Magiaforma - The Three Stones of Obregon
Forenote and Thanks
Respected High Historian, friends in the Civil Service, Shardcircle notables, and all those who carry an interest in these matter,
I wish to first note that I am not a magus, nor an arcanist, a warmage, a sage, or any similar master of the arcane. My respect for those who seek to master the magic of the mortal sphere is paramount, and ever more so following this season's work. But I myself lack this particular set of skills.
What I am, is a book keeper, and a librarian. Previously it was the baronial records of Baron Eugen Arnmeyer that were my charge (as it was the charge of my mother, and her mother), but since the dawning of The Concord I have been adopted into the arms of the Civil Service, where I maintain the ever growing records of One Concordian Plaza. This library is one of modern texts, and of managed recreations. An evergreen library, where its arrangement and expansion is a challenge of planning and forethought not discovery.
As much as I love this charge, and I hope ardently that it shall be my life’s work, the chance to step into the past, into one of The Concord’s oldest records of any kind, a place replete the weight of history, complete with dust, cobwebs, and mystery, has been a pleasure I never thought I would have. The work in the Deep Stacks of the Obregon School of Gifts is not done, and I wager it would take many more attempts to fully reckon with it, but I do hope my small set of works might contribute to this overall effort.
My immense thanks to the High Historian for her focus and guidance on this matter, to the Shardcircle for its attention, the School of Gifts for its hospitality, and for my darling Walter, who survived a winter without my presence so that I might holiday in the sands and the dust.
- Civil Service Archivist, Friederike Bierwurth, Head Librarian of the Concordian Records
Introduction - To Know and Know Fully
There are multiple thousands of individual tomes, scrolls, and miscellaneous records spread throughout the deep stacks. My task this season has been to examine them in regards to a single topic as defined by the High Historian, that being;
The frameworks (theoretical and practical) for the demi-plane structuring, accounts of the original conjuration of The School of Gifts demi-plane, and any other records relating to tethering rituals of the School’s founding and beyond.
While the original records of the School are so incredibly diverse, I have been able to identify five separate cataloguing systems which I have been able to use to guide my search. Once I have identified a set of relevant documentation, I have isolated particular passages, which have been assessed by sets of the Schools pupils. These were then arranged and further isolated to form the document you see here. My overall commentary will be somewhat minimal, primarily focusing on providing missing context to the documentation, and commentary on the overall state of the records when and where it is appropriate.
First Section - Discovery, Installation, and Use
Contrary to our expectations, the establishment of any demi-planes within the School of Gifts did not originate in extra-spheric exploration or any other similar pseudo-heresy, but in the experimentations of one Neizan Ramirezo, a founding member of the mage-circle that would become the School of Gifts.
Ramierzo was an arcanist very much focused on the core underpinnings of magic, and much of his notes and documentation we have discovered has been on the topics of how and why arcane magic exists at all. The document that we refer to now is the culmination of research in the crystal mana, or as he referred to it as; ‘Magiaforma’.
“To think of magiaforma as comparable to iron, copper, or gold is incorrect. It is not a function of the movement of stone, rain, and wind. Rather it is a creation of the raw spark of existence. It is this spark that differentiates the unmoving stone or sand, from the acting deer, or the thinking man. It is entropy, that majestic randomness and spark of beautiful existence that causes it.
Magiaforma is crystalline opportunity, entropy given form, physicalised doing.
Once we begin to consider that it is not simply an ounce of a material, our mind begins to separate from this enshacklement of thought. Just as one spark may be a brushfire, one piece of magiaforma may be many things far larger than its size may indicate. Not only is the power of each piece of magiaforma not a set value, but its internal size is not a set value either.
Sufficiently complex pieces of magiaforma, particularly those of immense size and internal consistency are capable of containing far more than would be believed. Through experimentation I have been able to ascertain that each piece has a thaumic mass, and a thaumic complexity.
