Hello. I suppose you’re here because you’re either
1. Confused about 13 Steps magic system
2. Bored
3. Nerd 🤓
But yes, this is the 13 Steps glossary to try and give additional context as well as clear some misunderstandings within the story. This isn’t going to be a long one - just think of it like a fandom wikipedia.
Let’s go through the basics before moving to the specifics within the story.
Basics:
In the world of Ru, there are lines (or more technically known as Pir lines hence the name of the system is called Pir) which can alter reality when you bend it.
To see these lines, one would need to seek out a practitioner to help and learn how to unlock the Pir realm. Where they would see white glowing lines that spanned across the world, each of them separate from one another in the same distance (about a metre apart?).
Without having the intention to touch them, one’s body will pass right through them. But that is what differentiates a mage from an academic. With intentions, one can touch and manipulate these Pir lines.
The type of effects are tied to how many lines one bends in one go with a maximum cap of 9 lines for humans. Anymore and their life will be at stake. Do note: Non-humans can bend more than that with the highest cap being 100. The most notable example was a dragon mage, weaving 99 lines in one go.
Fortunately, practitioners can unweave already used spells and thus ending the effects prematurely or resetting their count. This allows them, at the cost of their energy, to cast multiple spells in a single fight.
Pir lines are also curiously very interlinked with numbers themselves. Prime numbers are the base type of said spells with composite numbers combining effects from their prime factors.
Example:
6 lines bent together can be bent to cause inorganic changes as 2 lines bent is acceleration while 3 lines bent is temperature changes (also known as small changes) as such it is amplified here.
Now onto spellcasting itself:
Spellcasting:
Because regular humans can only cast up to 9 lines, the magic society has categorised them under a magic square (known as the 9 squares) and classified their type of spells.
8
(Space)
1
(Detection)
6
(Inorganic Change)
3
(Temperature Change)
5
(Balance)
7
(Illusions)
4
(Movement)
9
(Weather Changes)
2
(Acceleration)
As seen from above, it is an actual magic square i.e all lines added up to 15 and this is not a coincidence.
There are phenomena where spells can “disguise” as one another through casting on the same line. But that is not important for today’s discussion.
A mage can easily cast spells through bending them into different shapes with special attention paid towards which hand and which direction. This is known as Inverse Law where using the Left hand (commonly known as the Devil’s hand) or an Anticlockwise twist will create opposite effects stated by their types.
For example, bending 5 lines inversely will cause more chaos to form in whatever type or shape or how bending 7 lines may create truths that didn’t already exist.
Spells themselves can be easily created and crafted on the spot, allowing creative usage once one understands the fundamentals. Adhering to the Power Law (the more lines used, the stronger a spell is and vice versa), spells will have restrictions set to them but will give full flexibility to the caster.
This is why spell casters themselves should set their own restrictions first for spells because spells will get restricted regardless if they do so or not. This may create unexpected outcomes like restricting the spell’s range or diminishing its impact.
Lastly, spells can be pre-stored in a simple cause to effect manner. This is an advanced technique but extremely useful for practical combat. Instead of actually bending the lines up and weaving into different shapes, one can attach another act (like clapping hands or chants) as a substitution to actually bending under the Substitution Law.
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13 Steps Explainer:
This will be divided into 2 parts. The overall fight itself and the spells casted so feel free to flip back and forth to learn about them.
Fighter’s objectives
Right off the bat, Nigel and Chris have two very different objectives in their fights.
Chris’ goal was to use brute force and kill Nigel no matter what tricks he had. Just as he was hunting down Nigel, he bent seven lines inversely, changing it to become a truth telling spell.
Thus, gaining more information of where he is and what arsenal his spells were.
Meanwhile, Nigel only had one ace in his sleeve: Fortune’s Command where after collecting 13 counts of exactly 13, he became invincible. Unfortunately, this condition is extremely hard to achieve as each count of 13 only lasts for 13 minutes itself. If he exceeds even by one, it will be one lesser count for him.
But upon successfully casting his spell, he wins the fight entirely.
And as such, the fight becomes a ticking timebomb for Chris to kill Nigel in time (13:13:13:13).
Now curiously, Nigel had concealed one of the lines in advance. Just as a precaution against those that connected the dots, leading Chris into a trap itself - thinking that he had insufficient counts to cast the spell.
Onto the actual spells casted!
Spells Casted
Note: The number beside the name of the spell is the cost of the spell i.e how many lines weaved. A positive is the proper weaving technique while negative is an inverse weaving technique.
Concealment (-1)
* Caster: Nigel
* Effect: Conceals any one thing for an hour. That thing is unable to move for that position else the spell will be broken.
* Side note: Detection spells that target said object will be able to see the concealed object.
Detection (+1)
* Caster: Chris
* Effect: Detects all large living presences within the same floor as him.
Truth Teller (-7)
* Caster: Chris
* Effect: In 7 metre radius, Chris can force any sentient being to answer a question as truthfully as possible.
Fortune’s Command (±13)
* Caster: Nigel
* Condition: 13 counts of the number 13
* Either through having the number 13 when the spell is casted
* Or through marking down a vertical line to start counting any specific trait. Use horizontal lines to stop the count.
* Effect: Ability to change the probability of anything in the next 13 minutes.
Ghost (-1)
* Caster: Nigel
* Effect: Turn invisible for one second but for the next minute, any physical attacks will deal no damage to the target.
Bonus Scene!
Forbidden Knowledge (±49)
* Caster: Christine
* Condition: On the 49th day of the year, the caster must succeed in predicting random events forty nine times in a row.
* Effect: Caster can ask seven questions about the universe and be given 100% accurate answers about anything.
