Conjuration of the Salamander -- Magonomia Spell Preview

We’re working on finishing up the manuscript for Magonomia Core Rules. If roleplaying a wizard who uses Renaissance themed magic appeals to you, our crowdfunding campaign is accepting late pledges through March 31, 2021. Here’s an example of one of our 200 spells in the core book, inspired by Renaissance sources:

Conjuration of the Salamander

Degree 4 Sorcery; governed by Mars

Conjure a salamander—a small, cold, poisonous lizard with power over fire. Conjuration, Needs Fire to Survive

Onstage Preparation: 1 minute

Augmentation: None

Components: Fire, circle, alchemical reagents, incantations

Activation: Overcome vs. 4

Duration: Until the salamander dies or is dismissed

A salamander is an elemental spirit of fire that takes the form of a three to six inch long, cold, moist, lizard-like creature. Salamanders have extremely poisonous skin and breath. They must be handled with gloves or tongs. Their elemental nature gives them fantastic powers over fire.

The conjured salamander obeys the wizards’s commands, within reason. Giving the salamander an order takes up the wizard’s turn in an Exchange. It’s Timid by Nature, so it’s reluctant to attack creatures with its poison. It will gladly extinguish and control fires.

Special: You can dismiss a salamander by ordering it back into the conjuring circle (or drawing a new circle around it) and speaking a brief incantation. Its body seems to burst into flames but its spirit is released and lives on. This also means you can use this spell to dismiss any rogue salamander you might encounter in your adventures.

Extra: Salamander (Major NPC)

Permissions: Learn the spell Conjuration of the Salamander

Costs: Spell

Aspects: (Fantastic +6) Controls and Extinguishes Fire; (Fantastic +6) Deadly Poison; Needs Fire to Survive; Timid by Nature

Skills:   Good (+3) Stealth

            Poor (-1) Fighting

Stress: Physical: 1 box

            Mental: 2 boxes

One might expect a fire elemental to be made of fire, but the salamander is a small, moist, cold creature that looks like a lizard that’s three to six inches long and has golden stars upon its back. They arise, phoenix-like, among the flames of any fire that has burned continually for seven years.

Be careful not to pick up a salamander without gloves, for its skin is so poisonous that it can kill through contact with flesh, and its foul breath is equally poisonous. If it wraps itself around a young tree, the tree withers and dies, and the fruit upon it becomes tainted with deadly poison. Likewise, if the salamander falls in a well, it poisons the well. Fortunately, this is a rare occurrence, because the skin of a salamander is so freezing cold that it causes water to freeze soon after immersion, though the salamander can claw its way out of the ice.

If a living creature touches the salamander or is exposed to its breath, resolve that as an Attack vs. Physique using the (Fantastic +6) Deadly Poison Aspect as a skill. The salamander can Create an Advantage to spread its (Fantastic +6) Deadly Poison Aspect to food or drink, which then Attacks whomever consumes it.

The salamander has marvelous powers over fire. It can instantly extinguish any fire it touches, even a raging conflagration that engulfs an entire Zone. A fire guarded by a salamander will never spit out hot embers or move beyond its confines, but burn safely at whatever temperature you desire, for the salamander can regulate the heat of the fire at will. Contrariwise, the salamander can use its (Fantastic +6) Controls and Extinguishes Fire to Create an Advantage to fan the flames and create a Hazard—then put out the fire when it’s no longer needed!

A salamander feeds on fire and Needs Fire to Survive. It will die within an hour if left at room temperature. Some wizards keep a conjured salamander in their laboratory for long periods, feeding them hot coals every day.

Having a salamander in the lab is a great help to brewing potions and other processes that involve fire. The salamander sheds its skin like a snake. That skin is extremely valuable; if enough are collected, they can be fashioned in to silk-like garments that never burn.

(c) 2019-2021 Shewstone Publishing LLC. The text of this article may be copied, reused, and modified under the terms of the Open Gaming License, version 1.0a.

The Science of Theurgy - Magonomia Core Rules Preview

Magonomia® Core Rules is still open for late pledges until March 31. This week we’ll give a bit of a longer preview of the rule book. Characters in Magonomia each choose one of the five magical Sciences: Alchemy, Astrology, Sorcery, Theurgy, and Witchcraft. Each provides different spells and different strengths and weaknesses. Here is our most distinctively Renaissance European Science, the Science of Theurgy:

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Theurgy

Magonomia Core Rules preview

The Science of Theurgy

Theurgy is the study of names of power. By invoking the names of spirits or angels, the magician can control both the natural and supernatural sides of the world. Theurgy most excels at divination and combating supernatural enemies.

Most theurgists in Enchanted England are Christian, Jewish, or Muslim, but as a player you can also make a Pagan theurgist, or a Buddhist or Hindu theurgist from a distant land. A theurgist who doesn’t believe in religion at all can still be effective. Theurgy is magic, not religion.

According to theurgists, there is a divine order to the universe, and it can be discovered by supernatural means. In Magonomia, the divine order is maintained by a hierarchy of spirits that exert occult power over the world. They do everything from pushing the new grass out of the ground in the springtime to moving the sun across the sky. A theurgist learns the names of these spirits and learns how to give them direct orders, usually by invoking the name one of their superiors.

