 | ||
 | ||
 | ||
 | ||
 | ||
 | ||
 | ||
 |
 |
MagicA real mage knows that the status quo is always in flux. Magic is one of the most powerful forces in the world. Originating in the OtherWorld, it is called up by sorcerers and summoned by wizards to do their request or bidding in this world. It is a power of changing and summoning, of altered the very laws of the world to do the bidding and will of a single person. Few have the strength to use it and fewer still ever really understand what magic is. Sorcerers know magic comes from the OtherWorld itself, that other world (what else?) that they somehow have inside them, like a hole in their being. For sorcerers, magic is an act of comminution, of reaching into the magic and calling up their power, of learning new spells from the magic itself and letting it's language flow through them like a river. They are conduits of power and all sorcerers bring magic into this world simply by existing in it. Wizards know where magic comes from as well, but they reach for it, compel it by words and gestures and sacrifices (often material components) to come to them, using their will as a dam to force the magic to do what they want when they want. Most sorcerers see it as a kind of rape, and most wizards (if they're honest with themselves) would likely agree. But it is power, and they can tap it so they do, knowing that someday, somehow, the magic will extract vengeance on them. Actually, whether magic is alive or not isn't really known. Most sorcerers feel it is, but none have really offered any concrete proof that magic is actually aware of things and influences them. Frankly, the idea scares both wizards and sorcerers a lot. As for the OtherWorld, few spells lead there (Astral and ethereal spells are basically travelling to it, ditto with any dimension spells) and the mages who have travelled there speak of beings of awesome power, demons of dark strength and a world with so much magic in it that is terrified them. Few return, and few of those ever make such a journey again. Calling up any powerful arcane magic is felt by anyone, mage or not, as the OtherWorld meets this one. The state is of a very cold wind blowing, but not a wind of this world because few trees ever move. Called the HalfWorld, this is some state between both worlds when the deeper magics are cast. It sometimes works for lesser magics but no one knows why. Clerical Magic"Keep your prayers short - often, the gods will hear a moan over a chant and a plea over a scream." Clerics don't use magic, as people on this world understand it. Clerical powers come from praying (which anyone can do) do deities and invoking them (which is the actual casting of spells). The cleric draws on the power of their god using their own faith and need and a miracle occurs. Clerical magic is not used lightly nor frivolously and, if powerful enough, seems to call up the HalfWorld in a strange way, altering the very colour of the land and, rarely, the sky. Druid Magic"What the world may bring, the world may take away. Give back to the world with your gift." Druid magic doesn't touch the OtherWorld at all. They draw entirely on this world, which means that their magic is actually a finite resource of the world itself. While most of the power they use goes back into the world (and most of the natural excess energy sorcerers generate does the same) there is generally a small amount of loss, meaning that druids are reluctant to cast powerful spells that could drain the world of some of its energy forever. It also means that druids tend to try and protect sorcerers since sorcerers give their magic to the world itself all the time. Bard Magic"Be the place where the singer meets the song." Bard magic is something else entirely, seeming to need and draw all it's power from music itself. It calls upon no world or deity, and just is. The source of this magic - if any - is unknown save, perhaps, to some very old bards. Other Magics"It is said that when King Harowen the Absentminded of Elandai was going to die, Death came to came and the busy king said he had no time for an audience and bade his guest depart. Death was so embarrassed it did not return for another seven years." The ability of kings to cure diseases or some wise ones to work magic with just ancient symbols and runes or blood are something else entirely, something older than tapping the OtherWorld and a type of magic that existed long before the Catastrophe. Most of what kings do magically just comes from the innate power of being a king and the binding of them to the land such a ruler ship entails. Of course, it's not without cost and many rulers have found themselves plowed under and their bodies bled into the land to bring rain or end a plague. No head that wears a crown wears it easily. The other magics tend to be less well known, and the curses of old village ladies or threats of blood magic tend to be old stories and empty threats since most of the older magics have faded and been lost.
"In the end we have only each other, |