Groveborne

MAGIC OF VELGARTH

The following information is canon for Groveborne:

As this setting is placed after the events of Storm Breaking you can assume that magic is very different now.

While humans are capable of channeling the great reservoirs of power, i.e. 'Adept' class mages, those reservoirs simply don't exist in the natural world any longer.

Magic now lies across the world of Velgarth like a fine net, and with the passing of time it will gradually begin to form stronger streams and pools as it did in the times before Urtho and Ma'ar. A patient mage must now primarily work with his own life energy, though notable exceptions exist.

MAGE SCHOOLS:

Blue Mountain and White Winds mage schools contain 'pools' of power gathered by the Masters and Adepts of the school for use by the school itself. The secrets of how to make these pools of power, along with the keys to them, are closely guarded.

TAYLEDRAS HEARTSTONES:

Like the mage schools, the Tayledras Heartstones are a safe place for the mages of the Tayledras to pool power and draw from it to heal the land around them. With the final Counter storm, most of the Vales suffered a weakening of their Heartstones, but most have recovered and found their job to 'drain' stagnate magic from an area gone. Now, after a year of silence from their goddess, they finally have the answer. While the magic to further warp the Pelagir's is gone, those already touched and tainted by it remain. The original mission of the Tayledras remains.

KALED'A'IN SET SPELLS:

While just about everything magical broke in the Kaled'a'in vale (formerly K'Sheyna) the knowledge of how to make these things remain. As magic returns to normal, so to do the Kaled'a'in return to crafting their magical tools.

BLOOD MAGIC:

A terrible form of power, taken from the lives of others. Unfortunately, this form of mage-craft was unaffected by the Counter Storm. If anything, the Storm itself created more devotees to the dark aspect of magecraft as desperate mages turned to any means necessary to keep up their way of life.

MAGE-BORN & OTHERS

Beings changed, whether by choice or misfortune, through the forces of magic. Often termed 'changechildren' when human, or changebeasts when the original form was an animal, these creatures are looked upon with suspicion and no small amount of fear. Those innocents that find themselves Changed by the wild magic of the Pelagirs have historically found sanctuary among the Tayledras. Those who are not innocent, or simply too dangerous to leave alone, are slain. It is a fate not wished on any, and those mages who dabble in it tend towards the Blood path. These 'Others' are humans with some sort of mage gift, and a twisted view of what the world should be. In the current world, where magic has started to return to normal, an exodus of sorts among these 'Others' towards the Kingdom of Valdemar has begun.

True Magic

Mage Gift

An ability allowing individuals to utilize ‘life energy’ to produce true magic, from illumination to lightning manipulation and shields. Restored to Valdemar after generations of suppression, what used to be trained as an unusual variant of Farsight has been correctly identified as Mage Gift since the havoc of the Final Storm. Throughout Velgarth, magical infrastructure may have been shattered, and power may have been scattered… but magic is on its way back into the world. And with the gradual spread of Mage Gift, so are its practitioners.

• The ability to see life energy is called Mage-Sight, and all mages possess it, even if Sight is an individual’s only mage ability. A mage’s Sight may not be as strong as his skill with power, though.
• Less commonly, a mage may possess Mage-Sense, or an ability to feel magical energy; either actively being used, or in applications like set spells and the residue left after a casting.
• Though the combination is very rare, individuals with both Mage Gift and True Healing are sometimes called Healing-Mages. In Groveborne, both Gifts are required for Healing-Mages. More on Healing-Mages can be found in LORE.

All mages can learn to cast cantrips; small, simple spells. But the larger and more complicated the result, the more energy a spell requires—and the stronger one’s Gift needs to be to manage it. (See LORE for additional information on the taboo arts of Blood Magic and Demon-Summoning, and the archaic prestige of being a Sorcerer-Adept.) In addition to the ability to use power, the sources of energy a mage has access to are determined by the strength of the Mage Gift, outlined below:

1. Personal energy, available to Apprentices and above
2. Ambient energy, available to Journeymen and above
3. Ley-lines, streams and rivers of energy available to Masters and above
4. Nodes, pools of energy where ley-lines meet, available to Adepts

Channeling

The ability to sense and funnel life energy, moving it from one place to another, or from one or more mages to others. The source limits imposed on mages by their rank does not apply to energy transferred from a Channel, though Channels themselves face the same boundaries. (And bodies can manage only so much power, no matter the source. Even if Gift strength is typically a fair indication of just how much power.) A Channel’s ability to influence energy ends with the Gift to touch and move it, though; Channels cannot utilize life energy themselves. This is an innate talent, deeper than what can be taught, but lessons can help Channels improve their technique beyond instinctive.

