Binding Magic

School of magic

Classification	Harmonic-Based School
Root harmonic	The Binding Song
Dominant prime energies	Verba, often supported by Terra and Aion
Core discipline	Naming, syntax, oaths, seals, and bound obligation
Spells	30

The Harmonic school of the Binding Song, from the premise that definition is power: to name correctly is to distinguish, and to distinguish is to order. See The Schools of Magic.

Philosophy

Binding Magic, rooted in the Binding Song, begins from the premise that definition is power. To name a thing truly is to set it apart; to set it apart is to hold it; to hold it is to make it answer. The Song's law is exact, and so is this magic: one slipped word binds the wrong thing, or binds the right thing badly.

Example Places of Study

The Concordium of Glass Tongues: An old academy of oathcraft, where students learn to speak a binding without one stray syllable, and the ones who slip are said to lose their voices for good.
The Binding Choirs: Choirs kept in great lords' halls, where binders train their voices together and swear their workings to the lord who feeds them.
The House of Seals: Sealers of tombs, vaults, and things better left shut; their oldest seals still hold on ruins whose builders are forgotten, and delvers pay well for anyone who can read them.
The Hall of Given Names: A sacred tradition focused on naming rites and true names.
A remote covenant abbey: Monastic practitioners of vow magic and binding liturgy.

Common Spells

Seal Mark · True Address · Word Lock · Bound Word · Circle of Bargain · Name Lash · Tongue Still · Covenant Thread · Command Posture · Line of Binding · Word of Silence · Burden of Promise · Summons Line · Seal of Exclusion · Contract Brand · Syntax Cage · Word of Refusal · Debt Token · Name Anchor · Binding Chain · Geas Thread · Field of Command · Oathfire · Chorus of Seeing · Price of Passage · Revocation Rite · Iron Circle · True Name Opening · Covenant Pillar · Last Command

Typical Cost/Power Source (every spell): Usually fed by spoken authority, exact language, social consent, inscribed structure, and the caster's reserves; stronger bindings often draw on sworn agreement, seals, or ground already bound by oath or seal.

Seal Mark

Purpose/How It Works: Seal Mark places a simple binding closure on a chest, satchel, cabinet, scroll case, or similar object by defining it as "closed until released" and fixing that definition into a short-lived sigil, spoken clause, or tactile mark. The spell does not make the object indestructible.
Notable Exceptions: Seal Mark is weak against brute force, poor on living targets, and unreliable on containers with unclear edges, such as torn sacks or shattered lids.
Example Use: A delver seals the satchel of grave-gold before the long climb out, so a thief in the company betrays himself by the broken sigil.
Casting Methods: Spoken formula with touch, a few heartbeats. Traced sigil over the latch or seam, a few breaths.
Range/Duration: Touch, or within arm's length on a clearly defined closure. From a short while to days, depending on complexity and material stability.

True Address

Purpose/How It Works: True Address compels a target's attention by formally and correctly designating them. The spell uses identity, rank, role, or established name to cut through distraction and make a person recognize that they are being rightly named.
Notable Exceptions: It works poorly on targets whose identity is concealed from the caster, on crowds where designation is ambiguous, or on beings with fragmented or unstable names.
Example Use: A bounty-taker's binder stops a fleeing horse-thief in the mud by calling him by name, father, and village.
Casting Methods: Spoken full address, a heartbeat or two. Formal invocation in a lord's hall, a breath or two.
Range/Duration: Voice range, extended by magical projection if the target is clearly identified. Takes hold at once, usually keeping attention for a few heartbeats.

Word Lock

Purpose/How It Works: Word Lock bars opening unless a specific phrase or set form of words is used. The caster binds access to one chosen utterance.
Notable Exceptions: Word Lock is vulnerable to exact overhearing, imitation by skilled voice-workers, and structural destruction of the locked object. It also fails if the bound phrase is set down wrongly.
Example Use: A dead lord's treasure-vault answers only to a phrase lost with him, and delvers have dug at its door for three generations.
Casting Methods: Spoken phrase bound directly to a touched lock or seam, a breath or two. Inscribed lock phrase with spoken activation, a minute's work.
Range/Duration: Touch for most uses. Until opened correctly, broken, or dispelled.

