Spell Weaver

Spell weavers are alien sorcerers who travel the planes seeking out magic. They are also described as natural sorcerers, as potent as they are alien, who are the orphans of an ancient empire, ruined seemingly by happenstance.

Basic Information

Genetics and Reproduction

Life Cycle and Reproduction

Spell weavers are extremely long-lived creatures, with a lifespan near six centuries. Age does not seem to significantly affect their physical abilities, with only lighter skin tones distinguishing older individuals. Upon reaching the end of their life, they undergo a special hibernation trance requiring the draining of a near-priceless amount of magic items to rejuvenate their body. They sacrifice the energies within these treasures, destroying them to create a cylindrical "coffin". Sealing themselves inside, they enter a state of suspended animation that can last from a month to centuries. At the end, they emerge physically restored, their skin darkened, and their life renewed for another six centuries. This process only functions six times.
To reproduce, an elder spell weaver who has gone through all six rejuvenations performs a complex, ritual self-sacrifice that results in the "birth" of six new adult spell weavers. This requires a special array of breeding vessels. The parent creates six new chromatic disks and places them into the vessels, where the new individuals form and grow in a few hours. During this time, the parent dies and decays, disappearing into nothingness. The newborns rise with the full memories and mental abilities of the parent. This process is sometimes referred to as magical Fusion where an individual absorbs arcane energy and splits into two beings with the same initial memories but distinct personalities. Spell weavers are understandably fairly obsessed with the number six, which underpins much of their design and philosophy, representing beauty, symmetry, order, and identity.

Communication

Spell weavers do not speak, as their law forbade speech millennia ago to develop telepathic faculties. They seldom emit noises, only as a consequence of pain or surprise. They have their own incredibly complex language of clicks and whistles, known only from distant memories and now experienced only in its written form, as node hieroglyphs.
They have two primary ways to communicate exclusively among themselves: a sign language using their flexible neck and six hands, and a visual language based on the colors of their chromatic disks. Both methods can convey complex meanings. Through the combination of sign language, chromatic disks, and telepathy, they can deliver extensive dialogue in minutes. Their telepathy has a range of 10 miles. Attempting telepathic communication with a spell weaver by other races is extremely difficult and even dangerous, potentially causing temporary insanity. When needing to communicate with other races, they may use cryptic written messages or simple hand signals, but largely rely on magic.

Behaviour

Motivation

A primary motivation for many spell weavers is the desire to restore the Time of Nodes. They seek out particular magic items, specifically ancient gems imbued with "memories" that they can telepathically read. By inspecting these gems, they try to collect pieces of the Code of Reversion, a magical formula devised before the final experiment. This multipart spell was designed to revert time in the entire multiverse to the point when the formula was inscribed, offering a chance to restore their empire if the experiment failed. The Disjunction scattered these gems, and no spell weaver has yet found and activated the complete code. They believe that the current reality is a mistake they need to correct, making other races seem insignificant in their grand scheme.
While some spell weavers accept the ruin of their civilization and seek to live peacefully, others actively strive to rebuild the spell weaver empire. They see the innumerable humanoid races as an infestation and are willing to use destructive magical items to eliminate them, echoing tactics from the Time of Nodes. Their constant need for magical power drives much of their interaction with other races, seeking magical items through any means necessary.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Religion

Spell weavers have no religion and actively shun the worship of deities, refuting their divinity and hinting at some undermining secret of their powers. Despite this disbelief, they revere their ancestors and often meditate to better understand the will of past generations. As all spell weavers share the memories of their forebearers, this is more a pious reminiscence than actual devotion. They do not consider history a dry collection of facts but a time that is still remembered.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Abilities

Spell weavers are natural sorcerers with the innate ability to cast multiple spells simultaneously. They can cast a number of spells at once as long as the sum of their spell levels is equal to or less than the number of hands they have free. They use complex arm and hand gestures but require no verbal or material components. They have a pool of spell points equal to their hit points, with each spell level costing one point. Their spellcasting ability is often described as being that of a sorcerer two levels higher than their hit dice. They are not inclined to any particular spell focus but value versatility, preferring options for defense, offense, and transportation.
All spell weavers carry chromatic disks, thin, 6-inch-diameter circular objects made of a silvery substance stronger than steel. The disk can change color and show patterns at the spell weaver’s will. These are living extensions of their beings. If lost or destroyed, a spell weaver can quickly replace it through meditation, exuding metallic blue blood and fluids from their palms in the form of a metallic resin, which they manipulate into a disk. This process takes about an hour and is exhausting. Chromatic disks can enhance their arcane powers, allowing them to cast more spells per day. Attempting to use a chromatic disk by non-spell weavers results in an explosive disaster.
Spell weavers possess uncanny telepathy, with a range of up to 1,000 miles among themselves. They are physically distinct, averaging 5 feet in height and 100 pounds, with six arms and genderless, smooth, and hairless bodies in shades of gray, sometimes with light-colored splotches. Their necks are long and exceptionally nimble, allowing them to turn their heads completely around. Their blood is metallic blue. They are immune to mind-affecting effects and resistant to pain and psionic attacks. They can become invisible at will and have the ability to detect magic and detect invisibility in a 100-foot radius. Once per day, they can use plane shift. While not adept at melee combat, some train to use their extra arms for slam attacks. They can also create a 200-foot radius of planar impenetrability once per day for a short duration, blocking scrying and planar travel.

