Magic of Seals

When dealing with magical seals and locks you are dealing with Binding. Those who study the art of understanding and creating such seals are called Binders. The art of Binding is a subset of a larger school of magic referred to as Runecasting. Like all Runecasters, Binders use magic like ink from a quill to write arcane runes into reality. The runes that Binders study are designed to seal or redirect magical or physical force. A Binder can use their magic to protect themselves as well. It was once commonly believed that all Binders were pacifist due to the magic they study having few if any uses for combat. When this common belief led to many Binders being assailed by thugs or highwaymen looking for easy marks, practitioners began taking up self-defense training as part of their studies.

Types of Seals

Binging magic makes use of seals that can be divided into a few simple categories based on their use.

Bannishing Seals

Most potent among all seals are the Banishing Seals. These seals are primarily used to force an entity back to its home plane or to keep someone out of a specific location. These seals are exclusively applied to living beings and direct magic to repel the entity from the desired location or plane. A single Binder can easily place a seal on someone to keep them from a home, but as the protected location becomes larger, the number or power of the casting Binders required grows as well.

Controling Seals

Particularly proficient Binders may study the complex but powerful nature of control seals. The purpose of control seals is to lock out a person from their own physical faculties, allowing the binder to control them directly like a puppet. While these seals allow the Binder to control another being, the binder is limited to direct control of a single being. While doing so, it is quite obvious to anyone who knows the first thing about magic that the person is not controlling themselves. Controlling a person using these seals also requires a long ritual beforehand where the Binder Runecasts into the creature, making prolonged direct physical contact. Due to its very nature, some binders believe using these seals as immoral.

Locking Seals

To keep things away from the grip of others, Binders use Locking Seals. These seals can be used to lock mundane things like doors and crates, as well as magical things, such as portals. They can also be used to reinforce non-magical locking devices. It is common practice to lace the runes in these seals with runes that will blast anyone who tampers with the seal with raw magical force. It takes a skilled hand to avoid these countermeasures.

Protection Seals

The most common of the seals, Protection Seals are used to keep a pace or person from physical or magical harm. While the seals protect they are not perfect. By the nature of the magic used in Binding and the inability of the Binder to channel new magic through the runes constantly, most of these seals only diminish the amount of damage the protected object, place, or person takes from an incoming attack.

Binders and Combat

For the past few hundred years, most Binders have also trained in martial traditions. Some take up simple weapons like clubs and staves but many more simply fight with their bodies alone, taking notes from an existing monastic tradition. Occasionally, Binders have taken up arms in warfare. Such binders have proven invaluable in many battles due to their martial and magical prowess.

The Binding Process

Each variety of seal has their own limitations and special requirements, however, there are simple rules that all seals share and tools they all require. Like all other Runecasters, Binders need a rune stylus to Runecast. Seals also require the Binder to pull specifically blue mana from Reliah. This is necessary due to the fact that blue mana is the most resilient of raw magic that can be used in Runecasting.

Side Effects of Seals

The nature of seals and how they sculpt the magic around them makes it difficult to manipulate magic when you are in close proximity. The area around seals repels undirected magical energy, causing people to feel strange around seals. The feeling is difficult to explain but some have called it cold, exposed, still, silent, or even sorrowful.