Arcana Unearthed: Way of the Sword

The Way Reborn

Across the Southern Wastes the warlord Greshom the Thrice Scarred drove his mercenary soldiers: mixed ranks of humans, verrik, and sibeccai, Dogging their heels came a force of the warlike chorrim out for blood. Greshom's force was weary and stretched far too thin. They had ridden miles without sleep or food. Thus what happened next is thought by many to be a delusion. Others simply call it a lie.

The dust of the wasteland swirled in a strong wind as the riders entered a ravine. As Greshom watched, the blowing dust and sand formed a shape. Before the startled soldiers, a man made of wind and dust congealed. His armor, they said, was of an ancient style, and his shield bore heraldry none of them recognized.

Before Greshom could say anything or even ask his god for protection, the figure spoke.

"This slashing about with blades and hacking with axes makes you no better than apes thrashing each other with sticks pulled from trees!" the figure shouted. "You have lost the true Way of the Sword."

When Greshom demanded to know who the old warrior was, the man of dust of wind replied, "I am Thartelius, Swordmaster. And I am returning to the world to restore what was lost!"

With those strange words, Thartelius leapt at Greshom, and then disappeared in a cloud of dust. The mercenaries closest to their leader swore that the strange figure actually leapt into Greshom, though of course none could prove it.

Greshom eventually led his troops to safety. In the months following, people saw a change in the thuggish warmain. He gave up the adventuring life and founded a warguild in the coastal city of Khorl. From there, he began to teach. Greshom's teachings were not simple swordplay or combat tricks-it was an entire way of life. Greshom taught a philosophy he called the Way of the Sword.

The Way of the Sword encouraged students to learn history, geography, science, and the healing arts. A real warrior needed knowledge in order to truly win a battle, according to this philosophy, and that knowledge went far beyond parries and thrusts. This was a revival of an older time and an older school of thought. In those earlier days, all young humans training for a profession-any profession-had to choose an endeavor: either the Way of the Sword or the Way of the Staff. There were only the two pursuits then, and the Way of the Sword referred to those who chose to rely on themselves rather than on magic.

Although his former company abandoned him, Greshom's warguild grew quickly. Humans, sibeccai, litorians, and even giants came to hear him speak. He taught them about honor and duty and the importance of being true to oneself, one's own moral code, and one's carefully planned goals. He taught them psychology, how to win a fight before blades were ever drawn from scabbards.

And, of course, they trained with arms of war. Greshom's students learned combat methods and techniques for both melee and long-range combat. They learned about every kind of armor and weapon known, and a few none-other than Greshom-had ever seen before. But as the years wore on, more and more students came to the former warlord not seeking his knowledge of combat, but to learn more of the Way of the Sword itself. Some of these were unfettered, who cared not for heavy armor or complicated tactics. Some were oathsworn, who eschewed weapons and armor altogether, but listened to Greshom's words about honor and duty with keen interest and understanding. A few who trained under Greshom took up the banner of some cause or another, making "carefully planned goals" and their "own moral codes" to become champions. Even totem warriors, who normally learn their skills from the powerful spirits of nature, came to Greshom to acquire the secrets of the Way of the Sword.

No one ever really knew how Greshom came up with the secrets of this ancient philosophy or what caused him to give up his life as a warlord to start his own guild and school. Although a few related the story of Thartelius and suspected some kind of possession, no divination could ever prove this was the case. By the time Greshom died in 1711, the philosophy had spread to other warguilds and knightly orders. Today, the Order of Greshom is a loose confederation of disparate warriors who follow the Way of the Sword and all it stands for. It extends all throughout the lands of the Diamond Throne, and exists only so that its members can publicly acknowledge their devotion to the concepts of honor, duty, intelligence and being true to oneself.

 

 

Arcana Unearthed: Way of the Staff

The Way Reborn

The Brightborn School in Thayn is one of the finest magical academies in the lands of the Diamond Throne. Historically, on this site a human magister named Terrona Fass slew the dragon Edorani the Cold in an epic battle amid the rolling hills.

In those days, Thayn was just a collection of tents and small shacks-a place where litorians and humans would congregate with the faen from time to time. It was a place of peace and coming together, but Edorani did not want the locals to unite and sought to destroy the settlement with spells and her deadly breath.

Terrona used the legendary staff of Tormetheon (a runethane who claimed to have been given runes directly from the god Vekik himself) to battle the dragon single-handedly, even as the warriors and champions fled before Edorani's terrible might. The two clashed, and the magical discharge from their blows created a terrible pit.
In the end, only Terrona left the pit.

Almost 2,000 years later, a group of faen and humans excavated the site of the battle and found the area still saturated with residual magic. The Council of Magisters came to what was then known as Terrona's Pit and built a small fortress there, on the outskirts of Thayn. The fortress became a school in the year 1570. The first headmaster, a human named Burad Nomis, resurrected a very old teaching method known as the Way of the Staff.

The Way of the Staff refers to a devotion to magic and the study of spellcraft over all else. It focuses on the idea that magic-rather than physical force, skill at arms, or even nonmagical academic pursuits (like history or engineering)-is the most powerful and efficient way to accomplish any task. Far more than simple a "brains over brawn" approach, the Way of the Staff teaches that the purest means of doing anything, whether it be travel, communication, warfare, construction, destruction, investigation, or something else, is through the manipulation of magical energies.

