World of Æor

There have always been those few that labor their entire lives to attain some partial control of the arcane magic that flows unnoticed through their world. Years of study and practice can lead to ground-shattering power and understanding. These are the wizards, the reclusive society that nurtures and manipulates the world around them. More than just awakened, the wizards are students of the Tapestry and learn to control and weave their own patterns into it as it flows. Wizards have no general interest in the doings-on of the sleepers; they are at best useful pawns in a much greater political struggle. The sleepers also pay no great attention to the works of the wizards. Each group exists with little interaction with the other, both believing that they alone control the destiny of the world around them.

Caught between, there are others. Not everyone who sees the Tapestry has a desire to make changes. Still others wield the power of magic, but may not see or understand the powers they command.

• Vis is the force that creates and sustains magic. It flows like waves through the world, but unlike water is unimpeded by physical objects. Vis is unseen by the sleepers, but to the awakened it creates a dazzling field of flowing colors–in both the regular color range as well as uncountable colors that are beyond description.

• Essence is the force that creates and sustains life. It comes from a great Pool beyond our world. Every living thing is like a cup of various sizes–they can hold up to a fixed amount of Essence. There are several processes, such as despair and aging that drain Essence, but it will fill again from the Pool over time.

Essence is the stronger force. When Vis and Essence collide, the flow of Vis is disrupted and bent. To the awakened, this looks like water gently rippling around someone moving through a lake. When someone who is awakened looks at another wielder of Vis, they will see a colored aura around the target with colors as dazzling as the Vis itself. This aura can be used to determine the type and strength of magic that creature wields. People like the Gifted throw out a wild pattern that identifies them as magic wielders even though they are not awakened.

• Katravis - Katravis is an aggressive force and may be related to Vis. While Vis is moved and distorted by Essence, Katravis actively displaces both and feeds on or destroys Essence. It appears to flow into our world, like Essence, from a great Pool somewhere else, but it doesn't flow through our world like Vis. Like Essence, an entity that wields Katravis is filled up to a fixed amount, over time, from the Pool. Katravis clearly has magical properties, but wizards have not been able to harness its use for spells. Katravis can be stored like Vis or Essence, but its magical effects are only used by those who wield it directly.

• Quintessence - The existence of and nature of Quintessence are hotly debated and its properties remain mostly unknown. Quintessence is said to be capable of consuming or displacing Katravis, Vis, and Essence. It appears to be able to co-mingle with Essence, and like Essence and Katravis does not flow through our world.

Essence can be stored in any sealable object that isn't metal. It is generally stored in glass with a sealed top, but this is an incredibly difficult process for any wizard to perform. Being the force of life, any object used to contain Essence will be obvious to anyone who sees it. Stored essence will animate its container with motion, vibration, and perhaps even intelligence or emotion. No item can contain both Essence and Vis. If you try to introduce both, the Vis will vacate and the Essence will remain. When released from a container, Essence will disappear and the container will go back to its previous state. Some wizards are able to use this Essence for other purposes and such containers are valuable to them.

Like Essence, Vis can be stored in any sealable object that isn't metal. Vis in containment condenses into a thick colored liquid that anyone can see. If left in raw state, this Vis is extremely volatile, but usable by anyone who can wield magic. The preferred method is to weave raw Vis with specific forms and methods to perform a specific task, (i.e. “purify water.”) When stored in a woven form, the liquid Vis becomes stable. Unlike Essence, stored Vis just appears to be a colored liquid to a sleeper. To the awakened, it's clearly magic and its nature and strength can be identified. Stored Vis is the primary currency between wizards.

(This is not the same as creating an enchanted object.) All wizards have a set amount of Vis they are able to control at one time. Some, but not all wizards, can bind Vis to an object such as a staff. When this is done, they permanently give up a set amount of their Vis control to that object. Why would any wizard want to do this? The Vis melded to the object is multiplied by 3 back to the wizard whenever it's directly in contact with their skin. For example, a wizard who can control 100 units of Vis can bind 50 units to a staff. That wizard now controls only 50 units himself. But with staff in-hand, the 50 units embedded in the staff becomes 200 when the wizard is touching the staff. This brings the total Vis they are able to command from the initial 100 to a new total of 200 (100 - 50 + (50*3).) If a wizard destroys his own item, his initial Vis is returned to him (the initial 50 units put into the staff in our example. Brining his total back to 100.) The embedding wizard can also similarly choose to release the bound Vis without breaking the object if they wish–though it must be in contact with their skin.

