Introduction

In order to preserve the mystery about how magic works, or even if it works, the system will be kept secret from players. Instead, players attempting to use magic will state the effects that they want to achieve, and make a Mysteries roll, and the GM will determine whether or not what they ask for happens. This page will instead discuss general principles of magic as the characters would understand them. In general, Romans tend to associate magic with other cultures, most notably Egyptians and Persians. Divination, however, is practiced as part of the Roman state religion, and of course Romans  pray to their gods and the spirits of their ancestors to alter the course of natural events.

 

 

Magic vs. Prayer

The Dark Corners magic system actually covers two ways of causing supernatural events, between which there is some overlap:

• Magic generally relies on the skill and knowledge of the magician. In the case of alchemy, no supernatural input is required, merely the knowledge of herbs or other elements. Certain forms of divination, however, such as haruspication and augury, rely on a divinity presenting a sign for the magician to interpret. Magicians can also use incantations and symbols to compel spirits to do their bidding.
• Prayer generally refers to a request made to a specific god to effect an outcome. However, some gods, or some desired outcomes, require that complex rituals be performed.

 

Using Magic

Because every character can pray, to the gods, any character can make a Mysteries rolls, even if the character's skill is 0. The Mysteries skill is a general indication of the character's magical power or influence with the gods, while Mysteries stunts are indicate specific types of training the character has and provide bonuses in those areas.

 

When a character wishes to effect something through magic or prayer, the player should state what effect he wants. The GM uses the player's description to set the difficulty of the Mysteries roll, according to:

 

• How long the effect lasts.
• Whether the things affected are inanimate or people, and how many people or how large an area.
• The intensity of the affect.

 

The player can lower the difficulty, by:

 

• Taking more game time to perform the spell or ritual.
• Taking game time to acquire components for the spell, especially if those components are difficult to acquire.

 

If a god or other supernatural power is involved, the difficulty is also influenced by:

 

• The magician's piety, any relationship he may have with the god, and any unexpiated sins the magician is carrying.
• The sacrifice that the magician makes or offers for the specific effect.
• Whether the request conflicts with the god's desires, or the desires of other gods.
• Whether or not the magician is a priest, or a priest is involved in the request.

 

Gods and Demons

The Romanized Greek pantheon and other foreign gods have areas of responsibility that are known to most modern students of mythology. Before the Etruscans and other primitive Italians adopted the Greek pantheon, however, they worshiped animistic deities called numina (singluar numen). The numina controlled every aspect of daily life, and every thing or phenomenon, be it a rock, a tree, a spring, the wind, lightning, childbirth, planting, etc., had a numen specifically responsible for it. Worship of many of the numina continues into the present day. Most numina have neither temples nor sacred images, and so are generally prayed to at the place or during the activity for which they are responsible. Numina generally have power over only that place or activity.

 

In addition, most Mediterranean and Near-Eastern people believed in what could be characterized as demons, evil spirits of the underworld.  The Romans did not believe in such beings, although they believe that there were gods of the underworld, and that it was generally wise not to speak about them, less you draw their attention and ill favor. However, such beings are thought to have and offer knowledge about secrets both temporal and supernatural, as well as the ability to perform tasks beyond the power of mortals, and daring magicians can try to bargain with them, or bind them to perform one or more tasks. The difficulty of binding the demon will depend on the power of the demon (which will also determine what tasks it can accomplish), and what, if anything, the magician offers in exchange. Knowing the demon's true name makes it easier to bind. the number and difficulty of the task requested (or the length of the binding, if the magician seeks to bind it indefinitely) will determine the demon's attitude towards its binding, and whether or not it tries to pervert its master's orders or otherwise gain its freedom.

 

Sacrifices

The ancient world generally views religion as a contract, where humans offer the gods something, and expect to get something in return. "Belief" in the god is not enough; the petitioner must offer the god something substantial, requiring time, effor, or money, which we'll generically call a "sacrifice." Sacrifices generally take the form of praise, from a poet's paean or the dedication of a new temple; food, from a token portion of each meal to a libation (a portion of wine poured out as a prayer is made) to a portion of the harvest given to a temple; blood, from a sacrificial animal, criminals, a defeated enemy, or one's own life; or money, from the coin placed under a corpse's tongue to a portion of the spoils of war dedicated at a temple.

 

In general, the more frequent lavish the sacrifice, the greater the god's favor. It's also appropriate to promise a future sacrifice at the time of a request, and it's generally thought that this sacrifice need not be made if the request isn't fulfilled, since the god didn't keep his part of the contract--though woe betide those who don't follow through if the request is granted.

