Alteration

Alteration (Syllabus of Restructuring)

Changing physical properties without adding or removing mass. Alteration is precision-heavy work that rewards rigorous control. In current play, casting follows Technique Glyph declarations (Intent -> School -> Glyph -> Scale -> Tags). Classification: Core School

Fictional Permission

When you hold Alteration in your Grimoire, you have specific fictional positioning.

When creating Alteration spells, respect these rules:

Alteration CAN:

  • Change the physical properties of existing matter (hardness, flexibility, density, conductivity)
  • Manipulate the environment by restructuring it (e.g., causing earth to erupt into spikes, turning stone to mud)
  • Alter biological tissue (healing, hardening skin, reshaping bone, binding flesh to restrict movement)
  • Transform one material into another of similar mass at higher complexities
  • Create structural changes that persist after the mana fades (Miracle only)

Alteration CANNOT:

  • Target Hostile Biology Directly (Soul Cohesion Law): The internal biology and chemical state of an unwilling, living creature is protected by their Soul Cohesion. Using direct Alteration (like boiling someone's blood or stopping their heart) inside that boundary is automatically a Miracle (4+ Ticks) effect.
  • Mimic Projection efficiently (The Principle of Supremacy): While you could vibrate air molecules super fast to create fire, Alteration was built to twist matter, not manifest raw energy. Trying to mimic pure energy effects using Alteration incurs a +1 Complexity Tax.
  • Create matter or energy from nothing (that's Projection or Conjuration)
  • Move objects through space without physically acting on them (that's Dimensionalism)
  • Provide information or sensory data (that's Divination)
  • Animate objects with autonomous behaviour (that's Animation)

Technique identity: Alteration defaults to Schmiede for structural rework and Fluss for controlled transfer/conversion.

The Core Matrix

Your Alteration training unlocks cumulative Technique Glyph access:

Use this tier ladder as canonical for live casting.

Stack example: Suture a cracked hull -> Alteration -> Faden + Schmiede -> Standard -> precision, repair

Cost Examples

Costs follow the canonical scale (see Magic System). School-specific examples:

  • Trivial (0 Ticks): Faden tweak to a minor property.
  • Regular (1 Tick): Schmiede adjustment to shape/density.
  • Hard (2 Ticks): Schmiede + Fluss to rapidly rework constraints.
  • Complex (2 Ticks): Kreis-supported healing/reconfiguration sequence.
  • Miracle (4+ Ticks): Permanent transmutation-scale restructuring.

Specializations

Specializations now function as Glyph Doctrines:

  • Medical Magic: Faden + Kreis doctrine (precision healing and stabilization)
  • Transformation: Faden + Anker doctrine (persistent morph pathways)
  • Blood Magic: Anker + Kreis doctrine (life-linked shaping with backlash risk)

(For detailed sensory information and theoretical deep-dives, refer to Schools Lore)

Blood Magic

Blood Magic works on a person's life force, usually through blood as a proxy: the target's own, or the caster's. Ritual sacrifice, powering spells with your own health, enhancement rituals, and bloodline theft all live here. Classification: Specialization Parent School: Alteration

Technique Glyph Doctrine

Doctrine Pair: Anker + Kreis

Blood Magic emphasizes life-linked shaping with high backlash and consent/safety implications.

Glyph Behavior Upgrade: a blood anchor may be pre-drawn: vitality stored in a vessel counts as positioned for one ritual (fiction-gated, no extra tick).

[!NOTE] Doctrine Move

Life Debt (doctrine move): When you power a Blood Magic ritual with vitality (yours or a positioned donor's), roll + Willpower. 10+: the ritual takes; choose one — no harm to the donor, the effect bites deeper, the debt is remembered (an edge later). 7-9: it works, but choose one — you take a wound, the ritual draws more than intended, the act leaves a mark on your reputation. 6-: the vitality turns; the GM makes a hard move. Keep tone clinical; consent and safety framing per the page's permissions.

