:: Grimoire Class—Exemplar ::

Exemplar (cleric/witch variant)

by Wm Jay Carter III, inspired by the Incanter class from Spheres of Power

An exemplar exercises faith in an eldritch patron—be it a Stranger, the Soul of Athanasia itself, or some other powerful otherworldly entity—to bring about miracles which would never be possible by mortal means. She qualifies for these abilities by entering into a covenant with the being that supplies her power.

This class represents the righteous prophet who serves as the instrument of her god’s will, the priestess of a nature goddess who does as she will but vows to harm none, or the willing thrall of a demon who seeks to spread darkness across the land.

In Athanasia, a worshipper of the Light or Dark joins an order and is called a priestess (male: priest). A devotee of the World Soul joins a coven and is known as a witch (male: wicker). Each order and coven is different, even among those of the same eldritch patron, but each is commonly led by an experienced member who officiates at gatherings and admonishes members to remain faithful to their oaths.

The ways an exemplar conducts herself—as well as the nature and extent of her powers—are based entirely on the terms of her oath. An exemplar’s faithfulness to the oath is rewarded with an increase in power, eventually permitting her to become one with the power she serves. Such scions of Strange Power are called avatars.

On the other hand, breaking her oath can only be interpreted as a rejection of her patron, leaving herself open to the domination of opposing forces. Such oathbreakers become hags (male: warlock).

Spheres

The Fate sphere best characterizes the influence of the eldritch patron in the life of the exemplar. Exemplars of the Light or Dark take the associated spheres, respectively. Exemplars of the World Soul traditionally take the Destruction sphere, although the Creation and Nature spheres are available to those with an open mind. Exemplars gain the sphere aligned with their eldritch patron by virtue of patron-unique sphere-specific drawbacks (see Eldritch Patrons, below). Any other sphere that aligns with the purposes of the exemplar’s patron is encouraged.

:: Grimoire Class—Dendrite ::

Dendrite (druid variant)

by Wm Jay Carter III, inspired by the Hedgewitch class from Spheres of Power

All living things were created to create again, and by participating in this circle of life the dendrite participates in nature’s inherent magic. Like the seed, the dendrite is meant to grow, achieve the height of her magical potential, and then pass her strength on to the next generation so that the cycle may continue. A dendrite sees all things—including herself—as zoe (“alive”), and therefore equal. She harnesses the land, the animals, and the plants to perform her magic. This, she believes, gives the lives of her fellow zoe greater purpose as she increases in wisdom and power.

Dendrites refer to themselves collectively as the Circle, or the Circle of Life. While not strictly an order in the same sense as a group of exemplars, it shares a similar structure. Instead of being led by one dominant leader, however, each dendrite looks to their elders (whether physical or mental) for guidance.

One is either born a dendrite, or will never be one as long as they live. To be One Who Knows the Oaks is a birthright of the Strangers’ true descendants. For this reason, the majority of dendrites are human, although the Circle will not turn away members who happen to be of another race. They do actively contend against those that claim the members of the Circle are not the literal descendants of Strangers, however.

Those who practice druery (the rituals of the dendrites) but are not descendants of the Strangers are called rangers. Only by being inducted into the Circle and participating in the Rites of Fertility can a ranger become eligible for rebirth within the bloodline. Therefore, if you ask a ranger whether all her years living with the Circle will ever result in her becoming a dendrite, the answer must be literally “not in this life.”

Those known to be of the dendritic bloodline begin their education within the Circle at a very young age. The initiate is taught of the cyclical path all dendrites walk. She learns respect for nature, and the rites of the World Soul. She is encouraged to explore the world and search for some soul, location, or object that might spark the fire of her Strange Memory.

At some time during her wanderings, the initiate recognizes a soul with whom she shares a bond like no other, her animal companion, whom she has known through all her lives. Her mind begins to open itself to knowledge she once had, other souls she was once acquainted with, and experience from her former lives. This event, called the Awakening, marks the beginning of her true life as a dendrite.

A dendrite’s awakening continues throughout her life. Indeed, she does not truly learn new skills or develop new talents, she simply remembers the ones she already had and picks up where she left off.

Some dendrites literally dedicate their lives to meditating on their past incarnations, only to come out of the trance decades later. When they do so, they bear centuries of experience, and—no matter their apparent age—are thereafter known as elders, for they have truly become old souls.

Spheres

Dendrites have access to the powers of the physical world, favoring the Dark, Enhancement, Light, Nature, and Weather spheres. Their meditations on the circle of life make the Death, Divination, and Life spheres logical choices as well.

:: Grimoire Class—Shaman ::

Shaman (shaman archetype variant)

by Wm Jay Carter III, inspired by the Soul Weaver class from Spheres of Power

Sometimes known as a spirit guide or medicine woman (and erroneously labeled "witch doctor" by the ignorant), the shaman not only remembers the dead, she walks with them, communes with them, and draws her power from theirs.

She honors the spirits, whether those of her ancestors, the animals, or the Great Spirit which lives in all things. She believes that to dishonor those who came before is to weaken oneself.

