Magijos žinija

A compendium of the saga’s magic: speech, signs, price and oath

„Write down what the craft costs, and you will have written down everything else.“

[The saga’s invention] Marginal note in the amber-keepers‘ tally-book.

This compendium gathers the rules of the saga’s magic in the manner of an appendix: scholarly in tone, with in-world excerpts, tables and worked examples from the books. Everything that is the saga’s own invention is labelled [The saga’s invention]; claims about real Baltic religion and folk practice are labelled [Historical record], and where the sources are doubtful the page says so.

The system on one page

Overview diagram. Three stacked layers: the gods, the forces, and the Senovės Kalba craft. Beside them the six schools of asked power (Kalba, charms, signs, herbs, amber, oaths) and the five elements with their zeniths (Stars at Kūčios midnight, Fire at Rasos noon, Water at the full moon and ice-break, Earth at Dagotuvės dusk, Wind in storms and Vėlinės). Along the bottom the cost flow: ask, time, the caster pays, surety, unpaid debts compound.

The craft at a glance: three layers (gods, forces, craft), six schools, five elements and the cost flow

The nine chapters

Chapter

What it covers

The Ancient Speech

How a working is asked: the formula, the five voices, naming and the cost clause

Signs and Wards

Twelve carved signs, with a glyph chart

The Five Elements and Their Zeniths

Stars, Fire, Water, Earth and Wind, and the calendar of their zeniths

The Price

The Law of Balance, eight worked bills, surety and unpaid debts

Amber Craft

Amber as a medium; the pebble as barometer of truth

Oaths and Pacts

Priesaika, the Silent Pact, the Pack’s Word and what follows a breach

Schools and Practitioners

Six schools, six tiers, the last žyniai

What Magic Cannot Do

Limits, taboos and why history cannot be bent

Reading the Craft

A spoiler-aware guide to spotting the rules in scenes

Where to begin

New readers should start with Reading the Craft, which keeps spoilers under book headings. Readers of the whole series can begin at The Ancient Speech and follow the chapters in order. The encyclopedia pages remain the reference for single entities: Senovės Kalba, the Silent Pact and the elements.

History and invention

History and the Saga distinguishes documented anchors from later traditions, supernatural explanations and deliberate changes to historical circumstances. It contains spoilers for all six books.