Magic, Mages, and The Academy

Foreword

My time at the academy has been a long and prosperous one, pouring over tomes from days past and reading about those who have died before me, I was forced toward introspection of my own legacy. Wondering If I would ever have one of my works read. Thus, here I am, divulging as much as I can on the subject of Magic, Mages and The Academy. But where does one start? With such a broad topic, one would find the beginning impossible to quantify, was there magic before mages? Was the Academy created by mages or was it simply to create them itself? These are the questions we will attend to first, the origin.

History of Magic
Magic was a terrible force in the old world. The Fey often used it to terrorize and destroy communities for sport. Summoning ice storms, flood water, fire columns or worse to level an entire city only to disappear as abruptly as they came. Their magic was horrifying, detestable, but poorly documented. Few who witnessed the magic of the early Fey remained alive to account it, and even fewer actually put quill to parchment, preferring never to speak of the carnage their eyes were ravaged by. One account became the first recording of the devastation wrought by the Fey’s boredom and belligerence.


 * “We rushed inside the bricked granary, our only foundation-ed structure in the village. The wind rushing through the cracks in the brickwork like pipes at a feast. The women and children lay low in the barn over the road as we prepared our weapons for any battle that would ensue, like we had a chance.


 * Fire as bright as ten suns shot like a pillar down from the sky, shattering the barn into more pieces than it took to build it. Screams rent the air as the women burned alive, the farmers hearts tearing asunder, white-knuckling their weapons. We charged, pouring fourth from the granary and rushing at them. A ball of blue light shout out from the one we were closest to, knocking us back like leaves in the wind. Arrows faster than my eye could make shot from it’s hands. Felling anything they hit. I slipped. Fell hard on the soft soil, striking my head on a stray stone. Darkness became me.


 * When I woke, I was the only living soul for days.”

Book of Fey interactions, Unknown author (book damaged), Attack on Ollinda - 13 BT

They leveled cities, they torched towns and murdered mortals indiscriminately, as they saw fit. Nobody knew who they were, they naively assumed the gods had been angry and sent something to punish us. They weren’t far from the truth. In order to understand how these beings became as strong as they did, I sought to understand the powers they summoned, and how they work.

What is Magic?
Magical power comes from within a living energy. It manifests itself as channeled power that derives from the life force of a living entity. Once the life force is weakened, or even damaged, their ability to cast or channel magic is hampered, sometimes destroyed. When you use magic in its most basic form, you are able to cast spells with a short period of focus. This magic is often referred to as Battlemagic, and is the first and only form of magic the Academy prefer to teach. Battlemagic is the ability to manipulate an element, to create a spell which has utility. Harnessing an element to blast a foe in battle, burn a building, knock something away from you, create a solid surface on water in order to traverse it, the list goes on. These spells often take little energy to cast, with strong mages able to draw on a well of energy to cast these spells endlessly against each other in the training pits.

Magical power also seems to derive from the ability to concentrate. Requiring you to focus your energy to a single point in order to channel it into something tangible. This process is called ‘Casting’. When casting, interruption often means the break in the spell or the spell failure, but it seems that in some spells (rituals) they tend to just - go off anyway, but with incredibly mixed results. Instead of summoning something, during trials at the academy, we have seen a spell rip the organs from ones torso, splaying them out of the arena in a paroxysm of death.

In fact, the earliest years of the Academy - after Tarvala’s death - were some of the most fascinating - albeit scary - of Magic’s rich history. Having delved into a few books surrounding the Elder trials, I became fixated on the two kinds of magic, and how they operated in the enigmatic dichotomy we come to accept. Books particularly of note were “The Elder Trials of Calibridge and Foxort” by Grand Magus Alexander Thunhill, “The High Magics of Old” by Magus Willus Defong, and “Spells Beyond Reasoning” by Grand Magus Sigmund Willowbeak.


 * “The magus all watched in horror, as Grand magus Corrowitch was ripped from his feet by an unseen force, taken to the centre of the ritual circle and elevated to the centre of the chamber. The other magus moved quickly to assist him, but witnessed in awe as the incredible force ripped his chest cavity in twain, his scream cut short like a door slamming in the wind. The spray of organs covered the floor as he was crushed into nothingness. Disappearing in a flash of ear-splitting agony.


 * It took less than 6 minutes of immediate discussion to rule out any further experimentation with the books we had found, these spells were far too dangerous if even the best of us were to be torn to shreds like pieces of wet parchment. We destroyed the tomes that night. A raven was sent to Arlessa, banning any further high magic experiments through pain of excommunication.”

