Spell Roadmap

How to read an entry Open page

• Shapes are written as the player sees them on a landscape phone, with "outward" meaning toward that thumb's screen edge and "inward" toward the middle of the screen. Each entry gives the right thumb's stroke. On a mirrored spell the left thumb draws the mirror image; on a parallel spell both thumbs draw the same stroke the same way; a Facet (asymmetric) spell gives each thumb its own shape.
• Size is the longer side of the drawn shape. Breath is the spell's own breath window; spells without one use the default 600 ms. Corners counts the sharp corners per thumb, which the scorer checks separately from the shape.
• Glyph kinds come from Story Bible section 3: whole (one fragment), split (each half on a different fragment), taught (a teacher traces it with you), reflected (visible only in one reflection) and warp-born (surfaces at a fresh warp and fades).
• Roles: damage, control, defence, healing or utility. The Spell Set's "assist" spells are utility here.
• Colour is the faction's glyph colour, the color field in the spell data. The Wardens, Tenders, Waymakers and Facets already have one. The Keepers of the Hour and the Still Choir don't yet, so this tab proposes dusk rose #FF8FA3 for the Keepers and frost white #E4ECFF for the Still Choir.

At a glance Open page

Each Evane faction has four spells and no faction covers every role, so an Evane player still has to learn from more than one faction for a full kit. The Facets cover every role on their own, but every Facet spell is asymmetric and hard to draw. The Spell Set's three overworld-only spells are folded in: Listen stays a spell, Bloom becomes Root's field effect and Ford becomes Drift's.

That is 2 + 2 + 14 + 9 = 27 spells and 5 + 4 + 1 = 10 named threads.

The difficulty curve Open page

The Story Bible's outline already brings spells in tier order: mirrored, then parallel, then asymmetric, then composites across the sides. This roadmap keeps that order and grades the spells inside each tier, so every act asks something new of the hands.

Hasten adds 40% to the breath window for 12 s. Keeper Hale teaches it at the Hour Stair before the hour trial, on the main path (on the fallen road it is a stolen fragment from the Undermere fence instead), so every player has it before the longest threads: Thaw at 1,360 ms at the Unstilling, Deep Cut at 1,445 ms. That lets the Act 3 threads be cast before breath has grown much with level and gear.

The main path needs only these: Repel and Coil (Prologue); Gale and Headwind (Act 2, the caravan defence); Facet Seal (Act 2, the glass storm); Hasten (Act 3, before the hour trial); Pavilion Wake and Thaw (Act 3, the Unstilling). Thaw is Repel into Pavilion Wake, so every player can cast it: Repel can never be sealed. Brace and Mend (Act 1) are optional but strongly recommended for the Sallow Wyrm; at the Unstilling it is Aske who casts Brace, not the player. Linger is found on the climb up the Hour Stair, and the hour trial is built around it. Act 4 adds no spell: the First Pair shows in the Pane at dawn to every player, who learns it if they know Brace and Facet Seal. It counts double in the hold, but any cross-side thread will do. Every other spell comes from an optional chapter or a side quest. The optional spells make fights easier but never gate the story.

Letter order. Act 2 lets the player deliver either letter first. If Lanternfall came before the Long Road, the player would meet asymmetric spells before parallel ones. The roadmap assumes the Long Road caravan is how the player travels from Halfway to whichever court they choose, so Gale is always learned first (open question 1).

The spells

Wardens of Measure Open page

Straight lines and hard corners, mirrored. Pale blue #7FD4FF. Seat: Twinhold.

Repel (repel) — In data

• Faction, colour: Wardens of Measure, #7FD4FF
• Tier: mirrored
• Right thumb: an L: straight down, hard corner, then outward for 60% of the drop.
• Left thumb: the mirror image: down, hard corner, outward to the left.
• Size, breath, corners: 32 mm, 600 ms, 1 per thumb (62% along the stroke)
• Battle: 10 damage; the enemy is staggered for 2.5 s.
• Field: pushes a roaming glint pack back, so the battle starts with the enemy staggered; shoves a stuck cart or gate one step.
• Glyph kind: whole
• Learned: starts learned. The door-mark on every doorpost in Velan, traced every night since childhood (whole glyph). It can never be un-taught.
• Act: Prologue (the farm door)
• Role: control