Fictional Permission

When you hold Blood Magic in your Grimoire, you have specific fictional positioning.

Blood Magic CAN:

  • Use blood (yours or a willing/positioned target's) as a proxy for life-force shaping.
  • Power rituals with vitality, pain, or measured self-harm when the table agrees to that tone.
  • Bind short-lived blood constructs and lineages-flavored effects to Alteration fiction.

Blood Magic CANNOT:

  • Ignore consent/safety: deep theft, torture-as-default, or coercive life-drain belongs in explicit table negotiation.
  • Replace Medical Magic for clean triage and stabilization without added risk and fiction.
  • Permanently rewrite identity or soul architecture without Soul Magic gates.

The Core Matrix

This specialization's live-casting access follows its Technique Glyph doctrine.

Cost Examples

Costs follow the canonical scale (see Magic System). School-specific examples:

  • Trivial (0 Ticks): Provoke a minor bleed as pressure or signal. Induce minor blood loss -> Alteration -> Faden -> trivial effect, touch range, point target, instant, painful
  • Regular (1 Tick): Agonizing vascular spike without finishing the fight alone. Spike target circulation -> Alteration -> Faden+Fluss -> standard effect, near range, point target, brief, harmful
  • Hard (2 Ticks): Pull and rigidify spilled blood into a short blade or spike. Shape blood into rigid tool -> Alteration -> Schmiede+Fluss -> hard effect, near range, small object, short
  • Complex (2 Ticks): Violent redistribution: tear blood from one body to knit another. Rip blood to fuel selfish mend -> Alteration -> Band+Kreis+Fluss -> complex effect, near range, two targets, instant, gory
  • Miracle (4+ Ticks): Bloodline theft that permanently rewrites the caster's body fiction. Steal heritable trait through blood -> Alteration -> Kreis+Band+Schmiede -> miracle effect, touch range, single target, permanent hook, forbidden tone

(For detailed sensory information and theoretical deep-dives, refer to Schools Lore)

Core-school glyph sets by training level: Alteration.

Medical Magic

The field where two schools meet: Divination to diagnose illness, Alteration to heal wounds and cure disease. Classification: Specialization Parent School: Alteration

Technique Glyph Doctrine

Doctrine Pair: Faden + Kreis

Medical Magic emphasizes precision stabilization, triage sequencing, and low-collateral intervention.

Glyph Behavior Upgrade: Faden threads may hold a mended wound: a stabilized patient stays stable until the scene turns (fiction-gated, no extra tick).

[!NOTE] Doctrine Move

Field Triage (doctrine move): When you shape a Medical Magic declaration to stabilize someone under pressure, roll + Finesse (or +Mental to diagnose first). 10+: they hold; choose one — no condition taken, they can act next beat, you learn what's wrong with them. 7-9: stabilized, but choose one — +1 tick, they take a condition anyway, you're committed (can't disengage cleanly). 6-: the mending tears; the patient's condition worsens and the GM makes a hard move.

Fictional Permission

When you hold Medical Magic in your Grimoire, you have specific fictional positioning.

Medical Magic CAN:

  • Stabilize, triage, and repair tissue using Alteration precision paths.
  • Combine with Divination fiction to diagnose before you cut or mend.
  • Buy time in crisis scenes: stop bleeding, splint the soul's envelope, patch organs.

Medical Magic CANNOT:

  • Erase consequences of Soul Magic, curses, or Mind Magic without crossing schools and raising stakes.
  • Mass-create matter from nothing (Alteration reconfigures what is already there).
  • Guarantee painless or risk-free outcomes under fire; complications still apply on 7-9 and 6-.

The Core Matrix

This specialization's live-casting access follows its Technique Glyph doctrine.

