Arcane Magic¶
Contested
Named in the open question First Wizards: the sources disagree on how many first wizards there were and who they were (five elves, twelve Archwizards, twenty or thirty-two Ventari).
"Arcane Magic users gather and control Mithis Energy with equations and algorithms." — The Nature of Magic (S208)
Arcane magic is the magic of Mithis, worked by calculation. Its casters gather the free Mithis of the Material Plane and shape it with formulas that must be solved before a spell can be cast, which is why the arcane caster is a scholar with a spellbook rather than a priest with a prayer. It was born in the Age of Dragons among the first wizards, became common to all peoples after the Shattering, and had its golden age in the Age of Magic. In the Fifth Age it is all but dead: the Mithis it drew on was corrupted and then taken from the world. What Mithis is, and how its corruption came about, is told under Mithis and Nature of Magic; this page is about the practice.
What arcane casters do¶
"Arcane Spells are normally composed of complex formulas and equations which need to be constructed and solved ahead of time. This requires spells to be memorized if they are to be used on demand. An Arcane Magic User can cast any mastered magic at any time with their notes (spellbook) and considerable time to construct and solve the equations for the spell" (S208). The newest notes put the difference with divine casting plainly: for divine casters the formulas "are all embedded into the Astral Shard", while "all other spellcasters ... bind together many formulas and equations into an algorithm which is the spell. This can be a very time consuming process" (S205). Arcane casters "generally have a readily available supply of energy which can be easily augmented with magical items and artifacts composed of Mithis-concentrated materials (most commonly metals and crystals)" (S208). Mithis energy "is only available to casters when on the Material Plane", though arcane spells and enchantments "will function anywhere that Astral Magic functions" (S205).
Because a spell is a written thing, the language it is written in changes it. Arcane languages such as Antusil, "developed by Arcantus and taught to the first Arch-wizards", the elven Lathanos, the Acadian of the Wizards of Acadia and the cyphered Nyxian of mages "wanting to keep their magical secrets" are described under Arcane Languages (S304). Some casters go further: "Arcane battle mages cover their skin with Arcane formulas", and "in order to cast very large ritual spells, groups of Arcane casters can gather and combine their minds to form a Conclave" (S208).
The two foci¶
A caster's Focus is the means by which they reach Mithis, "the determining factor for how much energy the caster can hold and gather" (S304). There are two.
The first is blood. "The ability to harness Mithis is in bloodlines (a Transitive property). These bloodlines are very rare except in magical races such as Elves and Draconians" (S208). The 2017 draft calls the gift Anthu'darim, after the Worldstone (Anthu'Mithis): "As a descendant of the original owners and caretakers of the Worldstone ... the ability to harness Mithis energy is in your blood" (S304). The 2022 treatise names it "Blood of the Lothim" and gives it to "all beings of Lothim (High Elven) descent (including Half-Elves)" (S208); the earlier draft had given it to "all beings of Elven and Orcish descent (including Half-Elves and Half-Orcs)" (S304).
The second is Wizardry. "Their energy comes from a Mithis power source in their possession. Predating the Shattering, the first wizards were the Archwizards whose staves allowed them direct access to the vast magical reserves of the Worldstone. Now a rarity, Wizards were once governed by the Wizard's Covenant, before the fall of the Council of Wizards. A Wizard's primary advantage is relatively easy access to large quantities of energy. Their biggest disadvantage is their reliance on a source of power which they can be separated from" (S208).
A third way opened during the Hollowing, when arcane casters learned to draw on the Mithis of a Hollow; that practice, Hollowcasting, has its own page under Hollowcasting (S208, S292).
Who casts¶
Arcane gifts are uneven across the peoples. "Mithis casting is not possible for the vast majority of mortal creatures. Only a handful of races have consistent casting ability (Elves, Gnomes and Draconians), while others rely on genetic bloodlines tied to interbreeding of their race with one of the aforementioned races. In this way it is possible (but rare) to have Human, Halfling, Dwarven and Orc casters" (S395). Dwarves, unable to cast, were given rune magic instead: Runik was "developed by Khardas to allow the non-magical Dwarven race to practice magic through Rune Magic" (S304; see Rune Magic).
Common speech has its own words for the practitioners: "Wizard, Mage, Magician - general terms for magic-users", "Order, Cabal, Society - organization or group of mages", and "Maleficanum, Witch, Warlock - general terms for evil magic-users" (S395).