Brace (brace) — In data

• Faction, colour: Wardens of Measure, #7FD4FF
• Tier: mirrored
• Right thumb: a bracket: outward, hard corner, straight down, hard corner, back inward to under the start.
• Left thumb: the mirror image.
• Size, breath, corners: 30 mm, 600 ms, 2 per thumb (27% and 73%)
• Battle: a 15-point shield.
• Field: holds up a sagging beam or door frame while you pass; stops the wind on the Long Road pass from pushing you back.
• Glyph kind: taught
• Learned: Sallowbank, the ferry (quest aske_brace). Aske traces it with the player hand over hand. She traces it; she does not cast. Optional, but recommended for the Sallow Wyrm. At the Unstilling in Act 3, Brace is Aske's one cast.
• Act: Act 1 (optional)
• Role: defence

Tally (tally)

• Faction, colour: Wardens of Measure, #7FD4FF
• Tier: mirrored
• Right thumb: a Z: outward along the top, sharp corner, diagonal down and inward, sharp corner, outward along the bottom. As wide as 60% of its height.
• Left thumb: the mirror image.
• Size, breath, corners: 30 mm, 600 ms, 2 per thumb
• Battle: hits back with half the damage you took in the last 6 s (at least 6).
• Field: counts what is near: tally marks over the minimap show how many glints are in the area and mark the strongest.
• Glyph kind: whole
• Learned: Twinhold, a whole glyph on the drill stone in the recruits' yard. The Wardens' court offers the player a place in the drill, and the stone is open to them after that.
• Act: Act 2 (optional)
• Role: damage

Weigh (weigh)

• Faction, colour: Wardens of Measure, #7FD4FF
• Tier: mirrored
• Right thumb: an N: from the bottom of the inner side straight up, sharp corner, diagonal down to the outer bottom, sharp corner, straight up the outer side. As wide as 60% of its height.
• Left thumb: the mirror image.
• Size, breath, corners: 32 mm, 750 ms, 2 per thumb
• Battle: marks the enemy for 12 s. While marked, it shows its HP and the timer to its next attack, and every hit ignores half its shield.
• Field: opens measure-locks, the Warden doors that open only when the two sides of a mechanism are even (in the Hall of Measure and later Warden places). In a conversation it weighs one claim, showing whether the speaker believes what they just said. It shows belief, not truth. The Measure Vault isn't a measure-lock: its wards open to a mirrored draw of their own glyph (Act 2 walkthrough), so nobody needs Weigh to get in.
• Glyph kind: taught (Ondine or Tamsin), or whole (the Vault)
• Learned: depends on the Act 2 midpoint choice. Guard Ondine's mending and she teaches it as a reward. Rob the Measure Vault and Iver's crew find it as a whole glyph cut inside the Vault, not on its inner door. Otherwise Tamsin teaches it hand over hand when the midpoint closes, wherever the player is. One way or another, every player leaves Act 2 with Weigh.
• Act: Act 2
• Role: utility

The Tenders Open page

Long unbroken curves, mirrored. Violet #B48CFF. Seat: Greenvault.

Coil (coil) — In data

• Faction, colour: Tenders, #B48CFF
• Tier: mirrored
• Right thumb: an S: start upper right, curve over the top to the left, sweep down through the middle, round the bottom, finish lower left. No corners. Half as wide as it is tall.
• Left thumb: the mirror image, starting upper left.
• Size, breath, corners: 34 mm, 700 ms, none
• Battle: 24 damage.
• Field: pulls a lever, rope or loose object across a gap; ties off a drifting boat; catches runaway goats, as Greenvault folk use it.
• Glyph kind: whole
• Learned: the Drowned Steps, the first fragment, with Aske teaching how to trace (whole glyph). Built in VEL-34.
• Act: Prologue
• Role: damage

Mend (mend) — In data

• Faction, colour: Tenders, #B48CFF
• Tier: mirrored
• Right thumb: a cup: straight down, round the bottom, back up the outer side to the starting height. Two-thirds as wide as it is tall.
• Left thumb: the mirror image.
• Size, breath, corners: 34 mm, 650 ms, none
• Battle: heal 20.
• Field: heals you between fights; heals a wounded animal or person, which several side quests ask for. It only heals what would heal on its own, the Tender rule.
• Glyph kind: taught
• Learned: Halfway, taught by Sister Orla, the Tender healer, at her stall on the Pale Row, in return for a small job (quest mend_lesson). Optional.
• Act: Act 1 (optional)
• Role: healing

Wither (wither)

• Faction, colour: Tenders, #B48CFF
• Tier: mirrored
• Right thumb: an arch, the Mend cup turned upside down: straight up the inner side, over a round top, straight down the outer side. Two-thirds as wide as it is tall. No corners.
• Left thumb: the mirror image.
• Size, breath, corners: 34 mm, 650 ms, none
• Battle: 5 damage a second for 6 s (30).
• Field: rots a wooden barricade, thorn wall or rotten door so it can be walked through.
• Glyph kind: whole
• Learned: Greenvault, a whole glyph on a dead stump on the decay terrace (key item fragment_wither).
• Act: Act 2 (optional faction visit)
• Role: damage

