Magic Chalk

The mage then procured a piece of chalk from her pocket and began to draw on the ground. It was dizzying to watch as she spun and drew, almost carving arcs into the ground in her haste to get us out of the burning wreckage...
I could hear the sounds of the orcs in the distance as they barrelled towards us, but in the split second before they could reach us, she finished the circle and the whole thing blazed with a greyish light. The ground fell away beneath us, and we plummeted into darkness.

— Description of a Portal ritual following a battle in the Gashir

Magical chalk is a common item carried by mages throughout the multiverse. A very potent source of energy or fuel for a Ritual or other magical effects, chalk is nearly indispensable to mages of a certain station.

Appearance and Usage

Magic chalk is usually sold in sticks about fifteen centimeters in length and about a centimeter in diameter. This makes them a little brittle, so many mages keep them in pouches lined with fur or other soft materials to prevent them from snapping. Most pieces of chalk often have the manufacturer's insignia on them to help identify who made them; a missing manufacturer mark is often a good sign of fake chalk.
To use, the chalk simply has to be drawn on the ground like a writing implement. Many people who have shakier hands often use other implements like pendulums and water to help keep their lines straight and wash off mistakes, respectively.

Use

There are very few magical rituals that do not use chalk in some form or shape. To wit, some common uses for magical chalk are:

• Portals: drawing circles, arcs, and location information on the ground with chalk is an essential part of the ritual, as it prevents the Portal from sending the drawing mage and their friends to some random location in the multiverse.
• Demon summoning: Using similar conception to Portals, Demon Circles use a circular set of lines and runes to help draw the demon in question to the multiverse's plane of existence. Most interestingly, many of these rituals use multiple colours of chalk instead of just one or two.
• Magic item enchanting: the early parts of an enchanting ritual involve drawing runes onto the item in question to help focus the enchanting ritual and allow magic to better infuse into the item.

Type

Composite

Rarity

Rare

Color

Matches the colour of the Form it is attuned to (red for Fire, white for Illusion, etc.)

Common State

Solid, although some places use a thick paste instead of dry chalk.

Related Technologies

• Rituals

Example of a Chalk Recipe

Air Chalk
For one stick of about fifteen centimeters in length:

• two sprigs of Whistleroot and five petals of Tornadobloom, calcinated;
• twenty grams of diamond, ground into a powder;
• a ten-centimeter stick of Whompbranch, shredded into fine yellow pieces; and
• seventy millilitres of distilled water.

The first three ingredients are slowly stirred together, creating a mixture that looks not unlike biscuit dough. Then, drop by drop, water is added and incorporated until the material forms a very thick orangish paste. The material is then shaped and placed into a mold, then baked under extremely hot flame until the chalk becomes a pale yellow solid.