[Curseborne] The Sorcerers #1

Sorcerers are the result of someone answering the question, “What would you give up to have all the power in the world?” with “anything” and finding out that this was the wrong answer. Every Sorcerer is cursed to not just be able to cast magic, but to need to cast magic in a way that destroys them if they don’t. In a way, it’s the classic story of Midas and his golden touch, dialed to 11, and set to destroy not just the Sorcerers, but everyone around them and everything they love.

They must constantly sacrifice to keep themselves whole, and if they don’t choose a sacrifice for their power, their Curse chooses for them. Kai, our Sorcerer signature character from Curseborne gives more detail on what it means to be a Sorcerer:

When I say anyone can cast magic, I mean it. There are secrets in this world that most people know in the back of their head but never confront. Magic is one of them. We see and do magic all the time without thinking about it.

You get your morning coffee: two shots of espresso, a pump of vanilla, a pump of hazelnut, soy milk, no foam, and a caramel drizzle. It’s part of a ritual. You rattle off your incantation, the barista makes your too sweet confection, you pay far too much money, and two hours later you sit with the dregs at your office desk. This ritual gives you a little boost of good cheer. Maybe that carries you for the rest of the day.

It’s mid as far as magic goes, but it works.

You start to put more of yourself into the magic, put more intention into it, and you get a little more out of it. Let’s say you do the coffee ritual, but instead of drinking it and getting all that sugar and caffeine to brighten your day, you pour your coffee out with the intention to make someone else’s day worse. Your day isn’t shot; you still did your ritual. But soon after your pour, your ex spills their coffee in their car. You did that. And you’re likely to get a massive headache after.

You probably think that’s all coincidence. It isn’t. Nothing that happens in this world is coincidence. It’s all stray magic finding a home. And we can direct it if we try hard enough.

You’ll hear other Lineages calling it the Curses, and in a way, it is. Anyone can make a sacrifice with an intention and move magic around. The effects are always small things, stuff you could write off as particularly good or bad luck or maybe just coincidence.

Here’s where Sorcerers are different. When I buy my overpriced coffee as my morning ritual, I don’t just have a brighter day, I can set a house on fire just by snapping my fingers.

So that might be a bit of hyperbole, but I can definitely throw fire around.

You might be thinking that being able to cast powerful magic is a sweet deal. And yes, it does sound that way, let’s be real, magic is lit. But having a literal burning desire to cast magic all the time isn’t a vibe. What’s even worse is the knowledge that if you lose even a modicum of control over it, the magic will eat you up from the outside in.

Let’s keep the coffee metaphor going. That morning ritual I described? You start doing it every day and it loses some of its flair. It goes from a way to brighten your day into a routine you need to even have an aggressively mid day. If you rush out of the house too fast and miss your coffee, you drag all day, and it shows. You start to need more each time you do it to get the boosting effect.

That’s the problem with magic. The more you do it, the more you need to put into it to get the same effect. That’s mortal magic. Sorcerers don’t use mortal magic anymore. We use Cursed magic. The principle is the same. You put something in, you get something out. But the cost and effect are wildly different. And we need to keep doing it to even function properly.

Historically speaking, Sorcerers aren’t good at moderation. It’s one of those things that’s hard for anyone, but especially hard when you have a curse born of greed and hubris powering through you. So, magic becomes routine. And the cost is whatever you’re willing to sacrifice to do it.

What can the Sorcerers do?

While everyone can cast magic, Sorcerers are the magic users. They can always cast magic, even when they are out of curse dice. We call this fast casting, and they can pretty much cast any magic they’ve seen cast in the same scene using the fast casting rules. They have to see it in that scene, and they can’t just mimic something they saw earlier that day. Effectively, they can see the ripples curses have on the world as they happen, and they can replicate an effect in the short term.

This costs them, and always requires a special sacrifice. If the Sorcerer isn’t able to make the correct sacrifice, then their curse chooses the sacrifice. The more they do it, the more it takes. They don’t just risk injury to themselves or the spell going wrong, they risk their friends, loved ones, innocent bystanders, and serious property damage.

Sorcerers perform ritual sacrifices on the regular to stay ahead of the curse. This is how they keep control over themselves, and control over the magic. No one has complete control, though, and believing that they do is a fool’s game. Every Sorcerer has something important that they’re willing to sacrifice at a moment’s notice, but if they dither too long on pulling the trigger, they’re likely to lose something even more precious instead.

Unlike the other accursed Lineages who generally have access to three Practices all families share, the Sorcerer Lineage has access to seven different practices. Each family concentrates on a specific set of powers, hoarding their knowledge and pretending like no other family can access them. Of course, since any Sorcerer can cast any spell she’s seen at the moment, such belief is just a pretty lie they like to tell themselves. 

