Spell Writing

Magic, within the Aethermaric Terminus, is both a radiant energy that flows freely throughout the Universe and a current of energy one can tap into within most of the inhabited realms. Used by all Tonallitecameh, Magic is the lifeblood of the current advancement of civilized society. Like all natural things, it has several properties that constrain it and control its impact on the rest of the natural world. Despite these rules, the Tonallitecameh have found ways to master this primal force and seize its power for their own.

The following terms will be used repeatedly and are not defined elsewhere in the setting due to a lack of need or detail, or out of simply not finding more detail required:

While there are two different Magic systems within the Aethermaric Terminus, Arcanic Magic and Leviant Magic, the two systems similarity allows spells of both systems to be written in the same formats. There is no instance when a spell would need its written form modified to account for the Magic System its caster is capable of using.

There are several different types of spells within the Aethermaric Terminus, and while the spells are functionally the same, they have slightly different properties and a few changes that make mentioning them separately here before digging into the system and how it is applied important. The basics for the system at large will apply to all.

Standard Spells are the most common Spell Type, consisting of every spell contained within Sourcebooks and the vast majority of Homebrewed additions. Standard Spells are all self contained, and are subdivided into two types within the setting:

Combined Spells are what they sound like, taking two Standard Spells and putting them together for a conjoined or changed effect. Combined Spells always consist of a "Base" or "Prime" spell and one or more "Addendums" or "Modifiers" (not including the Stabilize Cantrip). The Base Spell is what guides the initial form the spell takes and dictates the initial properties of the overall spell. The Addendums then build upon that base, adding more effects that can alter the final result in the directional flow the spell is constructed in. Combined spells are additive in properties and changing the order of addition for them will provide different final results.

Rare Spell Variants are a type of Combined Spell that have additional requires for attaining, however their existence does not add additional restrictions or information to be encoded to the written version. All Combined Spells, when initially created, are considered Rare Spell Variants.

The remainder of the description on writing spells will be technical, and to make it easier to read while also allowing some form of consistency I will be assigning various values that I (the creator of this setting, this is a meta page mind you) find reasonable to help myself and others in creating the written form of spells. The variables selected are:

The size of a spell is denoted by the value , which dictates the amount of magical energy that a caster must expend or channel from their respective magic system to weave magic into the effect defined by the spell. The Value of is defined by:

With this process, we assume that Cantrips are treated as "Zeroth Level" Spells. Simply adding one to the Spell Level aligns the spell level with the Tier System and also allows for consistency between Leveled Spells and Cantrips. A Spells value, increasing with size, is directly associated with how much the spell costs the player in resources and how much it impacts the character in setting from casting it. This also ties into the spell area. Spell Area, regardless of how a spell is written, is based off the 'Standard Form' being that of a circle, and the assumption the spell is cast at its base level, and is thus the standard area of a circle calculation, with r being equal to the value of the spell.

Spells are inherently unstable, as Magic as a primal energy does not want to be manipulated and constrained artificially. Slight manipulations are stable enough to be cast, however larger manipulations require a stabilizing force, most commonly through the use of the Stabilize Cantrip, to be applied to the spell for it to maintain itself. Spell stability drops off as the area increases. The Stabilization required for a spell is:

The value result is rounded down to the previous whole number to determine the amount of Stabilization required.
This creates the following distribution of values to the corresponding and Spell Level:

Spell Theory treats most spells as the assignment of specified properties onto the energy comprising Magic, and uses those properties as the base of explaining the spell's function. Spells, whether encoded within a Standard Circle, a Sheet of Music, Movements in a Dance, or a Series of Squiggles in a Painting, require several distinct points to identify the properties being called out. These points, referred to as and represented by , are the basis for spell encodement. have no care for directionality, as the properties being defined only draw from their relative position and the direction set by the 'priming' of the properties.

In any Spell, you must have enough nodes to encode the required properties to cast it. The simplest of Magics from an encodement perspective, Rune magic, only requires 5 , or to encode all potential possibilities. While you could encode Spells of Classical Magic in this way, using would prevent some spells from being written, as can be seen later .

