Conjuration

School of magic

Classification	Compound School
Prime blend	Verba + Zephyr + Imago, often supported by Terra or Lux
Core discipline	Calling, gathering, assembly, temporary manifestation, relocation, and sustained constructs
Key distinction	Conjuration does not create matter or energy from nothing. It calls existing things, assembles available material, or manifests sustained forms for as long as energy and pattern support them.
Spells	30

The compound school of Verba with Zephyr and Imago: the art of making presence answer. See The Schools of Magic.

Philosophy

Conjuration is the art of making presence answer. A conjurer names what is wanted, opens a path for arrival, and imposes enough pattern that the called thing appears in usable form. Sometimes that means summoning a real object from elsewhere. Sometimes it means gathering nearby material into a temporary construct (see Conjured Constructs). Sometimes it means holding an energy-shape together long enough to serve a purpose.

Example Places of Study

The Open Hand Conservatory: A cosmopolitan academy that teaches rightful calling, contract-summons, and everyday utility conjuration.
Transit towers in the great trade cities: Specialist schools devoted to route-linked retrieval and messenger manifestations.
The Hall of Borrowed Forms: A distrusted hall focused on temporary servitors, hard constructs, and emergency field assembly, where more than one failure has walked out of the door on its own.
The Rope Colleges: Travelling schools that teach conjured scaffolds, bridges, shelters, and expedition craft.
The White Circle Halls: Halls where conjurers train, and where lords and temples send when they want stolen goods called back, a thief's hidden loot dragged into the light, or a treasury guarded by things no thief can see.

Common Spells

Called Tool · Gathered Shield · Lantern Frame · Water Bearer · Stone Servitor · Ember Hands · Rope of Arrival · Pack Frame · Messenger Shape · Summoned Ladder · Tent of the Road · Hunter's Decoy · Armoury Recall · Manifest Blade · Circle of Return · Beast Tether · Bridge of Borrowed Timber · House Key Avatar · Word of Banishing · Reaching Hand · Silent Drudge · Seeking Darts · Porter's Plate · Telekinetic Grip · Familiar Call · Slipped Step · Folded Threshold · Distant Arrival · Transit Circle · Wide Gate

Called Tool

Purpose/How It Works: Called Tool retrieves a named personal implement from a known storage place or recently used location by opening a short, rightful path of return.
Notable Exceptions: It fails against wards, distance beyond the link's strength, or ownership confusion. It should not be treated as universal theft.
Example Use: A field engineer recalls her repair hammer from the wagon after an axle snaps under fire.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by a prior ownership bond, the tool's pattern familiarity, route-memory, and the caster's reserves.
Casting Methods: Spoken recall, a few heartbeats. Sigil-linked retrieval, a few breaths.
Range/Duration: A room to a district, depending on preparation. Instant arrival.

Gathered Shield

Purpose/How It Works: Gathered Shield pulls dust, splinters, loose stone, or nearby debris into a compact defensive plate held together by active patterning.
Notable Exceptions: It is weak in clean open air or polished halls with nothing to gather. Sustained impact quickly drains the caster.
Example Use: A caravan mage sweeps roadside gravel into a chest-high barrier against bandit arrows.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by nearby material, kinetic intake, and continuous caster concentration.
Casting Methods: Sweeping hand cast, a few heartbeats. Prepared anchor sigil, a few breaths.
Range/Duration: Within a few strides. A few moments to a short while.

Lantern Frame

Purpose/How It Works: Lantern Frame manifests a simple floating light-vessel that holds glow, heat, or a carried message pattern in stable shape.
Notable Exceptions: Strong winds, anti-light wards, or attention-diverting glamour can destabilize it.
Example Use: Delvers float three lantern frames down a flooded crypt stair to see what waits below before anyone wades in.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by ambient light, a small flame, Lux support, and the caster's reserves.
Casting Methods: Finger-circle cast, a few heartbeats. Lens focus, a few breaths.
Range/Duration: A few strides from the caster. A short while to half a night.