Root (root)

• Faction, colour: Tenders, #B48CFF
• Tier: mirrored
• Right thumb: an S lying on its side: start at the inner end, rise in a smooth hump, fall through the middle line into a smooth dip, come back up to the middle line at the outer end. It is almost as tall as it is wide (the two humps together reach 90% of the width).
• Left thumb: the mirror image, moving outward to the left.
• Size, breath, corners: 36 mm, 700 ms, none
• Battle: heal 4 a second for 8 s (32); you can't be staggered meanwhile.
• Field: grows a vine across a gap or up a wall, and opens vine-locked doors (the Spell Set's Bloom, folded in: there is no Bloom spell).
• Glyph kind: whole
• Learned: Greenvault, a whole glyph cut in a living vine.
• Act: Act 2 (optional faction visit)
• Role: healing

Keepers of the Hour Open page

Spirals and loops drawn a set number of times, mirrored. Proposed colour: dusk rose #FF8FA3. Seat: the Hour Stair.

Recall (recall)

• Faction, colour: Keepers of the Hour, #FF8FA3
• Tier: mirrored
• Right thumb: a spiral inward: start at the bottom of the outer ring and go counter-clockwise (up the outer side first), one and a half turns, finishing at the centre.
• Left thumb: the mirror image: clockwise, up its outer side first.
• Size, breath, corners: 28 mm, 800 ms, none
• Battle: gives back the HP you lost in the last 4 s (at least 6).
• Field: shows the last moments held in still water or glass as a short replay. At Corran it shows Aske's part in the stilling. Side quests use it for mysteries.
• Glyph kind: reflected
• Learned: Corran, a reflected glyph that shows in the clear glass of the stilled town only at dawn. (Idea) The Keepers who stood in the five-person seal left it there. The Story Bible doesn't say who stood in the seal.
• Act: Act 3 (optional)
• Role: healing

Toll (toll)

• Faction, colour: Keepers of the Hour, #FF8FA3
• Tier: mirrored
• Right thumb: a bell on its rope, loop first: start at the bottom of a small circle, go clockwise (up the inner side, over the top, down the outer side) back to the start, then straight down for a tail two-thirds as long as the loop is tall.
• Left thumb: the mirror image.
• Size, breath, corners: 28 mm, 750 ms, none
• Battle: 35 damage, landing 3 s after the cast.
• Field: rings an hour. It opens the Hour Stair's hour-doors, and it pulls every glint within earshot to you, which starts a fight on your terms.
• Glyph kind: taught
• Learned: the Hour Stair, taught by Old Pim at the third bell, after the bell-ringing errand.
• Act: Act 3 (optional)
• Role: damage

Linger (linger)

• Faction, colour: Keepers of the Hour, #FF8FA3
• Tier: mirrored
• Right thumb: two loops, one below the other, like a coiled cord drawn downward: start at the top, move outward and round clockwise into the first loop, carry on down into the second, and end at the bottom. About a third as wide as it is tall.
• Left thumb: the mirror image.
• Size, breath, corners: 30 mm, 800 ms, none
• Battle: the enemy's attacks come 50% slower for 12 s.
• Field: slows a moving hazard (a mill wheel, a swinging shard, a closing gate) for 12 s.
• Glyph kind: whole
• Learned: the Hour Stair, a whole glyph cut into the seventh bell's frame. It is on the way up, and the hour trial is built around it.
• Act: Act 3
• Role: control

Hasten (hasten)

• Faction, colour: Keepers of the Hour, #FF8FA3
• Tier: mirrored
• Right thumb: a spiral outward: start at the centre, go up, then counter-clockwise (curling toward the inner side) for one and a half turns, ending at the bottom of the outer ring.
• Left thumb: the mirror image: clockwise, curling toward its inner side.
• Size, breath, corners: 28 mm, 750 ms, none
• Battle: the breath window is 40% longer for 12 s.
• Field: you walk and run 50% faster for 30 s.
• Glyph kind: taught
• Learned: the Hour Stair, taught by Keeper Hale hand over hand before the hour trial, so the player has the breath for the long threads. On the fallen road it is a stolen fragment bought from the Undermere fence instead.
• Act: Act 3 (main path)
• Role: utility

The Still Choir Open page

Tiny, slow, minimal strokes, mirrored. Proposed colour: frost white #E4ECFF. Seat: Hushfold. The four Choir spells are one short straight stroke each, in the four directions. The Choir teaches them as its four quiet directions, and they double as its hand-signs.