The Elder Trials of Calibridge and Foxort, by Grand Magus Alexander Thunhill

These books gave me new insights into the exact nature of the terrible magic I was trying to understand. So I ventured into high magic. High magic has been documented since it’s first comprehensive explanation from Tarvala himself. High magic is not something in which mortals have control. These spells are unpredictable, often draining a person of all their energies in order to cast it. If one were to fail or stumble whilst casting, the consequences are dire.


 * “The manner of high magic is one of slow, channeled potency with elevated outcomes when in direct comparison to Battlemagic. The sphere of Magic is complex in nature, broad in scope, and mortals can only contain so much. The destructive qualities of spells is concordant with all high magic, even a strong healing spell would have destructive outcomes should the ritual be performed incorrectly. I teach you the Battlemagic because you display the aptitude required to control it. There are a few high magic spells which I have bestowed upon you, these are to be treated carefully, as they are still far stronger than anything battlemagic is capable of.


 * Respect magic, or it will be your undoing”

Tarvala, addressing the magic Academy in their first official graduation - 304AT

So with High magic and Battlemagic delineated, I set out to find out what laws governed magic, why they were put in place and who exactly enforced it.

The Magic Academy
The Grand Council is a court of senior magus who have dedicated their years to the study, substantiation, practice and inculcation of magic. They work tirelessly to ensure the magic community is protected, respected and has adequate training. In the process of building the Academy, the Magus decided on a few basic law-principles of which the Academy was founded on.

All laws of regions relating to malicious damage, criminal activity, violence or immorality will be upheld as they exist in that region, however lands beholden to the Magic Academy are diplomatically immune, and apply their own laws. Below are the laws which govern these locations.

Teaching i) Mages of the Academy must never take on, train, develop or mentor another budding caster without Academy sanction, of which minimum rank is required. Mages caught in violation of this code will be subject to judgement by the council.

Practice ii) Those who are deemed able to learn magic will be taught. Those unable to be taught cannot practice magic without Academy sanction. Those caught practicing unsanctioned magic are subject to judgement by the council.

Sanctioned spells iii) Those who use unsanctioned spells, cast spells in a restricted area, or use magic for illegal activity are subject to judgement by the council. Mages are reminded that there are spells taught by the Academy which are for situational use, using spells such as deathball in a public, non-combat setting is an example of misused magic.

Protection of fellows iv) Mages are to look after each-other. The battlefield is the only exception. If a caster sees another in mortal danger, and is able to render assistance, they are compelled to by the Academy. This law does not apply if the action of intervention would lead to disrepute for the Academy, destruction of Academy Property, illegal activity or be seen as an act of war.

Protection of information v) Mages must take all due care and diligence in the protection of magic, it’s secrets and it’s practice. Allowing others to study your books, observe and study any ritual or training you perform, or to willingly disclose private or sensitive information is seen as subverting the Academy’s teachings and are subject to judgement by the council.

Discovery and transmittance  vi) Information that is discovered by non-magic users pertaining to the practices of the Academy is of the utmost importance. The information must be secured and hand delivered to the Academy itself. Information cannot be transcribed, relayed, sent via correspondence or proxy, nor delivered via messenger.

Reporting vii) All mages are mandatory reporters. All violations of these laws, or misconduct deemed worth of council attention must be sent to the Academy, Mages failing to do this will be deemed a party to the act.

War viii) During times of war, separate laws apply;

Mages are not obligated to provide protection for those they are fighting, unless that person has surrendered and is no longer deemed a threat. If this is the case, they must be detained and taken prisoner.
 * 1) Mages allegiance is to their nation first, and their rulers, but not at the expense of or detriment to the Academy.
 * 2) All mages must defend the Academy when called upon via the Home stone. If the stone is activated, all mages will return to defend it.
 * 3) All spellbooks, tomes, sensitive information or scrolls with unique knowledge are to be returned to their respective Academy branches, so that transportation to an Academy Vault can be arranged.
 * 4) All due care must be undertaken to ensure civilian casualties are prevented, or at least mitigated. It is a mages duty to protect civilian life.

With these laws in place, the council preside over the Academy and are able to govern the use of magic across Markoth.

The Magic Council
The council are elected via the College of Magus, which is an organisation of senior magus and academics who ensure the best representation is put forward. The rules governing council members are below.

Council members are able to stand for election after they have written at least three tomes, accepted and verified by the Academy.

