magic
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magic [2012/08/27 13:14] jamesg |
magic [2012/08/29 20:04] dan |
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| ====== Magic and the Scholarly Arts ====== | ====== Magic and the Scholarly Arts ====== | ||
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| ===== The College of the Stars ===== | ===== The College of the Stars ===== | ||
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| There is some debate amongst mages and scholars as to the accuracy of this legend, and their views on magic are similarly inconsistent. Some say that mages draw their power from the trapped dragons, while others state that the dragon myth is merely a metaphor for the nature of the world, highlighting the five rites as fundamental forces. Others believe that their power is a gift, freely given from these creatures, and there are rumours that some even worship these dragons as gods. Regardless, while it is not necessarily understood why magic works, none could deny its usefulness, before or after the Upheaval. | There is some debate amongst mages and scholars as to the accuracy of this legend, and their views on magic are similarly inconsistent. Some say that mages draw their power from the trapped dragons, while others state that the dragon myth is merely a metaphor for the nature of the world, highlighting the five rites as fundamental forces. Others believe that their power is a gift, freely given from these creatures, and there are rumours that some even worship these dragons as gods. Regardless, while it is not necessarily understood why magic works, none could deny its usefulness, before or after the Upheaval. | ||
| - | ===== Magic and the College after the Upheaval ===== | + | ===== Magic and the Colleges after the Upheaval ===== |
| Like faith, magic has not been left unchanged in the wake of the Upheaval, and like faith, it is only to the advantage of those who practice it. Previously, the rituals and arcane weaving that formed a spell were required to transmute the mana and any other material inputs used into the desired effect. Since the upheaval, to a degree, the rituals and motions themselves seem to give rise to effects, with or without material inputs. How this functions has been a matter of some significant academic and experimental investigation, and the current prevailing theory is that using the appropriate incantations and gestures creates an upwelling of proto-mana within the mage, which is immediately utilised to produce the desired effect. This theory is corroborated by the process being rather painful for the mage, as raw energy wells up within them, and actively dangerous if used too rapidly. This change has given mages scope to utilise their powers to a much greater extent than they did pre-upheaval, and a new breed of magician-adventurer has begun to be evinced among the ranks of the college, replacing the classic image of the cloistered scholar, their skills in high demand among those who wish to strike out into the Flux. | Like faith, magic has not been left unchanged in the wake of the Upheaval, and like faith, it is only to the advantage of those who practice it. Previously, the rituals and arcane weaving that formed a spell were required to transmute the mana and any other material inputs used into the desired effect. Since the upheaval, to a degree, the rituals and motions themselves seem to give rise to effects, with or without material inputs. How this functions has been a matter of some significant academic and experimental investigation, and the current prevailing theory is that using the appropriate incantations and gestures creates an upwelling of proto-mana within the mage, which is immediately utilised to produce the desired effect. This theory is corroborated by the process being rather painful for the mage, as raw energy wells up within them, and actively dangerous if used too rapidly. This change has given mages scope to utilise their powers to a much greater extent than they did pre-upheaval, and a new breed of magician-adventurer has begun to be evinced among the ranks of the college, replacing the classic image of the cloistered scholar, their skills in high demand among those who wish to strike out into the Flux. | ||
| - | The College and, especially, its mages look upon the Wayfinder’s guild with some significant degree of jealousy, feeling that they have missed a chance to bring a new scholarly art under their auspices and, worst of all, that the Wayfinder’s offer a service that they simply cannot compete with - after all, what use in raising up a mountain before your site if it vanishes as soon as you leave it alone. Magic has proven singularly useless in addressing the flux in a lasting manner, leaving a permanent mark only on Consensus areas, and only affecting Flux regions for as long as they are fixed. Navigational magic is, to all intents and purposes, dead as an art, as it simply doesn’t function when trying to cross Flux regions, which is required for any journey that strays even slightly from the beaten path. To add insult to injury, the guild has heavily resisted the college’s attempts to study Wayfinder’s and their abilities, preferring to accumulate their own internal stock of knowledge, which irks the College no end. However, the presence of the Guild is simply too important to the city for any censure to be passed against it by the council, and thus the college must seethe, but do nothing. | + | The College of the Stars and, especially, its mages look upon the Wayfinder's guild with some significant degree of jealousy, feeling that they have missed a chance to bring a new scholarly art under their auspices and, worst of all, that the Wayfinder’s offer a service that they simply cannot compete with - after all, what use in raising up a mountain before your site if it vanishes as soon as you leave it alone. Magic has proven singularly useless in addressing the flux in a lasting manner, leaving a permanent mark only on Consensus areas, and only affecting Flux regions for as long as they are fixed. Navigational magic is, to all intents and purposes, dead as an art, as it simply doesn’t function when trying to cross Flux regions, which is required for any journey that strays even slightly from the beaten path. To add insult to injury, the guild has heavily resisted either of the colleges' attempts to study Wayfinders and their abilities, preferring to accumulate their own internal stock of knowledge, which irks the Colleges no end. However, the presence of the Guild is simply too important to the city for any censure to be passed against it by the council, and thus the colleges must seethe, but do nothing. |
| - | It is not, of course, just the magical arm of the College that has found great demand thrust upon it. People are looking to the bright minds of the College to help overcome the new challenges the city faces, everything from adapting centuries of agricultural practice to make intense use of the meagre tracts of Consensus land available for use to navigating a continental political situation cast into chaos by the Upheaval. Scholars and experts of all varieties find their skills marketable like never before. | + | It is not, of course, just the magical arm of the Colleges that has found great demand thrust upon them. People are looking to the bright minds of the Colleges to help overcome the new challenges the city faces, everything from adapting centuries of agricultural practice to make intense use of the meagre tracts of Consensus land available for use to navigating a continental political situation cast into chaos by the Upheaval. Scholars and experts of all varieties find their skills marketable like never before. |
magic.txt · Last modified: 2016/02/11 10:32 by dan
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