Elven Schools of Magic and Thought

Elves were the first to use magic, and the ones that have made the most astonishing scientific discoveries. They were also the first to develop philosophy and oratory.

This rich legacy has made the elves a very proud race. Elves always say, that their achievements were produced by exchanging knowledge between them rather than competing.
Over the course of the centuries and due to their great ability to use magic and being as wise as they are, the question of magic, its ethics, its use, its relation with the gods etc... create different schools of magic and philosophy many centuries before the humans did so.
Also, this views of magic and philosophy are based on elven religion and its religious texts; like the Book of Creation, the Book of deeds (also called Nuthmunaion or Book of the Thousand Rules in the Elvish-Oronai world), the Book of the Kings or the Revelations of Ahira.
In view of the above, we can classify the different sects or school according to their chronology and place of origin:

The oldest one is the Parithyn (translated as "The Pure ones"). Their philosophy and practice of magic is based on a strict observance of the doctrines and principles contained in these four books. They memorize and study the spells contained in these books and they consider them to be the only source of magic available, while the rest of the spells are just variations or combinations of these "primordial spells. Also, they are very jealous of sharing this knowledge with humans, and they refuse to learn any new spell created or discovered by humans. This school appeared 5000 years ago in the Kingdom of the Green Elves and the kingdom of the Snow elves before the arrival of the first humans.

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Another very ancient school is the Anari or Enaryn school (lit: The enlighten ones): Also created in the Kingdom of the Green Elves, at that time the greatest and most renown elven realm, 300 years after the Parithyn by a sage called Errelyn the Wise. They share the Parithyn belief about not sharing magical knowledge with humans, but instead of considering the primordial spells as the only source of magical knowledge, they like to investigate, to experiment in order to create new and more powerful spells.

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These two sects, powerful and influential in the past are now a tiny minority in the Elven academic and magical circles. After the 2500 AP new schools of magic began to appear in the elven world that would become the most influential in our present world.

The Baainites: School founded by a Sun elf sage called Arranyn Ba'ain around 1367 BP. He founded the School of Magic in Ymhilean. This school is different from the previous ones by the fact that they also focused much of its attention to ethics and morality while using magic. It’s a more "humanistic" approach to magic and the position of the elves in the world. They believe that no matter if you are a "Light" Elf if your actions in your daily life are not good you will become a dark elf, and because of that they believe than only elves with good ethics and morality should be responsible of using the most powerful magic, while the common elf could only use basic spells. So, their main focus was to teach good ethics and morals at the temples, schools and magical academies. Their view of mankind was more positive than the previous schools although they believe that the elves must share its knowledge with humans, the most powerful spells can be taught and used only by Elves.

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The Hemaysyn: School developed from the Baainites. It was founded in 625 BP by a former Baainite sage called Hemays Duskdew. They share the same thoughts on ethics and morality of the Baainites. But due to the political tensions between the Kingdom of Unhelion and the human kingdoms to the North this school grew increasingly hostile to humans and because of that they believed no collaboration or exchange of ideas, scientific or magic should happen between humans and elves. This school was highly influential in the court of the Sun elf kings until the disastrous defeat against the seris of Asurlan I in the 3rd century AP. It was banned by the new pro-seris dynasty and nowadays, despite the ban being lifted they are a tiny minority among the elven schools of magic.

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The Kuchyin: Also known as the Elven-Seris school or "Seris School" among the elves. It’s a mixture of Seris human philosophy and some doctrines of the Baainites. It was founded during the 200s AP by seris elf called Halriliel Lorastaru, an official in the seris government. Its centre was the city of Zikalard in Southern Seria. It’s the predominant school of magic in the seris Empire among the Elves. After the foundation of the sect of the Followers of Yemu many practices from this faith, like meditation for the search of magical powers was adopted by this school. Its view on humans was very positive.
The Kuchyin sect recognized the extraordinary adaptation and improvement capabilities of humans and their ways to explore new magical powers and sought to emulate them and only saw their corruption of magic as a consequence of their lack of experience in the ways of magic, something the elves should teach about. They don't only believe in the Four Classical books of Magic aforementioned but also added to their teachings their collection of books based on the millenary magical traditions of the Southern Elves; like the Book of Rites and the Books of the Celestial Guide.

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The Ammarites: Founded in 890 BP by a sage called Ammari Yndrayn. It is the predominant school in the Kingdom of the Green Elves and specially in the South-Eastern provinces that seceded from it and that later were conquered by the Oronai centuries later. They share the same beliefs about magic with the Kuchyn, thanks to the intense exchange of ideas between both regions after the 4th century AP. Its main focus is on nature. By the contact with nature, the force that the elves protect, and the magic that flows in the forests, the rivers, the mountains, they (the elves) will be able to understand the truth about magic and the true magical ways. Because its nature the ultimate source of magical power. Because of that, and similar to the Kuchyin the Ammarites like to spend time in the forest, jungles, rivers, mountains meditating and being in contact with nature in order to acquire their magical powers.

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