Netherwitch Grimoire (Support Magic)

• Runes & Attack Spells

• Defensive & Other Combat Spells

Basic Magic

Silent Boundary
Runes: 31
Mana: 30; 33%
Radius: 2 to 10 meters
Duration: 30 minutes

A mixed spell blending the elements psychic and wind. Silent boundary creates a barrier or bubble through which sound and intent cannot pass. This blocks conversations from exiting the bubble. Thus it is most commonly used as a privacy spell. However, silent boundary also prevents sounds from entering the area. As such it can be used to erect a quite space.

Silent boundary can be used in conjunction with space magic to easily define an area of influence. A spacial boundary, such as a barrier frame, can also be used to make this spell unidirectional, either blocking only sounds coming in or going out.

Tangled Weave
Runes: 25
Mana: 50; 33%

A simple causality element anti-divination spell. Tangled weave sends out a pulse that scrambles information related to the caster’s recent actions. It’s considered good practice to cast tangled weave after more serious anti-divination magics. However, it must come after, as other anti-divination magics often rely on the threads of causality being present to carry out their work.

One great feature of this spell is that it can easily piggy back on other magics. For instance, when paired with anonymous presence, it will effect the entire duration forward or back.

While tangled weave will not block future divination, it will greatly reduce its effect. It will also make it more difficult to identify that any anti-divination spells were used in the area at all. Especially if the diviner is casting a broad search such as: did a secret meeting recently occur in this city block?

Sylvia’s Notes: Tangled weave is the magical equivalent to writing random 1s and 0s onto your hard drive after deleting a file.

Whispering Wind
Runes: 16
Mana: 8; 50%
Range: 10 x Mysticism meters
Duration: 2 minutes

A sound aspect magic blending the elements wind and psychic. Whispering wind becomes a thread that extends from the caster, bringing sounds to their ear. This allows the mage to hear things as though they were positioned a fair distance from their current position.

The real charm of this magic, however, is that it is very stealthy and can slip through any gap through which air can pass. However, while whispering wind is effective, it’s easily countered by common privacy spells like silent boundary.

Muttered Memories
Runes: 38
Mana: 10 to 250; 20%
Range: 200 to 1000 meter radius

A causality spell that collects information scattered by gossip. Muttered memories works by collecting all the words that have been said out loud in relation to a subject or thing in the last 24 hours. The broader the subject, the more overwhelming the information the caster has to parse. Skilled users can often learn multiple facts. Unskilled users usually limit themselves to a single point of information.

Because this spell relies on the words spoken by third parties, many common anti-divinations provide little protection. Except, perhaps, on the rumors spoken by the caster themselves.

Sylvia’s Notes: Professor Fischer used this spell to capture the name of Dumas.

Advanced Magic

Witnessed Path
Runes: 51
Mana: 30 to 750; 20%
Range: 100 to 500 meter radius
Potency: 155 to 255

An advanced information aspect spell that queries the minds of all those within range. Witnessed path provides testimony as though the caster had briefly inquired all the persons within range as to whether they’d seen a specific thing. This can provide information such as time, location, destination, or even who or what the subject was with.

All answers will be innately honest, but only to the degree that the subject’s memories are correct.

If any person effected has a Spirit: Integrity greater than the potency of this spell, they will not be touched by the casting. If they have a Magic: Mysticism of greater than 150%, they will detect the spell and can either cooperate (automatic success) or resist (automatic failure). Skilled targets, who detect witnessed path, can lie.

Certain parties may react negatively to witnessed path and angrily hunt down the caster. Many, reasonably, consider the spell rude.

Unturned Course
Runes: 103
Mana: 60 to 600; 33%
Duration: 6 to 60 minutes

An anti-divination commonly used by astralships traveling the starry void. Unturned Course will falsify a divination trail, making it appear as though the ship had continued in its current direction for the duration of the spell. For unturned course to work, the ship must’ve been traveling along its current trajectory for an equal period of time.

Whispered Message
Runes: 28
Mana: 5 to 50; 33%
Range: 300 to 3000 meters

Whispered message allows a message of no more than three sentences, to be transferred to a target of the caster’s choosing. The target must be within the range of the spell and must not be hidden from causality.

This is an information aspect spell. Information is an emergent aspect of psychic and causality elements. While this aspect is emergent and can, therefore, be blended naturally without a catalyst, the complexity of whispered messages elevates this spell to the advanced category.

