Ethshar: Difference between revisions

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It's loosely based on the Roman Republic. Currently, the most influential country of the world is the Hegemony of Three Ethshars, which defeated the evil, magic wielding Empire of the North, while the former Ethshar (Old Ethshar) split into hundreds of tiny kingdoms. There's trade, war and pirates...

[[Summon Magic|Demonology]] - summoning demons and forcing them to do your dirty jobs. Technically it's not illegal (except in some of the Small Kingdoms) nor evil, but it isn't nice. Most demons require souls or blood sacrifice - a few require killing a victim.

 

* ''[[The Misenchanted Sword]]''

* ''With a Single Spell''

* ''The Final Calling''

 

* ''[[The Misenchanted Sword]]''

 

* [[Addictive Magic]]: The more a warlock uses his magic, the easier and more pleasurable it gets. But the power's drawn from an external source, and a warlock who uses too much ends up being irresistibly summoned to that source.

* [[Anti-Magic]]: There exists a spell that permanently cancels wizard's magic in a large area. Forever. Since the majority of the world operates by magic, the spell has been cast exactly thrice in the history of the world: once on discovery, once as a [[Deadly Prank]] against a wizard in a flying castle, and once to negate a universal solvent that was likely to destroy the entire world if unchecked. (Note, however, that it only applies to wizardry; the other half-dozen or so forms of magic are fundamentally different, though less powerful, and so are unaffected.)

* [[Hooker with a Heart of Gold]]: Rudhira the warlock, [[Fiery Redhead]] and former streetwalker.

* [[Immortal Immaturity]]: Eternal youth spells freeze someone at that point in their maturity, and immortal wizards who revert themselves back to youth note that a younger body makes them act differently (especially as regards the libido). One immortal who's been 15 for 200 years is eventually dumped by her 16-year-old beau as being too young (emotionally speaking) for him.

* [[Magical Incantation]]: Used pretty much in all wizard spells, and also in some witch spells.

* [[The Magic Goes Away]]: {{spoiler|In ''The Final Calling'', the Source of the warlockry flies away, depowering almost all warlocks.}}

** The name Kelder is very common in Ethshar - almost to the point of being a [[Running Gag]]. Practically every novel has some character named Kelder (although so far only one of these Kelders was a protagonist).

*** Sarai is almost as common a girl's name, again appearing in most stories. Irith is also said to be a very common name - "Kelder and Irith" or "Uncle Kelder and Aunt Sarai" are used as generic expressions for ordinary folk.

* [[Our Demons Are Different]]: In ''Taking Flight'' a demonologist, defending a caravan from robbers, summons a horde of smallish bloodthirsty creatures. [[Word of God]] states that he summoned the demon called Ansu of the Many Bodies. Yes, the whole horde was one demon.

* [[Ritual Magic]]: Almost all systems of magic are like this to some extent (the big exception being warlockry). More specifically:

** Ritual Song and Ritual Dance: [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]].

* [[Shapeshifting Squick]]: Unusually, the shapeshifter is the one being squicked. In ''Taking Flight'', a man is enchanted to love and desire Irith the Flier, who is a shapeshifter with seven different shapes. It turns out that no matter the Irith's shape, the man still lusts after her, even when she assumes a shape of a horse. (By the way, one of the seven shapes is a housecat, so yeah, [[Memetic Mutation|a cat is fine too]].) Irith is seriously squicked by that.

* [[Sorcerous Overlord]]: Usually averted, thanks to Wizards' Guild. The Guild's rules expressly forbid any magician, wizard or not, to occupy any ruling position at all (the only exception are those positions that explicitly require magic, like that of a court magician). Punishment for breaking this rule is death. {{spoiler|Shame about Vond the Warlock, though. Vond became ''very'' powerful much too quickly, conquered a kingdom and even managed to build a small empire.}}

* [[Summon Magic]]: Demonology. Also, some wizard spells can summon otherwordly creatures, too.

* [[Taken for Granite]]: There are at least two spells for that. ''Bazil’s Irreversible Petrifaction'' turns someone to stone [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|permanently]], while ''Fendel’s Superior Petrifaction'' can be reversed with the right spells (that's why it's considered Superior). Both spells can be used in magical combat, but the reversible spell has some other, more exotic uses. {{spoiler|In ''The Vondish Ambassador'' it is used as a protection from a magical assassin.}}

* [[Un-Equal Rites]]: While there're half a dozen major varieties of magic in Ethshar, usually their rivalry is quite mild: higher-ups spy after another guilds, guilds compete a bit... and that is pretty much it. However, when a new and quite powerful variety of magic with previously-unknown limitations - the warlockry - turns up, tensions immediately run ''very'' high. Some wizard hotheads even consider just [[Kill'Em All|killing all the warlocks]] as the best solution.

* [[Vancian Magic]]: Wizardry can be like this. In ''Taking Flight'', two fire-and-forget wizardry systems are introduced, both with severe drawbacks. The first one lets wizard prepare any one (but only one) spell in advance, to be used once at his convenience, with practically zero casting time. Can be useful, as some spells need days to cast. The drawback is, until the spell is used, the wizard cannot do any other wizardry. The second system is a plot point: {{spoiler|wizard prepares about a dozen of spells, to instantly cast later as many times as he likes. The drawback? No other wizardry ever for that wizard, except for these spells.}}