Axiom & Affinity

Table of Contents

There are kinds of magic and kinds of ways to learn it, and the two interact in certain ways. The kind of magic one has cannot be changed. These Aspects are often defined as the origin of that mage’s ability to interact with the many forces that make magic possible. Magic in Wyrlde has two parts to it: these are Affinity and Axiom.

Axiom determines how much you can hold, and how learned you are at spells. It reflects the manner in which one learned to use the power they have, and so what it is they can do with it.

Affinity determines where your magic comes from, and so it has an effect on how it manifests, and what it is called.

Affinity

Affinity is like flavors of the same fruit; they can be different from each other although all of it is still magical.

As the Pale ripples through all the spaces and places of the multiverse, it gains power and knowledge and all of that can change or shift it, for it leaves a bit of itself behind wherever it exists, and this becomes the different “kinds” of magic.

A given individual can normally only ever have one Affinity – and in the case of multiclass characters, they must follow that Affinity until such a time as they can find a way to expand their affinity – an arduous and sacrificial path that exceedingly few ever fully achieve unless they have the support and backing of some Power of or in the world.

An Affinity determines the source of the magic and how you gain it. Affinities have importance because some beings are functionally immune to certain kinds of magic, and some wards or defenses are only useful against certain kinds of magic. Affinities determine the Manifestation, Cipher, Spell Attack Bonus, and other aspects of a given Mage’s abilities. Each Affinity has different ways of categorizing spells – and of course, Servants have their own approach. Axioms determine the spell list you use – and all members within that Axiom have the same spell list, but not all spells are on all spell lists.

Whenever a spell is cast, a certain visual effect happens around the caster. This is called a manifestation, and each Affinity has a different sort of manifestation. Spells always glow brightly – they can change a pitch-black room into dim light – but they are always there and always visible. All of these are visible to others, though they don’t confer much ability to see in the dark beyond the immediate presence of the caster.

Manifestations make it so that it is always known when a spell is being cast and who is casting the spell. For those able to read a spell and grasp it, it becomes known what is being cast. These effects end once the spell is activated – so casting a light spell may have them glow, but once the light is created, they won’t. With casters having to move and gyrate, chant and empower their spell, this can last anywhere from a few seconds to a minute, or far longer if it is a ritual in process.

It is said this was done by several Gods working together, but it may also have been a tweak to the world by them. Hard to say.

The Affinities of Magic are Divine (Wis), Arcane (Kno), Mystical (Cha), Eldritch (Con), and Primal (San). Nulls use Strength (Str).

Arcane

Arcane Magic draws from the Pale and then shapes what is taken; it is drawn magic, pure creation in origin, raw and shaped by skill more than will. This magic is often confused with the others, but ultimately requires being some sort of scholar that spends all their time learning things.

Mana is specifically the form of Arcane orgone. Mana is drawn from The Pale directly into the sigil as it is crafted within the mind.

Arcane Mages use a kind of spell book called a Grimoire.

Arcane Magic manifests with visible sigils of light, often around the person of the mage or their arms, depending on the target of the spell and the spell itself. It is a visible magic sigil around them when they cast a spell. These circles take many different forms – from a small circle around the focal point of a spell, to a large-scale circle that spreads out beneath them or beneath the target of their spell. This circle is unique to each caster, and they can be simple or complex, but no two are alike among any living or undead mages – but there have been cases where after the death of a Mage, another mage has come into their power with the same circle.

Arcane magic is linked to Knowledge as a trait, and those who use it commonly have strong personalities.

Eldritch

This magic is instilled by an outside source into the caster. It does not present itself in the same way as other forms, and it is said that Eldritch magic can drive the caster mad or twist them. Unlike with Divine Magic, where the caster functions as a conduit of a Power, eldritch magic is placed within the caster, and usually dependent on some condition or agreement, or derived from some capricious act. Ultimately, the Ikons of the world are all using a peculiar combination of both Eldritch and Divine magic – and that makes them very dangerous, as only they are known to be able to do so. Eldritch magic has a cost, a price, is always part of an exchange, over and beyond the use of mana itself.

Élan is the form of Eldritch mana, raw and instilled within the host, refilled over time. Warlocks are famous for their very peculiar ways of using it.