Hush (hush)

• Faction, colour: Still Choir, #E4ECFF
• Tier: mirrored
• Right thumb: one short, slow stroke straight down.
• Left thumb: the same (a vertical stroke is its own mirror image).
• Size, breath, corners: 12 mm, 900 ms, none
• Battle: silences the enemy for 8 s: no spells or special attacks.
• Field: roaming glints don't notice you for 20 s.
• Glyph kind: taught
• Learned: Hushfold, taught by Choirmistress Wen hand over hand, in signs, after the echo glint fight.
• Act: Act 2 (optional faction visit)
• Role: control

Calm (calm)

• Faction, colour: Still Choir, #E4ECFF
• Tier: mirrored
• Right thumb: one short, slow stroke straight outward.
• Left thumb: the mirror image, outward to the left.
• Size, breath, corners: 12 mm, 900 ms, none
• Battle: clears every harmful effect on you, then heal 8.
• Field: calms a panicked animal or person, which opens conversations that fear had closed; clears warp-sickness.
• Glyph kind: taught
• Learned: Hushfold, taught by Choirmistress Wen at the listening stone.
• Act: Act 2 (optional faction visit)
• Role: healing

Echo (echo)

• Faction, colour: Still Choir, #E4ECFF
• Tier: mirrored
• Right thumb: one short, slow stroke straight inward, Calm drawn backwards.
• Left thumb: the mirror image, inward to the right.
• Size, breath, corners: 12 mm, 900 ms, none
• Battle: recasts your previous spell at half power.
• Field: repeats the last words spoken in this place, as a clue.
• Glyph kind: taught
• Learned: Hushfold, taught by Choirmistress Wen hand over hand, with Hush, after the echo glint fight.
• Act: Act 2 (optional faction visit)
• Role: utility

Listen (listen)

• Faction, colour: Still Choir, #E4ECFF
• Tier: mirrored
• Right thumb: one short, slow stroke straight up.
• Left thumb: the same (a vertical stroke is its own mirror image).
• Size, breath, corners: 12 mm, 900 ms, none
• Battle: for 10 s, shows enemies hiding in reflections and the tell of the enemy's next special attack.
• Field: shows hidden glyph fragments nearby for 20 s. It is the side-content spell.
• Glyph kind: taught
• Learned: Hushfold, taught by Choirmistress Wen at the listening stone, with Calm.
• Act: Act 2 (optional faction visit)
• Role: utility

The Waymakers Open page

Parallel: both thumbs draw the same stroke the same way. Pale green #9CFFB0. Seat: the Long Road.

Gale (gale) — In data

• Faction, colour: Waymakers, #9CFFB0
• Tier: parallel
• Both thumbs: a peak: up and to the right, sharp tip, down and to the right.
• Size, breath, corners: 30 mm, 600 ms, 1 per thumb (at the tip)
• Battle: 15 damage.
• Field: turns windmills, fills a sail, clears fog or smoke from a path, blows out a fire.
• Glyph kind: taught
• Learned: the Long Road, taught by Caravan-master Dace on the windmill ridge, during the caravan job.
• Act: Act 2 (main path)
• Role: damage

Drift (drift)

• Faction, colour: Waymakers, #9CFFB0
• Tier: parallel
• Both thumbs: one straight stroke up and to the right, at 45 degrees.
• Size, breath, corners: 26 mm, 500 ms, none
• Battle: the enemy's next attack within 4 s misses. The breath is the shortest in the set on purpose, because a dodge is cast in reaction.
• Field: crosses a river or a gap marked for it (the Spell Set's Ford).
• Glyph kind: taught
• Learned: the Long Road camp, taught by Ness, Dace's outrider, in return for the three ribbons lost along the ridge.
• Act: Act 2 (optional)
• Role: defence

Tailwind (tailwind)

• Faction, colour: Waymakers, #9CFFB0
• Tier: parallel
• Both thumbs: Gale's peak turned upside down: down and to the right, sharp corner at the bottom, up and to the right to the starting height.
• Size, breath, corners: 28 mm, 600 ms, 1 per thumb (at the bottom)
• Battle: your next 2 casts get +25% power.
• Field: wagons, boats and the player travel overworld routes 50% faster for a while.
• Glyph kind: taught
• Learned: the Long Road, taught by Dace after the first Waymaker side job (see the side quests tab).
• Act: Act 2 (side quest)
• Role: utility

