So, in Spiritbinders (which you can read right here, hint hint) I touched on how magic works in Karatera. Today, I’m going to go a bit deeper into that.

The whole idea of spiritbinding was basically a result of me trying to rationalise the way spell slots work in D&D into something that makes sense from a worldbuilding perspective. For those of you who don’t know how it works in that game, the basic idea is that you have to “prepare” a specific spell into a spell slot at the start of the day, and later on, you can burn that spell slot to cast that spell. Afterwards, you can’t prepare a spell into that slot again until you get some rest. It’s a system that’s unique to D&D, although it was initially “borrowed” from the writings of the late Jack Vance by Gary Gygax and co.

And now, here I am, “borrowing” it once more.

So, in Karatera, most people who practice magic are some manner of spiritbinder, with their specific titles based on the precise way they bind their spirits. The binding process attaches the spirit to the magician, either physically or spiritually, where they remain until they are released. The spirit, yearning to be free, fights to free itself from its binds and generates energy. Once the magician releases the spirit, that energy is released, and shaped by the caster into a spell, which can be as blatant as an explosive fireball or as subtle as a charming spell.

Now, there’s a few caveats on this. Firstly, a magician can only bind so many spirits until it starts to take a severe toll on their health and sanity. And the longer those spirits remain bound, the more volatile they get, and the harder it is to keep them bound. As a result, most magicians have rituals in place to gently release their spirits while they sleep, sparing them from disaster, but also necessitating the re-binding of spirits at the start of each day.

Secondly, there are various classes of spirits, and each class can only be used to cast spells of a certain type. Some spirits can only be used to cast illusion spells, for instance, while some spirits can only be used to cast elemental spells. I don’t want to write out the precise list of what spirits do what (primarily because I don’t have a list), but it’s a limitation that forces magicians to plan ahead and predict what spells they’re going to need for the day.

And thirdly, different spells require different amounts of spiritual release in order to work, with more powerful spells requiring more spirits to be released for more power. While there’s a bunch of different ways of determining the power of a spell, the “Ten Rings of Magic” is the most commonly accepted model. Through this model, all spells are ranked according to the complexity of the spell and the potency of the required spirits, with the spells of the 1st Ring being the simplest and spells of the 10th Ring being the most complex. As a general rule, the more spirits released for a spell, the more powerful it is, though there are some exceptions.

Spellcasting is fairly simple up to spells of the 5th Ring; beyond that lie spells so taxing that they physically harm you to cast. Spells of the 6th or 7th Rings can cause permanent damage to your body and mind. Spells of the 8th Ring have a considerable chance to kill you upon completion, and spells of the 9th Ring are almost guaranteed to kill you. And at the very top are the world-shattering spells of the 10th Ring, which will not only kill you on casting, but also the five or so other magicians who are helping you cast the spell.

Spiritbinding is foundational to most Karaterran societies. Almost every village, town and city has at least one binder who serves as the resident wise man or woman, lifting curses, crafting charms, and sometimes brewing potions. It’s usually easy enough to find someone who can cast spells of the 1st or 2nd Ring, but finding someone who can cast spells of the 3rd to 5th Rings is difficult, and spiritbinders that can cast higher spells are rare indeed. 8th and 9th Ring spells, in particular, are so hard to learn and costly that virtually nobody knows them, and the only records of 10th Ring spells exist in myths and legends.

There are many different kinds of spiritbinders, each of whom bind their spirits in a different way. However, there are three specific spiritbinder types that are more well-known than the others.

Clerics commune with a god or angelic being that lures and binds their spirits for them. This method is technically easier than the others, but attracting the attention of such a being often takes years of devotion and religious service.

Druids commune directly with the spirits, beseeching them to be bound rather than luring them. This method is arguably one of the hardest ways to bind spirits, as learning how to speak to the spirits in an intelligible way takes years and isn’t guaranteed to work every time.

Wizards employ special rituals that lure and “trap” spirits for binding, allowing them to use magic without relying on the whims of gods or spirits. The process angers the bound spirits, preventing them from being used for healing or restorative magics, but it also makes them much more volatile, allowing wizards to utilise powerful destructive spells.

There’s a whole bunch of other different kinds of spiritbinders, such as spellswords, witches and spirit-hunters, but their methods all derive from those three. And binding spirits isn’t the only way to make use of their power, for one can also call spirits to their aid or passively channel them … but perhaps that’s a topic for another day.

See you all next week!