Kedweni Wizardry

Kedweni wizardry has its roots dipped in almost all forms and flavors of magic. It draws from the Wise Men of Cyros to the Abidanii of the Great Expanse.

The Three Principles are a common trope found in wizardry. Magic comes in three main types to a wizard, vessel, mind, and soul. Vessel magic uses the spirit or body. Mind magic uses the various parts of the mind. And soul magic uses the deep waters of the ethereal body—the alma.

Most wizards have access only to vessel and mind magicks. Soul magic can only be achieved after realizing one's Truth. A realization that awakens the soul. Wizards that are also sorcerers have access to more organic magicks and talents that aren't always confined to rote recipes to achieve their desired effects.

The Three Steps are the method by which almost all wizards have been created. The first step is the awakening of the Sight. An apprentice must awaken to the mana that ebbs and flows around the world. Most times, a mage will only unlock rudimentary magical senses that are primitive at best. Magical sight is the hardest to achieve, though it is the most common.

Mages are mostly created rather than born. And as such, they are created for an intended job. In the case of the wizard, it is to master all forms of magic. To do that, a wizard must be able to perceive all flavors of mana. Magical sight is the most reliable type of spiritual exteroception. With it, a mage senses the mana around them in colors like a transparent screen interposed with their normal sight.

Wizards awaken their Sight by imbibing in diviner's sage; a plant with psychedelic properties. After imbibing in the sage, the wizard must then meditate in a place of power or any other sort of magical loci that has a strong flow of mana.

The second step is the linking of the spirit. The wizard must learn how to control their ethereal body. At this step, the Path of the Wizard is not that dissimilar from a spiritualist's. But the next step is the one that creates differentiation between these two Paths.

The third step is tapping into the Wellfont. It requires a wizard to open their mind to the mental plane and then to drift away in its currents until they reach the Wellfont. The process is not dissimilar to astral projection, though is much more dangerous. Be caught in the riptide between realities, and all that will be left behind is a mumbling husk.

Most apprentices don't survive this step. But was is the risk of death when compared to the chance to tap into the dyes that paint all of existence?

Secrets and Spellcraft

Spells to a wizard are magic formulae that enact specific effects. They require components and steps. The component that is always required of a wizard is a spell-source; condensed mana that can then be shaped further. A spell-source is like clay, and all other components are simply ways to further shape it.

The wizard must first circulate their mana, building it up through a cyclical action. Then, they must use that mana to create a shroud of aura around themselves. This aura is then further condensed into a spherical shape in front of them. Wizards can use the neutral gray mana from their high-spirits or syphon different aspects from their bodies. Air mana from the lungs, blood mana from the veins, fire mana from the stomach, mental mana from the mind. Mana economy is important to any wizard lest they be bereft of the vital energy required for both spellcraft and base biological functions.

After the spell-source is completed, the wizard must then use other components to shape their mana. These components come in many flavors, be them words of power or incantations, runic inscriptions, material objects, magical foci, mental techniques and will, somatic symbols or tokens such as hand sigils or seals, and spellforms in the shape of transmutation circles.

Spell Components Words of Power:

Words of power or incantations are used to either ignite, catalyze, or further shape mana. They draw from the belief that words hold power, and thus they do. A wizard must always remember this mantra: "Whether you believe you can do it or not, you're right."

The Wellfont is based on concepts and beliefs that are etched onto wayward mana, and thus it is influenced by it. A wizard can draw upon a cluster of the Wellfont, known as a Constellation, and then utter a compatible incantation. Drawing upon the belief of fire's destructive power, a wizard can utter but a few syllables and transmute a formless mass of mana into a firebolt.

The Wellfont is essentially a soul with arcanums made from the stuff of sentience. What a people believes becomes part of this composite plane. Constellations can only be drawn upon so much before being exhausted. If one slowly draws upon them, they can be used indefinitely, but if one takes too much, they dim. The Constellation will then need time to recuperate before being functional.

But, if a Constellation can be used up, how does a wizard cast spells if they have a large school that uses the same cluster in the Wellfont?

No one single Constellation is used for a spell. A star from one, a branch from another. Wizards use various different clusters of belief in the Wellfont and rarely use a single one. Wizards draw upon Constellations that have beliefs of their own strength to augment their spells, and thus, even when there are many adepts using the same Constellations, the belief of their strength offsets that cost. As such, the reputation of a wizard is their lifesblood.