Levitation
Runes: 43
Mana: 10 to 100; 25%
Max Range: 10 meters
Duration: 15 minutes
Capacity: 100 kg to 1000 kg

An advanced magic that forms an invisible rope forged from the wind element. Once wrapped around an object, this rope can be used to lift an object, though not particularly fast. The maximum weight that can be lifted is defined by capacity and scales with the mana placed into the magic.

Because the rope is tied to the caster, objects levitated will automatically be pulled by the caster. Only gentle resistance will be felt in this case. Furthermore, the levitation speed will no longer be limited by the spell but rather by the velocity of the mage. At least so long at the object carried is not absurdly heavy or the mage ridiculously fast.

What makes levitation novel is that multiple ropes can be spliced and wound. If spliced, the rope will be made longer allowing it to wrap around bigger objects or even multiple objects. If wound the duration of the spell and the ether ratio will be increased by one fold per an additional strand. This benefit will reach its limit when five strands are wound together.

However, the full length of the rope must have consistent thickness.

Regardless of the approach, the overall energy limit and thus lifting capacity increases linearly with the number of threads. There is no upper limit to how much aggregated levitation spells can hold.

Anonymous Presence
Runes: 52/38
Mana: 50/35; 33%
Duration: 15 minutes

Anonymous presence is a void element anti-divination magic. It’s primary effect is to disrupt and erase causality based information related to a person or a set of persons. Information is erased within the span of duration in which the spell was cast.

Interestingly, this duration can be applied post or prior. So anonymous presence can be cast after an event or before an event. Paranoid individuals will often do both.

Though anonymous presence is most strongly directed against the threads of causality, it will also have a minor cleansing effect on conventional evidence. This may produce results such as obscuring finger prints, distorting recordings, or even erasing text that would directly reveal the person in question. This effect is stronger in the netherworld than in the material world.

Anonymous presence, however, cannot erase memories. No can it affect any magically resistant device.

This spell is one of the more popular anti-divinations in the netherworld. As such, it exists as a basic magic using runes only from the Lesser Codex and as an advanced magic drawing from the Great Codex. The only real difference is the number of runes required and the spell’s mana cost.

Animate Tree
Runes: 117
Mana: 90 to 270; 33%
Attack: essence + 150
Penetration 30 pierce
Max Range: 25 x Mysticism meters
Duration: 1 to 9 minutes

A complicated wood elemental magic that temporarily animates a tree turning it into a defender. Only trees with at least 10 droms of wood essence can be animated. The tree will thereafter exert strength comparable to a class II phantasm, augmented by the essence of the tree itself.

That said, while the striking strength isn’t high, an animated tree is able to exert tremendous slow force. This means that weaker demons will find the grapple is nigh inescapable. Indeed, the animated tree can squeeze even tough enemies to death.

Secure Link
Runes: 122
Mana: 45; 33%
Range: 10 kilometers x Mysticism
Duration: 10 minutes

A information/realm based magic that creates a communication link between two persons. The experience is quite similar to talking on a phone. In fact, this spell steals much of its runic code from the System’s own phone feature. For or this reason, it can benefit from the System’s data encryption provided both parties have a System themselves.

Unlike an ordinary phone, however, this teleports information between parties. Intercepting the conversation is extremely difficult. Further, due to lack of leaks, most divinations will be unable to pry into the nature of the conversation later.

Typically, secure link must be cast using line of sight. However, if the caster has strong familiarity with a person, they can cast this spell regardless.

Sylvia’s Notes: Thanks to digitized soul, I can directly hack the System’s phone directory and use that. Of course, I could save time by calling the person instead. But only if they also own the phone feature.

Unbroken Slumber
Runes: 68
Mana: 60; 33%
Range: 1 meter x Mysticism
Duration: 1 hour

Unbroken slumber is a psychic spell that has the effect of putting the target to sleep. Once the rune chain is planted in the mind, the target will remain in slumber for the next hour. No ordinary action can wake them. Even stabbing them with a knife or lighting them on fire won’t disturb this magically imposed sleep.

Generally speaking, unbroken slumber cannot be used in battle. For this spell to take hold on a resistant mind, the caster’s Magic: Dominion must be around three times the victim’s Spirit: Integrity. However, unbroken slumber is highly effective against an unguarded mind. If the recipient is already asleep then next to no protection will be provided.

Unbroken slumber is often used to capture beast, the common technique being to knock out the phantasm with psionic spike first. However, full knock out isn’t necessary. Unbroken slumber can be slipped in through the gap while the target is stunned, provided the mage’s magic is comfortably stronger than their foe’s spirit.

