Magecraft

Magecraft is probably the form of Magic most familiar to most inhabitants of the world. Although most mages are human, other races are known to have mastered magecraft. Mages are not an uncommon sight, at least in majority human areas, although most never reach a level of power beyond that of household chores. The few who reach the pinnacle of their craft are powerful indeed.

The Nature of Magecraft
As the self-professed originators of magic, there are a few Elves who are a little put out that Magecraft is a human discovery – although the vast majority Elves who offer an opinion simply say that Magecraft is not a patch on Wizardry. Whereas the path of becoming a master wizard involves a lot of academic study and contemplation of the wider universe, the practice of Magecraft involves a great deal of meditation upon the practitioner’s self, and physical and mental exercises to achieve the correct state. Academics often refer to Magecraft and Wizardry as Internal and External magical arts respectively, and while it is technically possible to learn and practice both arts, their competing natures mean that very few people ever do, and the number of people who can be said to have done so with any major degree of success can likely be counted on one hand.

Magecraft begins with contemplation of the six Elements that make up the universe – Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Light and Darkness. While the path to becoming a Mage starts with the contemplation of these Elements in nature, the secret to harnessing Magic is to learn to first sense, and then manipulate, these Elements within yourself, for the central tenet of Magecraft is that nowhere in creation are the six Elements more perfectly arranged than within living beings.

The practice of this contemplation takes the form first of still meditation, then of a series of complex physical exercises designed both to echo the form of the Mage’s chosen element and to focus the mind’s concentration. The fact that it hones the practitioner’s body doubtless is also a benefit when one considers the powerful forces a Mage must manipulate. These exercises resemble more than a little the forms used by certain orders of unarmed warrior and certainly many Mages are almost as formidable for their prowess at physical combat as for their mastery of the Elements. More than one would-be bandit has come to regret their assumption that the robed figure they spy down the path must be a fusty academic upon whom it would be easy to get the drop!

These exercises generate a magical potential, called mana, which a practised Mage can store within themselves. Novices are taught to embrace the analogy of themselves as an empty jug, mana as water, and the exercises they perform as the act of filling the jug. (The Fire School holds an ongoing competition for anyone who can find an alternate metaphor). The more practised the  Mage, the larger the jug – ie, the more mana that can be held until needed. However, the jug is imperfect and contains several minute leaks – in practical terms, this means that unused mana will seep away over time, and must be replenished.

Learning Magecraft
Magecraft is taught – exclusively, if you wish to learn legally – at the Tower of Secret Lore. The Tower divides itself into six Schools, one for each of the Elements. While a Mage can learn to wield more than one Element, there is always one Element whose mastery comes far more easily to a given practitioner, and the practice of additional Elements seems to have a strong inhibiting factor in how high a student can achieve in any schools. Thus, the majority of Mages choose to focus on a single Element, preferring to be the master of one trade rather than a jack of several. No matter how many different Elements they practice, a Mage will be identified by the School for which they show the strongest affinity – for example, a Mage whose greatest focus is Water but who also dabbles in Earth and Light will be called a Water Mage, not a Water, Earth And A Bit Of Light Mage.

Upon first entering the Tower, students are known as Novices. A Novice will begin learning the meditative and physical techniques used to prepare the mind to channel Magic, as well as undertaking a lot of academic study and carrying out all the menial labour traditional for lowly students in these sorts of places. As a sign of their commitment to the art, they are expected to shave their heads. This also, and not by coincidence, makes it harder for runaway novices to blend into a crowd and escape. They do not, however, practice any actual Magic at this stage.

If and when a Novice is judged to be sufficiently competent in the internal disciplines, she will graduate to become an Apprentice. Apprentices’ days differ little from their time spent as Novices – they enjoy slightly senior levels of drudgery, and they begin to learn actual Magic. They are not divided into Schools at this point, however, and a large part of the Apprenticeship is the discovery of which School is the best fit – often, this seems obvious to both student and teachers, although a surprising number of students arrive at the tower with no real idea of which Element is “theirs”, and an unsurprising number end up attached to a School other than the one they expected. Apprenticeship tends to be the shortest phase of a Mage’s career, as they already have the groundwork to begin practising their art, but there is a limited amount of actual Magic they can be usefully taught without being attached to a School.

Once an Apprentice is attached to a School, she is known as an Initiate. Initiates’ time is spent almost exclusively learning the various spells their school has to offer – all the while, of course, continuing to build on their physical and meditative disciplines. It is said to be gruelling work. The time spent as an Initiate can vary hugely – some students graduate within a matter of months, others can take decades; a period of a few years can broadly be said to be typical.

Regardless of how long it takes, once an Initiate graduates, he is known as a Magister (Magistra in the feminine). While Magisters are still expected to be available to serve the interests of the Tower, they are permitted a great deal of autonomy to pursue their own projects. Once a mage reaches this rank they are permitted to grow their hair again, although many choose to remain bald - some as a sign that they consider themselves perpetually a student of their School, others just because they've got used to it.

