This is part 2 of the magic system of Prelude to Darkness. This one covers two magic skills, Gifts of Goddess as well as Thaumaturgy. Here's a bit of what Mat Williams wrote about Gifts of Goddess:


Thanks to Mat Williams for helping with this article.

River Spells or the Gifts of the Goddess​

The Goddess allows certain folk of River lineage to channel her power. These gifts are granted generally as a result of a specific action. Most gifts are more powerful when used on the self or by touch as the link to the Goddess fades over distance, thus each gift usually has at least two variants one for the self or touch and another at range. -Mat Williams

In a nutshell, the Gifts of Goddess spells are your typical priest or divine spells skill category. You'll find skills that you'll find mostly when you think of divine/priest spells in other games, such as healing and augmentation spells. You won't find spells in this skills area that will directly harm or kill an enemy, like in Flame Magic, instead they cause ill effects to him or her.

Mother's Kiss and Mother's Breath

Usage: Restore hit points to caster or party members.


Slow

Usage: Slows the movement and actions of the target.


Shield of Self and Shield of Other

Usage: Provides additional absorbtion of damage to the caster or party members it's cast upon.


Growth and Gift of Growth

Usage: Imbues the target with additional strength.


Visage of Goddess

Usage: Summons up the spirit of the Goddess to imbue the party while cursing the enemies.


Lethargy

Usage: Weakens the target by sapping both strength and resistance to damage.


Empower Self and Empower Other

Usage: Similar to Growth, but more instantaneous and less dynamic in benefit.


Root

Usage: Drastistically reduces the target's ability to move.


Cycle of Life

Usage: Takes the target through the phases of life. They get stronger at first, then weaken and slow.

Thaumaturgy​

Thaumaturgy is the "science" of magic. It generally involves the channelling of a character will into an item to produce a specific effect. Most, but not all, such enchantments require specific reagents in addition to the item being enchanted. Thaumaturgists do not start the game knowing any enchantments, but must learn them as they progress, many may be learned at the Academy. There are no variant on Thaumaturgical spells, each enchantment only does one thing. Generally an item or stack of items may only be enchanted once, further enchantments will push out the previous enchantment. Skill level generally has less of an effect on the results and more on the duration of an enchantment. -Mat Williams

Consider this skill your basic conjuration skill. While you can't actually make new items or weapons, or permanently modify them, you can enhance items for a time to make them much more lethal. This skill will also allow you to conjure up a golem to fight with you. Extra man power and more potent equipment is never a bad thing.

Call Lightning

Usage: Gives a thrown weapon a charge which causes more damage.


Knockout Dust

Usage: Makes dust which can be sprinkled on a target, causing the enemy to be drastically slowed.


Sharp Weapon

Usage: Imbues a weapon with more damage capability for a time.


Fast Weapon

Usage: Imbues a weapon with more speed capability for a time.


Golem

Usage: Creates an additional, living construct to assist in combat.


Harden Armor

Usage: Imbues an armor with better absorbtion capability for a time.


Paralytic Enchantment

Usage: Grants a weapon the ability to paralyse enemies.