At-Braithe is a fantasy world, full of magick and plenty of your typical fantasy tropes, however, it is also a world that operates on some very similar principles to our own. Gravity and Newtonian physics exist, for instance.
I bring this up because some effort is made to provide rational explanations wherever possible. For instance: airships work in this world not by means of a buoyant envelope, but by means of magickally providing lift, negating gravity’s pull, and providing thrust. This is how something utterly un-aerodynamic flies.
Magick is very much the defining key to this world. Magick is what remakes the world for every Renewal, magick is what underpins most of the major events of the world. In point of fact, magick is the single thing that led to the absolute destruction of the beforeWorld.
In At-Braithe, magick is an actual, measurable physical force. With enough training and focus, anyone native to At-Braithe is capable of utilizing magick, though some have an easier time than others. Every mystical tradition has their own means of testing this aptitude, further proving that magick is a testable thing.
Perhaps the best comparison would be to air or water currents. They aren't typically visible without some sort of aid or training, but their effects are very noticable.
Spells are, at the end of the day, a wholly artificial method of directing, containing, or focusing the flow and energy og magick. Functionally, they are a helpful mental construct, almost a ritual, to aid a mage in directing this natural force to produce the desired approach.
Over time, a capable mage will rely less on the specific structure of a spell as they become skilled and practiced in its result. This is largely due to the repetition of the spell shaping the mind of the mage to allow for almost instance focus and direction. The most accomplished mages of any Renewal will cease needing the framework of a spell entirely, able to shape their will without needing the ritualized elements of spellwork.
However, the benefits of this framework never truly fade away. In times of high pressure or stress, or when a mage needs to insure that a spell works exactly as intended, they will methodically work through every single step of a spell.
Magick, as a practice, is largely broken down into six distinct disciplines. Keep in mind, these disciplines are artificial constructs and magick itself is by no means constrained to these categories. Frequently, magickal effects can (and frequently are) found in multiple disciplines.
The products of Artifice were, long ago, categorized into the three Prime Forms based on the methods of enchantment needed to produce the specific, desired results. This, coupled with a seemingly fundamental order to magick that prevents certain enchantments from working with others, suggested to early mages that specific forms were not only a useful categorization, but a foundational expectation of magick.
- Amulets - an amulet is a small, magickal instrument meant to be worn or carried by their intended wielder. Due to this, amulets tend to fit within a ten centimeter cube. They are easily the most versatile of the three forms from a material perspective, as an amulet can be made from just about anything that can hold the energy for an enchantment. It should be noted that there truly are no form requirements for an amulet. They can be rings, brooches, bracelets, buckles, or just about anything else. Even the ten centimeter cube size isn't a true requirement. That is merely a widely agreed upon suggestion for the sheer utility of it. Once every century or so, some artificer will make the pitch that all artifice is really just amulet creation with specific rules tacked on, but the practical reality of attempting to combine amulet enchantments with wand or stave enchantments, namely that the enchantments will, at best, fail to be embedded or, at worst, react in a violent way with each other, tends to quiet such claims.
- Staves - a stave is a large, omnidirectional, magickal tool that is at least one meter in length. As yet, no upper limit on overall length, from a magickal perspective, has been found, nor does there seem to be any requirements for circumference. This lead to an interesting evolution where parts of ships (such as the mast) or airships (bowsprit) are enchanted as staves to aid in the operation of such vessels. Typically, a stave will be formed of wood, though other materials are not uncommon, particularly as part of the overall construction to allow for a greater range of enchanted effects. Staves tend be more or less uniform in size and shape along the entire length, though some ornamentation is not uncommon. A stave is almost always a hand-carved object, as the there is an almost exponetial increase in the complexity of the workings that can be laid into a stave as opposed to a wand or amulet. A stave is, at the end of the day, one of the single most versatile tools a mage can employ, and even if they are not always used, most mages have a stave.
- Wands - a wand can be considered any small, directional, magickal tool ranging from 20 centimeters on up. Some artificers debate if a tool over 40 centimeters should instead be considered a rod as opposed to a wand, but such discussions are, largely, irrelevant to a basic overview of the tool itself. Suffice it to say, there is an upper limit on what could be classified as a wand, and a lower limit of what could reasonably be used as a wand. Typically, a wand will be fashioned from a natural material such as wood, coral, or bone. While designs of wands are as varied as their users, one will typically find that wands have a wider, or otherwise larger, end meant to be held and a narrower end meant to be used as the directing tip. Wands will also, typically, be a hand-carved object, though it is not uncommon to find a wand shaped purely through will alone.
In the most technical sense, Spellcraft should be an all-encompassing discipline, as practically everything else could fall under its umbrella. This is a very basic understanding of spellcraft as a discipline. Yes, it is very nearly a universally practiced discipline, but that does not mean that the others actually belong under it.
Spellcraft as a discipline is focused around the construct of magick, meaning that it is concerned with the actual crafting of new or bespoke spells. Recall that a spell itself is merely a ritualized set of steps designed to produce the correct state of mental focus within a mage for their natural abilities to shape the flow of magick into the desired result.
