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Arcane Power also known as Magic, is a natural phenomenon that allows the ability to control or predict the natural world (including events, objects, people, and physical phenomena). The term can also refer to the practices employed by a person asserting this ability, and to beliefs that explain various events and phenomena in such terms. In most cultures, magic is the basis of the workings of the world, while in other cultures the concept of magic is under pressure from, and in competition with, scientific and religious conceptual systems.
The terms arcane and magic are mostly interchangeable in everyday use, but a distinction may be made in academic usage. "arcane" is a general term describing the source principles that describe the origins of magical ability, while "magic" refers specifically to application or effect of that power source in order to achieve various ends.
define magic as "the attempt to control the environment or the self, such as charms or spells." Magic is often differentiated from religion in that it is manipulative rather than supplicatory of the deities.
Pervasive throughout the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia until late antiquity and beyond, mágos, "Magian" or "magician", was influenced by (and eventually displaced) Greek goēs (γόης), the older word for a practitioner of magic, to include astrology, alchemy and other forms of esoteric knowledge. This association was in turn the product of the Hellenistic fascination for (Pseudo-)Zoroaster, who was perceived by the Greeks to be the "Chaldean", founder of the Magi and inventor of both astrology and magic, a meaning that still survives in the modern-day words "magic" and "magician".
History
The first compiling of magical lore began in the aptly named Age of Magic.
Pre-Vancian
Societies had aspects of magic that they would focus on. They tended to emulate the magical abilities of the local creatures. They also learn to defend against those creatures. Which one comes first (emulate or defend) depends on the culture.
- Midgarsian Seidr magic focused on appearances. (Divination and illusion)
- Aquarian Goetia magic focused on afflictions. (Enchantment, transmutation and necromancy)
- Morgenian Sha'ir magic focused on spirit-binding. (Abjuration, Conjuration and Evocation)
- Zamundian Mchawi magic focused on control. (Enchantment and necromancy)
Shi'imti Empire
It is known that the shi'imti had a strong magical heritage and laid the foundations for modern magical study. It is believed that magic played a hand in the downfall of the empire.
It is held by most scholars that the shi'imti's method of arcane use was much different that the standard wizardy we know today. The shi'imti arcanists practiced a form of word magic that was incorporated into their complex alphabet and language.
Midan Empire
The society of the Midans was heavily structured and magic was considered a "high art" to be used only by nobility. The empire also expressed their magic in a new way and gave form to the first bardic traditions.
Aquarian Empire
After the fall of the Midans, the founders of sophosium and the Aquarian Empire were mostly made up of the Viresian dragonborn and the lower classed Midans. As with many of the founding ideals of the Aquarians, magic was to be open to all who had the ability or desire.
As the dragonborn become integrated into society, and reverence of dragons once again came to the forefront of human culture, the first sorcerers came into existence. Unfortunately the arrival of these dangerous and uneducated wielders of magic caused a sudden shift in the Aquarians view of magic. Sorcerers were forced to bear the Signum Maleficium to mark them as natural magicians. The mark, however, did not cause the wearer to bear a stigma, in fact later on it was a badge of pride, so much so that many wizards also chose to carry the mark.
Divine magic (theurgy) was exalted. Arcane magic (goetia) was reviled.
Magic in general was held in low esteem and condemned by speakers and writers. Magic was aimed at selfish or immoral ends; and conducted in secrecy, often for a paying client. Religious rites, on the other hand, are more often aimed at lofty goals such as salvation or rebirth, and are conducted in the open for the benefit of the community or a group of followers. Religious ritual had the intended purpose of giving a god their just due honor, or asking for divine intervention and favor, while magic is seen as practiced by those who seek only power.
The Greek Magical Papyri (Latin: Papyri Graecae Magicae, abbreviated PGM) is the name given by scholars to a body of papyri from Graeco-Roman Egypt, written mostly in ancient Greek (but also in Old Coptic, Demotic, etc.), which each contain a number of magical spells, formulae, hymns, and rituals. The materials in the papyri date from the 100s BCE to the 400s CE. The manuscripts came to light through the antiquities trade, from the 1700s onward. One of the best known of these texts is the Mithras Liturgy.
One famous and powerful sorcerer invented geometrical magic.
Many terms are borrowed, in the papyri, it would seem, from the mystery cults; thus magical formulas are sometimes called teletai (literally, "celebration of mysteries"), or the magician himself is called mystagogos (the priest who leads the candidates for initiation).
Sorcerous impliments were the wand, the amulet, the scroll and the herb. Lots of reliance on material spell components.
The Age of Kings
With the regions of the Aquarian Empire now disconnected, several traditions of wizardy became established. Called Wizard Circles, these societies began practicing magic in fundamentally different ways. This caused a greater understanding of magic itself, but also encouraged discrimination and opposition.
The Gift of Magic
Vancian Magic
Consolidation of magical Theory and the creation of the nine schools of magic.
Vancil the Great
see Vancil
Inventor of the the nine schools of magic. Also founded the Council of Nine.
The term School came from the fact that originally there were literal schools of magic taught by the Vancian disciples
Faragørrstórr
see Faragorrstorr
Faragørrstórr is famous for traveling the Nine Worlds and having personal interactions with the gods long before the Noran wizard Tenser, around 250 PI.
Tenser the Loremaster
Tenser studied arcane magic intensely and refined the modern school and subschool categorizations from the original works of Vancil. Tenser built the first practical metamagic rods and classified several newly discovered sorcerous bloodlines. He also explored the twelve realms and recorded their properties in detail never before seen, and rarely surpassed since.
Hensons' Spellcraft
923 NS - published go-to magical study book. Hensons' Spellcraft: Descriptive and Applied. It is considered the core book of all modern magical education. Written by Constancia and Dell Henson.
Applications
Wizardry
Sorcery
Pact Binding
Drift Magic
Drift magic is the process of tapping the natural strata and tides of magic inherent in large collections of sand, ash, and dust. Such gatherings speak to eons of time, weathering, and history. This power is not visible to the unpracticed eye, but for those with the appropriate sensitivity, even common sand is awash with potential that can be tapped to increase the effects of spells and produce other special effects.
Components
Material
Somatic
Verbal
Below are traditional Vancian verbal components. Cantrips have quick verbal components. The more powerful tge spell, the more complexe the components are.
- Animate Dead - Necromantiae Vive Vive Vive Statim Mortuus est Vive
- Charm Person - Encanto Homi
- Detect Magic - Divinatio Scio
- Dispel Magic - Abjuratio Dispelere
- Finger of Death - Necromantiae Digitus Mortis
- Fireball - Evocare Fira
- Fireball, delayed blast - Evocare Firaga
- Gaseous Form - Alteratio Nebulous Corpus
- Gate - Conjurare Porta (specified plane or creature)
- Geas - Encanto Necātō
- Invisibility - Praestigiae Invisibilis
- Levitation - Alteratio Levi Corpus
- Magic Missile - Evocare Arcana Projecto
- Read Magic - Divinatio Lego
- Sleep - Encanto Sombre
- Time Stop - Alteratio Tempus Finito