Bound Word

Purpose/How It Works: Bound Word marks that a promise has been made and gives it magical weight. The spell does not itself punish betrayal strongly, but it leaves a lasting mark in the Song that a vow, pledge, or sworn intent was entered into willingly and in hearing.
Notable Exceptions: It is weak when consent is coerced, wording is vague, or the speaker is mentally incapable of understanding the promise.
Example Use: Two sellsword captains swear to share a ruin's loot before a hedge-priest at a crossroads, who casts Bound Word so neither can later deny the vow.
Casting Methods: Spoken attestation over a live vow, a few heartbeats. Written contract with closing recitation, a short chant.
Range/Duration: Usually within hearing distance of all parties. Days to years, depending on the weight of the vow and the formality of casting.

Circle of Bargain

Purpose/How It Works: Circle of Bargain defines the valid limits, roles, and conditions of a ritual space. The caster marks out a bounded zone of binding within which certain acts are permitted, forbidden, or made especially potent.
Notable Exceptions: It breaks down when boundaries are physically disrupted, when terms are contradictory, or when participants inside the circle never accepted or understood their assigned roles.
Example Use: A blood-feud between two houses ends inside a marked ring where only the named champions and their named blades may strike.
Casting Methods: Spoken boundary declaration over a drawn circle, a minute's chant. Inscribed ring with role assignment, a short rite.
Range/Duration: Usually centred on the caster, from a circle an arm's span across to a chamber-sized space. A short while to most of a day, or until the terms are fulfilled or broken.

Name Lash

Purpose/How It Works: Name Lash strikes a target by weaponizing a correct designation against them. The caster sharpens the target's name, title, or defining office into a cutting verbal blow.
Notable Exceptions: It performs poorly on unnamed beasts, false identities, masked persons, and entities whose true designation is unknown or unstable.
Example Use: A temple's binder brings down a fleeing relic-thief by speaking the vow he broke and the name he swore it under.
Casting Methods: Sharp spoken designation, a heartbeat. Formal denunciation with gesture, a few heartbeats.
Range/Duration: Typically line of sight within speaking distance, farther with projected voice. Instant impact, though pain or disruption may linger briefly.

Tongue Still

Purpose/How It Works: Tongue Still prevents speech for a short span. The spell imposes a temporary bound silence on the target's voice, tongue, or capacity to form spoken words.
Notable Exceptions: It is weaker against songless casting, sign-language casters, and targets already protected by anti-binding measures. It is strongest against spoken magic.
Example Use: A delving company's binder stills a cult priest's tongue in the barrow mouth before the curse is finished.
Casting Methods: Direct spoken prohibition, a heartbeat or two. Gesture-and-word injunction, a few heartbeats.
Range/Duration: Line of sight, in practice across a room or a narrow street. A few heartbeats to a short while.

Covenant Thread

Purpose/How It Works: Covenant Thread creates a felt magical link between sworn parties. The spell weaves a subtle shared awareness of agreement, duty, and relation.
Notable Exceptions: It frays quickly when the agreement is insincere, one-sided, or badly defined. It is not a substitute for a stronger oath-binding.
Example Use: Two scouts swear to warn each other before slipping into raider country and remain dimly aware of whether the bond still holds.
Casting Methods: Joined hands with spoken vow, a breath or two. Shared token or cord binding, a minute's work.
Range/Duration: Cast at touch; the link may persist over long distance once formed. From part of a day to months, depending on the oath's strength.

Command Posture

Purpose/How It Works: Command Posture compels a brief involuntary stillness, kneel, halt, or set stance. The caster imposes a sharply defined bodily instruction that the target's frame obeys for a moment, especially if the instruction fits a recognized hierarchy or context.
Notable Exceptions: It is weak against targets much stronger than the caster's authority allows, creatures with alien body plans, and targets in full berserk or panic states.
Example Use: A caravan's binder drops a charging bandit to his knees a stride short of the wagons.
Casting Methods: Barked command with direct authority, a heartbeat. Formal order with gesture, a few heartbeats.
Range/Duration: Voice range or short line of sight. An instant to a few heartbeats.

Line of Binding

Purpose/How It Works: Line of Binding formally defines where a ward, rule, or protected zone begins and ends. The spell clarifies edges.
Notable Exceptions: It is difficult to maintain on shifting terrain, crowds, smoke, water edges, or ruined architecture with uncertain shape.
Example Use: A ward-maker defines the outer edges of a plague quarantine zone before raising stronger defences.
Casting Methods: Walked perimeter with spoken clause, a short chant. Chalk or ink line with formal wording, a short rite.
Range/Duration: The defined boundary itself. From part of a day to permanent, depending on how it is anchored.

