Earth is an Elemental path of magic. Among the four Elements, it governs what is solid. Its kings govern the mountains above and the caverns below, with the soil having fallen to the seduction of Blood.

Of the Elements, Earth is among the toughest to Evoke, but one of the easiest to Alter. In Thaumaturgic tradition, the path is melancholic, resembling a more-negative sort of passivity. In the Way of Five Elements, it is conservative and stable.

After Holiness, Earth is most prolific path in the Early Ages, with only Nature coming close; fittingly, this is when great forces still roam the land or emerge from the crust, while much of mankind toils without a grander ambition than survival. But like an exposed stone in the desert, talents in Earth steadily erode over the ages, with the master Earth Mages steadily giving way to either lesser heirs or no one in particular.

Earth is well-known for its buffs. Strength, Natural Protection, Armor Protection, Elemental Resistances, and even Magic Resistance are available to even an average Earth Mage. Earth can even give fellas Stunning and Armor-Piercing attacks.

Earth has some direct damage spells, but much of them are nonmagical. Creating rocks and blades is hard enough, let alone enchanting them. Many are physical hits of a particular weapon type. Earth does have some very nice army-pinners, though.

The four Elements have a variety of checks and balances against each other, even against themselves. Earth's stronger Protection spells also give Elemental Vulnerabilities, for example, specifically against Cold and Lightning; and while Earth mages also get Shock Resistance, the elemental attack spells come out much faster than buffing spells. Air also counters Earth's more-ubiquitous attack spells, by letting fellows float or fly.

These are the crosspath effects with Earth as the primary path.

• Earth/Fire: Magma spells (though Lava has Fire as the primary path), Goldskin, and heat-powered robots.
• Earth/Air: Flying rocks, including winged ones (Gargoyles) and raining ones.
• Earth/Water: Cave Crabs, Rust Clouds, and pulling entire provinces underwater.
• Earth/Astral: Meteor spells (though "Falling Stars" have Astral as the primary path), Leadskin, and Element-impeding.
• Earth/Death: This combination can ruin harvests, but it can also locate and re-empower buried kings.
• Earth/Nature: Nothing that Nature isn't the primary path in, unfortunately.
• Earth/Glamour: Nothing that Glamour isn't the primary path in, unfortunately.

An Earth Mage with 3 or higher has 3 extra points of Natural Protection, presumably due to having a better understanding of physical things. An Earth Mage with 4 or higher also has at least 50% Affliction Resistance (+1).

Inanimate beings who aren't Undead or Demonic can better-maintain their bodies with Earth Magic. Each level they have, gives them 50% more years (additively) before they get old. Typically, this will only really matter against Decay.

Last-but-not-least, each level of Earth Magic skill bestows 10 points of Magic Leadership, important for leading Living Statues and other beings.

In battle, 2 mages can cast Summon Earthpower for a temporary +1 bonus, along with 4 points of Reinvigoration.

Outside of battle, there are twelve Earth-boosting items, but half of them are artifacts. The only "common" non-Artifact is the time-honored pair of Earth Boots (requiring Construction Level 5 and 2); the next-most-common one is the Blood Stone, another Construction 5 item, which requires 32.