Arcane Colleges¶

Rules system: homebrew Sancturi system (2016-2018 drafts). Legacy design material, not canon for play.

The rules for the Arcane (Mithis) mage of the Sancturi system: the two Arcane foci, the Arcane Languages, the six spellcraft skills, the twelve domains, and the colleges within each domain, learned order by order up a thirteen-tier ladder.¹ The college spell lists follow one page per domain:

Domain	Page	Colleges with lists
Aether (Spirit)	Aether Colleges	Expulvation, Involution, Pneumatology, Spectromancy, Spectrovoyancy
Animus (Life)	Animus Colleges	Philanimy, Remediancy, Vivanimancy
Astral (Order)	Astral Colleges	Sanception, Divination
Nether (Void)	Nether Colleges	Chronomancy, Conjunction, Nethermancy, Telemancy
Fire	Fire Magic	the five Schools of Pyromancy
Shadow (Mind)	this page	Mesmerology (stub)
Imperia (Control)	this page	Hemopaturgy (title only)

Air, Darkness, Earth, Light and Water have college names only (see the domain worksheet below).

Arcane focus¶

The focus is the means by which a caster gathers energy from an Arcane magical origin. It decides only how much energy the caster can hold and gather; it has no bearing on the complexity of spells they can cast, beyond the energy for them coming from the focus. Energy is measured in mithia. The lore of both foci is on Arcane Magic.

	Anthu'darim (REA, CHA)	Wizardry (REA, ING)
Who	Every being of Elven and Orcish descent, including Half-Elves and Half-Orcs: descendants of the original owners of the Worldstone, gathering from the surrounding Mithis field	Wizards, drawing on a worldstone shard in their possession
Hold energy	[Focus Skill Rank] × [REA + CHA] mithia	determined by the worldstone shard
Gather energy	[Focus Skill Rank] per 10 minutes of meditation	determined by the shard, regenerated per 10 minutes
Energy throughput	[Focus Skill Rank] per turn	[Focus Skill Rank] per turn

A Wizard's main advantage is easy access to large quantities of energy; the main disadvantage, reliance on a source of power they can be separated from.

Arcane languages¶

The Arcane Languages skill is needed to read, write and understand Arcane languages. "Because Arcane Spells are so complex, the medium in which they are stored can modify their behavior considerably." In S304 the languages are Feats, with no Rank, Proficiency or Skill bonus. Their origins and speakers are on Arcane Languages.

Language	Rarity and users (S304)	Effect
Acadian	fairly common; the Wizards of Acadia	Compressed Formulas: memorized Acadian spells occupy 1 less order per Language Tier in memory; 1st-order spells occupy ½ a memory slot.
Antusil	one of the most common; developed by Arcantus and taught to the first Arch-wizards	Efficient Algorithms: spell energy cost −10%.
Drakkas	uncommon; exclusively by and for the Draconians	Fast Caster: some Std Cast spells become Minor Cast and some Full Cast become Std Cast, at reduced power.
Ghezzic	somewhat uncommon; Dark Elves and Orcs	High Energy: energy cost +25%, power +10%.
Lathanos	one of the most commonly found; the High Elves (Avi'Lothim)	Cascading Energies: ½ of the previous spell's total energy and ½ of the new spell's total cost can be channelled into the new spell, if they are no more than 1 round apart.
Nyxian	rare; mages wanting to keep their secrets	Cyphered: spells are encrypted and cannot be read, learned or cast without the correct cypher. Obfuscated Effects: harder to identify, dispel and counter; the creator's [ING] bonus applies to those contests.
Runik	rare; developed by Khardas so the non-magical Dwarves could practise magic through Rune Magic	Engraved Pathways: written or engraved, so it needs no memorizing as long as the pathways are prepared in the rune; once expended it cannot be used until retraced.
Salonas	rare; the Sun Elves (Maridan'Lothim)	Endless Enchantment: duration +25%.
Sylvir	common; Wood Elves	Multi-domain Synergy: spells using several domains always use the higher Domain, whatever the spell's primary Domain.