Magic power sources

A journeyman mage has no outside resources to draw magical power. All of the energy needed must come from within them, and it is a finite resource, limiting the amount of magic they can do before exhaustion. However, an advantage of using internal resources is that the use of such magic is hard to detect.[1]

The use of external power sources, ley-lines and nodes, distinguishes Masters from Adepts. Some schools, such as the White Winds School, teach that only Adept-class mages can draw power from outside themselves for a spell. But the Tayledras teach that Master-class Mages can, with proper instruction, access the less-powerful ley-lines. Only Adepts can access and utilize node energy without burning themselves out. This ability to draw on all external sources to power their spells is much of what makes Adept-class mages so dangerous.

Extra-planar creatures can also be sources of magic, but it requires diplomacy, bargaining, or coercion. Coercing an other-planar creature has disadvantages: the mage has to be vigilant against deception or treachery, ensure that their control doesn't slip, and worry about the creature's desire for revenge. However, obtaining voluntary cooperation also has disadvantages: it takes energy to attract the attention of a benign being, particularly one that does not know the Mage, and more to convince that creature that their intentions are good. The Mage may draw a circle of protection so that the creature will know itself to be safe. The art of this summoning is described as being “like balancing on a rooftree while screaming an epic poem in a foreign language at the top of your lungs.”[2]

Blood magic
A taboo source of power is Blood magic. Even a Mage with a weak Gift can access magical power by causing pain and death. The sacrifice of human life is especially powerful. A Blood mage with enough victims can pursue grand personal goals, wealth and power.

Typically the users are evil, but there are exceptions. Self-sacrifice is a form of Blood magic, but is powered only by the blood or death of the user. For example, Shin'a'in shamans have been known to commit self-sacrifice for the good of their clans (such as the First Sacrifice.[1])

Another example is Final Strike, the "last ditch" method of taking out an enemy by magic. To use it, the caster uses all of their power and the power of their own blood magic to attack their enemy. There is normally no trace of the caster left, apart from a pile of ash. Herald-Mage Vanyel in Magic's Price calls down Final Strike on Leareth.

VOID

The Void between Gates is another plane of reality. When traveling through a Gate, a person passes momentarily through the Void, which is how the spell works to eliminate geographic distance in reality. That brief moment of disorientation a person experiences is the moment in the Void.

The Void is part of the cycle of magical energy as it moves through the planes. This property was particularly important when dealing with the present-day Mage Storms. Using Karal and one of Urtho's weapons, the mages channeled the magical energy of the final Mage Storm, an echo of the original Cataclysm, into the Void, using it as an energy sink.

The Void was useful to Ma'ar as well. He built a sanctuary in the Void to house his spirit. Whenever his body was killed, the energy released by his violent death catapulted his spirit into its shelter in the Void. There it remained until a suitable host body among his descendants was available to invade and possess. Tucking his spirit away in the Void allowed him to wait generations until he reemerged.

His last incarnation, Mornelithe Falconsbane was lost in the Void after his defeat near k'Sheyna Vale. It was believed he was dead, however, Ancar managed to accidentally pull him from the Void with a botched Gate spell. His second defeat launched his spirit toward his sanctuary, but this time Firesong was ready. The Healing-Adept tore open the sanctuary and shredded Ma'ar's spirit, breaking it down into tiny bits of energy and scattering the pieces through the Void.

Later, with the Mage Storms eroding his personality and mental processes, Firesong began journeying into the Void. He closely examined the sanctuary and the spell Ma'ar had used with the idea to use a modified version of it himself. Once the Mage Storms were no longer affecting him, he gave up the idea.

