The Powers of Ash are the Lords of the Burned Realm. They govern the dead, the destroyed, and that which has gone before. They are neither malevolent nor benevolent, although they do have an abiding hatred for necromancy (which is a usurpation of their powers and as such also falls within the purview of Ash magic).
Note that the known Burned Realm only contains dead humans and half-humans - it is rumoured that there are other, similar realms for the dead of other races, although this has never been confirmed and the Burned Lords themselves remain enigmatically uninformative.
More information on the Lord of the Tower of Heroes, the Lord of the Lake of Suicides, the Lord of the Faithful, the Lord of the Gardens and the Lord of the House of Gods can be found here on the Gods & Cults page.
Ash magic requires the caster to be in a state of delicate balance. Every spell must be prepared mentally in advance, the Sorceror placing themselves in tune with the living and the dead. As a result, an Ash magic spell will be usable only a limited number of times before the caster must retreat to meditation, during which time they must be completely undisturbed.
Almost all Ash Sorcerors within the White City are Ordained Priests of the Temple of Ashes, and wear the distinctive grey robes of that Temple. Practice of Ash Magic within the lands of the White City by anyone who is not an Ordained Priest of the Burned Lords is illegal.
Call Forth The Ashen Cloud - The Sorceror can summon a swirling cloud of ash which lasts for one minute and will cover a wide area, roughly thirty feet in radius centred on the caster. This has two effects (three if you count just being damn impressive). Firstly, it renders everybody within the cloud who is not an Ordained Priest of the Burned Lords blind for the duration of the spell. Secondly, any dead creature touched by the ash cannot ever be raised as undead (note that this won't have any effect on creatures which are already undead, however much damage they've taken and however active they are). This spell can be used only once before it needs to be reprepared, however the relevant meditation takes only one minute.
Speak To Silence - The Sorceror may speak to the spirit of a dead being whose corpse is present, regardless of how much of the corpse is present, what condition it's in or how long the being has been dead. Language, however, may still be a barrier. If the Sorceror is an Ordained Priest of the Burned Lords then the spirit will speak willingly, unless it had a personal enmity with the caster. In any other situation the spirit must be defeated in psychic combat before it will cooperate (a spirit is as strong in death as it was in life, and now attuned to psychic combat in the same way as a Priest or Sorceror, thus the average dead spirit will have 5 Psyche hits and do Psychic Singles). This spell may or may not work upon undead creatures at the GM's discretion, and may have unforeseen side effects if the Sorceror attempts to use it on them. A spirit counts as "defeated" if it loses half its Psyche hits. This spell can be cast only once before repreparation and requires one minute of meditation to prepare.
Commend To Ash - This spell instantly turns a single object or being into ash. Should an Ordained Priest of the Burned Lords cast this spell on a living being who has not been renounced by the Burned Lords then they will lose their Ordained status. Undead, on the other hand, are open season. If a non-Ordained Ash Sorceror uses this spell to destroy a living being then they will immediately be attacked by that being's spirit as the Burned Lords unleash their vengeance. This spell can be cast a number of times equal to the Rank of the caster's Ash Magic skill before being reprepared, and requires half an hour of meditation to do so. This spell also requires the caster to touch the target.
Forestall The Pyre - This spell will heal all physical damage the subject has suffered from unnatural sources (a GM call on what counts as "unnatural sources", but usually magic and the undead). It can also be used to heal natural damage, but this will cost a Priest their Ordained status and will cause a non-Ordained Sorceror to risk attack by an Ashen Guardian (see the Monsters page). This spell can be cast a number of times equal to the Rank of the Sorceror's Ash Magic skill before needing to be reprepared, and requires half an hour of meditation to do so. If cast upon somebody else, this spell requires the caster to touch the subject.
Speak Through Stillness - The caster may summon up and speak to the spirit of any dead individual whose name they know. Like the first level spell Speak to Silence, Ordained Priests of the Burned Lords can do this safely while non-Ordained Sorcerors must defeat the spirit in psychic combat to compel its obedience. This spell will not call up people who have transcended the Burned Realm to be with the other Powers. This spell may be cast only once before needing to be reprepared, and repreparation takes one hour. The spell counts as having been cast even if nobody answers the call.
Note that "knowing someone's name" means knowing their given name and at least one other significant thing about them. If you try to call up Dominic Estefanco when you know nothing about him except that he existed then you will fail. If you know that he was murdered last Thursday in the Port of Glass then you will succeed.
Open The Burned Gate - This spell must be cast on a doorway of some kind, although anything remotely gatelike will do at a pinch. Very simply it opens a door to the Burned Realm which remains open until the next sunrise or sunset, whichever comes first. This spell has a number of uses, many of them even vaguely sane. It's one use and takes one minute to cast but a full twenty four hours (sunrise to sunrise or sunset to sunset) to reprepare, and would you like to guess your odds of being able to get a whole day of complete calm in the Burned Realm? Also, the Burned Realm has no visible sun, and it's hard to measure the passage of time while there. Probably a good idea to get back to the gate ASAP. And don't forget that things can pass through the gate both ways.
Condemned By Ash - This is either a blessing or a curse depending on your point of view, and is never used lightly. Very simply it renders an individual incapable of dying. That's all it does. They still age, they can still be hurt, they don't heal faster than anybody else but they will never, ever die unless somebody removes the curse from them by recasting this spell. An Ordained Priest of the Burned Lords may cast this spell on somebody whom the Burned Lords have specifically singled out for this curse. Any other use of this spell by anyone angers the Burned Lords immensely - Ashen Guardians will track you down and Ordained Ash Sorcerors will hunt you to the ends of the earth. This one takes a week of preparation, an instant to cast and is strictly one use.
Call The Black Wind - It's wind. It's black. It's the Black Wind. When cast by an Ordained Priest of the Burned Lords the Black Wind will instantly dismiss all undead in the area, turning their physical bodies (if they have them) to ash, and will inflict a Through Single to the torso of any non-Ordained Ash Sorceror in the vicinity. A non-Ordained Ash Sorceror can cast it for the same effect, in which case they will also suffer the damage, or alternatively can cast it to raise every single dead body in the vicinity as an unliving servant under their command. It's one use with a week's preparation.
Rekindle The Embers - This is a resurrection spell. Note that it is not a simple resurrection spell, you do not buy it for two thousand gold pieces from your local Priest. This spell involves some serious dealing with godly entities. An Ordained Priest of the Burned Lords has a slim chance of talking a Burned Lord into allowing a soul to return to the world of the living - run this through In Character, it's a big thing. The other option (and the only one available to non-Ordained Ash Sorcerors) is to engage the Burned Lord in psychic combat. Your "average" Burned Lord will have about 30 Psyche hits, strike for Psychic Triples and have access to a bunch of other nasty effects. Lose this fight and it's goodbye Gertie. This takes one week to prepare, and can be cast once.
Invoke The Burned Lords - This is the catch-all apex of Ash Magic. You can summon up a Burned Lord and treat with them directly. Unlike Rekindle The Embers, this spell commands the physical presence of the Lord in question. This really pisses off most Powers so be very, very careful. It's one shot and a week's preparation.
Up to the top -
This page last updated: 29th March 2005
Email the White City webmeister § Email the LARP Organiser § Back to the gates of The White City