Eldritch Magic give off an Aura around them. An Aura is generally a single or multihued aura. It extends out about three to six inches around the spellcaster, within which glyphs dance and spin and float. In darkness, this light only shows them, and in bright light, the auras shimmer and have a prismatic effect.

Eldritch Mages use a Picatrix as a spell book.

Eldritch Mages have to have a high Perception to hold that power within them.

Mystical

Mystical magic comes from the person themselves and the ambient world, the natural magic inherent in all people and all things. This is the magic of life, of existing, of being and not being, a complex and everlasting kind of magic. By some lights, it is the inherent magic of Mortality itself, though if so, how it is used by Fae remains unknown. It could very well be the magic of the Material, and is sometimes said to be the everyday magic, the layman’s power, the personal power of the individual. Some argue that it is derived from creatures smaller than the eye can see living within us, while others will argue that is poppycock. Others argue that Mystical Magic is the magic that was released into the world itself at the end of the God’s War, and that is what makes other kinds and forms of magic possible.

Mojo is specifically the form of Mystical mana. Mojo is the energy within one, replenished and fed by unique interactions of the Prime and the Pale to provide an inner power. You will often hear Bards muttering about how to get their mojo back after a bad performance.

Mystical magic is linked to Charisma as a trait, and so those who follow this path tend to put a lot of effort into the trait.

Mystics use a Nomicon for a spell book.

Mystic magic manifests as a whirlwind of magical script that surrounds the Mage. Whirlwinds are a swirling pattern of glyphs around them (in an angular script, no less) in a kind of vertical tunnel or whirlwind. It provides no defense or protection.

Primal

This magic is the rarest – This is the raw stuff of the realm of The Source and The Void. This magic is wild and unpredictable. This is the magic elemental forces employ, the magic that creates magic, that is sourced in the very making of everything, including the pale. While some have an affinity for it, it is unpredictable, dangerous, and can interfere with other forms of magic.

Cie (Chee) is the form of Primal mana, pulled from within and without, the world and the self, blended and merged. Many folks will focus their Cie to achieve impressive feats.

Primal magic manifests with a tendency for the Mage’s eyes to shine brightly and their hair to lift, even glowing from within as if their bones were heated, and seem to have a kind of crawling, phosphorescent, liquid-like light that wraps around them in a stream that caresses and flows, following their movements, enfolding those they touch like a shroud. Within this one can see glyphs and forms.

Primal Mages use Occultaires for a spell book.

Primal magic is linked to Sanity as a trait.

Divine

Divine magic is given over, or granted, to Servants. It can be Celestial, Nether, Shadow, Necrotic, Radiant, or Infernal in origin. A Servant is anyone who has given themselves over in Service to one or more Planar beings, those who hold sway over vast areas beyond the Pale. This magic is magic that comes from The Gods and is both sacrifice and strength. The magic of the gods is flashy and showy and meant to drive home the point that they are there, and that folks should forgive them the cruelties they inflicted during the God’s war. Servants are marked by a weird.

Servants vary in how they approach things and the degree of devotion they allow for it. Clerics choose to serve outside a priesthood, for example, or may dedicate themselves to a set of ideals that different sources require of them.

Divine orgone is called Mantra. This is mana Granted from On High by the Powers That Be.

Apocrypha is what a spell book held by those who use Divine Magic is called.

Divine magic causes the mage to shed a kind of colored light in motes that dance around them. Using magic causes the caster to give off tiny motes of light, sometimes called magic dust, that emanates from them when they are casting spells. These motes surround and come from the Mage, extending out to between three and five feet in all directions in an amorphous cloud. In darkness, this light only shows them, and in bright light, the motes shimmer and have a prismatic effect instead of the more typical silver, golden, or coppery color they possess. The motes themselves are tiny glyphs.

Those who use Divine magic are given over to Wisdom, as it is the principal trait related to magic in this form.

Axioms

An Axiom is the approach, the philosophy, the way and manner by which one learns magic and approaches the study and therefore mastery of it. It is a way of looking at how one masters the forces that one can wield to varying degrees and purposes. An Axiom determines your approach to it and your mastery of it.

