Magical Practice
Building an understanding of
planar theory is a process both complicated and lengthy. Were it the only way to practice the art of the arcane, it would be a significant barrier to entry, leaving magic to the most academic of casters. Of course, this is not the case. While magic in Eashavar is certainly difficult to master and potentially dangerous to study, it is also ever-present. The world
bleeds magic, and magic bleeds into it, impacting all of its life and nature.
So, yes - magic can take great study and understanding to wield. Such is, after all, the path of the Wizard. Alternatively, it may take great faith and strict self-regulation, as is the case for those who earn it through dedicated worship to one or more deities - the path of the Cleric. Magic can also be channeled and weaved through everyday objects (the world bleeds magic, after all!), or through poetic words or masterful dancing, or even in the art of precise runes imbued with power by otherworldly forces, as is the case of the infusive magical traditions.
But there are also those simple folk who, through no fault or training of their own, have been touched by arcana. These are the
witch-marked. Such people are typically distrusted and treated with caution by the general population, for untrained practice of the arcane is more often than not volatile. Those who are witch-marked tend to have little control of their magic when it first surfaces, but they may develop it over time; dangerous, erratic time, throughout which they may lash out magically at any point and bring the terrors of the arcane upon their neighbors. While in the vast majority of cases one who is witch-marked displays only minor magical capabilities and is not a true danger, fears tends to persist. That persistence sometimes turn towards persecution. With a good environment, luck, and discipline, though, a witch-marked person may master their craft as well as any Wizard.
Some of those who are witch-marked are so through their own doing, rather than through birth. Such a mark is typically known as a
demon-mark, for it most commonly occurs through bargains with greater powers. While commoners certainly can't tell the difference between those who are witch-marked and those who are demon-marked, they will often make wild claims about the matter to exaggerate their distrust and discomfort, regardless of the truth.
Magic and Legality
In most lands, magic is legal, regardless of what source it stems from. Many of these lands prefer registry and licensure for more advanced practice, though this is rarely acted on when avoided. Legality and public opinion, however, are disjoint. Regardless of the law, casters are often the targets of public vitriol when things in a community start to go south. Witches are openly burned, wizards are egged, and when things go
really bad, even an alchemist or two might be hanged to ease a village's troubled minds.
There are, however, limits even to legality. Two extremes - the energies of
Faenor and
Shanor in their maximal forms - are largely banned. These extremes are respectively known as the
Wild Ways and the
Fallen Ways, and they contain such abilities as lycanthropy and necromancy at their far ends. Closer to moderation, minor magic such as the ability to commune with trees is still considered a subset of the
Wild Ways, while casting darkness in a spot may be a subset of the
Fallen Ways. Both would still find questionable legality in most nations, though in most well-to-do cities you'll find an arrest difficult to instigate. Guards are often quick to write off subtle magic as non-magic, lest they be confused with dull commoners.
Similarly, psychic (or psionic) magic is banned from public practice. Anything which would affect the mind of its target in any way - be it positive or negative - is considered an unnatural affront to their autonomy, and thus barred. Contrary to the laissez-faire attitude towards subtle magic by most guards and legal authorities, almost everybody takes accusations of any degree of psychic magic to be quite serious. Their minds could be next! Nonetheless, kings and governors regularly make use of psionic magic for their own purposes, though practitioners of it are closely monitored so as not to turn their powers against the ruler himself. Moreover, those who practice psionic magic in more minor forms - to enhance their charms or push existing compulsions - rarely find a judicial response. Few people's minds believe they've been touched by arcana when its form is minor and the caster is already charismatic.
Finally, there is magic which comes from the energies of the Great Beyond. Such magic is difficult to police, for it can cause virtually any effect, though is across-the-board volatile. In fact, magic of this kind is sometimes hard to even
imagine, so incomprehensible are its machinations and effects. Its practice is so reviled (and it is so hard to define) that few nations even have laws explicitly outlawing it - its outlawed status goes without saying. Practice of such magic is highly associated with the occult.
Traditions
Before delving into the various traditions from which magical capabilities stem, it should be noted that no class is necessarily bound to any particular tradition. While wizards may map naturally to the wizardry tradition, and witches may map directly to the demon-marked one, you do not have to follow the natural order of things; you can even mix traditions together! A wizard might have pursued wizardry, for example, because they were witch-marked and desired greater control.
