Author Topic: Chapter One: Fundamentals of Magic  (Read 4821 times)

Offline DonQuixote

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Chapter One: Fundamentals of Magic
« on: April 04, 2012, 12:44:48 AM »
Chapter 1: Fundamentals of Magic
A great deal of time and energy has been needlessly expended in an attempt to answer the question of what magic is.  Philosophers and wizards alike have danced around this question for centuries, but most fail to realize the futility of their task.  They describe magic as a set of phenomena, or possibly some great invisible force, that effects change in the world by transcending the natural laws of the world.
   The inherent flaw in this definition lies in the belief that magic exists beyond the natural order of the universe.  In truth, magic is a natural resource, like water or ore.  As the planes wheel through the cosmos, their movement generates a constant flow of energy that washes across all of creation.  This magical current stabilizes and rejuvenates the planes, keeping the jewels of the multiverse in perfect condition.
   However, not all of this magic is absorbed by the planes, and most worlds are surrounded by coronas of raw magical energy.  In some cases, such as with the Elemental Planes, this corona becomes attuned to a certain type of power.  In other cases, most notably the Material Plane, the magical currents remain balanced, allowing them to be channeled into a variety of different effects.

Raw Magic
Life, in its infinite adaptability, makes use of every available resource.  So it is with magic: over millennia, as the planes continued to generate excess magical energy, certain creatures found ways to use it to their benefit.  Every modern adventurer knows of the wide variety of supernatural creatures in the world, many of which possess only rudimentary intelligence.  How could such creatures possess their powers if wielding magic was a matter of careful study and meditation?
   Nearly every creature can tap into some magical ability, even the most mindless of oozes.  In fact, on a basic level, most living creatures need magic to survive.  If cut off from magic, any creature--no matter how little arcane talent it may possess--begins to slowly sicken and die.  Strangely, this phenomenon explains one of the more bizarre traits of antimagic fields and similar effects: the fact that they do not impair the functions of magical creatures such as undead, elementals, and magical constructs.  That a normal living creature can survive in an antimagic field without suffering any ill effects demonstrates that such effects inhibit access to magic, rather than the presence of magic itself.
   Though every creature can access magic in some way, most are incapable of casting complex spells.  Indeed, an individual might go its entire life without managing to use the simplest of cantrips.  Spells are, in fact, incredibly complex expressions of magical energy.  Just as a lump of metal cannot be wielded as effectively as a greatsword, raw magic is of little use to most sentient beings.  Certain races have access to supernatural or spell-like abilities, but such abilities give little insight into the actual process of casting a spell--just as a racial propensity towards strength does not necessarily prepare one to follow a rigorous fighting discipline.

Bringing Order to Magic
As the sentient races began to spread over the world, they simultaneously sought to master the secrets of magic.  As any modern student of magic can tell you, some of the most iconic and basic spells bear the names of their creators.  Such spellcasters as Bigby the archmage and Mordenkainen the wizard have been immortalized for their contributions to the body of arcane knowledge, yet they are comparatively recent figures.  That such basic effects should have needed to be created implies that, at some point, magic-users did not rely on codified spells.  Instead, they shaped magic into rudimentary forms, which were used as necessary.  Just as the invention of the spear preceded the construction of the first sailing ship, magic-users began making spellshape attacks and shaping arcane formulae long before the first spell was cast.

The Anchorite and the Impulse Mage
The codification of magic began with the establishment of two conflicting disciplines: the self-disciplined anchorite and the wildly chaotic impulse mage.  The two seem to have arisen at roughly the same time, with the choice between the two paths apparently being one of personal preference.  Those who sought to control magic tended towards the path of the anchorite, while those who sought only to wield it often became impulse mages.
   The first anchorites seem to have developed from an offshoot of disciplined warriors, similar to modern monks and martial adepts.  Through the same methods of self-control and careful training, these early magic-users discovered a way to harness the magical energy that suffused the world.  Perfecting their disciplines, these anchorites shared their findings among one another.  Those who were connected to the same arcane circles--at the time, known by more simplistic names--refined their techniques, creating the early forms of the modern formulae.  The disciplines followed by these anchorites restricted each circle to a maximum of twenty-one different formulae.  Though the significance of this number has been lost to time, its influence is still felt by every modern spellshaper.
   If early anchorites could be compared to the modern monk, the early impulse mage would be analogous to a raging barbarian.  Rather than seeking serenity and understanding, the mad-casters shaped their powers spontaneously, without thought.  Rather than learning through meditation and sharing their disciplines with one another, the early impulse mages invented formulae in the heat of combat, and one impulse mage only taught another on the battlefield.  However, over time, the formulae wielded by impulse mages also settled into a set of common effects.  For reasons unknown, even those circles that were never explored by the early anchorites contain only twenty-one formulae.

The Elemental Adept
Only shortly after anchorites and impulse mages appeared on the scene, the first elemental adept swore an oath to the powers of elemental fire.  These early adepts were more akin to shamans than most modern elemental adepts, and their devotion to their elemental lords allowed them to manifest rudimentary auras of power.  At the same time, the shamans' masters taught them words of power that granted them powerful elemental magic.
   Finally, the elemental shamans eventually learned to focus their magic to repel the forces opposing their chosen elements.  Though this focus required the adepts to give up their elemental auras, the new ability formed the basis of many later powers developed by elemental adepts, and similar principles are used by modern clerics and paladins to repel undead creatures.
   The elemental companions that accompanied elemental adepts also represented a new step in the development of magic as a whole.  Whereas most powers wielded by magic-users up to this point were direct attacks, the shamans summoned their companions from their nearby elemental planes.  The ability to summon a companion was a potent one, and elemental adepts worked to develop the ability to call more elementals.  Their eventual success in doing so seems to have been indirectly responsible for the development of summoning spells, and possibly the entire school of conjuration spells.