Word of Silence

Purpose/How It Works: Word of Silence suppresses unpermitted speech inside a marked space. The caster sets a written or inscribed binding of silence that acts on a room, podium, cell, or chamber.
Notable Exceptions: It is less effective in open streets, noisy battlefields, and against nonverbal or purely mental forms of communication.
Example Use: A warlord seals his war-room so only his chosen captains may speak while the raid is planned.
Casting Methods: Written writ affixed to a doorway, a minute's work. Chamber inscription with named exemptions, a long chant.
Range/Duration: An enclosed space from a room to a hall. A short while to days.

Burden of Promise

Purpose/How It Works: Burden of Promise makes oath-breaking physically painful. The spell binds a vow to bodily consequence.
Notable Exceptions: It requires informed assent to be strongest. Poor wording weakens enforcement, and impossible promises often collapse into self-conflicting penalties.
Example Use: After a winter of raids, both chieftains swear their truce under Burden of Promise before the hostages cross the ford.
Casting Methods: Spoken vow with immediate binding phrase, a few breaths. Hand-sealed oath over written terms, a short chant.
Range/Duration: Touch or close ritual range at the moment of swearing. Until oath fulfilment, formal release, or catastrophic breach.

Summons Line

Purpose/How It Works: Summons Line draws a named party towards an appointed place. The spell creates a binding pull rather than physical dragging.
Notable Exceptions: It works poorly without a recognized relationship between caster and target, and it weakens sharply across warded or hostile ground.
Example Use: With raiders at the walls, a lord's binder calls his sworn sellswords out of the lower-town taverns and up to the gate.
Casting Methods: Spoken summons with clear designation, a few heartbeats. Written summons released into a marked network, a short chant.
Range/Duration: A district to a whole city when properly anchored. The call persists from a short while to half a day.

Seal of Exclusion

Purpose/How It Works: Seal of Exclusion forbids entry to the undesignated. The caster marks a threshold so that beings lacking required name, role, token, condition, or permission cannot pass without resistance, pain, or ward response.
Notable Exceptions: It is only as precise as its criteria. Poorly chosen terms can exclude allies or admit unintended loopholes.
Example Use: A barrow-king's tomb is sealed against all but bearers of his line's copper sigil; the delvers who found the sigil walked in, and the ones who forged it did not.
Casting Methods: Threshold mark with spoken restriction, a few breaths. Inscribed doorframe with keyed exclusions, a short rite.
Range/Duration: One threshold, chamber, or defined boundary. A night to years, depending on reinforcement.

Contract Brand

Purpose/How It Works: Contract Brand visibly marks parties under an active agreement. The spell places a symbolic sign, often visible only to trained eyes or while the contract remains active, that identifies participants as bound by stated terms.
Notable Exceptions: It is not inherently punitive. It marks and declares who is bound.
Example Use: A sellsword company bears a temporary brand showing who is under pay and sworn to mutual defence, so no turncoat slips into the camp at night.
Casting Methods: Spoken agreement with touched signet, a breath or two. Inked sigil sealed on skin or token, a minute's work.
Range/Duration: Touch at the moment of marking. Until the contract concludes or is voided.

Syntax Cage

Purpose/How It Works: Syntax Cage binds an effect, action, or target to exact conditions. The spell builds a prison of conditions.
Notable Exceptions: Contradictory syntax can collapse the whole working. Clever targets may exploit badly written conditions instead of overpowering the cage directly.
Example Use: Delvers who woke something in a barrow keep it caged so long as no blade is drawn, no false name is spoken, and the chalk ward-line stays unbroken.
Casting Methods: Spoken binding syntax over a prepared circle, a minute's chant. Written lattice of clauses around a target, a short rite.
Range/Duration: Usually short range around a visible target or prepared site. A short while to indefinite, depending on complexity and maintenance.

Word of Refusal

Purpose/How It Works: Word of Refusal nullifies a lesser working that violates stated terms. The caster asserts a superior local rule that denies a narrower or weaker magical action permission to function in the space or under the condition defined.
Notable Exceptions: It is strongest against spells with clear, ordered workings and weaker against raw force, wild surge, or alien effects with no binding structure of their own.
Example Use: A treasure-house binder snuffs a thief's lock-breaking spell the instant it is cast.
Casting Methods: Spoken counter-clause, a few heartbeats. Reactive sigil release, near-instant once prepared.
Range/Duration: Self, touched object, or defined warded space. Instant countering or sustained local prohibition.

