Communion

Two mages are better than one.

Communion is an arcane technique that allows one mage to draw from other (however it is ensured) willing spellcasters to bolster their own prowess and weave spells greater than any one mortal could ever hope to achieve. Such unions were once under the scrutiny of various gods of magic, fearful of what an ambitious wizard might obtain with it, but with the End of All Things, all such constraints have fallen away. Now, it is only wizards inability to get along that stop Communions from being more common.

Effect

The Communion consists of two spells: Links and Anchors. Each member who wishes to be part of a Communion must know the Link spell, but only one needs to know the Anchor.

Anchors

Anchors are the leader of the Communion, the one who draws power from the others and initiates the communion.

Links

Links connect themselves to the Anchor and allow her to draw power from them, and once connected have no choice.

With a Communion, a wizard can affect any facet of a spell. At the least, they can cast it as if their magical might was greater than it would be individually, with the magnitude of such an enhancement proportional to the Links in the Communion. The most skilled the Anchor is, the greater her control is over the power she commands, and she becomes able to create effects that reduce castles to rubble or darken the skies with metal hail.

Magnitude

The most simple use of Communion is to enhance the sheer power of the spell, often well beyond its normal limits.

Reach

Similar to Magnitude, Communion Anchors can increase the regular reach of a spell from yards to miles.

Area

Area-of-effect spells can be widened until they bloat across entire battlefield, or even kingdomds if enough Links are called.

Depending on the exact nature of the spell, other, more esoteric elements can be increased if the Anchor is knowledgable and skillful enough.

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I Order You To Volunteer

While Links must be cast the spell that chain them to the Anchor, such acts can be compelled. The most infamous way is the Arcane Heart, an artifact of great power that resembles a crystal heart.
Those who trade their hearts for the artifact grows small crystal shackles from their backs; when attached around a spellcaster's neck, there act as an always active Link spell that only work to the Heart.

If the Communion is of sufficent number of LInks, they can threaten armies by themselves. Such power is not without cost, and every time an Anchor draws from the Links, it exhausts them. Invigorated by the Communion spell, the Anchor feels nothing, and can drain the Links until they die from exhaustion. It is all too easy for an Anchor to lose sight of the fragility of their Communion, and slowly grind them into dust, losing power along with every life.
Most Communions are small and intimite - a master and a trio of pupils - and their effects limited. The greatest Communion ever seen before the End of All Things saw a hundred wizards join forces to try their best to protect the world even as it broke apart around them, saving thousands if not millions of lives from annihilation. Not all wizards survived, and fewer still the power struggle afterwards, but those that did now form the Zakara Magocracy.

Links must remain a certain distance (just a couple of yards) from the Anchor or another, making large Communions sometimes spread out over a large area - vulnerable to a single Link breaking the entire chain.

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