The spellcraft traditions¶
Arcane study divides into spellcrafts, schools of approach rather than separate magics: "all of the Arcane Spells (with a few exceptions) are available between any of the Spellcraft Skills ... Arcane Spellcraft represents alternative approaches and a focus on similar areas of study" (S304). The twelve domains and their colleges that these traditions work in are described under Arcane Colleges.
| Tradition | What it works | In the world |
|---|---|---|
| Magician | the breadth of domains, "terrestrial forces" in the newer treatise | "some of the most common Arcane magic users"; the Order of Wizards and the Acadian, Nexa-Vinian and White-Fire Orders "are all composed of significant numbers of Magicians" (S304, S208) |
| Conjurer | the terrestrial or elemental forces | specialists in Air, Earth, Fire and Water (S304, S208) |
| Enchanter | the celestial forces | specialists in the planar domains (S304, S208) |
| Evoker | raw energies | "a relatively new (only several thousand years old) form of Spellcraft invented by the Nexa-Vinian Mage, Coransitus after his groundbreaking discovery of the unifying theory of chaotic energy ... It has been widely adopted by numerous magical societies" (S304) |
| Incanter | the opposing ordered energies, or "extra-planar forces" in the newer treatise | "founded shortly after Evokers" (S304, S208) |
| Vacator | annulment of Mithis | outlawed; see below |
Vacator¶
The Vacator, "Mage-Hunter, Spellbreaker", practises "an extremely rare and widely outlawed form of Arcane Spellcraft. Annulment spells manipulate Mithis into an negative state (Mithi'Nulias) which results in complete destruction on contact with normally charged Mithis particles ... Originally employed during the Spell Wars, they have since been outlawed by every magical order. Only the Dark Elves are still known to train them" (S304). The newer treatise calls the tradition Spellbreaker and has "the Dwarves and Dark Elves" train them (S208). The art, its order and its history are told under Mithi'nulias.
History¶
The sources agree that arcane magic began with a handful of wizards taught by the gods, armed with staves that drew on the Worldstone, and set against the demons; they disagree on who and how many. The 2022 treatise has "the twelve Archwizards and their disciples who were able to tap directly into the power of the Worldstone. This was the birth of Arcane Magic. However, it was limited to High Elves, Dark Elves and some breeds of Draconians and Dragons" (S208). The Compendium has "the Einar collaborated to instruct twenty Ventari in the use of the five spheres of magic, in order that they might teach others. Magic was given as a tool and weapon against the demon hordes. Four wizards specialized in each sphere" (S372). The Demi-Gods draft makes them "thirty-two Ventari in the use of the thirty-two spheres of magic" (S434), and the overview of the gods "five mortals (Elves)", whose branches were "Conjurers, Enchanters, Thaumaturges (Mages), Alchemists and Druids" and whose corrupted counterparts were "Demoncallers, Spellbinders, Sorcerors, Warlocks and Necromancers" (S429). The Ventari Archwizards also figure in the history of the Druids.
All agree on the staves. "The staves of the first wizards are some of the most powerful magical artifacts in existence, though all but one have been lost over the ages ... Initially, the staves channeled magic through the Anthu'Mithius and conferred god-like power. At that time, only wizards with staves were able to work magic through the stone. After Anthu'Mithius was destroyed, the power of the staves was greatly diminished, but they still remain the most powerful mithius channeling devices in existence. However, a mithius channeling device is no longer required to perform magic, but works only to amplify its use" (S372). Lothos is "the only one rumored to still be alive" (S372); in the Proturas of the Fifth Age, three wizards "rumored to be holders of the staves of the ancient archwizards" are said to have received Lothos's staff after his death and used it to uncover two others (S078, cited on Proturas).
"After the Shattering, Mithis became available to all beings, not just those with a birthright to it (High Elves and Dark Elves). This was the golden age of Arcane Magic, when great orders of magicians were formed and magic was commonplace" (S208). The newest account of those orders runs from the Council of Wizards, "ruled by the Archwizards", which "fell apart after most of the Archwizards fell in the demon wars (all except one, Lothos)", through the Nexa-Vinian Order founded by two of the Archwizards' apprentices, to its schism and the flight of the Acadian Order, who "became the de facto police force for hunting down rogue mages and providing magical support to the kingdoms" (S358). Each order has its own page; the mage war is told under Nexa-Vinian War. Its aftermath shaped how the world sees mages: "Magic-use, once fairly common in humans, became rare, and a thing feared by the populace. The elves became shunned for their use of magic (they did not purge their casters like the humans)" (S372). A later coup by the Wizards of Lhan ended with their city razed and "almost 90% of the known wizards" hunted down, an event "generally held to be responsible for setting the development of arcane magic back nearly a thousand years" (S372).
"After the events of the Dark Sun and the death of Kalar, Mithis became a corrupted substance controlled primarily by the Archdemon Asmodeus. This led to the worldwide abandonment of Mithis as a Focus and Source of Magic for the mortal races" (S208). The Sancturi notes are blunter: arcane magic is "essentially lost. Mithis has been altered by Daemiveus and no longer functions as it once did. Even with a book on Arcane magic, it is now impossible to use it. It has been transformed into Hollow Magic" (S132). In the Fifth Age notes "Demonic Magic (was Mithis Magic) is now solely the province of Demons" (S014), and after the Redemption removed Mithis from the Material, "Mages, Wizards and Hollowlocks -- have lost their power source" (S112). One arcane mage, Aggormaedes, recorded his efforts to cleanse Mithis sources before he succumbed to possession, noting "that dragons, most titans and the metal, adamantium appear to be unaffected" (S142).
