Grimoires, Trappings Etc.

Magic in the world of Arcanum is only forty years old. Accordingly, we will be using the Traditional Trappings modifiers from Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic page 19 but not the Decanic Magic modifiers. Trappings that reflect the intent of the spell are effective, because they focus by concentrated symbolism the controlling will on the spell itself; thus it appears that magic can work by the old laws of sympathy and contagion even though the effect is entirely mental and on the mage himself. Ancient correspondences are by no means the only possibility for trappings, however. Inventiveness will be rewarded.

The rules for energy gathering by Voluntary and Involuntary Sacrifice and for Natural Energy on page 21 apply as written. In every case the mage is tapping the energy of the ur-ice in every living things system, or that in the earth itself, and draining it as a power source.

Since the only effective knowledge of the workings of magic are at most forty years old, Places Of Power in their literal sense as places that confer a bonus because of their long association with magical workings do not exist. The only Places or Items Of Power are those that contain large amounts of ur-ice dust, ur-ice nuggets or magical machines like the Franklin Engine. See the page on Mana Levels and RPM Energy Gathering for details.

Likewise, Grimoires that are known to be effective are all of recent authorship. Grimoires written in dead languages are probably only effective if they’ve been written recently but in a dead language as a form of cypher or as a conceit by the author. More likely they are useless anachronisms or they’re fakes designed to gull the unwary. Still, rumors persist of grimoires written in a long-ago time or locale when another ur-ice comet had seeded the Earth and brought magic back for a while.

Grimoires use the following price table:

Bonus	Price
+2	$220
+3	$550
+4	$1,100
+5	$2,200
+6	$5,500
+7	$11,000
+8	$22,000
+ 9	$55,000
+10	$110,000