anachronauts by stefan gagne - witchipedia

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The Fae Encyclopedia
(For Curious Humans)

Enchantments

Enchantments are a class of spell. If you haven't read that page in this web thing, go do that first. I'll wait. (Ha! Meta humor!)

Okay. An enchantment is still a spell at heart -- use the Way to speak a Word using your Will and get an effect as a result. The difference is that the effect is attached to an object or a person, and is a lasting one.

Obviously, if you cast some sort of fireball spell (not that I care for that sort of thing; fire is harder to control than you'd imagine) you get a fireball, poof, done. But if you cast one of my favorites, Broomflight, you can turn the focus object (a broom) into an aerial transport vehicle! No witch worth her salt should be without Broomflight.

The duration of the enchantment and its strength is... honestly, I don't know all the factors that go into it. I can cite a few that I've been pondering, though.

One: Using safe spellcasting practices (no memorization!) seems to weaken enchantments. Oh, they're still damn useful, but not as powerful as they could've been. I've seen witches of equal skill level to me who (stupidly) cast from memory make strong enchantments where mine are weak.

Two: The Will must be strong to make an enchantment last. Experienced master spellcasters can nearly perma-enchant things -- resulting in what humans refer to as "Fae artifacts" and/or "bloody dangerous things you shouldn't touch" depending on the enchantment involved. Artifacts are highly sought after in the marketplace by humans willing to dabble in the arts (see also: nobody in Eastusa).

Three: I hate to admit it, but Fae blood may come into play, that humans just can't do really amazingly powerful enchantments. I'd like to say nuts-to-that on general principles, but until we get a decent number of proper witches around, there's no way to know for certain.

Example: My favored broomstick was made by an ancient and wise Fae... and its Broomflight has never worn out, despite using it for years. But when I try to make a broom myself, it only flies well for two days, wobbles a lot on the third, and on the fourth you're better off walking rather than being airborne when the enchantment piffles.

Oh, and depending on the spell, the size of the object might come into play. I know if I Shock a pebble, it's like a slingshot sting, but if I Shock a doorknob it'll KO most people on contact. (Maybe because it's metal? I don't know.)

One last important thing to note. As far as I know, "wands" or other objects that store up ordinary spells and allow non-casters to fire them off on demand are nearly impossible to create. I only know of a handful of legendary artifacts capable of this sort of thing -- if mass producing these things was possible it probably would've happened by now. They remain rare artifacts indeed.

And that's probably for the best... the farther removed you get from requiring Will, Word and Way, the farther you are from learning the responsibility that comes with magic.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm not really a magical elf, I don't know much about this stuff. But I haven't heard of any equivilant of a magical semiautomatic handgun, where, like, you pull the trigger and spell! spell! spell!. I've heard of silver chalices always filled with wine, and carved fertility idols that get you really randy, and even a perpetual motion wheel... but those are all ordinary enchantments, from how Emily describes them.

Still, they are awesome. I mean, I'm a Fae, this stuff is supposed to be my bread and butter, but even I go "oooooo neat" when seeing some really beautifully made enchanted artifact. Not as much as I go "oooooo neat" when a hottie walks by in cutoff shorts and a wet t-shirt, though. I'm more of an "enchanted evening walk by the beach in the moonlight" sort of elf than an "enchanted amulet" sot of elf.