Protective domes

What the domes that guard a whole province do, how each one is broken or ends, and what the manual leaves unsaid about stacking and edge cases.

verified 6.37updated 2026-10-02 · Jake6 min read

A dome is a ritual that wraps the province where its caster stands in a protective field. The manual describes the field as guarding the province against many spells that come from outside it. Nine Inspector spells have “dome” in their name or work as one, and there is one dome item. They differ a lot in what they do to a spell that arrives, so choosing one is a real decision. We report the manual’s account and have not re-measured any of it.

What a dome is, in the rules

A dome is a local enchantment: a ritual that affects one province and keeps working after the turn it was cast. The manual uses Dome of Air as its example of such a spell, saying it stays until dispelled. The spell list has no spell of that exact name, and the nearest is Dome of Solid Air, so we treat the chapter as referring to it.

The general local-enchantment rules apply to every dome:

• If the caster dies, the dome is dispelled at once. Several spell entries repeat this, and they use words such as dissolve, shatter and wither.
• Most local enchantments end when an enemy conquers the province.
• Some have a limited life. The ones that do last one month for each extra gem, or in a few cases up to three months for each. For a dome, the entries for Frost Dome, Arcane Warding, Misdirection and Flaming Death say that more gems make it last longer. The entries for Solid Air and Forest Dome say it lasts indefinitely if undisturbed.

Cast one under the usual ritual rules, which are on Rituals: a mage in a lab province, gems of the primary path taken from the national pool, and a full month of his time.

What a dome blocks

Most dome entries say the dome defends the province against spells cast from beyond its edge. It gives a percentage for most. It does not say which spells count, and it does not list exceptions such as battle spells.

Two things the manual does state:

• A dome’s protection also covers many global enchantments that act on units, in the same way as for local rituals. A strikeback (trap) dome does not hurt the caster of a global, so Dome of Flaming Death does nothing against a global.
• Friendly spells are blocked too. The entries for Solid Air, Frost Dome, Forest Dome and Misdirection each say so. Your own mages therefore cannot cast through your own dome unless it is the one dome that allows it (Seven Seals, below).

The domes one by one

Levels, paths and gem costs below are the Inspector’s. The percentages and effects are from the manual’s entries.

• Dome of Solid Air: Enchantment 6, Air 5, 20 Air gems. Protection 80%. It shatters the first time a spell gets through, so it is a one-slip dome. It also shatters if its caster dies.
• Frost Dome: Enchantment 6, Water 5, 15 Water gems. Protection 30%. It is also a trap: the entry gives d15 armour-negating cold damage that finds the enemy caster. More gems make it last longer.
• Forest Dome: Enchantment 6, Nature 5, 10 Nature gems. Protection 30%. It lasts for ever if undisturbed but is destroyed if a Fire spell is absorbed by it.
• Dome of Arcane Warding: Enchantment 6, Astral 4, 10 Astral gems. Each spell trying to enter has a 50% chance of being stopped. Against horrors the entry gives 60%, and half of that against doom horrors.
• Dome of Misdirection: Enchantment 6, Glamour 5, 20 Glamour gems. It does not block. A hostile spell is redirected to a neighbouring province instead, with a 70% chance. Friendly spells are misdirected too.
• Dome of Flaming Death: Enchantment 7, Fire 4, 8 Fire gems. It does not stop a spell. The enemy caster takes 2d20 armour-piercing fire damage as a trap, and the manual says it may burn the laboratory down; Luck scale lowers that chance. Friendly casters are affected too.
• Dome of Corruption: Blood 7, Blood 4 and Astral 4, 20 in the Inspector’s gem field (blood slaves). It protects the province from most outside spells. Casting through it is dangerous and may drive the caster insane. It also raises the province’s magic scales, and its makers occasionally consume a mage.
• Dome of Seven Seals: Enchantment 9, Astral 4 and Earth 4, 14 Astral gems. Perfect protection against hostile magic aimed at the province. Friendly mages can pass spells through it, and every friendly Astral mage knows how. Each stopped spell cracks one of seven seals, and when all are cracked the dome ends.
• Void Pattern Labyrinth: Enchantment 8, Astral 4 and Glamour 3, 10 Astral gems. It protects only against horrors coming from outside, including those drawn by horror marks. It is a different kind of dome, since it does not touch spells. Doom horrors are warded off less often.

Two further sources work like a dome. Celestial Rainbow gives its caster’s provinces a dome protection of 10% for each level of luck scale, while the luck is positive. The unique item Dome of the Ancients carries a ritual warding dome of 50%, and is a heavy item. The manual does not say how the item’s dome interacts with a cast dome.

Stacking and edge cases

The manual does not say what happens when two domes cover one province, whether their chances multiply, or whether a trap dome fires before a blocking one. We have not tested it, so treat any claim about stacking as unknown. Open questions that matter in play:

• Whether Misdirection can send a spell into a neighbouring province that has its own dome.
• Whether an anonymous ritual (one whose caster the target cannot see) is stopped like any other.
• Whether a dome can be taken down by a dispel. The manual’s dispel rules are written for globals only.

Breaking a dome

The manual names these ways, all by the entries above and the local-enchantment notes:

• A spell that gets through Solid Air destroys it.
• A Fire spell absorbed by the Forest Dome can burn it away.
• The seven seals crack one at a time, one for each spell stopped.
• Gems run out of duration on the limited kinds.
• The caster dies. This is the manual’s general rule for all of them.
• The province is conquered, which ends most local enchantments.

Because the caster’s death is enough, a dome is only as safe as the mage who made it.

Domes in the Inspector

Five of the nine spell records are Enchantment level 6 (Solid Air, Frost Dome, Forest Dome, Arcane Warding and Misdirection). Flaming Death and Corruption are level 7, Void Pattern Labyrinth is 8 and Seven Seals is 9. All nine are listed as not for battle, which is how the manual describes rituals.

What the manual does not say

• It does not say whether a dome covers a province’s own people in a fight, or only the spell casting.
• Its “Dome of Air” is a short name that matches no spell record, so we have taken Dome of Solid Air to be meant.