Increases in thaumic mass increase power that can be present within a piece before it catastrophically fails. This is not new knowledge, we have always known that each varies in its amount of power. However my experiments to measure this value have revealed the startling discovery that our assumptions were an order of magnitude lower than what is true. While an exact scale for measurement is not currently possible, I posit that if we assumed that a common piece of Magiaforma was a single value of thaumic mass, in reality this value was actually ten times this. The limitation is that we are only capable of harnessing and utilising one tenth of this value, the rest being released back to the magia of the world upon construction. If we could instead focus our efforts on utilising the magiaforma as the focus of our arcanism, rather than our own form, the opportunities for greater use of thaumic mass is immense.
Increased in thaumic complexity speaks less to the volume of a piece of magiaforma, and more to the nature of its thaumic resonance. Shards with high thaumic complexity (commonly seen through internal schisming while retaining a singular form) result in thaumic expression that is more pliable and erratic. In this discovery we learn that not all magiaforma is best utilised equally, and that particularly complex pieces may be best used for more complex enchantment and other arcane pursuits.
I believe that if we could discover a piece of magiaforma of sufficient thaumic mass and complexity we would be able to use it as the basis of a significant and complex, long-term arcane action. One which would be able to assist many magi rather than being consumed towards the actions and pursuits of a single event for a single individual.”
By best estimates, Ramirezo wrote this tract in approximately 341BE, after which he began the pursuit of a piece of crystal mana that would meet his requirements. During this time the construction of the School began, and the city that we would call Obregon began alongside it, because of it. It was not until 337BE that a quarry in the Eyes of Viak, known to the old Andashi as ‘Peligrossamu’, located a sufficient piece. This shard measures nearly one metre across at the midpoint, is slightly over two metres tall, and more than fifty centimetres deep. I know this as it is still installed in the basement levels of the School of Gifts, glowing a pale green light.
This shard was named ‘Primachico’ by Ramirezo and was the focus of two years of work on the topic of thaumic mass and complexity. The result of which is detailed below;
“We have reached the point where the completed use of Primachico is not only theoretically possible, but practically possible.
The sufficient levels of thaumic mass and complexity within Primachico has allowed me to arrange a complex embracement enchantment allowing the immense internal entropic space within Primachico to form an immense internal storage possibility. If sufficiently supported by construction and centrality, Primachico could be bonded with all manner of elements within the capital to empower the actions and experimentation of magi.
In essence, we could use Primachico as a home for amounts of realised magia beyond what can be used or consumed easily by a single magi, and by sufficiently bonding this with our arcane entrapments, could be rid of the need to personally consume magiaforma and engage in the immense waste that has been established to be occurring.
I have contacted Gabriel Aragonio and Ines Moliandro and we are in alignment. Installation shall begin at once.”
This places the installation of Primachico in the bowels of the School of Gifts somewhere between 337BE and 335BE. After this point it became somewhat of a curiosity, allowing the School to function cheaper, since less crystal mana was being consumed and wasted by experiments conducted with the assistance of Primachico than other schools, and there was also a possibility for one-off examples of extreme expenditures of magical energy, which would not normally be possible due to the volumes of crystal mana required.
As a note, it appears Ramirezo was a member of the ‘Primera Ordena’, a band of magi intent on replacing the political leadership of Grand Andash with a cabal of magi, based in Obregon, thus his reference to Obregon as a ‘capital’ rather than a school. It was this allegiance to the Primera Ordena which would see Ramierzo, Aragonio, and Molandro, along with many other members of the order collected and executed by the Maestro of the time, Ismael Ballestro, in 332BE.
Ramierzo and his compatriots appeared to have been in the process of installing five more shards of sufficient mass and complexity when they were executed, leaving the large shards unused in the lower levels of the School for some time. Records indicate that one of these shards was broken up with hammers and picks and used as presents for new magi when the school reopened in 331BE. Leaving four examples behind. It was not until 321BE that Ramirezo’s work was rediscovered. During this time Primachico remained in use, but only for its immense storage capabilities, rather than its constant consumption capabilities. Essentially, the new occupants of the School treated it as an immense store of mana, unaware how extensively it was interconnected within the School’s structure.