Traditions merely represent the fundamental ways through which magic is typically channeled in Eashavar, and are purely aesthetic rather than mechanical, though they may have impacts on things such as social status or casting requirements.
Rules Modifications
A spell's omponents should be ignored and replaed by components appropriate to the magical tradition. For example, if you practice the infusive tradition of lyristry, all of your spells will (generally) require only verbal components. Those same spells may require somatic components if you practice something such as dervishry, in which case the somatic components would be your physical movements. Conversely, if you practice hand-signed runewrit (as Druids tend to), your components would still be somatic, but would be hand signs instead.
Those who are witch-marked, perhaps a bit confusingly, should be treated as having a focus - the mark itself.
Traditions
Academic
Wizardry
Wizards are the book-read masters of planes and arcana. They understand the inner machinations of the
planar cosmology, and through them, they understand how to manipulate and articulate their force to conjure magic. Wizards often spend decades in training - truly, training never ends, as acceptance into the typical university guarantees a life-long position within it. This life-long position begins with a decade-long apprenticeship, followed by official licensure. This official licensure permits the practice of magic anywhere in the world which recognizes the license; while most nations will not arrest somebody practicing magic without such a qualification in the modern day (unless it is used to support another crime), such a license guarantees one's legal practice even when they travel abroad. From then on, one is bound to serve their school and society in practical affairs, in exchange for the privileges of their own research and casting abilities.
In the public sphere, wizards are regarded with awe and respect. Ill-hearted wizards are rare, and often booted from their apprenticeships well before any serious training can occur; certainly, they won't get far in the world of the academy. Those who slip through the cracks and earn their license are swiftly brought to justice should they turn, for there is no shortage of
Witch-Hunters and
Chanters to take up their bounty.
Clericalism
Clerics are the followers of one or more deities, typically the
Ones Above or the
Ones Around. They attain their magical capabilities through deep study of holy texts, lessons, and communion with their chosen greater powers. Rarely do clerics personally interact with those powers, but their discipline and devotion permit them a certain control over energies such as the volatile arcane, which they use in strict service of their deity's goals. Clerics, like wizards, often train for decades, though it depends on their specific faith (faiths which require stricter discipline and harsher training tend to produce the necessary confidence faster). Still, a decade of faith, with the majority of it spent in formal training under a church, is the typical norm.
Clerics are
not demon-marked. They do not bargain with deities for their powers, nor do they gain their powers directly from their deities. The deities, however, existing upon the other planes, are inherently linked to the world of
magical theory, and anybody who studies them in good depth will inevitably run into the subject, and, thus, into the capabilities of a caster. It should be emphasized again that these deities are not the source of a Cleric's power directly. If their faith should sway, they would indeed lose access to much of their powers - but this is the not because the powers come
from the source of their faith. Rather, it is because of the self-doubt and confusion that such swaying induces. Because of this, Clerics who encounter a crisis of faith and turn towards other deities need not repeat a lengthy training; they only need to regain the staunchness of their belief in the new deity they worship.
The reputation of a Cleric depends heavily on the deity they serve and the population they find themselves in. Many of the
Ones Above are feared, after all, and not all peoples respect certain characters among the pantheon. Even when such respect is found and one serves the holiest of Clerics, common folk are often wary for fear that they may be judged by the (literally) holier-than-thou presence before them. When times get tough, though, everybody panders to the Cleric to turn their fate. When times get rougher than rough? The tide may turn and that very same Cleric may find a lynch mob awaiting them.
Witch-Marked
"Witches" are, generally, natural practitioners of magic. Typically, the term is exclusively applied to those who proudly bear their magical capabilities. True witches are often associated with the Old Faith, as many tribes revere them, and this has only amplified the negative connotation of the broader term.
To be witch-marked means to be born with the inner powers of volatile arcana within you. In the vast majority of cases, this influence is subtle, and may manifest in minor magical tricks which neither the wielder nor any witnesses recognize as acts of magic. A coin pouch may go missing, a house-fire might spark from one's hand, or one might hallucinate and believe they've heard a voice. "Slips of the mind," most would call them. Slips of the mind and an occasional heap of bad luck are all that define the arcane component of most witches' lives, leaving them ignorant of their own reality. Of course, some witches burn brighter (sometimes, literally).
