- ""The essence of sorcery is blasphemy. Through will and power,
every mage usurps dominion over the laws of Creation from the gods Above and Below.”" - ―Extract from “The Most Noble Art of Magic”, by Dread Emperor Sorcerous[1]
Overview[]
Magic in PGTE has many different forms, and interacts in many different, at times contradictory, ways. There are multiple forms of spellcasting which have developed in different parts of Calernia. Magic can be divided in many separate styles, with all having different specialties, but generally sharing low level spells such as scrying. Magic is separate from being able to wield Light. Magic is seperate from having a Name, but mages can gain Names that amplify their abilities to wield magic in different ways.
Mages are born with magic ("the Gift"), and have to learn how to use it, compared to priests who are given the ability to wield Light by Angels and the Gods Above. The ability to use magic is hereditary; the Gift is quite common in Praes, due to centuries of breeding programs, and very rare among the Lycaonese due to the Dead King's habit of sending "hexenghouls" to assassinate mages there. Most people born with the Gift either never realize they have it or die young from uncontrolled or untrained sorcery. Many mages lack the talent to do more than tricks without extensive tutoring.[2] High Arcana, the highest level of magic, requires a sort of Gift within the Gift, which less than 10% of mages have, and many of those lack the education.
Different theories of magic rely on fundamentally different laws. Effects or features that are easy to achieve under some theories of magic are flatly impossible under others, or require radically different approaches. Masego notes that trying to master multiple different theories of magic is likely to drive the mage mad.[3] The only known characters that can do so are Roland, whose Name allows him to Use any magic he comes into contact with, and the revenant Tumult, which was effectively several different mages soul-stitched together.
Types[]
Trismegistan[]
Trismegistan sorcery is based on the teachings of the Dead King.[4] It is noted to be very flexible, but also very exacting, with multiple years of study required to become competent. Is mainly used in Praes and the Kingdom of the Dead. Notable users include Wekesa, Masego, Roland, and Neshamah.
Trismegistan Sorcery requires much greater precision than other sorceries; because of this, the results are usually superior, but have a margin of error a tenth the size of other sorceries. Trismegistan Sorcery puts greater emphasis on precise manipulation of magical energies than the use of mediums like incantations and runes, though they are still used as crutches to visualize and measure.[5]
Ligurian[]
Ligurian sorcery is based on the abilities of the Giants. It involves attuning the user to Creation and creating a second soul over the course of hundreds of years, and very gradually accumulating power from sunlight.[6] Its main focus is creating large-scale, extremely durable and precise lasting effects. Users are called spellsingers, and "sing" to Creation to cause magical effects. It is only used by the Gigantes and certain Named they have personally taught, as becoming a true spellsinger takes far longer than a human lifetime. Notable users include Antigone and Roland.
Pelagian[]
Pelagian sorcery is a knock-off of Ligurian sorcery, focusing more on enchantment.[7] Precise mechanics are unknown, other than a belief in term resonance (Objects can be stabilized by giving them a name true to their nature). Roland also observes that Pelagian artifacts are long-lasting but have few protections for the user, as they were designed for the much tougher Gigantes.[8] Used mostly in Procer and Levant. Notable users include Roland and Pelagia.
Pelagia herself was famous in her time for her splendid enchantments.[7]
Jaquinite[]
Jaquinite sorcery is a sorcery designed to mimic miracles.[9] It involves heavy prayer and the help of priests to function. It is the most widely used type of sorcery in Procer. Notable users include Tancred and Roland. Masego looks down on this style for its reliance on prayer.
Sabrathan[]
Sabrathan sorcery is focused on healing and manipulating water. Precise mechanics are unknown. It is noted by Wekesa to be highly stagnant, created as a sailor's tool and nothing more. It is mainly used in Ashur. Notable users include Roland.
