Landworking

Landworking is a system of magic developed by the living land of Vlastach, in conjunction with its mortal servants. Through landworking, servants of Vlastach known as landworkers can tap into the power of the land itself to produce powerful magical effects. Landworking has the arguable disadvantage that it relies on the goodwill of the land from which it draws its power, but if used correctly it can be very effective.

Landworking has become such an important practice that the nations of Vlastach are often divided by the degree to which it makes up an important part of their culture and economy. Grower nations are those where landworking is common and contributes significantly to the nation's affairs; Crafter nations are those that still rely mostly on elemental magic and on nonmagical methods. In practice, this isn't a perfect dichotomy; there are nations that are in between, and one nation in particular, Blathe, that falls into neither category, getting by largely by the practice of landreaving. Still, enough nations do fall clearly into one category or the other to make it a useful distinction.

Landworking Rituals

The landworking equivalent of a "spell" is more commonly called a ritual, or a ceremony, and with good reason. Rituals are complicated and time-consuming affairs, involving considerable expenditure of time and effort. The details of the ceremonies vary; different landworkers put their own modifications on them. This may include wearing a particular costume or adornments (or not wearing anything), or chanting in a particular language, or doing a particular style of dance. This is more than just an outlet for a landworker to exert his creativity; the land considers such customization to demonstrate that the landworker has put thought and effort into his duties, and will be much less favorable to a landworker who just performs ceremonies by rote without adding some personal touch. In circumstances when it is impossible to perform the ritual according to his accustomed form (when a landworker usually performs his rituals wearing a specific costume, for example, and the costume is unavailable), Vlastach may still respond to the ceremony, but is likely to be somewhat less favorably disposed than had the landworker gone through the ceremony with all its usual routine and paraphrenalia.

Ritual of Promise

The time-consuming nature of a landworking ritual may seem like a severe limitation, but there are ways to get around it. One is through the ritual of promise, a very brief and easily performed ritual by which the landworker gains the effect of another ritual in exchange for the promise to perform the full ritual at some future time. When the ritual finally is performed, however, it will have to be even more involved than usual, and possibly involve some sort of sacrifice if the delay is too long. Also, if the landworker fails to perform the promised ritual by the appointed time, he will gain great disfavor with Vlastach, though there is a ritual of prolongment that can extend the time if necessary.

Ritual of Anticipation

If a landworker is able to know in advance that he is likely to need the rapid use of some particular ritual in the near future, the ritual of anticipation provides another method of getting around the rituals' usual long performance times. With the ritual of anticipation, a landworker performs another ritual but does not gain its effects immediately, rather reserving the ability to call on its effects later.

Ritual of Petition

While landworkers serve the land directly and are able to call on its power the most effectively, Vlastach's aid is also available to other people through the ritual of petition. The ritual of petition is a general-purpose ritual that can be used to ask Vlastach for any boon, but it requires some sacrifice on the part of the performer or performers—usually a sacrifice of material goods, though other forms are possible. The sacrifice is either placed in a landpost or given directly to a servant of Vlastach or, if neither option is available, abandoned in the wilderness.

Dedicants

Though landworkers wield the powers of the land through rituals and ceremonies, there are also some who dedicate themselves more closely to the land, and in return gain more direct use of its powers. These individuals are called dedicants. Dedicants may be granted both active powers, which resemble the effects of the rituals but can be used at will without requiring the dedicants to perform any ceremonies to activate them, and passive powers, which take the form of some permanent transformation or enchantment of the dedicant himself. Unlike landworkers, dedicants are considered natural creatures for the purposes of certain landworking effects.

Favor of the Land

Often seen as the main limitation of landworking is the fact that it works through Vlastach's will, and the land is free to deny attempts to use it if the wielder does not have its favor. Although anyone may try to use the ritual of petition, only those favored by the land will see successful results—and the greater the blessing the petitioners ask for, the more favored they will have to be for Vlastach to grant it. Of landworkers Vlastach's demands are even higher, and the land expects their frequent service; dedicants, in exchange for their most direct use of its power, also are required to be in constant service to the land, or at least in readiness to serve if their service is not immediately needed.

Gaining favor with Vlastach can be done in many ways. Protecting the land from exploitation is one; a farmer or herder who takes care with his planting and harvesting so that he does not overuse the land and render it barren will be favored over one who unnecessarily destroys virgin forest to plant crops that could have just as easily been planted elsewhere, or lets his flocks overgraze and ruin the terrain. Saving an endangered species would also qualify as service to the land, as would mitigating the effects of natural disasters, or otherwise maintaining or "improving" the layout of the land. Vlastach smiles too on those who oppose its enemies—fighting the landreavers who siphon the land's power without its permission will especially curry Vlastach's favor. On the other hand, those who wantonly destroy wildlife and wilderness, those who carelessly pollute and damage the natural terrains, and, of course, those who fight the servants of the land, will lose favor in Vlastach's eyes, and if they continue may incite the land's ire.

Other Lands

Though the land of Vlastach is where landworking began, it is not now the only place it is practiced. The djel Esbidi blazed the trail when he merged with his veigur and became the land of Vlastach as it is now known, but other powerful beings have seen some benefits to Vlastach's path and tried to emulate it. These other systems of landworking have largely copied Vlastach's, and are similar in most ways, but some of them do have significant differences. In any case, for the moment landworking remains primarily associated with Vlastach, and when landworking is spoken of it is usually landworking in connection to Vlastach that is meant unless otherwise specified.