Water Bearer

Purpose/How It Works: Water Bearer gathers nearby water into a hovering carrying form that follows simple movement commands.
Notable Exceptions: It requires existing water. Polluted or mixed liquids can behave unpredictably if not clearly defined.
Example Use: Miners draw seep-water out of a collapsed shaft using three slow-moving bearers.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by existing water mass, flow memory, and the caster's reserves.
Casting Methods: Basin-to-air cast, a breath or two. Conduit ring, a few breaths.
Range/Duration: The local area. A short while.

Stone Servitor

Purpose/How It Works: Stone Servitor assembles loose rock or masonry into a temporary labouring figure built for carrying, bracing, or pushing.
Notable Exceptions: Fine manipulation is poor, and lack of good joints makes stairs or ladders difficult.
Example Use: Builders raise a fallen lintel long enough to free trapped workers beneath it.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by nearby stone, Terra support, and steady caster output.
Casting Methods: Ground assembly cast, a few breaths. Mason's circle, a short chant.
Range/Duration: Local site. A short while, an hour at most.

Ember Hands

Purpose/How It Works: Ember Hands gathers existing flame and heat into small manipulating shapes capable of carrying coals, lighting braziers, or starting prepared burns.
Notable Exceptions: It cannot sustain itself without nearby heat input, and rain or saturation weakens it sharply.
Example Use: A cook-mage lights twenty campfires along a refugee line without handing out torches.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by existing fire, banked coals, thermal gradients, and the caster's reserves.
Casting Methods: Flame-lift cast, a few heartbeats. Brazier focus, a few breaths.
Range/Duration: A few strides. A few moments to a short while.

Rope of Arrival

Purpose/How It Works: Rope of Arrival manifests a temporary hanging line between two visible anchor points, usable for descent, hauling, or crossing.
Notable Exceptions: It is meant for load-bearing, not combat strain. Poor anchors remain dangerous.
Example Use: Scouts drop out of a broken watchtower by conjuring a rope from parapet to courtyard.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by route tension, anchor clarity, and the caster's reserves.
Casting Methods: Point-to-point cast, a breath or two. Knot sigil, a few breaths.
Range/Duration: Short to moderate line of sight. A short while.

Pack Frame

Purpose/How It Works: Pack Frame creates a temporary carrying harness or floating load-frame around cargo so weight is redistributed and movement becomes easier.
Notable Exceptions: It reduces carrying strain rather than making weight vanish. Sudden shocks can collapse the frame.
Example Use: Ruin-delvers bring a cracked bronze idol down a mountain without breaking it, and without dropping it on the pursuers either.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the cargo's existing mass structure, straps or outlines, and the caster's reserves.
Casting Methods: Load-wrap cast, a few breaths. Team hauling rite, a short chant.
Range/Duration: Touch to nearby object. A short while to most of a day.

Messenger Shape

Purpose/How It Works: Messenger Shape gives a spoken message a simple visible body such as a bird, ribbon, lantern mote, or folded sigil for one delivery.
Notable Exceptions: It carries limited complexity and can be intercepted by schools skilled in name-binding or omen reading.
Example Use: A besieged lord sends word over the enemy camp to his vassals, since no runner would get through alive.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by breath, wording precision, a destination name, and the caster's reserves.
Casting Methods: Spoken dispatch, a breath or two. Sealed-letter rite, a short chant.
Range/Duration: Local to regional depending on preparation. One trip.

Summoned Ladder

Purpose/How It Works: Summoned Ladder assembles nearby wood, bone, rope, or even hardened light into a climbable form matched to a wall or shaft.
Notable Exceptions: It is only as safe as the available material and support pattern. High winds or moving walls are a problem.
Example Use: Burglars and the town watch alike use the spell to reach second-story windows.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by nearby material or light support, geometric patterning, and the caster's reserves.
Casting Methods: Vertical assembly cast, a breath or two. Marked foothold sigil, a few breaths.
Range/Duration: Immediate site. A short while, an hour at most.

