Orks learned to use various conduits to impose their will upon nature. In contrast to wizards, they do not exhaust their own energy resoruces, but can only work their magic by destroying these salran in the process of spellcasting.
THE EMERGENCE OF ORK MAGIC
The emergence of elemental magic among the orks is a twisted evolution spanning the past two centuries. With the cessation of human expansion into the Northlands, ork magic began to creep out from its primitive roots. To wizards, it is a shameful taboo, a transgression against established arcane codes, a grotesque violation of the natural order and the sanctity of magic. Initially dismissed as crude manipulations of rock and earth, their magical capabilities seemed insignificant until, in the year 633, patrols in the Albweiss Mountains uncovered the vast scope of the Haraak’s abilities under Gorak’s leadership. The reports revealed a powerful elemental magic — calculated devastation realised on a grand scale.
ORK MAGIC, WIZARDRY AND WITCHCRAFT
“She recognised the orich’s magic not as the simplistic process of energy harnessing, but as a form of transmutation so profound it bordered on evisceration.” [B1.C13]
The reports of the orichs’ elemental control were met with great upheaval within the wizard society. The consensus was that where wizardry drew from the world’s free energies with precision and discipline, ork magic drew savagely, as untamed as the beasts that wielded it. Unlike the refined channelling and convergence of energy through a wizard’s body, ork magic drains the world around the orich. Orks had found a way to tap into external resources, most commonly gemstones such as frosthearts. In realising their magic, both the conduits and the energy sources are irreversibly destroyed, rendering the process one of sheer depletion. Such powers carry a potential for limitless alteration and destruction of nature, rivalling even the most feared witchcraft.
TRIVIA
ANATOMY [BLOOD MEMORY]
LANGUAGES
In contrast to wizards, who use various languages for their spells and literature, the language of orichs is gained from Nature — so they claim.
TEHARUN — THE WITCH MOON
While the magic of orichs resembles witchcraft, it has not yet been revealed how their craft is affected by T̰́̇ͦ̀è̸̷̸̬̤̗̊_̸̵̰̦̗̒͜ȟ̗̍ͤa̶͉͉͍̭̰̅̀̈͜ͅȓ̶̶̛̦͇͙̟̈̿͒ͮ͑̋̚͡u̟͖͔̖̙͙͆̄̿ͩͧ̃̽̓̈̌̀͟͞n.
SALRAN
CONDUITS FOR MAGIC
Through salran, orichs channel their will to impact nature. They are symbiotic artefacts that serve as catalysts and conduits for potent elemental energy. It takes specific blood rituals to tie a salran to an orich, upon which he may exhaust its innate energy to impose his will upon the natural world.
Frosthearts
"The orich wielded his stones with an uncanny deftness, a skill as much honed by learned discipline as it was founded in an instinct embedded deep his being. His scarred hands moved in a trance of command and control, as incantations slipped from his lips in a language birthed from the mountain itself. The frosthearts responded, resonating with his intent. Their surfaces were etched with runes that glowed with soft spectral luminescence, casting a light that seemed to draw in the cold from the very air. This glow waxed and waned, synchronised with the orich’s breath, each surge sending ripples through the storm and transforming the tempest's fury into targeted blasts that reshaped the battlefield below." [B1.C13]
Frosthearts are gems of glacial blue, crystallised fragments of the legendary Mountain Eye of the Albweiss.
They can be used as individual catalysts or in combination, as shown in the orich's containment seal in [B1.C13].
CONTROLLING NATURE
Their ability to control nature grants orichs access to vast resources. If an orich choses his terrain in congruent to his abilities, his surroundings may grant him an infinite supply of resoruces, requiring neither crafting nor subtlety, only the brute force summoned by the orich’s command.
The Elusive
Observiong Bayazak in [B1.C13], Midnight realises:
"In stark contrast to her wizard's intricate glass magic or the fluid mastery of worldbenders over water, the orich’s ice shards were crude, relying on sheer mass to overwhelm rather than finesse and precision. Yet, beneath their raw surface, there was a savage elegance, a strategic symbiosis of elemental force and primal intent. As Midnight delved deeper, she felt something ancient and vast, recognising the orich’s magic as far more than mere elemental manipulation. Midnight suddenly understood that he could do what she had failed to master; grasping the elusive.
She could feel it deeply through her connection to the Albweiss, through every instinct intrinsic to her darkness — this was deeply rooted mastery. His power carried the weight of centuries of bitterness, the raw resentment of ork-kind, amplified by a mastery of magic that had once been perceived as unattainable. He was a harbinger of a new era of ork magic, one that dared to challenge the wizards' established order and threatened the magical balance of the Northlands." [B1.C13]
Congruent with her concept of existence, where a living entity is represented by an arachnid, Midnight feels:
"He was not simply manipulating the elements, not taking the snow, ice and wind from the mountain to make them forces of the orich. He was not tearing through the layers that defined the mountain. He did not sever the web to steal from all that inherently belonged to the mountain, from all that was of the mountain. No, he left the web unharmed. With his magic, he directed the arachnid to pull the threads for him. And the mountain complied." [B1.C13]
EVISCERATION
“She understood, finally, that this was a predation upon nature itself — a feeding that would scar nature beyond recovery, leaving it forever unable to recover.” [B1.C13]
When orichs wield their magic, their salran are nor merely depleted like spent energy crystals; they are altered at a fundamental level. It drains and irreversibly compromises natural resources. In the case of frosthearts, for example, this magic warpes the stones’ crystalline density, siphones their thermal inertia, and leaves them brittle and hollowed, stripped of all resilience.
IMPACTING ROTHAR
Warding
Runes may create unseen barriers. The most effective warding runes are closely tied to their natural surrounding for additional effect and protection.
Exemplary warding runes appeared in the grand ice cavern Midnight entered in [B1.C10]. The symbols spanned over a hundred meters, encased underneath eternal ice. Their influence extended several meters into the cave and through the walls, ensuring no breach or harm could come to the runes themselves or the protective ice above. Magical attacks, such as fire spells, would be deflected and consumed by the seal long before they could endanger the runes. The seal thwarted any attempt to break the stone by force. Even if one intended to shatter the rock with hand tools like pickaxes, the presence of Rothar would prevent any approach or incursion. The ice itself stood as a shield against mundane threats, safeguarding the runes from falling rocks and other earthly dangers.
SEALING
In [B1.C13], Midnight is one of the first to ever witness an orich’s ability to conjure seals — a shocking and unherad of development. The extent of their abilities remains to be seen.
TYPES OF SEALS
Binding Seals
Most commonly, binding seals are conjured to immobilise an individual's physical body or flow of Rothar.
In [B1.C13], Bayazak uses a stone trap filled with frosthearts to envoke a powerful seal. He thus immobilises the golem his horde encountered on the Snowtrail.
"Threads of magic intertwined, forming an intricate web that spread across the entire stone shell, both along its interior and through the chamber itself. This was no mere containment. It was a binding ritual — a seal of power and precision." [B1.C13]
More on the orichs' ability to use seals will be added as the story progresses.