GATES

Powerful mages (Master and Adept class) can construct Gates for quick transportation from one place to another. Both temporary gates and permanent Master gates are possible. People and items can be moved through a Gate. The Gate bends space connecting one spot to another, making it possible to cross a continent with a single step.

The theory and practice of constructing gates varies from one Velgarth society to another. Urtho may have had the most knowledge of all, but a thousand years later, the Eastern Empire had permanent gates across their land to move goods and people. In contrast, Valdemar, the Tayledras and others outside the Empire did not have permanent Gates.

Temporary Gates
The problem with a temporary Gate is that it takes a great deal of focus and concentration, making it virtually impossible for a mage to regulate power coming in from an outside source. Therefore, the mage is usually limited to only his or her personal energy reserves. They require a tremendous amount of power, draining the mage who casts it, and leaving him or her helpless on the other side.

One exception to this rule was when Tylendel used Vanyel to supply Gate energy. Their lifebond connected them at such a deep level that in many ways Vanyel's energy was Tylendel's, and vice versa.[1]

Centuries later, Mage Sejanes, formerly of the Eastern Empire, constructed a temporary Gate from Haven to the Dhorisha Plains with the supporting energy of many mages.[2] However, before the Mage Storms, he would have been able to construct and hold one by himself without strain.[3]

Firecats are able to Jump people with them from one place to another. Two Firecats can work together to build a Gate.

Building a Gate
When building a Gate, the mage begins with an existing doorway. It is easier if the frame has been used for a Gate previously. He begins weaving the energy from the doorway, sending tendrils out seeking the destination point. He must clearly visualize the exact location for the terminus. This is another reason a Gate can be built by only a single mage. No two people visualize the same location in precisely the same way. This is also the most dangerous point in the spell, as the Gate can drain a mage all the way to death if he or she isn't careful.

The terminus of a gate also needs to be a doorway of some kind, to frame the spell. Once the spell tendrils latch onto the termination point, the Gate flashes into existence with a "silent explosion of light."[5]

As a temporary Gate continues to drain the mage who cast it as long as it's open, they usually aren't left open long enough to doing anything more fancy than move from point A to point B. However, a talented mage can re-route a Gate, moving the terminus to another point. Savil does this when she moves Tylendel's Gate terminus from the ruins outside of Haven to the Grove temple door.[6] Vanyel does something similar when he hijacks a Gate to bring Elspeth and Firesong to the Forest of Sorrows, instead of their intended destination in Haven.[7]

The Adept Mages in ages past knew quite a lot more about Gates. Much of their knowledge was lost in the Mage Wars, though some remnants survived. Most notably, Clan k'Leshya preserved the knowledge of building half-Gates, which allowed two mages to work together to build the Gate. With this technique, one mage was stationed at each Gate terminus with enough knowledge of the opposite terminus to Gate there. Then each begins the Gate spell, meeting in the middle. One or both can hold the Gate, preventing a massive energy drain to either mage. k'Leshya taught this technique to the mages of Clan k'Sheyna, and used it to help k'Sheyna reunite their Clan at their new Vale site.

Gates and warfare
While at first glance, Gates might seem tremendously useful in war, the need for the mage building it to be personally familiar with the terminus point, severely limits their utility. An invading army can only Gate behind their own lines. A defending army can Gate behind enemy lines, as they are familiar with the terrain, but they can only use that trick a few times if the invaders also have mages. Eventually, the invading force will set their mages to watch for the distinctive signature of Gate energies and blast the Gate as it forms. Given how closely tied the mage is to his Gate, and how vulnerable he is while building one, blasting a forming Gate generally has the effect of not only disrupting the spell, but also killing the mage on the other end.

Urtho successfully used this trick a few times at the beginning of Ma'ar's invasion of Tantara during the Mage Wars. He stopped after Ma'ar's commanders caught on.

Master Gates
Before the Mage Wars, a handful of Adepts, including Urtho, built permanent Gates, called Master Gates. These were linked together in a network. A mage keyed into the Gates could use them to travel from any Gate to any other on the network without the huge power expenditure of a normal Gate. The simple activation spell was well within the capabilities of even the lowliest apprentice. Urtho also knew how to key a Gate so that it could be used by non-mages to go to a preset destination. This was how he evacuated his people just ahead of the Cataclysm, through ten preset Gates.

