To Birthright

Ley Lines ( except from book of Mage craft )

To Magic of Birthright

When Cerilia’s true children freely roamed her forests and plains, we could use our magic anywhere. Our ancestors regarded mebhaighl as no less important than air; it flowed through them and around them, bonding them to the earth and yielding the land’s arcane secrets. The greatest Sidhelien wizards studied the poetly of mountains and meadows to determine the courses of ancient streams and washes of mebhaighl. Tley recognized these paths as channels of magic—the mebhaighl that rushed through them thundered with arcane power. These were the first ley lines, that stretched from Cerilia’s oldest forests to her farthest shores.
Then the humans brought destruction to our beautiful world with their ugly war. The cataclysm that obliterated Deismaar so distressed the land that many ley lines collapsed. Our wizards tried to reforge the lines, but the land had changed too much. We had to reattune ourselves to the music of the rivers, wind, rocks, and trees. Meanwhile, human wizards discovered for themselves the secret of forging ley lines.
Now we compete with humans for land and the “right” to forge ley lines through it. But we know truths tley do not. We know that when a ley line zs easy to create, mebhaighl has always flowed strongly in that place. And we know that when ley lines defy forging, the Deismaar cataclysm so disrupted the mebhaighl that it has not yet fully settled.
Human wizards think tley understand mebhaighl. Tley think their gods give them the power to command magic, and that ley lines can be forged in places where their gods once walked the earth. But as human lives are ephemeral, so their understanding of the world is superficial. Only the Sidhelien, whose memories outlast human existence, know the truths behind the ancient paths.
—story told by elven taelinri to their pupils

Wizards who control sources of mebhaighl can command realm magic, the most powerful spells known to human and elvenkind. But to cast realm spells, a wizard must be in a province where he holds a source of the appropriate level—unless he has a means of accessing mebhaighl from afar.
Ley lines provide that means. These mystical conduits allow a wizard to tap a source from outside its province—to import mebhaighl from the place where it collects to a province where he needs it.
For example, perhaps the Lord-Prince of Ariya finally grows weary of Aftane’s threats against his state. He asks his court wizard, Rahil the Falcon, to cast demagogue in Adaba to incite unrest in Aftane and distract the Red Kings. Demagogue requires its caster to hold a source (3); Rahil controls no sources in Adaba. He does, however, hold a source (3) in the Ariyan province of Kouzir. If Rahil forges a ley line from Kouzir to Adaba, he can tap the Kouzir source from Adaba to cast the spell.
The ley line creates a magical link between two provinces. A wizard can forge lines from a province in which he holds a high-level source to one in which he holds a low-level source, or to a province in which he holds no sources. He can also attach ley lines to other ley lines. Each line provides him with another place where he can access his source’s mebhaighl, thereby making realm magic more “portable.”
Most regents consider ley lines an essential element of their domains and incorporate them into long-term strategic planning. Even nonwizard regents, who cannot themselves forge ley lines, often guide their court wizards’ development of ley line networks.

Creating and using Ley Lines

Forging a ley line requires a significant amount of a wizard’s time and resources. The greater the distance between the source’s province and the destination province (“terminal province”), the greater the cost.
Although their mystical connection to Cerilia’s mebhaighl allows mages to forge ley lines from anywhere on the continent, most wizards prefer to perform this action while in the source province. During a one-month period (one action round), the wizard prepares to forge the line by collecting spell components, aligning his mental energies with the mebhaighl of both provinces, and (if possible) visiting the two provinces he intends to magically link. At the end of the month, the wizard seeks a secluded outdoor location where he can complete the forging undisturbed. (If he is in the source province, the wizard usually will go to the manifestation.) There, through a series of spells and psychic exertions, he fashions and casts out his line through the land.
This period of concentrated effort lasts approximately three hours. Wizards sometimes have a quiet guard or trusted friend nearby as the process of forging leaves them vulnerable. The wizard goes into a trancelike state during which he focuses so hard on mebhaighl that he loses awareness of his physical surroundings. If he is jostled or attacked, or if loud noises stir him, his concentration on the ley line breaks and his awareness returns. If such an interruption occurs, the wizard’s forging attempt fails. (Note that this success or failure is detennined by the success roll for the action.)
Forging a ley line costs the wizard 1 Regency Point and 1 Gold Bar per province crossed, not including the source province. Therefore, a ley line between neighboring provinces (such as Roesone’s Abbatuor and Duerlin) costs 1 RP and 1 GB; a line between Abbatuor and Edlin (crossing Duerlin) costs 2 RP and 2 GB.
When determining the number of provinces crossed, players should consider ley lines as running from the approximate center of the source province straight to the approximate center of the terminal province. in most cases, drawing from center to center saves PCs money and Regency Points. However, a straight line does not always work to the wizard’s advantage. Sometimes it may be more expensive to draw a straight line from center to center—not to mention more dangerous, if the line passes through enemy territory. If a wizard regent wants to bend his ley lines— whether for strategic, economic, or aesthetic reasons—he can. But the amount of concentration and materials involved costs him an additional 1 RP and 1 GB for the ley line’s forging (not 1 RP and 1 GB per bend, just per ley line). Elves, because of their harmonious relationship with nature, can forge curved ley lines at no additional cost.
Ley lines can be forged across bodies of water, but tley can extend no longer than 150 miles before terminating in a province on dry land.
A wizard’s success or failure in performing the forge ley line action is determined by the usual 1d20 success roll required for most actions. The required roll can be modified by RP expenditures made by the PC and other involved regents. Because forging a ley line increases a wizard’s power and influence in a province, other wizards naturally have a stake in the success or failure of the attempt. The forging wizard can be opposed or supported by any wizard who holds a source in the terminal province, the source province, or any province through which the ley line will pass. (For more information, see “Resolving Actions” in the BIRTHRIGHT Rule book.)

