Affective magic, or colloquially augury, is the new magic of the Rhizome which developed after the Second Spring. Benjamin learned how to use it during his travels with Blue J.; when he finally returned to the Last University he began teaching it to others. This led to him being known as "the Augur" in the vein of "the Wizard" or "the Ranger".[1]
Affective magic is not predictable, and casting with it is compared to pulling a random card in a strategy game. Results depend on the affect of both the spellcaster and the Rhizome itself, so augurs have to learn how to use their intuition to get more desirable results. Its unpredictability is disliked by some magic users of the old world, such as Sunder Havelton.[1]
This section contains spoilers for Spring in Hieron 44: The Second Spring Pt. 6.
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The Understanding used augury as a false flag to turn the Grey Duke against the remaining gods, but were found out by Benjamin. This led to the dissolution of the old power structure of the Last University.[2]