Weaving

Weavings can make great and varied workings of power. None of them are pre-prescribed and hence are unique to the individual needs and wants of the Weavers.

What can I do with a Weaving?

• Enchantments –  Items may be enchanted up to a one-year duration with specialist enchantments that are not covered by basic enchantments.
• Hexes – These will always require a sympathetic link to the individual or location that you want to hex. It will also require deployment in some form. Until deployment, the Weaving will be held either in a Weaver or an item. Please note, the longer you wish to hold onto this Weaving before deployment, the harder it will be to achieve. If you fail to deploy a hex, there can be unpredictable effects. If you wish to deploy a hex against another player, you need to have a Guardian, Thread, Court of Daggers guildmaster or referee with you. If you want to deploy a hex during an encounter, you have to inform the referees beforehand. 
• Enhancements –  Characters may be enhanced for up to one year. Please note, characters may only hold one Weaving enhancement at a time.
• Area effects – This may be an area that provides a short-term boost to those within the area, or it may cause damage to those within the area. The difficulty of this will be determined by the effect, its duration, and how long you wish to keep it before Deployment. An area can only have one weaving effect at a time.
• Divination – Characters may use the Menhir to discover truths within the game; however, some secrets are well hidden, and the better the secret, the harder the Divination. The Oracle Sphere is very rarely straightforward and there is always some degree of interpretation needed.

The list above is not exhaustive, so feel free to come up with thematic ideas for Weavings that fit your Weaving sphere.

At the start of Menhir’s Fate, the Haven Fragment of Menhir, while powerful, is not at its full strength. You may find that there are some Weavings that are simply unattainable at present that may become easier in the future, depending on player action…or harder.

What cannot be achieved with a Weaving

Power aside, there are some things that the Menhir simply cannot do, as listed below:

• Resurrect the dead – Although there is great Athrian power that can certainly be utilised with Menhir, it stops just short of returning a character to life in their original state.
• Flying – You may gain wings aplenty, but sadly, no power in this world will give you flight.
• Immediate total annihilation – You can do some awful stuff if you put your mind to it, but deployment is the crucial factor here. You cannot simply do a Weaving to destroy a target. That Weaving has to be delivered either in-game for characters, NPCs, monsters, etc, or through downtime if the target is a homeland or distant affair.
• Real world issues – Magic and the Weaving system cannot be used to suggest things that affect a person’s out-of-character characteristics. We do not want a situation where someone with an out-of-character characteristic is asked in-character why they do not use magic to change this.
• Time Travel – Although some Weavings may allow you insight into both the future and the past, they cannot ever take you forward or back to those moments in a way that could allow you to interact with or change the outcome of those events.
• Souls cannot be trapped – The powers of the Menhir cannot break the freewill of souls, they are the domain of the plane of spirits beyond the influence of the mortal realm and spheres of magic. Athria deals with shades – the memories of living beings – rather than souls.
• Becoming a creature of the spheres – While attuned to all spheres of magic, the Menhir holds no dominion over their inhabitants. If you wish to become a creature of the spheres seek their guidance instead.
• Turn a character into a God – Not even the Menhir is this powerful, if you seek Godhood, you must look elsewhere.
• Creating Rifts – Rifts are beyond the power of Mortal magic and tied closely to the power of Fate. You cannot use a Weaving to create or direct a Rift
• Create new Rites or Schematics – Weaving cannot create new rites or schematics. Lost knowledge is a part of the game but any new element such as these would be introduced by the Menhirs team and not created through fishing for them via Weaving

So what do I need to do to create a Weaving?

