Magic

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The question of ‘What is Magic?’ (Magic with a capital M) is a simple question which has an answer which at first glance seems simple. Magic is. There is no denying that magic is everywhere and that it permeates almost everyone and everything; that it can be manipulated to have tangible real world effects. Its true potential is nearly limitless if only you understand it well enough.

An Overview of Magic

There are a few leading explanations of what Magic is, as taught in various religions, schools, colleges, universities, and folk tradition. These explanations each are true to ways in which magic acts and serve as helpful tools in how a mage can use magic to interact with the world; they are called the Paths of Magic.

Mage - someone who practices magic

magic (lowercase m) - any practice of manipulating Magic, pluralized as magics

Modifiers

magic can also be classified with extra modifiers such as Runic, Alchemical, Divine, Miraculous and/or Healing.

Runic magic

any magic channeled through runes; this is an ancient practice which has roots in every path

Alchemical magic

magic which gains its power from physical processes of magical materials, most often potions

Divine magic

magic that is that of a god/higher power

Miraculous magic

magic which disobeys commonly accepted rules (such as requiring no spell, rune, or taking no toll on its caster when it otherwise should have)

Healing magic

magic that has a healing effect

The Paths of magic

The limits of a mage’s power to interact with Magic is only limited by the mage’s will. In some ways that means the only real limits are a mage’s ability to visualize/imagine/conceptualize how the magic works, and how much of that magic they can physically handle. As such, the various ways in which Magic is explained and taught often define the capabilities of a mage and how they use magic. The sorts of mage are not limited to any one interpretation of Magic, though they have common associations.

The Divine Path

The Divine Path sees Magic as the tool and creation of one or many of the gods, it explains many magic powers as those granted by gods, allowing for control in accordance to said god’s wishes, beliefs, and practices. Practitioners of this sort of magic are frequently called: Priests, Clerics, Paladins, or Theurgists

The Scholar’s Path

The Scholar’s path sees magic as the Varin. Varin is a field of magical power which permeates through everyone and everything, which has some indescribable will; that will can be bent to a mage’s will. The influence of the Varin extends to and through the various gods, as it is said to have ‘chosen’ them. Varin is the most all encompassing method of explaining magic, if also one of the least practical for using magic as it requires a great deal of willpower to bend the will of a force as powerful as the Varin. This path was first described by the Baroness of Barathe Practitioners devoted to this path often call themselves Thaumaturges, though some can be considered Theurges These people are often seen to use a combination of divine and supremely analytical practices to perform what is often considered miraculous, the most powerful of whom can

The Shaman’s Path

The shamanist path is in many ways similar to both the Divine Path and the Scholar’s Path, though rather than seeing magic as a tool of the gods, or as something which chooses the gods; it is instead the very fabric of reality that makes up the gods, and in many ways everything that is physical. The Shamnan's path can also refer to mages who draw power from the natural magics of the Wylds. Practitioners of Shamanistic magic are often called Shamans or Druids

The Spirit’s Path

Spiritists are a subsection of Shamanists, preferring to rely on the power of what they see as living manifestations of the Magic which permeates everything most commonly called spirits. These spirits are often seen as creatures of blood or as forces of nature, though no two spiritists are likely to have exactly the same interpretation on what spirits actually are. Though Shamans and Druids are commonly spiritists, those who have an innate connection to spirits are called Mediums

The Path of Blue and Gold

The Blue and Gold Path is the foundation of the most common interpretation of Magic in the modern world. It is the more wild and instinctual foundation for the Wizard’s interpretation. It is Magic as delineated between Balan Balai the Golden and Wenet Marr the Blue, the first two Magi. Magic in this system is delineated between the magic within and the magic without, blue and gold respectively. Magic within is the power innately tied with one’s soul, within one’s being. To use this magic is to draw upon one’s will directly to use the power within themselves to affect the world around them. Magic without is seen to naturally flow around all things, and to control it is to guide it through oneself; it also often (but not always) encompasses magic granted from deities or other higher powers & patrons. Most people find the visualization of one of these two sorts of magic to be easier than the other, though some can do both without issue.

Gold

Practitioners of Golden Magic who use the wild flow are often considered Thaumaturges or Witches; those who use granted power are often considered Warlocks and Theurges

Blue

Practitioners of Blue Magic are often called Sorcerers

The Wizard’s Path

The Wizard’s Path is the codification of practices in schools delineated by the Magi. These mages often follow a corpus of work written down by their predecessors; this work has allowed for a standardization and refinement of specific spells. That refinement was only possible due to the Magi allowing their schools of magic to be more controlled, to give it an innate character. Whether it is drawing from their realms, or through their persons is a debated topic; but what is certain is that they have allowed for a more uniform sort of magic. This codification began in the previous age, though with each Magi it has grown in prominence. Practitioners of this path are most often called Wizards

Bloody Path

The Bloody Path, also called the Old Way, is considered by some to be the oldest interpretation of Magic, it sees Magic as the blood of reality; and it believes in the simple maxims of blood through blood, and blood for blood. It is believed that in ages past, when Magic was more wild and unrestrained that blood was the only way to wrest control from the wild tempest of Magic. It is said that the Anarai were able to control Magic through their blood without risk of becoming overwhelmed due to the presence of the divine within themselves. When they fell, controlling magic became less reliable. The Zahar risked becoming overwhelmed, risked succumbing to Balai's Curse. As the Bloody Path most directly channels Magic through one’s own blood, it is often considered to be the riskiest sort of magic; as more reliable and less risky methods of magic became clear, the Bloody Path fell to the wayside. Modern Blood magic is seen by many to be a callback to this ancient path though it is seen by many to be a perversion of Marr’s magic.

The Philosophies of Mages

The magic Philosophies are anywhere from concrete or definitive definitions. Rather, they provide easy shorthands for common theories and philosophies behind mages. Any one may consider or call themself another; but this is a good starting place.

Clerics

Clerics are often mages who use the powers of a god to perform divine magic, usually devoted to a single deity, their practice is not usually limited to religious settings

Priests

Priests are often mages who use the powers of a god, pantheon, or other such higher power to perform divine magic; usually of an overtly religious nature, they are often (though not always) devoted to religious settings

Paladins

Paladins are often mages who fight in the name of a god, pantheon, or other higher power; usually they have a vow of some sort which allows them to channel the power of whomever they are sworn to; their magic is often but not always divine

Theurgists

Theurgs/Theurgists are mages who perform miraculous Divine magic; usually through the higher power channeling itself through the theurge or the theurge channeling the power of their higher power directly

Thaumaturges

Thaumaturges are mages who perform miraculous magic that is not considered divine.

Druids

Druids are usually mages who concentrate on the natural world, be it plants, animals, the weather or other such parts and forces of nature

Shamans

Shamans are usually mages who deal with spirits

Sorcerers

Sorcerers are often mages who are born with some talent or connection to a specific sort of magic, usually through one of the Magi though not always

Warlocks

Warlocks are often mages who have gained their power from an outside source similar to Clerics or Priests though there is rarely a divine element.

Witches

Witches are often mages who rely heavily on alchemy and curses (curses being malignant magic which is often frowned upon)

Wizards

Wizards are mages who have studied as an apprentice or at a college and have learned the codified practices of the Wizard’s Path

Magus

Maguses are mages who have studied the Wizard’s path but are not officially affiliated with the Mage’s Guild or any of the other various magical institutions of the modern era

Hexe

Hexe are usually mages devoted to magics that are considered illicit, but have been granted warrant to study or practice said magic by a higher authority (usually the Mage’s Guild)