Schools of Magic

1. Schools of Magic

   #1

   A school of magic, as I demand it here, is not simply a group of vaguely-related spells. It has a tradition, it has purpose, it has history. It may be an actual school, where the elders teach the youngsters, or it may be a half-free tradition handed down in families, it may be something more or something less.
   
   A school of magic needs not to be only for the typical wizard, other magic-users may have their own. There can actually be schools of magic for non-spellcasters, with magic (one example of sorts is the Cantrips to change the world idea), or without - those fake wizards and charlatans may have some tradition, too.
   
   
   One thing I would be little pleased at, are schools with the singular purpose of equipping their members with bigger and badder spells. In my opinion, a school of magic should have character. Wizardly sages fascinated with a single topic are slightly cliche, but fine. Wizards that just invent new ways to kill stuff are plain boring. Try to be unique, please. (Oh, do I need to say that here? Strike that.)
   
   
   ---
   
   Implant-based Magic
   
   Here, fantasy meets sci-fi. Little green men have automatised outposts for the research of this planet. To minimise the chance of unwished influences on the local primitive civilisation, the outposts are hidden in outlying regions. There, pretty much all higher beings are caught by the robotic staff, stunned, examined, and given a small implant for tracking before being released. Satellites in the planet's orbit keep watching them.
   
   
   But as time has passed, the rare sentient visitors of these places have learned to interact with the implants in a useful way... now it could be called magic. Basic abilities may include: detecting other implant-carriers ("magic-users"), always knowing one's location, attunement to magical ley-lines or sources of power, even manipulating one's metabolism to a degree. Some may develop a supernatural feeling for their surroundings.
   
   
   The adherents of this school are the equivalent of fantasy rangers - hardy travellers, scouts and even spies. They travel and share knowledge of the the ways of the world. Over the cunturies (or millenia?) of alien research, this has created quite a tradition. Those wishing to be sorcerers go on a questing journey, performing rituals (all for colour), and braving dangerous locales to finally meet a higher being... so majestic and splendid that mortal minds cannot grasp it, collapsing at the instance. But if they are worthy, they recieve a gift, a true boon to a traveller.
   
   To choose a student seems to be easy - those that have the 'gift' can learn the tricks, others can't. The loose organisation has but noted that sometimes not so fine candidates recieve the gift, so they try now to keep the important locations a secret, a lost battle apparently. But at least the beings (gods?) pose a challenge that keeps the weaklings at bay - no one that travelled with company has ever recieved the gift. Obviously, one must travel alone, and survive the dangerous journey there and back on his own.
   
   
   Option 1: Magic has something to do with it, and study of magic can improve and widen these abilities.
   
   Option 2: No magic, it may be a peculiar feature of their anatomy, or the tracking system is dysfunctional, and leaks important information the implant-carriers have learned to use.
   
   In both cases, the 'magic' is only a support for something these people know to do, albeit an important one. Their abilities can be easily hidden, making them great nature guides.
   
   
   (Oh and yes, I have seen the X-files again.)

2. Folk Magic

   #2

   Folk Magic
   
   Folk magic is more of a magical tradition than a school of scholarly research being as old as the hills, some say as old as time itself. It is as deeply ingrained to the psyche of the country folk as the changing of the seasons and has been passed down from father to son and mother to daughter for countless generations.
   
   There are two main branches to folk magic: spirit recruitment and animal charming, each of these is discussed separately.
   
   Spirit Recruitment
   
   The world is full of spirits of many kinds. They live in the trees, the rivers, the fields, the rocks, and even in the very earth itself. A few are powerful demons to be feared or semi-divine entities who demand worship, but most are rather benign and quite harmless. It is to these that spirit recruitment is directed.
   
   The purpose of spirit recruitment is, as its name suggests, recruiting minor spirits to aid the farmer or his household. This is not the domineering control imposed by wizards and sorcerers, nor is it the fawning supplication advocated by priests and holy men. Instead it is a kind of trade, an agreement between equals, by where the spirit grants its aid in return for some service or minor sacrifice.
   
