The Campaign Builder's Guild

I think I can safely say that Dark Silver is a low-magic setting. Vendors do not sell alchemical potions in towns, wizards do not fire beams of energy from their outstretched hands and while a great many kings and heroes may claim to wield enchanted swords, none of them crackle with lightning or burn with sorcerous flames.

But this is not to say that Dark Silver is anything less than a fantasy setting, and the magical and supernatural are integral to it in many ways. In the distant past of the world, human sorcerers wielded powerful magics not seen since. The famed Fire-Crowns conjured scorching infernos, the Copper-Witches sang songs of death with metal voices and the self-adoring ascetics of Old Lacedon abjured death itself from their lands. And around them, in those ancient times, were armies of magical demons from the Beyond and the remnants of a pre-human serpent volk who spun greater and more mysterious threads of spellcraft than any human ever could.

Nor is it just the mythic history of Dark Silver that is rife with magic. It may not be on every street corner or in every hero's hand, but it is still part of the setting in more subtle ways. The elementals have ever been in the world, perhaps had a hand in the making of it, and they walk the wild places still. The demons are hungering once more, and the seething dark of the Beyond is set to boil over. Humanity, as ever, stands between those two magical forces, the wild and the alien, trying to create order through laws and oaths; trying to maintain honour amongst chaos.

When humans wish to work magic, it is from one of these two sources that they must borrow, steal, or inveigle the necessary powers. There are, therefore, two loose schools or methods of magic in Dark Silver. They are demonology and elementalism, but may be better known in-game as Devilry and Witchcraft.

In game terms these will be two skills or careers or whatever term is used in the specific rules I'm using that I will be adding. Practical magic will come in two forms, Rituals and Invocations, and both must be first learnt and then performed correctly, requiring successful rolls on either Devilry or Witchcraft.

Rituals are mystic ceremonies that take a lot of time and sometimes also a lot of resources to properly enact, and frequently involve some form of sacrifice - often human, if the Ritual is Devilry, though even Witchcraft can involve some steep prices if the elemental in question is particularly cruel or voracious.

Invocations are considerably less powerful, but much quicker to cast. A few words and gestures may be all that is required, but often prior Rituals are necessary in order to ensure the later success of Invocations. For example a sorcerer might perform a Ritual summoning a bear elemental and make a sacrifice to it in exchange for the later ability to borrow its huge ursine strength with an Invocation.

These kinds of magic can do many things. The strengths and other qualities of the demons or elementals whose powers are tapped can be channelled into the caster or another individual. The sorcerer can call upon the demon or elemental to curse a foe with illness, weakness, torpor, cowardice, madness, or any of a host of afflictions. The demon or elemental may be called upon to grant insight into events, a glimpse of the possible future or knowledge of distant goings-on.

There are also more esoteric Rituals that can do even stranger and more bizarre things, such as summon demons physically, mutate the caster's body into an image of their demonic or elemental patron, or other things still more unspeakable. These Rituals though are rare lore even to the rare few who work magic, and many are ancient inventions known only to long-dead sorcerers.

I am very happy with the m erging of fluff and crunch so far.
It's a melding that I take very seriously and one that a lot of world-builders or game designers don't understand.  Your inital foray here is very powerful and evocative and yet still technically viable.

I'm getting a good vibe for this right now.  Nice Job.

Fantastically evocative stuff.
The way your magic system exists in its essence as both fluff and crunch within this single post is inspiring. I think I've just found the new standard I'll be writing to when I do development on supernatural elements in the future.
Keep up the great work!

As always, great stuff Kindling. Need more Dark Silver!