D&D (in the original, AD&D, and AD&D 2nd ed) used a variation on the magics described by Jack Vance in his Dying Earth series. These magics were fragments of greater magics from aeons past, that have been discovered and put into practice by wizards of the current age.They have a complexity and an alien-ness that makes them too difficult to learn, as you would learn a list of facts or learn how to cook a chicken. This is the in game perspective I plan to use for such magics in my games, but references will be made to OSR style D&D type games with spell lists and levels.
A person has to be very smart, flexible, and determined to use wizards magic. Wizards magic is taxing to the body and the mind, and it is fraught with great perils to both. A neophyte wizard learns from a master. (Though some hedge magic could be self taught true wizardry is too alien, too arcane.)
The young Wizard is accepted into apprenticeship and begins to learn certain ways of thinking. It is a training of the mind to think in ways that are not natural to normal life: Strengthening the will against assault; Enduring mind bending repetitions; Casting the mind/spirit into a mythic realm. Traveling in the dream country. None of these lessons are spells and none would gather secret knowledge or on their own or effect the world. They change the apprentice wizard, making them ready for magic.
When the body of skills becomes strong enough, after a years of isolation from the mundane and much mind binding mental labor that has no visual effect, the Master then teaches very basic spells, cantrips, that allow greater access to knowledge and power.
Again these aren’t the spells that will effect game. These go beyond basic techniques of building mind palaces or enduring mental hardships. Thes introductory spells let you step out of your dreams into the World of True Dream, or to see the patterns in random events that shower Greater Powers at work. These knowledges help the apprentice start to seek the power of True Spells, rather than charms or rote invocations.
If the first level of training doesn’t cause madness, as it does in many, then this second can actually consume the young wizards soul as they actual start coming in contact with the agents of Greater Powers. If the student hasn’t strengthened their will and mental flexibility or haven’t learn the lesser cantrips of protection proficiently, then they will be assaulted or lost in the realms of Dream, Ethereal, or Astral.
If you are playing a first level character they will have survived these trials. They will have written in their own hand from their masters books, or bodies of lore, the first spells in their own spell book.
The magic the Apprentice learns is varied and strange. Like in the game rules, spells have levels and and spell names. Levels are classifications in the most general way of trials or powers that must be overcome before they may be unlocked, precursors spells that must be known, or astral guardians overcome. Thuse master to master where a spell fits in maybe a matter of some argument.
Spell names in the rules may be “Magic Missile” or “Locate Object”. In the story the Magic Missile spell may be known as “The Loosed Arrow of the Archangel Griblifax”. Locate Object may be “The Invocation of the unswerving hound, lesser”
When a wizard learns a spell for the first time, it isn’t the sudden understanding of words in a book. It is the outcome of an epic astral quest in which he solves riddles, faces perils, binds spirits to his will, and learns ancient names. The spellbooks of his master, as well as teachings, and mind bending exercises, are the tools, but the young wizard gains the power on their own through questing for it in realms unknowable. This will involve research, meditation, astral trial and combat, lab work, and work in ritual spaces like magic circles.
After a spell has be researched, astrially quested for, and attained through otherworldly trial, extensive notes of the journey and the invocation of that power are made in their own spell book. This spell will be unique and different than their master's, though there will be similarities that speak of the lineage of the wizard. This could be used by other wizards to gain the same power, but they would have to make their own journey to master it.
After that first learning of the spell and recording it in the book to gain that power again is not so sore a trial. Instead during a state of mediation or during a simpler ritual the power power is conjured or astarally sought out and tied to the wizard in some way. This is the daily ritual of “learning spells” and though it seems to take about an hour in objective time, in the subjective world of the mage it is an exhausting work that can only be achieved once a day and when rested.
Each preparation readies one spell. Each spell is different, based on what was needed to attain the power to begin with. Maybe it is a section of a sacred name of power tied to the wizards own true name which causes a spirit to hovers chained in his mind, or a force kept in a secret other dimensional stasis only the wizard can reach. Each spell is different. There is no Universal Magical System. Many wizards may have similar spells that work completely differently. The similarities only exist in game manuals.
Let’s look at the two examples above.
The Loosed Arrow of the Archangel Griblifax (Magic Missile): The wizard, while studying his coded spell book recalls the Astral route to the never ending battle between the Archer of the Gods Griblifax and the Blind Horde that constantly assaults the Walls of Heaven. After using rites to protect his soul he appears on the battlefield (while his body sits in meditation) and as the Angel looses his unerring arrows, the Wizard uses a binding to draw one, in flight, into a pocket realm where it will wait until the wizard looses it on his own enemy. This though allows one of the Blind Horde to assail the wall. Magic doesn’t come cheap.
The Invocation of the Unswerving Hound, Lesser (Locate Object). In the learning of this spell the Wizard traveled through to the Dream Realm and challenged the Fairy Lord of the Hunt with a fragment of its true name. In return for making one thousand sacrifices, it both promises not to swear vengeance and lets you use the one thousand of his hounds each exactly once. You laboriously recorded a 1000 names of these hounds in your spellbook. To use the spell you reenact the sacrifice ritual and invoke the hound, who's spirit hovers near to hunt for you. Also, to waylay vengeance, you have forgotten this fragment of the name of the Lord and may never know it even if it is written in your spellbook in front of you.
Two more examples could be:
Whispers of the Ancient Master Porthos on the Subject of Enchantment (Detect Magic): This simple spell involves reciting a litany of arcane Masters in an unbroken chain paying each a complement until you reach Master Porthos. You hold his name in waiting for the need of the spell. After flattering him greatly he will look through your eyes and tell you of the enchantments he sees.
Conjuration of the the Mail of Gustav the Fat at the Battle of Ten Acres (Mage armor): By whispering over and over the deed name of, not Gustav the Fat, but the armor he wore on that famous day, you call its ghost from the past into a fragment of that famous armor you wear as a bracelet. You can then call on its power in a short spell. It then surrounds you for the duration of the spell.
Each of the spells above is based on a generic spell but shows the in game power source and the sacrifice or ordeal needed to use the magics.
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