Tent of the Road

Purpose/How It Works: Tent of the Road manifests a weather-shedding shelter by pulling canvas, branches, dust, rope, or light-film into a stable field structure.
Notable Exceptions: It is a shelter, not a fortress. Severe storms require real anchors or supporting wards.
Example Use: Beast-hunters conjure a temporary field tent before freezing rain reaches the pass.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by available fabric, nearby material, and sustained caster input.
Casting Methods: Shelter cast, a few breaths. Camp-circle rite, a short chant.
Range/Duration: Small camp area. Through a night.

Hunter's Decoy

Purpose/How It Works: Hunter's Decoy assembles a false animal, person-shape, or moving lure from shadow, dust, foliage, or light to draw attention and movement away from the caster.
Notable Exceptions: It fools attention better than deep inspection. Skilled trackers notice the missing scent and weight.
Example Use: Poachers send a fake stag through the eastern brush while they escape west.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by local matter, visual patterning, and the caster's reserves.
Casting Methods: Quick-shape cast, a few heartbeats. Decoy stake rite, a few breaths.
Range/Duration: Short to moderate range. A few moments to a short while.

Armoury Recall

Purpose/How It Works: Armoury Recall opens a prepared retrieval line from an arsenal, wagon chest, or wall rack to draw the right weapon into hand or formation.
Notable Exceptions: This requires prior keyed preparation. Warded armouries can refuse the call.
Example Use: Palace guards summon shields from the ready-room the instant the bell rings.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by keyed storage sigils, ownership rights, and the caster's reserves.
Casting Methods: Named recall, a few heartbeats. Rack-linked muster rite, a short chant.
Range/Duration: A building to a district, with preparation. Instant arrival.

Manifest Blade

Purpose/How It Works: Manifest Blade holds a short-lived weapon form together out of light, ash, dust, water-pressure, or other supported medium.
Notable Exceptions: It cuts only while actively maintained. It is more reliable as an emergency weapon than a duelling masterpiece.
Example Use: A disarmed envoy forms a pale knife long enough to sever a hostage's bonds.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by a chosen medium, clear weapon pattern, and active caster output.
Casting Methods: Hand-form cast, a few heartbeats. Weapon diagram focus, a few breaths.
Range/Duration: Self or thrown short range depending on form. A few moments to a short while.

Circle of Return

Purpose/How It Works: Circle of Return creates a temporary arrival circle that brings back marked tools, prepared packets, or chosen people crossing a known route.
Notable Exceptions: It is not true teleportation. The route must exist, and interruptions along it still matter.
Example Use: Siege engineers cycle sandbags and repair kits between wall teams without exposing runners.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by route preparation, reciprocal marks, and a maintained circle.
Casting Methods: Return-ring activation, a short chant. Full supply circle, a long chant.
Range/Duration: Site network scale. A short while to most of a day while maintained.

Beast Tether

Purpose/How It Works: Beast Tether calls a trained animal, mount, or bonded familiar along the shortest safe route and holds it to the summoner's command field once it arrives.
Notable Exceptions: It cannot override terror, injury, or a completely severed bond. Wild animals answer poorly.
Example Use: A rider trapped in a ravine summons her horse after the skirmish scatters the column.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by bond familiarity, scent or tack links, and the caster's reserves.
Casting Methods: Whistled bond call, a breath or two. Tack-circle rite, a short chant.
Range/Duration: Nearby to a district, depending on terrain. Arrival, then a short while of tethering.

Bridge of Borrowed Timber

Purpose/How It Works: Bridge of Borrowed Timber assembles loose wood, wreckage, roots, or hauled poles into a temporary crossing strong enough for foot traffic and light carts.
Notable Exceptions: It cannot invent structural support where none exists at all. Overloading it is a common killer.
Example Use: Retreating troops throw a bridge across an irrigation cut and burn it behind them moments later.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by nearby timber, structural patterning, and the caster's reserves.
Casting Methods: Span cast, a few breaths. Engineer's rite, a short chant.
Range/Duration: A small river or gap. A short while to most of a day.

