News Magic
Set aside all your pre-conceived ideas on magic, in Anwethia magic is based on
the four elements earth, air, fire and water.
Here magic is the understanding and manipulation of one of those elements.
Magical items such as wands, cloaks, talismans, etc simply do not exist or are
so rare none would know of them.
Magic is therefore in a great part knowledge based.
Magic users will go through phases being; attunement, recognition and
acceptance, understanding and education.
To ensure you have a understanding of magic - if your character will have
magic, during the background application process (see +help +bg) you must have
in addition to your characters general background a section specific to magic.
That section must define the magic your character has, how he/she became a
mage, what is his/her skill level, and two instances of using magic in IC
terms. Any character with magic will require Magic Staff approval.
continued in News Magic1
NEWS MAGIC
Activity In 2 Cui - AW 03:05 PM
Users of magic must all go through the following
A born attunement to one of the elements. A person has the attunement or does
not, they can't pick up the attunement
Recognition of the attunement. Quite likely there are people who did not
recognize they had the attunement for whatever reason.
Understand the element attunement. Once a person born with a attunement,
recognizes the attunement, they must gain a understanding of the specific
attunement. The understanding can only fully come with a mentor. If the person
does not seek out a mentor, they may be able to occasionally perform some
trivial element manipulation when triggered by some emotion. Trivial could be
having nearby water turn into a light fog.
Education - The mentor guides and teaches the student. Education will be years.
A person's attunement is not boundless.
Manipulation of the element - With the education a person learns to manipulate
the element through his/her concentration. The vast majority of magic users
must do some physical action to focus their thoughts (such as point with
hand).
Cost to magic user - Manipulation is strenuous, how strenuous depends on many
factors, concentration and energy required increases exponentially with the
task at hand. For instance a fire mage who lights a candle would feel a slight
fatigue, if that same fire mage attempts to set afire a person that takes a
great deal more energy. If too much individual energy is used, the magic user
can kill himself.
Here magic is role played and not roll played, we have no and have no
expectations of implementing coded skills,stats. We have found where some
players like to introduce chance into their pose by using +roll, with or
without informing the other players they have introduced that random into role
play.
continued in News Magic2
- NEWS MAGIC1
The different types of magic are the elements themselves, and the mage is the
person who is able to manipulate energy to control these elements. So there is
fire magic, air magic, earth magic and water magic. Some mages can be animal
empaths.
WHO CAN USE IT?
A person is born with the ability to channel energy. Not everyone is able to do
it and it is often an inherited characteristic. So a mother may be able to
channel energy, and her daughter or son has a greater chance of being born with
the ability.
Each individual has an affinity with one of the elements, finding it easier to
channel energy through that one form than any of the others. If an attempt is
made to handle more than one, the conflict of the energies can literally tear
them apart.
Some of the older Lledrith Guardians can handle more than one, but only with
great concentration and at great physical cost to their bodies. It requires
much experience and great focus to even attempt it.
Anyone can potentially be born a magic user. There is no genetic requirement,
and once born a magic user, it is always part of who they are, though they may
not choose to practice.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Magic works by channelling energy into and from an element. The mage can draw
energy from the earth, and adds it to their element. So, for example - a fire
mage may draw energy from the earth, add it to a flame, making it burn larger
and hotter. If a water mage wishes to turn water into ice, they remove energy
from the element and it freezes.
The trained mage draws the energy into themselves and dissipates it safely. If
it is not correctly channelled, it can kill the mage who tries it, when the
energy basically causes the body of the mage to tear itself apart.
To use examples from each element - adding energy to earth can make it move or
crack, to water will turn it into mist, or make it bubble and boil, fire will
become hotter and wind can be whipped into hurricanes. By taking it away, the
earth can disintegrate into pieces of rock, water freezes, fire dissipates, and
air will still if not entirely disappear and form a vacuum.
It is a psychosomatic technique. The mage needs to concentrate and focus, than
they can channel energy. However a mage maynot always be successful, the mage
can perform a action one day and may fail the next time. Some mages prefer to
have a focus object, like a staff, or a crystal. Others use hand gestures. It
is not necessary to have any of this, and it is purely at the preference of the
individual.
MAGIC OBJECTS
Magically imbued objects do not exist. A mage can cause a weapon to become
heated, or a crystal to glow, but once the energy dissipates, so too does the
magic. Some objects hold the energy a little longer, with better ability - like
steel will hold heat better than iron..
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MAGE LEVELS
Mages have recognised levels - that being Master Mage, Mage and Apprentice.
Mage's cannot take Apprentices, but can teach them at the request of a Master.
MAGE TRAINING
The clans have mages who would be able to teach those who wish to learn to
channel magic.
Clans would have mages who are recognised as Masters of their craft. Those
Masters can take apprentices from their own clan, or even from other clans. For
example Clan X has a Fire Master Mage, and Clan Y has a Wind Master Mage.
Someone in Clan X shows an affinity for wind magic. Clan X would then arrange
to send that person to Clan Y for training.
AGE LIMITATIONS
Children do not develop the mental acuity to channel energy until their
mid-teens. When they first begin, it is only very small things. They are not
capable of channelling much energy. For example, they may cause a small drift
of wind to close a door, or cause a spark in some tinder. Generally, the
easiest to control is air, and it is often these mages that are discovered
first. Fire is the hardest to control, and generally does not happen until the
mage is in their mid to late twenties. It takes much longer to learn to control
such a powerful and destructive element
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PHYSICAL CONSEQUENCES
Channelling energy is exhausting. Imagine sticking your finger in a light globe
socket while it is live. The muscles jerk and the body feels like it has run a
marathon. This is how channelling a LOT of energy can feel. Even the most
gifted mage has to rest. Small drawing are obviously less tiring, but each will
tax the strength of the user.