To the shaman, the departed still live, separated only by the mist of mortality called the Æther (Ethereal Plane). One need only learn to part these mists if one wishes to see where the dead continue their journey, and walk beside them.

A shaman's connection to the Æther comes from ancestral influence. Somewhere along the way—intentionally or otherwise—she made contact with the world of spirits. This experience marked her as a liaison between the world of the living and the dead: a medium.

Mediums are revered and given a place of honor in tribal communities outside Euzoria. If they wish to advance their gift, they are given to the tribe shaman as an adopted child, and eventually become shamans themselves. Within Euzoria, however, a medium’s gift is often seen as a haunting—or worse, a possession—and dealt with accordingly. For this reason, very few mediums find the support necessary to become shamans within towns and cities.

Eventually, the more a shaman exposes herself to the spirit world, the more she becomes a part of it. The most advanced shamans—known as mystics—sacrifice their mortal senses to gain yet greater clarity on the other side of the Æther. Mystics walk the boundary between life and death with every step, and some do not even realize when they have died and become ghosts themselves.

Spheres

Her connection to the Æther makes a shaman likely to use the Death and Life spheres. Her access to the knowledge of the spirit world makes the Divination and Mind spheres likely as well. Those shamans who commune with animal spirits might also take animal-themed talents such as Animal Friend and Speak with Animals (Nature).

:: Grimoire Class—Wunderkind ::

Wunderkind (sorcerer variant)

by Wm Jay Carter III, inspired by the Eliciter and Fey Adept classes from Spheres of Power

The seventh child of a seventh child, born on a midsummer's eve in a fairy circle, or taken by the fairies as a baby and replaced with a changeling, the wunderkind (plural: wunderkinder) has an innate connection to the Fey Realm, and therefore to magic itself. Wonders and strange happenings follow these magical prodigies from a young age, earning them the epithet "wonderchildren."

Willful to a fault, the wunderkind looks on those who submit themselves to others’ commands with disdain. Experiencing the fullest range of emotion and experience for herself is a wunderkind’s ultimate goal, and it is therein that she finds her power. A wunderkind’s approach to magic is intense, passionate, and personal.

Wunderkinder are shunned by most in Euzoria. The unintentional havoc she is capable of causing at an early age draws the attention of local peacekeepers, who prevent future problematic outbursts by issuing the wunderkinder a pirium torc or bracelet. The magically reactive metal drains the mana from her, thus diminishing her chaotic potential. For this reason, any person wearing pirium is commonly suspected to be a wunderkind and considered “dirty” or “troublesome” by scholarly spellcasters.

A wunderkind’s only chance for a normal life lies in a safehouse for her kind, called a kindergarten. Typically located outside city limits, each kindergarten is tended by a wunderkind—called a gartner—who is able to help the fledgeling spellcaster harness her emotions and abilities to her benefit, eventually teaching her to control her magic without the use of pirium.

Fortunate wunderkinder are apprenticed to a wanderer (nomadic wunderkind), as a herald, tasked with announcing her master’s arrival at each city they visit within Euzoria’s boundaries. Without pirium to clearly identify the wanderer as a wunderkind, permission must be obtained from the governor of a city before she may enter. The wanderer’s apprentice dons her pirium and negotiates with the governor for her master’s entry rights. No matter how gracious a host the governor may be, however, wanderers and their apprentices are typically permitted to stay inside city limits for only days at a time.

The most prestigious wunderkinder, however, are the magisters, and most wunderkinder seek to join the Magisterium. A group of wunderkinder in a league of their own, the Magisterium is known for hosting an annual 3-day event known as the Gathering outside the boundaries of Euzoria. The Gathering brings together all the wanderers and their apprentices across Athanasia and sets challenges for each to establish a loose ranking system among them, called leagues.

The crowning challenge at the Gathering is the Spectacle, where the most skilled wanderers and apprentices compete for a chance to join the Magisterium, though a rare few succeed. Indeed, it is rumored that the Magisterium have no set terms for inducting new members, and though many outside the Magisterium have claimed to be magisters, the Magisterium’s roster remains mysteriously unchanged.

Spheres

A wunderkind’s connection to the Fey Realm causes her to prefer the Alteration, Illusion, or Nature spheres, although the expressive nature of her powers can take the form of any sphere.

:: Grimoire Class—Mage ::

Mage (wizard variant)

by Wm Jay Carter III, inspired by the Incanter class from Spheres of Power

a mage

Having studied in an academy of arcane education, the mage finds her truest self in the possession and wise use of knowledge. She prizes information above most other treasures and pities the fools who do not have enough sense to use what knowledge they have. To her magic is a science; empirical and exact. For this reason the mage’s approach to magic is a practical, methodical, and exhaustive.

A mage in Athanasia begins as a scholar magician in Elementary School where she learns how to harness the classical elements from arcane textbooks called grimoires. There, she also learns the Wizard’s Creed, a set of ideological tenets that are intended to guide a mage’s actions when using magic. The next step is Dueling College where she learns the form and function of the Wizard’s Duel, and focuses her arcane learning toward one or more specializations (spheres).

After graduating she is known as a mage, and she may wish to join a mage’s guild focused in her specialization, or further her education pursuant to becoming an archmage. Those mages who learn the arcane arts outside of Euzoria’s educational system are known as hedge-mages.