Ancient Ley Lines

A very small number of ley lines used by the elves in the centuries before the Deismaar cataclysm remain. These lines extend only from provinces with high magic potential (6 or above), and almost exclusively from caerbhaighlien (sources that no individual can control). In rare instances, wizards have discovered that one of the sources under their control is connected to a ley line not forged by mortals.
Those who actively seek these ancient lines seldom meet with success, for tley elude detection spells. No one can claim or control an ancient ley line, for it belongs to the land itself. (As a result, these lines require no maintenance.) But those who stumble across such line can tap the mebhaighl coursing through i to cast realm spells—regardless of who hold the source from which it extends.
Thus far, no wizard who attempted to deactivate, sunder, or otherwise destroy an ancient ley line has succeeded—or lived to tell about it. Nor has anyone been able to extend one of the lines. Not even elves can affect them.

Using Ley Lines

Once a ley line has been forged, the wizard can cast realm spells in the terminal province as if he held a source there. When he summons mebhaighl toward himself in preparation for the spell, he draws it through the iey line from the source province to the terminal province. He can thus cast realm spells requiring sources up to the level of his holding in the source province.
For example, refer to Map 1 (page 28), which shows part of Anuire’s Southern Coast where Rogr Aglondier controls a source (2) in Abbatuor, a source (1) in Alamier, and a source (0) in Jlien. If Rogr forged a ley line from Abbatuor to Alamier, he would be able to cast realm spells which require a source (2) in Alamier. And, of course, he can still cast source (2) realm spells in Abbatuor.
Note that ley lines do not make source levels cumulative—Rogr cannot cast realm spells requiring a source (3). Nor can he tap the Abbatuor source in Braeme or Ilien, two provinces through which the line passes. He can tap the source in only the terminal province and the source province. (To learn how Rogr can arrange to tap the iey line from Braeme or Ilien, see “Hook-Ups” below.)
Ley lines work in both directions. If Rogr’s Ahbatuor source were contested and therefore unusable, he could use his ley line to tap his source (1) in Alamier and cast realm magic requiring a source (1) in Abbatuor.
If a source ever drops to level 0, ley lines
that originate from it disappear.

Connecting Ley Lines

Often a wizard will want to expand his sphere of influence by connecting new Ley lines to an existing ley line. He may do so to tap his source from a province even farther away than the original terminal province, or to “hook up” provinces through which the existing line passes. These two types of connections are made through additional forge ley line actions.

Hook-ups

Recall Rogr Agiondier’s Abbatuor—Alamier ley line. Right now the line passes through Braeme and Then, but Rogr cannot tap his source (2) from either of those provinces. If Rogr forges another (very short) ley line—from Ilien to the existing line—he can “hook up” Ilien to the line and tap the Abbatuor source from there. In a subsequent action round he can forge a third ley line—from Braeme to the main line. At the end of three action rounds, Rogr can access his Abbatuor source from three other provinces: Alamier, Braeme, and Ilien. (Refer to Map 2, page 28.)
Because hook-up lines don’t cross province boundaries, tley cost 0 GB and 0 RP to forge. The wizard’s only cost is the use of an action to create them. Further, because these lines merely grant access to a ley line already passing through the province, the success roll receives a +3 modifier.
 