High Magic

Private Booth
Runes: 197
Mana: 99; 33%
Radius: up to 10 meters
Duration: 30 minutes

A law element spell which prevents information from exiting the domain. Private booth stops all spoken or visual information from leaking through the barrier. Outsiders gazing in will see a mosaic. Many spells that pierce the veil won’t function, unless they are designed to penetrate magical effects similar to private booth.

Once the spell’s duration meets its end or when it’s canceled by the caster, private booth will implode. During this collapse all the threads of causality will be reset to their origin then scrambled, deleting information that might be divined after. The impact is similar to the combination of anonymous presence and tangled weave except the result is more thorough.

Due to having greater energy than anonymous presence, private booth has a stronger impact on physical evidence. Further, unlike the prior spell, private booth doesn’t just amend information related to a person but all information within the context of the barrier. This, however, means that private booth cannot reverse information backwards in time.

Sylvia’s Notes: I’m still fiddling with this spell. There’s a fair it of optimization that can be done, but before I go further, I want to war game this magic with Emmy and ensure there’s no tricks I’ve missed.

Fated Request
Runes: 163
Mana: 20 to 180; 33%
Duration: 7 to 21 days

Fated request is a type of wishing magic. Once cast, the spell will melt into the firmament of the plane, altering probability to make any chain of events that results in the desired request more likely. This spell can be stacked infinitely, though magical efficiency falls off rapidly after the first few casts.

The duration of the spell and the energy it has to influence fate depends on the mana first gifted to the wish. In general, an empowered single strand is more effective at bringing about long chains of events whereas multiple smaller less energetic castings are better at produce immediate effects.

As with all wishing spells, the caster can only choose the outcome not the means. However, the caster’s desires and intent will linger in the spell making highly undesirable solutions unlikely. But only so long as those undesirable solutions aren’t, by and far, the easiest to obtain.

Demons are sensitive to magic. As such, they may become aware that they’ve experiencing distorted fate. The more times fated request has been cast, the more likely it is to be noticed. As wishing magic is considered a nuisance, those subject to overpowering wishes tend to be avoided as though they had the plague.

Obscured Approach
Runes: 307
Mana: 200; 33%
Duration: 2 hours

A fate element magic that suppresses the chance of an enemy being alarmed by the mage’s presence. What constitutes an enemy or an alarm depends entirely upon the caster’s intent. This could be as bold as invading a castle or as mild as sneakily preparing a surprise birthday party.

Obscured approach is narrow in its effect. As a result, the distortion of luck is far stronger. However, because the time frame is shorter, more complex chains of events will not occur. Further, in high risk scenarios, the spell’s duration will wane rapidly. In extreme cases, the duration might be reduced to fifteen minutes.

This spell only prevents ‘alarm’. It doesn’t prevent discovery. Persons who wouldn’t trigger a ‘hostile’ reaction to the caster’s intent will not have their observations effected in the slightest. This can result in a mage striding past a group of distracted guards only to be casually noticed by a surprised servant.

Unlike most fate magics, obscured approach provides feedback. This comes in the form of an omen. The caster will have a vague sense as to the possibility of being discovered. This omen of danger will grow more intense as discovery approaches. This may allow the mage to take personal action to avoid discovery.

Obscured approach should never be used against archdemons or great demons sensitive to fate. For such beings, the sharpness of their senses can easily turn the spell into a beacon revealing the approach instead of obscuring it. Multiple casts of obscured approach do not stack. The duration, however, will be extended to that of the latest spell.

Gate
Runes: 395
Mana: 500 (realm); 33%
Duration: 10 minutes

A high-level spell deriving from the realm element. The gate spell allows the caster to open a portal between two locations. Ordinarily this gate can only be created within the caster’s area of awareness, moderately augmented by the spacial nature of the magic. This corresponds to roughly 10 km * Mysticism.

However, the gate’s reach is not fundamentally limited by distance. To exceed this range, mages often build waygates. These act as a physical structure that both supports the magic and acts as a long distance receiver.

While the common gate spell can cross a plane, it cannot cross the starry void as the flows of chaos wreck havoc with the magic. Interplanar gates do exist, but require two sided anchors and sophisticated enchantments. Gating between planes with spells alone is an idea confined more to myth than reality.

