Planes, Valances

and the use of Foci

for Summoning and Travel

by Eredhen i’Larien Faendryl

(first release)

Intramundia

While it is possible to travel upon our world from one place to the next by mundane means, those gifted with the Art have found other, more expedient, methods of doing so.  The methods used in translocation by magical means are, in many ways, similar to those employed in movement through the veils.

All things, all places, have unique signatures.  As with valences, those things that are most alike, or most closely associated, have similar signatures.  Places that are near one another and people that are related have very similar signatures.  By using signatures as anchors, it is possible to open various types of portals to span distances or to employ magics of various complexities to target places or individuals.

The lesser location and translocation spells involve such methods, but the magic is of a nature that the caster might not even understand the underlying principles involved.  With magics such as these, there is usually an intermediary, such as a spirit, that actually searches for the appropriate signature without the conscious involvement of the caster.  In most cases, the signature is so intermingled with the caster’s knowledge of the person or place that the caster does not realize that such a method has been employed and instead they just know that they searched for the ‘person’ or the ‘place’.  In others, the signature is an approximation, which causes imprecision when attempting to target a specific location.

Other magical methods, especially those in which no intermediary is involved, very overtly make use of signatures.  One method is to target something that is already linked in some way to the caster.  The link itself is established by the use of signatures, and spells that employ this method have no further need to specify a target by using a signature in order to open a portal.  The strength of the link determines the stability of the weave, with stronger links providing stronger connections and, as a result, safer portals.

Another method is runic magic.  By discovering the ‘signature’ of a place, a rune representing that signature can be drawn.  By focusing on that rune, a caster can open a portal from any point to that particular location.  Again, this method is much more difficult than methods that employ an intermediary.  It requires a greater amount of power and skill to strengthen and stabilize the link, especially over distances.  If, for some reason, the weave cannot be stabilized and the link collapses, the energy will backlash, sometimes harmlessly, but sometimes violently as well.

It is, in theory, as with moving between Planes and Valences, possible to use this type of magic without resorting to a physical object as a focus.  Doing so increases the need for both power and skill, and any collapse of the weave will most likely cause a backlash of a violent nature.  Those locations and persons with which the caster is intimately familiar are easier to link to and create portals to, but the task is still something that is best left to only the most powerful and skillful spellweavers.

What, then, of those places that seem impossible to link to?  There exist phenomena that serve to inhibit such links, even if a signature is known.  These can occur both naturally or as some form of spell.

At times, it is something in the weave of the particular place that prevents either the creation of a link or the stabilization of a portal.  These act something like a shield.  Most of the time these phenomena work to inhibit both ingress and egress, but some allow travel one way or the other.  Some phenomena simply disrupt or mask the signature, while others act as great barriers between one place and the next.

It is thought that with enough power, and enough skill, many of these obstacles can be overcome, even with the current magics.  Some have worked on creating news magics that will penetrate these barriers, or disrupt them, for short periods of time.  Others work to find the means to bypass them, or to merge with them or even use their energies.

All that is known is that the Faendryl have discovered some means of doing so.  They have recently proven so during the demonic mishap in Ta’Illistim.  They keep that method secret, however, and will not likely release it.  As with the release of the abridged version of the Enchiridion Valentia and the methods of minor summoning, it is not the only secret held by the Faendryl.  When (or if) they release their methods of translocation fully or in part, one can be sure that they have moved on to some other magical foray, some other secret, to maintain their superiority with all things magical.

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