Terra Advena - The Nature of Magic

From a précis of Gaod Hasti's Magick and the Forms Thereof, on loan from the College of the Mystic Flames. Published 1.7 Swelterfade, 954 IC. All that remains of Vol XIV of XVII, which covered the nature of each type of magic in detail not since duplicated, after the entire arcane studies wing was destroyed in an... incident in 1003 IC, the works are considered irreplaceable, as Hasti's gift for multiple disciplines has never since been rivalled. EDITOR'S NOTE: The spelling of "magic" with a "k" has long-since fallen into disuse, but was commonplace during the time of Hasti's writing, and has been kept intentionally.

Introduction

The common arcanist is well aware that the fields of magick are commonly accepted to be five-fold, generally classified as arcane, divine, primal, psychic, and shadow. Through rigorous testing and the untimely death of seventeen research assistants, I submit that there are, indeed, only two forms of magick to be found within this universe, which I will henceforth refer to as imperative and essential.

Despite current academic standards frowning on those which I classify as essential - as in, of the essence, not to be confused of being mandatory - magicks, our draconic progenitors were, in fact, masters of both imperative and essential magicks. Should we wish to ever compare ourselves to our forebearers, we must, as well, master both types of magicks. But I am getting ahead of myself - you, unlike myself and my apprentices, still believe there are five types of magick, not two. Allow me to explain, though understand that the following is but a short summary of my larger findings.

Imperative Magick

The preferred form of magick within our glorious nation, imperative magick requires force and a command - thus the name. What is commonly called arcane magick is, of course, the primary form of imperative magick. However, shadow magick, avoided by so many of my fellow iladeim, is also a form of imperative magick. Like children playing with an object they can only see the edges of, my peers and predecessors recognized this fact on a subconscious level even by the name, for shadow magick is indeed but a shadow, a mirror to arcane magick, for they flow from a shared wellspring.

Apprentices learn early to harness arcane magicks by focusing their will like a pick and punching through a wall in the mind to allow a trickle of energy through, which we then shape and form according to our wishes. That wall, however, is not in the mind - but in the universe. Arcane energy flows, like water through a sieve, from a reality, parallel to our own, where the so-called 'laws' of physics are as mutable as the laws of a demesne. By harnessing that energy, an arcanist is, likewise, able to effect changes in our reality as easily as they would in this other reality. Larger holes between realities permit, of course, more energy to flow into our own world, and passages larger still allow travel.

To the reader, slightly smarter than most, who says "but what of arcanists, such as the thaumaturge or warlock, who gain power via some bargain with an entity outside this realm, or the arcane energy in some plants and items?" Both are a form of directed energy transfer. The deal-maker? Having discovered an intelligent entity in the other reality, is relieved of making the effort to shape the energy as it flows into ours, instead expending only the energy required to keep the conduit flowing. And those items naturally rife in arcane energy, they are a sort of magnetic sponge, soaking up lose energy and directing it in a specific fashion. One notes that those herbs and other such items are often more prevalent within areas who have a close connection to the realm from which arcane energy is pulled.

Indeed, I posit that the very source of this arcane energy is the same as the realm of faerie to which one may travel at specific points upon Advena herself. Scholars have noted - see Sohrab Vuhuper's classic works - that arcane spells have dangerously increased effects within said realm, as the raw energy needed to perform them is present in abundance. See also the ease with which the fickle natives of the realm manipulate the energy to alter their surroundings as they see fit - and the great difficulties they display upon entering our world. Finally, note that every effort at using arcane magicks to close passages between, or bar spells that access the faerie, has lasted but a brief flicker, burning itself out immediately upon completion, as though the energy powering the spell has vanished - and the relative ease with which one may, in fact, do so using the essential magicks.

Shadow magick, taboo for the same reasons that one fears any unknown, is but a variation upon arcane magick, for it functions in the same manner. Much like arcane magick, a wielder of shadow energies pulls from an alternative reality, using the energy that saturates it as air does our own to perform his will upon our world. The laws of the shadow are, of course, distinct from those of faerie, and our explorations thereof have been sadly shallow and timid, but the point remains that, in concept, these two magicks act in fundamentally the same fashion. Not so for the essential arts.

Essential Magick

As I posit the profusion of energy to be found outside of our sphere, essentialists draw upon the energies within it. It is possible - and, in fact, a simple exercise for practitioners of essential magicks - to sense the existence of life energy within our plane. Moreover, those skilled in the practice are able to modify and shape this same life energy, changing from within that which arcane magick must change from without. Similarly, note how imperative magicks may only detect life by observing the effects it has on the environment, indirectly. (Editor's note: in demonstrations, Hasti made clear he was referring to spells such as detect life, easily performed by novitiate priests or psychics, that cannot be duplicated by arcanists.)

In point of fact, each creature that walks, crawls, or flies upon this earth generates a form of energy, an energy that, when removed, results in death. Thus, essential. This energy can be studied, counted, and drawn from by essentialists, used to effect changes of their own upon the environment. This difference between the source of energy for imperativists and essentialists is the core of the distinction between them, and the similarities each shares with others of its sphere. Within essential magick, despite the apparent visual differences between divine, primal, and psychic magick, the only fundamental difference is the specific source of life energy the user draws upon.

The power of faith and divine energy, accepted by all rationale creatures as readily as an arcanist (and I point to the gnoll's inability to harness this same energy, by the way), draws from the life energy of thousands upon thousands of believers, their collective acceptance of some concept providing a connection the priest can use to drain a sliver of their energy to provide power - but only for workings, one notes, that are in-line with the belief of those contributing energy. The short folks of the mountain holds practice similarly - indeed, our hakham and mobad recognize them as wielding power of the same sort as their own, and yet, their presentation and abilities are distinct, conforming to those small things the dwarves believe their ancestors may accept, while ours are limited to working the will of the dragons.

Primal casters - the druids and shamans, even the raging berserkers, of the gnoll and phyton - sip their energy from the life energy, not of those with similar beliefs, but from the lesser lifeforms of the world, the flora and fauna that mortals are the rightful masters of. And indeed, their powers, like those of the devout, are shaped by the essence of what they use for their power, echoing the raw elements that nourish the natural world, and the wild ferocity of the beast. Cut off a primalist from the small things that live around them and their powers falter and fail, their connection not maintained at a distance by shared faith as that of a divine caster. Conversely, the gnoll art of empowering their spells via consuming additional essential energy from a victim is an example of one of the great strengths of essentialism.

Finally, psychic magic, the most difficult and rarest of the essential arts. The psychic harnesses the life energy they themselves produce, trading a form of mystical support net for self-sufficiency. One finds that each psychic is more different from one another than a primalist or an empowered worshipper, because their strengths and abilities are shaped, not by a collective unconscious, but by their own limitations and gifts. Notably, psychic powers are stronger at affecting the raw energy - the mind and will - of those around them than they are at physically performing alterations beyond the range of the manifester's fingertips. This is simply due to the fact that, where other essentialists pull energy from world around them, thus being accustomed to an external impetus, the psychic's energy rarely leaves their own body.

Conclusion

Recognizing the primary differences between varying forms of magick will allow scholars to better classify---

Editor's Notes, further

Thus ends the pages salvaged after the death of both Gaod Hasti and his eighteenth apprentice, unless one counts the obscene drawings in blood that obscure the rest of the page. The culprits were never determined, but evidence suggests that at least three different forms of magic were used in the incident. Hasti's theories, neglected for several centuries, appear to have been far ahead of their time, as later discoveries confirm much of his suggestions.