Smaller amounts than exasperate this issue. Looking upwards at , while it improves these these issues, the actual number of viable spells able to be written is rather small. Rune magic is able to use due to only needing 15 max variations within a single property to account for spell affinity. Using does allow for a maximum of 537824 variations across every single combination, but not all of these combinations are "viable", thus and for the same reason of viability, even and are unusable.

What is viability? Viable combinations have to have a few restrictions so that as Magic flows through the spell, the instruction is actually able to be decoded and understood regardless of the formatting used to cast it. This means, that Viable Spells must be both non-isomorphic (have different form) and must have enough to account for the amount of information that needs to be encoded within them. This occurs first at , and is the standard amount used. At , each property able to be included has over 60 possible variations, well more than needed. This not only makes each option non-isomorphic when encoded and allows for each variation to be accounted for, but also gives the opportunity for encryption to occur. At less than , encryption becomes increasingly impossible, showcasing why is the standard over . For , the total variations can be estimated by the below formula; however for non-prime values of x it underestimates slightly. For prime numbers, the result is rounded directly except for which will overestimate by %.

Larger values become increasingly distorted below their actual variations, although past the variations begins to balloon to such massive amounts that it becomes excessive. is the sweet spot between complexity and fulfilling the minimum requirement.

The length between any two nodes, , is determined by the relative that defines the property to be encoded. Connections also move about the origin, or center, of a spell. Within , this means that of lengths 1 through 4 can be straight or outward curving, while of 5 or 6 must be inward curving, when encoded within the "Standard Format".

For each value of , we need to represent the energy being used at that level. The way that this is done within the Aethermaric Terminus is by including all smaller within the largest circle required to cast the spell (this does not include upcasting, which is discussed in the Ornation section later). The largest circle ( or arc or guiding line or etc) is equal to the value . Each smaller value circle is represented within it as circles of relative size, with being one less than , being two less than , etc.
As each is written within the spell, it is written smaller than the due to the entire spell being defined and contained within , however the relative size is specific and defined by a ratio that scales the diameter of the to the radius of . For non circles structures this can be done through lengths or arcs and for artistic writings this can be done through exasperating length, which will be discussed within the Non-Standard Form Application section.

Subscribed circles () are placed tangentially along the perimeter of the interior of with relative sizes to of in such a matter so that they overlap with each subscribed circle of and remain at least distance from each adjacent subscribed circle's center. Furthermore, subscribed circles are placed in the direction of flow starting from the smallest such that it lies tangent to a line perpendicular to the circumference of at moving through the center of . For lower tier spells, , the typical placement after is to align each with the next or between .

An example of the in effect for the spell "Fireball" is as follows:

The base properties described are the 6 differences in encodement that create all spell variation. No spell is defined in any other method than outside of these 6 properties, or values. Each value has a of the same length as the value when escribed, so that . The properties defined within spells are the Guiding Rule Base, Affinity, Displacement, Range, Duration, and Faculty Usage. Thinking of these as the "How", "What", "Where after", "Where to", "How Long", and "Anything else" of a spell would be the simplest way to think of them. All magical derivations require , , and , however the later , , and can be removed with their first blank value being encoded by default. While this is used within Runic magic, using this technique in Classical magic or Standard magic is heavily de-incentivized.

Determining Property Values for Spells means, directly, identifying which property you are trying to encode and identify how to connect its equivalent start and end nodes. These node connections, defined by length and connecting node to , are classically arranged in a matrix to show placement at the position. These matrices are typically in for traditional spells with the variation being used for Rune magic. You can condense standard spells to the version, however in you lose the ability to separate range types, making anything cast and centered from oneself impossible, in addition to being unable to have certain properties expressed in , being unable to cast spells that linger in effect for 1 year or longer or utilize alternate encodings of shorter periods. Furthermore, you lose the ability to encrypt any spells, making them easy to identify and easier to counter by other mages.

These arrays, or matrix rows, are contained within the following tables: