more on Tapestry: ritual magic paths

whswhs · 01-27-2014, 10:50 PM

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

kpram · 01-29-2014, 01:12 PM

Quote:

I think I may want to add a version of the Path of Water to Selkies

Maybe weather/tides? It might increase the seperation between Nixies and Selkies. Not that I know for sure your concept for the two.

whswhs · 01-29-2014, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kpram

Maybe weather/tides? It might increase the seperation between Nixies and Selkies. Not that I know for sure your concept for the two.

Nixies are a race of rivers, lakes, and marshlands. They were the first race to develop agriculture, and they also are traders and city builders. Selkies are a race of beaches and islands, who live by fishing, whaling, trade voyages, and piracy. Weather and tides are certainly the main focus I had in mind for their rituals of this sort.

Bill Stoddard

Genesis · 01-29-2014, 05:24 PM

These sound like a great way to break this down.

Is all magic inherently racial? Can humans learn elf magic, theoretically?

Also: what's in the Magistracy, Habitation, and Making paths? Are both Making paths (elven and dwarven) the same?

whswhs · 01-29-2014, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Genesis

These sound like a great way to break this down.

Is all magic inherently racial? Can humans learn elf magic, theoretically?

Also: what's in the Magistracy, Habitation, and Making paths? Are both Making paths (elven and dwarven) the same?

Magistracy is rituals that aid in leading, judging, and ruling. Habitation (or Hearth) is dwarf women's rituals, things that aid a woman in running a house and keeping her husbands happy—but I'm leaning toward "Hearth" including spells that aid in smelting and alloying metal, blowing glass, or firing pottery, because it seems to me that it's neat to have those be women's arts (and secretive, as dwarf women generally are secretive). Making is spells that aid crafts and produce enchanted items.

Making for elves and Making for dwarves are at root the same path, but they're characteristically applied to different materials and in different styles (so familiarity penalties apply), and they don't include all the same techniques; for example, an elf can weave the stuff of dreams into cloth, and can buy up that as a technique, but while a dwarf might figure out how to do it, they probably could not find a teacher. If they could get an elf to teach them they might be able to learn it, though. I don't think these are inherently off limits. There may be Unusual Background costs.

Bill Stoddard

Genesis · 01-30-2014, 01:05 PM

Is the Habitation path that the Nixies practice, then (by analogy to the shared principles of of Dwarven and Elven Making), similar to the Dwarf Path of Hearth?

Is there magical "science" in this world? By which I mean, when you talk about the shared 'root' of the Dwarven and Elven Paths of Making, do the practitioners of these paths recognize them as being similar (i.e. convergent answers to shared needs), or related (i.e. divergent from a common root)? Is there a practice of Thaumatology with which one might relate the disparate rituals of various Paths? I ask because, in your previous posts on this setting, it's seemed like verisimilitude is important to you - this is a potential breakpoint between 'fantasy-like' settings (where things are the way they are for narrative reasons) and 'history-like' settings (where things are the way they are for plausible in-setting reasons, as an outgrowth of a few underlying assumptions).

Path of Form = shapeshifting?

In general, how much overlap is there between paths that focus on similar things - between various paths of Herbs, Making, Habitation/Hearth and Form as practiced by different races? If elves and dwarves exclusively apply their paths of Making to different materials, do they share any spells/effects at all? Are there parallels in the Path structure?

What about paths that may have incidental overlap, but are focused quite differently: like the Path of Cunning vs. Hunt, War, Letters, or Trade, any one of the latter of which have (in human mythology/history, anyway) been variously associated with 'cunning'?

Edit to add: How big are the paths, total? How generic/flexible?

01-27-2014, 10:50 PM	#1
whswhs Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Lawrence, KS	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

01-29-2014, 05:24 PM	#4
Genesis Join Date: Dec 2010	Re: more on Tapestry: ritual magic paths These sound like a great way to break this down. Is all magic inherently racial? Can humans learn elf magic, theoretically? Also: what's in the Magistracy, Habitation, and Making paths? Are both Making paths (elven and dwarven) the same?

01-30-2014, 01:05 PM	#6
Genesis Join Date: Dec 2010	Re: more on Tapestry: ritual magic paths Is the Habitation path that the Nixies practice, then (by analogy to the shared principles of of Dwarven and Elven Making), similar to the Dwarf Path of Hearth? Is there magical "science" in this world? By which I mean, when you talk about the shared 'root' of the Dwarven and Elven Paths of Making, do the practitioners of these paths recognize them as being similar (i.e. convergent answers to shared needs), or related (i.e. divergent from a common root)? Is there a practice of Thaumatology with which one might relate the disparate rituals of various Paths? I ask because, in your previous posts on this setting, it's seemed like verisimilitude is important to you - this is a potential breakpoint between 'fantasy-like' settings (where things are the way they are for narrative reasons) and 'history-like' settings (where things are the way they are for plausible in-setting reasons, as an outgrowth of a few underlying assumptions). Path of Form = shapeshifting? In general, how much overlap is there between paths that focus on similar things - between various paths of Herbs, Making, Habitation/Hearth and Form as practiced by different races? If elves and dwarves exclusively apply their paths of Making to different materials, do they share any spells/effects at all? Are there parallels in the Path structure? What about paths that may have incidental overlap, but are focused quite differently: like the Path of Cunning vs. Hunt, War, Letters, or Trade, any one of the latter of which have (in human mythology/history, anyway) been variously associated with 'cunning'? Edit to add: How big are the paths, total? How generic/flexible?