Arcana: Magic

Broken Sword

A school of magic for Everway

by Erikku Amundsen

"I may never see peace in my time, but I can make sure that you never again wage war. For now, that will have to suffice." --Ruby, supposed founder of the School of the Broken Sword

Element: Fire

Broken Sword is based on the philosophy that if violence feeds upon itself, it can also choke. This school teaches that warfare is an inherently flawed state of being and that its tools and participants are no less flawed. Initiates begin by learning how to harness their own capacity for aggression and how to sense the flaws inherent in that state. As they advance, initiates learn to focus their own violence into the flaws in weapons, armor, and even the fighting spirit of their adversaries. A powerful mage of the Broken Sword school often finds him or herself alternately highly sought after and heavily sanctioned in his or her Realm.

An ages-old debate continues within Broken Sword circles: Attack a Broken Sword mage with the famous sword the Edge of Light and Darkness. Would the blade shatter, or could the sword wielder first separate the magic from the mage...?

Initiates are carefully chosen based on two, seemingly paradoxical criteria. First, the initiate must possess a direct personal need for vengeance or freedom from oppression. Second, the initiated must be compassionate and hate violence. The frustrated rage born of these two qualities coexisting in a person's spirit is the fuel which fires this magic. Magi of Broken Sword focus their magic through violent action, usually through single strikes with the broken bladed swords they traditionally carry. In fact, any weapon of war, when wielded by a practitioner of this school, will break on the first swing (thus, a number of apprentices of this art were able to ruin an entire armory in one night, according to one account). This byproduct of the magic seems to take intent into account, since Broken Sword magi may hunt using a bow or sling, or fell a tree with an axe. By the time an Initiate's apprenticeship has ended (at the level of Average Mage), he or she is no longer able to injure an opponent in combat. Instead the magic focuses the violence toward destroying that opponent's ability to fight, breaking weapons, numbing appendages, blunting claws, or otherwise hampering their ability to fight.

This school is aligned with Fire, though most Broken Sword magi also possess a strong Water score. The magic is a nightmare to those who would wage war unjustly.

	Magic Power Levels
	At this magic level, a mage can: 1 Apprentice: Manifest their rage and aggression as a nimbus of orange-red light. This light is not terribly useful for purposes of vision, but can be fairly intimidating. It has no other effect. 2 Weak Mage: Detect the flaws in an item of war, such as a sword, suit of armor, siege engine or wall. The mage may also gain some general insight into the flaws in the fighting style of an opponent. 3 Average Mage: Strike an opponent to hamper their ability to fight--break a weapon or piece of armor, blunt (temporarily) natural weaponry, or numb (also temporarily) an attacking appendage. The magic will always seek to break weapons first, and the mage cannot elect not to use this power when attacking. At this point, this power will always activate when the mage is striking, unless the mage specifically chooses to use a different power in this school. 4 Gifted Mage: Gain greater insight into the style of an opponent and the flaws in their method and motivations for fighting. 5 Powerful Mage: Land a mighty strike on an opponent. This strike, which must be done with a loud shout, causes no injury greater than an insignificant bruise, but frightens the recipient of the strike. The opponent so struck will at least lose their next action and will probably seek to escape the mage's proximity. 6 Mighty Mage: Rain a flurry of blows down upon an opponent, reducing their equipment to nothing, and momentarily stunning the target. Most Broken Sword magi will follow this attack up with a fear strike as outlined above. 7 Legendary Mage: Strike an opponent who remains uninjured but loses the desire to fight except in self defense. If left alone, the target will probably leave the area of conflict entirely, shaken and confused. Certain rituals or schools of magic may be able to restore the fighting spirit to a person so affected. 8 Supreme Mage: Discorporate into a cloud of tiny lights, resembling fireflies. Any weapon or piece of armor which comes in contact with one of these lights is broken. A mage with an average Earth may remain in this state for about ten minutes. 9 Archmage: Strike and destroy structures of war, war machines, and enchanted weapons and armor. 10 Avatar: Scream, destroying every piece of war-related equipment within the sound of the mage's voice. All belligerents within earshot are affected as if by the fear strike. At this level the mage has become an immortal energy form dedicated to peace by any means necessary.

The symbols associated with this school are a sword with a broken blade and the firefly.

Broken Sword copyright © 1998 Erikku Amundsen. Used with permission.