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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 9271696" data-attributes="member: 63">The general concept of 'magic derived from the word of El the Eternal' is called kelma. Some of the foundational bedrocks of kelma are:Testaments - Seven very old stones, irregular in shape but weighing a few tons, inscribed in early language, conveying messages from seven angels to the original 'chosen people' of El the Eternal. These are basic things, not legalese. Stuff like, "El the Eternal protects your seven tribes from your enemies if you keep His covenant." Or, "The green garden of paradise awaits those who serve El the Eternal, but those who defy Him shall be cast into a black garden of eternal punishment."Then El the Eternal tried to wipe out all those who were not His chosen people by sending a great flood upon the desert, protecting His people in seven great arks. But the other tribes sent champions who boarded these arks, take hostages, and threaten to kill them if El the Eternal did not end the deluge. And then one had the bright idea to go further: make me Your high priest, and share Your boons with us, or we will leave You with none to worship You.From that point on, there was always a 'Logos,' a high priest of El the Eternal who could, once per day, speak words into stone. Those then took two main forms.Commandments - A big, important stone that looks like the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. They typically are all kept in the capital city atop the Tower of Babel-style ziggurat that is the center of religious power. They might have a few associated decrees created across several days, which apply within a 3 mile radius, or which bestow powers to those who attain certain stations.Dictates - A small stone tablet, 1 cubit across, whose power extends only 12 cubits. The vast majority of days, the Logos would create just a dictate, which could be given as a gift to a village or to a prominent family to give some small boon to their home.Then there are variations:Ra-Urum - A very small clay tablet, 6 inches across, which can be worn on necklaces. They're basically magic items that let the wearer function as the focus of a dictate, so they get the benefit (or create an aura 12 cubits across).Kudurru - A boundary stone, usually 2 cubits tall and roughly hewn, which were used to formally cede land - up to 40 cubits in radius - to specific individuals or institutions, like temples to other gods. They're kinda rare, but can grant a bevy of abilities to the 'steward' of a location while that person is within the boundary stone radius.Ra-Guru - Literally 'circumcised clay,' it is created by pressing a bit of wet clay into a dictate or commandment to copy a relief of the text, which lets the person who carries it tap into that power from afar. But since you can choose to copy only part of the text, you can sorta cheat and get powers that weren't intended, by trimming words.Mud Sorcery - Blasphemous magic where by using non-kelma magic to affect people's minds, a sorcerer could alter what people think a word means, and in so doing twist the intention of a commandment or dictate. There's usually a nasty backlash when the mind magic wears off and the 'formal' definition reasserts itself.</blockquote>

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