Page 162 of The Alchemists

Spells are the most commonly used conduit for magic. Spells may use somatic, material, and verbal components to achieve effects that are more powerful, longer lasting, or that cover a wider area than possible through other means.

Because the effects of spells are greater, so, necessarily, are the requirements to cast them. Magic requires an equal exchange of energy in terms of magical input to output; therefore, many powerful spells may require long preparation times, Ætheric skills, or many rare and/or material components to bring their effects to fruition. Portals are often considered the most difficult spells to master, as they require immense magical energy and thus take intense and meticulous preparation to cast.

Spells are frequently stored in or tied to physical objects that can house their power. This allows the Magician to prepare difficult spells before such time as their magical release is needed. This is most frequently seen in situations like Cantrèjeux, where players prepare spells in their equipment to have on hand for later gameplay.

The power of spells necessarily degrades over time. For many long-term spells, such as wards and other aegistic magics, once the initial casting has been completed, regular, small-scale maintenance is common to preserve the initial strength of the spell and its intended effect.

If spells are the equivalent of a home-cooked, multi-course meal, then cantrips are the magical equivalent of fast food. Cantrips are small, short-term magics that cost very little from the caster in terms of effort and energy, which is reflected in their output. A cantrip is a form of casting that requires no or minimal material components and which can be cast nearly instantaneously, usually with a single-word invocation or a small somatic component.

While most spells have a long and well-documented history, cantrips are nearly innumerable and rise and fall in usage often as quickly as they appear. Many Magicians have a stable of personal cantrips in regular use, and many Magicians create their own cantrips as the need arises. The focus of cantrips is often commonplace and everyday, addressing the routine tasks and inconveniences of daily life.

Spontaneous Magic is the rarest of the three standard magical practices and is neither a spell nor a cantrip. Many, if not most, of the magical populace does not possess the capacity for spontaneous magic and may never use it in the course of a lifetime.

Spontaneous magic is tied both to the power of the caster’s will and to the strength of their connection to Magic, which contribute to its rarity of use. The use of spontaneous magic is often linked to situations where an immediate and considerable use of magic is required, such as a life-or-death situation.

Because spontaneous magic does not have any material, somatic, or verbal components, nor any preparation time, the effects are often unpredictable and difficult to control. As a result of this direct input-to-output relationship, spontaneous magic draws entirely from the caster’s own bodily reserves of Magic and is immensely draining and potentially life-threatening for the caster.⁠* Spontaneous magic is almost exclusively used in situations where no other recourse is available.

Curses

Curses are the only form of unilaterally forbidden magic. Curses are defined as “magics which are cast with premeditated ill intent and whose effects are permanent in nature.”⁠*

In an effort to mitigate the usage of curses, which ballooned during a period of North American and European unrest in the late eighteenth century, almost all recorded information on the nature of their creation was destroyed as part of the Great Purge of 1802, as decreed by the International Tribunal of Magicians.

Information on the subject of curses is closely guarded by the International Tribunal, and only members of localized Tribunals are allowed to bestow curses (a full majority is required for a curse motion to be passed). Even so, the usage of curses by the Tribunal is extremely rare and used only in the most egregious cases of magical harm. Curses are used as a punishment by the Tribunal only when it is felt that a lasting example must be made for the greater good of the magical community.

The last known instance of a curse being performed outside the bounds of the Tribunal was in 1962, in Milan, Italy. Upon learning of his lover’s infidelity, Antonello Donini cursed her to never experience romantic pleasure except from members of her own family. She took her own life by standing in front of an oncoming train. Donini was, in turn, stripped of his magic and excommunicated from Magical Society by having his name stricken from the Covenant. He additionally had his nose cut from his face to discourage potential future lovers.

Even before the Great Purge, much of the nature of curses remained obscure. Curses require an equal exchange of energy, like any other form of magic, though it seems that much of the energetic fuel required for curses comes from spite, hatred, or other intensely negative emotions. Because of this, it has often been supposed that curses take as much from their casters as they seem to give. It is also posited that all curses are unique to both the caster and the situation, and therefore no two curses have ever been identical. The means of preparation for curses, however, have been fully lost to the Great Purge. For a history of known curses, refer to The Forbidden Magic: A History (Oxford Ætheric Press, 1987) by Alder Bellarius.

* When used as a proper noun, “magic” should be capitalized (i.e., “I feel my relationship with Magic deeply.”); otherwise, it should be spelled lowercase.

* Though the original author of the Nursery Words is unknown, an early version of the modern Words can be found in Blake’s Journals in an entry dated May 14, 1808.

* See Marlowe’s lost play The Enchantress of Sylvane. There is great debate about whether Marlowe was himself a Magician, and the inability to confirm this fact either way raises much academic suspicion. Scholarship suggests that at a minimum Marlowe must have had close personal ties to a Magician, as the details in this work are strikingly accurate. This accuracy is what prompted the English Tribunal to “destroy” all known copies of the play before it could be performed for a wide audience and risk Magic’s exposure. There are many popular conspiracy theories in certain circles which claim a link between the genesis of this work and Marlowe’s untimely death in 1593.

The full, final draft of The Enchantress of Sylvane has been in residence in Oxford’s Ætheric vault of the Bodleian since its founding, and a facsimile can be found in residence at Windermere College.

* There are several notable examples of deaths resulting from spontaneous magic throughout history, though the most famous instance is almost certainly Omori Haruko’s attempt to hold back the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923. More information about Omori and other noteworthy casters of spontaneous magic can be found in Spontaneous Magic: Against Time (Dunmoody Press, 2014) by Althea Su.

* From The Code of Magic (rev. 124, 2018).

APPENDIX B

THE GAME OF CANTRÈJEUX

The History of Cantrèjeux—the Game of Cantrips

(commonly, Cantrèa)

Cantrèa is a two-player sport involving all three pillars of Ætheric Magic, as well as physical and mental agility and stamina.

Cantrèa has its gameplay origins in medieval Spanish and French Ætheric dueling practices and began to coalesce into a gentlemen’s sport in the late eighteenth century. The first named mentions of the game can be found in the Marseilles Journals of 1792.

The first organized Cantrèa league began in Oxford, UK, in 1816. Remnants of what are largely supposed to be Cantrèa rings and Orbs have been found in oak groves of the United Kingdom dating back as far as the reign of the Roman Empire, leading to the assumption that a form of Cantrèa—though unrecorded—was developing concurrently in the United Kingdom. Much of Cantrèa’s symbolic aspects come from the Druidic traditions of Scotland and Wales.

The Ring and Combat Zones

Cantrèa is played in a circular ring comprised of enchanted sand over clay, measuring between nine and sixteen meters in diameter depending on the level of play. It features four primary zones made up of two concentric circles and two triangles. The circular zones are delineated through lighter-colored sand, and the triangular zones are marked using darker sand.