Spells in Attovia, called Workings, have tags that inform us about how they might function and what kind of effect or consistency the caster might derive or have with them.
Competency
Competency represents your confidence and consistency with a Working. When conducting a Working you will almost always roll+Competency. Competency ranges from -4 to +2 and can be increased through failure or if the GM permits through consulting an expert.
Potency
Potency is a score which increases with your level as a caster. You generally have 4 Potency per level unless some other outside factors are altering it. A Working will have a Potency tag followed by the number of potency it costs to typically transfuse
Your Meyda-well is functionally endless, however your Soul can only process so much Transfusion. This amount is dictated by your Potency which is a pool of points totaling 4xLevel that refreshes after restful sleep.
Complexity
The complexity of a Working determines the level at which it can be learned. Any complexity rating above your level is unlearnable until it is equal to or less than your level. This is usually due to a lack in knowledge in regard to how to even record the Working accurately in the first place.
Learning a Working
Below are the times required to learn Workings at each complexity for those not academically trained or gifted directly in the subject (i.e. have a class that speeds up the process of recording/learning Workings).
| Complexity | Days |
|---|---|
| Trifling | 1/5 |
| Complexity-1 | 1 |
| Complexity-2 | 2 |
| Complexity-3 | 4 |
| Complexity-4 | 6 |
| Complexity-5 | 10 |
| Without proper training Complexity ratings higher than 5 are not learnable under normal circumstances. |
After you have finished learning a Working roll+Int: On a 10+ You mark it down at Competency 0. On a 7-9 you have memorized or recorded the Working accurately but don’t understand it, record it at Competency -4. Draw a U next to the Working in question, you cannot increase its Competency until you find a secondary source of knowledge to explain it to you. On a 6 or less you fail to grasp or record the Working correctly, and no one else within the scenario is currently able to elucidate whatever it is you are missing. You may write down the Working in question but no Competency thanks to it being currently unusable.
Meyda-marks
Competent Workers usually remember roughly 5 Meyda-marks efficiently. These are simple patterns used to target entities or objects of Workings some of which require Meyda-marks. If you wish you may keep track of currently active marks any way in which you desire, allowing you to quickly Transfuse a Working that requires pre-targeting for any item that you keep a unique mark on. The same mark can be used for any Working that has the pre-target tag and who’s target makes sense to the Working’s function.
Modifications
Workings can be modified once you are at least two levels higher than their Complexity rating. You may need to discuss with the GM before hand about what tag you wish to remove or add to the Working, for example it doesn’t make sense to add the tag permanent to Blast. When you seek to alter the effects or function of a Working and test it roll+Competency. On a 10+ the Working’s alterations are successful and you may record it with said changes as a new Working at Competency 0. On a 7-9 something goes wrong and the modified Working fails, you can’t record it but you learned something new about the base aspects of the Working you attempted to alter: +1 Competency to the Working you attempted to alter only to a maximum of +2. On a 6 or less you realize you fundamentally misunderstood some aspect of this Working to begin with: -1 Competency to the Working you attempted to alter down to a minimum of -4.
Modification Notes
Generally within the fiction it is probably unlikely someone understands a Working enough to modify it if their Competency in that Working is below 0. This is up to the GM of course, but keep in mind that Modifications are the kind of thing that should take multiple days at the least, and depending on the Complexity of the Working perhaps weeks, months or even years to attempt.
Tags
Workings have a myriad of tags that help define how they engage with the fiction.
- lifetime-x the duration the Working effect lasts, written as lifetime-1hour. If no lifetime present it is presumed the Working’s effect dissipates immediately after casting. A simple explosion won’t have a lifetime since the result is immediate and doesn’t “stick around”.
- sustain-x this Working’s lifetime can be reset by spending an amount of Potency as determined by the tag. This is only if transfusion was not dropped before its original lifetime ended, otherwise you must reconduct the Working at its base Potency.
- dx the damage dealt by the Working in dice. Examples include 2d4, 1d8 etc.
- potency-x all Workings have a weight ranging from potency-0 to potency-5 that defines how much pressure your Soul undergoes when transfusing.
- windup requires a significantly long series of somatic gestures and chanting to cast.
- loud can be heard at significant distances and can damage hearing if too close
- remote the resulting effect of this Working can be steered or manipulated post casting
- permanent the effect of the Working remains in the world indefinitely, otherwise Working effects vanish after their lifetime
- spread the Working effect can have multiple targets, by default the Working targets a single thing or creature as defined in its description.
- area-small the Working effects everything within a small area, think a grenade.
