The Apis

The Apis is a thaumaturgical construct — a mental rune formed by a mage in the mind — used to transfer magical power between casters. When multiple magi work a spell in concert, each builds power from their irionite or other source and then forms an apis to pass that energy in a neat and orderly fashion to a designated recipient, who weaves the combined streams into a single working. The apis is described as fundamental to cooperative Imperial magic precisely because it is rare for any single mage to raise sufficient power for a truly large spell unaided.

A variant form, the Stelapis, reverses the flow: rather than pooling power toward one recipient, a stelapis allows a single powerful source to shunt energy outward to many other casters simultaneously. Minalan employs the stelapis when working large combined spells, drawing from his irionite and distributing power across an entire group. The stelapis glows visibly in magesight as it fills.

The apis belongs to the standard repertoire of classically trained Imperial magi and is taught at the Academy. It appears frequently alongside other named constructs such as the qaba, ludicili, and colranture. In desperate circumstances — when a surge of power arrives too quickly to be managed — even forming an apis may be impossible, forcing a mage to channel raw energy through whatever other construct is at hand.

The Covenstone is sometimes described in contrast to the apis: the stone allows magi to add power together directly without the intermediate construct, making it significantly more efficient for large groups.