The Quilrosh Fireball is a typical and often used offensive spell, where a loosly kept together sphere of fire is created in front of the mage out of focussed air. The product is hurled immediately towards a target once the mage cannot control the forming of energies anymore. Fireballs, though not easy to create and aim, can have devastating effects and are indispensable part of the standard repertoire of every professional fire mage. Its use needs to be trained sufficiently though before applied in a critical situation.

Image description. A high level fire mage generating a huge fireball... Picture from the game Mystical Empire™, used with friendly permission. Illustration drawn by Quellion.

Spell Effect. As the name already implies, the result of the Fireball spell is a sphere consisting nearly completely of the energies of aggressive fire, fabricated out of air. The size of the ball depends on the mage's level and thus his capability to still be able to focus on an area in front of him while dangerous fire ouniá gather, forming a formidable weapon. It is essential for a fire mage to know when to stop building the Fireball and to let go of the accumulted energies as overdoing it or fizzling of the spell might lead to a sudden uncontrolled release of chaotic fire. In the early years this spell had been taught in scholarly fashion, several reported incidents showed how perilous the manipulation of pure chaotic fire energies can be. At least two casualties are confrimed. Since then it has become primary directive of fire mages to cast spells like Quilrosh's Fireball only in a defensive way, without overly pushing its effect and releasing the ball as soon as first signs of instabilities can be experienced by the caster.

And while the actual spell effect is the Fireball produced by the caster, the ball is not only for show. Once released the Fireball shoots with incredible speed towards the target of the spell. Depending on the Fireball's original size the now freely swirling fire ounía can cause severe damage to objects or even a group of people. Fireballs for sure are no spells to toy around with. They should remain the domain of trained battle mages.

Casting Procedure. Quilrosh's Fireball was named after the Ximaxian Fire Archmage Quilrosh Hocthum (ca. 2050 b.S.). He was one of the first fire mages ever who successfully managed to reproduce a highly efficient focus on an element (in this case air), which was not in the elemental field he had studied so thoroughly. Thus he was mainly responsible for a major breakthrough in scholarly elemental magic, which until then was limited to a great degree to the strengthening and loosening of forces within a structure only of the specific element the mage had mastered.

The casting procedure is simple, yet it was a revolutionary concept in Quilrosh's time: The mage focusses on a spot of air right in front of him and tries to pull aggressive fire ounía to this specific point following the straight line between his hand and the focussed area. This procedure makes the space between caster and focus an object where its specific cár'áll can be addressed. Guided by the mage's hand pointing at the focussed spot, more or less automatically the shape of a ball forms as the energies in the affected air between caster and affixed spot start to circulate. They flow back and forth to the source of the casting, picking up more and more aligned ouniá in this process and building links between fire ounía and other elemental ounía connected to the fire within the focussed cár'áll, creating a solid structure (see illustration regarding the flow of the element of fire in the structure of the Fireball).

The Fireball increases in size until the mage cannot handle keeping the focus and controlling the pulsating fire structure anymore. As it is the tension between the focal point and the caster's hand that keeps the Fireball at bay, breaking this tension will result in an attack at things or persons being positioned behind the focus area: The newly generated structure is then released, and as the auratic force of the caster doesn't pull the Fireball back anymore, it shoots right ahead.

Magical Formula. Not defined yet.

Target. The focus of the spell is a spot of air in front of the mage, which is manipulated by the caster in order to generate a high concentration of chaotic fire. Once no more energies can be gained due to the caster's personal limits, the pulsating fiery sphere is released in the direction the mage is pointing. Guiding Quilrosh's ball during its course towards its target is impossible, however. Whatever the Fireball hits, the effects are likely to be devastating, be it creature or object.

Reagents. As in various other spells related to the chaotic nature of the element of fire, the caster should coat the hands in a fine powder of sulfur, or touch volcanic stone. Especially magather, also often called "burning stones", are common reagents for mages intending to cast Fireballs.

Magical School. Elemental Magic, Fire School.

Spell Class. Sphere II, the spell accumulates chaotic fire at one spot, generating a powerful energy source, which has to be released immediately.

Range. The ability to focus on spots at a greater distance away comes with the increasing of the mage's level. Still the influence of the caster in igniting and keeping the building of a Fireball intact until releasing it, is crucial, and therefore the Fireball should be generated as close as possible to the caster. Having lost the caster's reigns, the Fireball's energies will disperse the farther it has been hurled, so the target of the spell should be within reasonable range to be affected.

Casting Time. The building of a Fireball is dependent on various influences. For one it is within the descretion of the caster to determine an intended size. High level mages might be able to generate fist-sized Fireballs practically instantly and head-sized ones in a matter of several blinks, an undertaking for which mages of lower levels might take up to half a minute. Additionally the conditions in which the spell is cast and the possibility to perform the spell under full concentration can be decisive. Battle mages should be able to evaluate a situation effectively and decide to cast or not to cast such a dangerous spell, everyone else is advised to be extremely careful.

Duration. A Fireball dissipates in a swirling motion as soon as the mage quits holding its chaotic energies back. The time between the releasing of the Fireball by the mage, its impact on the target and thus its ultimate dissolving lasts only a few blinks, often accompanied by death and destruction, though.

Counter Measures/Enhancing Measures. There's nothing better one can do against a Fireball as to trouble the mage already during casting the spell and force him or her to let the spell fizzle. Due to the fact that the casting of a Fireball is a very complicated process, which requires a lot of concentration on the mage's side in order to keep the flowing energies at bay, disturbing the process of its creation can cause an uncontrolled backlash at the mage. Injuries the caster sustains after a fizzling therefore are not uncommon. The further the casting has already progressed when interrupted, the more dangerous it will be for the mage as the chaotic fire might come to an unwanted explosion. It is possible, however, that an interruption of the mage during casting also can lead to an immediate release of the Fireball towards the intended target...

As for enhancing measures: Fireballs can be generated easier under conditions where active fire ounía are already dominant and only need to be "brought into shape" by the mage, e.g. during hot weather or at regions with desert climate. It is also possible to fuel a Fireball e.g. by having another person holding a torch into the developing ball. Nevertheless, this practice isn't very common and has actually been forbidden by the Ximaxian Academy for regular spellcasters, as only Archmages are capable of working successfully with additional fire to enhance the spell without getting injured. Novices who believe that they can cover their own inabilities by applying such an external enhancing measure, can only be seriously warned not to even think of trying it!