Civilization and Culture

Average Technological Level

Artifacts of Note

• Chromatic Disks: As described above, these are essential tools and extensions of spell weavers.
• Breeding Tablets: Rare spell weaver documents, like the one quoted as the Breeding Tablet, depict their six-life cycle and final self-sacrifice.
• Node Hieroglyphs: The written form of the ancient spell weaver language, found on tablets and pillars in their ruins. Their literal translation is nonsense to non-spell weavers, requiring magical aid and skill to decipher.
• Silver Hexameric Folio: A sentient artifact made of three pentagonal silver books linked by a metallic cord, containing ancient spell weaver spells like anamensis, cynosure, modulate, siphon, and spell star. It can communicate telepathically and act as a teacher, but its true purpose may be to aid the restoration of the spell weaver empire.
• Magical Nodes: The ruined pyramids of their ancient empire, often containing breeding chambers, mortuaries, and destroyed magical furnaces. Some rumors speak of near-mythic live node furnaces. The ruins can be found in various locations across different planes.
• Code of Reversion Gems: Precious stones psychometrically inscribed with pieces of the magical formula to revert time and restore the spell weaver empire. These were scattered during the Disjunction and are sought after by spell weavers.
• Unusual Pillars: Found in spell weaver lairs, these 10-foot-tall stone or wood columns are covered in indecipherable magical runes and may sometimes have stolen magical items placed on top. Prolonged study can cause confusion, and touching them may have unpredictable magical effects.

History

Ancient Empire and its Fall

Long ago, the spell weavers ruled a magically advanced empire that, millennia ago, spanned numerous worlds and planes. This empire consisted of a vast league of colonies, called nodes, which spanned the multiverse. These enormous pyramids of stone and steel (or glass and metal) were powered by gigantic magical furnaces (or arcane forges fueled by medical items in the souls of living beings.) These nodes were widely separated, often with only one existing on any single world or plane of existence, although at least two existed on Golarion. All nodes were connected through a complex matrix of magical portals, serving as massive planar travel installations, capable of instantly moving all their inhabitants to other locations or planes.
The spell weaver empire was largely noninvasive. It was an advanced community of intellectual watchers who only occasionally subjugated more primitive creatures to carry out menial chores and hard labor. When encountering threatening races, they would gift them with powerful magic items and artifacts, allowing these cultures to destroy themselves from within. Above all, the spell weavers were interested in semantics, researching it for thousands of years by observing nearly every culture. Through this study, they developed uncanny telepathy and the ability to cast multiple spells simultaneously.
At the height of their prosperity, the spell weavers conducted a grandiose and dangerous experiment, possibly an attempt to alter reality across the entire multiverse. This experiment met with tragic failure and caused a catastrophe of colossal proportions, known as the Disjunction. For unexplained reasons, the furnaces within every spell weaver node exploded one after the other in a terrible chain reaction, obliterating the pyramidal colonies and all their inhabitants within seconds, effectively purging the multiverse of the spell weaver empire in a single moment. Only the few members of the race who were away from the nodes survived, becoming the ancestors of all modern spell weavers.
Two common theories exist regarding the cause of the Disjunction:

• Ascension: The spell weavers discovered the prime form of communication, words of reality capable of manipulating all existence. Believing deities were merely beings with knowledge of this language, they attempted to take their place among the powers en masse. The deities, discovering this, warped their attempt, creating a magical backlash that destroyed the empire.
• Unification: The spell weavers believed that the planes and worlds were originally one single, balanced reality shattered by the deities. They created their nodes as anchors, hoping to cast a multiverse-spanning spell to draw the planes back together. The power involved proved too great, and the first trial wiped their empire from reality.

Modern Spell Weavers

Modern spell weavers are the descendants of the survivors of the Disjunction. They refer to the time of their empire as the Time of Nodes, the catastrophe as the Disjunction, and the following age as the Scrabbling. Although they still adhere to the dogmatic prohibition not to speak, the rigid social structure of their ancient empire is gone, and most are essentially loners, though some may band together to acquire magic items. They are rarely seen, and usually only when involved in schemes to obtain magic items through trade, persuasion, or force.

Genetic Descendants

• Weavemarked