House Key Avatar

Purpose/How It Works: House Key Avatar manifests a simple domestic servitor keyed to one household's layout for tasks such as fetching, lighting, carrying, and door-checking.
Notable Exceptions: It works badly outside its keyed home and can be hijacked if the key-pattern is stolen.
Example Use: An elderly scholar uses a house-avatar to fetch books from the upper stacks after a fall.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by a keyed residence pattern, domestic objects, and scheduled recharge rather than constant active casting.
Casting Methods: Key-turn cast, a few breaths. Installation rite, a long chant.
Range/Duration: One building or estate. From a day's chores to weeks with upkeep.

Word of Banishing

Purpose/How It Works: Word of Banishing unravels unstable summons, false arrivals, and hostile manifested constructs by collapsing the path and denying pattern support.
Notable Exceptions: It is strongest against conjurations built by naming and route. Solid independently sustained matter is harder to dismiss.
Example Use: A hired conjurer tears apart an Ill-Called thing in a burning mill before it can follow the miller's children out.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by counter-naming, the authority of whoever holds the place, and the caster's reserves.
Casting Methods: Spoken dismissal, a few heartbeats. Sealed writ rite, a few breaths.
Range/Duration: Short to moderate range. Instant dispelling effect.

Reaching Hand

Purpose/How It Works: Reaching Hand manifests a small force-hand or shaped servant-pressure capable of carrying, lifting, pointing, or manipulating light objects at range.
Notable Exceptions: Fine locks and heavy loads remain difficult without stronger variants.
Example Use: A captured delver lifts the gaoler's key off its hook beyond the bars.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by a named task, light manifest force, and the caster's reserves.
Casting Methods: Point-and-form cast, a heartbeat. Ring-focus activation, near-instant.
Range/Duration: A few strides, out to the far side of a room. A few moments to a short while.

Silent Drudge

Purpose/How It Works: Silent Drudge manifests a simple invisible labouring construct that follows narrow verbal instructions.
Notable Exceptions: It is literal-minded, weak, and unsafe around complex hazards unless carefully directed.
Example Use: A thief empties a noble's coin-chest, one purse at a time, with a servant no guard can see.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by a named task, light manifest force, and the caster's reserves.
Casting Methods: Spoken task cast, a breath or two. Service-token rite, a short chant.
Range/Duration: One room, household, or close work area. A short while to most of a day.

Seeking Darts

Purpose/How It Works: Seeking Darts forms several compact guided darts of manifested force that seek the named target along the cleanest available line.
Notable Exceptions: Strong warding and force-dispersal defences can blunt or scatter the darts.
Example Use: A duellist ends the chase by sending three pale bolts around the corner after the fleeing mage.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by a named task, light manifest force, and the caster's reserves.
Casting Methods: Quick dart cast, a few heartbeats. Wand-release, near-instant.
Range/Duration: Across a courtyard or down a street. Instant strike.

Porter's Plate

Purpose/How It Works: Porter's Plate creates a stable hovering platform for cargo, wounded bodies, or ritual tools.
Notable Exceptions: Stairs, narrow passages, and sudden drops can break the platform's balance.
Example Use: Delvers float a wounded comrade out of the barrow on a plate of pale force, the dead still knocking behind them.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by a named task, light manifest force, and the caster's reserves.
Casting Methods: Platform cast, a breath or two. Inscribed disk token, a few breaths.
Range/Duration: Near the caster or along an anchored route. A short while to most of a day.

Telekinetic Grip

Purpose/How It Works: Telekinetic Grip projects a stronger force-hand capable of shoving, pinning, lifting, or tearing objects free at range.
Notable Exceptions: It is crude compared to real hands and can overcrush fragile targets.
Example Use: A fleeing rider is yanked clean out of the saddle without a rope in sight.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by a named task, light manifest force, and the caster's reserves.
Casting Methods: Focused hand cast, a few heartbeats. Staff focus, a heartbeat.
Range/Duration: A few strides out to line of sight. A few moments to a short while.

