The Acquisition of Magic
Simply put, the practice of magic consists of two distinct portions: the acquisition of magical power and its immediate use. This first section will focus on the first step, on the necessary procedures for pulling magic into our reality from its source, henceforth labeled the Wellspring, as it is often referred to within the halls of Moxous.
To obtain magic from the Wellspring, a mage must first understand the amount of magic required for their spell. Summoning too much magic without giving it sufficient direction can leave that excess power trapped within the human form to disastrous effect: at the very least, the wreck of the mage’s health, and in best cases, their death. For this reason, every scholar within the Moxous School of Magics first learns to control the amount of magic they will summon before ever attempting to summon it for any given spell. This often takes the form of an incantation that expresses the intent of the caster, though it can also appear as a rune, symbol, or series of these.
Along with the statement of intent to bend reality and procure the correct amount of magical power, the mage must also provide energy. The Wellspring cannot be breached without some fuel to open the way; no action at all can be completed without energy, whether by the consumption of food by man or wood by fire or light by plants. In this, magic is no different. Energy to open the Wellspring is often provided in the form of several different components, which might be as widely varied as bee’s wing, toadstool, mountain salts, or thrush egg, and might need to be burned or boiled or baked. There are too many options for possible spell component combinations, but it all can be simplified thusly: to procure magic, the mage must announce their intent and fuel the breach into the Wellspring.
Using Magic
As the human body is not capable of containing magical power for any length of time, once acquired, this magic must immediately be put to some use. The mage is again required to impose their intent on the world, this time often through the means of a chant or formula. It might seem a slow method to the uneducated reader, but should they take a moment to try and devote their attention to a single object, they would find just how difficult it can be to focus one’s intent so fully. The use of ritual here directs that focus to ensure that the magic is spent on its intended purpose instead of bending towards the mage’s stray thoughts to unforeseeable consequences. The formulaic method has another benefit as well: complexity. A formula might be thought out and edited extensively before its use to create enormous and layered works of magic.
There is not enough space within the confines of this work to discuss all of the uses to which magic might be put. However, other than the casting of spells mentioned in the previous paragraph, there is one other use that ought not to go unmentioned. Over the course of the five hundred years since its establishment, the scholars of the Moxous School of Magic have refined the methods of placing summoned magic within the confines of a receptacle designed to hold it.
Surely, the reader can see the possibilities afforded by such a method. Mundane objects might be coaxed into the most extraordinary purposes, or else the magic might be saved to be used in spells later, significantly reducing the time spent in preparing to cast them.
Notable Exceptions
It is now widely accepted among the denizens of Moxous that there are those who can perform magic without following the steps listed above. Whereas anyone might cast a spell with enough study (for all that some are more gifted for the work than others), there are three known types of mages that are born with innate magical abilities.
Born with a birth defect in the form of a kernel of magic within their bodies, healers are capable of using magic to repair the bodies of themselves and others without first delving into the Wellspring. The downside to this magic is that it is finite, so healers in Ingola are trained to use other methods whenever possible. Like healers, seers do not need the Wellspring to be granted their visions; however, it is unclear whether or not they also contain a finite source of magic or if they are just particularly sensitive to the currents of magic within Illygad. The last of these innately talented magic users are those with spiritsight. Less is known about the people who see spirits than any of the other types of mages, and some have even postulated that it is not a form of magic at all. It is certain that those with spiritsight are not capable of producing magic without opening the Wellspring, but they do tend to make particularly gifted mages.
Though still relatively unstudied, there are those in Moxous who long to recreate the presence of an internal well of power in those who can practice other forms of magic, though so far, this process has been futile. No healer has yet existed that could use their magic in any way not immediately aiding the body’s natural course. Seers may only glimpse the future.
Conclusion
An overly curious reader may here begin to wonder what place the magic of the Wildlands might have within this system, and to that, I have only to say that it has no place whatsoever. The heathen clans of the north follow an entirely different practice born in more barbaric times. Fraught with the use of blood and sacrifice, their ‘magic’ (if it indeed might even be called so rather than the scornful and perhaps more accurate term, superstition) has no use to the repertoire of the learned mage.
That being said, the
