Geomancy, or Earth-Power, is the colloquial term used for one of the eight spheres of magic made available to some users of a Silvergate.
It uses a specific vital stat, labeled as just “Power” on the Interface, but people associate it with Earth due to leyline mechanics. As with all magic, the stat is not visible until you obtain a Skill that uses it.
The classical view of a Geomancer is someone who hoards power for as long as they can, then uses a massive number of Skills in a short time to achieve impressive and devastating effects. Geomancers, when they can, rely on other magic or physical prowess to approach combat and use their full arsenal only when strictly necessary.
Geomantic Skills are typically associated with Strength, Perception, Presence, and Reasoning, but it has plenty of Skills outside those stats. It is often considered the most diverse magic of all types. Despite the “earth” flavor associated with geomantic magic, those skills cover a wide range of what would be considered “Western elemental” effects, including water, ice, fire, air, and earth, but also movement, psychic effects, and other types.
The specific “flavor” of Geomancy comes from its leyline system. There are four types of leylines:
- Minor or lesser leylines (strength 1): those are straight invisible lines of around 20 kilometers in length. They are the most common form of leyline, about twice as common as standard ones.
- Standard leylines (strength 2): those are invisible lines of around 50 kilometers in length. It is not uncommon for a standard leyline to be joined at one or both ends by another, usually of a different type.
- Major or greater leylines (strength 3): those are invisible lines of around 100 kilometers in length. They are about one-third as common as major leylines.
- World leylines (strength 4): those are invisible lines that crisscross the entire Northworld. World leylines draw a truncated icosahedron, or “football” shape, over the planet. Due to that geometry, all world leylines stretch for thousands of kilometers and always join two others at their end.
The Power Vital Stat has a variable total cap based on the leyline mechanic. When close to a leyline, a multiplier factor is applied. This factor grows from 0 outside the range to a maximum within 100m of the leyline.
Vital cap = (Level + Presence + Strength + Reasoning + Perception × (1+leyline strength) × (5+leyline strength)
The cap for Power thus depends on the location relative to any nearby leyline. Each additional leyline close increases the total leyline strength and, thus, the maximum Power that can be accumulated. Once accumulated, if the cap drops because the geomancer leaves the leyline proximity, the extra Power remains available until spent.
The geomancer expends power for their skills. Once Power drops below its cap, it can regenerate.
Rate = (Presence / 10) per second
Any Skill or piece of gear that affects Presence will increase that rate. There is a specific Meditation skill that can be used to improve that further:
Meditation of Power
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Tier 4 Reasoning
Action
Power pervades the land. By examining it, you can do better.
Power energy recharges at an accelerated rate while you are meditating. You gain a bonus to your Power skills for a short time. Meditation is interrupted if you move or take an action.
Maximum meditation period: (skill) sec
Cooldown: (600×0.99skill) sec
Power recovery: ×1.01skill
Bonus skill: +1.01skill to all Power skills for (10×1.01skill) sec
Other, more generic Meditations also greatly increase your regeneration rates for Power, but all Meditation skills are incredibly rare (see “Fanduk”).
Typical Geomancer skills:
Earthen Presence (tier 5 Presence): increases Presence for self.
Immutable Mind (tier 4 Fortitude): provides protection (“a wall”) to psionic damage.
Waterwalking (tier 3 Dexterity): walk on water as if it were solid.
Break Bones (tier 2 Strength): health damage and stat debuff.
Call the Earth (tier 1 Presence): temporary pet summon.
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Special section on Locational Interference – Project Cartographers Eyes-Only
Leylines provide locational interference – spending level points to acquire a “random” skill near leylines will result in non-random skills.
The margin for leyline interference is much narrower than the Power cap effect. A Gater must be within 5m of a leyline to be subject to locational interference.
Each combination of leylines provides a different set of 3 possible Power skills, and the Gater will obtain one of those three Skills at random. There are 14 known configurations and one additional suspected one:
- Each individual leyline (4 different)
- Each intersection of two leylines of the same type (3 different; there is no intersection of only two World leylines)
- Each intersection of three leylines of the same type (3 confirmed – minor, standard, and world, – 1 suspected – major)
- Each intersection of four leylines of the same type (3 different; there is no intersection of four World leylines)
- The intersection of all four leyline types (1)
For all intersections, the Gater must be within 5m of the center of the intersection. Being within 5m of separate Leylines almost touching each other will not count as an intersection.
There are more tier Power Skills than configurations, so not all geomantic Skills can be obtained from locational interference. In any case, up to 15 geomantic Skills can be added to a Gater’s Skillset, although not all Gaters will end up with the same Skill subset (14+ million possible combinations).
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Special section on Locational Interference – Cartographer Officers Eyes-Only
One ultra-rare skill (found, so far, only once during Setup) allows the remote detection of leylines and more:
Sense the Leylines
Tier 1 Intuition
Passive, Triggered
The power of the earth courses within the land, and those attuned to it can find its course and reap its essence.
Proximity to a Leyline will fuel a mental sense of direction and power and, at higher levels, translate into a mental map of the lines’ interaction. Leylines come in lesser, standard, greater, and world categories; the greater a Leyline, the further away it can be discerned.
Current max range: (skill)/(1.5×skill)/(2×skill)/(2.5×skill) km.
The Skill description does not mention the fact that if the Skill user has enough points to qualify for the Skill lottery, they will see any qualifying Skill from locational interference. Some locations are conductive to more than one interference type.
Examples of prompts from Sense the Leylines:
Warning! An intersection of Standard Leylines overwhelms and replaces your normal skill selection with an ambiguous Tier 3 Earth Magic skill. Resolve the leyline interference to prevent the reoccurrence of this difficulty. Other leyline configurations may still cause further problems.
Warning! A major configuration of Aether flows restricts and replaces your normal skill selection with the Drain Living Aether skill. Reorder the Aether configuration or acquire a substitute skill to prevent the reoccurrence of this difficulty.
The “Resolve/reorder/etc.” prompts refer to using the lottery to acquire the skill at that location, while “substitute skill” means acquiring the same skill outside of location interference or acquiring it at a different location of the same type.
In addition to showing an explicit location interference, the Sense the Leylines skill allows users to pick their Skill choice.
This Skill is key to enabling a fast and accurate Build Map construction if it allows the instant mapping of any interference on a leyline. It is imperative that it remains available – and, if possible, exclusive – to the Cartographers’ Guild.