Wizardry

The art of Wizardry (and it is always referred to as an art, or often the Art) was developed by Elves. Though they claim sovereignty over it, the art has been picked up by many of the other races, most notably humans.

The originators of Wizardry developed the art through study of the movement of the celestial bodies and – through means incomprehensible to the lay person – were able to translate these into formulae, the “recipe” for casting a spell. Spells were originally grouped by the three castes of Elf – Solar, Lunar and Sidereal – roughly according to whether it matched their totemic celestial bodies, habitats or patron elements, as shown in the table below:

This, however, was never a very satisfactory system of classification, for two reasons: firstly, it implied that Elves could only learn spells that fell under their own caste’s category, which was not the case – many Elves found other castes spells hugely useful, and learned them with relative ease. Not to mention the humans and other races that began to learn Wizardry! Secondly, as a system of classifying spells by their effects, it was frustratingly vague. Offensive spells, for example, tended to be Solar magic – unless they produced bolts of lightning, in which case they were Sidereal. Therefore, as Magic started to become better understood, more defined categories of effect, called Spheres, were created. As there is a strong vein of traditionalism among Elves in general and Wizards in particular, each of these categories was placed under the sub-heading of one of the original three groups; there is some debate among modern scholars concerning how useful this is. While some very complex spells combine effects from two or more Spheres, the vast majority of spells falls into one of the following fourteen categories:

Body (Solar): As you might expect, this deals with the physical body. Its most common – and generally, most celebrated – application is that of healing, but it can also be used to temporarily enhance a person’s strength, stamina or speed. (For some reason, the latter application also reduces its subject’s ability to spend money). Masters of the Body Sphere can also use it to deliver injuries to opponents in combat, although this is not a popular use as it requires physically touching your foe. Advanced spells exist that can blight a person with horrific disease, though these are outlawed, and used only by renegade wizards.

An important note: Wizards who are skilled in the Body Sphere can save people from the most horrendous injuries or debilitating diseases, but no spell exists that can restore life to the dead.

Creation (Lunar): The act of creating something out of nothing – at least that’s how it appears to the observer; theoretical Wizards believe there is a complex exchange taking place behind the scenes. The more common and less complex an item is, the easier it is to create and the longer it will last. Base stone is easy and, if created by one skilled enough, is virtually permanent; precious metals are very difficult to conjure, and last only fleetingly. Organic matter is the most difficult at all – a Wizard utilising Creation magic might create food that could nourish, but only one who was truly skilled indeed could create food that was pleasant to eat. (Water is easier, and lasts long enough rehydrate the drinker). No Creation spell exists that can create living matter.

Divination – Sidereal

Dreams – Lunar

Energy – Solar

Forces – Lunar

Illusion – Solar

Necromancy (none): Necromancy has become sufficiently separated from core Wizardry over the centuries to be considered a discipline in its own right. The knowledge or practice of Necromancy is outlawed in all civilised cultures.

Shaping – None - The manipulation and negation of pure Magic.

Summoning – Sidereal

Transformation – Solar

Travel – Sidereal

Warding – Lunar

Weather – Sidereal