- area-large the Working effects everything within a large area, think an artillery shell.
- ap ignores armor.
- (Element) spreads the material or element in question, if fire things can be set aflame, if ice could cause frostbite or freeze the top of water. It is not and does not always have to be something obvious, the Working Ensnare has the tag (web) and spreads web like ropes and tendrils in its area
- circle only really useful as a drawn or hewn Meyda-circle, means you can only use this as a ritual.
- pre-target requires that you have drawn a Meyda-mark on a potential target before the Working is cast, otherwise the Working fails or goes off as though the caster was the target. Often things that are pre-targeted only need to be so once and the Working in question can be recast on that item if the context has not changed in a way that would break things.
- touch the Working targets something you touch, for most Workings which have this tag this can be optionally switched for pre-target.
- reach the Working targets something at arm’s reach or a few feet away
- near the Working targets something 20-40 feet away.
- far the Working targets something at shouting distance.
- forbidden the Working cannot be learned without discovering the knowledge yourself as it is not contained in any mundane book or mind.
- inspired the Working cannot be learned without a holy book and usually a member of the relevant church. These Workings are free to take on level up if you are part of the religion in question or have a Tether to the relevant deity.
Starter Workings List
Complexity 0 (Triflings)
These Workings are so simple and fundamental that they do not tax the Soul.
Minor Flame (lifetime-1minute, sustain-0, touch)
A small flame alights in your palm, it can be carried about at will. It is for all functionality purposes like having a candle and could be used to light a torch, burn through rope, or aid in starting a fire.
Air Buckler (touch)
When you are attacked you may use this Working before applying armor or damage. Roll 1d6 and subtract that number from the incoming damage.
Gentle Frost (touch, snow, permanent)
Create flakes of snow in the air or on the ground. One can also pre-target this trifling to enforce where the resulting frost forms.
Emit Light (lifetime-10minutes, sustain-0, pre-target)
Draw a Meyda-mark on an object, 150 feet of connected surface area (that is the surface area of a 5 ft. cube) will emit a moderate level of light when you transfuse this Working targeted to that mark. This light can be used to navigate in very dark spaces relatively well but does not shed much more than a 20 foot radius before quickly falling off.
Complexity 1
Cleanse Water (area-small, permanent, potency-1, touch)
Separate water from impurities in a small area, this can be anywhere from a small glass of pond water to a relative tub full. Up to 80 gallons of water can be purified this way. The impurities will almost always settle at the bottom and the newly cleaned water can be scooped or poured off the top. However, be aware that something like carbonation would be released as a gas and eject above the waters surface.
Blast (area-small, 1d4, Potency-2, loud, near)
A concussive explosion of pressurized air that can easily throw a full grown adult ten or more feet from its center.
Summon Water (area-small, Potency-1, permanent, near)
Ten cubic feet of water appear in a sphere shape where designated by the caster and immediately falls sending water everywhere.
Air Spear (remote, 1d8, Potency-2, far)
Using the Karev field of Workings you compress a portion of air in a thin spear like shape which then surges forward following your eyeline as you target it through a hole in your hand(s). It is barely visible as a shimmer in the air, but is as solid as a hunk of iron and can pierce flesh and wood. It fully dissipates after it strikes its target.
Wall of Air (lifetime-5min, sustain-1, Potency-2, near)
A compressed wall of air 100 square feet in any rectangle formation you choose comes into existence up to 30 feet away from you. The Wall of Air is like a 2 inch steel plate in what it can rebuff.
Detect Soul (pre-target, circle, permanent, Potency-3, far)
When a sentient creature steps on the detection portion of the Meyda-circle a Meyda-mark of your choosing and placement glows softly no matter where it is.
Explode Light (Potency-1, near, pre-target)
Requires a solid object be Meyda-marked first. When transfused the portion marked flashes a blinding white light capable of damaging vision permanently in small portions. Can discombobulate anything that usually traditional eyes for vision for a short time.
Emit Great Light (Potency-1, lifetime-10minutes, sustain-1, pre-target)
Much like the Emit Light Trifling but with a denser instruction set, covers a similar 150 square ft. surface area directly connected to the Meyda-mark on the pre-targeted object. but the light can easily be seen from a mile away in low light, or from a great distance at night. Can light a dark room up better than several torches.
Divide (Potency-variable, pre-target, permanent)
A dangerously simple Working which divides an object in two based upon the perceived components of its whole. A “single rock”: two equal halves. A key on a key ring: The key and the ring separated. The more complex the manner of division the more Potency required, your GM will tell you how much. Things that are simple when cognate as distinct elements are not always simple to divide.