Only Urtho had ever accomplished the construction of a Gate that did not require the internal knowledge and resources of a single mage to target and power the Gate. Only Urtho had uncovered the secret of keeping such a Gate stable. Of all of his secrets, that was probably the one that Ma'ar wanted the most.[8]

When used as a Gate terminus for a normal Gate by a mage keyed into the network, a temporary Gate again took only a fraction of power to build, leaving the mage able to cast other spells after traveling through.

One of these Master Gates is located in the Dhorisha Plains, in the remains of Urtho's Tower. It was one of the Gates used to evacuate the Kaled'a'in just before the Cataclysm. Another Master Gate, probably dating to this same period, is under the ruins at the edge of k'Sheyna territory, where Treyvan and Hydona built their nest.

The Eastern Empire also knew the trick of making permanent Gates, as their network was extensive, only requiring a "key" to be allowed through to the destination. They also built water gates on their extensive canal network, allowing barges to carry cargo right through to another body of water without unloading.[9] The Empire was very dependent on their Gates, and thus the Mage Storms wrought havoc on their society.

THE MAGE WARS

The Mage Wars describes the period in history during which the power-hungry Adept mage Ma'ar conquered much of Velgarth.

The Wars began when one of the Great Mages, Ma'ar began a quest for secular, rather than magical power. He built an army of followers and began instilling a xenophobic racism with his talk of a "superior breed." He united a dozen warring tribes, eventually rising to the position of Prime Minister to the King of Predain. When the king died without an heir, Ma'ar took the throne and began reshaping the kingdom.

Anyone officially declared a foreigner, such as Kaled'a'in like Amberdrake, were subject to ever tighter restrictions. Eventually Ma'ar began "deporting" them, though no one knew where. In all likelihood, they were simply killed. Ma'ar's campaign soon encompassed anyone who might oppose him as well as anyone who might oppose wars of conquest against their neighbors. They were tortured and killed or forced into slave labor.

Through it all, the Great Mages had taken little notice of what was happening until Ma'ar moved to expand his territory beyond the borders of Predain. By that time, he was nigh unstoppable. He and his armies rolled across Velgarth. Kingdom after kingdom fell to him until he eventually came up against the borders of Tantara.

Ma'ar followed his usual technique of weakening the nation from within by destroying the central government. In this case, he activated a fear spell in the middle of the royal palace. The result was to drive away nearly all the kingdom's leaders, including the king. They ran in a panic, then stayed away out of shame for their "cowardice." One of the few unaffected was the Lady Cinnabar. A Healer, Cinnabar slept under full mental shielding, and so escaped the spell. She called on the kingdom's Archmage, Urtho, for help. One of the Great Mages, Urtho took command of the kingdom and her armies, centering them on his Tower, and sending them out to battle via permanent Gates.

Unfortunately, Ma'ar was too strong, and he slowly marched his way across the kingdom, town by town. Urtho did his best to protect people, evacuating ahead of time. Eventually, Ma'ar took the Royal Palace of Tantara, and setup his headquarters there. Through treachery he poisoned Urtho. What he did not realize was that Urtho had placed the equivalent of a magic deadman's switch on his Tower. When he died, it would unleash a magical explosion destroying the Tower and everything in its vicinity.

Knowing his time was short, Urtho evacuated the area of the Tower, sending the people out through the Gate network. He gave Skandranon a weapon that would disrupt Ma'ar's magic, and hopefully destroy him in the unraveling. He intended Skandranon to use it at a later date, but Skan immediately infiltrated the Palace, detonating the weapon as Urtho died. The resulting double explosion became known as the Cataclysm.

With Ma'ar's destruction, the Mage Wars were finally over.

