THE WORLD OF CALDRITH
Sorcery and the Conclave
THE WORLD OF CALDRITH
Sorcery and the Conclave
Sorcerers are trained in Evarra and nowhere else. Everyone who has tried to learn the art elsewhere has gone mad, which is the official account, and which no one has ever been permitted to test.
Their power shows as thin rivulets of golden-white light running over the hands. Their creed is a boast and a job description at once: we are those who SHINE in the darkness.
“We are those who shine in the darkness.”
The order of rank
- The High Archon Chief sorcerer of all the Ten Kingdoms. There is one, and he sits at Skyveil.
- Archon The rank below, and the title of anyone acting in the High Archon’s stead.
- Shine The chief sorcerer of a kingdom. One seat each in the inner circle of the Conclave, and a duty to look after the spirit of their nation. Shines swear to the High Archon, not to their king, which their kings have never entirely forgiven.
- Journeyman Everyone else. They sell cantrips, cures and blessings for coin, hunt witches without trial, and go where they are sent.
What sorcery does
Hex
The standard offensive spell, thrown as a fistful of light. Most sorcerers’ hexes burn purple. A hex causes excruciating pain and is meant to incapacitate rather than kill, and a hex that kills is a mistake or a murder.
Ward
A cairn of runed stone topped with a black runed staff, set along a border. A broken ward leaks, and anyone who comes near one feels it in the stomach before they see it.
Suppression
A dome of blue runes that takes a prisoner’s speech, movement and sense of self. It is used perhaps once in a generation, and only on a sorcerer.
A Casting Out
The last punishment the Conclave has. Every Shine together draws the magic out of a sorcerer as golden light and shares it among themselves. It burns away the power, the memory of the power, and a good part of whoever the person used to be.