The Chromatic Chord

Trace Magic

The Harmonic school of the Whispering Trace, concerned with what remains after departure, damage, death, or loss. See The Schools of Magic.

Philosophy

Trace Magic concerns what remains after departure, damage, death, or loss. It does not primarily command death itself. It works instead with the soft residue that events leave in the Whispering Trace: shadows, echoes, scents of presence, the after-weight of feeling, and the loosening of attachment.

Its practitioners are trackers, mourners, spies, undertakers, ghost-scholars, and those who work at thresholds of absence. They are taught restraint, because too much force in this school becomes erasure rather than release.

Example Places of Study

  • The House of Quiet Footfalls: A school for thief-takers, scouts, and those who would rather not be seen.
  • The Grey Lantern Mortuary: Undertakers and trace-readers who study lingering presences.
  • The Veiled Steps: A monastic order of mourning houses, focused on grief rites and release.
  • The Echo Wardens: Wandering readers who hunt hauntings and the residue of bad workings, hired by villages that hear their dead at night.
  • The Dusk Archive: Scholars of remnants, memorial objects, and death-adjacent phenomena.

Common Spells

Shadow Fold · Cold Trace · Footfall Blur · Afterimage · Grief Sense · Echo Tap · Scent Unmake · Lantern of Remains · Veil Step · Mourners' Quiet · Ash Memory · Fade Mark · Lingering Hand · Shadow Thread · Pall of Dusk · Revenant Warning · Release Knot · Ghost Light · Silhouette Bind · Memory Ash · Last Breath · Funeral Sleep · Trail of the Lost · Dusk Gate

Typical Cost/Power Source (every spell): Usually fed by shadow, residual emotion, recent traces, and the caster's reserves; dusk, quiet spaces, and sites of loss strengthen the effect.

Shadow Fold

Purpose/How It Works
Shadow Fold deepens existing darkness and bends attention away from what it covers.
Notable Exceptions
Bright direct light weakens it sharply.
Example Use
A scout vanishes against a doorway recess while patrols pass.
Casting Methods
Cloaking gesture, a few heartbeats. Hood or cloak focus, a few breaths.
Range/Duration
Self or a small patch of shadow. Moments to a short while.

Cold Trace

Purpose/How It Works
Cold Trace detects recent passage by reading displaced temperature residue and lingering absence.
Notable Exceptions
Crowded or sun-warmed ground muddies the trail.
Example Use
Bounty-takers learn which tunnel the outlaw fled down less than an hour ago.
Casting Methods
Ground-touch read, a few breaths. Breath-cooling focus, a few slow breaths.
Range/Duration
The ground close around. A brief reading, held while the caster sustains it.

Footfall Blur

Purpose/How It Works
Footfall Blur softens sound, footprint clarity, and minor physical signs of passage.
Notable Exceptions
It cannot hide broken branches or major environmental disturbance.
Example Use
A poacher crosses the lord's wood over dry leaves without leaving a trail for the foresters.
Casting Methods
Self-wrap cast, a few heartbeats. Boot or sole charm, at once when prepared.
Range/Duration
Self. A short while, up to an hour.

Afterimage

Purpose/How It Works
Afterimage leaves a fading false position or motion trail behind the caster.
Notable Exceptions
The trail deceives the eye; touch and smell still find where the caster really stands.
Example Use
A knife-fighter causes opponents to strike the place they occupied a heartbeat ago.
Casting Methods
Step-and-shed cast, a heartbeat. Mirror dust focus, a few breaths.
Range/Duration
Self. A few heartbeats.

Grief Sense

Purpose/How It Works
Grief Sense detects recent bereavement, violent loss, or unresolved mourning in people or places.
Notable Exceptions
It reads emotional residue, not objective cause.
Example Use
A mourner-priest knows which chamber held the deathwatch.
Casting Methods
Quiet sensing pause, a few heartbeats. Candle or token focus, a few slow breaths.
Range/Duration
Room or immediate vicinity. Brief reading.