Debt Token

Purpose/How It Works: Debt Token carries a magical reminder of obligation in a portable object. The spell stores a recognized duty in a coin, ring, strip of parchment, knot, or other token so the bearer remains reminded, tracked, or quietly nagged by the unpaid debt.
Notable Exceptions: It cannot hold what was never truly agreed. It is a reminder and anchor, not a full coercive chain.
Example Use: A sellsword who owes a blood-price wears a ring that warms as the day of payment nears.
Casting Methods: Spoken charge into a held token, a few breaths. Inscribed debt mark on prepared medium, a minute's work.
Range/Duration: Touch while preparing the token. Days to years, until debt is discharged or revoked.

Name Anchor

Purpose/How It Works: Name Anchor prevents concealment, disguise, or false identity within a warded field. The spell stabilizes identity reference.
Notable Exceptions: It is weaker against beings with genuinely fluid identities, shared bodies, layered titles, or no stable true name the binding can reach.
Example Use: A temple gate unmasks a shape-thief trying to walk in under a dead priest's name.
Casting Methods: Spoken anchoring clause over a doorway, a few breaths. Inscribed identity ward, a short rite.
Range/Duration: Usually threshold, chamber, or questioning circle. A night to months.

Binding Chain

Purpose/How It Works: Binding Chain restrains a target through a spoken binding. The caster articulates a rule of immobility, obedience, or halted motion that manifests as visible or invisible constraining force.
Notable Exceptions: It weakens against targets lacking language-structured identity or those whose physical power greatly exceeds the caster's authority and energy investment.
Example Use: A binder riding with bounty-takers chains a fleeing outlaw's legs to the command to stand where he is.
Casting Methods: Spoken halting formula, a few heartbeats. Gesture-and-chain sigil release, a few heartbeats.
Range/Duration: Across a room or a street, within sight. A few heartbeats to a short while, longer with anchors or restraints.

Geas Thread

Purpose/How It Works: Geas Thread imposes a limited compelled obligation. The spell binds a person to complete, avoid, deliver, watch over, or return under stated conditions.
Notable Exceptions: Broad or immoral commands destabilize the spell. Tasks that contradict identity, survival, or possibility tend to degrade into illness, confusion, or failure rather than clean obedience.
Example Use: A captured raider is sent home under Geas Thread to carry a warning to his chieftain, not a knife.
Casting Methods: Spoken geas over a compliant or weakened target, a few breaths. Threaded rite with token and named task, a short chant.
Range/Duration: Usually close range at the moment of imposition. Until task completion, breach, or collapse.

Field of Command

Purpose/How It Works: Field of Command makes a declared rule hold within an area. The caster projects a temporary local rule, such as "no drawn steel," "no false speech," or "none may run." Within the field, violating the edict becomes difficult or punished.
Notable Exceptions: Broad edicts cost far more than narrow ones. Contradictory environment or mass resistance can shred the field.
Example Use: At a parley between feuding houses, a hedge-binder raises an Field of Command forbidding drawn steel in the hall.
Casting Methods: Spoken field declaration with authority, a breath or two. Inscribed floor or pillar release, a minute's work.
Range/Duration: Small room to courtyard scale in most cases. Moments to part of a day.

Oathfire

Purpose/How It Works: Oathfire punishes immediate betrayal with burning backlash. The spell binds the heat of a sworn promise into a volatile retaliatory charge.
Notable Exceptions: It is strongest against recent, explicit, willing vows. Older, ambiguous, or inherited obligations do not feed it well.
Example Use: Bodyguards swear under Oathfire before entering a royal chamber, knowing treachery will burn them on the instant.
Casting Methods: Spoken flame vow between parties, a few breaths. Candle or brazier-bound oath rite, a short rite.
Range/Duration: Cast at touch or within a ritual circle. Usually until the sworn event concludes or betrayal occurs.

Chorus of Seeing

Purpose/How It Works: Chorus of Seeing lets several onlookers confirm the same binding together. The spell joins their voices so their recognition reinforces one binding.
Notable Exceptions: Dishonest or confused voices weaken the chorus. Hostile ones can even shake it apart.
Example Use: A dying chieftain's heir swears before all his war-captains at once, so no rival can later say the oath was never given.
Casting Methods: Spoken chorus led by a single binder, a few breaths. Refrain or chant among trained voices, a short chant.
Range/Duration: All who join must stand within the same hearing. Takes hold at once and leaves a lasting mark afterwards.