To be sure, Burad's methods did not neglect standard fields of study. The superior mage, after all, cannot wield magic to manipulate forces he does not understand. So the school taught (and still teaches) all the sciences, a vast number of languages, history, geography, and more. The program even teaches rudimentary fighting and self-defense techniques, mostly with a staff-all this to further the students' spellcraft.

In earlier days, the Way of the Staff was only a human endeavor. All young humans training for a profession-any profession-had to choose either the Way of the Staff or the Way of the Sword. There were the only two pursuits available in those days, and the Way of the Staff referred to anyone who practiced the art of spellcasting or mystical lore.

At the Brightborn School, however, the Way of the Staff was only offered to magisters, at least at first. In 1593, the school began offering more and more classes dealing with runes and magical symbols. A year later, a number of the students were studying to become runethanes rather than magisters. Soon, the Way of the Staff at the school began to apply generally to all mages-even witches and akashics came there to study from time to time.

In 1609, the year of the great blight, the Council of Magisters and the staff of the school met with a gathering of greenbonds and akashics to formulate a plan to cope with the drought and famine afflicting the northern lands. The verrik Gaux Tlasslil, leader of the akashic guild of Thayn, delved into the akashic memory and learned a secret about the power unleashed by Terrona and Edorani thousands of years before. Thanks to this lore, the magisters and runethanes were able to help the greenbonds use the residual magic to tap further into the power of the land than any had ever attempted. Even the sometimes sinister iron witch known only as Scythe aided them all by casting a spell to restore them when they grew tired. The combined might and skill of all these followers of the Way of the Staff drew lifegiving power from the land's hidden reserves and ended the terrible blight and drought plaguing the region.

In 1668, the Council of Magisters disbanded. Brightborn School, however, remained. Its instructors continued to teach the Way of the Staff to all talented students that came. Even without the shepherding of the Council, the school flourished. Today, Thayn is known as a haven for mages of all kinds. Even the giantish steward, Ei-Kestrin, is herself a magister of great power. The great Faevor Grayportal, a faen currently attempting to reform the Council of Magisters, lives and works at Brightborn.

 

 

Arcana Unearthed Grimoire

The Well of Spells

No one truly understands the origins of the Well of Spells. Although some ancient texts and akashic references speak of a "spellwell" or spellsource, none reveal its beginnings. How could such a thing be? A few say that it must be the result of the death of some god of magic, and the spells themselves are his still-flowing lifesblood.

This well is a source of magical knowledge-not a source of raw magical power like the power cysts found throughout the land, but a source of fully formed and completely unknown spells. Although none can tell you where the lore comes from, any mage can confirm that a never-ending font of new spells is extremely valuable.

However, the well is also extremely dangerous.

The Well of Spells lies within the forest known as the Harrowdeep, in a region that the local faen call the Glitterdark. This strange area seethes with magical power, rendering spells that detect magic useless-everything in the Glitterdark is magical. It is the home of many mysterious and unique creatures, all with mystical powers and abilities, and most with no love for intruders into their forest. Even the faen avoid the Glitterdark unless they have no choice.

The well itself lies within a rift in the earth that some say is utterly bottomless. Certainly, no one has ever found its limits. The spells of the spellwell appear as words and symbols that flow upward from the rift onto the stones and soil around it. Touching the physical manifestation of a spell causes it to discharge immediately, which can be extraordinarily hazardous. The only way to safely take part in the knowledge flowing from the Well of Spells is to find a safe place nearby and study the words and symbols as best you can, using knowledge of spellcraft or perhaps a spell to help you read magic.

Eventually, when the spells have flowed a certain distance from the well itself, they fade. No one has successfully determined whether they are gone forever or are simply "recycled" by the well and ejected later. Most estimate that about six to ten new spells come up out of the well every day, with as many as 20 to 30 visible at any given time. The spells slide up out of the well at varying speeds, most moving from 1 to 6 feet an hour.

But neither the shifting spells nor even the dangerous magical beasts roaming the Glitterdark is the mystical explorer's real concern when visiting the Well of Spells. The real danger is the strange effect known as reincorporation. Living creatures near the well sometimes find all or parts of their physical form disintegrated and instantly replaced with unstable, magical matter. The new material in their bodies functions-for the most part-but at some random time after this reincorporation, the matter changes to a completely different form. Observed changes include glass, iron, wood, dust, water, the flesh of another creature, the rearranged flesh of the same creature, an entire different creature, a mass of tiny insects, or even into energy which violently explodes. This horrible phenomenon seems to affect some who remain in the area for an hour, and all who spend more than three to four hours within sight of the well.

In any event, the importance of the Well of Spells and the lengths to which eager mages will go to reach it shows the overall significance of spells in the lands of the Diamond Throne. This book presents hundreds of spells and a new magical system to govern them. Did some come from the Well of Spells? Probably. But most came from the diligent study and development of mages throughout history. What you have before you is the grimoire of Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed -- a collection of the best-known spells in the lands of the Diamond Throne.