   By far the most common of these are the hearth spirits, the grain spirits, and the guardian spirits, although other types certainly exist.
   
   Hearth Spirits
   
   So called because they like to live in the lintel over the hearth, hearth spirits perform a variety of minor services for the household. The exact services vary from spirit to spirit but usually include things like guiding the smoke up through the chimney or smoke hole, extinguishing any embers that escape the fireplace, and gently nudge small children away from the flames.
   
   In return for such service the hearth spirits require regular sacrifice in the form of a burnt offering. It is therefore traditional to throw a cake, biscuit, or similar item on the fire whenever the family sits down to a meal.
   
   Grain Spirits
   
   The grain spirits are the spirits of corn, wheat, and barley, or any other crop the farmer wishes to sow for that matter. Each crop has its own spirit without which the seed cannot germinate and the crop grow. Thus, in order to ensure a successful harvest the farmer must have the appropriate grain spirit living in his fields.
   
   However, grain spirits are delicate things and cannot survive the winter cold. Therefore the stalks of the last sheaf harvested from a field are woven into a little box-like contain known as a Corn Dolly, and this is buried in a sheltered corner. Here the spirit will sleep, protected from the frost and snow of winter, ready to emerge just in time for the spring planting.
   
   Guardian Spirits
   
   These highly territorial spirits like to live inside pieces of iron. The shape of the iron is meaningless to them but the size is not, if the piece is too small the spirit will not be comfortable and will leave. As it happens a horseshoe is just about the right size, and this why people often hang old horseshoes on their front doors. It is also most like the reason horseshoes are believed to be lucky.
   
   Because these spirits are so territorial they make extremely good spiritual watchdogs and they are commonly used to guard the house from malevolent or unwanted supernatural entities, such as the demons of ill health or the imps of misfortune.
   
   Some versions can also known to attack more corporeal intruders, such as thieves. However, such spirits might attack anybody they do not know so it is necessary to “train� them to recognise household members. This is believed to be the source of such customs as carrying your bride over the threshold and crossing a new born baby’s palm with silver, both of which are to do with inviting a new member into the household.
   
   Animal Charming
   
   How much of this is magic, how much is animal training techniques, and how much is simply an understanding of animal behaviour is not certain, but the fact remains that country folk know how to influence (if only to a limited degree) the behaviour the creatures around them.
   
   The exact procedure varies dramatically from place to place, and even more so depending on the animal being charmed, there are however some common elements.
   
   Typically a little food, appropriate for the animal in question, is required which is either laid out as bait or held in the hand whilst approaching the animal in a non-threatening manner. This continues until contact is made or, as is more often the case, the animal runs away.
   
   Once contact has thus been made, the animal is encouraged to act as required by the caster. It is this stage that varies most, being dependent on a variety of factors such as the animal involved and the behaviour the caster wants to instil as well as local tradition and even the casters’ experience and personal prejudices. In fact some of the best practitioners claim that there is no “correct� way of doing this and that each case is different – you simply have to learn how to “wing it�.
   
   It is important to note that no direct control or domination of the animal is taking place here, nor can an animal be forced to act in any manner contrary to its own nature. However if you have a clear idea of what you want and it is within the normal behaviour pattern for the animal the results can be astounding.
   
   Mostly there are two main uses for the technique: controlling livestock (e.g. charm the dominant ewe into the fold and the whole flock will follow) or hunting small game for the pot (e.g. charming a rabbit close enough to catch it).
   
   However some communities have developed unusual and imaginative applications, such as the lowlanders who encourage pregnant wildcats to raising their kittens new the grain store or upland farmers who charm hawks or kites to nest near their fields. In both cases this farmer gains some measure of pest control.

3. Re: Schools of Magic

   #3

   A school of magic, as I demand it here, is not simply a group of vaguely-related spells. It has a tradition, it has purpose, it has history. It may be an actual school, where the elders teach the youngsters, or it may be a half-free tradition handed down in families, it may be something more or something less.