Extentions

If Rogr wants the ability to tap the Abbatuor source from all of Medoere, he can forge yet another ley line—this one connecting Caerwil to the Abbatuor—Alamier line (see Map 2). This line crosses one province boundary and would therefore cost Rogr 1 GB, 1 RP, and one action to forge. It receives no modifier to the success roll.
Note that an extension is a separate ley line unto itself; it does not become part of the original line.

Ley Line Networks

A ley line network is a series of ley lines set up in multiple action rounds that allows a wizard to tap his sources from many different provinces. When a wizard controls sources in several provinces connected via a network, he can access any source (provided its province is hooked up to the network) from any terminal province.
Rogr’s actions in the previous examples have created a small network that he can build on in future domain turns. For further discussion of ley line networks, refer to the “Strategy and Tactics” chapter of this book.

Book Keeping

Any player of a wizard character will need to carefully track ley lines and hook-ups. This might be most easily accomplished by laminating a map or slipping it into a plastic sheet protector and using dry erase or water erase markers. Using different colors to designate separate ley lines or hook-ups is recommended. In any case, ley lines are likely to change throughout the course of a campaign, so players will want a method that allows for flexibility.

Maintenance

Every domain turn, wizards must pay 1 RP per ley line (regardless of length) to maintain their lines. This cost represents mental energy the wizard must expend to keep the Ley lines in place. Each hook-up or extension counts as a separate ley line.
If a wizard fails to pay, the line fades back into the earth. However, he can attempt to reforge it within one year with a + 1 bonus to his success roll.
Rogr Aglondier’s network comprises four ley lines and therefore would cost him 4 RP to maintain: 1 RP for the main ley line from Abbatuor to Aiamier, 1 RP each for the two hook-ups in Braeme and Ihien, and 1 RP for the extension to Caerwil.

Hide and Seek

Because ley lines hold strategic importance for regents, wizards at times may
need to locate the ley lines of others— or protect their own lines from rivals.

Optional Maintenance rule: Power-up

Developing a strong ley line network is a strategically wise course of action. However, lots of short ley lines make the cost of maintenance rise quicldy. This cost can be a problem for landless wizard regents—those who control sources but do not rule provinces—because tley often collect fewer Regency Points than do other regents.
The optional power-up rule allows DMs to make life easier on regency-poor wizards. Under this rule, wizards maintain ley ries at their own discretion, depending on 5 whether the wizard wants to use—or thinks he might want to use—a ley line during a particular domain turn. Wizards pay their Iey line maintenance before the action rounds of a domain turn—so using the power-up option requires some planning on the PC’s part. The wizard decides at this point which ley lines (including hook-ups) he will activate for the entire three-month turn. Then he pays the maintenance costs for those ley lines and no others—but he can use only the ley lines that he has powered up.
For example, if Rogr anticipates a peaceful season with Medoere but suspects trouble may be brewing in Ihien, he may elect to maintain only the Abbatuor—Aiamier ley line and the hook-up to Ilien. This choice I would save him 2 RP. However, he would be unable to cast realm spells in Braemc or Caerwil should the need arise in the course of the domain turn.
An inactive ley line cannot have new lines connected to it. If Rogr decides during the second action round that he wants to extend his ley line from Caerwil to the Spiderfeli, he’s out of luck until the next domain turn. At that time he will have another opportunity to power up the Alamier—Caerwil line, and then add the Spiderfeil extension during an action round.
At the end of every domain turn the wizard regent must roll 1d20 for every inactive ley line. On a roll of 1, the ley line did not receive enough residual energy to keep itself going during the turn. It simply dissipates the same way unmaintained lines do under the standard rules. This loss affects the viability of the rest of the network as if the line had been severed.

Finding Existing Ley Lines

Wizards cannot detect the presence of Ley lines by merely passing through a province. Rather, tley require the aid of magical items, artifacts, or spells.
Wizards using magical items to detect ley lines must be in the provinces in which tley seek lines unless tley use the scry realm spell in conjunction with the item. For example, a wizard who drinks a potion of ley line finding can locate lines in the province(s) he visits during the potion’s duration—a limited area of effect. If he drinks the potion after casting sciy, however, he can seek ley lines much farther away.
The Ring of Ley Discovery, should a wizard be so lucky as to obtain this rare artifact, can lead a wizard to ley lines unerringly over great distances. For more information, see the “Magical Items and Artifacts” chapter of this book.
If a line has been hidden, such as through a mask ley line spell, the searching wizard must cast dispel realm magic or wish to detect the line. If a former line has dissipated or been sundered, the searching wizard finds no sign that it existed.
These measures reveal only ley lines—the wizard must make an educated guess or use other means to determine who controls the lines and which sources power them.