And if it goes wrong? If the mage misjudges how much energy to draw from the
land, they die. Period. Too much energy and the heart can literally explode in
the chest, or the brain just fails to send messages to the body to function.
Much more dangerous is removing the energy from the element itself. If the mage
tries to take too much energy into themselves without swiftly and correctly
returning it to the earth, similar consequences can result.
CONSEQUENCES OF IMBALANCE
The energy all comes from the land, flows through living creatures, and returns
to the land. If that energy is drawn for use with magic, an imbalance is
created. The larger the magic, the larger the imbalance that is created. A
great battle can have several large scale ramifications - if the mages have
used energy to create rain, or mist, there might follow a drought until balance
can be restored. Or if there is too much air magic used, perhaps to create a
tornado, trade might entirely stall because there is not a breathe of wind to
fill the sails.
If a Kingdom uses too much magic over too long a period of time, there might be
irreparable damage to the land. No magic is free. It has serious consequences
for its use and must be used wisely and judiciously.
A wise ruler makes use of the Lledrith Guardians and their local mages for
advice on balance.
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Rules
After a mage uses a lot of energy, a mage will be unable to use magic again for
another RL hour. Examples of what constitutes 'a lot of energy' would be the
following.
Elemental Types
Fire Air Water Earth
Fire
Fire magic can only be done when fuel for flame exists. The fire mage increases
the energy of the object until the temperature raises high enough to ignite.
The energy to do this comes from the earth, and the older and more practised
the mage, the faster it happens.
It can happen by direct contact, often through the palms of the hand, which is
almost instantaneous, or if they can afford the time, objects at a distance can
be ignited, again channelling the energy through the palms.
The fire can then be manipulated, depending on the skill of the mage. Battle
mages, for example can light several small objects (eg fuel soaked rags or
arrows) and send them toward their opponents with the help of a wind mage.
Examples of small events requiring little energy:
Lighting a campfire
Setting a small brushfire
Warming the hands for healing
Cauterising wounds
Medium sized events requiring more energy - thus more exhausting:
Creating fireballs
Setting a house on fire
Exploding small ceramics
Big events that are highly destructive that can kill a mage
Exploding a building
Earth
Earth magic is notoriously difficult to control. Sandstorms can be built, and
at the probable consequence of death, even mountains can be tumbled. With
energy added to a certain area of earth, an earthquake can sunder the ground.
Or the sands of the desert can move and shift to swallow those who walk over
it
Small magic:
Shifting a small amount of sand
Crumbling a small rock
Moving small rocks.
Medium magic
Shattering larger rocks
Moving sand dunes
Larger items that can kill
Shattering mountains
Creating an earthquake
Tumbling walls
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Air
By adding energy to an area, windstorms can develop, and if controlled
precisely, they can decimate buildings, or armies. Objects can be picked up and
carried on the winds. By stripping energy from the air, there will be nary a
breath of air upon the land or sea, which can stall navies and trade ships for
days, if not weeks.
Water
Water is an interesting element to have control over, because the range of what
occurs with the addition and stripping away of energy is much broader. A pool
of water can be turned to steam and mist, evaporated in a moment when a lot of
energy is swiftly added, which could mask the retreat of armies. Or a little
energy can shift the water from one place to another. By stripping the energy
from the air, cooling it down, clouds can form and eventually rain. If the mage
is highly trained, he or she can freeze entire bodies of water.
Animal Attunement
Animal attunement is not related to elemental magic. It requires no active
channelling of energy, but for one thing - if the mage wishes to manipulate
control over the animal. communicate with one another. Of course, it requires
that the animal has a developed brain, so animals like dogs, cats, birds,
mammals of the oceans, horses and so on are more easily dealt with, whereas
fish, insects, arachnids and so on are much more difficult, if not impossible.
On the reverse of this, is the ability to control the animals, the more
'simple' the brain structure of the animal, the easier it is to control. If the
mage wishes to control the animal, they must draw upon energy. Eventually, it
exhausts the mage, and the control can only last for so long before the mage
collapses, losing connection with the animals. If you are not sure about a
certain animal, ask a wiz or a staffer.
continued in News Magic7
- NEWS MAGIC6
Magic Sensitives
Magic sensitivity is another passive ability. The Lledrith Guardians are all
sensitive's. To be a sensitive the person has the ability to detect changes
within the balance of energy in the earth. They can detect when someone is
drawing on that energy, thus doing magic, and in certain strongly empathic
sensitive's, they can determine what kind of element a mage is attuned to
(should they have reason to try to discover that information). The rulers of
each land can request their senses be opened artificially by the Lledrith
Guardians if they are not already a sensitive.
Who are the recognized users?
Lledrith Guardians
These are the strongest magic sensitive's. Most have attunement with one or
more of the elements.
Mages
Their are two classes of mage, One class is those local magic sensitive. They
are in attunement with the local land and provide advice to the local rulers
about the land. The Magic sensitive may or may not have attunement with one of
the elemental magic's.
The second class is the General magic users. Usually not magic sensitive. Has
attunement with one of the elemental magics.
Animal Speaker
Can commune directly with animals.