The Chronicle of Karguun · Chapter 8

The Mystic Arts

Wizards gather in your Guilds and cast spells with runes from your Towers. Spells on your own lands make your province stronger; spells on others scout them or weaken them. Every spell needs mana, which returns slowly each day.

Wizards, mana and runes

Wizards come from your Guilds: each Guild has a 2% chance a day of training one, more for a Mystic.
Mana returns by 3% of full each day. Every spell costs mana by its difficulty, and no spell can be cast below 10%.
Runes. Each spell costs runes: its multiplier times (85 + your acres ÷ 10). A Crystal Ball costs about 113 runes at the start of the age.

Casting on your own lands

How often a self spell succeeds depends on how many Guilds you have and your building efficiency; harder spells fail more often. A lasting spell runs for some days and can be cast again before it ends to extend it.

Spell	Effect	Runes	Who may use it
Minor Protection	Our defenders fight 5% more effectively.	3.5×	Everyone
Greater Protection	A longer-lasting ward: our defenders fight 5% more effectively, on top of Minor Protection.	4.5×	Elf, Avian
Fog	Armies that attack us lose their way home for a couple of extra days.	6×	Elf, Faery, Undead
Magic Shield	Hostile spells find our lands harder to touch.	5×	Everyone
Mystic Aura	The next hostile spell cast on us fails.	6×	Elf, Faery
Fertile Lands	Our fields yield a quarter more food.	5×	Everyone
Nature's Blessing	Storms and Drought cannot touch us, and the plague may lift as it is cast.	6×	Everyone
Love and Peace	Our people have more children.	7×	Everyone
Tree of Gold	A windfall of gold, part of a day's income.	8×	Elf, Halfling
Quick Feet	Our next army marches out and back faster.	8×	Human, Elf
Builders' Boon	Construction goes a little faster.	10×	Everyone
Inspire Army	Lower wages and faster training.	11×	Everyone
Anonymity	Our next attack hides our province's name, though not our kingdom's. No honor is won.	13×	Human, Elf, Halfling
Invisibility	Our thieves work 10% more effectively.	13.5×	Everyone
Clear Sight	A one-in-four chance to catch any enemy thief.	14×	Elf, Faery
War Spoils	Land captured while it lasts comes home at once.	14.5×	Elf, Halfling, Undead
Fanaticism	Our army attacks harder but defends less well, and gains less.	15×	Everyone
Mind Focus	Research finishes sooner.	15.5×	Everyone
Town Watch	Our peasants take up arms when we are attacked, at a heavy cost in lives.	16×	Elf, Avian
Aggression	Our soldiers fight as attackers only: strong on the march, weak at home.	16.5×	Elf, Orc, Avian
Animate Dead	In the next defense, half of our fallen rise again as soldiers.	17×	Elf, Faery
Reflect Magic	Some hostile spells rebound upon their caster.	18×	Human, Elf, Halfling
Shadowlight	Reveals who sends the next thieves against us.	19×	Everyone
Patriotism	The draft runs faster.	20×	Everyone
Paradise	Wild land is tamed: a few new acres. Not during war.	30×	Everyone

Casting on others

A hostile spell succeeds by how many wizards you have per acre against the target's, and how hard the spell is. A failed spell costs a few of your wizards. Some spells may only be cast on kingdoms you are Unfriendly, Hostile or at war with.

Spell	Effect	Runes	Who may use it
Crystal Ball	See the target's throne as its ruler sees it.	1×	Everyone
Crystal Eye	Read the target kingdom's Paper, this month and last.	2×	Everyone
Storms	Storms batter the target and fewer children are born.	8×	Everyone
Drought	Less food, a slower draft, and horses die.	10×	Everyone
Vermin	Vermin devour the target's stored food.	12×	Elf, Halfling
Expose Thieves	The target's thieves work less effectively.	12×	Everyone
Greed	The target's army demands higher wages and the draft costs more.	13×	Everyone
Fool's Gold	Part of the target's gold turns to worthless dross.	14×	Elf, Faery
Pitfalls	The target loses more troops in battle.	15×	Elf, Faery
Fireball	Fire falls on the target's peasants.	15×	Everyone · needs Unfriendly relations
Lightning Strike	Lightning destroys part of the target's runes.	15.5×	Everyone · needs Unfriendly relations
Explosions	Aid sent to or from the target is damaged.	18×	Everyone
Amnesia	The target forgets some of its knowledge, most of it for a while.	19×	Elf, Faery · needs Unfriendly relations
Nightmares	The target's troops are haunted; some soldiers leave the army and some troops must retrain.	22×	Elf, Undead · needs Unfriendly relations
Mystic Vortex	A vortex tears away about half of the spells on the target, good and bad.	23×	Everyone · needs Unfriendly relations
Meteor Showers	Meteors fall on the target for days, killing peasants and soldiers.	25×	Elf, Faery, The Mystic · needs Unfriendly relations
Tornadoes	Tornadoes tear down some of the target's buildings.	25×	Everyone · needs Unfriendly relations
Land Lust	Steal a little of the target's land. Only in hostility or war.	35×	Everyone · needs Hostile relations

Intelligence

Crystal Ball shows a province's Throne: its land, gold, food and army at home.
Every report your kingdom gathers is kept in the Scrying Ledger for everyone in the kingdom to read, with how old it is. The War Table reads it too.

Counsel

Keep Minor Protection up when you are a target, and Fertile Lands when food is short.
Keep some runes back: an unscouted attack is a gamble.