THE CATACLYSM

In the final days of the Mage Wars, the Archmage Urtho was betrayed by one of his generals, Shaiknam, who sent a traitorous mage to assassinate him. The mage, Conn Levas, did succeed in fatally poisoning Urtho. Urtho had trapped his Tower and Gate network, to explode upon his death. He had hoped to use it as a final weapon against Ma'ar. With his death imminent, Urtho sent Skandranon off with a magical device to eliminate Ma'ar and his magic. He also completed the evacuation of his people and armies.

When Skandranon set off the device in the throne room of the Royal Palace of Tantara, Ma'ar's current headquarters, Ma'ar's set spells were destroyed causing waves of destructive magic to move outward like ripples on a pond. Urtho's nearly simultaneous death, and the subsequent destruction of his magical network moments later caused a second set of waves, crashing into the first set. The explosions resulted in two massive craters where the palace and Tower once stood, which later became Lake Evendim and the Dhorisha Plains, respectively. The ripples of wild magic crashing into each other twisted the land between the two locations, forming the weirdness of the Pelagirs.

The explosion caused ripples in the magic fields of the land, prompting what came to be called Mage Storms. Creatures caught in the Storms could be killed or changed in various ways. Thousands of years later, these waves echoed back over Velgarth in a second set of Mage Storms.

THE MAGE STORMS

The Mage Storms were caused by the Cataclysm, when the magic released temporarily scrambled the world's magical patterns, effecting the physical world as well. The original set of storms followed on the heels of the Cataclysm. The first Storm was the worst, gradually tapering off. Creatures caught in the Storms could be killed or changed in various ways.

Mages were also changed by the Storms. Some powerful mages found they had permanently lost much of their abilities. Other minor mages suddenly found themselves with Master-level potential they had not possessed before. The Storms also worked on the personalities of mages, in extreme cases turning some into sadists and others into hermits. All the Kaled'a'in and their evacuation party, whether mages or not, were affected in subtle ways that resulted in oddities such as an abnormally high percentage of male newborns.

In the wake of the destruction and havoc of the Storms, there were no centralized governments left in the northern part of Velgarth. The largest level of organization was the small town or former army fortification. Some refugees made it as far as the Wtasi Empire located on the shore of the Salten Sea to the east. They sent back reports on the devastation and collapse of civilization in the lands Ma'ar had controlled. Some places, especially large cities, had been entirely dependent on magical Gates for food and other supplies. With the collapse of the Gates, the people starved. And with the onslaught of the surviving soldiers, chaos descended.

A millennium later echoes of the magic released came back around the world causing a second set of Mage Storms. These ran in reverse, starting with the mildest of the original Storms, and working backwards towards the initial explosion of the Cataclysm itself in the Final Storm. As with the original Storms, these created what became know Changecircles. People, animals and plants caught in the Circles could be transported elsewhere, changed or killed in various ways. As the Storms worsened they were combated by Firesong, Karal, An'desha, Altra, and a number of others to prevent the total destruction of the original Cataclysm from repeating.

CHANGECIRCLE

The Mage Storms were caused by the explosion of the Cataclysm, the simultaneous releasing of all magic from two separate points. Where the waves of magic intercepted each other, strange phenomena were produced. In the original storms, these intersection points shrank as the size of the waves decreased, eventually shrinking down to small circles, a few yards across. With the present-day Storms moving in reverse, the earliest Storms had these small intersection points, called Changecircles, which gradually grew bigger along with the waves themselves.

Within these Changecircles a variety of effects were noted. The most common effect was the transposition of land. A circle (actually a hemisphere) of land was scooped up in one place, and swapped with a circle scooped up somewhere else. This was how Darian's parents ended up so far away from Valdemar, when their campsite was scooped up. It is also what enabled the Founding of Valdemar, when the mage Jonaton realized that a splinter from a tree that was transpositioned to the Eastern Empire could be used to create a portal back to its' far distant original location.[1]

In other Changecircles, creatures were transformed. This was how Ree became a hobgoblin, when he was caught in a Changecircle and fused with a cat and a rat.

The third kind of Changecircle simply left a blasted area, where everything was melted and fused.

