Components

The oddest things can hold magical properties, to those with the knowing of them. Components can spring up in unlikely places, but then – there’s always a logic to them, if your mind is twisty enough. Of course, this tends to mean that travelling with a truly creative wizard can be something like walking through an enchanted glade with an ambulatory rummage sale.

• Magus Nimue Awthraites, The Mage’s Guide to Back Trusses (1809 A.T.)

Components are items which have, for some reason or another, become special. They have undergone some process or experience which has imbued them with potential or, in the case of some very prized items, they are simply naturally magical. Only those with the ability to work arcane or divine magic can detect the magical properties of a component; to everyone else, the item may be unusual or mundane, but is not obviously valuable beyond the nature of the item – a ring that has become a component may not look magical, but it is still a piece of jewellery.

Components are sorted by two characteristics: their level, and their type. A component’s level is a value between one and ten, and it contributes this much energy into the casting of a spell cast using it (so, a spell costing five energy that uses a level one component would only cost the caster four energy.) A component’s type reflects the kinds of magic with which it can assist. When a component is used, it is consumed; the item that held the energy may or may not persist, but the energy held within is extinguished. In most cases, this leads to the item in question being destroyed.

Although magical, components are only as resilient as a mundane object of a similar composition. A component made of delicate crystal that is shattered is likely destroyed, losing the magical energy that once made it special – and the same may be assumed about components that are incinerated, dissolved in acid, or which are otherwise unmade through mundane means.

Component Types

Magical components reflect the schools of magic. Component types are usually determined by the nature of the item that the component manifests within; often, these are intuitive to some extent, like a Death component made up of bones or a piece of an undead creature. Usually, a component needs to be collected in a specific way using specialized skills in order for the magic to manifest, but some can simply be picked up when found.

It is uncommon, but not unheard of, for a component to have two different types. This usually only occurs when the circumstances that create the component are sufficiently aligned with two different kinds of energy to allow that energy to take either form equally well. Even in those rare cases, a component may only be used once before its energy is expended.

• Armour components may appear in smithies or on powerfully defended creatures; the unpierceable hide of a Questing Beast, or a masterpiece breastplate forged in perfect darkness by a blind smith could both manifest as potent armour components.
• Body components often take forms reflecting vitality and strength; the heart of the legendary War Boar of Rincor, or a cask of whisky aged for three hundred years could both manifest as body components.
• Creation components tend to reflect craftsmanship and artifice; almost never manifesting in the wild, they are more likely to be found in workshops and foundries, in the form of the acme of a carver’s art, a hammer used to forge a legendary blade, or tools that have served a family of glassblowers for seven generations.
• Death components, as mentioned above, will often tie themselves to themes of mortality and undeath. Death spells are often aided by components manifesting in dusty skulls, mummy wrappings, and hunks of flesh, although a noose or legendary headsman’s axe could just about do the job.
• Detection components will often follow themes of fortune telling or divination, with their magic nesting in reflecting pools and casting runes. This can grow a little esoteric; the entrails of a beast cut open to foretell the future, or the condensed vapour from the Font of Azbek, whose fumes grant confusing glimpses into the future, could both be viable detection components in the right circumstances.
• Divine components show up in unexpected places; much as the spells they serve call upon the fundamental energies of creation, primal light and darkness, divine components often reflect true acts of faith. A prayer mat wrought by a hermit and used for twenty years might be such a component; a candle lit from the Flame Undying and kept alight for one hundred days might be another.
• Elemental components are raw in their nature, practically bursting with power; the heart of a thousand year old oak tree split perfectly in two by a bolt of lightning would make for a powerful component, or a gift of ash from the Elemental Prince of Fire.
• Healing components may hold naturally curative properties even before the magic is introduced; a bezoar found in the belly of the Gaston, Gilded Goat of Gelrich is likely to be a potent antidote in addition to a component. Alternately, creatures with a powerful healing ability might provide a useful healing component; the feathers of a caladrius are said to cure all ailments, perhaps with the right magical assistance.
• Infliction components are all but certain to be noxious in themselves; they may take the form of rarefied poisons, or be extracted from creatures that have reputations for spreading venom and diseases. Waters from a tainted well that slew two dozen, or the venom of the basilisk whose bite is certain death could either one be a potent infliction component.
• Magic components may appear anywhere that strong concentrations of magic have been for some time, or in a place where intense magic has been used for a short period of time. Creatures rich in magic may create magical components, but this can be unpredictable, and it’s hard to say which part of such a creature will manifest. The staff of an archmage might manifest as a magical component, after generations of use – or the drinking mug of a clurichaun.
• Mind components tend to reflect those things that engage the mind greatly, or otherwise great intellect. An elabourate music box that plays a sonata that has never been heard before the component is used might serve to form a component – or the tooth of a Mind Eater.
• Summoning components most often take the form of pieces of a creature not native to the world of Ariel, like the horn of a Devil, or the quill of a Celestial Muse. Equally likely however, such components may be found where the Curtain between the worlds is thin.

Using Components

Components may only be used to help in the casting of spells that match the type of components being used. A single spell may only use five components in its casting, and spells of fifth level and above will have a ‘minimum energy level’ – this reflects that not only does casting this spell require a component, but that at least one component used in the casting must be of that energy level or above.

Casting a spell with components is more complicated. While lesser workings can be done on the fly, a spellcaster using a component must have that component in hand, and must have both feet firmly in place during that casting. If the spell is mis-cast, either by an error in the incantation, the caster moving, or the caster being injured while incanting, the component is fruitlessly spent.

Potions and scrolls for spells which require components must have those components available in order for the spell to be properly prepared for the spell or potion, and consumes the component as casting the spell would. Some rituals may use more components, or may allow for components to be used in other unusual ways.

Crafting Components

Although some spellcasters work to seek out components in their environment, or to arrange circumstances in which they might manifest, extensive trial and error has derived ways by which components – at least at low levels of power – can be reliably created. Such mechanisms will almost always require masters of one craft or another, to so precisely create the correct circumstances, and will often involve obscure ingredients.

Recipes for such components are difficult to come by, and existing ones have taken years to derive. They are expensive, and are often only available to those who cultivate the right connections. Still, despite all of this, the ability to reliably lay hands on magical components is invaluable to wizards and clerics who seek to work more potent magics.

Authored by: Andrew Dunlop
Fantasy Alive Lore Team 2026
Copyright © Endless Adventures Ontario