A burning Arcane Fulcrum unleashed during a Storm of Magic. A wizard seeks to use it to enhance his spellcasting.
An Arcane Fulcrum is a great supernatural pillar of earth that forms during a Storm of Magic and rises up to meet its swirling currents of magical energy, from the top of which a wizard can attempt to harness the magic raging all around. Usually, when the storm abates, the fulcrums crumble away, sinking back into the earth. Sometimes, however, the land is so wracked with wizardry that the Arcane Fulcrum remains long after the storm has passed.[1a]
For the wizards of the world of Mallus, Arcane Fulcrums are terrible, complex and eldritch monoliths whose nature and function have puzzled the finest minds for millennia. Each fulcrum is a mystical focus that allows a wizard to gain a small measure of control over the Winds of Magic that rage across the battlefield. Claiming the fulcrums allows the wizard to cast cataclysmically powerful spells that previously would have been impossible for them to use.[2b][2c]
Vast magical energies swirl round fulcrums during a Storm of Magic and trigger latent powers in magical artefacts that are nearby, making already powerful items even more destructive and dangerous. It is only at such times that the magical Scrolls of Binding, created by the great wizard Kadon the Shackler, can be used, allowing other wizards to bind monstrous creatures to their will and use them to defeat their foes in battle.[2b]
Over the centuries wizards have learned the importance of Arcane Fulcrums and so have perfected spells that can only be employed in their presence. The fulcrums offer immense power to anyone who controls them, and because of this it is very common for huge battles to be fought over them. Mighty armies will converge at locations where fulcrums have burst or flickered into existence, and soon the ground will run red with blood as each side seeks to drive the opposing army from the field.[2b][2d]
Monoliths of Power[]
The landscape of the mortal world is littered with standing stones and monoliths -- the forgotten remnants of temples and towers long lost. Yet magic has not entirely forsaken these unhallowed places and even now hangs heavy upon them. These arcane ruins can still retain a tie to the ancient leylines of the land and be Arcane Fulcrums unto themselves. Many mystical monuments such as the great idols raised by the Greenskins or the sacrificial altars built by the Northmen barbarians, act as magical conduits, beacons to draw in and collect otherworldly power.[2a][2e]
However, not all such monoliths are built -- some emerge from the natural currents of the Winds of Magic. Others are the storm-strewn remnants of mighty magical tempests of the past that once drenched the lands in magical energy and left behind buried artefacts of untold power. Such lost monuments may lie for long ages before another magical deluge stirs them once again, or even be built upon by unwitting settlers of new civilisations, who do not realise that the very foundations of their temples will be devastated come the next Storm of Magic.[2a]
Wizards' Towers[]
Many choose wizardry as a path to power. Alas, such glories must be sought in solitude lest the common folk take violent exception to the wizard's dabbling in the diabolical. So do many wizards' towers stand in isolated and unwelcoming places, the better to ensure their owner's quietude and safety, though doubtless not always their sanity. A tower set at a crux point of leylines absorbs energy during a Storm of Magic, power that a skilled practitioner can easily put to good use.[2f]