Among spellcasters, archmages are the academic elite, regarded as the foremost authorities in their specializations, even taking part in composing grimoires for the up-and-coming generation of scholar magicians. Archmages may choose to teach in institutions of arcane learning, or establish their own guild. An archmage’s journey is not complete, however, until she one day becomes a fully-fledged wizard.

Wizards are spellcasters appointed by the Wizard’s Tribunal to be the steward of some powerful magical artifact or crucial ley-line. A wizard is granted a tower in order to better safeguard her magical charge, and she receives a personalized staff from the Tribunal as a symbol of her position. Should a wizard ever fail to follow the Creed or dishonor the Tribunal and her craft, her appointed stewardship is revoked, she is dismissed from her tower, and her staff is broken.

The Wizard’s Tribunal is composed of three governing members: Alkandros of the bóreans, Kléber of the leonians, and Ipiktok of the seraphim, each of whom holds one of the three remaining staffs of power. Based out the Tower of Towers, the Tribunal oversees the creation of arcane curriculum, enforces the proper use of magic by the Wizard’s Creed, and monitors the activities of all wizard’s towers across Athanasia.

Throughout a scholar magician’s education, career as a mage, and her potential appointment as a wizard, she is always seeking knowledge from any source available. The most accessible source is a network of formless, ambient intelligences that pervade the length and breadth of Athanasia. According to extensive academic research, these intelligences are theorized to be the state of fey beings before they materialize in the Fey Realm. Regardless of their true nature, however, they are employed constantly to aid a mage in her research, most notably through the Divination sphere.

The subject of a mage’s research is most often words of power from the language of the Strangers (Druidic), a language that actually defies being written, and is only comprehensively understood by the dendrites. The Wizard’s Tribunal has formally requested that the Circle divulge the language many times, always with the provision that its use would be duly regulated, but over the centuries the Circle has consistently refused.

Spheres

Mages from Euzoria consider at least some knowledge in Divination and Destruction as essential components of their magical education. Beyond this, they are equally likely to learn any other sphere, with the sole exception of the Death sphere (Necromancy), which is forbidden by the tenets of the Wizard’s Creed. Hedge-mages (from inside or outside Euzoria’s boundaries) do not follow the Creed and acknowledge no such limitations—much to their dismay when the Tribunal sends representatives to censure them...

:: Worldbuilding Semi-Contest Entry—Grimoire ::

This post (8,730 words) is an entry into the Spheres of Power World-Building Semi-Contest, as posted on Facebook. According to a post by Adam Myers on the Spheres of Power Kickstarter page, the deadline is June 13th. If you want to submit your sample world, check out the original Facebook post here.

Grimoire

A sample world for Spheres of Power (Pathfinder)

by Wm Jay Carter III, 6/11/15

In the beginning, the animals of Athanasia knew of neither humans nor spellcasting. Then, the Strangers—semi-divine beings from another world—came and taught the animals how to harness mana and bend it to their will. Since that time magic has criss-crossed the land in rivers called ley-lines, fueling magic for both good and ill.

Thus empowered, the animals all began changing their shapes to look more like the Strangers, each to varying degrees of success. Those who achieved the transformation perfectly became known as humans, a race favored by the Strangers. Since the Cataclysm, however, the knowledge of how to change one’s shape has begun to fade, and the animal races remain in their hybrid states.

Magic is still available, however, waiting for those who discover their connection to it. Some seek out writings of Strange Wisdom and words of power; these are known as mages. Others find that magic literally flows from their souls like the ley-lines; these call themselves wunderkinder. Shamans commune with the world of spirits, especially those of their ancestors who learned wisdom from the Strangers. The dendrites believe they are the Strangers’ literal children, and are reborn century after century to ensure that Athanasia’s fate is guided by the Strangers’ will. Finally, exemplars make oaths to powerful beings in exchange for their magic, whether they devote themselves to a Stranger of Light or Darkness, or to the World Soul—the very spirit of Athanasia—thus harnessing its primal elements.

Athanasia itself is a young world, full of new beginnings. The first kingdom, Euzoria, was formed only a few hundred years ago. Euzoria is the home of humans, with the rest of Athanasia’s animal races living in their own communities. Thanks to the wisdom of the Strangers the denizens of Athanasia have enjoyed relative peace. But that peace is not without growing pains.

The córeans roost at Bristlebane, at the height of Mount Córea. Meanwhile their rivals, the seraphim, occupy the Pirium Spire, floating over the Eye of the World. The leonians roam the Ranai Forest, the sirens swim the Siren’s Sea, and the bóreans remain secluded in their tunnels near the outskirts of the Eye of the World. Many other animal races dot the planet, such as the merrows, draconians, ranai, and fenrir.

While none of the animal races share the organized government peculiar to humans, they are no less loyal to their own kind. Members of the animal races follow communally-respected leaders for as long as they remain relevant, and then govern their own local tribes internally when there is no immediate need for regional coordination. This has resulted in most of the animal races remaining localized to their own homelands, while the humans explore and expand year after year, spreading across most of the known world.