   
   This is a topic of great interest to me, one that I'm trying to incorporate into Midian. The premise for me, is that the differences in magical traditions are in the philosophies & trappings rather than the spells themselves. A good example of this is with the spell Strength of the Stolen Soul:

   Strength of the Stolen Soul
   Mystic
   Basic
   600 hours
   Requires: soul-stealing knowledge
   
   This spell combines geomancy with necromancy in ensuring that a building, bridge, or other permanent structure will remain strong & secure. By stealing someone's soul while the structure—which may be of any size—is being built, all of the deceased's saving throw bonuses & retests are passed on to the item. This ritual must be performed between the time that the building is being initially planned, and when the first inhabitant or user crosses the threshold.

   
   It's all in how the spell is perceived, beyond the base game mechanics. That is, a necromancer would see this as utilising a departed spirit, a geomancer would bind a spirit into the feng shui of the structure, and an alchemist sees yet another example of incorporating power from a mystic essence into a useful physical object. Also, the actual rituals used by each tradition would be very different: black candles & a sacrificial altar with many hours of chanting for a necromancer, carefull measurements using a ruler & compass with checking reference manuals for the geomancer, and using a distillation process on the victim's heart with a method to equally cover all support structures for the alchemist.
   
   This is the same spell mechanically, but is three different spells in regards to outlook and the ritual needed for each tradition.
   
   There will be some commonality of spells, such as a necromancer having spells for the reanimation of dead flesh that wouldn't normally be a part of another tradition's repertoire. I've even tried to sub-divide this, into specialisations based on the type of spell (similar to how spells are normally divided into "schools" in some other games). This allows a necromancer, for example, to be able to specialise in blood, bone, curse, divination, grave, murder, reanimation, or restless spirit spells, if desired, for a more unique individual spellcaster.

4. Schools of Magic

   #4

   Add this to the pyre of ideas for the propagation of a particular kind of magic: Curses. As one unit, the elder lays down a horrid curse upon the 'beneficiary' of a power, which, simultaneously conditions one to use the power in line with a certain ideal, and grants that power. As an example, I am currently sandboxing a character whose bloodline was marked by a powerful evil priestess. He has tremendous power over elemental metal, however, the price to unlock this power was to murder a loved one, and through nightmares, that murder is seared back across his soul every time he uses the power, a process which could well eventually drive him mad through grief and guilt, leading to his lashing out at the world around him - which is what the priestess wanted, a sleeping time bomb. It's concievable that one priest could empower an enitre cult in this fashion - I'll try to dream one up tonight. Alternatively, blessings may contain pavlovian training for the mage, as well as raw power.

5. Schools of Magic

   #5

   Don't mind me, I am just going to cross reference a few other threads.
   
   Making Magic (psuedo FAQ)
   http://www.rpgcitadel.com/guild/index.php?topic=2162.0
   
   Magical Descriptions
   http://www.rpgcitadel.com/guild/index.php?topic=2151.0
   
   Sword Pull Magic
   http://www.rpgcitadel.com/guild/index.php?topic=1002.0
   
   Newtonian Magic
   http://www.rpgcitadel.com/guild/index.php?topic=1336.0
   
   Magic of Emotions
   http://www.rpgcitadel.com/guild/index.php?topic=841.0
   
   The Garan
   http://www.rpgcitadel.com/guild/index.php?topic=1961.0
   
   Tattooed power
   http://www.rpgcitadel.com/guild/index.php?topic=1477.0
   
   Wheel Magic
   http://www.rpgcitadel.com/guild/index.php?topic=912.0
   
   Steamery
   http://www.rpgcitadel.com/guild/index.php?topic=1949.0
   
   Gemstone Magic
   http://www.rpgcitadel.com/guild/index.php?topic=1240.0
   
   Thoughts on a magic system
   http://www.rpgcitadel.com/guild/index.php?topic=429.0
   
   Spectrum Magic
   http://www.rpgcitadel.com/guild/index.php?topic=2091.0
   
   Books of True Language
   http://www.rpgcitadel.com/guild/index.php?topic=961.0
   
   Spice up your magic system
   http://www.rpgcitadel.com/guild/index.php?topic=1063.0

6. Hey look, it's not that hard to create a School of Magic.

   #6

   The Masters Of Fog Magic
   
   (designed for a low-magic world)
   
   
   The followers of this school specialize in the control of the Fog phenomenon. In a world where most magical effects have only a short duration, theirs can stay active for hours, even days in some rare cases.
   