Squall (squall)

• Faction, colour: Waymakers, #9CFFB0
• Tier: parallel
• Both thumbs: a lightning bolt: from the top left, down and to the right to just below halfway, sharp corner, a short stroke back to the left (slightly up), sharp corner, down and to the right to the bottom.
• Size, breath, corners: 30 mm, 700 ms, 2 per thumb
• Battle: 3 hits of 6 (18).
• Field: brings a short hard rain: knocks loose hanging glass, nests and fruit, and puts out fires.
• Glyph kind: whole
• Learned: a whole glyph stitched on a sail-patch (key item fragment_squall) at the Endless Caravan's last known camp, reached through a Waymaker side quest.
• Act: Act 2 (side quest)
• Role: damage

The Facets Open page

Asymmetric: a different shape on each thumb. Amber #FFC66B. Names are a gem-cutting term then what the spell does.

Facet Seal (facet_seal) — In data

• Faction, colour: Facets, #FFC66B
• Tier: asymmetric
• Left thumb: a circle, counter-clockwise, starting and ending at the top.
• Right thumb: a square, clockwise from the top-left corner: right, down, left, up.
• Size, breath, corners: 28 mm, 800 ms; left none, right 3 (25%, 50%, 75%)
• Battle: a 22-point shield.
• Field: protects you while walking through a Shardfield glass storm.
• Glyph kind: split
• Learned: split glyph. Rook gives the circle freely at the Giving Steps in Lanternfall (key item fragment_facet_seal_circle). The square is on one standing shard in the Shardfield that shows it only while the glass storm blows, the way a reflected glyph shows (key item fragment_facet_seal_square is the record of it).
• Act: Act 2 (main path)
• Role: defence

Table Mend (table_mend)

• Faction, colour: Facets, #FFC66B
• Tier: asymmetric
• Left thumb: a circle, counter-clockwise from the top (the same circle as Facet Seal).
• Right thumb: one straight stroke outward.
• Size, breath, corners: 28 mm, 850 ms, none
• Battle: heal 30 and clear one harmful effect.
• Field: heals anyone and cures warp-sickness, including the dying the Tenders turn away. Side quests in Greenvault's shadow turn on this.
• Glyph kind: taught
• Learned: Lanternfall, taught by a Facet healer in the healers' lane to anyone who asks.
• Act: Act 2 (optional)
• Role: healing

Bevel Lash (bevel_lash) — In data

• Faction, colour: Facets, #FFC66B
• Tier: asymmetric
• Left thumb: a triangle, clockwise from the top.
• Right thumb: one straight stroke down.
• Size, breath, corners: 28 mm, 850 ms; left 2 (33%, 67%), right none
• Battle: 30 damage that ignores shields.
• Field: cuts through rope, nets and thin shard walls.
• Glyph kind: split
• Learned: split glyph. The line half is in the Measure Vault haul (Act 2, if the player robs it) or on a shard near Lanternfall. The triangle half is deep in the Shardfield, past the Corran road. So it is usually whole in Act 3, sometimes late in Act 2.
• Act: Act 2–3 (optional)
• Role: damage

Prism Snare (prism_snare) — In data

• Faction, colour: Facets, #FFC66B
• Tier: asymmetric
• Left thumb: a square, clockwise from the top-left corner: right, down, left, up.
• Right thumb: a triangle, clockwise from the top.
• Size, breath, corners: 28 mm, 900 ms; left 3, right 2. The thumbs brake at different moments.
• Battle: 8 damage; the enemy can't attack for 6 s.
• Field: pins a fleeing creature or person in place for 6 s, for chases in side quests. Cast on a glint before battle, it starts the fight with the glint snared.
• Glyph kind: split
• Learned: split glyph. The square half is in the Girdle house in Corran (key item prism_snare_half_square). The triangle half is on the Keepers' confiscated shelf at the Hour Stair (key item prism_snare_half_triangle).
• Act: Act 3 (optional)
• Role: control

Girdle Gate (girdle_gate)

• Faction, colour: Facets, #FFC66B
• Tier: asymmetric
• Left thumb: a diamond (a square stood on its point), clockwise from the top: down to the right point, down to the bottom, up to the left point, back to the top.
• Right thumb: one straight stroke inward, across the middle.
• Size, breath, corners: 28 mm, 850 ms; left 3, right none
• Battle: the enemy's next attack within 4 s is turned back on it at 60% of its damage, and you take none.
• Field: steps through a marked standing shard and out of another one nearby. These are Shardfield shortcuts, and one leads to the Undermere's back door. The girdle is the edge of a cut stone where its top meets its reflected underside.
• Glyph kind: reflected
• Learned: a reflected glyph, seen in a shard on the Shardfield road to Corran only while a glass storm blows.
• Act: Act 3 (optional)
• Role: defence