Arcane spellcraft¶

Arcane spells are complex formulas and equations that must be constructed and solved ahead of time to be cast quickly, so they must be memorized to be used on demand. A caster can still cast any mastered magic at any time from their notes (spellbook), taking considerable time to construct and solve the equations.

Unlike most spellcraft, nearly all Arcane spells are available to every Arcane spellcraft skill (still limited by Domain); the skills represent alternative approaches and a focus on similar areas of study. Because Arcane spells are so complex, only Arcane Specialists may specialize in Arcane Domains; a Magician cannot. The spellcraft skill decides how many Domains you can learn, and Domain skill tiers can be no higher than the spellcraft's tier. Spellcraft Proficiency decides how many total spell orders you can have memorized.


Memorization capacity	[Highest Arcane Spellcraft Proficiency] + [base REA, capped by Spellcraft Proficiency]
Available domains	1 [Spellcraft Proficiency] for a Generalist, 2 [Spellcraft Proficiency] for a Specialist
Can specialize in a domain	Generalist cannot; Specialist can

Spellcraft skills¶

Skill	Kind	Domains	Description
Magician	Arcane Generalist	breadth of the elemental and celestial domains	Manipulate Mithis with complex Arcane formulas and algorithms; among the most common Arcane users. The defunct Order of Wizards and the Acadian, Nexa-Vinian and White-Fire Orders have many.
Vacator	Mage-Hunter, Spellbreaker	the Annulment domain	Extremely rare and widely outlawed. Annulment spells turn Mithis negative (Mithi'nulias), destroying normally charged Mithis on contact and permanently depleting it, for anti-magic fields, barriers and other disrupting effects. Vacator has its own spell list and Domain; for Vacatori the spellcraft is both the Spellcraft skill and the Annulment Domain skill.
Conjurer	Arcane Specialist	Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Light, Darkness	Manipulate terrestrial forces with arcane formulas.
Enchanter	Arcane Specialist	Astral, Nether, Shadow, Aether, Animus, Imperia	Manipulate celestial forces with arcane formulas.
Evoker	Arcane Specialist	Darkness, Air, Imperia, Shadow, Fire, Nether	Manipulate raw energies; a relatively new spellcraft (several thousand years old) invented by the Nexa-Vinian mage Coransitus after his unifying theory of chaotic energy.
Incanter	Arcane Specialist	Aether, Animus, Astral, Light, Earth, Water	Manipulate raw energies; founded shortly after Evokers, of the opposing ordered energies.

Arcane domains¶

Arcane magic has 12 domains: 6 Terrestrial (Faerie), each manipulating one of the Elemental Planes or one of the two intertwined Energy Planes, and 6 Celestial (Ethereal), manipulating the Outer Planes (Astral, Void, Ethereal and Shadow).

Terrestrial		Celestial
Water	Fluvius	Aether	Aethereus
Fire	Incendium	Shadow	Sensus
Air	Caelum	Astral	Aurae
Earth	Terra	Nether	Inanis
Light	Genus	Animus	Cresco
Darkness	Perdo	Imperia	Dominus

Domain skill sets the complexity of spells a caster can learn and use, and spell costs are reduced by the Arcane Domain Proficiency Bonus, to a minimum of the spell's order. Domain spell order max = (Domain Proficiency / 2) + 1.

Domain worksheet¶

The domain worksheet of December 2018 (S302) is the naming authority for the colleges: each domain, its meaning and opposite, and its colleges with their focus. Elemental colleges carry a second element in brackets. The +, ++, - and -- marks before some names are the worksheet's own and are not explained.