Protecting Ley Lines

Ley lines can be hidden, guarded, and booby-trapped to deter other wizards from making them targets of attack. Further, wizards can monitor their lines for evidence of tampering.
All of these protections require a wizard to cast specific realm spells such as ley trap, ley- ward, mask ley line, and protect ley line. Some of the rings of ley can also aid in the protection of ley lines. These measures are more fully described in the “Realm Spells” and “Magical Items and Artifacts” chapters of this book.

Sabotage

In Cerihia, magic is power. When wizards wage war on each other, tley most often battle not for land but for the ability to control its mebhaighl. One of the best ways to weaken a rival is to disable his ley lines. If a wizard limits the number of provinces in which his rival can cast realm magic, he can reduce the chances of undead legions—or some other atrocity—marching to his front door.

Deactivation

A wizard can render a ley line temporarily inactive through the realm spell deactivate ley line. Ideally the wizard should know the location of the line he intends to disable. He can, however, deactivate a line he merely suspects exists—with lower chances of success. (See the “Realm Spells” chapter for the details of deactivate ley line.)
No wizard can use a deactivated line— including the person who forged it and the person who deactivated it. Any ley lines connected to the affected line that are not powered by sources of their own also cannot be used during the period of deactivation. Hook-ups become insignificant. Ley lines connected to the deactivated line but originating in a province in which the wizard controls a source can draw mebhaighl from that source to power realm spells.
For example, if the High Mage Aches deactivated Roger Aglondier’s Abbatuor—Alamier ley line (see Map 3, page 29), his attack would have the following effects:
*Rogr could cast realm spells requiring a source (2) in Abbatuor only, because he could not access that source from any other province.
*He could cast spells requiring a source (1) in Caerwil, because he has a source (1) in Alamier and a separate ley line between the two provinces.
*He could cast no realm spells in Braeme.
*He could cast realm spells in Abbatuor, Ihien, and Alamier because he has sources in those provinces. However, his selection of spells would be limited by the level of the source in each province.
These effects would last until the end of the spell’s duration. At that time the deactivated ley line (and any other lines subsequently affected) would be restored to its original power and accessibility.

Sundering

Sundering a Ley line permanently cuts it in two. To sunder a line, the wizard must know its location. After choosing a specific point in which to sever the line, the wizard casts sunder ley line.The spell cleanly slices the line in half. The breach widens in both directions until it reaches a hook-up, connecting line, or terminus (the point where the line originally began or ended). those two points the breach stops. Depending on where the line is sundered d whether it had any hook-ups or connecting lines, a sunder ley line spell could result in o smaller lines with a gap between them, e smaller line comprising only part of the original line, or the destruction of the whole e. Any remaining lines must still be powered at least one source or tley dissipate.
To repair a sundered line, the regent forges new ley line in the place where the breach curred. This new line counts as a separate ley line, regardless of whether it replaces only a section of what was once a longer line.
For example, if Aches sunders Rogr’s Abbatuor—Alamier line at the border between Alamier and Braemc (see Map 4, page 29), his attack achieves the following results:
*The breach stops at the hook-up in Braeme and the terminus in Alamier.
*The original line now extends from Abbatuor (source province) to Braeme (terminal province), with a hook-up in Lhien.
*The Alamier—Caerwil line remains intact, but is no longer connected to the rest of the network. Rogr can now cast only spells requiring a source (1) in Caerwil.
*If Rogr wants to repair the breach, he must forge a new line between Braeme and Alamier. His network would then comprise five individual lines (Abbatuor—Braeme, Braeme—Alamier, Alamier—Caerwii, and the Braeme and Ihien hook-ups).
Even if their rivals repair breaches immediately after wizards create them, sundering a ley line can still cause long-term damage:
Depending on the location of the cut, replacing the lost section with a new ley line could increase the total number of lines in the network, in turn increasing maintenance costs. In such a case, a wizard might choose to let remaining pieces of a sundered ley line dissipate, then reforge a new, full-length line.

Transfering power

When a regent bequeaths or loses his sources, any ley lines he forged dissipate unless he transfers control of them to the new regent. Additionally, circumstances may warrant the need for one wizard to use another’s ley lines on a temporary or permanent basis.

