Since apparently some people here aren't particularly familar with the Ordinal Spiral, here's a primer/infodump on the subject. You pick one of two spells at each Ordinal. As an alternative to picking a new spell, you can upgrade a previously acquired spell. Spells are like musical instruments. Specialization is strongly encouraged. Spells have a high level of meta-protection. Practicing the Ordinal Spiral provides some level of Cognitive Enhancement/Wits cultivation. Periodically unlocked attainments are abilities unique to the individual. Haeliel used TSH to take the Ordinal Spiral beyond the bounds of its original power with massive amounts of Attainments. Some of this is copypasted.
Edit: Extending on this a bit, there's the Rite of Absorption, which allows Ordinalists to gain magical development from slain foes, and perhaps another rite for those who reject it as a hypothetical 0th Ordinal. There is the Rite of Ordinal Purism, which means if you forsake all other magic systems, your development in Ordinalism is improved.
Actually, a reality warping effect with poor meta-defense like M:tA / M:tAw would be trumped utterly by the Ordinal Spiral, which has Nobilis+ level meta defense. This is apparent in Ordinal Adept nigh-immunity to non-Dominion mind magics, for example (such as those granted by Conjoiner powers).
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Actually, a reality warping effect with poor meta-defense like M:tA / M:tAw would be trumped utterly by the Ordinal Spiral, which has Nobilis+ level meta defense. This is apparent in Ordinal Adept nigh-immunity to non-Dominion mind magics, for example (such as those granted by Conjoiner powers).
1. Seeker/Shield
2. Conjure/Construct
3. Elements/Examine
4. Dominion/Dispel
5. Augury/Accelerate
6. Lance/Legion
7. Terrascape/Teleport - 1st Attainment Unlocked
8. Overwhelm/Oathsworn
9. Nightmare/Nexus
10. Vindicate/Valor
11. Wyrd/War
12. Radiance/Revenant
Goes up to 26.
1. The First Ordinal, Seeker/Shield [25 XP]
Seeker - The user fires, typically from an appendage, a focused missile of magical force. Though relatively slow (10-200+ mph depending on skill), the missile is quite powerful and highly responsive to the caster's guidance. The Seeker spell is easy to cast and even practitioners of moderate skill can maintain multiple Seekers to home in on an enemy. Most importantly, the Seeker spell can be combined with a number of other spells, allowing the user to exert fine control and continuous guidance over a number of higher Ordinals. The Lance spell can be made to split into multiple smaller beams, each of which homes in on an enemy, or the Elemental Fire spell can launch a searing explosion shaped to spare one's allies.
Shield - The user generates a coating of protective energy around their body. It is selectively permeable and skilled users can remain under a continuous shield without penalizing their day-to-day living, save for the Ordinal Slot committed. Extremely easy to cast, the Shield spell is resilient to errors and provides at least some degree of protection from virtually all forms of harm. It can adopt the qualities of a highly supple or highly rigid material seemingly at whim. Most importantly, the Shield spell can be combined with a number of other spells, imparting conceptual qualities of improved convenience and defensive versatility upon a number of higher Ordinals. The user can envelop themselves in an otherwise impermable Construct barrier without suffocating, or clad themselves in armor of Elemental Stone with far fewer practical obstructions.
2. The Second Ordinal, Conjure/Construct [50 XP]
Conjure - The user retrieves an item from, or deposits an item to, an extradimensional storage space. Virtually all parameters (speed, size of space, etc) improve with skill. Minds capable of perceiving a Spirit (almost all animals) cannot be deposited. Despite the spell's simplicity, it's extremely useful for obvious reasons.
Construct - The user projects and controls a crude object of magical force attached to their body. Virtually all parameters (strength, degree of control, fineness of construction, size of construct) improve with skill. Swords, appendages, armor, crude mechanisms are all possible. Despite the spell's simplicity, it's extremely useful for obvious reasons.
