Ley lines are the scales of Veles, the bones of the world, the blood that makes Midgard live and makes its magic strong.
They are invisible rivers of power, and the connecting elements of shadow roads and ancient wards as well as the spells of liches and the living. Put another way, ley lines are the sources used to power fey roads, but not every ley line is necessarily a road. Most small ley lines lack the power to sustain a major or permanent road. The exceptions are the strongest and most titanic ley lines, and some few ley lines made to open as shadow roads by the cunning of the shadow fey or the elves.
As power sources, ley lines empower magic both arcane and divine in most places across the face of Midgard. They are invisible to normal sight, but to experienced spellcasters with the Nurian mage feat they are visible as glowing strings or bands of light. Despite their power, ley lines are not universal: some regions have no ley lines to speak of (such as the Western Wastes), and in others they can be difficult to find (ley lines are notoriously rare underground). Ley lines are marked on the world map as lines of lighter color over the sea or land, and as dark red lines on the Ley Lines of Midgard map. Many have particular names and a specific appearance to the arcanists who work with them and the travelers who use them as magical roads.
Classifying Ley Lines
Ley lines come in three varieties: weak, strong, and titanic. Weak ley lines are found almost everywhere; they whirl on the wind, burble along streambeds, and spring forth from standing stones and ancient trees. Crossroads sometimes draw weak ley lines, as do bridges. Weak ley lines are not found inside consecrated holy or unholy buildings or on freshly plowed earth, however. This suppresses their function for a time, but ley lines generally return when the temple falls or when rain or plant growth restores some vital element to the soil.
Strong ley lines are found in places of magical reputation, which often coincide with locations settled by elves, dragons, and other magical races. These are found on hilltops, river confluences, stone circles, druid groves, elven ruins, deep canyons, rocky spires, and similar places. Titanic ley lines are very rare and sometimes fleeting. They are found in distant places, in the hearts of great temples, and in other special locations such as the Tower of Boreas. Natural wonders such as the peaks of enormous mountains, towering cliffs, volcanoes, forest heartlands, or a glacier’s heart are often anchors. Greater demons, elder dragons, and other creatures of awesome power often make their lairs along titanic ley lines to further augment their magical might.
Each kind of ley line has a specific ratings and power levels. Weak ley lines can only empower or affect spells of level 0 to 3, strong ley lines can power up to 6th level spells, and titanic ley lines can empower spells of all levels. They enable the user to strengthen magic in various ways, many of them familiar to arcane casters, others entirely new. Though the effects are extremely useful, they function only when empowered by the hidden light of the ley lines themselves—some regions have no ley lines, not even weak ones.