Artifice

Artifice (the support magic discipline) is the practice of creating persistent wards and magical items. A mage physically carves a Spell Formula into an object, anchoring its Root Words in a carefully crafted diagram of geometric shapes and sigils.

Artifice holds Mana to much tighter flow boundaries than standard Shaping, so the effect is highly specialized but completely inflexible. Once etched, the Artifice is rigid; the spell cannot be swapped, altered, or modulated. The margin for error is small, and crafting one demands high dexterity, mathematical expertise, and patience.

Mechanically, mages use Artifice to prepare magic in advance through Engrave Artifice and Crafting. Inscribing a spell into an item provides three distinct mechanical trade-offs:

• Instant Activation: Firing an Artifice ignores the caster's Calculation limit. It activates instantly, often as a reaction or free action.
• No Rolling Required: Using an Artifice requires no 2d6 casting roll (success is automatic baseline).
• Extreme Mana Track Drain (The Built-in Limit): Pushing raw mana passively through a physical object is wildly inefficient compared to bleeding it organically through live spiritual canals in a human soul. Firing an Artifice instantly costs 2 Ticks on the Mana Track, regardless of the spell's actual scale. This ensures items cannot be spammed indefinitely without severe aura exhaustion.

Artifice follows the same level cap as core schools, but its levels unlock crafting scope/reliability rather than Technique Glyph tier access.