As a brief overview, a Weaving consists of 4 necessary parts:

• The Handsels – These are gifts and offerings to the Menhir, which have a sympathetic link to the Weaving being woven. In order to determine the Handsels needed, the Weaver must first enact a Rite called “Handsel Augury” to commune with the Menhir and discover its “price”. The Weaving does not require all of the Handsels requested to succeed. However, missing Handsel will make the weaving more difficult to achieve, and missing multiple might cause it to fail.
• The Place and Time – Unlike Rites, Weavings may only be done around a Fragment. As the great power of the Menhir is often in high demand, Guardians have created a system of dedicated time slots which Weavers can book for their Weaving. There are four slots available per hour. Once a Weaving team feels confident that they have the required Handsels, they may now visit the Guardians at the Circle of Weavers and book a time slot for their Weaving. If there are no available slots at this gathering, your weaving will be transferred to a following event, and                       the Guardian team will work with you to make sure this works for you and your team.
• The Weavers – A Weaving requires Weavers to do their work. Some Weavers are more powerful than others, and all Weavers are aligned to at least one sphere of magic. Weavers whose alignment matches that of the Weaving will be able to use their full power level within that sphere, while those outside their alignment will only be able to contribute one point of their power to the Weaving, but can still assist. While the power of the Weavers is important and it will certainly help in some situations to have more Weaving power, it is certainly not the only factor. You will be told the minimum power level needed by the Guardians upon completing the Augury.
• The Weave – No amount of Handsels or Power will cause things to just happen, no crowd of Weavers standing motionless can shift a pebble. Once the right Handsels are gathered in the right place at the right time with the right group of Weavers, they will be able to commune with Menhir, combine all these elements for a performance to enact their will and make their weave a reality. 

Handsels

The Handsel requested can be anything from readily available ingredients (!) to extremely rare relics and anything in between. They can be acquired through trade, thievery, battle spoils, quests, etc. As a general rule, the harder they are to acquire, the more favourably they will be seen by Menhir and the higher their contribution to a weave.

Only the Handsel that has been requested by the Menhir may be used to perform the Weaving; no substitutes are allowed. However, the Weaving does not require all of the Handsel requested to succeed. The Handsel is a suitable offering to be made, not a price demanded. A Handsel offering too small or only consisting of the most abundant of ingredients might make the Weaving impossible to work, but it can still be done without the full amount. Frugal Weavers should bear in mind that fulfilling a larger portion of the request will make the Weave easier.

Only one Handsel Augury may be in progress per person at a time and is valid for one year. The Guardians will try to get back to you expediently, but please be patient and try to limit your Auguries for Weaves you genuinely intend to perform. 

You are not locked into a Handsel Augury, if you no longer wish to complete a Weaving on your Augury then you can perform another Handsel Augury. This act will overwrite your previous Augury.

Timeslots

If you wish to book a time slot during an event, pay a visit to the Circle of Weavers and speak to a Guardian. If there are time slots available, they will book your team in. Please inform a Guardian as soon as possible if your team can no longer make that time slot, as they are precious and may prevent others from having a chance to do a Weaving. 

If there are no slots available for this event, then you can book for the following event, and the Guardian team will do their best to help facilitate this for you. 

Between events, you may request a time slot for the following event via your nation support staff. Every nation will have an allotment of time slots for each event, however if these are not booked prior to the event then they will become available for people to use during the event.

Alignment of a Weave

All Weavers have a type of magic that defines how they reflect onto the Menhir. This doesn’t prevent them from doing anything specific but does determine the way in which they achieve their weaving in terms of both style and rationale, for example:

A Water Weaver may wish to stop an encroaching army. They can call up floods or magnificent storms, but they cannot call a great wall of Fire; that would be how a Fire Weaver does it. Both may achieve the same end goal, but they must use their personal aspects to do so. Weavers should take care to stick to their alignment while doing a Weave, or this can cause the weave to fail.

Weaving Process

Weavers must first check in with the Guardian on duty for their slot, who can always be found at the Menhir Fragment. If, for whatever reason, a guardian is not present on arrival, please wait for them or ask another staff member for assistance on getting them; your Weaving cannot work without a Guardian present! The Guardian will check what Weaving you are performing, each team member’s alignment and level and also check which Handsels you are using in your Weaving. Once this is done, you will be given the go-ahead to begin.