3. The Third Ordinal, Elements/Examine [100 XP]
Elements - The seven elements are Air, Fire, Earth, Water, Metal, Wood, and Gamma Radiation. Users are discouraged from choosing Gamma Radiation as their element. The user chooses one Element when selecting this Form. The user may launch an explosive orb of the element, affecting a large radius, or raise a barrier of the element. In addition, they are highly resistant to harm from their chosen element. A skilled practitioner can shape their element to a degree somewhat approaching the versatility of the Construct Spell. Each purchase of a Specialist Form grants an additional Element, on top of the standard bonuses of a Specialist Form. A combatant with this Form is extremely devastating; even unskilled practitioners can bring down buildings with sustained effort.
Examine - The user gains a resource pool of superhuman perception that can be focused to provide detailed information about an object, dispersed to grant awareness of surrounding objects, or sent out to remotely view a location. Useful in class. An operative with this Form is extremely devastating; even unskilled practitioners can eavesdrop on a secure conversation, while on a different floor of an adjacent building. Ordinal magicians of the third level and higher can sense the presence of Remote or Focused Examination.
4. Dominion is a mind control technique. Dispel is a countermagic technique
5. Augury is a self-targeted danger sense/precognition. Accelerate is temporal acceleration.
6. Lance is a high precision cutting energy of considerable destructive power. Legion lets you split off into various clones of yourself. Pick two(Number of Bodies, magical power Preservation, and maintaining intelligence.
The Gardens of Enoch: Terrascape Academy Original)
7. The 7th Ordinal, Terrascape/Teleport
Terrascape - Like a reality marble I guess.
High Skill - Create advantageous terrain for yourself and screw over enemies, sense everything inside your Terrascape, moderate physical shifting of the terrain
Very High Skill w/ Specialist Forms - Moderately alter the laws of reality (symmetrical, though), pierce almost all concealment magics inside your Terrascape, extremely potent physical shifting of the terrain, cause lifeforms to spawn as cannon fodder, other weird crap
8. The 8th Ordinal, Oathsworn/Overwhelm (Seeker applicable)
Overwhelm - The user may fire blasts of reality-warping energy. This attack is relatively slow, but exceptionally dangerous, as depending on relative magical might, presence and quality of Vitalist artifacts in one's system, and relative WILL scores, it can serve as an "instant-kill" attack against which the Shield Form performs only partial defense. Effect can be shaped (into beams, omnidirectional bursts, etc) with sufficient Skill. Seeker allows blasts to dynamically change shape and alter direction according to your programming.
Medium Skill: Parts struck can be transformed into glass, plasma, edible vegetation or ash.
High Skill / Specialization: Larger variety of transformation states (Governance unsure what the rules are, few people take Overwhelm), likely including some or all of the seven Elements
Very High Skill / Specialization: Effects somewhat similar to the reality alterations of a Terrascape are possible. Unlike a Terrascape, these effects persist until overwritten or dispelled.
Oathsworn - The user may swear oaths involving themselves and another party. You would only be able to swear oaths that place no obligation on you, else they would fail due to RHoG. Some portion of one or both character's MIND, BODY, or WILL scores may be put up as collateral or voluntarily transferred. The spirit, rather than letter, of the compact is enforced. It is unsure what entity judges this. Use of the Oathsworn Form either completely exhausts the character's Ordinal magic for an amount of time depending on Skill and stakes (usually between several days / hours), or costs a small but permanent fraction of the character's Ordinal power well. The latter is often chosen because most fights are too large for magical endurance to come into play, but some spells require it. Of course, overuse can result in total loss of Ordinal power; an unsavory proposition.
Medium Skill: A character may accrue stats of up to peak human with this spell
High Skill / Specialization: Skills can be traded to some degree. A character may accrue stats somewhat above peak human.
Very High Skill / Specialization: Abstract concepts can be traded with varying levels of success. Vitalist organs have successfully been traded in the past, at severe cost.
9. The 9th Ordinal, Nightmare(Seeker/Shield Applicable)/Nexus
Nightmare - The user summons a semi-illusory creature of immense magic and physical might. The creature will either guard the character with its life or follow programmed instructions (for you, both). You may also program it to defend someone else, or some thing, or even an ideal, with its life (only you may do this). So long as you have Multicasting to maintain another spell alongside this one, nothing stops you from fighting alongside the creature. Should the creature be destroyed, its respawn time depends on Skill and specialization.
At every Skill-Rank ending in .0, the creature's physical parameters and raw magical power increase.