 

Prophecy and Divination

Prophecy is the act of saying what will come to pass, generally through divine inspiration. There is no stunt for prophecy, because it's not a learned or documentable skill; instead, all of the bonuses and penalties for prayer apply to it. Divination is reading the signs sent by a god and interpreting them to determine what will come to pass. [do prayer bonuses/penalties apply?] One can also learn about the future, or the past, or distant events, through necromancy (speaking with the dead), as the dead are thought to have access to secret knowledge.

 

In terms of game play, prophecy and divination can be active or passive. An active prophecy or divination is similar to a declaration--the magician states what he wishes to happen, and if his prophecy succeeds, it will occur, within the limits of how he phrases the prophecy. This kind of prophecy, however, is subject to all of the penalties for magic use, as though the magician were trying actively to make the outcome happen through magic. In general, the more vaguely or open to interpretation the magician phrases the declaration, leaving the GM to work out the specifics of where, when, how long, how many does it affect, and so on, the more likely it is to occur. This can be used to bless and curse people, cities, even entire nations.

 

In passive prophecy or divination, the magician asks a question, and the GM states what will occur, and that must occur, again within the limits of the phrasing of the prophecy. Similar to active prophecy, the exactness of the question (or room for interpretation in the answer) determines the difficulty of the prophecy or divination.

 

Augury and Haruspication

Augury and Haruspication are the most common kinds of Roman divination, which they learned from the Etruscans. Augury is divination through the interpretation of signs, generally of five kinds: signs from the sky (such as lightning), the songs or flights of birds, the behavior of foul, the behavior of animals, and all other omens. To deliberately take an augury, augur usually announces the thing for which he's taking an augury, and draws an imaginary box of observation with his litus (wand), and then watches that area until he receives his sign. A god can also send a sign unasked, which the augur can interpret. Haruspication is divination by reading signs in the entrails of sacrificed animals.

 

Cursing

This is the abililty to bring some hardship to another, from a moment's bad luck to an illness to a famine or plague that affects an entire nation. Although curses can be spoken, a more common and effective method is to create a curse tablet. This is a sheet of lead on which the curse is written, which can include drawings or diagrams of what the curse is supposed to do, as well as symbols of power to make the curse more effective. The tablet is then folded up and put somewhere where it will get the attention of the appropriate god or spirits, such as a crack in the walls of the god's shine or temple, thrown down a well sacred to the god, etc. One can actually purchase curse kits that contain a tablet and instructions for using it.

 

Necromancy

Necromancy is the ability to summon and converse with the spirits of the dead in order to gain information. It is easier to summon near an entrance to the underworld, at the place where the person died, or at the place where the person is buried. One can summon a specific person, or generally summon the dead associated with the place where the summoning takes place. The longer the person has been dead, and their resolve in life, can make the summoning more difficult, and each question asked, or the length of questioning, can cause the spirit to try to break contact. Failure to control the spirit, angering the spirit, or its deliberately breaking contact, can result in the spirit haunting, cursing, or even possessing the magician.

 

Stunts

The standard stunt chains from SOTC are available. The Artificing part of the skill can be applied to creating potions (particularly when used wth the Herbal Remedies stunt) and talismans. The Spirits part can be applied to necromancy and oracular divination (direct contact, or even possession, by a god). The character should specify what form of divination he practices, such as astrology, augury (see above), haruspication (see above), and necromancy (see above; note that some parts of necromancy are enhanced by Spirits stunts), or oracular divination.

 

In addition, the Secrets stunt chain includes the following new stunts, which all require the Secrets of the Arcane stunt as a prerequisite.

 

Stunt	Description
Demonology	The character has knowledge of the spirits of the underworld, and can summon and bind demons.
Metamorphosis	The character can change one thing into another, or make one thing appear to be another. It's more difficult to change something into something else with significantly different mass; non-living things into living things (or vice-versa); and people into animals (or vice-versa).
Tempestaria	The character can control the weather and things associated with weather, such as earthquakes, waves, lightning, rain, wind, and floods. Since most of these things are controlled by specific gods, the magician's relationship to the particular god is important.

 

Magic and the Law

In general, Romans frown on the use of magic, although its overlap with religion makes its legal status grey. The association of magic with foreigners also makes its legal status shaky. Emperors have frequently banned astrology and other non-state-sanctioned divination, which has been used to predict (and perhaps even bring about) their deaths. However, most of the magical trade - selling charms, potions, curse kits, and the like - and using these things, is legal unless it can be shown in court to have had a deleterious affect on its target. Conversely, when someone levels accusations against an enemy in court, particularly in murder cases, they often include charges of witchcraft and poisoning.