The Houses of Swansgrave

Students of Swansgrave are placed into one of five houses based on aptitudes as assessed on entry. House membership determines what magic a student first learns and their housing arrangements. Unlike some other schools, house rivalries are much more subdued, with Covey rivalries being more pronounced.

House Ardsmith

Crest:The Hound in Green and Gold

Aptitude: Runestry (Object and Place Magic)

High Concept: Honest and Reliable

Trouble: Blunt and Bossy

Foci: Ring

House Briarbrook

Crest: The Hare in Violet and Silver

Aptitude: Hexcraft (Blessings and Curses)

High Concept: Clever and Graceful

Trouble: Scheming and Vengeful

Foci: Athame

House Drakenwyck

Crest: The Salamander in Red and Copper

Aptitude: Elementalism (The Classical Elements and Plants)

High Concept: Brave and Selfless

Trouble: Reckless and Insensitive

Foci: Wand

House Morrowmead

Crest: The Bee in Yellow and Black

Aptitude: Biomancy (Life and Death Magic)

High Concept: Diligent and Thoughtful

Trouble: Tender and Odd

Foci: Amulet

House Palhaust

Crest: The Owl in Blue and White

Aptitude: Cognica (Sensory and Mental Magic)

High Concept: Inquisitive and Organized

Trouble: Analytical and Anxious

Foci: Charm

Skills List

1: Academics: Formal education and learning of the mundane world, including literature, mathematics, history and the sciences.

2: Athletics: Physical training including running, swimming, sports participation and avoiding harm.

3: Awareness: General perception of ones environment, both with mundane senses and sensitivity of eldritch phenomena.

4: Crafts: Creating, building or repairing objects, usually requiring tools of some kind, and knowledge of the use and operation of manufactured items.

5: Esoterica: The knowledge of Eldritch phenomena and magic. This skill is used when casting all spells.

6; Fighting: Combat at melee rages, both with or without a weapon.

7: Larceny: Unsavory skills such a pick pocketing, lock picking, or general slight of hand. This also covers knowledge of criminals and criminality overall.

8: Physique: Raw physical power and endurance, covering both strength and the ability to resist disease, pain or injury to the body.

9: Pilot: Operating vehicles and their general maintenance. This skill is also used for remotely controlling anything and for riding animals.

10: Precision: Fine motor skills and precise aiming. This skill is used for shooting a firearm or delicate work.

11: Savvy: The ability to read or conceal emotions and intentions. Used to both lie and detect lies and also for deduction.

12: Socialize: Interaction with groups of people and navigating social systems and bureaucracies.

13 Will: Metal and emotional fortitude. This skill is used when performing a Gather action.

Traditions of Magic: Hokum

The most basic of spells, Hokum are the first magics that a student learns in Swansgrave. In fact, in order to move on from the junior school and enter the upper classes, a student must solve a series of 7 puzzles using Hokum spells applied with both skill and creativity. In Upper Classes, student no longer formally study Hokum, but it proves useful day to day, often for the entirety of a Magi's life. While the effects are very minor and quite restricted in their direct applications. Hokum does not require the careful focus and precision of other magics and also runs no risk of taint. Magi are still expected to abide by The Oath Obscuring, refraining from the use of even Hokum when in the presence of Frails.

While Hokum is capable of numerous, useful effects, it does have the following basic restrictions:

1. Direct line of sight is needed for any effects, with a maximum range of 10 meters.
2. No foci are required, but the Magus needs to be able to vocalize and have at least one hand free for casting. Casters can attempt to conceal what they are doing.
3. Effects can distract but can not do any lasting harm. Combat applications are severely limited.
4. Effects are typically fleeting.
5. Hokum spells cannot be Darkcast, do not risk Corruption and the Magi cannot Gather before casting. The difficulty is typically 0 to 2.

Some possible Hokum spells.

1. Cause a nearby candle to light or be snuffed.
2. Fill an empty glass with cool, clean water.
3. Fill a bowl with nutritious, plain gruel.
4. Repair a hand sized object for which all the parts are present.
5. Simple telekinesis of objects no more than 1 Kilo.
6. Cause a pen to float and transcribe what is said onto paper.
7. A small illusion lasting no more than 10 seconds, effecting up to two senses.
8. Calming a skittish but not threatening animal.
9. Alleviating minor ailments, such as headaches or superficial cuts and scrapes.
10. Changing the color of one's hair, eyes, or clothing.
11. Placing or revealing a Witchmark.
12. Clean and disinfecting a surface or clothing that is no more than moderately soiled.
13. Increase the volume of ones voice
14. Improve one's acuity as if one had just had a strong cup of coffee.
15. Copy a document by laying a clean sheet of paper upon it.
16. Gently warm a plate of food.
17. Cool or warm one's own body moderately.
18. Accurately mimic an animal call or someone's voice for up to 30 seconds.
19. Affix or undo ones own clothing.
20. Moderately improve recall of memories of the last 24 hours.

Magic: Reality and What Awaits Outside of It.

Excerpts from a lecture for first year students by Dr Hector DeSoto, Head Consul of Swansgrave Academy for Eldritch Studies. 

In simple terms we exist within the universe, an enclosed system which adheres to observable and codifiable "rules" which we shall for this conversation refer to as "Science." In this way you have cause and effect, gravity, linear time, physics, and so on and so on. All of these rules are interwoven, each working with and dependent on each other in a vast web. Rational. Predictable. Knowable.

Now our universe, which in our parlance is called Creation, floats like a soap bubble in an infinite, inky sea of Uncreation. Outside of Creation, the rules and expectations that science can quantify do not exist. Its substance and logic is antithetical to the human mind, so much so that any who attempt to peer beyond the veil endanger their minds and the rare few who have left Creation and ventured beyond have be obliterated utterly.

The barrier between Creation and Uncreation, while resistant, is not wholly impermeable, and as a result, traces of Uncreation intrude into Creation. While moral terms to such invasions are inaccurate, it is correct to view them as malignant, as by their nature they disrupt and corrupt Creation's natural order. When these forces infect or alter existing location, organisms or systems, the result is typically called a Ridden. Chimera, Therianthropes, and Blemmyae are all examples of Ridden. Sometimes, lifeforms, in sometimes a very loose sense of the term, existing in Uncreation make their way across the barrier into our reality. These are called Outsiders, of which Merrow, Rakshasa, and Errantani are all examples.

The most pervasive effect of Uncreation on Creation is the existence of Magic, the study of which is of course central here at Swansgrave, For the vast majority of humanity, encounters with eldritch phenomena or magic cannot be rationally processed by the mind. This results in either memory loss of encounters or deep seated trauma. Some have taken to calling the mass of humanity "Frails" due to this weakness, but such slurs are not tolerated here in Swansgrave.  For a sliver of humanity, the ability to withstand and harness magic exists, in the form of Magi, of which we are all examples. Magi make up less than 0.001% of the overall population, and are evenly distributed regardless of gender or heritage. Some, such as first generation offspring of Magi, may manifest as Nulls, who have the mental fortitude to encounter Magic and the like, but have no aptitude to use it themselves.

Now the intrusion of Uncreation is primarily without direction, most akin to random leaks in a roof. However some of these intrusions appear to be guided by monolithic, alien awarenesses which are known as The Elder Dark. While overall the Elder Dark is inscrutable to even the most learned Magi, scholars have attributed Aspects to its influence in an effort to combat it more effectively. The cataloged Aspects are: The Tower, Mother Loam, The Oneiroi, The Firebringer, Lord of Bones, The Hungerer, and The Clocksmith. Combating the Elder Dark to safeguard Creation from their influence is the purpose of this school and your training.