Laws of magic

Overview

All magic is governed by a number of axiomatic principles that determine what will happen and why. Collectively they are commonly referred to as the laws of magic. Their existence is a conseqeunce of the way magic works in the world - they are a reflection of the underlying nature of the world itself - much like hearth magic with which they are closely linked. Like the limits of magic, a knowledge of the various laws can be a way to portray a character's deep knowledge and mastery of magic.

The laws of magic are not like the limits of magic - the latter are rules of the game that tell you what you cannot achieve in Empire. The laws of magic are intended as principles that a magician can use to guide their understanding of why some things work the way they do, and how things might work. They are not laws in the sense of being strict rules; they are axioms inspired by literary examples of magic, like the axioms in the Laws of Thelema. The guide what can be achieved with rituals and how, rather than dictate set limits.

The Law of Intent

Sometimes called the first law of magic, the Law of Intent stipulates that a formulaic ritual can achieve only what the ritual was designed to do. Many magicians claim it is called formulaic magic for this very reason. The ability of Rivers of Gold to enhance the production of a business by 180 rings is the fundamental intent of the ritual. It is not possible to perform the ritual on a mine or a farm, nor to cast it with more mana crystals to get more money. The ritual can only be performed exactly as it was originally intended when it was formulated.

At first glance, spontaneous magic appears to offer a more flexible alternative, but the truth is that it is no more flexible than formulaic magic and often less so. Some variations can be part of a formulaic ritual, if the ritual is designed and constructed that way. When a magician creates a ritual projection to create a spontaneous effect, they must specify the intent of the ritual as exactly as possible. This can be much more demanding than an equivalent formulaic ritual - for example an arcane projection to divine the properties of a magical item would be useful only for that magical item.

The Law of Presence

The magic of the realms is most effective on things that are present, and creating effects at range is much more difficult. Common spells such as weakness, or heal require the caster to be close enough to touch the target or else use an implement to deliver the spell. Ritual magic can overcome this limitation but only by drawing on other laws of magic to supplant the Law of Presence.

The Law of Dominion

The Law of Dominion is an important way to overcome the limitations of the Law of Presence when performing ritual magic. Authority over somebody or something creates a magical link that flows from the being with power to the subject of their authority. A general with command of an army, or any Imperial citizen who owns their own personal resource are both effective examples of the Law of Dominion.

A common use for this law allows rituals that are designed to enhance the production of a resource can be cast at Anvil provided the owner of the resource is present. Likewise a general can be used as to provide an arcane connection to the army they command, regardless of the distance. The Imperial regio is the most powerful expression of this law, providing as it does an arcane connection to every territory in the world that falls under the dominion of the Empire.

The Law of Bonds

The create bond spell commonly creates a magical link between an individual and their items. Such links are essential in most cases if the owner is to make use of the item, but they also come with a known risk. Magicians have created formulaic rituals that use the Law of Bonds, the link between the item and its bonded owner to affect the target (usually with a curse) even when they are not present.

Similar bonds are created between an individual and a band to which they belong. These bonds can also be used in formulaic rituals that try to employ the Law of Synergy to affect more than one target. Where a ritual has the right intent, it is possible to use the Law of Bonds to affect multiple band members present with a single casting.

The Law of Scale

Magical rituals operate on a natural scale, a size at which they are most effective. Although it is possible to reduce the magnitude of these rituals by making them less potent, doing so provides rapidly diminishing returns. Often, there is a minimum threshold beneath which the magic simply stops working altogether.

For example, the 120 magnitude ritual Quickening Cold Meat calls a thousand spirits from the Winter realm to inhabit nearby corpses. An identical formulaic ritual to call forth only five hundred spirits might only be magnitude 100.

The natural scale for a ritual is usually set by the nature of the intended target. Rituals that target individuals or groups are much lower magnitude than rituals that target an army. The Law of Scale makes it increasingly difficult to create a ritual that affects an Imperial army that is lower than magnitude 70.

Magicians are usually more interested in creating more powerful versions of existing rituals, making them more potent or longer lasting. While this is always possible, similar penalties apply when attempting to exceed the natural scale of a ritual. A ritual that grants someone two ranks of endurance is always more than twice the magnitude of a ritual that grants a single rank.

The Law of Transience

The natural duration of most enchantments is a season. It is possible to create enchantments that last for longer than this time, but the difficulty and magnitude of the ritual rises exponentially as the duration increases. One of the few exceptions to this are the rituals developed by Marcher landskeepers to improve the productivity of farms. A year is the natural cycle of any farm, which is what allows the rituals to span this duration without becoming infeasible.

Enchantments with shorter duration are eminently possible, and are usually easier to create than an equivalent ritual that would last a season. However the difference is much less than might otherwise be expected, an enchantment that lasts only a day can be easily two thirds the cost of one that lasts three months. There are two common exceptions to this rule - both curses and effects that conceal (primarily found in the Night realm) regularly have a year duration. While it is possible to create enchantments that last for a year, they are significantly more expensive than those which last for only a season.

Only the inclusion of ilium in a ritual allows it to exceed this natural limitation of magic.

The Law of Synergy

The best way to make formulaic rituals more effective is to perform them on multiple targets at the same time. Rituals designed to take advantage of the Law of Synergy allow the ritualists to perform a single ritual that will affect more than one target for less than the cost to perform each individual ritual. The limits of the power that can be achieved using the Law of Synergy are thus set by the skill of the magicians attempting the ritual, rather than the inherent magnitude of the ritual.

The Law of Synergy often needs to be combined with the Law of Bonds to work effectively. Many formulaic rituals are designed so that they can be cast on members of the same banner, sect, or coven.

It is not possible to use the Law of Synergy with spontaneous magic. It is possible to create a spontaneous effect that covers a fixed number of targets, but you can cannot make an arcane projection for an effect whose magnitude changes the more targets you add in. Only a formulaic ritual is sufficiently complete to allow the flexibility to affect a variable number of targets and take advantage of the Law of Synergy in this way.

The Law of Boundaries

Non-magicians are sometimes surprised that the boundaries drawn on maps can have an effect on magic. In practice is it more the case that the things that affect where territory and region boundaries are drawn, the course of a river, the eaves of a forest, or a range of mountains also affect magic.

Powerful formulaic rituals that target a wide area are often limited in their extent to a single region or territory. The power of the magic is constrained by these natural boundaries limiting its extent. The Law of Boundaries can also be important when combined with the Law of Synergy. The resources owned by Imperial citizens have an intrinsic connection with the territory they are situated in and it is often possible to use this link to create formulaic rituals that target one or more resources in a territory.

The Law of Essence

Everything that exists in the realms or in the mortal world has an essence, a set of essential qualities that make it what it is. Magic can relatively easily change the accidental properties of a thing, but the more fundamental the qualities of something are, the harder they are to change. For example, Spring magic can be used to heal an individual preternaturally quickly, provided that their wounds have been tended and they would have recovered anyway. It cannot heal a traumatic wound, because it is not in the nature of such wounds to naturally recover in time.

The Law of Essence is particularly important for some Night magic rituals that create a glamour to change the accidental properties of something but not the essence, but it is also important in other realms. Powerful magicians can influence chance, make things stronger or weaker, but they cannot make something do something completely outside its nature. They cannot make water burn, or stone float in the air, they cannot make a person fly or create a rain of fire. The Law of Essence is relevant in spellcasting as well - the operate portal cantrip targets a structure whose essential nature is that of a portal or gate. It won't affect any structure or object that doesn't have these essential qualities.