Arcane Corruption and the Blue Wizards¶
"Since the death of Kalar and the ascension of Asmodeus over the Mithis plane, demonic corruption and the use of Mithis magic are intertwined. While this has forced the end of the practice of magic in most places, there have been some who have refused and resisted and continue to practice despite the dangers. Note that a caster does not have any idea of how high his own corruption has reached" (S304). Corruption grows with the energy a caster gathers and fades only when they hold none, and it advances by stages that "cannot be reversed" (S304).
The stages run from a faint "demonic presence" detectable when the caster holds energy, through Tainted ("a faint demonic presence is always detectable on you"), Defiled ("stray demonic thoughts and periodic spasms of loss of control"), Warped ("unmistakable demonic transformations/signs begin to appear. Eyes, mouth and skin seem to be weak spots") and Twisted, to Aberration ("Demon is in primary control, but spirit still resists ... Half-human, half-demon aberration") and at last Possessed: "Complete dominion over the host spirit has been achieved" (S304). At the worse stages the caster suffers episodes of rage and then of hunger: "you hunger for souls and will immediately attack the closest soul-bearing target in range" (S304).
The Blue Wizards are the arcane casters who keep the practice alive by fighting this. They "remain in this stage", the first, "by using Divine magic to cleanse the corruption" (S304). They also police other mages: "Mages caught be Blue wizards at this stage", Tainted, "will have their casting ability stripped from them and given placid tasks in a controlled environment (prison)", and they hold Defiled to be "the point of no return" (S304). The Compendium had named the Blue Wizard among the casters of the Arcane sphere, beside the Arcanist, Magician, Augur and Alchemist (S372).
Gap
No source says who the Blue Wizards are as an order, where they work, or how they came by divine magic.
Mithis in the blood and the Mithrot Plague¶
Mithis in the blood is what made the elves casters, and what doomed them; that story is told under Mithis. In the Fifth Age the necromancer Malathar set out to make a weapon of it. Mist Keep above the ruins of Urdhar is the "Primary Research Center for Malathar's Mithrot Plague" (S050). "He is having trouble tuning it for non-elves. Many subjects are immune and many others die quickly. Neither case ends up being very contagious, which is a bit of a disaster. He is basing it on an early version of Arvandor's Plague … one which not only destroyed the Mithin in their blood but left them scarred such that they were unable to tap their Anima at all" (S050, S049). He had "thoroughly tested a carrier insect" and was searching the ruins for Cordycell's Censer, the "Censer of Swarming Blight" (S050). The keep's cells hold crystals that cause "massive casting feedback when Anima is accessed" (S049).
Gap
Arvandor's Plague is named only here; no source says who Arvandor was, when the plague struck, or whether it is what destroyed the High Elves.
Earthblight¶
Where Mithis is used up, the land dies. "Areas of the planet that have died and are no longer able to sustain life of any kind have been infected by Earthblight. Many theories exist about how this can happen. However, the most respected is: a complete exhaustion of local Mithius energy. A combination of massive destruction and magic-use can exhaust an area to such a great extent that the Mithius-cycle is broken and Mithius concentrations collapse. Living cells in these areas consume Mithius energy with no way to be replenished. Insects and tiny organisms die within an hour of exposure. Smaller animals get sick and die within days. Larger animals become sick and die within a few weeks" (S387). It goes by many names: "The Withering, Earthblight, Kalar's Bane, The Red Plague" (S387, S498). The Westmarches, "ravaged in the Demon Wars", are "now almost entirely covered in Earthblight" (S498, S372).
In the Fourth Age a new Earthblight spreads through Angorath, breeding flesh-monsters and leaving a Dead Forest. "Nobody knows what started the Earthblight": it began twenty years before and turned "cataclysmic" five years before (S328). Survivors keep it off with magic: an ogre skull that drains life paired with an orb that releases magical energy "repels the Blight", and the Earl of Ornwell was persuaded that a necromancer's project "will protect Ornwell from the encroaching Blight" (S328).
Earlier accounts¶
The earliest magic-user draft divided all magic into five spheres, Arcane, Conjuration, Elemental, Living and Spirit, and set the wizard's craft within them (S371); the Compendium kept the five spheres for the first wizards (S372). The 2014 Spellcasting draft, which keeps the eight focuses of that era, is described under Casting Focuses of the Earlier Ages (S395). The 2017 draft has Mithis "a destroyed Astral Shard with no owner (binding is Relational and Transitive and claimed by proximity and skill)" and says it "takes Arcane magic users a lot of effort to gather and control Mithis Energy. However, this is offset by their relatively large sized energy pool" (S304). The 2018 Sancturi notes mention a "Devil that practices the Arcane College of Arcane Magic" among those who could read a pact-totem (S145), and a worksheet of the period sets out the colleges of each domain (S302).
Legacy rules for arcane casting are kept under Mechanics: Arcane Colleges and Spellcasting.1
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Rules for arcane casting in ARCS: Arcane Magic; the casting traditions: Arcanist ↩