Crown Surge (crown_surge)

• Faction, colour: Facets, #FFC66B
• Tier: asymmetric
• Left thumb: a W moving outward: down and up twice, with sharp corners, travelling to the left.
• Right thumb: a circle, clockwise from the top.
• Size, breath, corners: 28 mm, 850 ms; left 3, right none
• Battle: costs you 15 HP; your next cast gets +60% power. It is the Facet way in small: more power than any Evane spell gives, paid for by the caster.
• Field: overcharges a glyph lamp or lift for a while at the same HP cost. It lights dark Undermere passages and runs Lanternfall's dead lifts.
• Glyph kind: warp-born
• Learned: a warp-born glyph at the lip of the Sallow warp at the start of Act 3. It fades once act3.stage reaches 10, but it resurfaces at fresh warps later (glyph hunts), so it can't be missed for good. A stolen copy also sells at the Undermere fence.
• Act: Act 3 (optional)
• Role: utility

The Corran glyph Open page

Pavilion Wake (pavilion_wake)

The Story Bible calls this "the Corran glyph". The name follows the Facet rule: the pavilion is the lower half of a cut stone, the half under the girdle, which is where the stilled are held.

• Faction, colour: Facets, #FFC66B
• Tier: asymmetric, the hardest in the set. One thumb stops at three corners while the other never stops.
• Left thumb: an hourglass: from the top outer corner, inward along the top, sharp corner, diagonal down to the bottom outer corner, sharp corner, inward along the bottom, sharp corner, diagonal back up to the start. The two diagonals cross in the middle.
• Right thumb: a low wave moving outward: a smooth hump, then a smooth dip, ending on the middle line. It is half as tall as it is wide.
• Size, breath, corners: 30 mm, 1,000 ms; left 3, right none
• Battle: 25 damage; breaks any shield on the enemy; frees you from stagger, slow and silence. Double damage against glass creatures (glints, the glint colossus).
• Field: frees what is held in glass: glass-locked doors and chests, warp-sealed paths and, threaded as Thaw (Repel into Pavilion Wake), the Stilled of Corran.
• Glyph kind: split
• Learned: split glyph. The left half, the hourglass, is Aske's shard, the one the Corran girl pressed into her hand twenty years ago (key item corran_half_hourglass). The right half, the low wave, is the shard the player picked up in the Shardfield in Act 2 without knowing what it was (key item corran_half_wave). Aske and the player trace the halves together at Corran's well after the glint colossus falls. Flag spell.learned.pavilion_wake. This replaces the Act 3 walkthrough's "Girdle Thaw" (girdle_thaw) and Act 4's placeholder corran_glyph.
• Act: Act 3 (main path)
• Role: utility

Composites: named threads Open page

Any two learned spells can be threaded into one stroke per thumb (Codex section 6). An unnamed thread adds both effects together, then multiplies by 1.2, and gets 85% of the two breath windows added together. A named thread overrides that with its own effect. Players never invent threads: every pair is castable once both parts are learned. "Discovery" below is where the game names the thread and shows its effect, through a teacher, a fragment or the first time it is cast.

"Nearest look-alike" is the most similar other two-spell chain, with that chain's shape score against a perfect draw of this thread (see "Shape overlaps"). A score below 0.30 means a perfect draw of this thread is not recognized as the other chain at all.

Notes:

• Gale into Coil. The Story Bible's example says the wind throws the vine so Coil hits from range. The data file makes it Tempest, a storm. The data wins; the Story Bible line needs updating.
• Cross-side threads are the strongest (Codex section 6). Bulwark, Thornshield, Thaw and Rebound all mix the sides and use the pale gold #FFE08A that Bulwark already has. The First Pair mixes the sides too, but is white #FFFFFF on purpose: in Act 4 it belongs to no faction.
• The First Pair and Thornshield score 0.55 against each other on shape, because both end in Facet Seal and Brace and Coil are close once normalized (C3). Brace has two corners and Coil none, so corners should part them, but it needs a recognizer check before the First Pair ships.
• Act 4's two phases are the walkthrough's to design (VEL-58). This roadmap suggests answering Ondine's mirrored chorus with asymmetric spells and threads (Girdle Gate, Rebound, Prism Snare), and Iver's asymmetric shattering with mirrored ones (Brace, Linger, Weigh). Each phase then rewards the side the antagonist despises.
• Mend into Echo (heal 20, then 10), Tailwind into Bevel Lash, and Brace into Coil (the easiest thread to learn on) work well as unnamed threads and need no recipe.