By 321BE, the School had stabilised enough that research was once again being conducted on Primachico, and how it was functioning to support the school. Resulting in the rediscovery of Ramierzo’s work more than a decade after his death. This resulted in a strange occurrence in 321BE when an apprentice, by the name of Noemi Ramos, was a part of an experiment on Primachio, a report written by her master, Tania Solanteria, discussed it as follows;
“Following the expansion of Ramirezo’s first principal; that Thaumic Mass is expansive beyond initial expectations of physical size. Apprentice Ramos was placed within the arcane circle above the Shard and the appropriate ointments were performed. Upon the expending of nineteen Ramirs of magiaforma, she was transported from her position.
The student placed before the shard reported seeing a small silhouette of a person within the shard, which he guessed could not have been more than the size of his hand. He was unable to measure the form as the shard illuminated itself with a bright light and the silhouette was not visible when his vision returned.
Attempts to recover Apprentice Ramos have since failed. It is likely that within Primachico is a vast amount of active magia, which consumed her form as fire consumes tinder. The possible bounds of this level of storage must be understood to be possibly as large as one hundred times the size of Primachico’s physical form.”
This expansion on the understanding of Primachico was our first breakthrough of the research. The shardcircle’s understanding had been that the School was tapping into some sort of extra-spheric space composed entirely of mana. Some sort of font of mana unending. In reality they had been accessing the massive store of mana within Primachico, which still remained in the bowels of the School, retaining its stores of energy as it ever had.
Following this event a rash of research occurred and even the installation of the remaining four shards that had been obtained by the Primera Ordena. It appears that during this time, the ability for Primachico to power the School as a whole was never recovered, and rather it was used rarely to power the most immense magical experiments of the Magi who dwelled within. A record from an auditor who assessed the School on behalf of Maestra Anna Aguinaldo explained it thusly;
“Regarding the records of Obregon’s discrepancy in cost, we must assume that subversive traitors present within the School during its founding were obscuring resources and influence in its construction and early use. It is known that nearly forty traitors were acting against Maestro Ballestro in the School at this time, and were lawfully executed for their crimes. It is my assessment that the modern costs to operate the School are accurate and we cannot trust the book keeping of traitors.”
I asked the faculty present if they knew that Primachico was capable of empowering simple, low intensity magical experimentation throughout the laboratories in the School’s oldest spire, and they were not aware. I believe that when this knowledge died with Ramirezo it was never recovered, even up to our present day.
With this lack of knowledge in mind, it makes sense that the additional four shards, named using Ramirezo’s naming method as; Primahija, Segundahija, and Segundachico, were installed directly into experimental chambers across the lower levels of the School. They were installed and enchanted without the lower level capabilities of Primachico, and as such were simply vast vats of magical energy which could only be emptied entirely at once, creating a destructive deluge of power that wasn’t of much use to anyone. They appear to fall into disuse for some time, their primary purpose being illuminating the chambers they remained within for students seeking quiet chambers to study within. It was not until the city of Obregon began to outpace the School of Gifts that they would once again come into use.
What we have discovered in this history is that crystal mana has an internal thaumic storage capability far beyond what is normally used (which makes crafts such as the common Crystal Hunger Robe make more sense as it augments the ability for the body to consume mana, rather than multiplicating the amount of mana in the first place), and uses beyond what it is normal. Powerful shards of crystal mana were installed within the School of Gifts during the height of the Grand Andashi Empire, and were capable of being accessed, producing what we believed were extra-spheric locations, but instead are the magical confines of a particularly notable shard of crystal mana, which have internal dimensions that could be more than one hundred times their physical form.
