Tag Archives: Sciomancer

The Book of the Dead explains the nature of Church magic in the Enchanters of Sye world.

A Spirit Inside of a Ghost Amulet

ghost amulet [gōst amyələt] noun, c.900, OE gāst < ME goost; c.1550 amalettys < L amuletum; also spirit fetish or periapt.

Physical: Charm, midsize
Magic: Church/Piety
Spell Group: Incorporeal Matters
Restrictions on Physical Construction: Secular, Magic Guild, and Enchanter magic allowed
Ghost Magic: Sciomancer or Priest summons only; Secular and Magic Guild disallowed due to safety; Enchanters disallowed per agreement

A ghost amulet is a charm no larger than a woman’s fist. Its purpose is to house willing incorporeal beings (“ghosts”) who wish to stay in the Sye physical realm under shelter of Church magic. Ghost amulets are portable magical items and can be worn if the carrier has specific spells for protection from the ghost. A typical ghost amulet has a gold metal casing etched with beautiful spells.

Last Year’s Winner in the Magic Guild’s Contest for Best Bubble World Inside of a Ghost Amulet

The inside of ghost amulets are much larger than the outside. Amulet interiors range from simple single rooms to intricately furnished multi-chamber homes. The best ghost amulet makers create small “bubble worlds” that include landscapes, sunlight, and weather.

Summoning and manipulating ghosts is a Church Sciomancer magical specialty. Secular magicians and Magic Guild are forbidden to manipulate ghosts because of the danger to the magician. According to agreed-upon magical segregation, Enchanters do not practice ghost manipulation. However, only Enchanter Grandmasters have enough magical power to send (and retrieve) living visitors to the Fields of Yalu.

Explore Sye ghost care and meet a celebrated Sciomancer ghost in these blog posts:

Read more about ghost amulets, the Book of the Dead, and how ghosts help a magical charms maker hide a dangerous spell book in these Enchanters of Sye stories:

Necronomicon Enchanter: Clergy Secrets

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Within the pages of the Necronomicon Enchanter book in Lita’s library, the curious may learn the Enchanters’ magical matters. Beware, for the knowledge might drive the reader mad with bitter desire and luscious regret.

Previously:

Because Enchanter-generated essence is the sole source of human magic on Sye, the Church magicians buy it from the Magic Workers Guild. The clergy hide their dependency on Enchanter essence from Church parishioners.

Church Magicians Hide the Origin of Their Magic

To make its magic morally palatable, the Sye Church purifies the Enchanters’ essence. They collect the magic in founts, and then distribute the essence to the faithful with a device called a Magical Resonator.

Some of the most devout Church followers practice Essence Deprivation. This systematic abstinence from magical essence purifies the practitioner from the Enchanters’ carnal influences.

Since humans in Sye require magical essence to survive, the deprived soon break their abstinence vows and take in magical essence. Essence Deprivation followers risk insanity, poor health, and may suffer from what Enchanters call Essence Madness.

Find out more about the Enchanters, Sciomancers, and their ongoing struggles in the books from the Enchanters of Sye world:

Dramatis Personæ: Sumer

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The Dramatis Personæ is the roster of conjurers and sentient magical creatures staying in the many rooms, grottos, and byways of Lita’s castle. Here is the guest book for the Enchanters of Sye Tower.

Sciomancer Sumernor’mylnburne

Sumer [ˈsu mər] proper noun, c.3300 BC; Sumerian < Akkadian; also Sumernor’mylnburne

Profession: Ghost
Race: Human, male, deceased
Appearance: Brown eyes, brown hair, medium build
Common Name: Sumer (“Summon”)
Private Name: Sumernor’mylnburne (“One who summons from the millstream”)
Church Title: Sciomancer
Native Magic: Mer (water), Causa (mind)
Education: Seri Finishing School, Sciomancy Isor Church School
Milieu: Ghost Sumer is a denizen of the Enchanters of Sye world

Sumer Penned Beautiful Copies of the Book of the Dead

Sumernor’mylnburne was a Church Sciomancer magician in the seaside town of Isor over one hundred fifty years ago. Known for his talent with calligraphy, he produced beautiful custom copies of the Church’s Book of the Dead. He was also a natural seer of ghosts. Sumer counseled the confused ghosts of the recent dead to finding their way to the Fields of Yalu.

A flirtatious woman compromised his magic by marrying him so she could learn his private name on their wedding night. She used his powerful magic to steal money from the Church, and then fled Isor and her hasty marriage.

A Resident Ghost in the Old Church Catacombs at Isor

Sumer faced expulsion and a life of shame. He petitioned the local Isor Enchanter School for intervention. The Enchanters agreed to help. Grandmaster Sahn gave him a new private name so Sumernor’mylnburne could return to sanctioned Sciomancy. The Church annulled his marriage, and the Sciomancer never remarried.

The deep wasting sickness claimed Sumer in his seventieth year. At his request, he underwent the preparation for ghostly interment. Upon his death, Sumernor’mylnburne became a resident ghost in the Old Church catacombs at Isor. Because of the skillful magic of his fellow Sciomancers, Sumer was a biddable ghost. He willingly answered summons from Church and Enchanter magicians and had remarkable mental skills for the incorporeal. Two generations of Isor Sciomancers tended his relic cache in the catacombs, and Sumernor’mylnburne flourished as a land-bound ghost.

Sumer Left for His Final Home in the Fields of Yalu

A mad miscreant attacked the Isor catacombs and disturbed many of the ghosts’ caches. Among others, she destroyed the relic that kept Sumer tethered to the earthly realm.

The Isor Sciomancers were unable to restore Sumer’s relic. As per protocol, the local Church erected a proper tomb in the Old Burial Yard, placed what remained of Sumer inside, and performed the rites to send for his ghost. Sumernor’mylnburne responded this last time, conversed a while with his former colleagues, and then left for his last home in the Fields of Yalu.