The words and steps of a spell aren't truly important. What matters is the mental component. On an individual level, it truly does not matter what words or gestures compose a spell, so long as they work for the mage in question. On a larger, organizatonal level, mage traditions realized early on that they could standardize spellcraft to work for the largest possible percentage of mages.
- Aromatic Needletree - A hardwood that requires a longer seasoning time than most. It tends to be used almost exclusively for food preparation, as its aromatic nature makes it an ideal smoking wood. In wands, it tends to bond with a user over time, to the point that there are multiple reports of strangers attempting to use an aromatic needletree wand and suddenly finding the grip sprouting its namesake needles.
- Ascorean Baobab - One of the more unusual woods on this list, Baobab is only suitable for spellwork if the material is given willingly. Baobabs seem to have a sort of pseudo intellect and are capable of reading the strength and intention of those who seek out their wood. They will only grant a portion of themselves to a seeker they deem worthy, and even then, it is widely accepted that it can only happen once in a seeker’s life.
- Ash - A hardwood of a light, almost bright, color. It is often considered one of the workhorse materials for an artificer, as it is relatively easy to lay spellwork into. Most artificers will have a supply of ash readily on hand. As a wand, it is one of the few materials that will actually affect the spells cast with it depending on how it is carved. A twisted ash wand can easily overpower many other wands, but it is also quite difficult to properly shape the wand into the exact right shape for the effect.
- Aspen - The softest wood in the hardwood category, aspen is a tricky material to work with. Owing to its fairly unique root structure, aspen wands tend to avoid working against other aspen wands. They seem to maintain a kind of connection even when removed from the root network.
- Borean Pine - The most northern tree known. Its needles have adopted colors of the aurora, and the wood itself, especially the heartwood, will reveal a similar coloring over time and with polishing. Borean Pine seems to respond best to a quiet, organized mind with clear intentions.
- Banyan - A tropical wood, Banyan is one of the few examples of different parts of a tree producing artifice of wildly distinct abilities. The root wood, despite making for powerful amulets, is utterly unsuited to wand work. In contrast, trunk wood can produce wands of unusual rapidity, as the wand seems to “remember” the spells most often worked through it.
- Deepwater Coballion - One of the rarest woods available.
- Desert Ebony - One of the hardest woods to work with, and anything crafted from ebony requires an extra level of care to maintain. It can be polished to a mirror finish and is often considered an heirloom of any seeker who makes or receives a wand of ebony. Ebony wands tend to become closely linked to their bloodlines and while anyone can use an ebony wand, those of their family can produce greater effects with less effort.
- Drenomici Elm - Known coloquially as death wood owing to the extremely high toxicity of its leaves and sap, the wood itself, when properly dried, isn't dangerous at all. Drenomici is one of the select woods known as "light-touched" owing to the truly odd habit this wood has of glowing when in the sight of someone naturally attuned to the material. Despite the haunting name, this wood excels at healing magic and serves as an exceptional tool for alchemists.
- Ember Spruce - Typical spruce wood is almost universally unsuited to artifice use. Ember Spruce, however, seems to be hardened by the fires that smolder in their trunks for their entire lives. Almost every Ember Spruce wand or stave comes out looking as though it has been torched. In order to do any amount of spellwork, the wood of the Ember Spruce must first undergo several rounds of ritual stabilization. As this is an intensive process, you do not see very many Ember Spruce tools of artifice.
- Frostglade Ebony - Frostglade Ebony grows exclusively in tundras in the north of Ascorea and has long been considered one of the tradional Yolian winter woods, as a single piece from the trunk of a fully grown tree can burn for weeks at a time.
- Great Valley Oak - Great Valley Oak has a naturally easier time channeling arcane energy within itself. A seeker need not work as hard to form energy channels in such a wand. Owing to its proximity to the active volcanoes near Emberfall, Great Valley Oaks also tend to have a high degree of flame and heat resistance. This resistance tends to manifest as a refusal to burn, removing one of the options that an artificer has for laying down spellwork.
- Veldtstadt Katalox - Katalox is a one of the more durable woods, though part of this durability is a resistence to bladed tools. A Katalox tool must be shaped through fire and will, but once completed, it is almost completely impervious to wear, weather, and worm. Legends say that the first Katalox grew from a single drop of the Blind One's ink, accounting for the wood's dark purplish color.
- Porrem Ironwood - Ironwood, despite it's amazing durability and hardiness, has long been considered a "common" material and thus looked down on by mages who placed more stock in their image rather than in their craft. This likely stems from its use as the handle for common laborer tools. Thankfully, since the Arcana War, this image is fading as mages have begun adopting a more utilitarian approach to their craft.
- Royal Sage - Royal Sage is, possibly, the single pickiest type of wood. It almost flatout refuses to work for mages with the wrong elemental affinities. As such, it tends to be used to demonstrate how not to pick a wood.
- Savanna Coballion
- Slatewall Coballion
- Tel'Nadira Willow - This Willow has long been known as the "doctor's cabinet" by people living around it. It's outer bark, root wood, leaves, and new growth twigs all act as distinct medicines in the hands of a skilled healer. As a magickal tree, the Tel'Nadira Willow produces wands, staves, and amulets of particularly high quality, though special care must be taken during the initial work to keep the wood clean and dry.
- Valelight Ash