Using the magical techniques of sympathy, a mage can link an object to a creature or piece of terrain, allowing them to cast spells and rituals upon things distant and beyond the normal scope of their magic. These techniques can vary significantly in how they are put into practice, but collectively they are called Sympathetic Magic.
The most commonly-known forms of Sympathetic Magic are those practiced by the mages of Grimmwold and Jadefang, where poppets of bone, grass, cloth, and thread are created to act as the target of a curse, filled with invidious magic and then delivered to the actual person who was the intended victim. The potential of this form of magic to be used for cursing people and places has given it a bad reputation, which is mostly undeserved.
Other, more beneficial purposes for this magic exist, and are frequently used in Aurendale and Tomarr. Some examples of this are using a poppet to heal instead of harm, using the blood of a target to act as a channel to their family and homeland in the casting of a harvest-blessing ritual, or placing a small horde of poppets around a target during a ritual to stand in for their army or warband during a martial blessing.
If you wish to play a mage who uses Sympathetic Magic, fashion one or more dolls out of a material appropriate to your nation of origin - wood, string, and bone for a Grimmwold witch; amber, pine, and thread for a Skalding seidkonr; straw, mud, and leather for a Dalean poppet; etc. Use it as the focus of your spell or ritual, targeting it as much as any actual person that you’re casting the magic upon.