Sorcery: the use of power gained from the assistance or control of evil spirits especially for divining

Magic in Nor'Ova is a natural force and a part of every thing in Nor'Ova, from every living person, creature, tree, flower, and insect. The casting of magic spells is in actuality the effect of manipulating a runic element - the natural elements that flow through all life on Nor'Ova. All things born on Nor'Ova are born with the components needed for magic; the possession of a runic soul, the embodiment of a runic spirit, and the runic energy needed to manipulate the element they are connected to.

However, this was not always the case. Before the nuclear apocalypse known now as the Great Magic War that ended the First Era, no sentient creature had developed runic energy. While it is believed all things always had a runic soul and runic spirit, the needed runic energy to connect to the soul and spirit didn't form until the nuclear fallout forever changed the DNA of all living things. However, magic has always existed.

Before people could manipulate the runic elements almost as easily as they could draw breath, only the most trained could cause any form of magical effect. These people were sorcerers, and though they did not fully realize what it was they were doing, they had found ways to offer up components of unique qualities to bend their runic element just enough to cause a magical effect. Many early sorcerers were of course suspected to be drawing power from the demons of Xodod, or even Zodo himself. While in some cases there might have been some truth to this, for the most part, this wasn't always true.

When the people of Nor'Ova could communicate with and manipulate the runic element of their soul, sorcery as an art began to disappear. It however has never truly vanished. Now days skilled mages can turn to sorcery to improve their connection with the elements, giving their magical arts a greater edge to their non-sorcery using rivals.

Using Sorcery

Sorcery is used by first using the skill:

Using that skill allows the mage to tap into the ancient secrets of sorcery. But just using the skill alone isn't enough. The skill itself is just the ability to use sorcery, but once you use the skill you then have to put the abilities of sorcery to work for you.

Sorcery can help you in many ways. It can lower the stat cost of a spell, or maybe even the action cost. It could increase the damaging, or healing power of a spell. You could add effects to a spell such as poison. You could increase the spell's range or duration. Really, what you can do with sorcery is almost endless. For the well prepared mage, sorcery could prove to be quite a useful skill - if only you have the desire to truly make it work for you and the patience needed to explore the many possibilities.

The two main ways that sorcery can help you is by making use of alchemistry ingredients and spell crafting components.

Using Alchemistry Ingredients

With sorcery, you can use the effects of alchemistry ingredients to give the spell different effects. For example, you could use a black cap mushroom to cause the spell to also inflict 2 Vitality poison per round, per mushroom cap used! This means if you were to use 4 of those mushrooms with your spell, your spell would inflict 8 Vitality poison damage per round plus whatever effects the spell also does. Or maybe you'd use a red cap mushroom and have your Vitality healing spell also restore some Endurance. If you were to use any Soul restoring ingredients though, the Soul cost of the spell would decrease instead of restoring Soul.

You can probably already see how this could be a great boon to your spell power. However, as with all things, there are rules.

• You can by default only make use of the First Effect, or the Main Effect if using a base ingredient.
• To make use of other effects, you will need to pickup some potion crafting skills, just like with the potion crafting rules.
• For the most part, sorcery follows the rules of potion crafting with the exception that you are using the ingredients to empower spells instead of make potions.
• Any ingredient that restores Soul will only ever reduce Soul costs, they will never add a restore Soul effect to your spell.
• Action reducing effects can only reduce a spells magic actions and only at a maximum of 1 action, no matter how many ingredients with that effect are used.

Using Spell Crafting Components

You can also use spell crafting components to empower your spell. However, you cannot use spell modification components. Here are a few rules to follow on that. Please note that spell crafting and spell crafting components are not yet available for use in the new system, therefore you cannot use spell crafting components yet at this time.

• You can use up to two different effect components on a spell.
• For damage or healing increase components, you can use a maximum of five each.
• The skill point cost is charged for the components used.
• The effect is only for that casting of the spell.

You may be less willing to use spell crafting components in your spell using sorcery. However, if you ever find yourself with a lot of skill points and you are staring down a dragon, it could prove quite helpful. You could turn your already powerful spell into one that casts even quicker, does even more damage, or maybe even instantly kills your foe if you have the skill points to spare. It could come in handy to save your life one day.

Divination and Sorcery

Clerics who use sorcery with their magic can unlock another feature that traditional mages wouldn't use. They can call upon spirits, demons, and gods to empower their magic even further. There is only two simple rules for this:

• This can only be used by those who's profession is cleric.
• The cleric must have an amina stone with the type of spirit they wish to empower their spells with.

Assuming that they meet these requirements, they can pull upon a certain effect depending upon the amina stone they carry with their sorcery.

• Blood Stone: Blood Stone is an Anima Stone that holds an ancestral spirit. These tend to be passed down through families. These are popular among dragon and dracoling tribes, with the most sought after blood stone being that of the Great Dragon.

• Angelus Stone: These are Anima Stones that call forth angelic spirits, including angels of Elysium. Unlike Blood Stones or most Anima Stones, these don't hold the full spirit of an angelic being. Instead they hold a part of it that is just enough for the summoner to summon the angelic being when needed.

• Daemon Stone: As its name suggests, these are Anima Stones that call forth the demonic spirits of Xodod. Some Daemon Stones will contain a full fledge demonic spirit, which often is a lesser demonic spirit or demon. Demon Lords and Demon Princes though will sometimes provide Daemon Stones that contain a portion of their essence so that they can be summoned by the summoner.

• Bestia Stones: Bestia Stones contain the spirit of a magical creature or spirit. These are the most common Anima Stones simply because they are the easiest to create.

• Aduro Stones: Aduro Stones contain the spirit or essence of a being from the Light Realm. These are very uncommon.

• Umbra Stones: Umbra Stones contain the spirit or essence of a being from the Shadow Realm. These are more common than Aduro Stones and Angelus Stones, but still somewhat rare.