Book Of Shadows

Book Of Shadows (3rd Edition)

Distributor: International Federation Of Magic

Published In: 1 January 2000

Written By: Rosalind Fernsby

Warning: This book is not to be sold or distributed to anyone else, if found guilty, one shall face the consequences from the International Federation Of Magic

This grimoire shall be your guide to the world of magic. All general knowledge can be found in this grimoire such as important world events that shaped the history of the magical world, the art of spellcraft and potion brewing, pill refining and more. This grimoire has been enchanted to open to your arms and yours only, it shall grow with you, with new spells and knowledge learned, imprinted on this book with the right spell (which could be found on the first page of the 'Spellcraft' section). The grimoire will automatically be updated at the start of each year.

P.S. For more information on magical beings and spirit beasts, refer to the Book Of The Sun and Book Of The Moon respectively.

Organisations

Internation Federation Of Magic (IFOM)

Current President: Samidha Balakrishnan

Established in 1699 after the Salem Witch Trials and the creation of Alium, IFOM serves to regulate everything supernatural. IFOM is founded by one of the Spared Witches, Aaryan Fernsby They operate in nearly every country in the world, cooperating with secret government departments to maintain the secrecy of the magical world, only several governments officials of each country knows of the supernatural. A Bureau Of Magic is set up in every country, to widen the federation's reach. All of the bureaus are hidden in plain sight, only Magus' knows where the secret entrances are located, it can be as obscure as a bookstore or as distinct as museums.

Sicarius Guild

Current Head: Mamello Onwudiwe

An assassin guild established in 1915 by one of the Spared Witches, Feng Xie Wu (风邪舞). The guild is an independent organisation established during World War 1 to assassinate individuals threatening the magical world, they send Venators, which are assassins all over the world to perform these feats. To date, their base has been the most well-kept secret in the world, if any of their Venators try to reveal it, they would instantly be obliterated by the curse casted on them. They sometimes work closely with IFOM, but are not under their control. It would be wise not to underestimate any of their personnel.

Spirit Beast Temple (妖兽殿)

Current Head: Su Qin (素秦)

The Spirit Beast Temple in established in 1950 after the Chinese Communist Revolution by Su Qin, the only Nine-Tailed Fox still alive that has gained all their nine tails, reaches the level of a Grand Magus and the oldest of all Nine-Tailed Foxes. The temple is located in Alium and serves as a sort of embassy for all spirit beasts. For spirit beasts to enter the human world, they would need to go to the temple and apply for a visa, they also regulate all the spirit beast in the human world. The current status of Spirit Beast Temple is unknown due to the sealing of Alium.

Prominent Clans

Feng Family

Descended from Feng Xie Wu, one of the Three Spared Witches. Magus' belonging to the Feng family are strong, almost all members have the magical talent of aerokinesis. Although aerokinesis is not exactly the rarest of magical talents, the Feng family was an exception. Their aerokinetic abilities are known to be exceptionally strong, Feng Xie Wu was said to even be able to create vacuums by removing all the air in an area or suffocating someone to death by removing all the oxygen in the air. They are also known for being the clan that produced the most Greywalkers, out of the twenty-three Greywalkers that has existed, eight appeared in their family, with fugitive Ambrose Feng Ye Ci also known as The Hurricane Warlock being the strongest Greywalker to have ever existed. The family was wiped out by unknown parties in 1995, leaving Ambrose Feng Ye Ci and his sister alive, which are currently both missing.

Aeronwen Family

Tylwyth Teg royalties of Aeronwen. They are known to have produced some of the strongest barriers and seals. The IFOM regularly hires them for their services to maintain the seal on the Seven Damned Witches and the weakened veil between Earth and Hell. The most talented in barrier magic is Princess Eira Catrin Aeronwen, Snow Queen Of Barriers, daughter of the first queen of Tylwyth Teg, Queen Mab and sister to King Oberon.

Nine Tailed Foxes

They are one of the most powerful spirit beasts to exists in Asia, on par with Eastern dragons. With they hold a lot of influence among the spirit beasts and are often called upon in wars and battles due to their ability to manipulate Foxfire to empower the magic of others and their own. They are not to be underestimated under any circumstances, especially for those with six tails and more.

Major Historical Events

The Separation

The Separation led to the creation of Alium and weakening of the veil between Hell and the human realm, leading to the increase rate of demons spawning.

The Separation occurred on 1 February 1695 where 10 Magus from all over the world came together and casted a spell on a global scale to create the parallel dimension we now know as Alium.

After the Salem Witch Trials ended in 1693, the 10 Magus gathered to research on a spell that could prevent all supernatural beings from being hunted, resulting in the now forbidden spell called '

Dèan Dealachadh Agus Dìochuimhnich'. The spell separated everything magical on earth, resulting in a magical realm, Alium and a realm without magic, Earth and also erased the memories of magic from all non-magical beings.

However, the spell led to unexpected consequences, which are the weakening of the veil between Hell and Earth, the unnatural birth of an entity in Alium equivalent to a god called Dicio and the instability between the two dimensions that could cause the destruction of all beings.

In light of the creation of Alium, 4 gods descended from the higher realm, they are Hecate, the Greek Goddess of Magic, Oya, the African Goddess of Death and Rebirth, Xuanwu, the Chinese Deity of Magic and Guan Yin, the Chinese Goddess of Mercy.

