Magical Theory

May years ago, and I do mean MANY years ago, back when the Bulletin Boards were king I was active on a few of them.  One of these ran with a fantasy theme and had very active group of users who wrote stories and poems.  The Admin encouraged us to write a variety of things and created a place for us to post our stuff where other users could read and comment, giving us feedback.  The most popular thing I ever posted was a dissertation on magical theory "written" by the Archmage Karlin Marrick.

Jump forward to a couple of weeks ago when we were shifting rooms around at home and I found box of old papers and what-not.  Going through them I found a number of pages from a notepad back when I worked for Australian Airlines (before they were taken over by QANTAS).  Looking over it I found that it was what looked like a re-write of the original I'd done, expanding on some aspects and changing others.
Over a couple of hours I typed it up, cleaning up some of the grammar and trying to make sense of my own handwriting and where my brain was some 20+ years ago.  There were even some notes I'd tacked on at the end on how this could be implemented as a magic system in a game which seems quite prophetic given my course of study this year.

So, please enjoy this dissertation on magic theory (without the gaming notes).

Magical Theory

By

Karlin Marrick

Magic, as we know it, is a force or energy that surrounds all living things. Some areas of the world, such as sacred sites, holy ground, etc, have large amounts of this energy, more than is normal. The term used to describe a single unit of this energy is a “thaum”.

When “casting a spell” you must invest a certain amount of energy within the known framework to obtain the desired result. The energy to be invested will depend upon three factors.

1. The sphere that the spell resides in (there are 4 spheres which I will cover later).
2. The type of spell being cast.
3. How long the spell is to be sustained.

To put it simply, the more energy you invest into the framework, the more powerful the spell will be.
Through much trial and error, it has been found that the human mind can handle a small amount of energy (up to 30 thaums) in a virtually continuous stream. Constructs that require 30 to 70 thaums are the quite powerful spells we use, they are dangerous but if handled carefully they can be used quite frequently and with wonderful results. Those constructs that require 70 to 100 thaums or more are generally reserved for the master magicians, the extremely lucky or the suicidal (adding together the latter 2 you generally get the first anyway).


The 4 Spheres
When a mage casts a spell, it must be from within one of the 4 spheres: Earth, Air, Fire or Water. Mages of great power may be able to cast spells that have links to 2 or 3 of the spheres. It is possible to cast a spell with links to all 4 of the spheres but this is extremely dangerous.

Earth: This sphere deals primarily with the land, agriculture, herbalism, geology and the like. It also has a healing aspect.
Air: Spells dealing with illusions and misdirection, winds, gasses and flying are the mainstay of this sphere.
Fire: Destruction is this spheres influence, in all its forms but fire is the most obvious. It also deals with other forms of energy (electricity for instance) and heat.
Water: The water sphere is primarily a healing sphere, containing frameworks that deal with water and its control.


Learning the Art
Initially, to learn anything of the magical arts one must be formally taught. Generally this occurs in a town where a mage resides. The mage will tell the town elders that he is seeking an apprentice and once all the children from the town and nearby have been assembled the mage will then make his selection. This selection is usually based upon who the mage determines to be magically orientated (but it can also be based on which child the mage believes he can actually stand for any period of time). Once the selection is made and the new apprentice is entrusted to the mage for “a period so long as the teacher has instruction”. The apprenticeship is deemed to be over when the mage believes they have nothing left to teach the student, that the student has nothing left to learn from them, the student leaves of their own volition, or the mage kicks them out (mages tend to have notoriously short tempers when it comes to children). Once the student has stopped being taught formally then they may continue their education by themselves.

Another way to learn about the control of magical forces is to petition the University of Magical Science and Theory. If accepted, students can expect to spend almost the rest of their lives in the dank, dark corridors of knowledge learning the ins and outs of all the spheres (except for field classes of course).


The casting of spells
Throughout history the greatest of magicians have kept all their spells in a single large tome and if this was lost or stolen, so were they. This is one of the universes greatest lies. As we know, the mage keeps the spells in his or her head, or the framework at least. If a mage knows the framework of a spell then all they need to do to cast it is to fill it with energy. All the “mumbo-jumbo” that’s associated with spell casting is merely showmanship to impress the locals.

When casting a spell the mage merely chooses the appropriate framework then either energises it from his own personal cache or spends a small period of time amassing the necessary power required. Then the mage focuses this power through the framework to get the desired result. For example, Jorian of Kortoli wishes to light a candle. Being a new apprentice he hasn’t yet learned about his power cache so he must visualise the framework of the spell, concentrating a small amount of energy onto the candles wick. Then he must amass enough energy and focus it through the framework. If sufficient energy is focused then the candle will light, too little and the candle won’t light and too much and the candle will melt. No matter what the spell is, this format must be followed.


Energy Caching
This is one of the last concepts an apprentice learns. It is how to cache and use your own personal energy. If a mage so desires he may energize a spell from his own cache instead of amassing energy from his surroundings. This method is generally used when the mage doesn’t have the time to amass the energy required to cast a spell but it can also be used to sustain spells for a much longer time with less concentration.
When caching energy, the mage draws it in, in the same way as to energize a spell, but instead of focusing it through the framework it is instead “left hanging”, waiting to invest the framewok. It has been suggested that some mages have the ability to use this cached energy and restore it at the same time but this hasn’t yet been proven.




Idiosyncratic or Personal Magic
Every mage, at some time in point in their life will spend time in research and development of new spells. This is formally known as Idiosyncratic Magic but is usually referred to as Personal Magic. Some of these spells may be passed on to apprentices but generally not as the frameworks were designed for a specific purpose and person.


Which Sphere can I learn?
There is no restriction on what sphere an apprentice can learn frameworks from, but you must begin with only one, which one is usually determined by the mage who holds your apprenticeship and would normally be the sphere you are most connected to. Where you grew up can have a definite impact on your connection to specific spheres. Mountainous regions link with most closely with Air, Lowland areas link with Earth, areas on lakes, rivers and oceans link with Water and desert and arid regions link with Fire. Your vocation will also lead you to certain spheres, for instance a Blacksmith would use both Fire and Earth spells.

The mechanics of it all

Every spell has a minimum amount of energy that must be passed through the framework in order to create it. If the spell is to be sustained it must be concentrated upon and the subject of the spell bent to the casters will. Some things are easy to control, others are much more difficult. Any object that was once living, a feather for example, will respond to the energy much faster and will require less energy than say a rock. This is somewhat dependant on the ability of the caster of the spell.

When an apprentice leaves their mentor they will usually have enough knowledge to cast 4 or 5 low level spells quite proficiently. This number depends upon whether the apprentice was asked to leave or left of their own accord. There is no known limits on the number of spells a person may know or the amount of energy they may invest in these spells, but by controlling more power you risk your own mind being torn apart if you don’t know how to control it properly. Safety limits are usually applied individually based on the skill of each apprentice.

Obviously the more often a spell is practiced the easier it will become to draw the necessary energy, control it and focus it. This means it will take less time to cast spells that are used frequently. As they say at the University – Practice makes perfect, if you survive.
A “spell book” isn’t really necessary as such, but most mages will keep a journal of new ideas, problems encountered and new and revised frameworks they are experimenting with. If they lose this it’s more of a nuisance than anything else.