Divine Magic¶
"Divine Magic is whatever the owner of the Astral Shard decides it should be." — The Nature of Magic (S208)
Divine magic is the magic of the gods, lent to their servants. Its casters do not build spells: they draw on rites already written into their god's Astral Shard, reached through a consecrated object or through anointing into a priesthood. It is the magic of priests, clerics, paladins, monks and inquisitors, and in the Fifth Age it is the most prominent magic in the world, because the god called the Divine has made it so. What a shard is, and the contracts that bind a caster to one, are told under Astral Shards and Astral Contracts; the gods and their priesthoods are in Religion.
The rites in the shard¶
"Divine Magic is Ethereal magic drawn from the Astral Plane under Astral Law ... Magical scholars believe that it is founded on Elder equations embedded in the fabric of the shard itself by the owner of the shard. Further, they believe once created, they cannot be erased. This explains the phenomenon of lost and forbidden spells and rituals. Apparently, even the gods sometimes forget or dislike what they have written or created" (S208).
The priest therefore needs no mathematics. "Unlike other forms of magic, a Divine Magic User does not require a deep understanding of the mechanics of spell construction. Instead of spell formulas, algorithms and equations, the Divine Caster taps into rites already embedded/engraved in their Deity's shard. These rites are usually known only to the Deity's priesthood, and in many cases, some of the more specialized rites have been forgotten except to particular sects (imagine millions of complex equations … some may be lost even to the Deity controlling the shard)" (S208). The 2026 notes say the same: the formulas "are all embedded into the Astral Shard and understanding their details is not necessary to use them" (S205).
What a shard offers depends on its god. A shard "can potentially provide access to all the colleges, however, in practice it's normally a subset ... To some degree this is controlled by the shard holder who will generally not allow magic contrary to their purpose to be performed using their shard. For this reason the spell list for each shard is unique and determined by both the shard and shard holder ... some shards support different religious orders with different college availabilities and specialization" (S395). "Divine Magic is usually bounded to particular domains where the caster's patron/patroness holds sway. An individual can only have a single patron Deity except under extraordinary circumstances" (S208). A player's notes from the Fifth Age record one priest's magic as two schools named for the gods he drew on, "Kalar-Dominion Magic" and "Arya-Dominion Magic" (S004).
The Demesne Binding¶
Why gods are tied to places and peoples is explained by the Binding Rule (see Nature of Magic). Among the bindings it lists is "Creation : God -> Created Matter and Energy (Directional & Transitive). This is also known as the Demesne Binding, which explains why some Gods are associated to certain types of terrain, peoples and things" (S208). A god's domains are the things it made and holds by that binding, and a shard's rites are strongest there.
Sanctified objects and anointing¶
The bond between a caster and the shard is made in one of two ways. "Divine magic users are often given Sanctified Objects (Holy Symbols or other objects) which provide the bond with the Astral Shard. Later, A Divine magic user may be Annointed into the Deity's Priesthood (forming a Symmetric Bond with the Shard) and no longer requiring a Sanctified Object to use Divine Magic" (S208). In the 2026 notes the object is enough: "to connect with the Astral Shard, the Divine Caster need only possess a Consecrated object (Astral Bond)", and the shard itself is "a single ever-present and inconsumable Source ... for all it's relevant domains" (S205). The contract this creates is the Ordained contract of Astral Contracts.
Divine energy itself can be stored. "Permanent divine power sources are extremely rare, and are normally only found in Holy Relics and artifacts (which are most often kept in temples and worshipped). The most common form of Divine energy used by Runecasters is from consecrated objects. These objects have no power of their own but are capable of holding divine energy for some time without much loss. They effectively act like batteries" (S246). Rune magic's own use of divine power is told under Rune Magic.
How divine casters are seen to work¶
"Divine Magic Users have smaller energy pools, but generally gain energy very quickly and easily compared to other casters" (S208). The working drafts name the ways a caster draws that energy. Ordained power is gathered "in prayer". Liturgy is a ritual of "an hour in prayer or meditation". A Holy Word is won by pilgrimage: "1 Holy Word per devotional pilgrimage (must visit a holy site and spend ½ hour per charge)", and the holier the site, the more it grants; "Holy Words enable 'Miracle' level spells" (S207). Holy sites matter for a reason the archive gives: "The Clergy have especially have learned not just to tap into it, but to build conduits to help form it, which is why Holy sites are often found to have the very highest levels of this energy" (S395).