What is
the mark? It is a physical representation of one's arcane maturity. One who is witch-marked, and who has come to hold control over their innate abilities, will have obvious marks across their body. They may begin to appear as lacerations from failed spells, or sprinkles of scars caused by
the Warp, but they never fade or go away. When a witch casts, their marks will glow - a dead give-away. There are exceptions to this (such as those who are Name-Bound), but most witches are known by their mark, and thus they keep it as hidden as they can.
The mark is not merely physical, either. It bears a clear magical aura, which sheds the colors of the spells it has wrought. Any practiced caster can detect this presence, as can most others who have been witch-marked. Some commoners - especially those who have minor witch-marks - can feel this aura, too, while many more claim to feel it incorrectly. This claim has historically sometimes lead to lynch mobs and untimely deaths, especially in rural environments; the life of an accused witch, without social influence or control of their powers, is typically short in times of strife.
Demon-Marked
To be demon-marked is to be born free from the wills of the arcane, but to seek it out at one's own cost. Not all who are demon-marked have consorted with the
Ones Within, but many have, and to the common folk it matters little - the demon-marked must die.
Most of those who have been demon-marked bear symbols similar to those of the witch-mark, though they tend towards looking like black or dark-colored burns. Most demon-marks do not glow when magic is cast, though they may cause physical pain (typically burning) and often bleed - a dark, septic blood. Individuals with such a mark take great care to hide it, or to be powerful enough to back it up should push come to shove and crowd turn to mob. To some extent, the mark is a symbol of loss over one's own body; conversely, the being with whom one has struck a deal gains control over it, and may blacken one whole should they betray its will. Marks often grow as the one who possesses it earns their patron's disfavor, and their favor rarely makes this subside or go away once it has been done.
There are few who feel comfortable around the demon-marked, even among the Old Faith. The
Yelentsi are a notable exception. In most Pharosian tribes, those who are demon-marked are viewed as the staunch opponents of the witch-marked, and are tirelessly hunted to their deaths. Among the Fareni Dark Elves, demon-marks are a common rite of passage, a show of devotion to
The Dark Pariah, which has not brought the elves much love from abroad.
Bless-Marked
A rare few of those witch-marked are born with bless-marks. They are healers, bearers of light, and inexhaustible empaths. Their marks shine bright, and, typically, in white or yellow. These are those who have been marked, through one way or another, by the deities of
The Triad Song or by
Jenasa. Many are full-fledged
Brightlings, though not all are necessarily so.
Contrary to others who have been witch-marked, those with bless-marks are typically viewed with positivity by those around them. They are indispensable members of the community, and though their untamed magic is still viewed with some wariness, they are seen as respresentatives of good will.
Name-Bound
A rare few who have been demon-marked do not bear any physical signs of their burden. Instead, their powers are tied to their true name, which is to be known only by their patron. This name takes on an overwhelming power over the demon-marked, such that they are brought to kneel simply by its utterance, their casting abilities undone. Such people are known as the name-bound.
Few mortals become name-bound. Such a status is typically reserved for minor demonic entities and other powerful planar beings. According to rumor,
Bellus Vrakis is one such being, resorting to an innumerable degree of aliases to hide its true name. Should it be found, the creature would be destroyed, and his shroud over the world lifted! If only...
Despite their rarity, name-bound mortals do exist, and a prospective caster may be one.
Infusive
It should be reiterated - magic is everywhere. This does not restrict its influence to a simple habit of influencing people, at random. It can be found in objects, and those trained only indirectly in creating and manipulating those objects are, to some extent, casters - whether they know it or not. Such magic is typically called infusive, for it requires an indirect channel in order to be cast. In general, those who practice such magic have some minor degree of witch-mark within them, and also undergo extensive training in their respective professions before being able to wield it effectively. This training is by no means comparable to an academic's, though it is certainly far above a commoner's.
Alchemy
Alchemy is the art of crafting potions. In the modern world, it also concerns itself with firearm cartridges and propellants. In
The Protectorate-Commonwealth, rumors of bandit spell-slingers who shoot spells from their guns are common, though unproven. Regardless, if such claims were true, they would fall under the tradition of alchemy.
