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Old 01-27-2014, 10:50 PM   #1
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default more on Tapestry: ritual magic paths

As part of my work on my upcoming Tapestry campaign, I've been defining common ritual magic paths for the seven humanoid races that share the world it's set in. These come partly from the published Paths, and partly from my own invention; and the rituals they include against are partly published and partly invented. At this point I've decided on the Paths (or in one case, Books) for all the races, though I still have a few rituals to write up for the dwarves.

Dwarves: Paths of the Hearth, Magistracy, Making, and Stone
Elves: Paths of Dreams, Herbs, and Making
Ghouls: Paths of Cunning, Flames, Protection, and Spirit
Men: Paths of Form, Horsemanship, the Hunt, and War
Nixies: Paths of Habitation, Herbs, Letters, Trade, and Water
Selkies: Paths of Form, the Hunt, and Song
Trolls: Books of Curses, Knots, Medicine, Needles, and the Winter Queen (trollwives) and Chants (trolls)

I think I may want to add a version of the Path of Water to Selkies. I might like to have one more Book for trollwives, but I'm not coming up with one just yet.

Why Books for trollwives? Ironically, not because they use actual books. A "book" is a collection of rituals compiled by an individual and passed down; in the case of trollwives and trolls, this depends on racial Eidetic Memory, which allows retaining collections of arcane detail without writing, exactly as they were taught. So, for example, the Book of Knots is actually a collection of memorized complex knots that can do things like binding winds or tying shut a purse that will cry out if someone other than the owner touches it.

Bill Stoddard
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