Somatic Tokens:

Somatic tokens are patterns created by the body. Most wizards use hand signs as somatic tokens. Hand signs have the primary function of allowing them to draw specific aspects of mana from their bodies and spirits. Through the use of rituals and various magicks, wizards use their hands to draw specific mana types from both their surrounding environs and their bodies.

Hand signs are not inherently capable of drawing mana from the body or environment. One will not accidentally summon a horror from beyond the veil by practicing hand signs.

The secondary function of a hand sign is to access the Wise One Constellation. It is a cluster that is enhanced by the amount of practitioners of a certain wizardly school. This Constellation augments their mana like oil to fire.

Kedweni Hand Seals:

Kedweni wizardry is famous for its spiritualistic augmentations to the body. They aspect their bodies with various different mana types like a painter spreads their paints upon their artist's palette. The ritual itself is not a secret. They take their apprentices to different places of power and let them draw upon the primal energies that flow through there

A spark of flame, a drop of water the color of deep blue, the glow from a trapped lightning bolt, a shard of concentrated earthblood, the seed of a hurricane. All elemental and primal mana types are taken from places of power and then transplanted onto a wizard's spirit, specifically their hands. A seal is then painted upon their fingers to stop any explosive interactions between the different magical essences.

The seal itself is made from a combination of shadow mana, blood mana, and earth mana. These essences are concentrated and bound to liquid form. The ink itself is simply a vector to carry the magicks, in simpler terms, a vessel. The magicks then seep into the body and spirit, enacting their functions.

Material Objects:

Material objects and various substances can be used for their innate mana. Ash contains the lingering vestiges of fire, destruction, life, and even void mana. The Wellfont can then be used to enhance the needed mana type. A wizard needs not a specific type of mana, they can simply take a bit from the world and then ignite it into more by use of their composite plane.

As the somatic token cited before and the words of power further back, material objects also have the ability to draw on belief. A material object is as powerful as its source of magical energy as is the belief tied to it. Some objects are even primarily valued because of the beliefs tied to them. As such, a hearth or even a small flame can be used to draw upon healing magicks for the beliefs tied to them in the Wellfont.

Runic Inscriptions:

Runes are essentially hand signs wrought upon a surface. They draw upon the same principles as a somatic token, belief, and the wizardly Constellation.

A script etched onto wood and then flooded with the essence of the Wellfont can be used to ward off predatory spirit.

Runes can also be used to communicate with mana constructs such as philosopher stones and other mediums for ritual magic. Runic languages vary in complexity and etching time. Some may be used for combat magicks, and as such, are simpler. Others may be used for precise manipulation of dangerous mana types, and as such, are more lengthy and complex.

Focus:

Magical foci, or simply foci, are material objects used to channel magic. They are a permanent addition to a wizard's repertoire where a simple material component is a one-time use. They draw upon the same principles as material objects and also draw upon personal attachment and emotions.

Wood from the tree of one's childhood home. The sword of one's father. An amulet passed down through generations. These make the best foci, be they staff, wand, amulet, or orb. The more one is attached to their foci, the better they draw upon the Wellfont.

Belief draws from belief.

Spellforms:

Spellforms are looped circuits of runic script that are used for precise magicks. They vary wildly in execution, from drawing upon the wizardly Constellation to being a form of communication with a magical construct. Even trying to decipher and explain their various uses would take too much time for this simple introductory tome.

Mental:

There are three main components to all wizardly spells. A composite plane, a spell-source, and the mind. One's will is used to control and manipulate the spell. Certain mental techniques can further be used for certain spells such as sympathetic magic and other mentalism-based disciplines.

One could paint tar over two pieces of metal that were once one, and then use a mental technique to believe that both pieces of metal are one. The mage then binds them together and when they lift one, the other is also lifted.

Secrecy

Wizardly schools compete against each other, hoarding knowledge. Why put your blade in your enemies hand? You'd end up with steel through the gut.

Even among their peers, wizards are not forthcoming with their magical formulae. They wright their spells in a smattering of gibberish in faded pages. They ward their parchment against prying eyes by use of blood seals. And they only pass their knowledge to their apprentices, giving the barest of crumbs to their "colleagues."

Wizards do propagate how to create new wizards, and they do so willingly and easily. More wizards, the better. They do not give away their spell formulae nor any advanced techniques, because it does not benefit them.