:: Random NPC—Winona, Siren Expert ::

The first thing you hear is the plinking of bone against bone in quick rhythmic trills. The first thing you see is a curious-looking siren virtually wrapped from her long neck to her lengthy curling tail in informal vestments of seaweed and sponge. Whereas most merfolk you've seen—especially the females—have voluminous tresses of sea-green hair, this one is entirely bald, revealing prominent cranial fins. The plinking is coming from a marimba of sorts, crafted from the ribcage of what must have been a massive fish.

The plinking stops as the siren becomes aware of your presence. She quickly sets down a pair of fishbone mallets, tugging at her coverings to be sure no part of her below the neck or above the wrists is exposed. She turns (really just rolling over to lean on her other flank) to see who has arrived.

"How many have you brought?" she drawls in a high, shrill voice. She extends one webbed hand, clutching her clothes tighter to her body with the other. "The lamps! Give them to me—I must have all of them!" And only now do you notice: in the corner of the grotto sits a massive pile of discarded lamps of every variety—old and new, metal and clay, pristine and shattered beyond repair.

:: 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...

:: Random NPC—Emyr, Bórean Mage ::

Emyr (“Ruler”)

by Wm Jay Carter III, 6/18/15

a bórean

Race: Bórean

Age: Young

Gender: Female

Stature: Short

Physical: Long Neck

Outwardly: Sorrowful

Inwardly: Helpless

Profession: Farmer

Magic: Mage—Conjuration/Abjuration

Catchphrase: “Emyr.”

Entering the chambers of the Athanasian Council, the ambassadors all file in and take their seats. Last to enter is a siren holding the hand of a small, furry child wearing large clawed gloves and a hood featuring a mole’s snout. As the siren raises the child up to sit in one of the council seats you realize that it is not a child, but a little bórean girl with a longer-than-usual neck for her kind. Almost immediately upon being settled, she begins fiddling with her claws with a sad expression, clearly not paying attention to the proceedings. The ambassadors introduce themselves, ending with the little bórean girl. The siren reminds her to speak when it is her turn. “Emyr,” she says softly, and returns to staring at her hands.

:: 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.