Known also as Artifice, Sublimancy, Pasiapomancy (in the Realm), and Crystalmancy, Geomancy is concerned with the manipulation of the Element of Earth and with construction of all kinds. The weakest Geomancy (Shale Circle) allows the magician to control weight on a highly localized scale, increase the durability of objects, allow the magician to attune to Manses and Exalted devices, and forge small amounts of Essence into objects to create one-use artifacts. At middle levels (Basalt Circle), its spells can move and shape stone and metal on a small scale, and bind spells into longer-lasting artifacts. At its greatest power (Granite Circle), it can conjure substantial volumes of common materials, alter the local landscape, bind Essence into permanent artifacts, or even suffuse the Five Magical Materials with Essence to produce Artifacts fit for the Exalted.
Geomancers are prized craftsmen and seldom have trouble finding wealthy patrons to support them. Those Geomancers who are knowledgeable in other magical fields can grow especially wealthy and powerful by creating potions, talismans, and other magical devices, whether for the benefit of others or to make themselves more formidable adventurers. Some adherents of the Immaculate Philosophies, especially those who revere Pasiap, pursue this study as a path to a greater understanding of the Earth Dragon, though this practice among mortals is considered slightly heretical by the Immaculate Order. Even in the Realm, Geomancers seldom have too many conflicts with local authorities, as many of the devices they produce have martial applications that can make the local ruler's army more formidable.
Friend of the Earth
Cost: Special
Prerequisite Spells: None
This ritual requires a number of hours and motes of Essence equal to the commitment cost of the target Artifact. The magician attunes himself to an object constructed of the Five Magical Materials by committing the motes used to cast this spell. Mortals always count such items as being of the wrong material for purposes of the number of motes they must commit in this fashion to receive the full benefit of the material. This spell does not allow a magician to benefit from Hearthstones.
Geomantric Connection
Cost: 5 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Friend of the Earth
This ritual requires a number of hours equal to the rating of the target Manse. The magician must use this on a Manse to which he is already attuned and must spend the duration of the ritual inside the Hearthstone chamber of the Manse. Thereafter, the magician may benefit from the powers of that Manse's Hearthstone if it is set in an item of one of the Five Magical Materials to which he has attuned himself. Moreover, as long as the Hearthstone is in physical contact with the Magician, she refreshes Essence equal to the Manse's rating each day. If the magician employs the Hearthstone in an elaborate ritual intended to gather ambient Essence, the ritual yields additional motes equal to the Manse rating.
Unbearable Burden
Cost: 4 motes
Prerequisite Spells: None
This spell may only be cast on an object no larger than a man that has earth, metal, or stone components. Until the end of the scene, the object's weight is increased substantially, increasing the Strength + Athletics requirement to lift or carry it by the magician's Valor (half her Valor rounding down for the Exalted or other creatures possessing supernatural strength). With the exception of bows, an affected weapon's Strength requirement and base damage is increased by the magician's Valor, as is the Mobility penalty and Fatigue value of any armor affected by this spell. The range of any affected missile is reduced by (Valor x 20) percent, its accuracy is reduced by the magician's Valor, and its damage is increased by the magician's Valor. No object may be affected by this spell more than once at a given time, but multiple objects affected by this spell can create increased penalties.
Reinforce Material
Cost: 5 motes
Prerequisite Spells: None
This spell may be cast on (Valor x 100) cubic feet of contiguous non-living material, including walls, doors, weapons, tools, or anything else within the magician's line of sight. The material permanently becomes harder and more resistant to damage and wear, lasting five times a long under normal operating conditions. In addition, the Strength + Athletics required by mortals to bend or break the object is increased by the magician's (Temperance x 2), and by Temperance by supernaturally strong beings. A supernaturally hardened weapon might well count as an exceptional weapon, and hardened armor adds up to 2 to bashing and lethal soak. Other effects are left to the Storyteller's discretion. This spell has no effect on items made of the Five Magical Materials, Hearthstones, or other enchanted devices, and no object may benefit from this spell more than once.
Shattering Hand
Cost: 5 motes
Prerequisite Spells: None
This spell lasts for a number of turns equal to the magician's Valor and only affects non-living material no greater in volume than the magician that he touches or strikes while under the effects of this spell. The magician may make no more than one such attack in a turn, and he chooses which touched objects are or are not affected by this spell. He could, for example, rip open the lid of a chest by means of this spell and still safely handle its contents. The object immediately shatters, fractures, snaps, or otherwise breaks at the point where the magician touched it unless it is comprised of adamant, pure magic, or one of the Five Magical Materials. It can sever ropes, break down doors, snap shields, or perform similar feats as though the magician were far stronger and persistent than this spell actually requires of him. The magician doubles his Strength + Athletics pool for purposes of breaking objects, and his grasp or strike automatically deals (Valor x 2) health levels of unsoakable damage each turn to an affected object.