Echo Tap

Purpose/How It Works
Echo Tap hears residual sound impressed into a place by strong repeated or emotional events.
Notable Exceptions
Overused public spaces are noisy with overlapping residue.
Example Use
A thief-taker hears the tail end of the name a murdered man shouted at his killer.
Casting Methods
Palm-to-wall listening, a few breaths. Bell or shell focus, a longer listening.
Range/Duration
Touch. Short residual playback.

Scent Unmake

Purpose/How It Works
Scent Unmake removes, diffuses, or confuses smell traces so pursuit by scent becomes difficult.
Notable Exceptions
Fresh blood and heavy musk still leave partial trace.
Example Use
Fugitives cross a kennel yard without giving hounds a clean line.
Casting Methods
Brushed air cast, a few heartbeats. Ash or herb masking blend, a few slow breaths.
Range/Duration
Self or small area. Lasts from a short while to most of a night.

Lantern of Remains

Purpose/How It Works
Lantern of Remains reveals residual magical impressions, emotional scars, and faded presences in dim visible light.
Notable Exceptions
It shows traces, not full explanations.
Example Use
A death-reader finds where a cult's ritual circle stood before they scrubbed the cellar floor.
Casting Methods
Lantern or flame cast, a few breaths. Hand-light conjuring, a few heartbeats.
Range/Duration
A room. Lasts while the caster maintains it.

Veil Step

Purpose/How It Works
Veil Step lets the caster move through dimness with reduced notice and softened presence.
Notable Exceptions
It is not invisibility under hard scrutiny or bright noon light.
Example Use
A spy crosses torchlit gaps only when shadow lines overlap.
Casting Methods
Stepping cast, a heartbeat. Hooded lamp focus, a few heartbeats.
Range/Duration
Self. From several steps to a short while.

Mourners' Quiet

Purpose/How It Works
Mourners' Quiet dampens loud emotional outburst in a room, softening hysteria, wailing, or panic.
Notable Exceptions
It should not be mistaken for full emotional healing.
Example Use
Undertakers calm a hall so last rites can be heard.
Casting Methods
Spoken hush, a few heartbeats. Bell or censer rite, a minute's chant.
Range/Duration
Small room. A short while.

Ash Memory

Purpose/How It Works
Ash Memory reads the final moments of a burned object from what still clings to ash and scorch.
Notable Exceptions
Total annihilation leaves little to read.
Example Use
A burned letter yields enough of its last intact lines to identify the sender.
Casting Methods
Ash touch, a few breaths. Tray and breath rite, a short chant.
Range/Duration
Touch. One brief residual reconstruction.

Fade Mark

Purpose/How It Works
Fade Mark causes a written sign, footprint, or superficial trace to disappear rapidly.
Notable Exceptions
Deep carving and official inscriptions resist it.
Example Use
Smugglers erase dock symbols before inspectors arrive.
Casting Methods
Wiping cast, a few heartbeats. Dusting gesture, a few breaths.
Range/Duration
Touch or arm's reach. Fades within moments or a short while.

Lingering Hand

Purpose/How It Works
Lingering Hand interacts briefly with weak residual presence, moving a remnant object or answering a tiny unfinished impulse.
Notable Exceptions
It does not summon full ghosts.
Example Use
A dead scholar's last habit turns one page farther for the delver who found him.
Casting Methods
Slow reach cast, a few breaths. Relic focus, a short murmured chant.
Range/Duration
Touch or close by. A few moments.

Shadow Thread

Purpose/How It Works
Shadow Thread tracks a target by the darkness they displaced, left behind, or repeatedly moved through.
Notable Exceptions
Bright open terrain weakens the thread.
Example Use
Night hunters follow a fugitive through alleys after rain destroys footprints.
Casting Methods
Hand-to-shadow read, a few breaths. Thread or cord focus, a short chant.
Range/Duration
A trail, as far as it runs. Holds from a short while to a long night's pursuit.

Pall of Dusk

Purpose/How It Works
Pall of Dusk casts a wider field of concealment, muting visibility, colour, and recognition across an area.
Notable Exceptions
It hinders allies as well if used carelessly.
Example Use
A graveyard disappears into grey half-light while the grave-wardens close round the body-thieves.
Casting Methods
Area cloak cast, a few breaths. Anchor-circle rite, a minute's chant.
Range/Duration
Courtyard or lane. A short while.

