Good morning class. The look of surprise on your eager young faces is not unexpected. Yes, I am Draen Do’Gra. Headmaster of Necromancy. Dracomancer. Archmage. Though this is beneath me, I can and will teach the basic magical classes such as this one from time to time. In this case your teacher Graltus, came down with an unfortunate case of inferal repose. It is similar to petrification except the victim’s bones turn into lava. Also, the victim is aware and in excruciating agony. He really shouldn’t have been mouthing off about his betters. He should be fine in a few days, either when the other headmasters figure out how to dispel that particular invocation, doubtful, or I decide to reverse the spell. Let that be a warning to you all.
Magic pervades the entire world. It does so in many forms, though they can be broken down in to two main types of magic: Divine and arcane. There are others of course, infernal, celestial, psionic, draconic, to name a few. None of those will be on the exam. Unless Graltus decides to add extra credit for those who are lagging behind. Personally, I would just feed the slackers to one of my dragons. The world does not need idiots who cannot master simple spells. That way of thinking brought down one of the greatest magical eras of our time. It also caused the goddess of magic to remove sources of that magic, that makes it unlikely to recreate that magic. Notice I said unlikely, not impossible.
Although magic can be broadly classified as divine or arcane, the truth is much simpler. There are eight schools of magic: abjuration, conjuration, divination, enchantment, evocation, illusion, necromancy, and transmutation. Nearly any magical spell, whether divine or infernal can be neatly folded into one of those categories. The rare spells that cannot be categorized as such are called universal spells. There is no school or specialization of universal spells. They are simply common spells anyone can learn, and in theory master.
Due to the aforementioned Kor’Tunni’s Rebuke – which is the name of act that caused the goddess of magic blocked access to magic for nearly a century, as she sought to repair the damage caused by reckless magic users – we magic users had to come up with a way to monitor magic users, in order to appease Kor’Tunni. Thus we have several ways to do that.
To begin, we monitor any use of magic in the world. It may not surprise you to learn that the second you cast your first spell, usually a cantrip, the goddess of magic makes Arcanum – the council of magic here at Eldar – aware. Afterwards we monitor your progress. If you continue to practice, we extend an invitation to join the academy here. This allows us to both simultaneously train you and monitor you. This extends primarily to arcane casters. Divine casters, such as clerics are generally left to their own relationship with their god. Typically they join like minded churches and organizations.
If that taste of magic somehow addles your brain and you refuse to join the academy, you will be given one warning to cease practicing arcane magic. Failure to comply will cause the Arcanum to send an agent of the Order of the Void after you. Who are the Order of the Void? They are a rare order of magic users blessed by Kor’Tunni herself. They are skilled warriors and casters trained to kill magic users. Like myself, they are not to be trifled with. They can and have been dispatched to kill magic users who have become a threat to the magical balance set forth by Kor’Tunni.
As it is unlikely that Graltus will be back tomorrow, you will be pleased to note that I will be teaching you all again. Except for the sleeping dwarf in the back. Infernal Repose may be contagious. Here’s a quick lesson. Oh, I would be remiss if I didn’t warn any overachievers to not try this spell on your own.
“Inferni-statuari“
A Darkness Rising 