Early Religion
The fact that early elemental adepts directly worshiped their elements brings up an important question: what of divine magic?  Not all sentient beings at the time worshiped the elements, and many worshiped gods that are still revered to this day.  Modern devotees of these deities, such as clerics and paladins, often gain the ability to cast spells.  Did the gods also reward faith with magic in this early age?
   The answer is both yes and no.  Gods did indeed grant divine power to the devout, much as they do today.  However, the world at the time lacked knowledge of the spell, and this divine power manifested itself in very different ways.  In some cases, gods would open the minds of their worshipers, revealing to them the basic methods by which one could shape magic.  In other cases, the gods would grant specific supernatural abilities to the faithful.  A paladin's ability to heal with a mere touch is one such ability that has persisted to the modern day.

The Savant and the Spellshape Champion
As time passed, the early anchorites, elemental adepts, and impulse mages slowly settled into their familiar forms, while the circles of formulae became more and more standardized.  The disciplined nature of the anchorites allowed them to refine the elemental adepts' auras and words of power into true numena and incantations, and they used this knowledge to unlock the same powers with the other arcane circles.  At the same time, the advancement of society allowed magic-users more leisure, permitting the pursuit of other interests and specific forms.  With this opportunity for diversification, the savant and the spellshape champion arose.
   Much as the anchorites had discovered magical power by looking inwards, early savants sought power and understanding by looking into the world around them.  Through the accumulation of knowledge, these magic-users honed their arcane powers.  Moreover, the possession of such weighty bodies of knowledge allowed savants to consider the tactics of a situation, rather than simply concerning themselves with the forms of their magic.  The pursuit of arcane knowledge and the advancing field of spellcraft was largely responsible for the later rise of spellsages and modern magic.
   Meanwhile, those of a more martial bent sought to perfect the use of magic in combat.  These early warrior-mages were almost wholly unlike the modern spellshape champion, resembling magical berserkers.  However, these berserkers were far less effective than either magic-users or warriors.  Recognizing that battle and spellshaping both had specific forms, some of their number began to discipline themselves, like the early anchorites had.  Perfecting their forms, these individuals--the first true spellshape champions--learned to channel their magic through their weapons.  As others practiced these same forms, they eventually mastered a technique for ignoring the weight of armor, allowing them to wield their powers without neglecting their defenses.

The Spellsage and the Rise of the Spell
The knowledge of the anchorites, the incantations of the elemental adepts, and the perfected forms of the spellshape champions led to the establishment of the sixth and most influential of the spellshaping paths: the spellsage.  Drawing upon these elements, the first spellsages achieved the single most important development of recorded history: the invention of the spell.  The first spells were, compared to the magic of today, fairly weak and complicated.  The equivalent of a first-level spell could take an entire minute to cast.  However, the principle was sound, and--with time and experience--spellsages eventually perfected a canon of basic spells, which are often referred to today as the "core spells."

Early Spellcasters
For a time, spellsages were the sole wielders of spells.  However, it did not take long for others to take an interest in the new forms.  The elemental adepts learned to channel their powers into elemental spells, while savants learned to mimic basic effects.  Those blessed by the gods learned to channel their gifts into divine spells, many of which were perfected by spellsages of a religious bent.
   Over a period of time, as more spells were developed, individuals became capable of relying more on spells for their needs.  Though they required a greater expenditure of personal energy than spellshape attacks and arcane formulae, spells could achieve more complex or subtle effects.  In time, certain traditions migrated from spellshaping to true spellcasting.
   The first wizard, whose name has unfortunately been lost to history, represented the culmination of this trend.  According to accounts, she never shaped a single arcane formula--in fact, she never learned any of the spellshape attacks.  Focusing wholly on spells, she blazed a trail that has shaped the world ever since.  Indeed, many of those who followed in her footsteps never learned the more basic forms of magic.  In time, the high wizard orders came to look down on the spellshapers as mere dabblers, forgetting their roots in the spellshaping traditions.

Spellshaping in the Modern World
Though the spell eventually rose to supremacy, the traditions of spellshaping are still alive and well.  A spellshaper cannot reshape reality in the same way that a true spellcaster can, but--unlike the spellcaster--he never finds himself bereft of magic.  A spellcaster's greater power comes at a cost: she expends some of her own energy with each spell that she casts, and she eventually can cast no more.  A spellshaper, by contrast, can tap directly into the raw magic that flows through the world, providing him with a nearly inexhaustible source of power.
   Spellcasters and spellshapers, though different, are fully capable of working together.  In many cases, they respect one another for their mastery of different forms: a sorcerer envies the impulse mage's ability to wield magic thoughtlessly, while the impulse mage is awed by the sorcerer's mastery of the more complex forms.  Moreover, while the ability to reshape creation lies firmly in the hands of the true spellcasters, the key to understanding magic itself resides in the powers wielded by spellshapers.
« Last Edit: September 13, 2012, 01:40:20 PM by DonQuixote »
“Hast thou not felt in forest gloom, as gloaming falls on dark-some dells, when comes a whisper, hum and hiss; savage growling sounds a-near, dazzling flashes around thee flicker, whirring waxes and fills thine ears: has thou not felt then grisly horrors that grip thee and hold thee?”