   A Fog is natural thing, air moisture that becomes visible (under certain conditions of course). An adept of this school can control, enhance, even create a Fog provided the conditions are right. The spells have a long casting time, and dispelling such an effect does not make the Fog null, it takes some time for it to disperse. Unlike some other wizards, these magic-users tend to be of quite phlegmatic natures, it will happen when it will happen, and to hurry won't help. Other wizards have tendencies to despise them, and call their magics pathetic and pointless.
   
   
   Teaching is done simply from master to apprentice. It is but said that deep within the Great Swamps, where fogs abound at any daytime or nighttime, there lives a master of masters of Fog Wizardry, that can teach the basics and much more. Tradition commands to bring each new spell to this master, sadly few honour it.
   
   Besides spellcraft, these men and women (surprisingly, the ratio is almost equal in this field) study meteorology and in peaceful times try to forecast weather. One day, they also hope, they will be able to influence it.
   
   This seemingly useless field of study has found a big use, however: on the field of battle. After the glorious victory on the Starling Hill, fog has become a favourite element of surprise and deception. Masking advancing units, providing cover for the defenders, confusing soldiers and generally messing with enemies' heads is all well. There are similar naval uses, and the occasional merchant ship hiding from pirates.

7. BlenderofSixElement's Way aka Magic

   #7

   One of the original Elventi was the High Elventi known as BlenderofSixElements. Actually at the time, he was StarsFallingAcrossTheMoonastheSnowFalls. All the Elventi knew a bit of magic, the manipulating of cosmic flows to effect the world. He would become BlenderofSixElements spent the the time to experiment and contemplate the elemental forces of Arth. He creates the rules and functions of magic as it is known in the Known World and taught it to the other Elventi.
   
   The teaching of magic is normally linear, one teacher to one student. That teacher's preferences colors not only which students they would teach, but which mystical skills they would emphasize. Thus "bloodlines" of mages were created. One could tell who one's mentor (and who his mentor and mentor's mentor was) by their attitudes and skills. Given the immortality of the High Elventi, many bloodlines came from the prim source. It is from the "pure bloodline", a "recent" student of BlenderofSixElements, ImpatientShaperofTreesWhoCastsRatherThanShapes (an Elventi who changed professions radically) that Humanti magic came from. Humantis had no real magic when they first came to FirstLand. He tried, as a test... an experiment... to teach Humanti magic... to see if they were able. By the time he reported his findings, the Humanti were already teaching each others... groups of them teaching small groups of students. Thus the Mage Council and the Magic Guild came into being.
   
   The Magic Guild is one of the first Humanti Guilds, one of the first organizations that crossed clan bloodlines. The Humanti did not have the natural skill that the Elventi did, only a small number of them could learn magic with profiency... and only a few could be masters/ true wizards. The mage council began to carefully (for Humanti) teach other potentials the skills they had picked up in the few short months of training they had. They began to adapt what they had been taught to the "human time". "Caster" as they came to call him, eventually came back and taught the Humanti more completely, allowing the council to become the first Wizards.
   
   Since magic was innate to so many parts of Elventi culture, magic was one of the avenues of uplifting/ civilizing Humanti. They learned the basic truths of language, mathematics, the nature of the universe, religion, and the flow of cosmic forces.
   
   The Mage Guild worked with the Warrior's Guild in the Returner's war. Each clan's land had one guild hall, where "potentials" or anyone who wanted, could learn magics (for appropriate prices). Thus all six elements in their manifest and higher form were initially taught. After the Elventi threatened to destroy them all, they stoped casting with light and dark forces... leaving it to the Priests of the True Gods of Arth.
   