Second Section - Need, Expansion, and Greatest Use
By 284BE Obregon as a settlement had outpaced the School of Gifts. As the largest South Eastern settlement it was a point of trade with the Esterran polities to the east, a point of administration for all the lands that surrounded it, and benefited from the foundation that was the School of Gifts. While the twin elements of the city and the School fed off of each other, they were largely separate, save for times of great trouble. But in 284AE it began to change when the School was asked by the city to help address a series of crises that were plaguing the region. Notably; sandstorms and earthquakes. The request is as follows;
“... as I am sure you are aware. But we must discover some method of overcoming these storms and quakes or else more than just the city is in danger, surely the School shall be as well! We beseech you to search within your artifactory and discover any path forwards!”
This plaintive tone and insistence that the School of Gifts was also in danger was a skilled piece of manoeuvring on the City Council’s part and we discovered two dozen records of experimentation and works in attempts to forestall the storms. In the end it was a student mage by the name of Gael Sanguesa who suggested the use of Segundahija. His submission to the School masters contains the following:
“We understand that living matter cannot survive within the bounds of Segundahija, but soil and stone may be of use here. If we can bind Segundahija to the bedrock of the city, we can infuse the very bones of our home with the weight and entropy that can be used to shield it against further quakes! Using the teachings of Aya Peresio, I believe such attunements can be made.”
Sanguesa’s submission was denied, but a nearly identical submission that was made by Master Miquel Perenalto was approved shortly after. The works began with the carving of six deep mineshafts below the lowest levels of the School, until they reached the sandstone bedrock the city sat upon, and even then they delved deeper. Once sufficient space was arranged, the appropriate enchantment works (lost to us at this time) were conducted, binding Segundahija and the bedrock. The enchantment was ‘fired’ (much in the same way a clay pot is fired), which promptly caused an earthquake.
This earthquake was the worst that had been seen so far, and completely collapsed a whole spire of the School of Gifts, which explains the long held mystery of what fate befell the ninth spire of the School. Following this disaster, the works were stopped and the School refused any further business with quake prevention. The cause of the quake was chalked up to misapplication of runes, or an impossibility of the task.
But this was not the case. The truth was understood by the one who originally suggested it; Gael Sanguesa. Sanguesa supposed that by connecting and firing Segundahija, the School had channeled the immense entropy of the magiaforma into the bedrock, causing it to agitate the stone and forcing the earthquake. Sanguesa tried thrice to have the School Masters reexamine the circumstances and his proof, but he was denied each time, with his last punishment resulting in expulsion.
We are led to believe that the earthquakes continued throughout the year 284BE into 283BE. A full half of the city was rendered uninhabitable and even the School was considering ceasing to inhabit the place. However, during a particularly large quake in April 283BE, the tremors suddenly ceased. A month after this event (noted in municipal records), we have this graduation notice from the School of Gifts;
“For the heroism, ingenuity, and exceptional arcane intelligence during a time of great strife and danger to both himself, his companions, and the School of Gifts, Gael Sanguesa is granted an immediate graduation from the School of Gifts and recognised as a Magi of the Andashi people.
Contrary to the misinformed minority of the Council of Masters, Gael Sanguesa entered the bedrock works below the School of Gifts during a quake to conduct an unknown piece of arcane works, and in doing so not only succeed in empowering the magiaforma known as Segundahija, but saved the School itself from collapse.”
Sanguesa’s later writings describe his reasoning, being that quakes and other motion are examples of entropy, which is known to be contained in Magiaforma. By forging a bond between Segundahija when it was fully empowered from lack of use and the bedrock, that entropy had been released into the bedrock, causing the quake. Out of fear, the work had been undone, when in reality, all that needed to be done was a refiring. Segundahija was depleted, and just like a pair of lungs, needed to breathe back in. This void of entropy (referred to as negentropy by Sanguesa) could be connected to the bedrock, acting as a sacrificial void for future movement. An act which appears to have worked.
Most peculiarly, the matter of Obregon’s sandstorms was not solved by this act, but appears to have been solved regardless. There are no records in parallel to this one referring to the notable sandstorms again, so they must have been combated some other way.