Who practises it¶
The archive's notes sort the god's servants by what they do with the power (S365):
| Calling | What it is |
|---|---|
| Cleric | "holy energy -> primary spellcaster"; the Priest who "focuses on ministry (focus is on people, conversion, ministry)", the armoured Battle Cleric who "battles for the god's interests", and the Inquisitor |
| Inquisitor | "focuses on increasing their master's shards influence: rooting out places where their influence is either diminished due to interference, negligence or competing interests. Brings judgement to those working against the god or those that have betrayed them" |
| Monk | "holy energy -> hand to hand combat"; the Monastic of a monastery that "forms a small army", the wandering Seeker, and the Conservator who guards a temple |
| Paladin | "warrior + holy energy -> minor spellcasting"; Guardian, Champion ("an attention seeker, looking to increase the visibility and influence of their god through great deeds") and Crusader |
Monks stand apart. "A monk draws their power and inner strength from their connection to the Spirit World (Outer Planes) and the connection with their deity. They are not channelers of Mithis energy, but have learned to channel with their deity's astral shard ... Monks are more focused inwards than Clerics and Paladins, seeking their own perfection, believing that in the process of achieving their own perfection, it will both radiate outwards to the world and empower them with the strength and the moral authority to assist others" (S368). "A monk's energy resource is referred to as Ki. It is restored through rest, meditation and prayer" (S368). Paladins "draw on divine magic through prayer and ancient rites", and their spells follow their god (S369).
The newest notes are stricter about who holds the power itself: "Possessed by only a select few ... Gods, Elementals and other Astral Shard holders are the only possessors of this magic. Divine energy is available in the Astral, Material, Elemental or Abyssal Planes, but not the Ethereal, Shadow or Void Planes" (S205). Mortals borrow it.
Taking a god's magic without leave¶
A god's rites can be stolen. The arcane college of Sanception "deals with the manipulation of astral shards and their associated rites. In this way, they work exactly like divine magic except without the divine mandate and permission (anointing). Most gods do not approve of this use of their shards, but accept it as unavoidable. If caught, however, the gods like to make an example of the defiler and will extract some form of punishment, in some cases taking away the their casting ability. There are some rare cases where a god sanctions this type of casting without an anointing. This is usually when the caster is a devout worshipper or servant and gives the god proper credit" (S306).
Divine magic in the Fifth Age¶
"Divine Magic is unchanged, though most deities capable of it have considerable expectations (not unlike Demons)" (S014). After the fall of the Riven gods, "the age of benevolent deities passed with the death of the Riven Gods (who saw the races as their children). New and old deities expect a lot from their followers and especially their priesthoods", and the scholars' test of godhood is a divine clergy: "to be classified as a god, one must have a clergy with their spellcasting abilities drawn from the god" (S014).
After the Redemption, the Divine heads the list of the sources of magic "in order of prominence", through his Incarnates ("similar to ascendants") and his "Priests, Paladins, Clergy" (S112). His priesthood, the Divine Authority, is "fanatically orthodox -- all other Gods are forsworn enemies and their followers are heretics and infidels", and "the Divine must be pleased constantly with offerings and sacrifices. If he is displeased his protection will be withheld" (S112). The Divine's nations are hostile to every other magic: the Divine Alliance is "a group of nations devoted to the worship of the Divine and the eradication of evil in all its forms (most notably the Riven and Sancturi Gods, Magic-Users, Dragons, Demons, Fae and Rift-folk)" (S004), and "rune magic is forbidden by the Divine" (S112). The priesthoods of lesser powers survive: cults of "the Dead Gods, Elder Gods, Eldritch, Demi-Gods and Demons" are uncommon, the runecasters of old gods rare (S112).
Gap
No source describes a divine rite being performed in play in any detail, the training or ordination of a priest, or how a forgotten rite is rediscovered.
Earlier accounts¶
The 2014 Spellcasting draft calls divine energy "Positive/Negative": "The Positive and Negative energy planes are built from opposition. Good and Evil. Creation and Destruction, Happiness and Misery. These extremes are what generates power in the positive and negative energy planes. Priests, Monks, Clerics, Paladins and a few Mages have learned to tap into these power streams through Astral Shards", and says that "because Divine Energy comes through the Astral Shard, only an Astral Focus can make use of it (a Mithis caster cannot tap Divine Energy)" (S395). The Fifth Age notes of 2021 say that "Mithis Magic and Divine Magic are no longer distinct, as the source of both is Astral Magic" (S014). The Namakan runecasters read divine power as one of three pairs of energies, "Ethereal or Divine" (S256; see Nature of Magic).
Legacy rules for divine casters are kept under Mechanics: Divine Classes and, for Sanception, Astral Colleges.1
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Faiths and divine magic in ARCS: 0. Overview - Faiths & Divine Magic; the Divine Caster tradition: Divine Caster ↩