Familiar Call

Purpose/How It Works: Familiar Call summons a bonded familiar, a minor spirit-construct held to a creature pattern or housed in a prepared companion body, into active attendance.
Notable Exceptions: The familiar must already exist as a bond. This is recall, not free creation of intelligence (see Familiars).
Example Use: A night courier brings her familiar, a construct in owl form, from hiding with one whisper before climbing the tower.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by an established familiar bond, symbolic housing, and the caster's reserves.
Casting Methods: Bond whisper, a few heartbeats. Familiar circle rite, a short chant.
Range/Duration: Nearby to a district, depending on the bond. From a short while to indefinite attendance.

Slipped Step

Purpose/How It Works: Slipped Step shifts the caster slightly off the current path of material presence, causing rapid reappearance a short distance away or avoiding an incoming strike by fractional displacement.
Notable Exceptions: It is erratic in heavy wards, tight walls, or unstable magical zones.
Example Use: An ambusher's knife passes through the space where the conjurer was a heartbeat before.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by a named route, transient manifest force, and the caster's reserves.
Casting Methods: Snap cast, a heartbeat. Prepared step-sigil, near-instant.
Range/Duration: Self. A stride or two, or one evasive displacement.

Folded Threshold

Purpose/How It Works: Folded Threshold opens a brief two-point path through folded local space, allowing the caster and a companion to cross an otherwise impossible gap.
Notable Exceptions: It is short range by portal standards and dangerous if the destination is poorly understood or obstructed.
Example Use: A mage steps with the wounded prince from the tower stair to the chapel balcony in one cut of air.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by route definition, spatial anchors, and substantial caster reserves.
Casting Methods: Door-cut cast, a breath or two. Marked-threshold activation, a heartbeat.
Range/Duration: Self plus one companion. A few strides up to the span of a building.

Distant Arrival

Purpose/How It Works: Distant Arrival relocates the caster and chosen companions along a fully defined destination pattern rather than ordinary travelled route.
Notable Exceptions: Poor knowledge of the endpoint, active anti-transit wards, and unstable ley conditions make misarrival a real hazard. A jump beyond regional distance is feasible only when both anchors are drawn through grand confluences, so the longest crossings are rare and tied to a few sites.
Example Use: Archmages leave the burning citadel and arrive breathless in the tower they prepared months ago.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by destination anchors, ley alignment, and very high caster reserves or stored transit charge.
Casting Methods: Full relocation cast, a few breaths. Prepared transit circle, a long chant.
Range/Duration: Self and companions. From nearby to very far, depending on anchor quality.

Transit Circle

Purpose/How It Works: Transit Circle establishes a stable repeatable arrival and departure node between prepared sites.
Notable Exceptions: It is built work, not improvisation. Once mapped, it is a prize armies fight over.
Example Use: An empire keeps three confluence-seated cities linked despite mountains and winter sea.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by fixed geometry, anchor marks, stored charge, and the caster's reserves or the stored power of a temple or great house.
Casting Methods: Circle activation, a short chant. Permanent installation rite, a day's ritual.
Range/Duration: Between prepared circles. Passage takes an instant; the circle stands permanently.

Wide Gate

Purpose/How It Works: Wide Gate opens a visible paired portal that remains stable long enough for many creatures or cargo loads to pass.
Notable Exceptions: It is highly visible, difficult to conceal, and disastrous if the anchor points shift mid-use.
Example Use: A sellsword company ringed on a hilltop steps out through a gate opened into the forest behind the besiegers.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by fixed geometry, anchor marks, stored charge, and the caster's reserves or the stored power of a temple or great house.
Casting Methods: Gate-casting, a few breaths. Circle-linked release, a short chant.
Range/Duration: Two prepared or sighted anchor points. A few moments to a short while.

In the Writers’ Guide

The Schools of Magic FoundationsThe Compound Schools, The Common Spells
Conjured Constructs A Bestiary of Caeldon
Crow-Scarers A Bestiary of Caeldon
Familiars A Bestiary of Caeldon
Field Bulwarks A Bestiary of Caeldon
Glossary Foundations