Hierarchy within the Tower is fairly loose; members are expected to show deference to other members of higher rank, co-operate with members of their own rank, and guide members of lower rank without presuming to lord it over them – this high-minded principle having various degrees of success in practice. Each School has its own head, called a High Magister who is formally addressed by the name of their school – Magister Air, Magistra Water, and so on. The six High Magisters form a Council to guide and govern the affairs of the Tower; this Magisters’ Council is led by a seventh Magister, given the title Keeper of Mysteries and addressed formally as “Keeper”. The Keeper of Mysteries may come from any School and is elected by a simple vote of the entire order of Magisters; the only requirement is that he or she may never have served as a High Magister, nor become one later. The Magisters’ Council is rounded off by the Master of Novices and the Scrivener, the title held by the head librarian of the Tower’s renowned Spiral Library.

There is an alternative route out of the Tower. If it's doubtful that an Initiate will ever develop the necessary skill to make Magister, or their interest in further study wanes, then they can ask to be released from their studies and return to regular society. Often these released Initiates are prohibited from performing magic except as a last resort in self-defence or the defence of others, but those who lacked natural talent rather than dedication can be given an 'unconditional release', whereby they are allowed to use whatever magic they have learned, as long as they don't claim the Magister title. Sometimes students are granted compassionate release, for reason of illness, bereavement or other similar calamities. More rarely, student of noble lineage are granted a release so they can attend to aristocratic manners before returning to their studies. The longest release was the 300-year sabbatical taken by an elf student of earth.

Schools
The six Schools are described below. Immediately following the name of the School are the colours of the robes worn by its members. Mages are expected to wear their robes at all times, as it is believed that a) as servants of the community and, b) wielders of mighty arcane powers, they should be readily identifiable. Initiates wear robes of the first colour; Magisters add the extra colours in. Following that is a description of the stereotypical personality types of Mages from the various Schools. Note that while these are stereotypes for good reason, they are not cast-iron rules – it is certainly not unknown to encounter a carefree Earth Mage, demonstrative Water Mage or cheerful Darkness Mage.

One further note: lay commentators seem to be obsessed with identifying the “Evil” School of Magecraft – the one which will inevitably churn out wrong ‘uns. The two usual suspects are Fire (because of the obvious ready destructive capabilities of the Element) and Darkness (because of the name, and the black robes.)  Admittedly, a precise statistical analysis is difficult because the Tower prefers to deal with instances of malfeasance internally and discretely, but there doesn’t appear to be any significant correlation between School and criminality. Furthermore, the number of Mages who use their powers for nefarious purposes is genuinely very small – the Tower has become extremely good at weeding out potential troublemakers during the Noviciate stage. Sadly, exceptions do crop up now and then.

Air
Colours: Grey and light purple.

Air Mages tend to be carefree and easygoing – many even go so far as to be whimsical. While they are happy to use their powers to explore the sky and defend the helpless, and Air Mage pushed to anger is a terror to behold – one of the advanced Air spells involves the generation of lightning.

Earth
Colours: Brown and green.

Earth Mages tend to be stolid, serious people. Although Earth is considered to be the most defensive of the six Elements, the Earth School is the second most martial after Fire. The Magisters of Earth have a reputation for never starting a fight, but always finishing one. The Earth college also has more non-humans than any other, being quite attractive to Dwarves.

Fire
Colours: Orange, red and yellow.

You would probably expect that Fire Mages forthright and quick tempered. Well, you’d be right. Another stereotype concerning the Fire School is that virtually all of its members have red hair. Of course, as all Mages that regularly work with fire are recommended to keep their heads shaved (to avoid incendiary mishaps), this is not easily verified, and a common hazing ritual among the novices is trying to persuade new arrivals to ask a Fire Mage about their hair colour. Those that actually fall for it don’t ever repeat their mistake.

Water
Colours: Azure and turquoise.

Your stereotypical water mage is as calm as a still pond on the surface, and as turbulent as an ocean underneath. In addition to its magical practices, this School claims more members on the staff of the Spiral Library than any other, though Light comes a reasonable second. The more intelligent of the people who worry about the existence of an “Evil School” sometimes turn their attention to Water, worrying that a Water Mage might do various horrible things involving their blood – in fact, a Water Mage cannot influence water that’s inside a living being. There are differing opinions within the School about the wisdom of publicising this fact.

Light
Colours: White and gold.

The Light School prizes students with high levels of focus and clarity of thought. Light is often assumed by outsiders to be the “Good School”; in fact, while it’s true to say that the school definitely attracts idealists, there’s no guarantee that the ideals in question will be ones widely shared by the common man. Some Darkness Mages take a grim satisfaction in pointing out that the Towers’ most notorious renegade, the so-called Arcane Messiah, started out as a Light Initiate.

Darkness
Colours: Black and Silver.

Darkness Mages tend towards being taciturn and, for want of a better expression, slightly emo. In addition to the combat capabilities of the School – a skilled Darkness Mage can create formidable semi-solid weapons out of shadow – the focus of the School makes them excellent spies and infiltrators.