Council members can be male, or female of any race, age or religion. There is no restrictions. If found worthy, they are elected.

Council members serve a ten year term, during which they must contribute something to the Academy to be able to stand for re-election. The things deemed worthy of re-election are the following.


 * Production of another two Tomes, accepted and verified by the Academy.


 * Discovery of important or vital information pertaining to magic and the Academy’s practice.


 * A Successful defense of the Academy during times of war.


 * A Deed seen to be of high enough importance to be worthy of re-election.
 * Unanimous vote from the Council.

Council members are unable to hold any other positions of office, influence, or wealth in the wider community. Positions must be discharged prior to application.

The Council itself is headed by the Grand Magus, which is the most senior of the Academies positions.

Schools of Magic
After the Council, there are Principals of the major schools. These schools are:

Destruction (Fire)
Spells that damage, harm, or attack a target. Spells of this category focus on the offensive natures in Magic.

Abjuration (Earth)
Spells that are defensive in nature. That will protect, heal, block, or seek to mitigate harm

Enchantment (Water)
Spells that imbue the target with some property or grant the caster power over a target.

Evocation (Air)
Spells that manipulate magical energy or create something from nothing. Illusion or conjurations.

Training and Trials
Trials, Initiation & Training When someone enters the magic academy during one of the intake seasons, they are asked a few questions upon entry. Their age, name and where they came from is the typical gathered information, but the only other question is why they wish to study magic.

Once they have given details to the Mage Mentors, they are separated into random groups called ‘Sets’. Once dedicated to a set, they are taken to their living quarters, where they are orientated and then given a plain black robe to wear. Over the next eight weeks, mages are given a series of basic spells to master, each of the spells in from a different school of magic, but also a different circle. There are four realms; Fire Water Air Earth These circles are the centre focus on the first learning, as they play a crucial part in the magical process. Tarvala dictated to the council that limitations of mortal capacity were apparent, and that stretching or attempting to defy these boundaries was detrimental.


 * “Whilst magic is a contrivance many wish to utilise, there are inherent boundaries which have become apparent to me during our teachings. There exist four circles of magic, which I am able to grasp and manipulate, however, the mortals of Markoth seem to have difficulty manipulating more than one, or two at most. If one were to focus all their energies on learning all four elements, their potency of spell casting would diminish, likewise if they were to pour all their efforts into just one circle, they would excel beyond those who took more.


 * I have decided it is therefore in our best interest to ensure mages are focused on a primary circle of magic, with a secondary circle for those gifted in the arts.” 

Tarvala to the Grand council in Arlessa - 203AT



After the eight week period, the Sets are brought in and put through the trials. These trials consist of the following:

Fire - Mages are placed in a chamber with moving targets, they must move between then platforms and utilise a fireball to shoot the targets as the present.

Water - Mages are surrounded by pellet firing machines. They must summon a shield of water at intervals to protect themselves from the pellets.

Earth - Mages must lift and create rock platforms to cross through a flooding obstacle course within the time limit.

Air - Mages are placed in an arena on small platforms and must push other mages off and into the water using blasts of air.

The arbitrators watch the displays, and judge the mages accordingly, those who perform well in an element are chosen to pursue that element. If they perform well in two trials, they are given the choice, and the second option becomes their minor circle. If they are successful in three or four trials, you are told to pick one major and one minor circle and drop the other two. If a mage was to fail all four trials, they would be removed from the Academy. They are then marked and sent to The Hollow Ones for a further initiation into the order.

The process of training mages ensures that those who attend the academy are assigned to their strongest, most naturally attuned circle of magic as a primary, so they do not waste their time honing a circle they are not drawn to. The results of the sorting process are rarely flawed, with the occasional mixup between minor and major (typically brought on by the error in judgement of the mage in testing).

After the mage has been assigned their circles, they must choose a class of magic to study from the four. They will then focus on one school at a time for as long as they wish until completing their training at the academy. The amount of time spent training is entirely up to the mage. But typically two years for each school is enough to grasp the basics, with a further six years required to move on to one school of advanced magics.

Evokers
If a mage were to study magic for a long period, hone their skills and become a master of their circle, they could then apply to become an Evoker. Evokers are the peak of their craft, with the ability to harness spells many others cannot. Evokers are capable of channelling stronger potency in spells that lesser mages would have difficulty drawing. They are also practiced in two circles to the master proficiency of both. Evokers are typically the only rank of mage to apply for the rank of Magus, and go on to join the council.