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Spells consist of complex formulas of information and power. For a Sorcerer, creating and maintaining a spell is not unlike keeping the solution of an advanced sudoku puzzle in their head for days at a time. This puzzle’s numbers can randomly change and the Sorcerer must immediately solve it again or lose the information. If lynchpins (discussed below) are involved, then some of the puzzle’s numbers are always missing. And that is one spell. Constant concentration must be maintained. If the Sorcerer takes a nap, loses consciousness, works on other spell formulas, passes through Shadow, or otherwise loses concentration, the spell immediately unravels and is lost.

Furthermore, the spells still take time to create. Even the most trivial spells can several minutes to formulate; far more time than it would take an assassin to cross the room to run the Sorcerer through. More complex spells can sometimes take hours and even days to prepare.

Early on, Sorcerers realized they need way to store this information for later use. However, spell formulas are not only overwhelming large, they are also constantly changing and degrading.

For this reason, Sorcerers created the technique of Racking —the pre-preparation and then placement of a spell in an effective storage medium. They soon realized that only storage mediums capable of holding all this complex information were the living mind or mystical container. This receptacle could be their own mind, an item of Power, a Logrus tendril, a Familiar, or other similar device. These various storage mediums and/or receptacles are uniformly referred to as spell-racks.

To rack a spell, the Sorcerer begins formulating the spell and invests it with mystical energy just as they normally would if they were truly casting it. However, just before the spell’s completion, the Sorcerer deposits it into the spell-rack for later use. Once they were ready to utilize the spell, they simple plucked from the spell-rack, finished any last calculations, and then cast it. They can sleep, be knock unconscious, and even create new spells without disrupting those they’ve stored.

However, each form of spell rack has its own ups and downs. For example, even the most powerful Elder can only hold a few spells in their head at a time, familiars can be captured or killed, items of power can be stolen, and Logrus tendrils can be disrupted. The Sorcerer must think carefully before they place their spells somewhere. After all, they might be turned against themselves should the spell-rack fall into the wrong hands.

Furthermore, spells degrade over time. The more powerful the spell, the faster it degrades. This requires constant maintenance, where the Sorcerer makes touch-ups and recalculates the spell formula. For all their benefits, upkeep for a spell-rack can become downright tedious. And only a fool would let their spells degrade too far, as use of damaged or decayed spells can produce disastrous results (usually for the Sorcerer and anyone near them).

Because of this, the technique of creating Lynchpins is widely used.