Complexity 2
Anti-light Area (Potency-3, lifetime-20minutes, near)
An Ashem Working that absorbs any and all light in a 10 foot radius sphere. When inside the sphere absolute no light exists and nothing inside can see with even magical eyes. If one looks at the Anti-light Area from outside they cannot see around or past it as all light attempting to pass through it is absorbed.
Combustion Sphere (area-small, Potency-2, fire, 2d6, near)
A large sphere of air erupts instantaneously into flame. The fireball resulting is roughly 20 feet in diameter and its heat can be felt from 50.
Cage of Air (lifetime-10min, pre-target, Potency-2, touch)
The lifetime of this Working only activates once an individual with a Soul steps on the pre-targeted location in which it instantaneously hems them in at all sides by a wall of Air that acts like a 2 inch steel plate in terms of strength.
Ensnare (Potency-2, web, lifetime-10minutes, area-small, touch)
Strange viscous web like tendrils cover the surface of a 10x10 foot area and stick to any would be traversers. Anyone stuck to one of these tendrils is greatly hampered if not stopped entirely depending on their size. After their lifetime these tendrils harden and crumble away into dust.
Image Swap (Potency-1, lifetime-24hours, sustain-1, pre-target)
Choose two items, leave one in a Circle and inscribe a Meyda-mark on the other. The marked item will take on the image of the item in the Circle. This image is explicitly the change in the way light is reflected off of the object, no material change is made and all senses but the eyes can potentially deduce this.
Transmute Water (permanent, Potency-x, touch)
When you choose this Working choose two target substances from the list below. When you conduct this Working the Potency will be based on which target substance you are currently attempting to transmute water into. You can transmute up to 80 gallons of water. You can expend a multiple of the potency cost if you wish to transmute additional quantities in one go.
Some substances are complex enough they require a higher complexity of Working. You cannot choose these options until you can conduct that Complexity of Working.
- Ale: Potency-2 (lacks flavor, but not alcohol)
- Acid: Potency-2 (eats through metals, deals 1d4 damage if it comes into contact with skin)
- Milk: Potency-2 (sours quickly)
- Stone: Potency-4, Complexity-3
- Gold: Potency-8, Complexity-4
Complexity 3
Shimmer (Potency-2, lifetime-1hour, pre-target)
This Ashem working warps the light around the Meyda-marked object. It only effects all connected surface area of an object up to roughly 500 square feet. The effect of this can often present as a kind of invisibility if the object is left still in one place. If moved or partially eclipsed by some connected object then it confuses the eye more than anything. Wearing something that is being affected by this Working makes it harder for things to track you easily, add +1 armor and take +1 to anything that involves an adversaries sight. Object with exceptionally strange forms may give off unique appearances when still or moving as the light is wrapped around them.
Mirror Image (touch, Potency-6, lifetime-1minute, sustain-4)
You touch an entity and and express the image of its form just in front of it. While this effect remains the target gains +2 armor as attacks made against it have trouble finding purchase.
Protection Sphere (Potency-4, lifetime-10minute, pre-target, sustain-3)
A “bubble” of compressed air surrounds an area roughly 20 feet in diameter that protects from missile attacks and also rebuffs anyone’s less than powerful attempt to enter or leave.
Exploding Flame (Potency-5, near, fire)
A cone of flame erupts from your hands burning the air roughly 10 feet in front of you. It sets anything flammable alight very quickly and deals 2d4 damage to all caught in its blast.
Complexity 4
Air Ballista (far, Potency-10, windup, area-large, 6d6)
Highly destructive projectile of hardened air, usually used against castle walls or other large emplacements, difficult to get off against living targets.
Disperse Meyda (near, Potency-8, area-large)
Expel all Meyda from a wide area for several seconds. This at least temporarily forces all Workings around you to cease their function at least until the Meyda returns.
Enfeeble (touch, Potency-X, permanent, inspired)
An Anti-Tiken Working used by Sundered Priests to bring about a sickly nature or general weakness to a target. You may reduce the target’s HP to half its maximum, spending 1 potency per HP reduced. You may spend an additional 3 potency to debilitate the creature further reducing its armor by 1.
Consume Light (near, Potency-5, area-small)
An Ashem Working that is described as “Eating” light. A 20 foot diameter sphere of the complete absence of light appears where you point. It appears as a very strange pure black void as all light entering the area ceases to exist.