At every Skill-Rank ending in .5, the creature gains a Trait. Traits include:
*Skill - The creature has a high-Ranking Combat Skill
*Sense - The creature has some form of extrasensory perception, usually very powerful. Weak precog, spatial radar, conceptual bloodhound, etc.
*Movement - The creature has some form of augmented movement, usually very powerful. Phasing, dimensional tunneling, extreme speed flight, teleportation etc
*Might - The creature either has "magical resistance" scaling with its strength, or an EP 7.5 Conjoiner power.
*Vainglory - The creature is awesome and terrible to behold, affecting characters who perceive it unfilitered according to the higher of their MIND and WILL scores. You are unaffected by this and cannot perceive it.
Reports of multiple Nightmares sighted from a single caster are unconfirmed, but persistent rumors stir campus. Surely such a student would be well known?
Nexus - This Form seems to have something to do with designing Ordinal Rites. The Rite of Purity and Rite of Absorption were not created this was, but the Name Rite and the Humaniform Rite were. Christianten has this. This Form is almost totally useless in combat.
10. The 10th Ordinal, Valour/Vindicate (Seeker/Shield Applicability unknown on Valour, Arthur got Valor and we got to see some more detailed build options for it))
Vindicate - The user may unmake objects or events, restricted by the conceptual 'strength' of the object in question. People or parts of people can be unmade. Events can be unmade in part or in whole, but energy requirements scale dramatically with time elapsed. An attack could be unmade to the degree that the character it slew is resurrected. A person could be unmade utterly, but erasing their entire history would require unrealistic quantities of Ordinal power. Erasing the contingent effects of an event, such as memories, is possible but increases difficulty and energy cost.
At high enough levels of Skill and Specialization, virtually any effect can be negated, un-done, or reversed. All but the smallest applications of this Ordinal are extremely taxing on a character's Ordinal well. This Ordinal is exceptionally difficult to perform, even for its rank. However, because it can be used to say "I told you so" while avoiding the real-world consequences of such, it is highly popular among Ordinal archmagi (or so Christianten's notes claim).
Imperia has this.
Valour - The user summons the Perishing Blade. The Perishing Blade has a number of Facets unique to its user and skill level. The Perishing Blade is an almost unbelievably powerful weapon capable of slaying most third years in a single blow. Only one character may wield the Perishing Blade at a time; priority is given to those with the higher composite Skill, Specializations, and some unique factor accounting for the character's identity. Recorded Facets of the Perishing Blade (it is unknown which are unique and which general, because only one character survives who is known to wield it. Wielders of this Form are incentivized to kill each other for obvious reasons.):
Greatly amplify the character's other Ordinal Magic
Emit a tidal wave of semi-liquid flame / destructive energy
Grant the user Grandmastery (Swords)
Cuts through anything (?)
Renders user immune to all Conjoiner powers (?)
Imperia tells you that Foxglove has this.
11. The 11th Ordinal, Wyrd/War (Seeker/Shield Applicability unknown on both)
Wyrd - The user becomes immutable for the duration of spellcasting. They do not age, breathe, eat, sleep, or drink. They are unhindered by wounds except those that would cause them to become unable to cast this spell. Their arm could be severed and it would simply hang off in mid-air, following the user's shoulder and performing actions as normal. It could be reduced to dust and the dust particulates would hang frozen in the shape of an arm, performing actions as normal. This spell can be activated after being wounded to receive similar benefits.
This includes brain injuries that do not specifically damage the parts of the mind required to cast this spell. Conceptual strength of 'immutability' and ease of maintenance scale with Skill and Specialization. Probably. There are likely other effects of Skill and Specialization that this spell grants, but they are unknown because no one has it, as far as Christianten knows.
War - The user becomes a nigh-invincible god-beast of destruction with multiple unique powers, supposedly. This allegedly always stacks with other forms of self-enhancing magic, no matter how improbable. No one has ever managed to actually cast this, as far as Christianten knows, or maybe if they did Imperia removed that event. Or maybe it's the Nettlespine. Of course, with Skill Boost you are practically guaranteed to be able to cast it at some level, but who knows, really?
(Imperia tells you it's not the Nettlespine. But can you trust her on this? What a coup it would be, to be thought a Conjoiner or a Vitalist, and to have been an Ordinalist all along... !)