Price of Passage

Purpose/How It Works: Price of Passage regulates who may cross a threshold and how. The spell defines acceptable passage conditions.
Notable Exceptions: It is only as strong as its clarity. Overly complex entry conditions become hard to hold consistently.
Example Use: A shrine bridge over a haunted gorge lets pass only pilgrims, envoys, and the unarmed, and no warband has crossed it in living memory.
Casting Methods: Spoken threshold terms over a gate, a few breaths. Inscribed lintel or gatepost rite, a long chant.
Range/Duration: One crossing, gate, road point, or threshold. A night to permanent with maintenance.

Revocation Rite

Purpose/How It Works: Revocation Rite formally dissolves a lesser seal, vow, or binding. The spell unthreads a prior binding by naming its grounds, authority, and conditions of release.
Notable Exceptions: It cannot safely revoke bindings whose terms are unknown, or those backed by greater authority than the revoker can invoke.
Example Use: A delver who has dug up a tomb seal's old terms ends it cleanly instead of breaking it, and the dead behind it stay asleep.
Casting Methods: Spoken release with knowledge of the original terms, a few breaths. Written revocation over a linked token or contract, a short rite.
Range/Duration: Touch or ritual linkage to the target binding. Permanent if successful.

Iron Circle

Purpose/How It Works: Iron Circle traps a hostile entity inside defined conditions. The caster establishes a prison of rules rather than walls alone.
Notable Exceptions: It is poor against purely mindless force, mass-scale chaos, or entities whose nature simply does not answer to the binding's terms.
Example Use: A thing called up by a careless conjurer is held in a cellar where it may neither cross the ash lines nor strike the unnamed, while a rider goes for a binder strong enough to end it.
Casting Methods: Emergency spoken containment over a prepared circle, a few breaths. Multi-seal chamber binding, a long chant.
Range/Duration: Usually a prepared chamber, circle, or threshold complex. A short while to years, depending on power source and upkeep.

True Name Opening

Purpose/How It Works: True Name Opening unlocks or unmakes what only the correct name governs. The spell invokes the exact identity-word of a seal, object, gate, or working, causing it to open, release, or collapse under rightful designation.
Notable Exceptions: It requires true knowledge, not clever guessing. False names, partial names, or ceremonial titles are usually insufficient unless the working was built to answer them.
Example Use: A ruin gate sealed since the elder days opens when a delver finally scratches its founding name out of a broken lintel.
Casting Methods: Spoken true name with direct presence, a few heartbeats. Name written into a prepared unlocking sigil, a minute's work.
Range/Duration: Usually touch or line of sight to the named object or gate. Instant opening or immediate collapse of the targeted binding.

Covenant Pillar

Purpose/How It Works: Covenant Pillar creates a long-term site of sworn obligation. The spell anchors vows, sworn peaces, customs, or collective duties into a fixed object such as a pillar, stone, monument, arch, or hall-centre.
Notable Exceptions: It demands material stability, repeated reinforcement, and the living respect of those who swear by it. A covenant pillar without living respect decays into symbolism alone.
Example Use: Two hill clans swear the truce that ended their war into a standing stone at the ford, and every chief since has renewed it there at midsummer.
Casting Methods: Minor pillar blessing on an existing monument, a long chant. Many-party installation, an hour's ritual.
Range/Duration: Fixed site. Long-term or effectively permanent with renewal.

Last Command

Purpose/How It Works: Last Command imposes a harsh closing prohibition at great cost. The caster speaks a last and weighty denial that forbids an act, crossing, utterance, emergence, or continuation.
Notable Exceptions: It is costly, difficult to revoke, and dangerous if misapplied. A poorly worded Last Command can cripple legitimate use along with hostile action.
Example Use: In the last moments of a breach, a senior binder forbids the gate from opening again until named heirs return centuries later.
Casting Methods: Desperate spoken injunction backed by the caster's reserves, a breath or two. Formal closing rite over a prepared site, a long rite.
Range/Duration: One target gate, bound space, chamber, or bounded act. Long-term, generational, or until explicitly broken under higher authority.

In the Writers’ Guide

The Schools of Magic FoundationsBinding Magic, The Common Spells
Unnatural Afflictions The Medieval EraCaught or Sent
Scribes A Bestiary of CaeldonLore and Belief
Glossary Foundations