Visit some more with Ghost Sumernor’mylnburne in these Enchanter of Sye stories:

Bestiarum Vocabulum: Ghost

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The Bestiarum Vocabulum is the wizard’s encyclopedia of faerie beasties and mundane crossovers living in the lake and forest near Lita’s castle.

Ghost

ghost [gōst] noun, c.1200; OE gāst < ME gost, gast; also spirit

Denizen of the Enchanters of Sye world.
A wandering spirit that appears solid and wears similar clothes to when it was a live person, but has empty eyes. A good-quality ghost retains intellect, but is incapable of emotions. Summoning ghosts and binding them in amulets is Sciomancer magic.
Personages: Sumernor’mylnburne in Wrath and Tredan’s Bane
See “Ghosts Abide”, “Charming and Housing Ghosts in Sye” and “Sciomancers”

Sciomancers

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Gentle Reader travels to the Enchanters of Sye world today. We stop by the Old Burial Yard in the northeast side of Isor Town and visit one of the Church’s offices–the magical custodians of Sye’s ghosts.

Sciomancers are Ghost Specialists

The Church’s specialty magicians for crypt and ghost spells are Sciomancers. They call ghosts at will, bind the spirits to prepared niches in the Church’s catacombs, or hold them in (unapproved by His Divine) bewitched ghost amulets. Another Sciomancer responsibility is transcribing copies of the Book of the Dead–it contains poems, songs, and advice for Sye’s living residents. It is also a handbook for the restless ghosts in the Fields of Yalu.

More about Sye’s Sciomancers…

Stories from the Enchanters of Sye fantasy world:

Afterlife and Crypt Magic

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Tredan’s Bane explores the magical politics between two rival factions: the Enchanters and the Churchies.

In Sye, magical power has been formally split between the two camps. Enchanters create magical essence that all persons (and many creatures, such as dragonettes) need for survival. The Church magicians see to the matters of moral living, marriage magic, orphans, hospitals, ghosts, and the afterlife.

A Ghost’s Garden in the Fields of Yalu

The Fields of Yalu

In the fantasy world of Wrath and Tredan’s Bane, powerful wizards can visit the afterlife (called The Fields of Yalu), interact with the dead, and return intact to the living world of Sye. Marriage partners with a strong loving bond may unintentionally pull their willing spouse with them into the afterlife, especially if one of them dies traumatically.

The Fields of Yalu is a bright and beautiful city, but filled with perils for the living. The ghosts surround their homes with lush gardens, but no creatures inhabit the Fields of Yalu. A vast stony desert filled with puzzling gravel paths surround the city of the dead, and all paths lead to its borders. Tredan’s Bane describes one of the few ways to return.

Sciomancers Tend the Homes of the Dead in Sye’s Old Burial Yards

Ghosts and Sciomancers

The Church’s speciality magicians for crypt and ghost spells are Sciomancers. They can call ghosts at will and bind them to prepared niches in the catacombs, or hold them in bewitched amulets.

The Sciomancers, along with a town’s Priest, make sure that the deceased’s crypts are properly attended in the sprawling Burial Yards. Just like the gardens that surround the homes of the dead in the Fields of Yalu, lavish crypts huddle in the rich forests and manicured lawns of Sye’s Burial Yards. The oldest crypts fade from Sye and reappear in the Fields of Yalu. Enchanters returning from the city of the dead describe endless green hills filled with the dead’s relocated crypt homes.

Book of the Dead

Book of the Dead

Another Sciomancer magical talent is transcribing copies of the Book of the Dead–it is a tome containing poems, songs, and advice for the deceased in the Fields of Yalu. The book also has guidance for the living person on proper magical and moral conduct–this will keep their soul undammed for the Hall of Two Judgements.

Avoiding magical temptation is the biggest struggle. Enchanters, with their delicious-tasting magical essence that no one can survive without, are tempters and the greatest threat (according to the Church magicians) to a person’s soul.

Charming and Housing Ghosts in Sye

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Ghosts are frequent visitors to the Enchanters of Sye world in Tredan’s Bane and Wrath. Only Enchanters, Sciomancers, and people wearing Ghost Amulets can see and interact with Sye’s ghosts.

A ghost appears solid and wears similar clothes to when it was a live person, but empty eyes show it as a wandering spirit. Ghosts have gaps in their memories, and it’s difficult for them to learn new tasks. They have intellect instead of emotions, so an empath cannot sense their feelings in the usual way. A Sciomancer can bewitch a ghost to tell secrets from its life, and also make it report the ghost’s conversations with others.

Close-up View of the Spells Inside a Ghost Amulet Containing Many Rooms

Ghost Amulets

Although the Church’s head magician, His Divine, banned the practice, a talented Sciomancer can call a specific ghost and compel it to stay inside a Ghost Amulet. Constructing elaborate amulets is a popular magic craft with Magic Guild workers; avid amulet makers hold competitions to display their non-inhabited Ghost Amulets containing dozens of elaborate rooms.

Inhabited Ghost Amulets are dangerous. An amulet keeper must not wear the occupied amulet near the heart, or the keeper risks madness induced by the resident ghost.

Better-made Ghost Charms have a Glamour Spell

Ghost Charms

Most Sye residents do not have the native magical talent to see and converse with ghosts. Church magicians, especially Priests and senior Sciomancers, construct charms to allow the wearer to interact with ghosts. The typical spells in a Ghost Charm include calling and banishing a ghost by name, plus the ability to see and talk with the ghost. The better-made Ghost Charms have a Glamour Spell that will attract nearby ghosts to the charm’s wearer.