Mavii Runes[]
Mavii Runes are an extinct type of sorcery focused on contacting Fae. It involves finding or creating weakpoints in Creation to summon Fae. It was used mainly by ancient Alamans. Notable users include Hunted Magician and Roland.
Petronian[]
Petronian sorcery was the precursor to Trismegistan sorcery. It had a large focus on human sacrifices and was noted to be able to work on very large scales, and was geared toward brute-force solutions. It was used mainly by ancient Miezans and ancient Praes. Notable users include Roland.
Common Thaumaturgic Theory[]
Also known as The Masegan theory of magic, This type of magic was created by Masego following the creation of Cardinal. Masegan sorcery involves a basic building block of all magic called a "thaum". Quantifying the thaum allows for all existing branches of sorcery, and allows for enchantments and artifacts to be made much more easily, comparable to smithing and weaving.[10]
Mages[]
There are a number of terms for mages on Calernia. Among them are:
References[]
- ↑ Chapter 5: Recognition
- ↑ Book 4 - Interlude: Giuoco Pianissimio II
- ↑ Book 6 - Interlude: Woeful
- ↑ Book 6 - Chapter 7: Approach “Our innovations spring from Jaquinite and Trismegistan sorcery,” Adjutant gravelled. “One was forged in the Dead King’s shadow and he is the founding practitioner of the other. We might as well try to drown a shark.”
- ↑ Book 4 - Interlude: Heretics
- ↑ Book 4 - Interlude: Sing We Of Rage She did not control it, not the way a spellsinger would have. The Witch had not spent centuries permeating her body with the light of moons and stars, woven a second soul out of sunlight or aligned herself with the celestial spheres. She could not sing hymns to the world and make it dance to her will.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Book 6 - Interlude: Terms The Pelagian theory of magic was a child’s mimicry of what the Gigantes could to with Ligurian methods, liberally seasoned with ignorant mysticism and rites more religious than magical. Pelagia herself had been famous in her time for her splendid enchantments, and some of that talent still remained in those who claimed to be the inheritors of her ways, but the few shards of truth to be found there buried in a sea of drivel.
- ↑ Book 6 - Interlude: Rogue: "Ligurian sorcery, and its Pelagian offspring, as a rule did not usually bother with the protective measures for the caster common to any other family of the Talent."
- ↑ Book 5 - Chapter 28: Acts “Jaquinite sorcery would be uniquely suited to the thwarting of the miraculous, being inspired of miracles itself.”
- ↑ Book 7 - Epilogue II “Though it may seem abstract that the existence of a universally common most basic denominator has been proven, there are practical applications,” he explained. “It might be best to think of it as the basic building block of all magic having been discovered.”
...
“To accomplish this, it was necessary to be able to measure such a thing,” Lecturer Hiram continued. “We have created artefacts capable of this, and in doing so created the necessity for a new unit of measurement that shall be named the ‘thaum’.”
...
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Lecturer Hiram said, “we have made magic quantifiable for all existing branches of sorcery. Enchantment and artefact crafting will now be no more difficult than smithing or weaving. A new age of sorcery has come upon us.” - ↑ Book 4 - Interlude: Stairway Though in Lycaonese lands spellcasters were prized, for their sorcery was a mighty thing wielded from walls against the ratling hordes, the southerners had a more complicated relationship with spellslingers.
- ↑ Book 4 - Chapter 45: Ambush I dismissed them anyway. The warlocks would be the real threat here, not swordsmen no matter their skill. And there were mages among the delegates, I could tell as much at a glance.
- ↑ Book 5 - Chapter 58: Prolong “Use them,” Black said. “Our madmen, our warlocks and sorcerers. Give them laws, give them coin and great undertakings to embrace. Else they find all these on their own.”
- ↑ Extra Chapters - Raid Only a hundred of them, though his scouts said they were heavy on the mages. That was fine. The Tribes had not gone through seven goblin rebellions without learning how to deal with those, even before the War College had shoved anti-caster doctrine down his trousers.
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