In addition to the initial mana expenditure, the caster must provide mana for each drom of material transported. The cost is roughly 0.25 to 1.0 mp per a drom transported, depending on distance and how well the waygate was constructed – should there be one. An approximate table of costs for souls and living beings is below:

Mass Per Type . . Dead . . Alive . . . Mp (common)
Zeroth . . . . . . . . . . 150 . . . . 250 . . . . 75, 125
First . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 . . . 500 . . . . 150, 250
Second . . . . . . . . . 450 . . . .750 . . . . 225, 375
Third . . . . . . . . . . . . 600 . . . 1000 . . . 300, 500
True Matter (1 kg) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Note that transporting ethers and essences of the realm, space, or void elements comes at a 10x to 100x discount.

Marionette
Runes: 244 (base), 61 (string), 22 (psychic knife)
Mana: 100, 30; 33%
Range: 5 meters x Mysticism
Potency: 200 per string
Duration: 30 minutes (base), varies for each string

Marionette is a psychic element spell that can be used to subjugate others to the caster’s control. Commands are passed through the psychic strings to the target, compelling them into action. Commands do not have to be spoken out loud. These commands will feel natural and acceptable as though they are arising from the victim’s own mind.

Generally, it is best if the spell is used as a soft suggestion. The more blatant the mental effect, the more aware the victim will be of the psychic strings influencing them. This will allow them to struggle against the spell. If they are skilled with magic or manipulation, they can even sever the strings or use counter magic.

Spells cast using internal runes will work against marionette, they don’t need to be externalized. Indeed, the grimoire pages listing the spell provide a highly effective counter magic called psychic knife which easily severs a puppet string with each cast.

Struggles against these strings is a contest between the victim’s Magic: Dominion and the caster’s Spirit: Integrity. Even weak, unskilled resistance will snap a string after 60 seconds. Skilled resistance with competitive magical power can reduce this time frame dramatically.

That said, marionette is not limited to one string. The frame can support up to twelve psychic strings. Further, the caster need not pluck every string to influence their puppet. With the proper technique, a victim can be tricked into thinking they’ve escaped the magic even while they are still under control.

The degree of influence is determined by Potency / Integrity. In general, this means more strings are needed to control more powerful persons. In theory, even an archdemon could fall under the sway, though they are likely to sense the spell and have techniques to break it.

Potency Ratio Influence

• >=100% Able to force the individual into any action, including suicide or betrayal

• >=75% Able to nudge the individual into actions that strongly displease them

• >=50% Able to nudge the individual into actions that mildly displease them

• >=25% Able to nudge the individual into actions they were already prone.

Catalyst Circle
Runes:
- Realm: 321, Fate: 312, Law: 332
- Sky: 318, Calamity: 306, Abyss: 333, Nature: 309
- Dream: 301, Anima: 292, Mutation: 299
Efficiency: 90%
Rate: 1000 ether/s
Duration: 5 minutes

A magic used to catalyze the formation of an advanced element. This circle takes the two sub-elements that make the advance element and combined them to create the effect. Every 1000 ether catalyzed drains 1 minute off the spell’s duration.

Catalyst circles are rare in combat magic, as this can easily double or triple the casting time. The inability to easily catalyze elements is one of the reasons advanced elements are associated with high magics and never with basic magics.

Prying Eye
Runes: 218
Mana: 120 to 480; 33%
Range: 100 to 400 km x Mysticism
Duration: 1 hour

A high, fate element divination which conjures a conceptual camera. This sensory device will appear at a reasonable, safe distance from the target. After, it can be moved at a relative speed of 10m/s * Mysticism. Note, prying eye is always positioned relative to its target. This means, when the target moves, the eye will shift equally in distance. The caster may, however, maintain the direction of their gaze.

Despite the spell’s name, prying eye projects all the mage’s senses. This includes the ability to smell and hear. These senses retain the caster’s full capability without addition or reduction, including any special sensory traits the mage might possess. Further, the caster will have a kinesthetic understanding of the prying eye’s position with regard to themselves.

As with all magic, this spell can be sensed. However, being a spell of fate, detecting prying eye is extremely difficult.

General Modifiers

• Power Multiplier: SQRT(Mana Cost/120)

• Direct Target Multiplier: 1.5x

• Non-Gaze Multiplier: 0.5x

Modified Mysticism vs Detection Level

• 500% -- Subject gains a vague sense they’re being watched

• 1000% -- Subject gains a clear sense they’re being watched

• 1500% -- Subject senses the position of the eye and the nature of the prying

Arts, spells, or traits, such as an asteri’s starlight eyes, may allow individuals to glimpse a prying eye. Mysticism, however, can detect the spell passively regardless of direction.