It's not unusual for wizards to carry a staff. It's a 'free' option to nearly double the amount of Vis they can wield. If someone other than the wizard breaks the object, the Vis is released back into the field flowing through the world. When this happens, the wizard who embedded the object loses that Vis permanently. Objects with bound Vis are identifiable to the awakened who can discern its nature and relative strength by its aura.

When essence is separated from tissue, some amount of mord is created. In sanctified post-death ceremonies, the mord itself is deconstructed, but when left to its own, mord is created as tissue rots. You find vast quantities of mord on unsanctified battlefields. While not visible to the unawakened, it can in quantities can be sensed–a feeling of dirty space, possibly sadness or tiredness, sloth. Some forces, like the feeding of a baoreth can destroy mord.

A strong emotion, especially one the leads to destruction or death, can stain objects left behind (buildings, land, water, etc.) Examples of echo that can be left behind are love, despair, hatred, fear, anger, and jealousy. Something like a haunted place likely has a high amount of despair, anger, or similar echo left behind.

We are not alone in our search for answers. There is a voice inside each of us, call it a conscience, or a gut feeling, or whatever. Once a person has become awakened, that small voice becomes just as loud in our head as our own thoughts. Whatever their nature, a wizard must learn to act and react in concert with that other voice. It is a constant presence, even if only an imagined one. It is this presence that is called our avatar. The avatar bestows the ability to see the Tapestry and weave patterns into it. It is possible for the avatar to be separated from the person; leaving them a sleeper with no ability to interact with the Vis. All living things born with Essence have an avatar. The avatar of a wizard is just much stronger than one found in a sleeper. There is some evidence that when a creature or person is destroyed, their avatar returns and joins with another soul that is just emerging from the Great Well.

Every weave in the Tapestry whether by chance or by spell leaves a mark of the person who has performed it. Some doubt the existence of resonance, but the signs are too many to be coincidence. When casting a spell of healing in a church that was used for the same purpose, the spell is more potent and easier to cast. The karma that follows a person is a form of resonance. Be careful what you do, for everything is recorded in the Tapestry and anyone who is awakened has the chance of figuring out what has happened.

Paradox is the backlash of Vis and its Tapestry against those trying to alter it. Small changes to the Tapestry are cumulative, but mostly of no consequence. The larger the change, however, the more resistance the Tapestry will give to being changed. Vis is the collective perception of not only the awakened, but of everyone and everything that exists everywhere. Reality is the collective perception of countless entities. When things happen to alter reality, Vis resolves the inconsistency by forcing reality back on the weaver. For example, a wizard making a small stone rise an inch above the ground is only making a tiny stitch in reality. Making an entire ocean turn to fire, however, is an incredible undertaking that affects billions of entities that each believes that such a thing is impossible. Any wizard attempting to turn an ocean to fire will be crushed so hard by the resulting paradox that they will probably never recover. THIS is paradox, the greatest foe of those who attempt to alter the Tapestry.

One such effect of paradox is Quiet. When the wizard has designed his change to reality and the Tapestry brings forth paradox and denies him his version, the wizard retreats into his own reality and withdraws from the other. The wizard exists in a comatose state in this reality and stays that way for an indeterminate period of time – fighting to get back (perhaps) from the altered reality he had created but could not weave.

Demons are entities made of, and sustained by, Katravis. Although they do not reside naturally in Æor, demons are occasionally summoned by some means from their own place of existence. Demons detest wielders of Vis and wizards specifically. They consider non-magic-wielding people merely as a nuisance or as food. Demons must feed on Essence to stay in Æor. They are able to feed on the Essence shed by the living when they are confronted by fear or chaos. More powerful demons can often summon lesser demons from their homeworld to serve them.

Demons are not to be trusted. They will keep a promise as best they can, but will purposefully mislead the contractors with the wording of the request. When demons are summoned to this world, they are here for a specific purpose and will betray everything else to reach their goal. Often serving powerful evil wizards, they look for every opportunity to break free of that control and take their own path.

Because Demons are made of Katravis, they can be bound into an object just as Vis can. The worst torture for a demon is to be bound and slaved to a mortal object. In this state the demon exists in a universe only as large as the object. Although bound demons don’t need Essence to survive, they are in a state of constant pain and torment. A demon-binded object always shows some sign of its state that the awakened can see. A wizard may bind such a demon so that a specific power of that demon could be called forth by the wielder. The bound demon is compliant to the demand, even if the holder is unaware that they are in possession of a Katravis item.