A Wizard may spend a decade studying fundamentals and deep secrets and the history and structure and nature of magic, whereas a Ranger may have simply never fully grasped that what they do is magic and bent it to the task of improving their skill, never fully mastering or grasping the deeper aspects of their gift while still performing incredible feats with it. Meanwhile, the young kid who could light a candle with a glance may have never been found by one of the child thieves and grown to use their gift in ways that seem strange to others, or as larks or amusements.

	Disciples	Sensates	Servants	Nulls
Approach	Study, Rote	Feeling, Self-taught	Calling, Service	Low, No Magic
Ability Score	Kno	Per	Wis	Con

This reflects the degree of mastery in shaping the magical forces as a whole – efficiency and skill and underlying knowledge. Ultimately, the most skilled users of magical power are Disciples, followed by Servants, with Sensates having the least likely because they are generally untrained or self-trained and unrefined in their use of magic. This means they have less overall power at their disposal, and so can cast fewer spells.

There are three Axioms, and Axiom reflects the ability to hold mana, the power of magic within you, how long it takes to memorize a spell, and how well you learned to shape, manipulate, and embrace it. Axioms also determine the spells per level that a mage is capable of learning. While they can have a thousand spells in their grimoire, they can only hold so many spells within their minds at any given time, and they only have so much energy they can expend on spells in a given day.

Disciples

It is often said that few know more about how magic works than the deeply studious Disciples, whose quest for knowledge and mastery is often hard to match. As a disciple myself, I am possibly biased, but my experience has shown that the truth is simple: we have followed the Theorems and particularly those about knowledge, and so have reaped the greatest benefits. Disciples require a high level of Knowledge.

Disciples have set the stage for understanding how to use magic, how to shape it, how to master it, often at the cost of other things, as the early training to learn it can be utterly occupying. The end result, though, is greater power.

Nearly all the materials about magic are ultimately derived from the knowledge and studious application of research, experimentation, and investigation by Wizards, and chief among all of them are those who call Akadia home.

Sensates

Sensates are often thought of in many people’s minds as things like Elohim or Cambion, and while there are many of them within this, it is not about what they are, but how they do it. Sensates require a strong degree of perception.

Sensates are the self-taught, the learned without formal training, the folks who figured it out as they went. Sensates are gifted with great powers and ability innate to their being, but it is often less well focused, and more narrowly.

A sensate may have discovered that if they pointed at a rock and thought a certain way, or did things in a certain order, it would change. They are often looked to for their abilities to enhance themselves, their tools, and to make their crafts and arts more compelling. It may become fused with their skill and their talents.

Servants

As noted, Servants have been handpicked by the Gods to serve them. They act as conduits for the powers they serve, their overall will passing through them to manifest the magic. They are subject wholly to the will, desire, and goals of their Patrons. Servants require a great deal of inner strength and wisdom.

While the anima mundi Chicory is often tied to the Shamans, Clerics have different Powers that give them powers of different natures.

Nulls

There is an additional combination of Affinity and Axiom called a Null, and those who are Nulls are resistant to magic to a slight degree, and it manifests at different time in different ways. Essentially, when encountering any kind of magic effect, Nulls have Advantage and are able to use their Mana Modifier on rolls to their benefit. Magic simply has a harder time working on or around them. Nobody knows why this is, and when asked the Gods just smile, spread their hands, and wave their fingers and say “magic” with a smirk.

Nulls themselves do have mana, but it is a small amount; even though their experiences with magic give them more over time, they are not able to harness it and use it in quite the same way nor do they ever gain immense amounts of it.

The degree to which they are resistant is still small and can work against them – Nulls have a harder time being healed magically, and things which may help them out are sometimes less effective. Nulls are often used in Rituals because they are effective “batteries” of a sort. Also, their Mana score provides them with a reduction to the damage from the effects of spells. When this happens, the Null is surrounded by tiny sparks – smaller than the Motes of a manifestation, shorter lived, but if one looks closely, it appears as the smallest fractions of glyphs, shattered and broken.

Strangely, this only applies to cast spells and workings. Imbued, Ingrained, and prepared items, such as healing potions and other ingested and imbibed items, still work well.

Nulls do not have any attachment to magic – they can still use things that are magical, but they go beyond simply being unable to cast a spell. Nulls are slightly resistant to the effects of magic, resistant to it in some strange ways that serves them well in their professions. In short, magical attacks on Nulls are at Disadvantage, while Nulls have Advantage against magical effects.

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