Good morning class. It is good to see some many of you here, bright eyed and eager for knowledge as it were. The fear coming off you is quite palpable. It is as it should be. After all, I am the dreaded Draen Do’Gra. You may have heard that my fellow archmages have decided that I should pick up this class, since it was my spell that removed your prior…teacher…from this post. Let’s clear up any confusion. I am here at the behest of my goddess. If she had informed me that she had other needs for me, I would have laid waste to Vann to accomplish whatever goal was required.
Now that that is out of the way, let us begin with the true basics of magic. It is not in your curriculum. As of today, that curriculum is null and void. I will teach you the basics of magic. And you will learn. Or die. I truly do not care which. There are two types of magic, correct? Divine and arcane? This is common knowledge, nearly every sentient being knows this, from kings to peasants. While not entirely correct, they are also wrong.
Arcane Magic – What most people think about when one discusses magic. A single spellcaster using his will to shape the forces of magic to a desired effect. The vast majority of you are wizard apprentices. So this should be common knowledge to you. The arcane spells you can cast are typically broken up into one of eight schools of magic: Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, and Transmutation. Each of the schools specializes in a particularly effect. Necromancy for example deals with the energies of unlife, while Enchantment deals with illusions and overcoming weak willed individuals.
What isn’t as well known as that wizardry is only one way to access this magic. For most, mastering this magic will come from poring over spellbooks, and committing such spells to memory. After all that is what wizards do. It is also why any wizard worth their magic will do anything to protect their library of spells. All that hard work just for some spell thief to pilfer potent magics would be devastating to any wizard. For the record, this event happens to every wizard. It only happens to a wise wizard once.
The typical wizard is a generalist, though he or she may have a spell, or elements they favor. However, specialists abound in wizardry. Each of the eight schools have their own specialists. Battle mages, those that support armies, tend to be evokers, though necromancers can find their skills useful to certain monarchs. So diverse is wizardry that entire subsects of traditions, outside the standard eight have cropped up.
The dwarf Inix is a very gifted artificer, which is the art of fusing magic to objects. In her armor, Inix once stopped a rampaging shadow dragon alone. It was this act that prompted the Council Arcanna to offer her a seat at the Table Arcannna. She is now a headmaster of a small and growing school. There are also wild mages, hemomancers, and Fortunavi. The latter’s magic was once based on a game elven apprentices played as did, if you believe the rumors, the goddesses of magic and luck.
Sorcerers however, do not need such cumbersome tomes. They can shape the powers of magic through sheer instinct. All sorcerers can trace their bloodline back to some powerful magical being somewhere in the past. Whether that being is a dragon, a fey queen, an infernal, or celestial is ultimately inconsequential. By that I mean, it doesn’t truly affect the sorcerer, unless they choose it to. I have met sorcerers with a celestial bloodline that have become world class necromancers. I have also met sorcerers with fey blood that have chosen to quench their chaotic natures and contemplate the mysteries of the martial arts.
Then we have Warlocks. They are an interesting blend of sword and sorcery. They cast and shape magic similar to the way sorcerers do. However, the source of that magic is always due to a patron the warlock binds their souls to. While they will never have the versatility of sorcerers when it comes to spellcasting, or the nigh unlimited choices a wizard gets, warlocks should never be underestimated. Not only can they wield magics that the other arcane classes cannot use, but they are quite capable melee combatants.
It would be terrible mistake to believe that these are the only arcane casters. As famous as they are for their ability to seduce nigh everything, bards are very potent arcane spellcasters. Though they have a limited number of spells in comparision to wizards and sorcerers, they make up for it by learning arcane secrets which allow them to cast spells they otherwise they normally couldn’t.
I can see by the glaze in some of your eyes that I have gone on long enough. Tomorrow we will discuss divine magic. Then there will be a test. Those that survive will learning about other types of magic. Some rare, some forbidden, all gifts from the goddess of magic. First and foremost never forget that, Kor’Tunai controls every aspect of magic. She is worthy of the utmost respect and reverence.
A Darkness Rising 