Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- magic_power [2022/05/04 01:07] – created nmorse
+++ magic_power [2026/07/12 00:03] (current) – [Other Major Schools] admin
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-=== Magic And Power ===
+====Magic And Power====
 At its most fundamental level, there is no Science to the study of magic.  Magic is an Art: this is how the gods set things up before the Slumber, and in a few generations, the repercussions will become cataclysmicly clear.
 Magic __schools__ do not exist in the categorical "earth, air, fire, water, metal, void" sense, but more as philosophies.  Simply put, the better defined the rules of Power are in your mind, the better you can use your power, up to the limits of your body and spirit to handle the forces involved.
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 There are an arbitrarily large number of schools that teach the direct application of magic as **magic**.  The whole wave your hands around, chant in obscure languages, burn rare plants and draw on the floor if you need additional focus types of folks.  Each of them teaches a specific __way__ of thinking about magic, though not all of them are mutually exclusive.  Prince Imrahil of the Storm Elves is the greatest master of his family's techniques in several generations, but he understands enough Fire magic to light his hearth on a chilly midwinter's morning.  Conversely, the Taoist magics of the Uruk Mandarinate completely escape him.
-So magic use breaks down into four broad categories:
+So magic use breaks down into several broad categories:
-  *Mages: nearly all NPC spell casters, and ALL PC users of the arts.  They have a set mental image of how things work, and build within that structure.
+  *Mages: nearly all NPC and PC spell casters.  They have a set mental image of how things work, and build within that structure.
   *Shamans: also druids, spiritualists, and witches.  Use their powers to convince natural and elemental spirits to do the heavy lifting in magical activities.  Mechanically not too different from mages, tend to have cooler summons.
+  *Priests: (aka clerics) The gods like you, and one god in particular moreso.  Through training, ritual, or direct blessing, you can call upon their Gifts, and produce miracles.
   *Sorcerers: Specifically, the Sorcerer's League.  A new faction in the world, they work to expand their imagination and broaden the range of what they can conceive, and thus expand their power beyond that of more traditional rivals.  The League has begun sending out clairvoyant agents into the world to try to catch those spontaneous magic users before they blow themselves up.
   *Wizards: aka the Wizards Octagram Council.  Like the League, an new faction in the world's drama.  Wizards believe that the more they understand how the world functions, they better they will understand how to manipulate it.  Ongoing research includes hiring high-end mages to demonstrate their best spells, not to understand how they do it, but to understand what is happening once the spell is working.
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 === Skill Mastery ===
 Sometimes called Clear Magic by frustrated mages.  Everyone from Old Bob to Gondor the Magnificent to Jenny the Minstrel and even Ulrich the Werewolf.  They are very good at what they do, well past the rational boundaries of mortal skill.  The options are limitless, much to the regret of the less dedicated people around you.
+====Elements====
+As far as the arcanologists can tell, the Gods set up the world with ten fundamental elements that everything is constructed from and uses to keep running smoothly.  These are commonly described as Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Metal Wood, Ice, Lightning, Light, and Shadow.  Very few magical or philosophical schools address all of them directly, and given the way magic works in Lunistria, that doesn't seem to cause many issues.
+  *Asteria: Classic western [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Leibniz_four_elements.jpg|four-element system]], with most other effects being considered hybrids, or positive or negative energy influenced.
+  *Dwarves: Much like Asteria, plus Metal.
+  *Elves: Most houses focus on one element, and give lip service to the others.  They're probably also responsible for getting Mind and Necromancy added to the spectrum.
+  *Empire of the Fang: Earth, Air, Water, Wood, and Blood.  Fire and Metal are considered part of Earth, Lightning part of Air, and Ice ignored outright.
+  *Plains Tribes: [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/4/4a/Chart_elements.jpg|Earth Air, Fire Water Thunder, Ice]].  They tend to have a higher percentage of shamanic types, and simply deal with whatever type of elements the spirits happen to drag in with them.
+  *Mandarinate & Yamato: Classic eastern [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/FiveElementsCycleBalanceImbalance_02_plain.svg|five element system]], sometimes with Void overlapping Darkness.  Ch'i has a peculiar (frequently adversarial) relationship with the Elven Body school.
+====Other Major Schools====
+  *Arcanos: Magic about magic itself.  Any school with enchanting techniques has roots in Arcanos, but no one besides the Elven High Court and the long lost Stellar Elves studies it as an independent curriculum.
+  *[[Asterian Imperial Infantry]]: A codified set of magics used to support the Imperial army at the platoon level.  Easy to master, but nigh impossible to improve past that point, leading to the study of additional schools.
+  *Beastmaster: A variant on Mind magic, that only affects non-sentient beings.  Beastmasters tend to dispense with the whole song and dance aspect of magery, and also get some of the //coolest// pets.
+  *Body: The primary school of House Metamorphos.  The four common sub-schools are Internalist (Body augmentation magics), Transformative (Turning living things into other living things), Blue (duplicating monster powers), and Metamorphic (turning oneself into something else).
+  *Burning Ice: Asterian school popular with the nobility, though few move past lighting candles and chilling drinks.  There is a balance between heat and cold in the world, and a skilled magus can leverage that to great effect.
+  *Farseer: The Perception and Spatial magics of House Gnosis.  Perceiving and acting upon things at a distance.
+  *Forgebrothers: Semi-ascetic school that specializes in the Fire and Metal elements.  Students who take up adventuring tend to party it up, but this is all part of the plan: a great master cannot truly focus until he has experienced life's distractions.
+  *Gravitas: A rare verbal-only school with origins in some bardic tradition.  Excels in public speaking, buffing, and de-buffing, and then the adept wads your pet monster into a small dense ball.
+  *Hermionian: A widespread, intellectual mage school.  Hermionians are magical generalists, and tend to focus on the more complicated, less purely Elemental sides of the art.  They are also considered a bit lazy by the more physically active adventurers.
+  *Masters of the Shadow Arts: An Asterian school that delves into the //substance// of Shadow magic.
+  *Riverkin: A suitable mage school for younger progeny of the nobility bound for the military or trade.  Water, Wind, aquatic beasts and spirits, and an impressive command of Imperial history.
+  *Scattered Skies: Another Asterian region school, shares many weather magics with Storm Dragon.  Considered the "junk collectors" of the occult world: mages of this school have a compulsion to collect "utility" magics from other traditions as they encounter them.
+  *Scintilating Self: another "appropriate" mage school for nobles whose job path is "noble".  Similar to Sun and Shadow, but largely focused on self-presentation.  Also good for festivals, theaters, and concerts.
+  *Storm Dragon: Troels' school.  Weather manipulation and channeling draconic might.
+  *Sun & Shadow: House Glamourous' school, combining Light, Darkness, and Illusion.  Mostly Illusion.  Can create true sunlight.