Stone Diviner

"My hands were pressed to the cave walls, to the patch polished like a mirror. My eyes were clenched shut as I knelt there, and my mind wandered through the ground, seeking out every crack and crevice, every change in rock type in the miles of stone before me. Then I saw it - a horrible stain on my magical vision, crawling through solid rock toward the centre of my thoughts." - Odan Molrelk, Stone Diviner

A stone diviner is a type of wizard who specialises in sensing through stone in the ground, seeing every passage and room carved into the rock, as well as deposits of precious gems, metals, etc. Although until 20 years ago it was a sought after profession, with stone diviners earning huge sums of money by finding mineral deposits and mapping caves, it was suddenly made illegal in 64 AR in The Kingdom of Archaria after an unexpected u-turn on divination magic. It is unclear to most why this turn occurred, why the government fell into panic while the laws were introduced, or why it specifically targeted stone diviners, but most people suspect that it's to hide some of the crown's dirty secrets which would be it's downfall if released. However, the truth is far more frightening. Stone diviners have been banned because in 64 AR, agents of the Crown discovered a kind of cursed blightstone spreading through the ground, originating from The Lands of Ruination. This was a huge shock to the government, who set about preventing people from finding out, for that would spread panic, knowing that the Ruination Blight was not as stable as supposed...

Illegal Work

Although it is banned, Stone Diviners can still find work with criminals who want to know the layout of underground vaults, and unscrupulous adventurers and mining prospectors looking for dungeons and mineral deposits. However, they must work carefully, as stone divination is easy to detect, causing the arrests of many stone diviners, and further driving up the price of their services.

The Divining Process

To carry out stone divination, the diviner must have access to a specially prepared polished patch of stone underground, deep enough to avoid common impediments to their magical vision, basements in a city, for instance. The stone of the wall must then be prepared with magical incantations. The diviner must then cover the part of their body which will be in contact with the stone (usually the hands) with oil of Gelbermust (a type of seed associated with sight and rocky environments), press them to the polished rock, and speak the words of the spell, then remain in a state of meditation whilst their mind wanders through the rock.

Alternative Names

Underground Cartographer

Type

Arcane

Blightstone Secrets

Many stone diviners do discover the blighted stone which the Crown wants kept secret, and have varied responses. Some choose to take no notice, others try to tell people what is going on (but are dismissed as mad by authorities and captured), others form underground investigation groups, and a few go mad from closer contact to the Ruination Blight. Such diviners who do go mad feel a sudden affinity to the Ruination, and will do everything in their power to get there. They loose the ability to make proper conversation, only making cryptic remarks about the Ruination's power, and speaking strange prophecies to confuse, frighten and disturb those around them. Once in The Lands of Ruination , they let themselves be warped by it's shadowy power, becoming hideous and terrible monsters. The madness can be cured through magical means.