World Magic: Magecraft

Magecraft is one of the most famous and difficult disciplines of world magic. It allows the professor to create magic items whose power is proportional to the reagents and components used in their construction. These items have many things in common with living beings, and can even receive Gnosis marks that will let them tap into divine powers. There is no theoretical limit to the level of Magecraft items, provided that enough power and reagents go into them; in this regard, Magecraft is unmatched among all disciplines of magic. However, the resources needed for crafting an item are just as large and hard to come by as the effect it is meant to provide. Magecraft is also a notoriously dangerous discipline, and one that has claimed the lives of quite a few practitioners.

Overview

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In Nu Guardia, there are several crafts that produce "magical" items. In fact, it could be said that most world magic makes items that could be called magic. Nowadays, a majority of magic items on the market are low-cost products of Glyphing; these store a pre-made magical effect inside a graphical nexus, only to release it when a trigger is activated. Once released, the power is exhausted, making these magical items temporary. While this principle is most often applied to scrolls, it has been used on a variety of weapons, armor and household items, as well.

Even though Glyphing is an invaluable discipline in many ways, Magecraft is in a totally different league as far as magical items go. A Magesmith can make permanent items with unique effects whose powers are only limited by his skill and available resources. The swords of kings, the armor of demigods, the staves of great wizards, most of these have been created through Magecraft.

Principals of Magecraft

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The Magecrafting process is the sum of a number of modular steps that are more or less independent of each other. The number of enhancement steps determines the cost and power of the resulting artifact. This can be expressed with a number, the Magecraft Coefficient (MC). The minimum MC is 1, and there is no theoretical maximum. A MC is convenient because it is a good estimate of how powerful an item is, and how much time and money the Magesmith will need to craft it. Items with MC greater than 10 are very rare, and the most potent ever created by mortals were in the low 20's. The production cost of an item rises exponentially with its MC, because applying more enhancements on top of the existing ones becomes progressively harder. Production time also grows, though not as steeply.

A step can enhance one of the following five traits.

• Structural - one of the item's physical properties is improved. This can be durability, sharpness, weight, or more, depending on the type of item. Given the costs involved, it is usually a good idea to invest on durability.
• Behavioral - either the item acquires a new behavior, or an existing behavior is enhanced. This is a broad category, ranging from a blade swinging faster to an item becoming capable of moving on its own, or a torch lighting itself, etc. Behavior encompasses all active abilities but this behavior must be compatible with the item's other enhancements. For example, an item will not be able to emit poison unless it has a reason for doing so, such as a Gnosis mark from Siku. The source of a behavior does not have to be Magecrafted; it can even be provided by a separate skill applied to the item.
• Intellectual - the item acquires greater awareness, intelligence, and ability to interact and communicate. A more intelligent item can adapt its own powers to the situation without the need for an order from its wielder.
• Magical - the item becomes capable of wielding personal magic just like a wizard. Most items can only perform a few effects hard-wired by the Magesmith through Behavioral steps, but more intelligent items have more freedom. This requires a wizard that is of equal or higher level in the desired magic discipline.
• Gnosis - the item can receive a Gnosis mark by a deity, and use it as if it had been bestowed on a living person. Only one mark (positive or negative) can be bestowed on a given item. The item must therefore have clear purpose and advantage to the god as opposed to being a mere trinket: such items will generally have a name and a fascinating story behind them. The mark will empower the item with a gift that is obviously related to the god, but needs not be identical to Gnosis given to the living. The kind of power bestowed depends entirely on the god's will. The mark is usually asked for after the item has been completed, and the slot is not specific to a single deity, meaning that anyone can mark the item.