Revenant Warning

Purpose/How It Works
Revenant Warning detects the risk that death residue may harden into hostile lingering presence.
Notable Exceptions
It predicts potential, not certainty.
Example Use
After the battle, the priests burn one body before nightfall instead of burying it with the rest.
Casting Methods
Corpse-side sensing, a few breaths. Candle chain rite, a minute's chant.
Range/Duration
One corpse, chamber, or battlefield pocket. Brief reading.

Release Knot

Purpose/How It Works
Release Knot severs a weak clinging remnant from a place, corpse, or object so it can soften and depart.
Notable Exceptions
Deep trauma or deliberate bindings resist release.
Example Use
A house stops whispering after a child's frightened remnant is gently untied.
Casting Methods
Knotting-and-cutting gesture, a few breaths. Grave-thread rite, a minute's chant or longer.
Range/Duration
Touch or close by. Usually permanent if successful.

Ghost Light

Purpose/How It Works
Ghost Light produces a cold pale light that guides without heat and often reveals trace disturbance.
Notable Exceptions
It is a poor torch substitute in storm or glare.
Example Use
Delvers' guides lead through collapsed catacombs without smoke or flame to wake what sleeps there.
Casting Methods
Finger-light cast, a few heartbeats. Lantern housing focus, a few breaths.
Range/Duration
Handheld to room light. Burns from a short while to a night.

Silhouette Bind

Purpose/How It Works
Silhouette Bind pins a target by fastening their shadow or outline to a surface.
Notable Exceptions
It weakens in diffuse light and on broken terrain.
Example Use
A fleeing thief freezes against a wall when their shadow is caught.
Casting Methods
Point-and-pin cast, a few heartbeats. Marked floor bind, a few slow breaths.
Range/Duration
Across a room or a yard. Holds moments, sometimes a little longer.

Memory Ash

Purpose/How It Works
Memory Ash reduces a recent event to difficult, frayed recollection by scattering its emotional sharpness and sequence.
Notable Exceptions
It is ethically dangerous and poor against strong memories or records.
Example Use
A spy blunts the memory of a guard who caught only a glimpse.
Casting Methods
Ash-cast over onlooker or scene, a few breaths. Brazier rite, a minute's chant.
Range/Duration
One target or small scene. Lasts from a short while to a day.

Last Breath

Purpose/How It Works
Last Breath preserves a dying person's final words or tone for brief later hearing.
Notable Exceptions
It cannot create words the dying never managed to form.
Example Use
A son hears his mother's last warning after arriving too late.
Casting Methods
Mouth or throat touch, a few heartbeats. Vial or shell capture, a short chant.
Range/Duration
Touch at the point of death. Kept from a short while to days, depending on vessel.

Funeral Sleep

Purpose/How It Works
Funeral Sleep quiets a corpse, remnant, or chamber against disturbance, twitching, or weak restless motion.
Notable Exceptions
It is not full exorcism.
Example Use
Tomb attendants keep a burial hall peaceful through the night vigil.
Casting Methods
Corpse-side lull cast, a few breaths. Full chamber rite, a short rite.
Range/Duration
Body or room. Through a night, or for days.

Trail of the Lost

Purpose/How It Works
Trail of the Lost reveals the path taken by one who vanished in fear, panic, or grief by following emotional disturbance rather than physical sign.
Notable Exceptions
It weakens once the target regains calm.
Example Use
Rescuers find a missing child in the woods before frost sets in.
Casting Methods
Token or garment focus, a few slow breaths. Search party rite, a short rite.
Range/Duration
A search route across fields or woods. Holds through a long search.

Dusk Gate

Purpose/How It Works
Dusk Gate opens a narrow passage through liminal shadow, allowing brief crossing between adjacent dark-linked spaces.
Notable Exceptions
It requires paired shadow, threshold, or dusk conditions and is highly unstable under bright interruption.
Example Use
A thief passes from the chapel crypt to the graveyard wall without crossing the watched courtyard.
Casting Methods
Threshold cast, a few slow breaths. Prepared dusk anchor rite, a long rite.
Range/Duration
A short linked passage. Open a few heartbeats, rarely longer than a short chant.

In the Writers’ Guide

See Also