Each Weaving is uniquely based on the participants, their alignments and what they wish to achieve; however, there is a general guideline for how to go about doing one as follows:

• Say what you are doing – Tell the Menhir what you want to achieve and how you intend to do it. There are no rules on how to do this, only that you must do it and that if understanding is not achieved, you will not succeed.
• Present your offering – Handsels have been gathered, and they should form a function within your Weaving. This can be as part of a narrative, as a ceremonial offering or any other way that is fitting to the Weaving.
• Do some Magic! – Wyrd Weaving is a work of magic, and it should feel like one. At some point in the Weaving, there should be an indication of this. This can be through chanting, the use of props, dance or whatever you fancy, but you must attempt to portray that a magical element is occurring.
• Use all participants – In Wyrd Weaving, there is no such thing as a bystander. It is not enough for one Weaver to do all the work while the rest stand around and watch. They must be proactively participating. This doesn’t mean everyone should be shouting spells and chants at all times, it may be as simple as placing items in specific areas, or drawing runes, or humming in harmony with another singer. Whatever it is, all Weavers must contribute to the Weaving, or their power will not count.

The Marking of Weaving

All Weaving’s overall success will be marked by a dedicated member of Menhirs Fate staff known as Guardians. The performance of a weaving is assessed on three categories: expression, structure and cohesion.

Expression – The emphasis in this area is not about how well a player can roleplay, instead it focuses on if the Weavers have expressed their intention. Weavers should ensure the Menhir knows what they are trying to achieve and how, using their sphere, they intend to go about enacting their will.
Ask yourself: “Have I stated what I want to do?”, “Have I stated how my sphere will go about doing this?”

Structure – In this area, the Weaving will be marked on how it is designed. Elements such as the narrative of a Weaving are considered, how the Handsels have been incorporated, and if the Weaving fits the sphere of magic.
For example, two Weavings trying to stop an incoming army might structurally look very different even though they have the same goal. A group of Earth Weavers might choose to do a slow, stompy, and heavy Weaving to fit their sphere. A band of Fire Weavers may decide that a high pace, chaotic Weaving best suits theirs.

Cohesion – The Weaving will be marked on how the Weavers work together. Does everyone play their part? Do all Weavers show they wish to complete the Weaving? Does the Weaving run smoothly?
Contributing to a Weaving does not mean having to speak, it can include being the one who presents the Handsels. Being a fighter in some tale spoken through by a narrator. Playing an instrument. The focus is that everyone is involved, big or small.

Regardless of the marks for the Weaving, these marks are never reflective on the player(s) and are never used in a negative manner.

As some additional general advice and tips to help your work achieve greater results:

The audience was not in your planning meeting – A dance may be beautiful, but the same dance will get far more applause if an audience can understand what it means and how it fits into the work of magic being created.
Remember who you are – There are no leaders in a Wyrd Weaving, however, the amount any Weaver contributes to a Weaving should be consistent with the power level and alignment they are bringing. Similarly, a Weaving aligned with water should have water-aligned Weavers taking some spotlight, they are the experts after all. However, make sure to include everyone for a good time!  

What to Avoid doing

While many styles of Weaving are great, there are certain things that you should try to avoid, as they may count against your working if not:

