Objects/Places/People
Wells are places, objects, and people that draw magimystic energy to them.
Description
According to The Cagliostro, a well is “a place deeply connected to the other side of the veil and therefore filled with echoes of memory and magic. Wells are disorienting for all but the most experienced of magimystics.”
Known Wells
- Morgan Library
- Martin Rank
- The current Ackerly Green offices in New York City
History
Wells were first encountered in Fragment Seven, when recruits were sent after the book Seven Cradle Songs. In an email to Lauren Ellsworth, who was also searching for the book, the Cagliostro noted that the book was hidden in Morgan Library, which is a well. He warned that it would be a disorienting place for a new magimystic, but that he would guide her in her quest for the book.
In Phase Three, wells are mentioned by Deirdre Green in her blog post “The Door - Part Two.” After using tome kindling on her copy of The Monarch Papers, she was able to learn more about her father, Sullivan Green’s, history. Sullivan was particularly sensitive to wells and had the ability to track them down.
Martin Rank was revealed to be a human well by Theodore Fallon, who attempted to lure him to Kemetic Solutions by pretending to awaken an alleged informant named Whistler. Taunting him on an intercom system, Theodore told Martin, “Have you never wondered why you have found yourself circling all manner of magiq most of your adult life? It’s because you are what we call ‘a Well.’ You haven’t been circling anything. It’s been circling you.” Theodore intended to use Martin to draw all manner of magimystic beings to Kemetic Solutions, but was prevented from doing so by The Churning Storm’s assault on the company.
In Phase Four, Mr. Wideawake explains to Deirdre that Neithernor was created by magimysts in the Book of the Wild who were conducting experiments on the Fray through wells.
During the events of the Secret Society, the Mountaineers discovered additional information on the subject of wells and how they worked through an old journal entry of Sullivan’s aunt, Avis Green:
‘Sully attempted to explain “wells” to me when I finally asked why he and his rowdy, over-excited friends he calls a coven have set up what they call “basecamp” in the cellar. What I gathered from his rambling was that there are places in the world “touched by magic” in a way that leaves an indelible mark. He and his associates use them as barometers to measure magimystic energy. He says that very recently wells have begun growing deeper, stronger, and behaving more strangely. He says that wells growing deeper might sound like a good thing, but in fact, it may also mean that magic is trying to dig in and take hold as something attempts to take it. Or destroy it.’
This led to the revelation, discovered in a later entry, that a spell cast by Sullivan Green and his coven had also effectively made Ackerly Green Publishing itself into a well:
As he explains it, if magic reaches a predetermined nadir, and the memories of those fighting to protect it have continued to degrade, then using the wells as measuring devices, the tripwire will snap, and the spell will theoretically cast itself without the help of a magimystic, using the company as its safest center since it is a powerful well. The spell will use whatever it can reach, the people, places, wells, and objects in its surroundings to protect what’s left of magiq and give those still fighting for it a chance.