Borrowing Ley Lines

Regent wizards carefully guard the locations of their sources and ley line networks, lest today’s trusted friend become tomorrow’s bitter rival. But occasionally a wizard has a good reason for letting another speilcaster use his ley lines. Perhaps the regent finds his realm in a state of emergency or perhaps he needs to teach an apprentice the secrets of ley lines. Regardless of the cause, the sharing of such power is serious business.
A wizard can grant another wizard use of his ley line(s) through the ley link action:
 

Ley Link Success: Auto
Type: Free Base Cost: 1 RP
This action enables a regent wizard to temporarily transfer control of one or more of his sources and/or ley lines to another regent wizard. The lending wizard must specify which source(s) and/or ley line(s) he intends to share with the borrower.
The borrowing wizard must meet two critieria. First, he must obtain permission from the wizard who controls the source(s) and/or line(s) he wants to borrow. (This permission can be coerced.) Second, he must already have a connection with Cerihia’s mebhaighl by controlling at least one source of his own somewhere on the continent.
This action forms an immediate link between the borrowing wizard and the sources/ley lines. The link lasts for two action rounds, during which the lending wizard cannot access the borrowed sources and lines. The lending wizard still retains control of his holdings and network—he is just allowing the other wizard to borrow the energy.
Should the lending wizard want to break the link before the end of its duration, he can do so by performing another ley link action, this time linking himself to the holdings.
 

Bequeathing Ley lines

When a regent dies, or when he permanently transfers control of a source through a ceremony of investiture, any ley lines stemming from that source immediately dissipate. If the divesting regent wishes to prevent this, he can perform the ley link action—transfering control to his heir—prior to the investiture ceremony.

Alternate methods for forging Ley Lines

-The ley line rules presented above are the standard guidelines for BIRTHRIGHT products and the official rules for tournament play However, because wizards—particularly landless wizards—are typically the poorest regents in a campaign (collecting no taxes, temple offerings, or guild profits), individual Dungeon Masters might want to give them a break when it comes to the cost of creating and maintaining a ley line network. DMs can, at their discretion, allow players to use one of these alternative methods for forging and maintaining ley lines.
 

Method 1: Discount Maintenance

This method allows a wizard to extend exist ing ley lines without incurring additional maintenance costs. This results in a new domain action: extend ley line. The cost is 1 RP and 1 GB per province crossed, just like forging. The wizard adds provinces to one end of a ley line but pays no additional maintenance costs for them; tley become part of a single line. The wizard gains the ability to cast realm spells from the line’s new terminal province, in addition to the previous terminal province.
For example, Rogr’s original ley line ran from Abbatuor to Alamier. Under the standard rules, when he added a line from Alamier to Caerwil it counted as a second line. Under this method, the Alamier—Caerwil line becomes part of the first line; in other words, he now has just one line, which runs from Abbatuor to Caerwil. He can cast realm spells in a total of three provinces, but he’ll have to pay maintenance costs for only one ley line. As a bonus, Alamier acts as a terminus in the event the line is severed. If a rival severs the line, the breach would spread only as far as Alamier (regardless of where the line was cut).
Additionally, this method grants wizards a discount when adding hook-ups to their lines. Wizards can create up to five hookups with a single forge ley line action, at a cost of 1 GB, plus 1 RP per hook-up. The maintenance cost for hook-ups is 1 RP per five hook-ups.

Method 2: Power forging

This system saves wizards both money and time by not only reducing maintenance costs but also cutting down on the number of action rounds needed to build a significant ley line network.
As in the standard rules, ley lines connect two provinces, and any number of provinces can lie between the source province and the terminal province. However, under this method wizards can access the mebhaighl flowing through a ley line from any province through which the line passes—no hook-ups required.
Further, any line a player can draw on the map without lifting his pencil is considered one line, and it doesn’t matter whether the line is straight or curved—the PC incurs no additional cost. It also doesn’t matter if he starts with a small line and adds on to it later—it’s still just one line.
Thus, if Rogr forged a ley line from Abbatuor to Caerwil—passing through Ihien, Braeme, and Alamier—he would have the ability by the end of that single action round, to cast realm spells requiring a source (2) in all five provinces. And the line would cost a mere 1 GB per domain turn to maintain.
PCs should, however, beware forging enormous lines that snake through half the provinces in Cerihia. A one-line-does-it-all plan has serious strategic weaknesses. While this method allows a PC to forge a powerful line quickly and with little maintenance cost, such a line is very vulnerable. A rival needs to sunder the line in only one place—anywhere along the line—and the whole thing dissipates. Better to forge multiple lines: The extra expense buys security.

I apologise for any typos as the text conversion was not 100% Maps not included use your imaginations
Reproduced for personal use, and lack of availability original in

Book Of Mage Craft( 1996) Wotc out of print