70 lines
2.9 KiB
HTML
70 lines
2.9 KiB
HTML
<!doctype html>
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<html lang="en">
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<head>
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<meta charset="UTF-8" />
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<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
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<title>Magic and Rituals Guide</title>
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<link rel="stylesheet" href="book-page.css" />
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</head>
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<h1>MAGIC AND RITUALS</h1>
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<p>
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In a natural fantasy campaign, magic is a field where the themes of balance,
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coexistence, mistakes, and punishment emerge at their strongest. Moreover,
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the relationship between humanity and supernatural creatures hinges on a few
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core assumptions, discussed in the following pages.
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</p>
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<h2>MAGIC AS A NEGOTIATION</h2>
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<p>
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Magic represents the delicate relationship between humanity, the ecosystem,
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and the mysteries of life itself: it’s important to ask what is the source
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of the magical powers wielded by the characters and how such abilities might
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alter the existing balance.
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</p>
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<p>
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The “Everything has a soul” pillar, from page 14 of the Core Rulebook, comes
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into its highest expression in natural fantasy – magic is alive, often
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incarnate as a local spirit or presence, and reacts according to its own
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will and personality.
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</p>
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<p>
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Depending on which characters are involved in the campaign and what kind of
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threat they face, this approach might express itself in many ways and should
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influence the game mechanics. The following sections contain advice and
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considerations on how to handle these themes, which require special
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attention.
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</p>
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<h2>SPIRITS, DEITIES, AND PRESENCES</h2>
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<p>
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“Divinity” isn’t something far away and limited to specific moments of
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prayer; it’s close, everyday, and omnipresent, but also extraordinary,
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sentient, and unpredictable. It’s part of everything on both an individual
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and universal level.
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<strong>Individual.</strong> Divine entities often appear as spirits or
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presences inhabiting a place, object, or creature. Sometimes they manifest
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as elemental beings, other times as demons born from a build-up of
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spiritual power or due to a creature’s extreme longevity, or as a
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conglomerate of magical energy, lacking a conscience but still “alive”.
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</li>
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<li>
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<strong>Universal.</strong> Divinity as a concept also represents the
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global, cyclical and interconnected totality of everything: a symphony of
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lives that are born, transformed and pass away, feeding upon and
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influencing each other. This universal dimension of the divine often
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appears in the guise of a spirit realm, permeating reality but visible
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only to a few.
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</li>
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</ul>
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<p>
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We can say that magic draws power from a universal energy through an
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individual medium, but in doing so it causes immediate reactions on the
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individual level and/or long-term consequences on a universal scale.
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</p>
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</html>
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