Importantly, the works of Sanguesa (and in their own way, Master Peranalto), had also bonded the School and the City Council. Now the City could begin to look to the School of Gifts for solutions to its owes and the School may actually be able to assist. During the time of Master Sanguesa’s leadership of the School Masters Council, this happened often.
Notable in this was the twin use of the remaining two Magiaforma; Primahija and Segundachico towards elements for the city. Primahija was bound to the city's web of cisterns and wells, allowing water to flow through the Magiaforma’s immense entropically charged form to purify and even pressurise the water to some extent, allowing it to flow uphill short distances around large enough cisterns. This improvement facilitated much growth within the more affluent areas of the city.
It is unknown what binding was completed for Segundachico, or if it was ever successfully bound. It remains in the bowels of the School of Gifts, its nameplaque intact and its form whole. However it is darkened and black.
In these last decades of Grand Andash, Obregon stood as one of the great cities of the empire, its eastern jewel, the equal of other great places such as Aprivano, Estevandi, and more whose names have been last to the sands. Much of this greatness was infused with arcane energies, which the commonfolk thanked the Schools for, and the Schools accepted those thanks with pride, knowing that they owed their power to the Magiaforma and the work of great arcanists such as Ramirezo and Sanguesa.
Segundachico was certainly bound, but I can find very little records of it, save for the following damaged passage, penned near the year 251BE :
“... does not fully contend with the magnitude of the beast that he engages with. The mirroring of the spires across our land is not some matter of land grants and priestly availability. It is a sigil, and a sigil most foul. Were it not for Segundachico’s grounding influence, this entire School would have long ago fallen to Her influence. But no, it is only us and the School of Fates in Cielazul that stands defiant, stands remembering. Please Maestro, I beg of you, read my words and REMEMBER…”
Third Section - Loss and Darkening
But even the arcane gifts of Obregon could not protect it in the end. As the rest of the Andashi empire fell in and around the years of 225BE, Obregon was certainly a part of this fall, although in what matters that was done, it is hard to say and is certainly beyond the scope of this research (although research into this history of Grand Andash and its fall would be an astounding concept for future research!). What we have been able to ascertain is that Obregon’s ‘light went out’ sometime between 223BE and 219BE.
The fact that we have traced this over an extended period of years, rather than just a single catastrophic event, along with the exact details that we have been able to locate, paints a picture of a city slipping into darkness and the sands. As opposed to a city that was dashed and lost in a matter of moments from some great calamity or invasion.
Four records that we have been able to locate elucidate on this hypothesis. The first, detailed below, is the records of a member of the city council from 224BE;
“It has been four months since the last messenger from Estevandi and I fear we shall be receiving no more. I fear that they are already among us. Although if truth is told I do not know who THEY are. Do we fear the disgraced priests? Surely they were felled at Sarimento.
Surely we were not defeated.
I have spoken to Masters Diana and Ingeila and I fear they are drifting away from me, from the Council, from the city as a whole. Ever since we stopped receiving word from the north they have spoken with me less and less. There is no longer a representative of the School on the Council sessions. The few guards we have remaining tell me that the gates to the School grounds are locked at night and their students no longer leave to see their families.
I fear we shall tear ourselves apart before they come for us.”
Following the defeat in Sarimento, it appears that Obregon was left to stand alone, cut off from whatever other outposts of the Grand Andashi Empire remained. This unnamed member of the city council refers to fears of infiltrators of some kind and this sewing discord both in his own mind and among the leaders of the city. The private notes of a student were found tucked into an unrelated tome within the deep stacks. Seemingly the student hid here during later conflicts on the School Grounds and sought to keep their last days secure by hiding their thoughts in the stately, leather bound book;
“The warrior ones are in the school now. I do not know what weapons they are carrying but their bearing is that of madmen. I can hear them laughing in the halls beyond even now. If I am lucky, the priests will come for them and they will do battle with each other rather than with me. But were it not for their maddened eyes or their bloody hands I would not know them from other men.
