Shek-Pvar Pages

The information on the right provides basic information about Hârn's Shek-Pvar mages.

The following pages contain guidance on using Burning Wheel Gold to create and run Shek-Pvar characters:

Additional pages will be added later for using Burning Wheel's Abstraction and Distillation rules for improvised magic and spell creation.


More on the Shek-Pvar

HM MagicAdditional information on the Shek-Pvar and Pvaric magic can be found in Hârnmaster Magic, published by Columbia Games, and Hârnmaster Gold: Shek-Pvar, published by Kelestia Productions.

Hârnmaster Gold Shek-P'varThese publications contain rules for using magic in the Hârnmaster system, but setting-based information about mages, their philosophy, and organization are integrated into them.


Other Adaptations

This website provide guidelines for using Pvaric convocations in a way that sticks closely to the basic BW rules for Sorcery and Lifepaths.

For an alternate approach, please see the writeups posted by Jocke Anderson ("Angaros") and Tony Hamilton ("Durgil") posted writeups on the BW Forum in 2005:

Their two writeups complement each other.

About the Shek-Pvar

Pvaric Wheel In Hârn, sorcery is practiced by members of a loosely knit group of secret societies. These bodies refer to themselves as the Ancient and Esoteric Orders of the Shek-Pvar. Their magic is based on a set of philosophical teachings known as Pvarism.

Pvarism holds that the material universe is made up of six elements: earth, metal, fire, air, spirit, and water. It also maintains that the metaphysical universe comprises six basic principles (abstract forces and concepts) that are fundamentally interconnected to the six material elements.

The connection between element and principle is a critical feature of Pvaric philosophy. When a Shek-Pvar mage speaks of ‘earth,’ she is referring not only to the material substance (the element), but also the abstract principles with which earth is associated— most notably the cylical processes of life and death, growth and decay.

Shek-Pvar mages refer to their areas of magical practice using Pvaric philosophical terminology. This magical jargon conveys the complex interconnection between elements and principles in a way that everyday language does not. Pvarists use the formal terms Fyvria, Jmorvi, Peleahn, Lyahvi, Savorya, and Odivshe which convey the complex associations betwen the elements and their principles. A Shek-Pvar mage, for example, is likely to refer to water, cold, dark, and stillness all as various manifestations of the Odivshe principle.


The Pvaric Convocations

The mages of the Shek-Pvar are organized into six distinct orders, or convocations. The mages of each convocation devote themselves to the mastery of sorcery involving just one of the six Pvaric elements/principles. These convocations are shown on the following table:

Convocation
Element
Metaphysical Principles
Fyvria
earth
life, death, growth, decay
Jmorvi
metal
form, shape, function, craft
Peleahn
fire
heat, movement, activity
Lyahvi
air
sight, scent, sound, intangibility
Savorya
spirit
thought, emotion, meaning, will
Odivshe
water
cold, dark, quiescence, vitiation

Apprentices are taught to work the magic of one convocation only. More experienced mages may learn something of the others. Very few wizards ever come to master all six convocations.


The Pvaric Wheel

Shek-Pvar mages represent the six convocations in the form of a six-spoked wheel, with each convocation conforming to a spoke.

P'varic WheelThe Wheel symbolizes the relations among the convocations. For instance, Peleahn (the convocation of fire and heat) borders the convocations of Lyahvi (the magic of light and the intangible) and Jmorvi (the magic of metal and craft). It is on the opposite site of the wheel from Odivshe (the convocation of water, cold, and darkness).

At the hub of the wheel stands “Gray Magic," a strange and difficult “meta-magic” that holds the wheel together. Few Shek-Pvar ever master Gray Magic.