CHANGECHILD

A changechild is a creature who undergoes extreme magical modifications to its body. A changechild can begin as a human or some other creature, though human-based changechildren frequently conduct the modifications themselves. The type of magic involved is similar to that used by the Tayledras and their Kaled'a'in fore-bearers to create the Shin'a'in Battlesteeds and the Tayledras bondbirds. However, in the creation of a changechild the technique is taken to an extreme that the Shin'a'in and Tayledras consider to be obscene.

Changechildren are often created by accident, and the Mage Storms following the Cataclysm created many, as did the Changecircles caused by the Storm echoes several milennia later. In some cases, creatures were made much larger and more dangerous, especially if they were given an intelligence boost as well. In other cases, multiple creatures caught together in something like a Changecircle might be melded together. This is what happened to Ree, who acquired many physical characteristics of both the rat and the cat he had been near when a Changecircle caught them. As this sort of accident often creates dangerous monsters, it is fortunate that few of these changebeasts survive, and those that do usually cannot reproduce.

Importantly, changechildren are called 'hobgoblins' in the Eastern Empire.

CHANGEBEASTS

A changebeast is an animal version of a changechild. These can be created by a mage, but most are formed by accident in changecircles, when the magical energy either warps a single animal caught in it, or fuses two or more animals together. While most of these are one-off creatures, occasionally more than one is formed. Changerats are one example of this phenomenon. The resulting changebeasts are frequently quite dangerous. Fortunately, they do not often survive long, and most that do cannot reproduce.

MAGE SCHOOLS

Mage schools are specific branches of magic philosophy, each with their own methods and ethics. The core of their discipline determines the curriculum and how it is taught to the students. While their methods may not be part of their "public face," their beliefs are, and thus are highlighted in discussions of their differences. Each of these schools have multiple institutions that belong to that school, and teach that school's curriculum.

Tylendel said, "There's stories that there's a couple of Mage-schools that know how to trigger potential, but nobody I know has ever seen it done, so even if it's possible, the people that can do it are keeping the means a deep secret."

The schools include:

Amber Moon School[1]
Blue Mountains School
- The Blue Mountains School is one of several mage schools that exist in the lands south of Valdemar.
One of Tarma and Kethry's early jobs was escorting an elderly Blue Mountains mage. He really enjoyed having a mage from a different school with which to compare notes.
Fireflower School
- The Fireflower School is a mage school headquartered at the Fireflower Retreat which is located somewhere south of Valdemar, presumably in Rethwellan. The school emphasizes teaching Healing alongside mage-craft. Kyllian is a Master mage of the Fireflower School.
Leverand School
- The Leverand School is one of a number of mage schools that exist in the kingdoms south of Valdemar. One of the more well-known mages trained by the school was the first king of Rethwellan. An Adept-class mage, he valued honesty so highly that he ensorcelled the royal archives so that once something has been entered into the royal archives, it cannot be removed or "something nasty happens."
Red River School[2]
Twin Suns School
The Twin Suns School is one of a number of mage schools in the lands south of Valdemar. The school believes that demonic beings are not just Abyssal Plane creatures who are evil, but that they have been created entirely by evil forces. Tarma is in full agreement with the school's take on demons.
Whispering Oak School
- The Whispering Oak School is a nomadic mage school found in the deep forests around Jkatha. Students and teachers alike wander through the wilderness, eating raw fruits and vegetables, drinking only water, and living outdoors. Draydec served his mage apprenticeship in the school.
White Winds School
Most of the mages featured in the books and stories are part of the White Winds School, including Kethry and all her students, and their students, like Quenten. Their primary difference between all of the mage schools is in their philosophy and ethics. The White Winds school teaches that Other-Planar creatures should never be coerced for their magical assistance. Entities from the Abyssal Plane aren't dealt with at all, except to be banished or destroyed. Power is never taken by intentionally harming or killing. This all grows out of the core of the school's philosophy, that mages never be bound by negative ties of any kind, as they will eventually drain the mage of power.

The school approves of positive ties, as provide a mage with sources of confidence and strength. This results in their belief that magical talent exists to be used as a force of good in the world. Therefore, White Winds mages are wanderers, never settling in one place until they reach Adept-level, and are ready to open a school of their own.

White Winds is also one of the very few mage schools that teaches students to work in concert. This gives them the advantage when they come up against a group of mages from other schools, who automatically act independently from one another.

