A treatise on the origins of magic in the modern world
A treatise on the origins of magic in the modern world
- Savin Thonät
Magic is a conspicuous but ubiquitous part of the everyday life. Indeed, many people (the humble author included) could scarcely get through a day without it. It is surprising then how little most people understand it. Indeed, many spell casters stumble through their lives with only the vaguest of understandings as to how magic actually works and the implications of these mechanisms.
Source
Magic, as we are all aware, is (at its base) simply the manipulation of energy. In this particular case, the energy exists in a nearly uniform field[1] surrounding all things. There is some discussion (Fizban - Where the Peaches Go and Dumbledore - The conservation of magical mass in Phoenix ash being the most prominent) as to whether this magic energy actually constitutes its own coterminous plane (like the astral and shadow planes)[2] but this is irrelevant to the current discussion.
What is relevant, however, is that raw magical energy is not properly controllable directly by non-divine entities. Even in small amounts, this energy is highly damaging to the host. Indeed, I have posited that the occasional case of spontaneous combustion reported in the known lands is, in fact, the uncontrolled channelling of uncontrolled magical energy.
So how then are beings other then the gods (and perhaps a few high level angels and devils) able to use magic at all? Why aren't their pyres of burning wizards, sorcerers, and clerics on every corner? There are, in fact, at least four separate answers to this question.
Forms of Control
The forms of magical control are arranged by their relative antiquity. The oldest being discussed first.
Innate
Certain creatures (Dragons, Phoenix, and certain salamanders) as well as their part-blood offspring (kobolds being the most common example) seem able to channel magical energy at will. Indeed the dragon could not even fly if it were not for magical assistance[3]. It would appear that each of these species contains, within its makeup, the ability to protect itself from the dangers of interaction with raw magic. In the case of dragons (and their brethren) this control takes the form of tiny projections of crystallized Will[4] that focus and channel the magical energy while protecting the body. The dragon has no knowledge of these crystals but is still able to make use of them.
Recently there has arisen amongst the civilized races a form of spell caster known as the Sorcerer. Wildly undisciplined, they seem to ignore the spellforms of proper wizards and channel magic with abandon. In every documented case of Sorcery, Will crystals were discovered within the host. Indeed, there are several documented cases of Dragon ancestry within their past. Several scandals have been caused due to this fact.
Divine
In the case of divine spell casters, the source of control is easy enough to determine. Since divine entities can channel the raw magical forces directly, they are able to transmute it into a form that can be handled by standard divine casters. Small amounts of magic are transmuted without conscious thought[5] but larger levels require a more direct divine intervention. Thus divine casters who deviate too far from their god's chosen ideals typically do not lose their powers until they attempt to access a stronger spell (thus alerting their deity to their transgressions).
Of course, deities are little more than stabalized Thaumological Fields (see below) that have obtained consciousness (or at least an approximation there of) it isn't clear whether these two sources truly deserve seperate secions.
Spell forms
Fenor, known for his love of change and trickery, desired to allow greater access to magic to the general intelligent races. Since direct contact with a significant amount of raw magical energy is fatal in nearly all cases, Fenor devised the spellforms. Spellforms allow the tiniest amounts of raw magic to be used to form a matrix through which much greater amounts of magic can be channelled.
The spellforms are a means for anyone to access the abilities of magic. They do not require a particular birthright (like Sorcery) or dedication to a specific deity (as with divine magics) but rather simply dedicated study.
Each spellform is a specific series of gestures, words, and mundane components used to trigger a specific spell. Each part of a spellform is used to focus a small piece of raw magic into the lattice that forms the larger spell. Rather like weaving, the individual threads of magic are woven into the desired shape and outcome. Thus raw, uncontrolled magical energy can be shaped into nearly any form imaginable with the use of the correct spellform.
Raw magic is still extremely powerful. This power explains the physical drain imposed upon the caster. Further it is the cause of the destruction of most material components used in spell casting.
Collective Spontaneous Thaumological Fields
It has been noted that the Goblin races are able to exhibit powers that closely mimic those shown by divine casters. Since their gods are non-existent delusions, the above method of channelling employed by clerics of the civilized races is not applicable. So what, then, is occurring?
A first guess would to assume that goblinoids (like kobolds) have a magically attuned ancestor. This assumption would be flawed in two ways:
1. Such an ancestor would lead to an arcane expression of magical control rather than a divine one
2. The extensive testing done on Goblins to determine their connection to the Feywild (See Savin Thonät - Goblins, Elves, Eladrin, Nymphs, and the Feywild: a Comparative Meta-anatomical Study)
Despite continual efforts from missionary groups to prove the falsehood of their gods, goblinkind remains unified and fervent in their belief of their "gods". It is my assertion[6] that this unified belief forms a metamagical field around each member of the goblinoid race. This field (and the corresponding belief in the abilities of their clerics' powers) serves the same purpose as the spellforms introduced by Fenor. It mediates the contact with the raw magic and thus allows what appears to be divine magic to come from a race that possesses no pantheon of gods.
Further evidence of this comes from the elaborate gestures required by goblin casters to invoke their divine spells. These gestures are reminiscent of the somatic components of a wizard's spell. Without these movements, their shaman and witches cannot perform their magic and are rendered powerless.
This "belief field" is a great weakness to the goblinoid races as (should it be disrupted in some way) they would lose all access to divine magics.
[1] See (Elminster - Elminster Elminster, I like my name) for a detailed measurement study of variations of magical field strength.
[2] Personally I think that Fizban's inverted Divination theorem is superior to the Phoenix ash based nonsense that Dumbledore spouts.
[3] See Oz - The Aeronautical Inadequacies of the Wyrm Class for a detailed examination of the specifics
[4] See Savin Thonät - Physical will the continuation of mind over body.
[5] Indeed some suspect that there may be another mechanism involved in lower level divine channelling
[6] See Appendixes 32-65 for the corresponding mathematical, divinational, and alchemical proofs.
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