Domain	Opposite	Colleges
Aether - Spirit	Shadow	+Expluvation - Destruction; ++Involution - Projection; +Pneumatology - Displacement; +Spectromancy - Shroud; -Spectrovoyancy - Perception
Animus - Life	Imperia	Biomorphology - Alteration; -Remediancy - Restoration; +Vivanimancy - Empowerment; Philanimy - Affinity
Astral - Order	Nether	Conjuration - Construction; Enchantment - Spellbind; Lexisacrology - Contract; Sanception - Divine; --Divination - Scrying
Imperia - Control	Animus	--Hemopaturgy - Blood (Pain, Blood Augury); Necromancy - Animation; Exhauration - Wither; Imperiation - Dominion
Nether - Void	Astral	Chronomancy - Time; -Conjunction - Warp; +Nethermancy - Entropy; -Telemancy - Rift
Shadow - Mind	Aether	--Mesmerology - Charm; Phantasmography - Illusion; Telekinetics - Psionics; Umbragation - Shadowalk
Air	Earth	Aeromancy - Conjuration; Avianomy - Flight (Light); Noxication - Gasses (Dark); Fulguronomy - Storms (Water); ?? - Wind (Fire)
Darkness	Light	Fascadurgy - Illusion (Air); Hexcedation - Curse (Water); Melanomancy - Conjuration; "Fract? Frag? Cap?" - Weaken (Earth); "Noct?" - Nightfall (Fire)
Earth	Air	Causticurgy - Acid (Dark); Figuration - Metal (Fire); Geomancy - Conjuration; Geomorphology - Shaping (Water); Horticology - Land, Plants (Light)
Pyromancy - Fire	Water	Incendics - Conjuration; Thermokinetics - Light & Heat (Light); Vulconomy - Magma (Earth); Ruination - Conflagration (Dark); Pyrodynamics - Combustion (Air)
Light	Darkness	Lucenturgy - Purification (Water); Luminomancy - Conjuration; Veritonomy - Truth (Air); "Vit?, Vivatonomy?" - Empowerment (Earth); "Helio, Halo?" - Radiance (Fire)
Water	Fire	Cryodynamics - Frost (Air); Hydrokinetics - Flows (Earth); Hydromancy - Conjuration; Toximancy - Poison (Dark); "Aqua?" - Energy, solution (Light)

Notes on the worksheet: "Maybe overlap. Combustion is Air and Fire. Magma is Earth and Fire." and "Not sure, have some pretty good separate ones right now..." It closes with the suffixes the names are built from: -ancy (state, quality or capacity), -urgy (process), -ology (study of), -nomy (law, order, system), -ation (action, resulting state), -ion (condition or action), -graphy (draw, write, written).

The worksheet spells two names differently from the college documents: Expluvation (the Aether list, S293, has Expulvation) and Vulconomy (the 2019 Fire compendium, S307, has Vulcanology).

Arcane colleges¶

Every domain has its own colleges, a progression of learning and mastery. To learn a 2nd-order spell from a college, a 1st-order spell from it must be learned first.

The college lists use a thirteen-tier ladder:

Order	Tier	Order	Tier
I	Novice	VIII	Master
II	High Novice	IX	High Master
III	Initiate	X	Arch-Master
IV	High Initiate	XI	Grandmaster
V	Adept	XII	High Grandmaster
VI	High Adept	XIII	Arch-Grandmaster
VII	Arch-Adept

Philanimy uses different names for some tiers, and the Fire compendium uses a separate four-rank ladder; see their pages.

Learning college orders¶

Once per character level a caster may try to advance their college orders. They must have spells of the right order from the colleges they wish to advance, and may keep advancing as long as they score complete successes. Once an order is learned, the caster can cast and memorize that college's spells of that order without spell failure under normal conditions. An unlearned order can still be attempted, from the written spell, as a ritual from the book with a chance of spell failure. A caster cannot master higher orders of a college before the lower ones.

Learning a spell order: d20 + [REA] + [Domain Prof] vs 12 + 3 × [College Order].

Roll set	0 0	1 0	1 1
1	Failure	roll the next tier	Success
2+	Failure	try again	Partial Success

Failure: the order is not mastered and the caster cannot try again in this college until next level. Partial Success: the order is mastered, but it took all the caster's resources and they cannot master a higher order in this college until next level. Success: the order is mastered and the caster may try the next.

