Groundskeeping

Artwork by Delainy Kennedy

Groundskeeping, also known as domain magic, is a broad term that describes the practice of attuning to the land and its people. It shares strong similarities with Alignmatism, which is based on the celestial domain of Mind, whereas Groundskeeping has its roots in Body and Soul. Despite this duality, the domain of a Groundskeeper often includes one or more Alignments, and thus practioners that dabble in both disciplines are more common than the alternative. Groundskeeping is incredibly popular among leaders of nations, druidic organizations, and military personnel — although few magical practicioners are skilled enough to attain even the barest understanding of the discipline, and thus make due with arcane, divine, or occult techniques instead.

Manifestation

Groundskeeping constructs usually take one of two forms: a physical-based lattice made up of landmarks and artifacts, or a spiritual lattice that describes a group of individuals. For example, a leader of a religious organization might create a lattice that attunes to members of their faith, whereas a Groundskeeper in charge of a kingdom might create a lattice attuned to the nation's borders and historical treasures. Legendary Groundskeepers are capable of creating lattices comprised of both aspects, but these are considered to be relatively unstable, and require additional maintenance to sustain.
Regardless of form, every Groundskeeping construct has a trigger, which can be as simple and selfish as the Groundskeeper needing the power, or as complex as an entire nation experiencing a natural disaster. Folklore suggests that the latter triggers facilitate the most efficient transfer of energy, but this has never been properly tested. Once triggered, a construct can flow energy from attunement points to the Groundskeeper — e.g. to give them another mote of energy to cast a spell — or to a subsection of the people and objects that define the structure — e.g. to give them temporary vigor, or even to shield them from harm completely. Triggers that target all creatures and objects in a construct are dangerous, as they steal power directly from the Groundskeeper, and often result in their death.

Localization

The Azlanti considered Groundskeeping one of the Higher Forms — techniques that existed above magic, and had to do with the supernatural laws of the universe. While tied to the study of Abjuration, Conjuration, and Divination initially, this classification has largely been disbanded in the modern era.
The druids of Golarion were known to be expert Groundskeepers, often using the innate connection between ancient trees to protect their forests. Similarly, the Wizard King is said to have a domain that spreads all over Avistan, which ties together the landmarks, national treasures, and people of his kingdom.
In a scrap of a journal attributed to Albus Rickette, the Gnome describes Groundskeeping as an art created by the Fey, which was later stolen by the Aboleths, who then passed the practice onto mortals. The text goes on further to describe the initial inventor of Groundskeeping as a red-haired Fey "king" and his lattice centered around a sentient crab, but this is largely considered to be Fey folklore, and separate from the scientific study of the discipline.