Shape overlaps Open page

Method

The check copies the recognizer's shape step from Assets/Scripts/Scoring and runs it on every proposed template:

1. Resample each thumb's stroke to 64 evenly spaced points (Geometry.Resample).
2. Normalize: centroid to the origin, larger side scaled to 1, with orientation and direction kept (Geometry.Normalize).
3. Take the mean point-to-point distance d to the other spell's template, thumb by thumb, and turn it into a shape score, exp(−d / 0.15) (PartScorers.Shape).
4. A drawing counts as an attempt at a spell when both thumbs score at least 0.30, which means d under about 0.18 (ShapeMinimum). The scorer then picks the spell with the best overall score among the recognized ones, learned or not.

Every spell was compared with every other spell. Because the scorer also checks every ordered pair of spells as a composite (Grimoire.Castable, 27 × 27 = 729 chains, built with SpellComposer.Join), every spell was also compared with every chain, and every chain with every other chain.

This is a shape-only check on perfect templates. It doesn't model corners (20% of the overall score), size (10%), pace (15%) or sync (20%), all of which pull apart shapes that look alike but differ in corners, size or speed. So "recognized" here means the scorer has to fall back on those other parts, not that the cast certainly goes wrong. Every pair marked "watch" needs a device test.

Collisions fixed in this roadmap

These are Spell Set shapes that the check found too close to another spell. Each is redrawn in this roadmap.

Pairs to watch on device

These pairs stay apart on shape (both below 0.30, or right at it) but are close enough that a careless draw could cross over. Corners, size or direction should separate them.

Problems in how threads are built

The thread checks turned up four problems in SpellComposer and Grimoire. None is specific to this roadmap, and the code would need to change to fix them. They are listed for the Lead to ticket.

• C1. A straight stroke threaded into itself is the same shape. Hush into Hush, Calm into Calm, Listen into Listen, Echo into Echo and Drift into Drift each score 1.00 against the single spell, because a straight line joined to itself is a longer straight line. Only size tells them apart, so drawing Hush twice as big casts Hush into Hush, double the effect plus 20%. Recommendation: Grimoire.Castable skips self-chains whose joint isn't a corner.
• C2. Still Choir spells disappear inside threads. SpellComposer.Join scales each part to its own size, so a 12 mm Choir stroke becomes a short tail on a 30 mm spell. Once normalized, "X into Hush" looks like X: 597 of the 1,318 chain pairs that are recognized as each other involve a Choir part. Two examples: Hush into Calm draws a small Repel (0.34 against Repel), and Echo into Toll and Calm into Toll both score 0.56 against Knell (Hush into Toll). Recommendation: score each half of a chain separately at the known joint, as well as the whole, and require both halves to be recognized. Until then Knell stays on hold, and no other Choir thread gets a name.
• C3. A chain is only as distinct as its weaker half. When two chains share one part exactly, the other halves only need to be roughly alike for the whole to be recognized as both. Brace into Mend against Coil into Mend scores 0.58, and that pair already exists among today's eight spells, which have 27 such chain pairs. Corners usually settle it (Brace has two, Coil none), so this matters most when both halves are smooth: Thornshield (Coil into Facet Seal) against Linger into Facet Seal scores 0.49. The C2 fix (score each half) also fixes this.
• C4. A draw can match an unlearned chain. The scorer picks the best match among every spell and every chain, learned or not, and fizzles with "You have not learned …" if the winner is unlearned. With 729 chains in the candidate list, a slightly sloppy single spell is more likely to land on some chain the player can't cast yet. Recommendation: when the best match is an unlearned chain and a learned single spell is also recognized, cast the learned spell. This is a narrow exception to the "never fall back" rule, which was written with single spells in mind.