   The Guild watches over magic and magic users in all the Humanti portion of the Known World (which is to say.... most of it). They teach the appropriate, will try to teach anyone else who pays the fees and takes the binding vows, and research what is truly possible within the four remaining elements. They have achieved results beyond the expectations of the Elventi (who are amazed that Humanti can grasp much of the concepts behind the universe at all).
   
   The Guild is always trying to expand its influence over Humanti Lands. They have been "guiding hands", teaching the elements of Civilization to all Humanti. They simply want the respect (and power) that they feel is their due. To date, they have been stymied on all fronts. They are the perpetual advisors, but never the rulers. They are covetous of this position, so tend to protect that status quo more rigerously than any normal Arthian. Now they have become the official judges of way and order/chaos. They are working to maintain balanced order in Humanti lands.
   
   The Guild in Antioch is now working overtime. Ariones of Antioch, a mage guildsman, has proposed that the material world is nothing more than condensed mystic energy AND that those materials work with the same mystic laws that magic functions under. He has developed various devices that have the potential to reshape the "way" of Antioch - The printing press, magnifying glasses, telescopes, and balloons to name a few. Clockworking is being refined given more advanced magical theories. There has yet to be any "chaos backlash" to the presentation of these inventions or their passing to other parts of the Known World. But the Guild and the Elventi Noble Council is keeping an eye on the situation.

8. School of Seeker

   #8

   The School of The Seeker does not have an actual school, but it is a fellowship of several dozen wizards. The school is named for a wizardly guardian from long ago, those that protect The Realms from forces beyond the ken. In fact, the school is actually founded by his three apprentices.
   
   It is the wizardly school of hard knocks. There are easier programs of study. It is part boot camp, part test of character, and an magical crash course all rolled into one. Those that follow Seeker's way are strong, resiliant, and know their weapons. They are also used to adversity (see school abilities). They are taught how to use magic properly, maximizing effect with the least amount of effort. They are taught how to handle people. They are taught how to see the future and safeguard others.
   
   The Grimoire of a Seeker Student is quite an eclectic mix of spells. Every tiny cantrip is studied, as you never know what will be useful. There is no mastery of one school of study or element, but a broad overview of every school.
   
   Much of what they are taught is not magic. They are advisors to heroes and crowns. They are guild troubleshooters. They learn about people, about history, about monsters, and if they survive their training (which about 30% don't) about themselves.
   
   About 50% quit at some point, as the training is guelling and a decade long (over two). Thus their are few followers of Seeker's Way.
   
   Note:
   1) Its wizards to deal wtih adverse conditions (granting them only half the negative modifiers for adverse conditions and half for positive conditions)
   2) All spell lists are open to them except the higher level specialty spells. They know every cantrip in the world.
   3) They are taught weapons and unarmed combat, as well as a wide variety of lores, so there is no prohabition against learning anything.
   3b) They are travellers, so they know travel lores and area knowledges.
   4) The catch is that your destiny is no longer your own. You must save the world from itseld and untold horrors. If you shirk your duty, more experienced members of the School hunt you down and kill you. (or keep your soul in a jar as an example to other bad students).

9. Path of the days gone by

   #9

   This school of magic is composed of a set of mental and spiritual techniques, strenghtening, well, your spirit and its bond to present and past, and as some hope to the future as well.
   
   Making use of the advanced techniques, the adept could remember anything that ever happened around him, in detail and colour. Every word spoken, every event that happened around can be re-lived and analyzed. (Analytical skills are taught as well.) True mastery is shown in the amount of detail one percieves, some natural talents could recollect even what happened when they were asleep, or unconscious - to most is this knowledge very dim.
   
   Students of this Art often take courses in most diverse lores and skills, which they can remember whenever (if ever) they are necessary - provided they have the time. Naturally, they become excellent witnesses and often end as advisors (or spies) for the truly powerful.
   
