Magic of the Sundering Basin

Fighters and mages draw on the same power, generated inside the body. A mage sends it outward, as spells. A martial fighter keeps it inside and runs it through the body itself, making muscle, bone and nerve stronger, faster and tougher than nature allows. Either way, nothing is free.

The Martial Paths

Not everyone can walk a path. Some people simply lack the inner channels to carry martial power. They can train to be soldiers, but they can't amplify themselves, and training can strengthen those channels but never create them. Among those who can, some have barely a trickle and some have a flood. Even the most skilled ordinary warrior can't reliably stand against a fully trained path fighter.

Forge

Speed and power. Forge fighters land blows that dent shields, punch through armor, and drive armored men backward, and they can cover ground in a burst no runner could match. A Forge fighter can hold a failing gate or brace against a battering ram. The strain shows first in the body itself.

Foundation

Holding and bracing. A Foundation fighter plants and can't be moved, takes a charge without a step back, and absorbs or turns aside the force of a blow. At its height the body takes a hit like stone or iron, and a sword can skid off skin. Push it too far and the joints pay.

Flow

Momentum and balance in constant motion. Every movement runs into the next. Flow fighters change direction in a blink, chain strikes together, outrun any natural sprinter, leap walls and rooftops, and roll out of falls that should break them. Overdo it and the muscles burn out and coordination goes.

Instinct

The mind driving the body. An Instinct fighter reads intent, sees the next blow coming, and moves to meet it with the least motion possible. They look fast because they're already where they need to be. They can hear the tumblers in a lock, feel a trap's trigger, or sense an ambush before it springs. The strain shows in the head first, as headaches, overloaded senses, and slowed reactions.

Beast

The path of the beastmaster. It doesn't control animals. It builds a shared rhythm of instinct and feeling between the practitioner and a bonded animal, so the two move and fight together while the animal keeps its own will. Every beastmaster is born with a bond class, an animal type they can truly bond, and most don't learn theirs until the first bond shows it. The classes include raptors such as hawks and storm hawks, solitary big cats such as grimcats, pack hunters such as wolves, and tusked beasts such as war boars. The best beastmasters can bond dire or monstrous creatures within their class. Push too many bonds at once and the mind overloads.

Recognizing skill. Warrior culture keeps no formal ranks, just three plain judgments. A newblood is green, with power that comes out uneven and wasted. A veteran is dependable and efficient, with sound tactical sense. A master wastes nothing and never hesitates, and when a fighter's skill becomes undeniable, people start calling them a Forge master or a Flow master.

Magic Disciplines

Every person who can work magic has a natural ceiling, the most they'll ever be able to put out. Training makes them more efficient but won't raise it. Every spell costs something, drawn from talent, strength, mind and endurance, and the cost climbs with how hard you push and how long you hold it. Masters learn to manage the cost. Nobody escapes it.

Structuralism

Shaping the physical world: making things denser or harder, turning water to ice, bending weight and space, raising wards and barriers, and sensing life and magic. Its practitioners are often called Shapers.

Binding

Calling up and binding spirits, demons, and constructs made of magic, and making pacts and familiars. A bound demon must obey while the binding holds. If it breaks, the demon turns on the binder. Its practitioners are called Binders.

Elementalism

Raw force thrown outward: fire, lightning, frost, shockwaves. It can't heal, and it can't permanently reshape anything. Scholars call its practitioners Elementalists. Northerners and soldiers call them Stormcallers.

Anchoring

Setting magic into objects: enchanted weapons and armor, runes and sigils, traps, and gems that store power. Its practitioners are called Anchors.

Mindcraft

Working on the senses and the mind: illusions, false sounds, hiding in plain sight, stirring emotion, and shadow. Its practitioners are called Mindbenders, sometimes Tricksters, and in its darker uses Shadowcasters.

Lifeweaving

Healing: mending flesh and bone, drawing out poison and disease, even reattaching limbs, though it can't grow back one that's lost. Its light is a muted yellow, deepening to gold in the strongest hands. A healer working hard sweats even in the cold. Its practitioners are called Lifeweavers, and in everyday speech Menders or Healers.

The forbidden arts

Deathbinding

Raising and binding the dead, is outlawed everywhere.

Blood Magic

Power taken through sacrifice and bodily corruption, is outlawed for what it does to the body and the mind.