Spell failure when casting from an unknown order: d20 + [ING] + [Domain Prof] vs 10 + 3 × [College Order].

Roll set	0 0	1 0	1 1
1	Fumble	roll the next tier	Success
2+	Failure	Failure	Partial Success

Fumble: the spell goes terribly wrong (consult the fumble chart). Failure: the spell fails and the energy is wasted. Partial Success: the spell is cast but not at full power, with damage, penalties and bonuses, range and duration halved; the next attempt to learn this order gains +1 (cumulative). Success: the spell is cast; the next attempt to learn this order gains +2 (cumulative).

Arcane corruption¶

The corruption rules of S304, which tie Mithis casting to demonic possession since "the death of Kalar and the ascension of Asmodeus over the Mithis plane", are kept here for their mechanics; the lore is on Arcane Magic and Mithis. A caster has no idea how high their own corruption has reached.

Corruption rises by the energy gathered at each gather.
Corruption falls naturally by WIL+CHA for each 8-hour period in which 0 energy is held.
Corruption, and the corruption stage, can rise when energy is used to cast.
A stage once gained cannot be reversed.

Using energy: d20 + [WIL] + [CHA] vs 4 + [Stage] × [Corruption + Energy Spent] / 10.

Roll set	0 0	1 0	1 1
1	Stage	roll the next tier	Success
2	Corruption	Corruption	Success

Stage: the stage increases and an episode follows (immune to further escalation for 24 hours). Corruption: corruption rises by the energy spent. Success: no change.

Stage	Effects	Episode	Triggers
None (1)	None, except a faint demonic presence detectable when you hold energy. Blue Wizards stay at this stage by cleansing the corruption with Divine magic.	none	none
Tainted (2)	A faint demonic presence is always detectable. Mages caught by Blue Wizards at this stage have their casting stripped and are given placid tasks in a controlled environment (prison).	2d6 hours irritable and occasionally irrational; when angered, WIL save vs 12 or make one simple attack on the target.	extreme anger and battle; WIL save vs 8
Defiled (3)	Considered by Blue Wizards the point of no return. Stray demonic thoughts and periodic spasms of lost control; holding energy becomes dangerous, as the demon will almost always use it to push toward the next stage.	3d6 hours paranoid and raging, attacking any perceived threat with uncontrolled rage.	extreme anger and battle; WIL save vs 12
Warped (4)	Unmistakable demonic transformations begin; eyes, mouth and skin seem to be weak spots.	4d6 hours hungering for souls, attacking the closest soul-bearing target in range.	every use of energy
Twisted (5)	Further transformations, usually hands, head, feet.	6d6 hours, as Warped.	every use of energy
Aberration (6)	The demon is in primary control but the spirit still resists, with periodic spasms of control: a half-human, half-demon aberration. The demon cannot gather energy but will use existing energy.	WIL save vs 12; each success gives 4 rounds of enough control to move and talk (not cast); after a failure, no retry for an hour.	the episode is the normal condition
Possessed	Complete dominion over the host spirit.	The demon is in full control.

Shadow: Mesmerology¶

Mesmerology (Shadow - Charm) is a template with four spells (S313, March 2017); its description is "Mesmerology ??.", and every other tier is "?" or "??".

Tier	Spell
III Initiate	Doubt (counterspell): implants doubts in the attacker; abjures any attack as long as you are not attacking the target.
IV High Initiate	Inception (minor cast): plants an idea in a target under the effects of Charm.
VI High Adept	Suggestion: plants a strong idea in a charmed target.
VIII Master	Enthrall: enthralls the target, making their spirit temporarily subservient.

Imperia: Hemopaturgy¶

Hemopaturgy (Imperia - Blood) has a title, the thirteen tier headings and placeholders only ("?? focuses on ??."; S308, March 2017). The worksheet glosses it "Blood (Pain, Blood Augury)".

