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In the early days of magic, there were two types of spellcasters. There were the various sorts of priests, who gained their powers from their deity, and the sorcerers, who worked magic without divine assistance through sheer, innate talent. Wizards, who required neither divine assistance nor inborn talent, came only later. The origin of priests and their magic has never been mystery. Religion is universal, though the details may vary greatly. Every culture has had priests of some sort. The deities they serve grant them magical power that they may better perform their duties. Every culture has its own legends about how this situation came about, but the origin of that magic has never been in dispute. The origin of sorcerous talent, however, is not so clear. Every culture has its own legends to explain how such individuals came by their powers, but no single explanation is universally accepted. The most popular explanation is that the individual in question has either a deity or a demon of some sort as an ancestor. Some cultures think the talent comes from having draconic blood. The Gaels believe it is a sign one has a fey being somewhere in ones family tree. The Thulian people believe that sorcerers are the descendants of great heroes who took magic from other races, typically dwarves, either by main force or clever trickery. In the south, it is widely believed that sorcerers are given their power as a sign of the favor of one of the elemental lords. The origins of wizardry are more concrete and can be traced back to the ancient cities of the fertile basin where the Gilded League now holds sway. It is there that the first wizards began to study the magical arts and learn to cast rather than simply wield power that they discovered they had. Nobody is quite certain who the first wizard was or how he learned his craft, but legend tells us he learned by sneaking into a god's workshop and spying on him as he worked powerful spells. The legend tells us he sought to learn the secret to working magic as the gods did without being dependant on another being, such as a god, or on innate talent as the sorcerers were. Both the dwarves and the elves claim a different origin for their wizards. The dwarves claim to have developed wizardry as a natural extension of their skill as craftsmen. The elves claim their wizards learned from their gods.
Whatever the story of their origin, the first recorded wizards appeared thousands of years ago in the sweltering city-states that prospered in the fertile basin. Theirs was a haphazard art mostly involving conjurations, summonings adapted from the foul rites of evil clerics. They summoned demons, devils, and other foul beings and made dark pacts in their search for knowledge and power. Death and madness were constant risks for wizards and those around them in those days. Not only was did they risk great danger in their dealings with demons and worse, but they also had to be wary of their fellow wizards. Defeating another wizard and stealing his knowledge was far less dangerous than dealing with the foul denizens of the lower planes. As a result, magic became a secretive profession with all knowledge jealously guarded and only taught to the rare apprentice. Though a few were rich men who paid exorbitant sums for a chance at great power, all too often such apprentices were only clever youths taught just enough to be of use in the lab who supplemented that education with whatever scraps of knowledge they could filch on their own. The latter were often never intended to be anything other than menial helpers and only managed to surreptitiously learn enough to become a wizard in their own right. As a result, most wizards were only half trained and possessed incomplete knowledge with the predictable dangers associated with it. Even with such terrible risks and such jealously guarded knowledge, wizardry spread. Every people has those who will do anything for power and they sought out wizards for training. So alas, does every land have an appeal to some wizard, be it ancient legends whispering of power, magical resources of one kind or another, or merely a lack of competitors. Thus, over the centuries and millennia, the wizard's art spread throughout the world. In those days, all wizards had the same sorts of training and knowledge. There was a fairly well known kernel of knowledge most wizards possessed dealing with basic spells and means of summoning extra-planar beings. Performing a successful summoning was a rite of passage for wizards and the test that separated apprentices from "real" wizards. Beyond that, new knowledge was gained by making pacts with extra-planar beings. Such knowledge was a jealously kept secret because those who held it were loathe to give up knowledge gained at such terrible risk and because few trusted any of their colleagues enough to ever agree to exchange knowledge. Most wizards today agree that far more magical knowledge was been gained and lost in the days before the Achaean Renaissance than exists today and most of it was known only to one person. When a wizard died, he took all of his unique knowledge to the grave with him save for any musty notes he may have left hidden somewhere. Many modern wizards make a career of seeking out those scraps of ancient knowledge.
The revolution that led to wizardry as it stands today began over two thousand years ago in Achaea. The Achaeans were a people who loved learning and knowledge for their own sake and they established schools to teach what they knew and to advance learning. To them, magic was simply one more thing to be studied so they set about gathering as much magical knowledge as they could. The Achaeans developed the theory that everything in the universe is made up of atoms and the force that binds them together is the raw power magic draws upon. According to their theory, anyone who understands the rules that govern their behavior can manipulate them to their own ends. This, in simplest terms, is what magic is. Priests gain prayers and spells from their deities that enable them to do this without having to understand what it was they were doing. Sorcerers simply have a talent for manipulating these forces without understanding them that lets them learn to cast spells without understanding what makes the spell work just as some people have a talent for music without ever understanding any how their instrument is made or how it produces sound. Wizards, until then, learned specific formulae but had no idea why they worked. This theory started a revolution that made magic into what it is today. Armed with this theory, Achaean scholars began to study magic. They categorized it and created the schools of magic known today. They started a great tradition of experimentation and established the laws of magic. This allowed wizards to advance their art and gain new knowledge without resorting to pacts with foul extra-planar beings. They also established schools to teach the wizards arts and advanced those arts more in centuries than they had been advanced in millennia. It was a great flowering of magical knowledge. This renaissance in magic was part of a greater Achaean golden age. Their trading vessels dominated the Mare Nostrum and traded beyond as well. They established colonies and academies all along their trade routes and everywhere they went they brought their knowledge of magic. Wizards everywhere sought to learn from the Achaeans and to see what new doors their knowledge had unlocked. This is how the Achaean version of the study of magic spread throughout the known world. After the Achaean Renaissance began, there was a new core of knowledge teaching wizards how magic functioned and basic principles for creating new magic on their own. Wizards took this knowledge and used it to go in many different directions. Some specialized in subtle charms meant to dominate people without their even knowing it. Others sought power by knowing the future. Still more sought powerful spells of battle. Many of them bent magic to their own particular regional needs. In this manner did the magical specialties and regional variations in magic come into being. Another side effect of the Achaean Renaissance is that wizards stopped being solely solitary individuals jealously hoarding knowledge. Conditions for wizard's apprentices improved. Many wizards began to compare notes as academics anywhere will. Some came together to form their own associations to advance some goal or another. Some banded together for protection, for millennia of living with the results of ill-trained wizards attempting to summon dangerous beings made them none too popular. Some banded together in the common pursuit of power. It was this trend that was to lead to the next major innovation in magic.
One group of Achaean mages was the Academy of Magic in Brigantia, an Achaean colony in modern Aquitania. Brigantia was involved in a series of conflicts with the rising state of Tarantium. In the first conflicts, the Academy proved superior to the Tarantine wizards. This prompted the Tarantines to seek out magical knowledge that would give them an edge. The ultimate result of this effort was the formation of the Tarantine corps of battlemages. The corps of Battlemages was a group of wizards with special training and spells that enhanced their abilities on the battlefield. The most important and still jealously guarded secret of the battlemages was circle magic. Circle magic allowed many mages to combine their power to enhance the abilities of one of their number. By borrowing the magical power of weak wizards who might otherwise have little effect on the battlefield, the battlemages are able to greatly enhance the power of their most powerful wizards, which can easily tip the tide of battle in their favor. Since the development of circle magic centuries ago, there have been no major revolutions in magic. Wizards continued to study magic and how it works. Their knowledge of magic has continually expanded and diversified over the centuries, but no major new discoveries have been made. Some feel another revolution will soon be necessary if the study of magic is to continue to expand. Essays on Magic:
Last Updated:
Saturday, 21-Jun-2003 23:49:43 CDT
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