Magic in Ehdrigohr

In Ehdrigohr, magic is a manifestation of the Mysterious Ways.  The Mysterious Ways can be thought of as the threads that make up the Great Web. In truth, however, they are so much more essential than that.  They are the component pieces of existence, and the cadence in which they come together and interact maintains the happening that is the known world and all of its constituent realms.

Most scholars count four Mysterious Ways and arrange them in the way of a circle with the understanding that they all relate to, and support, each other. Interdependence is the natural way of the Mysterious Ways and isolation tends to bring imbalance. The act of creation, however, momentarily requires some level of isolation so that a flow can be changed or a pattern established.  Those who can “Call the Mysteries” are able, through a variety of different processes, to isolate and manipulate individual Mysteries to create astounding effects.  It is those who can blend the mysteries and reestablish the relationships into new patterns that are the greatest of all.

The Mysterious Ways flow as follows:  Essences to Elements to Natures to Principles and back to Essences.  Each Mysterious way can be further subdivided into 4 schools or paths.  What follows is a brief breakdown of the Mysterious Ways in Ehdrigohr.  More info and rules for manipulating them can be found in Ehdrigohr: Book One

The Essences — Weave, Moment, Space, and Truth — are the Cycle of existence. Weave is the fabric that all things exist in, and that exists in all things. Moment is the dynamic force upon which the strands of the Weave travel. Space provides a container that supports the Weave as its strands travel along time. Reality is the controlling force and laws of which direct and control Space and Time, so that they may shape the Weave in order for existence to be.

Those who wield the essences are often called “Essentialists” and any of them would tell you that the essences may be some of the most spectacular of schools but are also the most dangerous. Mishaps with the essences can rip the fabric of the Web and let things in from the twain. It also runs the risk of driving the user insane.

Elements — Earth, Fire, Air, and Water — are necessary for the sustaining of existence and as a life base. Earth is the actual base, and it holds the others together. Fire warms the land, and is both the blood and the driving force of the land’s evolution. Air directs the fires, and nourishes the breath. Water cleanses and soothes, shapes and seeds. It keeps the earth from getting too hot, stills the flame, and nourishes the land.

The Elements are certainly also among the more spectacular of the Mysterious ways to wield, though they do come with their own share of drawbacks. Failure to use the elements correctly can lead to an element backlash on the user at best, and at worst can cause devastation over a wide swathe as the elements in the area are brought abruptly into a state of imbalance. If a user is powerful enough mishaps can lead to elemental poisoning where areas or beings are exposed to levels of an element so pure that is causes a sort of conversion effect to everything it comes in contact with. Those who can wield the elements are called elementalists.

The Natures — Body, Mind, Spirit, and Soul — are the things that are the manifestations of self-existence. Body is the container and vehicle. Mind is the effective flow of the self — the power to reason,  change, and intuit. Spirit is the will of the self – the motivational and directing forces of a person’s being. Soul is the essential self where the lessons of existence are stored so that they may be studied so that a new body can be chosen to learn lessons yet to be learned. Those who practice the Natures are called Adepts.

When those who wield the natures lose control and suffer mishaps they tend to lead to corruption.  Many are the men and women who try to weave themselves too much and instead caused terrible mutations and eventually turned themselves, and/or others, into terrible monsters. The corruptions is not just of the outershell but the inner as well, so an Adept can appear whole but have done terrible damage to her mind, spirit, or soul that others don’t realize until it’s too late.

The Principles — Life, Love, Honor, and Destiny — are necessary to give purpose to existence. Life is the basis of existence. Love provides the blood and dynamism of existence. Honor directs love and nourishes the passions. Destiny cleanses existence, makes the scars on the Weave that require life, all while providing the paths that Honor will choose from, so that life can further itself.

Manifestations of the Principles are rare and those who wield it are often called Principalers. Their effects are not as overtly visible as the other paths. This make many people not trust principalers as they feel they can never be sure when an action they take is their own or influenced by the principaler.

In actuality it is harder to have influence over a person than most people think. Those who can touch and weave the principles must put a great deal of time and effort into doing so. Though it is possible to instantly force your will on someone (called taking and described in the rules) such feats are the domain of the truly powerful. It is simply very draining to actively manipulate another person’s principles. People have their own paths to walk and they will passively (and actively when aware of the attempt) resist. Again, only the most powerful of Principalers have the ability to do this long term.

 

Allen Turner

Writer, Storyteller, Game designer, Teacher, Dad, Table-top RPG geek. I'm just a dude who likes to share my wild imaginings. Follow me on Twitter @CouncilOfFools

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