Theurgy can also command nature directly. This is called adjuration. For example, a Theurgy spell could say something like “O axe, in the name of [spirit] do not cut that tree” or “O bruise, in the name of [spirit] depart from my body.” Certain Renaissance theurgists believed they could use their power to reproduce the deeds of the Apostles in the Bible’s book of Acts: casting out unwanted spirits, curing diseases, speaking prophecies. Others believed they could perform the feats of the ancients, such as those performed by the Oracle of Delphi.

The challenge of Theurgy is that spirits and nature will only obey a mortal whom they deem worthy. Much of the practice of Theurgy therefore consists of rituals to build up the magician’s spiritual strength and authority. Theurgists meditate, pursue visions, and consult with spirits to advance toward enlightenment. Note that while such rituals have religious origins, they’re really about self-improvement, not necessarily piety. A theurgist’s practices don’t have to line up with anything from a real-world religion—indeed, because Theurgy is an esoteric Science, much of it is alien to established religious ceremonies.

You might think theurgists would be readily accepted by church authorities. Historically, however, theurgy could be quite controversial. Magicians’ inquiry into the divine order can lead them to challenge official religious doctrine. Remember that Europe in the sixteenth century was wracked by religious conflicts. Heresy is dangerous. Theurgy is nonetheless more likely to be accepted than Sorcery. For this reason, grimoires of Sorcery often intentionally mislabel their spells as Theurgy. The line between the two Sciences can be fine.

Playing a Theurgist

Theurgy is works similarly to Sorcery; both Sciences involve conjuring spirits to do the wizard’s bidding. The difference is that Theurgy involves mystically preparing the wizard to become an authority figure spirits have no choice but to obey. Sorcery, in contrast, strikes bargains with spirits by offering them something of value.

Much of a Theurgist’s offstage magical regimen consists of meditation, special diet, and other spiritual practices. A Theurgist doesn’t have to be pious. They just have to go through certain ceremonial motions—frequently and consistently. If you wish, you can choose a Trouble Aspect such as Austere Lifestyle or Taboo Against Touching Animals to represent mystical constraints on your theurgist. If you don’t, that’s a signal to your gaming group that you prefer to keep your wizard’s ritualistic side in the background.

Another activity that consumes a lot of a Theurgist’s offstage time is researching the names of spirits, their “offices” (jobs) and hence their powers, and their hierarchy. Some of this is recorded in esoteric tomes, often written in cipher or concealed by steganography. More can be learned by conjuring spirits and interviewing them, or through visions.

Strengths of Theurgy

Theurgy features the best selection of defensive spells overall, and is outstanding at protecting against spirits and Conjuration magic.

Theurgy is second strongest at divination, after Astrology.

It’s the only Science that can simply break other spells.

Limitations of Theurgy

Theurgy spells are individually not very versatile, and the overall spell selection is skewed toward fighting supernatural threats. In stories where your opponents are nonmagicians, you may find that not all of your spells are useful.

Reasons to Choose Theurgy

·         You want to fight supernatural opponents and break evil spells.

·         You enjoy taking the role of defender.

·         You want spells that will help you deal peacefully with humans.

Reasons to Avoid Theurgy

·         You want spells that are versatile.

·         You don’t want a character with a strong spiritual side.

·         Your adventures aren’t likely to contain supernatural threats.

© 2021 Shewstone Publishing LLC. All rights reserved. This article is not Open Game Content.

By the Pricking of My Thumbs ... Spell Teaser for Magonomia

We’re working on finishing up the manuscript for Magonomia Core Rules. If roleplaying a wizard who uses Renaissance themed magic appeals to you, our crowdfunding campaign is accepting late pledges through March 31, 2021. Here’s an example of one of our 200 spells in the core book, inspired by Renaissance sources:

By the Pricking of My Thumbs

Degree 3 Sorcery; governed by Mercury

A Fetish temporarily grants (Good +3) Alert for Approaching Creatures.

By the pricking of my thumbs,

Something wicked this way comes.

--William Shakespeare, MacBeth, Act IV, scene 1

Onstage Preparation: Fast

Augmentation: None

Components: A bag of animal parts, blood, incantations

Activation: Create an Advantage vs. 3

Duration: Until the next sunrise or sunset

A spirit you have evoked into an object—a Fetish—can be awakened with two drops of your blood (one from each thumb). It lends you its Aspect, (Good +3) Alert for Approaching Creatures, which you can use as a skill instead of Notice to detect people approaching.

The spirit gives a silent warning in the caster’s mind when a significant mortal creature approaches. What counts as significant depends on the spirit’s perceptions, not on human reason, though it only goes far off if the Activation failed. If you succeed with style at detecting creatures, the spirit tells you something true and relevant about the creature, as it did for MacBeth’s witch: “something wicked this way comes,” in her case.

(c) 2020-2021 Shewstone Publishing LLC. The text of this article may be copied, reused, and modified under the terms of the Open Gaming License, version 1.0a.