Earlier accounts¶

An older Arcane Languages document (S303, December 2016) makes the languages a ranked skill, "Tier I - X, Rank 1-100", on INT (WIS), costing 6 SP per language, with attribute weights "5- Focus 2- Sensory 0-Movement 0- Precision 0-Torsion". Its language effects reduce spell or rubric complexity by Language Tier rather than changing cost or memory:

Language	Effect (S303)
Acadian	Compressed Formulas: memorized spells occupy 5% less complexity per Language Tier in memory.
Antusil	Efficient Algorithms: spell complexity −1% per Language Tier.
Drakkas	Fast Caster: Initiative bonus to spells of ½ the Language Tier, rounded up.
Ghezzic	High Energy: Overpower effects on these spells +25%.
Lathanos	Cascading Energies: each additional Rubric gets a complexity discount of 2%/4%/6%/8% per Language Tier, max 8% per tier.
Nyxian	Cyphered and Obfuscated Effects as in S304, with a [+Tier] bonus to the contests.
Runik	Engraved Pathways: complexity −2% per Language Tier when written.
Salonas	Endless Enchantment: Duration Rubric complexity −7% per Language Tier. Resilient: reduced spell failure ("the Maridan'Lothim were Arcane Warriors that wore Medium Armor"); "Need a negative ..."
Sylvir	Multi-domain Synergy: non-primary domain rubrics −8% complexity per Language Tier. Used by Gnomes and Wood Elves (S304: Wood Elves only).

A side table lists the languages Elvish, Draconian, Undercommon and Runic, and time modifiers: Previous Failure −2, Intelligence Bonus (varies), Specialized Domain +4. The skill's tier tasks, each rolled as Rank against a complexity target:²

Tier	Task	Roll	Results, best to worst
I	Learn Spell: read arcane magic accurately in your language. Time [2d10 + 5 − M] × 5 min × Spell Complexity.	Rank vs Spell Complexity + 8	spell learned; spell identified, retry at will; rubrics identified, retry in 4d6 weeks or a level; no information, retry in 4d6 weeks or a level
I	Copy Magic: copy a spell or rubric in your language between spellbooks. Time 1 hour × Spell Complexity. Synergy: add ¼ (25%) of your ?? Rank.	Rank vs Spell Complexity	copied in ½ time; copied; failed, retry at will; failed, retry in 4d6 weeks or a level
II	Learn Rubric	Rank vs Rubric Complexity	rubric learned; retry after 2d20 hours of study, details known; retry next Rank, purpose a mystery
III	Alter Spell: Rubric Power: change the energy allocated to one Rubric to make a new spell.	Rank vs Final Spell Complexity + 6	modified; modified with +1d6% chance of casting failure; failed
IV	Extract Rubrics: split a spell into its Rubrics so they can be learned.	Rank vs Spell Complexity + 16	all extracted; one random rubric extracted; failed
V	Alter Spell: Add/Remove Rubric. Time [2d10 + 5 − M] × 10 min × Spell Complexity.	Rank vs Final Spell Complexity + 6	modified; modified; failed, retry at will; failed, retry in 4d6 weeks or a level
VI	Translate Magic: both languages must be known with this task available (Tier Rank 6).	Rank vs Final Spell Complexity + 12	translated; translated with +1d6% chance of casting failure; failed
VII	Create Spell: a new spell from two Rubrics; further changes by Add/Remove Rubric.	Rank vs Final Spell Complexity + 6	created; created; failed, retry at will; failed, retry in 4d6 weeks or a level
VIII	?? (passive): altered or created spells cost 5% less.
IX	Advanced Formulations (passive): altered or created spells cost 5% less.
X	Create Rubric: research a new, undiscovered Rubric.

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The current Arcane caster, with spellbook and prepared spells: Arcanist. Schools in the current rules: Schools & Rubrics ↩
Rubrics in the current rules: Rubrics ↩