The Sorcerer Practices are:

• The Practice of Acquisition allows Sorcerers to take what they want from others. This is often temporal in nature, taking someone’s wealth or personal possessions out from under them without anyone the wiser. But sometimes this can translate to more esoteric things.
• The Practice of Biomancy is the art of healing and dealing with nature. Sorcerers can attune themselves to the living essence of the world around them and either make it grow or wither in equal measure.
• The Practice of Consuming Siphon allows a Sorcerer to steal the very essence and life force from others. This could be as simple as stealing health, but it can also allow the Sorcerer to take someone’s expertise or relationships.
• The Practice of Thaumaturgy encompasses the classic mastery over the elements as well as more esoteric elements that make up the world, such as time and fate. Sorcerers can manifest, manipulate, and destroy these elements with this Practice.
• The Practice of Illusion conveys the ability to trick the mind. From creating phantom objects to influencing someone’s behavior, a Sorcerer can become a master of misdirection.
• The Practice of Spiritualism concerns itself with the unseen world. While much of its magic can be translated to any supernatural creature, its primary purpose is dealing with incorporeal creatures.
• The Practice of Telelocation allows a Sorcerer to move herself or objects with her will. She can cause an item to fly through the air, or step between two entirely different locations. Telelocation concerns itself with all things telekinetic or teleportation.

I should play a Sorcerer if I want to…

… be able to always cast magic no matter the circumstances.
… learn forbidden arts and master dangerous techniques.
… balance sacrifice and loss.
… learn to keep myself in check while always wanting to use my power.
… discover more about the Curse, and how it affects the world.
… give of myself to protect the ones I love.
… keep finding things to care about, knowing that one day I’ll have to let it go.
… be the glue that holds your friends together.
… try your best not to be the asshole your family has set you up to be.

Kai Watanabe

Kai is one of the Sorcerer signature characters in Curseborne. They narrate much of the Sorcerer chapter, and is a member of the Unburdened. Many Sorcerers come to their magic through a lineage, having a parent or grandparent who caught a curse and passed it along to all their children. Kai earned theirs through being far too curious and getting cursed for their efforts.

They were one of the normal people who looked beyond the edge of the world into the edges and found something powerful. They had a friend who was into wooj and offered them lessons. They thought it was just doing readings and casting runes, but soon learned there was real magic in the world. When asked if they were willing to sacrifice everything to access it, they stupidly said “yes.”

I think the best way to understand what you are is to know the constraints you’re under. I’ve used metaphor to explain it, but I think I really need to drive this home. Your curse will destroy everything you love and eventually you if you let it. You don’t have a ton of control over that, but there are ways to cope.

As Sorcerers, we are cursed to need magic. If you don’t cast magic for longer than a day or so, you suffer. Go for a week, and you’ll bleed out your eyes. If you make it past that… well, I’ve never known anyone to even make it that far. The other Accursed have magic as a side effect of whatever damnation has them in its grips. They don’t have to cast their magic at all. Instead, they struggle with control in other ways. I’d rather die than be one of them.

So, you cast magic to stay whole. Haha, fuck you. The Curse also takes from you when you cast magic. Magic demands a sacrifice, and the Curse will most often take it directly from you. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. 

The Unburdened

Kai’s family calls themselves the Unburdened. They have chosen to sacrifice material goods, wealth, and even stable living conditions in order to keep their power. They live in mobile communities and power themselves through DIY-knowhow and communal support. They are anarchists and activists, and would happily burn down the world around them if they thought it would make it a better place to live.

Instead of making the world a better place, though, they seek to just make their own lives a little better. They exemplify the concept of found family, coming together over their ideals of living freely without burden or laws to keep them bound. They build up their own community, protect one another, and ignore the ills of the rest of the world in favor of making the best of their own situations.

They’ve learned how to make a difference by being different. The Unburdened consider themselves the most progressive of all accursed, and work toward collective action and communal living. Unfortunately, their own ideals trip them up, as they rarely agree on how to go about taking those actions, how to best live without rule, and with no one accepting either the burden of leadership or the burden of being told what to do, they often fall to disorganization.

They’ve learned how to keep to themselves and pass without notice within the world. They’re easily forgettable and tend to blend in with the scenery. They amplify this with their use of Illusions magic.

They teach the Practices of Biomancy, Illusion, and Telelocation to keep themselves alive, and help them get from place to place with few monetary means to speak of.

Play au Unburdened if you want to…

… be a modern witch, anarchist, or hippie. 
… live on the fringes of society, fighting to make a difference. 
… embrace a DIY aesthetic, creating a unique style of magic.