Testing
Unlike many other schools of magic White Winds has a program of self-testing to rise in rank from Apprentice to Journeyman to Master to Adept. This is a logical approach, given that White Winds mages are expected to wander far from their schools and teachers.

When a mage feels ready to test for the next level, he begins with the Journeyman spell, which he would have conquered before being released into the world. Each spell takes progressively more power, however, if successful, each completed spell provides the power needed for the next one in the series.

The Journeyman spell calls the Lesser Winds of the Stable Elements, Fire and Earth. The Master spell calls the Greater Winds of the Mutable Elements, Air and Water. The Adept spell calls the Wind of the Five Elements, the White Wind for which the school is named.

One of these tests, presumably the test for control over fire, used to be the Test of the Firebird. However, it was discontinued due to the scarcity of firebirds outside the Pelagirs.[1]

As each spell is completed, it unlocks new power and knowledge. Unless the mage is ready for this next level, the testing spell will not be completed successfully.

PLANES

Velgarth exists on one Plane of existence. As far as the magic practitioners of Velgarth are aware, there are six other Planes that touch on Velgarth.

Mage Ponu gave an analogy as to why extraplanar creatures were not affected by the Cataclysm: "The Aetherial Plane is 'lighter' than we are, and the Abyssal Plane is 'heavier' than we are. So just as waves in the sea move seaweed and don't move rocks, the magic waves moved us and didn't move them... And just as cheesecloth lets wind go right through it, the Aetherials were not as much troubled by the waves as we were."

Elemental Planes
There are four Elemental Planes. Their creatures are called elementals. Examples include the vrondi (elemental creatures of air), salamanders (fire), Ethereal Varirs, and earth elementals.

The creatures from these Planes can be bargained with by a mage who wants their help. They can be paid with something they want from this plane, or the mage can do favors for the creatures, gradually building up credit to be called on later.A mage can also ask for a favor, going into debt that must eventually be repaid. These are methods used by mages (such as White Winds Schools) who do not wish to compel creatures against their will.

In contrast, the Eastern Empire created a system that lured vrondi into a trap, then gave them a 'choice' of death or enslavement as a Doll.

A nameless, faceless body that is occupied by a vrondi, an air elemental, which is enslaved at the Imperial Court of the Eastern Empire. There are no rules concerning the treatment of dolls, so they can be abused and even destroyed at the whim of a human.

The dolls are tasked to perform all physical or boring work behind the scenes at court, ranging from cleaning, laundry, sewing clothes, animal care, childcare, gardening, and record keeping. Dolls are assigned as servants to each guest, where they perform such functions as valet, maid, porter, guide, running errands, and any other service the guest demands.

They are all identical, do not refer to themselves in the first person, and are surprised to be treated with courtesy and as individual, sentient beings.

A mature earth elemental cannot be coerced to give magical energy to a mage. Unfortunately, experiments have revealed captured earth elementals will unwillingly emit magical energy when healing themselves. A cruel repeated cycle of torture and healing intervals produces enough magic to power an entire Court.

Abyssal Plane
The creatures of the Abyssal Plane, generally referred to as demons, feed off the energy of pain and death. They can be paid in this currency (demon sacrifices). They can also be coerced if the mage's will is strong enough to bind the demon to this plane and keep it there. However, the mage's control must be absolute. One slip, one moment of inattention, and the demon will break its bindings and devour the mage. Prepared magical objects, such as imp-bottles, help the mage maintain control.

The lowest level creatures on this Plane include the Abyssal Plane Elementals, who are among the easiest to control. They aren't terribly smart, and can be commanded by Master- and Adept-class mages. The Elementals are attracted to any place where the magical energy in a person, creature or object has disturbed the natural flow of magic in the area. However, when they get close, they may not be able to pinpoint the exact source of the disturbance if it is strong enough to hide.

Kerowyn believed this is what the Sunpriestesses used to follow her and Eldan as they made their way through Karse. The Elemental would have been able to track the disturbances caused by Need.

After the Cataclysm, magic power was hard to come by, but power from abyssal creatures was still strong and reliable. Blood sacrifice to demons, an easy path to power in ordinary times, became even more tempting.