Craft the Clay Jar
Cost: 5+ motes + 1 feat
Prerequisite Spells: None
This ritual requires some physical object as its target, usually a small, breakable or consumable item such as a potion, wand, ceramic jar, or candle. Thereafter, the object becomes a one-use artifact useable by anyone who knows (or discovers) how to release its energy. Usually, this item's effects target the one who uses the artifact, but some may be smeared on or broken against another target. This is usually a Simple action, and no one may activate more than one Clay Jar in a turn. The ritual requires materials with a value as low as Resources 0 (for a Clay Jar that imitates an Edge) or as high as Resources 3 (for one the imitates a Third Circle spell) and a ritual period from four hours (for Edges) to 24 hours (for Third Circle spells).
The actual function of this artifact depends heavily on the player's creativity, the character's skills, and the Storyteller's discretion. Each Clay Jar has only one function, and its effects are usually short-lived. In addition, any spells contained in a Clay Jar generally suffer from any Quirks possessed by the magician (such as Conditions of Harmlessness), and more advanced artifacts (see below) might also gradually alter those who wield them to match the Quirks possessed by the magician who created them. The following guidelines are suggested:
Skin of Stone Attunement
Cost: 12 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Friend of the Earth, Reinforce Material
This spell counts as an elemental attunement spell. The skin of one target within (Temperance x 10) yards takes on the appearance and toughness of stone until the end of the scene. This increases the subject's bashing and lethal soak by the magician's (Temperance + Heroism) and allows her to inflict and parry lethal damage with her bare hands and feet. The target's limbs also grow more rigid, however, halving both her movement rate and initiative. This stony flesh provides no protection against attacks that inflict aggravated damage. No creature may benefit from this spell more than once at a given time, and no creature may benefit from more than one elemental attunement spell at a time. Casting this spell on a creature already under the effects of another elemental attunement spell simply replaces the current elemental attunement spell with this one.
Arms in Greatest Need
Cost: 10 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Reinforce Material
The magician may draw a weapon from any sufficiently large volume of stone or metal. This weapon must be made entirely of metal or stone and the minimum Strength required to wield it cannot exceed the magician's Valor. Metal weapons reflect the template for an exceptional weapon. Stone weapons are slightly more unwieldy and heavy, counting as normal weapons of their type. This spell also inflicts unsoakable levels of lethal damage to stone and metal objects equal to the magician's Valor. Other metal or stone tools can also be created by means of this spell, as well. All items created by this spell are permanent and nonmagical.
Bend the Walls
Cost: 12 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Arms in Greatest Need
The magician may shape earth (including brick) or stone within (Valor x 10) yards to his whims. The magician may affect a maximum number of cubic feet with this spell equal to (Valor x 100). This spell may also be used to harm or heal Earth Elementals, certain golems, and similar beings, healing a number of health levels of bashing or lethal damage equal to the magician's Compassion or inflicting the magician's Valor in unsoakable dice of damage. It is possible to use this spell to attack or capture opponents. These attacks can be dodged, but not parried. These attacks use the magician's Wits + Occult pool to attack, have an accuracy bonus equal to the magician's Valor, a -3 speed penalty, inflict base lethal damage equal to the magician's Valor, and have a defense bonus equal to the magician's Valor. The magician can only use this spell to make attacks for a single turn, though she may choose to split her dice pool in order to make multiple attacks on one or more targets in range. If this attack is used to execute a successful hold, the target is held until the entrapping stone is destroyed, either by a series of attacks or by a someone with a Strength + Athletics pool of 10 or more (5 for supernaturally strong beings).
Flowing Stone Floors
Cost: 12 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Arms in Greatest Need
Until the end of the scene, the floor or ground within (Valor x 10) yards of the magician shifts according to his desires. He may increase or decrease the movement rate of those walking or riding across it by up to (Valor x 50)%, allow himself or others to walk across quicksand, bestow a +1 difficulty penalty to attempts to resist a sweep or knockdown, and so forth. Unlike Bend the Walls, this spell cannot be used to attack or capture, only to hinder or assist those in the area. The area of effect moves with the magician, such that he and his companions may benefit from this spell for up to a day's march, provided they are not delayed by an encounter or obstacle.
Many-Chambered Box
Cost: 5+ motes + 2 motes per enclosed effect + 1 feat
Prerequisite Spells: Craft the Clay Jar
This spell is nearly identical to Craft the Clay Jar except the device may contain more than one effect that is released when the Box is activated. The magician must pay the cost of all the enclosed effects as normal.
Create the Sublime Device
Cost: 10+ motes + 1 Willpower + 2 feats + Resources 3
Prerequisite Spells: Craft the Clay Jar
This spell is nearly identical to Craft the Clay Jar except the resulting device is fueled by a self-contained supply of Essence and may be used more than once. A Device may have more than one effect, but only one may normally be activated in a turn, though some Reflexive and Supplemental effects might be useable more than once a turn - not two different effects, however. The Device contains 10 motes + 1 mote per additional mote spent. No Device may contain more Essence than (Compassion x 10) motes. Edges and Heroics cost motes equal to three times the number of feats required to activate them as Heroics.