Cost Examples

Costs follow the canonical scale (see Magic System). School-specific examples:

  • Trivial (0 Ticks): Cosmetic tissue tweak (flush, pigment, small swelling down). Adjust superficial tissue -> Alteration -> Faden -> trivial effect, touch range, patch skin, brief
  • Regular (1 Tick): Close a minor wound or deep bruise. Knit minor injury -> Alteration -> Faden+Kreis -> standard effect, touch range, point target, instant, clean
  • Hard (2 Ticks): Tamponade severe bleeding by reshaping vessels. Stop hemorrhage -> Alteration -> Fluss+Kreis -> hard effect, touch range, limb target, short
  • Complex (2 Ticks): Slam-shut massive trauma for one heartbeat. Repair grievous laceration -> Alteration -> Kreis+Schmiede -> complex effect, touch range, torso volume, instant, exhausting
  • Miracle (4+ Ticks): Regrow limb or organ; rare, scene-stealing work. Regrow lost structure -> Alteration -> Kreis+Schmiede+Puls -> miracle effect, touch range, whole limb, sustained ritual, costly

(For detailed sensory information and theoretical deep-dives, refer to Schools Lore)

Core-school glyph sets by training level: Alteration.

Transformation

Transformation (Matter)

Transformation magic changes a target's form, in whole or in part, through shape shifting and augmentation spells that lay a shell over the target's soul. Both the target and the caster must have souls for it to work. The truly soulless are out of reach: constructs, minor undead. Classification: Specialization Parent School: Alteration

Technique Glyph Doctrine

Doctrine Pair: Faden + Anker

Transformation emphasizes controlled morph pathways and persistent state reconfiguration.

Glyph Behavior Upgrade: an anchored morph may be held at partial strength without active concentration: the shell persists (fiction-gated, no extra tick).

[!NOTE] Doctrine Move

Reforge (doctrine move): When you shape a Transformation declaration to rework a body or object mid-scene, roll + Willpower (forceful shift) or +Finesse (surgical). 10+: the form holds; choose one — partial morph retained, no channel strain, a telling detail done right. 7-9: it holds, but choose one — the shell strains (a wound), the change is temporary, the target resists the seat. 6-: the shell cracks; the transformation half-fails and the GM makes a hard move.

Fictional Permission

When you hold Transformation in your Grimoire, you have specific fictional positioning.

Transformation CAN:

  • Reforge matter and living tissue through a transformation shell anchored on souls (caster and target both souled).
  • Hold partial morphs, augments, and tool-shaping while paying Mana Track costs.
  • Layer persistent alterations when fiction supports careful anchors.

Transformation CANNOT:

  • Affect truly soulless targets (constructs, minor undead) — the shell has nothing to seat on.
  • Create net new mass from nothing; you rework what is present (see Alteration domain limits).
  • Replace Soul Magic identity edits or Mind Magic compulsions without crossing schools.

The Core Matrix

This specialization's live-casting access follows its Technique Glyph doctrine.

Cost Examples

Costs follow the canonical scale (see Magic System). School-specific examples:

  • Trivial (0 Ticks): Stain or pigment a small object. Recolor wooden staff -> Alteration -> Faden -> trivial effect, touch range, shaft length, until dismissed
  • Regular (1 Tick): Bend organic matter into a new useful shape. Warp branch into bow stave -> Alteration -> Schmiede+Fluss -> standard effect, touch range, single branch, short
  • Hard (2 Ticks): Forge metal into a precise tool form. Forge bar into cuffs -> Alteration -> Schmiede+Stoss -> hard effect, touch range, hand tool volume, instant
  • Complex (2 Ticks): Phase-change a solid bulk (door, plate) to liquid splash. Liquefy metal door -> Alteration -> Fluss+Kreis -> complex effect, touch range, door surface, instant, loud
  • Miracle (4+ Ticks): Brutal transmutation across material categories. Transmute iron mass to air -> Alteration -> Kreis+Spiegel+Fluss -> miracle effect, near range, door-sized mass, instant, unstable

(For detailed sensory information and theoretical deep-dives, refer to Schools Lore)

Core-school glyph sets by training level: Alteration.