Empyreal Plane
The sixth plane is the Empyreal Plane. The beings of this Plane are close to gods in power, and generally look kindly on humans. They cannot be coerced in any way, and will only respond to a mage's call for help if they feel inclined.

DEMONS

Chief among the residents of the Abyssal Plane is the Major Demons. In Groveborne canon, there are approximately 12–15 with established territories on the Abyssal Plane. Since the Abyssal doesn't have outer limits, per se, territory is believed to be created around a new Major demon once one accumulates enough power.

Groveborne Demons draw their power from the pain and suffering of the mortal world and are particularly attracted to elements closest to their own essence. All demons have a core 'type' or essence. These can be fear demons, pride demons, love demons, etc. The longer a demon 'lives' and consumes essence (be it from the mortal plane or by consuming other demons), the stronger they become. There are even cases of demons being 'created' on Abyssal by the fearful imaginings of many humans—i.e., breathing life into the Boogeyman.

A field of study pursued by a PC character (Sunpriestess Malila of Karse) assumes all demons—even major ones—can be banished by invoking an 'essence' opposite of their own. Unfortunately, this requires a mage to delve into the 'core' of a demon to decipher its essence—something every demon jealously guards. Malila has developed a system of sigils representing certain known banishments—i.e., the sigil for Ice to banish a Fire demon. What Malila has not yet discovered, however, is the sigils themselves are rooted in the Empyreal Plane. Essentially, she has been accidentally discovering the God's alphabet and using it to cancel out a particular demon's tether to the mortal plane. Notably, this does not damage the demon—it simply sends it back.

It should be noted the environment of the Abyssal Plane is a miasma of demonic energy. To mages, it is corrosive and vile, like trying to breathe in an acid fog. Mortals caught there cannot last long, and generally suffer long-term effects from exposure to the miasma for years.

Known Major Demons:
Azenri'thal—'the blue demon' identified as a Fear demon
Alloces—'the red demon'


Book Canon Regarding Major Demons:

Thalhkarsh was a powerful demon of the Abyssal Plane who was summoned by mistake. The magician who brought him intended to summon an imp called Talhkarsh. He was unprepared for the demon. His summoning circle was insufficient to bind a vastly more powerful creature than the imp he had intended. Thalhkarsh tortured and ate him. In need of a human chief servant, Thalhkarsh took on the magician's apprentice.

Unlinke other creatures of the Abyssal Plane, who resent being summoned and just want to go home, Thalhkarsh loved the mortal plane. He wanted to remain and rule forever. Thalhkarsh set himself up as a god in the trade city of Delton. The magician's apprentice became his high priest who led his acolytes, mostly the sons of minor nobility, in the "Rites of Dark Desires." As part of this, numerous women were sacrificed to increase Thalhkarsh's power. His goal was to eventually attain actual godhood, so he could remain on this plane forever.

After a hard fought battle, Tarma, Kethry and Warrl killed the high priest and managed to banish Thalhkarsh back to the Abyssal Planes, making their reputation as demon-slayers and champion fighters. Unfortunately, he didn't remain there long. While looking to remove a curse set on him by Kethry, the bandit chief Lastel Longknife hired a failed magician to help him. Not being powerful enough to remove the curse, the magician summoned a powerful enemy of Kethry to do the work. What he got was Thalhkarsh. The demon killed him, captured and transformed Lastel, and set himself on the road to godhood once again.

He took over the abandoned temple of a rain god located in the poorest quarter of the city of Oberdorn. This time he fed on the deaths of animals in a neighboring slaughterhouse, rather than derive his power from killing women. This kept Tarma and Kethry from noticing he was around again until it was too late. Using Lastel, he captured the women and Warrl. They managed to escape, and with the help of Nemor, the archpriest of Anathei, they defeat Thalhkarsh again. Nemor insured that Thalhkarsh's broken transformation spells would rebound back on him, leaving the demon trapped in the body of a delicate young woman. Still in shock from this sudden reversal, Thalhkarsh's magic was bound by the priests of Anathei who imprisoned her until she accepts the immorality of her actions.