When a mage casts prying eye, they must first identify the target. As a fate spell, a great deal of vagueness is allowed. For instance, the mage might ask: “Who is plotting against more?” or “Who is the most beautiful of them all?” The more information the caster has on the target, the more likely prying eye is to succeed. As with all fate based divinations, there is a risk of false positives. This risk increases as the chance of success falls.

In general, one shouldn’t expect prying eye to find any target a small team of investigators hired for a week could not, themselves, find given similar information.

Finally, prying eye can pierce through weak wards and other protections. When doing so, the senses will always be degraded by some relative proportion of the penetration.

• Ward Penetration: Dominion/2 * (Power Multiplier - 50%)

• Max Penetration: 1000%

Penetration is resisted by Spirit: Integrity, or by the integrity of the tool or item used for protection.

Stricken Law
Runes: 237
Mana: varies; 20%
Range: 50 meters * Mysticism
Duration: 5 minutes; Instant

This void element spell strikes a law based spell from existence. If the stricken law is a spell, the effect is instant. If the law is created from a ward, it will lose all effect for the next 5 minutes.

The amount of mana required to cast this spell is identical to the mana used in the initial casting multiplied by the target’s Spirit: Integrity and divided by the caster’s Magic: Dominion. If the caster knows the exact words or intent behind the law, the spell cost is halved. If they target the physical point of space onto which the original law is attached, the cost is halved again.

Supreme Magic

Edict
Runes: 490
Mana: 400 to 2500; 20%
Duration: 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or 1 hour
AOE: 200 to 500 meters; or 400 to 1000 meters
Range: 100 meters * Mysticism

A free form law high magic which invokes whichever rule is stated by the caster. This rule must be conceptually simple and applies to everyone in the area of effect.

Edict is a highly versatile magic, but depending on the nature of the rule and the target for which it is applied, the power will vary greatly.

Duration vs Target

• 15 minutes: Any small mobile object. Any living being.

• 30 minutes: Any large, mobile non-living object (such as an airship)

• 1 hour: A fixed piece of terrain

• 1 hour, 2x Area: Fixed terrain accepted by the plane’s world logic

Amplification vs Effect Breadth

• 10% to 15% -- A broad phenomenon (“Magic is effective”)

• 25% to 50% -- A narrow expression (“Fire is especially strong”)

• 50% to 100% -- A change to the environment (“The sky is clear”)

As with all law magic, it is impossible to stack effects. That is to say, fire magic cannot be enhanced twice. It is, however, possible to stack similar effects over different scopes. “Fire is especially strong” + “Magic is effective”. Environmental changes reference the degree to which the world’s logic is overwritten. Declaring “A blizzard has arrived” might only achieve 50% effect in a jungle or a desert, but it’d reach 100% effect in a temperate climate.

As a final note, it is possible to stack similar breadth effects that target different aspects. Thus spell potency, mana cost, and ether ratio can be enhanced simultaneously.

Sylvia’s Notes: I derived this spells after _____________.

Lost Moment
Runes: 1168
Mana: 100 to 10,000; 20%
Duration: 30 minutes
Range: 100 to 10,000 hours / 10 to 100 kilometers * Mysticism

A complicated fate magic similar to Anonymous Presence. Like the prior spell, this erases causality information rendering most divinations ineffective. The major difference is the when, where, and what on which the magic can be applied.

Lost moment erases a moment. This a 30 minute block of time related to a specific matter or subject. This can be the actions of a person, a specific event, a meeting, or even information about a location. However, the time erased must be continuous. There is no limit to how many times the spell can be cast so long as the two moments do not overlap.

The entire moment will be erased, severing all threads of causality. Evidence left behind will also be scattered or eroded. Unlike Anonymous Presence, this spell will even effect the memories of demons. It will also destroy or erase records of the event. The effectiveness in doing so is determined by resistance.

Resistance: Integrity / (Dominion / 5 + 100%)

If resistance is complete, Lost Moment will not effect memories at all. If resistance is greater than 50%, memories or evidence will be eroded. If its less than or equal to 50%, memories will be deleted entirely. If the target somehow senses the fate magic, they can actively defend raising their effective resistance by 30 percentage points.

Unlike Anonymous Presence, this spell can be only cast after the moment to be erased as occurred. That said, Lost Moment has the advantage that it can reach back in time 100 to 10,000 hours to find the moment to be erased. This spell, likewise, has a physical range of effect. Only data, memories, and evidence within the spell’s reach will influenced.