Icy Grip (touch, Potency-4, area-small, frost, 2d6)
A Chomkar Working which spreads substantial frost over the area connected to whatever you touch by the extension of a reduction in heat. This is enough to freeze portions of the top of a lake or slow moving river, turn a large tub of water solid, and give anyone frostbite if prolonged in their exposure.
Complexity 5
Far Eye (Potency-8, near, lifetime-1hour, sustain-4)
A remarkable Meyvir Working which allows one to transfer the light from a point in space directly into their own brain for processing. Getting used to this however, is a steady road and the information gathered depends on your Competency with the Working.
| Competency | Usability |
|---|---|
| -4 | Detect changes in brightness, requires intense concentration and shutting your physical eyes. |
| -2 | See movement, still requires closing your own eyes. |
| 0 | You may passively watch from the Far Eye’s position with minimal concentration. Images however are blurry. |
| +2 | As if you have a third disembodied eye the Far Eye is a natural way to view the world for you at all times when active. |
Firmament Armor (Potency-6, touch, lifetime-1minute, sustain-4)
A Meyvir-Leshnot Working that requires a Contract with the target to function. Surrounds the target’s form with a layer of almost solid air giving them +2 armor for the duration.
Calming Presence (Potency-5, lifetime-1hour, inspired)
A Tiken Working of the Sundered Priests which has a calming effect on people the conductor of the Working interacts with in a large circle around them. This is strong enough that it is advised to be used sparingly by priests. Antagonistic individuals can be temped to the point of amenability and strangers become fast friends. The effect wears off immediately after they leave your area but the realization of what happened may come much later.
Complexity 6
Inflict Disease (Potency-12, touch, inspired, forbidden)
Technically a Tiken Working but quite the opposite to most people are aware of. It practically nukes the touched entities immune system leaving them feeling drained and extremely vulnerable to disease. The second half of the Working speeds up the natural processes of the body to explode any bacteria or viral populations. While varied the effect is almost always immediate severe illness, though rarely fatal with proper care.
Complexity 7
Meyda-thrall (Potency-25x3, touch, windup, permanent)
This Profane Necromancy Working allows you to encode a simple set of instructions into a humanoid form. This could be the corpse of a once living individual, a suit of armor, a skeleton, a jointed training dummy etc. so long as it is familiar enough to your own biology. You must have a Minor Stone or God Stone in which you encode your instructions which is placed, typically in the head, of the soon-to-be Meyda-thrall. The process of encoding the instructions takes at least 3 days or more at the GMs discretion based upon the complexity of the instructions you wish to give. Each day spent on this process costs you 25 Potency and at minimum 4 hours. The Meyda-thrall typically receives the following stats.
4 HP
4 Armor
1d6 Damage
Here are some example instruction sets:
“I want the suit of armor to defend the door to my house. If 3 or less individuals attempt to enter he will fight them. If more then he attempts to light the pyre on the roof.”
“The skeleton should follow me and attack anything I give the following gesture to.”
Complexity 8
Encode Soul (Potency-15, pre-target, windup, forbidden)
A True Necromancy Working which allows the Worker to send themselves, body and mind, into a Luumara or Luumakheder. They require a Contract with the target and a Tether to the target destination.
Complexity 9
Complexity 10
Soul Ripper (Potency-35, area, pre-target, windup, forbidden)
A True Necromancy Working that is extremely taxing on the conductor. You create a 10-15 foot radius shell of high condensed Meyda. Any Soul which passes the threshold either way is torn asunder nearly instantly leaving the individual a mindless husk, functionally removed from existence. Use with great caution.
Banishment (Potency-23, pre-target, forbidden)
You imbue another’s Soul whom you can see with a Forced Contract of Focus. You may then send it, and its body if it is inside it, to any Luumara or Luumakheder you hold a Tether to. Technically this name is a misnomer that has stuck and it functions both directions, meaning so long as you maintain the Forced Contract of Focus you may send the individual in and out of Luumara at will. This does take extensive concertation and Potency however. It can be circumnavigated by building a proper Tether to the individual that allows this kind of activity, but such deals can be hard to make.
Awaken (Potency-30x15, touch, forbidden)
Requires a creature which has a mind but not a Soul. You spend 15 days effectively splitting off a portion of your Soul and conjoining it to the mind of the target. You must build in the structure of an Ogen and its connection to the Soul and in the end whether or not the creature becomes sapient and capable of complex thought and speech is ultimately up to something else. Hopefully you are in its good graces.
Glossary
Fields of Meyda-work
Links go to the attovia.wiki for anything published there for additional reading. Remember to watch for spoiler tags!