Fel Magic¶
"Fel energy is a taint." — Uk'Zarai and the world of Sukmaran (S515)
Fel magic is the magic of corruption, brought to Terrun from another world by the Uk'Zarai. It draws its power from the life of things it has tainted, drains them as it feeds, and spreads from one living thing to the next. Its users are few and mostly Uk'Zarai; their own society discourages it, the Divine forbids it outright, and in the Fifth Age its chief purveyors are the Dark Angels, the outcast Uk'Zarai. Who the Uk'Zarai are and how they came to Terrun is told on their own page.
What Fel magic is¶
"Fel magic is imported from the world of Sharuvas by the Uk'zarai. Its use is discouraged and limited in Uk'zarai society due to its inherent nature. Fel magic draws power from the lifeforce of corrupted entities, draining them of life. Fel corruption is often contagious, especially amongst the weak" (S014). Its reach is limited to what it has already tainted: "The Fel focus allows manipulation of corrupted matter, but Fel wizards now require the use of a Focus to affect things which are not yet corrupted (which used to be the Mithis Plane) such as Adamant objects or Demonic or Astral pacts" (S014).
The Uk'Zarai themselves "are Fel beings (different from Ethereal or Fae) which survive in a pyramid of life, where each Fel being greater than the others draws power (and life) from those below it. They can only draw energy from fel living things and so must corrupt their surroundings with Fel energy in order to draw power from them" (S515). An Uk'Zarai Fel Warlock's working magic, as one player's sheet records it, is Fel Induction Magic: spells that corrupt a target, then feed on the corrupted, drain their life, or release the corruption onward (S009).
Fel, Abyssal and Phi energy¶
The Uk'Zarai history distinguishes three energies by colour and behaviour (S515):
| Energy | Colour | Nature |
|---|---|---|
| Fel | deep green | "a taint. Once ether has been tainted with fel energy, the taint will increase over time until the being/thing is completely Fel" |
| Abyssal | yellow-green | "altered Fel energy, as its very nature was changed by the Spiritfire Orb"; "self-consuming and will consume itself before spreading to its surroundings" |
| Phi | blue-white | "spreads out as it is generated, replenishing, revitalizing and strengthening everything around it"; "generated from life and light, in a self-perpetuating cycle" |
Fel energy feeds on its own kind: it "consumes other Fel objects near it of lesser power (according to Fel Scholars, they actually both consume each other, but the stronger one ends up with more energy, leaving a net gain for the more powerful, and a net loss for the weaker). Spellcasting Fel creatures can often control how much energy they are drawing from the surroundings to avoid completely destroying nearby plant life ... Fel energy is also contagious, in the sense that it can spread over short distances to taint objects around it. Every living thing is potentially taintable. Some creatures can build an immunity to this, and certain creatures are entirely immune. Fel taint is removable by various magical means, but the most effective is with Phi energy" (S515). "Fel creatures often have green pigmentation", Abyssal creatures red, Phi creatures "a slight bluish pigmentation" (S515).
Abyssal energy is Fel energy remade. The Elda'Primu, the Spiritfire Orb of the Eldritch, "refocused Fel energies inwards", so that the most powerful Fel beings consumed themselves and their bound souls "became what are now referred to as Demons" (S515; see Origin of Demons). "A target must be tainted with either Abyssal or Fel energy to be susceptible to Abyssal" (S515).
Phi energy was the original. It was unique to the An'Zarai, the Seraphim of Mafaesial, until the goddess Sukmaril "twisted it and gave its secrets to the Uk'Zarai (creating Fel energy). Mafaesial considered the new magic an unintended and unfortunate evolution and he and the An'Zarai fought it wherever it was found" (S515). "Phi energy suppresses Fel energy and fel taint, eventually eliminating it entirely. For fully Fel beings, Phi energy is lethal" (S515). Phi-based creatures "often use a lightspring to regenerate in (or bask in sun when none is available)" (S515).
Fel magic in the Fifth Age¶
After the Redemption Fel magic is the last on the list of the world's sources of magic, and closely watched. "Sharuvas has been very careful with Fel-magic so far and hunted down non-Uk'Zarai Fel users. Fel magic is strictly forbidden in domains of the Divine. Dark Angels (rebel Uk'Zarai) are the primary users and purveyors of Fel Magic" (S112). Sharuvas is the Divine. The notes also name "Fel-Corrupted Mithis" without describing it (S112).
In Proturas, among the below-board factions, there is "One Fel casters guild" beside the two warlock guilds (S078). The Marlezai, the Uk'Zarai outcasts of the city, keep the Emerald Cipher, "an object created by Marlezan himself before his death and imbued with part of his spirit (or so the legend goes). It is both a treasured spiritual relic and contains numerous secrets pertaining to the Fel arts" (S078). Another Proturan faction is said to keep its soldiers on subsistence wages "due to their divine duty. (In truth much of it due to Fel-touched influence)" (S078).
An older note on the angelic orders sets regulators against it: the Emerald Heralds "regulate the use of Fel Magic (green magic)", and the Sunstone Sentinels, under a "Phi-caster (red magic)", "regulate the use of Phi Magic, counter Fel corruption" (S422). Both are described under Orders of Anariel.
Felfire¶
Corruption burns. In the Demonlands notes of the Fourth Age, "Felfire - appears with full corruption … color varies by type of corruption (Red, Orange, Purple and Green are most common)", and its colour follows the demon's Aspects: red for Infernal, Maw and Bladed, yellow for Horned, Barbed and Rot, blue for Night, Winged and Frost (S329). A demonic machine of the Demonlands, built inside a dome walled with Felcore, has "a self destruct that explodes, expelling felfire and corrupting demonic green blood everywhere" (S360).
Felcore¶
In the Fourth Age the Mithis metals take the taint too. "Felcore Mithril, Felcore Admant, Felcore Aurumite - Fel-inflused mithis metals. Common/slang name is Demonite. Green-tinted metal with a slight glow" (S360). Demonite turns up as loot and building material in the Demonlands, noted simply as "Mithis-metal" (S339, S340, S341). The other metals of that age, Aetherium, Umbrachalcum and Infernaxum, and the Mithis metals Felcore is made from, are described under Mithis Metals and Gemstones.
Gap
The sources never explain how Fel corruption came to the Demonlands, whose demons and machines are Fel-touched in the Fourth Age, or how the Fourth Age's felfire relates to the Uk'Zarai's Fel energy. No source describes a Fel caster's training or the Proturan Fel guild.
Earlier accounts¶
The angelic-orders note of 2016 calls Fel "green magic" and Phi "red magic" (S422), where the Uk'Zarai history of the same year makes Phi blue-white and gives red pigmentation to Abyssal creatures (S515).
Legacy rules for Fel casting survive only on player sheets and are not collected under Mechanics.