I cannot get out. I can only go deeper into the School and hope they will not find me.
I only wanted to see light in the dark places.”
Whatever force it was that came to Obregon to extinguish its light contained both warriors and priests, who were themselves in conflict. These saboteurs likely entered the city as refugees from the larger conflict and then fell upon its inhabitants when they reached a sufficient strength. We know not the name or the fate of this student, I can only hope it was quick.
The last note we have details the Primachico’s final darkening by a surviving member of the Masters council. We found it behind a stone a few paces away from Primachico sits, ensconced in the wall. It was a simple thing, but one which spelled the end of Obregon;
“The city is lost. They walk among us, they know our fates, they know our ways and will know our deaths. I cannot let what we know fall into their hands to be consumed. I will not let it. I have struck the runes and broken the forms. The first son of Ramirezo will go dark, and in going dark it will cut the tie that binds. There will be no water and there will be great calamity. But they will not have the son’s might, nor the might of his siblings. I can only hope that in some future there are good people here, people who seek the light in the dark, the lines between stars, and the truth of their questions.
When those people are here, I hope the first son of Ramierzo will be with them, giving them his magia, so that they might know more, and know fully.”
Without the balancing and interconnected presence of Primachico, it is likely that great earthquakes befell the city, that its water stopped flowing, and that its great School was abandoned. Even if this unknown enemy was repulsed, there would be no Obregon without the School of Gifts, and there would be no School of Gifts without the three great Magiaforma.
Conclusion - There are Good People Here
Unfortunately, the reclamation of Obregon and the School of Gifts from the sands is a topic that is both not entirely agreed upon, and extensively politicised. There are still many great Clans and Tribes that claim they were the ones to discover this quarter of the city, or this spire of the School, and who did what remains important for ownership and simple bragging rights.
Because of this, it is unclear how the Magiaforma were rebonded. What is clear is the state of matters now.
There are three magiaforma; Primachico, Primahija, and Segundahija. All three of which once again glow with the inner thaumic energy within the lower levels of the School of Gifts.
Primachico is used for half of its original intent. It provides reserves of magical power for particularly powerful arcane experimentation and serves as a balancing force on the other two magiaforma.
Primahija is bound in the same way it always was; to the bedrock of the city. Unfortunately it is the most difficult of the magiaforma to maintain, as the lowest levels of the School which access its experimental chamber, which is in turn connected to the delvings down to the bedrock, are mostly still full of desert sands. Accessing Primahija is done, but sparingly, and often by experienced students who are agile enough to crawl, dig, and climb to it, but also skilled enough to complete the required ministrations. It is these students who the State of Emergency utilises to support Concordian concerns around Southern Esterra and there is considerable concern that the poor conditions of Primajija's location that Obregon may once again be wracked by quakes and sandstorms. Indeed, the latter already appears to have returned.
Finally, Segundahija. Easily accessible in the eastern spire’s lowest levels, it is of the most note to The Concord. Following the disastrous actions of the cult of Grain and Grail, a vast plant entrapt much of the School and city, resulting in many deaths. Concordian heroes managed to kill the plant, known as ‘The Aeonstem’, through meddling in elements of the School’s Grand Andashi functions (including Segundahija). But in doing so they bound saplings of the Aeonstem within the magiaforma, poisoning the wells and cisterns of Obregon, and resulting in the malady known as the Arboreal Putrefaction. Indeed, if one goes to the lower levels of the eastern spire and gazes into Segundahija, you can see what appears to be the darkened shapes of thousands of briars or roots forged in green glass. Truly a shame to see such a wonder of Grand Andash’s arcane history so corrupted.
This research has shown that no things are truly separate. The story of the magiaforma is a story of empire, of ambition (both great and small), of rebellion, and of loss. In the end, while I remain only slightly more knowledgeable about matters arcane, I certainly feel closer to our Andashi cousins in the west.
For sand and stone,
- Civil Service Archivist, Friederike Bierwurth, Head Librarian of the Concordian Records