Changes from the Spell Set tab Open page

• New spells: Weigh (Wardens), Recall (Keepers), Girdle Gate (Facets) and Pavilion Wake (the Corran glyph). They fill the fourth slot of the Wardens and Keepers and give the Facets a sixth spell. The Corran glyph had no shape or effect before. Pavilion Wake is Facet-made, but it is counted on its own, so the list is 20 Evane spells, 6 Facet spells and the Corran glyph: 27.
• Shapes changed (see "Collisions fixed"): Squall, Echo, Tailwind, Root, Hasten.
• Echo also shrinks from 14 mm to 12 mm, to match the other Choir strokes. Wen still teaches it, as the Spell Set says (an earlier draft of this tab made it a reflected glyph in the abbey's still pool).
• Overworld spells folded in: Bloom becomes Root's field effect and Ford becomes Drift's. Listen keeps its shape and gains a battle effect.
• Every spell now has a field effect, for the field casting from VEL-52.
• Who teaches Brace: Aske, as the Spell Set says. She traces it with the player at the Sallowbank ferry in Act 1, hand over hand, and doesn't cast (open question 4, settled). An earlier draft of this tab gave it to Tamsin at Halfway.
• Acts set: Bevel Lash is usually whole in Act 3 (sometimes late Act 2), and Prism Snare and Crown Surge are Act 3, with their locations named.
• Threads: the Spell Set's examples are kept where the check passes them (Mend into Echo, Tailwind into Bevel Lash and Brace into Coil as unnamed threads; Hush into Toll as Knell, on hold). Linger into Wither became Toll into Wither (Blight), because Linger into Wither scored 0.36 against Coil into Wither, with both halves smooth.

What the code would need Open page

The Spell Set tab lists most of the new effect types (heal over time, damage over time, delayed damage, shield-piercing, silence, slow, dodge, breath and power buffs, HP costs, recast). This roadmap adds:

• Mark: show the enemy's HP and attack timer, and reduce its shield for your hits (Weigh); reveal hidden enemies and attack tells (Listen).
• Rewind: restore the HP lost in the last few seconds (Recall).
• Reflect: turn the next attack back on the enemy (Girdle Gate, Rebound, the First Pair).
• Shield-break and cleanse in one cast, with bonus damage against glass enemies (Pavilion Wake, Thaw). That needs an enemy tag for glass creatures.
• A field effect per spell, through the field-cast hook from VEL-52 (FieldCast.Cast). Several field effects open doors or paths, so locations need markers for "open with spell X".
• Two new faction colours in the data, if the proposals are accepted.
• The composer and grimoire fixes in C1, C2 and C4.

Open questions for Ray Open page

1. Long Road placement. Should the caravan job always come between Halfway and the first court, so parallel spells come before asymmetric ones in either letter order? Recommendation: yes; the caravan carries the player to whichever city they pick.
2. Choir threads (C2). Fix the composer so it scores each half, or keep Choir spells out of threads? Recommendation: fix the composer; until then, no named Choir threads.
3. Self-chains (C1). Drop chains of a straight stroke into itself? Recommendation: yes, drop any self-chain whose joint isn't a corner.
4. Brace's teacher. Tamsin at Halfway (an earlier draft of this roadmap) or Aske (the Spell Set)? Recommendation: Aske, at the Sallowbank ferry in Act 1, hand over hand (quest aske_brace). She traces it and doesn't cast, so her twenty years without casting hold until the Unstilling, where Brace is her one cast. Settled as Aske (VEL-63).
5. Keepers and Choir colours. Dusk rose #FF8FA3 and frost white #E4ECFF? Recommendation: yes. Both are clear of the existing four colours, and the Choir's white matches its "unseen" domain. Art Direction may want the white nudged so it reads against pale Evane stone.
6. Weigh in conversations. Is a spell that shows whether a speaker believes their own claim a good fit for the morality system, or too strong? Recommendation: keep it, limited to one claim per conversation. It shows belief, not truth, so people who are wrong but sincere still pass.
7. Hasten and Recall. Keep them as a deliberate near-reverse pair? Recommendation: keep them, and test on device. If players mix them up, change Recall into a single loop drawn twice.
8. Crown Surge as warp-born. Should a main-list spell be time-limited? Recommendation: yes, as the first taste of warp-born glyphs. It surfaces at the Sallow warp, fades at act3.stage 10, resurfaces at fresh warps later, and a stolen copy sells at the Undermere fence, so it can't be missed for good (VEL-63).
9. The Corran glyph's name. Pavilion Wake, or keep "the Corran glyph" as its in-game name? Recommendation: Pavilion Wake (pavilion_wake) in the Spell Book, with "the Corran glyph" as what people call it. It replaces the Act 3 walkthrough's "Girdle Thaw"; the Girdle cut and the Girdle house keep their names (VEL-63).
10. Shape changes. Accept the new Squall, Echo, Tailwind, Root and Hasten shapes, and update the Spell Set tab to match? Recommendation: yes, since the old shapes collide.
11. Facet power (carried over from the Spell Set): should Facet spells hit harder because they are harder to draw? Recommendation: slightly (about 1.2× an Evane spell of the same role), and always with a cost or condition attached, as Crown Surge has.
12. Player HP is still undefined, and every heal and Recall amount depends on it.