Activating the Device is generally as simple as using a Clay Jar, though some require the expenditure of 1 point of Essence to activate, which is added to the Device's supply. Most Devices do nothing if the wielder attempts to activate an effect for which it lacks the Essence, but a few spend 1 mote of Essence to produce some minor effect to inform the wielder of the problem. Any Essence-wielding being can replenish a depleted Device, and a few can gradually regain Essence if left in a Demesne (or Manse), provided with rare and precious substances, or worshiped.
Pass through the Stones
Cost: 17 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Bend the Walls
For a number of turns equal to her Temperance, the magician and her immediate possessions (provided they are made of organic materials) may pass through earth, metal, and stone as though they were thin air, allowing her to walk through walls, vanish into the floor, and ignore damage from metal and stone weapons. She cannot, however, manipulate metal tools of any kind while under the effects of this spell, either, so most weapons are useless to her. Any attacks she makes against an opponent wearing metal armor not made of one of the Five Magical Materials ignore the armor's soak. This spell is incompatible with the use of any metal armor, which tends to fall away from the magician as soon as she completes this spell.
Seal the Tomb
Cost: 12 motes + 2 motes per 100 square feet
Prerequisite Spells: Bend the Walls
The magician creates a wall of brick or stone within (Valor x 20) yards. This wall can be roughly round, square, or rectangular, but must exist on a single plane and be anchored in place by some physical object (such as a doorway, ground, wall, or ceiling). This wall is 3 inches thick and covers 100 square feet per 2 additional motes spent, though it can be made thicker if the magician halves the area the stone covers (spending 14 motes to create a wall with an area of 100 square feet and 6 inches thick, for example). This wall can be used to seal entrances, provide hard cover, create bridges, or even hedge out one or more enemies. Once this wall is created, it becomes permanent and non-magical. Powerful Geomancers have been known to build fortresses and even vast tombs by means of repeated use of this spell.
Recruit the Mountain People
Cost: 20+ motes
Prerequisite Spells: Seal the Tomb
This ritual requires four hours to complete, and casting it outside of a dedicated ritual space with some connection to the Element of Earth is impossible for a mortal magician. The magician calls up an Elemental of Earth with a maximum Essence equal to the magician's Heroism. If the magician chooses to bargain with the spirit in some way, such as by offering it sacrifices or prayers, she must make a Charisma + Performance at a difficulty equal to (6 - Resources value of the sacrifice) to properly honor it. This difficulty is increased by 1 if the magician is not a priest devoted to that Elemental. If this roll succeeds, the Elemental will accept the offering and might even enter into an agreement with the magician if the number of additional successes on the roll is equal to or greater than the Elemental's Essence. This does not provide the magician with direct control over the Elemental, but is more akin to a temporary alliance. If treated well, the Elemental will accompany the wizard for as long as one lunar month, though it will still behave according to its nature.
If he chooses to spend 5 additional motes, a magician may also attempt to bind the Elemental to its will using the same system as for the Terrestrial Circle Spell Summon Elemental, but a mortal's low Essence score makes such a contest of wills a dangerous prospect. Moreover, Elementals and the Celestial Hierarchy at large frown upon any such enslavement by mortal magicians. The Celestial Hierarchy is likely to be less lenient toward mortals than they are with Exalted Sorcerers, and Elementals enslaved by a mortal are more likely to seek vengeance once their term of service has ended.
Remake the Land
Cost: 17 motes
Prerequisite Spells: Flowing Stone Floors
This spell alters the landscape within (Valor x 10) yards of the magician. The natural sand, stone, soil, and clay roll, shift, rise, and fall like a living thing for a few hours, eventually taking the shape the magician desires. The magic of this spell doesn't affect refined products of the earth like brick, worked metal, pottery, or structures of any kind, nor does it create or destroy the materials it manipulates or move them out of the range of the spell. The magician could dig a pit, for example, but there would be a pile of stone and dirt somewhere within the range of the spell's effect. Likewise, he could raise a stone monolith out of the limestone below his feet, but there would be either a cave or depression in the area of equal volume.
The movements of this spell are too slow to be used as a weapon in combat, but it is certainly possible to create sinkholes and other pit traps in the area that might ensnare the unwary. It can also be useful to rapidly dig moats, trenches, and graves, raise circles of stone and earthen mounds, or simply plow a field with virtually no effort.
Pinnacle of Artifice
Cost: 14+ motes + 2 feats + 1 Willpower
Prerequisite Spells: Many-Chambered Box, Create the Sublime Device
This spell is nearly identical to Create the Sublime Device except the resulting device's supply of Essence either replenishes itself over time or is effectively unlimited. In addition to the costs associated with effects given for Clay Jar, the following costs apply:
These are only guidelines, and the Storyteller has final say in what effects are and are not allowed to be crafted into Artifacts. Attack spells, for example, make little sense as constantly active effects. While defensive effects are often Reflexive, damage-inflicting effects never are.