Alchemy, in most cases, is viewed as one of the "most respectable" ways of manipulating the arcane. Most common folk don't even consider it magic, but rather more like a form of chemistry; they do not understand it, but they have no need to fear it. Potions are stable, they are consistent, and they are helpful. That is all that matters to the average man. As far as the rogue spell-slinger, well... among the rabble a "bad alchemist" may as well be called a "witch."
Enchanting
Enchanting holds a dubious position in the world. It is the domain of
Mahth, who is viewed as less-than-respectable among the followers of
Thear which dominate most of pleasant society. On the other hand, it was enchanted weapons which drove the High Elves to slay the dragons, and it was enchanted weapons which bound
The Protectorate-Commonwealth in times of old.
A sort of double-think occurs in the minds of common folk when they hear of an enchanter. The idea fascinates them, and almost feels respectable in the same way as alchemy; at the same time, it is foul magic, sanctioned by an unkind deity, and a relic of the past's grand struggles. More than that, an enchanted blade is an unfair advantage to its wielder, gravely dishonorable. But does honor matter when one slays evil?
Such philosophical questions, however, are above their pay grade. They see a glowing blade, and they scream of witchery, until it is used to aid them. Then, they
whisper of witchery beyond the bearer's back. Witchery and heresy! This one - this helpful one - they shall not burn, but they shall celebrate when he passes from their lands and leaves them to their simple lives without his magic.
Lyristry
Lyristry is the act of channeling magic through art. Ask a lyrist, however, and they'll explain it in greater depth:
lyristry is seduction, it is charm, it is the enticement of arcana to one's own whim! In moments of great passion, the
Planes of Consciousness stir, and magic waits just beyond, ready to influence the minds of the audience. Most lyrists simply pass themselves off as bards, though others (such as
The Choristers) take an overtly religious stance in regard to their music, and more comfortably represent their appropriate faiths as priests and missionaries.
Due to its nature, lyristry often touches on magic which affects one's mind. In legal terms, this magic is known as
psychic or
psionic, and is illegal in most parts of the world. Of course, most commoners don't know whether they've been influenced by magic or not, and so it takes a special kind of fool to out themself.
Lyrists are often beloved pillars of the community, the most effective of bards, so long as they can hide their abilities. Should a lyrist be revealed as a user of magic, it would ruin their reputation and instantly cause the rabble to believe their minds have been touched. Tales of lyristry are simultaneously spoken of in fairy-tale and horror-story, though one's reaction to learning of a lyrist in their presence is hardly ever the former.
Runewrit
Magic which is contained within, and driven by, runes and symbols is known as
runewrit (or, sometimes,
the runewrit). Various terms exist for those who manipulate magic in this way, though the Druids of Everaldimor and the Rune Scribes of the Dwarves are perhaps the most famous. Runewrit is simultaneously a slower form of casting, but also a safer and more powerful one - in the case of the Dwarves, again, it was primarily used to blow holes in mountains.
Runewrit may be literally, physically written in a runic script, or the runic script may be precisely signed into the air in a deliberate and specific manner. The latter style is particularly practiced by Druids, while the former is somewhat rare (beyond the Dwarves) and often associated with necromancy and the
Fallen Ways within the general populace. Because of this association, even Druids have sometimes earned the ire of
The Witch-Hunters.
Indeed, runewrit often has connotations with the occult, the Fallen Ways, and the Wild Ways. It is the essence of many rituals of extreme magic, largely because runes can be copied and rewritten by only amateur users who merely have a steady hand. As such, those who craft runes are typically quick to be accused of witchery, even though they aren't usually inherently magical or even particularly gifted over the arcane.
Dervishry
Dervishry is the art of manipulating magic through one's bodily motions, especially in the midst of combat. It can involve literal dance, or merely the dextrous flowing battle maneuvers of a swashbuckling duelist. Rarely practice outside of Arberia, dervishry is nonetheless often viewed as a beautiful and mystical art around the world, and it is also often associated with clerical orders which earn it a certain reverence despite peoples' suspicions about the arcane.
When dervishry involves more dance-like forms, its combat styles are typically based around scythes, quartstaves, and other twirlable weaponry. Some Old Faith tribes' barbarians employ dervishry with hulking battleaxes that they swing around like mad; such dervishry is often viewed less as beautiful and more as terrifying, especially as one is staring down an opponent practicing it.