The gods descended to control the situation that had occurred, 7 of the Magus are cursed and sealed within the Great Wall of China, Macchu Picchu, Chichen Itza, the Roman Colosseum, Taj Mahal, Petra and the Great Pyramid of Giza, serving as pillars to stabilise Alium and keep Dicio sealed, they were thus known as The Seven Damned Witches.

The other 3 Magus were spared due to their pure intentions to protect all beings which resulted in their actions. But they were still punished, they were each cursed with immortality and different powers, cursed to roam the earth and prevent the other 7 Magus' from escaping, awaiting the day for the destined one that can once again unite Alium and Earth, restoring balance to the world, they are now known as the 'Three Spared Witches', 2 of the 3 magus would move on to create their own organisations.

To date, the 3 magus' have disappeared and are nowhere to be found, slowing fading out of everyone's memories.

The Age Of Armageddon

The Age Of Armageddon refers to the era from The Separation to the present where there's a surge in demonic activity. The Seven Damned Witches were able to stabilise the dimensional instability from the creation of Alium and keep Dicio sealed, but there still lies the issue of the weakened veil between Earth and Hell. The Magus' were thus given the task of eliminating demons and exorcising them by Guan Yin Bodhisattva. The demons were strong, powerful and fast, at that time, the spells of Magus' were taking far too long and too ineffective to deal with them. To counter that, Magus' incorporated the use of martial arts and weapons along with their magic, which proved to be effective. Today, all Magus' are required to learn a martial art and choose a weapon of their choice, all the weapons used are made from Manalium, a type of crystal found in Alium. Manalium is stronger than the strongest metal on Earth, they are forged into weapons and further enchanted with various types of magic to aid in combat.

The Prophecy

"At the turn of the century, two powerful Magus' with the power to change or destroy will come to this world. One shall fall while the other arises. For this is the second coming of the Heir Of Light and the Harbinger Of Darkness."

In 1990, ten years before Alium was sealed, the world's most powerful seer, The World Seer, Emmanuel González prophesied the second coming of two powerful Magus' near the turn of the century, both would either have the power to change or destroy the world. The two Magus' are referred to as the Heir Of Light and the Harbinger of Darkness. The first coming of the two Magus' led to the creation of Albion (also known as Great Britain, by the first Heir Of Light, Merlinus Ambrosius and the first Harbinger Of Darkness, Morgan Le Fay. Due to the grave importance of the prophecy, the Federation is still searching for the two Magus'. The Federation theorised that the two Magus' will have the abilities to bring them out of the Age Of Armaggedon, that the destined one the Three Spared Witches are waiting for is the Heir Of Light and the one to destroy the Heir Of Light is the Harbinger Of Darkness.

Emmanuel González continued to help the federation decipher and further understand the prophecy before his death in 1994.

Magic

Magic a primordial energy, used to create supernatural phenomena. Magical energy is everywhere, every living being produces magical energy, but the ability to utilise it is not available to all beings. In the past, humans are capable of using magic, but it takes decades of training just to do the simplest of spells, ever since The Separation, humans can no longer use it, the amount of magic on Earth greatly diminished.

Every magical being and spirit beasts will discover their magical talents when they awakened, not to be confused with racial magic.

When a being has reached the level of a Grand Magus, they will be bestowed with a title, befitting of their abilities and personality.

Mana refers to the magical energy used to power spells, make potions and refine pills.

Spellcraft

The art of spellcraft is essential to all Magus'. There are spells that require rituals, sacrifices and chants but know that all spells require magical power that comes from oneself or from other sources, should the link be cut, the spell will cease to be effective. Rituals, sacrifices and chants are just a way to focus your magic, a gateway per se, to achieve the intended effect. Magus' that are powerful has been known to be able to bypass all the these and achieve their intended effect just by their own magic alone.

Contractus

A spell that binds the users together. There are many types of contract spells, one that is used to bind a spirit beast to a magus as familiar, forbidden ones that bind the lives of different people together.

To use the spell, place both your hands against one another, recite, 'I, (Name), Swear to (Why the contract is used)'

Another form of the spell is to bind familiars to a magus. This can only be done by the spirit beast and must require the permission and willingness of both parties.

To use the spell, the spirit beast will place their hand on the Magus' forehead, they will channel their magic to it and recite the spell. After the spell is recited, a spirit mark will appear on the forehead, it will not be visible under normal circumstances.

Concalo

Summoning spell. Used to summon spirit beasts or animals. The use of a magic circle and blood is required. The use of blood would classify the spell as blood magic. The more powerful the creature summoned, the more blood is needed.

Deprehendere

A detection spell. The user spreads their magic out, forming Mana waves which act as a sonar. If magical lifeforms are detected, the Mana will resonate with the lifeform's Mana. If a human is detected, the mana will pass through the human and the user will be able to sense it.

Resero

An unlocking spell. It unlocks and reveals anything hidden. A very versatile spell, able to used to simply unlock doors to revealing something hidden. But the spell can only be used on things that aren't enchanted or it won't work at all.

Potions

Potions are used to induce effects on the body mostly unachievable with spellcraft.

Amnesiac

Induces total and partial memory loss. Modifications can be made according to the memory that was extracted and weaved into the potion. There are three different kinds of Amnesiac:

1. A potion without modification that induces total memory loss, the user becomes akin to a baby

2. All memories from the present to the time of production will be lost

3. A potion that targets specific memories

Consano

Healing potion, very versatile, can be used for all injuries, both light or heavy. It is strictly used for injuries and viruses. Depending on the ingredients used and the power of the Magus who made it, the effect will vary.