   
   Those who want to master this school need a strong will and the ability to put aside depressive thoughts (as all your failures become visible to you...). Not to be forgotten is the fact that maintaining relationships becomes extremely diffilcut for people that don't forget. The school therefore resembles very closely a monastic order, further improving the 'useful servant' image.

10. The School of Jundera

    #10

    The following information is for Ageratos, but would be unknown to the majority of the populace. Most sorcerors will probably know it, rather in the manner that an American knows about the Revolutionary War, and historians might know it if they specialize in the history of the occult.
    
    The School of Jundera
    
    The School of Jundera is the most ancient school of Amandaeanic magic, first established during the Bloody Age by Jundera the Ultimately Wise, one of the disciples of Mandaeani (who is widely believed to be the grandfather of all the known magical systems; those systems and Schools which follow his teachings are called Mandaeanic, while those which reject his teachings are Amandaeanic, or Anathematic).
    Jundera created his School in recognition of the mighty sorceries of the Ancients, who he believed knew a "purer" and more "bodhic" magic than the Agera of his day knew. He was extremely conservative in his magical philosophy, and unlike his master Mandaeani (who he came to despise), rejected the Shamani-based, elementalistic magics which evolved out of the traditional Ageran ways.
    Showing the Bodhologist influence on his theory, Jundera's School strongly emphasizes a deep and definitive understanding of the self. Jundera himself purported the semi-solipsistic belief that all things in the world actually were generated from the "Spring of the Self", and that conflict was engendered by the clashing of two beings' "Springs"; this belief translated into a magical system which emphasizes the "strengthening" of "personal reality" in order to "weaken" the "outer reality".
    A lot of words, however, do not easily translate into practice. While Jundera was very good at philosophy (indeed, many of his disciples became Master Bodhologists), it was soon discovered that using the strength of the self is extremely difficult. Jundera's original magics, written down in the scrolls known as the Baaghora Baia (translating as "the Jewel of Wisdom"), involved heavily drawing upon the sorceror's inner reserves of strength and willpower in order to fuel Ontological magics (Ontological, or Realist, magics are those directly and bluntly changing the function of reality). Soon after Jundera's death, the worn-out Junderic sorcerors allowed the School to become less conservative in aspect.
    The development of the Junderic magic has created a system based on channeling energy for the manifestation of spells from outside sources, through the self. And rather than use an Ontological approach, the Junderics have become practitioners who approach magic through Affectation, that is, the manipulation of natural processes to create spells (Affectation, while more limited than Ontology, is easier, faster, and vastly-less taxing). Junderic sorcerors favor living beings as sources of energy- drinking blood and the sacrafice of small animals being the most common.
    
    The School of Jundera in practice
    
    The sorceror Veyaton has slaughtered three chickens, and gathered their blood in a shallow brass dish. Drinking from the dish, he allows the blood to spill down his robe and splatter about his feet. Using the strength of the life-force of the chickens, Veyaton reaches out with his sciomantic gauntlet and surreptitiously motivates warm air to roll moisture from the surface of the ocean, congealing it upon the shore into a thick mist which causes the ship of his enemy, Ordaec, to go astray, and beach catastrophically. Veyaton smirks, and dispatches his soldiers, sub-human apes arrayed in brass armor, to destroy the survivors.

11. Schools of Magic

    #11

    in my universe, when a spell is cast to create the rope trick, it creates a block like lump of the plane of shadow. it is possible to find large clumps of shadowstuff cubes. also the beings on the plane of shadow(i won't say who they are) have developed magical devices to create and open such cubes, resulting in adventuring groups being ambushed while trying to recoup some health. these 'peoples' have created at least one walled city of shadowstuff.

12. Schools of Magic

    #12

    *scratches head*
    
    Well, this would be an Idea (on the main page) if anything. A School of Magic is something _slightly_ different, and above all more complete. Please consider developing the idea, or moving it into Ideas. There is also a thread for spells, if you can find it.
    
    [This post and the one above it shall be deleted in the matter of three days. Thank you.]

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