• Disrespecting Menhir – Menhir is an ancient and powerful sentient spirit. If you are rude to it or to its Guardians, you will feel its wrath… and it’s highly unlikely your Weaving will succeed.
• Changing the nature of your Weaving – It is highly important that you do the Weaving you set out to do, as negotiated with the guardians prior to starting. If your Weaving appears to deviate from this brief; your Weaving will fail.
  Exceeding the allotted time slot – Menhir Weavings should take roughly five to eight minutes per Weaving. The Fragment will have a bell chime that will warn the players when five minutes have passed. A deeper toll will ring at 7 minutes and 30 seconds as well. Taking up more of Menhirs’ precious time will cost you dearly and may mean that your Weaving fails, or that you get expelled from the Fragment before even completing  your weave. Take care to limit your Weavings accordingly. OC note: The time limits are in place to ensure an efficient and smooth running of               weavings and avoiding time delays leading to weaving backlogs. If you exceed your time slot, your weaving will fail and you will be kicked out the tent. 
• Making modern or real-world references in your Weaving – this should go without saying, as we encourage all players to fully immerse themselves in the Live role-play experience as a general rule. However, doing so in Menhir is particularly bad and will definitely count against your Weaving. Please refrain from things like singing obviously modern songs, bringing your phones to the Fragment. This doesn’t include the use of accessibility aids such as glasses, wheelchairs, crutches or walking aids, although we will always celebrate attempts to blend them into the environment, you will not get penalised for having them.
• Active rebellion against the working –  This is a Weaving of will and intent. Any Weaver in the Fragment that openly expresses dissent (for example, saying “I don’t wantto do this!” or actively looking bored or disinterested in the Weaving) will have a negative effect on the Weaving, which can in turn lead to an overall failure.

The Result

During each Weaving, at least two guardians will be watching. They will assess the Weaving and determine the result. This is a judgement based on several key criteria reflecting such as the relevance of the performance to the magic worked, and is NEVER a judgement on the Weavers themselves. There are 5 possible results:

• Exceptional success – Your Weaving went incredibly well! Not only have you managed to achieve your intended goal, but you may also receive a further beneficial effect that may benefit the Weavers themselves, their intended targets or their nation!
• Success – Your Weaving succeeded! You will get the desired and intended effect that you asked for.
• Partial success – While this was a close attempt, you have not quite managed to achieve the desired result. You may get a limited or smaller effect than intended, or you may get the full effect but with some unexpected negative effects as well.
• Failure –  Your Weaving has not worked. This could lead to further effects or consequences. The Handsels have been used, and if you wish to repeat the Weaving at a later time, a new augury will have to be performed. OC note: Failure could be the result of the performance of the weaving, or a consequence of plot/ lore.
• Catastrophic failure – Your Weaving has failed very badly. Not only have you not succeeded in the intended outcome, but there will likely be some major negative effects that can cause trouble for either the Weavers themselves, their intended targets, or their nation! Depending on the severity, this may even include death.

After each Weaving, the Guardian will also deliver feedback to the team. This feedback will follow a set guideline and will be directed towards providing constructive advice on future Weavings, not on subjective critique.

Fragment Wards

All Menhir Fragments are places of great power that are warded to keep others out while working your Weaving. When a Weaving begins, only participants and Guardians can remain inside the wards.  Once the Weaving team is inside, they may choose to either raise the wards or leave them open. 

When the Fragments wards are raised, it will prevent all characters which are not part of the Weaving (Guardians exempt) from passing into immediate space next to the Menhir. The wards are a transparent barrier of Wyrd, and while the wards are not themselves visible, when they are raised, there will be several props to represent this (glowing rocks at the side of the tent).

If, for whatever reason, another Weaving team wishes to break into the wards to prevent the Weaving from completing that must meet the following requirements to breach the wards:

• They must make a consistent 30-second Rite that is uninterrupted, around the Weaving Circle tent (!). This may be performed by any weaver regardless of their sphere and is an ad lib Rite.
• All Weavers attempting to break the wards must be working together as a cohesive team.
• There must be at least double the number of Weavers attempting to break the ward than there are Weavers around the Fragment.
• At least one of the Weavers outside the tent must match or better the weaving level of the greatest Weaver within the Fragment. That Weaver MUST present themselves as the leader(s) of the effort, and MUST get the attention of the presiding Guardian. 

If the ward breaking is successful, then the wards will drop. Either the Weavers around the Fragment will leave of their own accord, or if this has not happened within the next 30 seconds, Menhir will expel all characters away from the Fragment, repelling them away. Fighting will not be tolerated near the tent. 

Please note, this is mostly for safety reasons, as there are many obstacles and props within the tent that we do not wish to be damaged by fighting.