Arcana: Schools of Magic

Magic is a pervasive part of Arcana, ranging from a local wisewoman blessing the crops or healing the sick to the vast thaumic weapons of the Necromantic War. Five general 'schools' of magic have emerged, aligned with each of the Five Essences, each having their own style of performing magic. Ultimately though, the schools of magic are more about how magic is done than its effects.

Ether: Willworking

The Ether school revolves around the triumph of will and supremacy of intellect in the working of magic. It is both philosophical and primal, a duality that fascinates the learned. The actual training and practice in the Etheric school centers around building a practioner's self-esteem, willpower and creative essence, as the limits are essentially nothing more than what the caster can imagine and control. This makes Ether both easy to pick up and incredibly difficult to master.

Force: Magical Assemblers

Force is the collapse of undefined Ether into ordered, energetic processes. In the same vein, the Forces school is a stark contrast in that it is a mechanistic approach to magic. Spells are made from Concepts, Functions, Statements and other functional components; these are assembled into an actual spell. Once a spell is 'programmed' it can be retained and re-cast as desired with just a simple execution phrase, or recompiled to become more efficient or have different effects. Force spells are also particularly well suited for complex enchanted items. Several 'languages' have been created over the millenia. The downsite to the Force school is that it does not reward rote learning and is generally unsuited for simple tasks.

RUNTRAN

An ancient Dwarven spell language that has been in use for over two millenia, RUNTRANS uses simple runes that are angular to allow them to be easily carved into metal or stone. The current language standard is RUNTRAN 4990, though older standards such as RUNTRAN 4761 and RUNTRAN 4230 are sometimes still used in more remote parts of Arcana.

Assembler Δ-plus

A recent high-performance spell language that has been developed by the Iron Dyads after the Necromantic War, Assembler Δ-plus (pronounded Assembler Delta-Plus) is a magic implementation language optimized for the hybrid metal-organic nature of the Iron Dryads themselves.

Life: The Jutsus

An inward-focussed school, Life teaches its practicioners that a sound body and a sound spirit are connected. The core concept is that by controlling the body's internal flows between chakras, one can manifest magic almost instinctively. Many styles of doing just this have been developed. Life tends to be much more 'physical' than other schools of magic, to both its benefit and detriment. Practioners of Life often find it limiting or incapable of creating the high-powered effects other schools do, however, the same skills that a warrior uses in battle can easily be used to unlock his or her's own inner power.

The Disce Militare

One of the key advantages the early Alfar Empire had over the humans and others on its borders was the long traditional Disce Militare, the Warrior's Arts. These transformed a line of Alfar legionnaires into deadly killing machines, each wielding their own magic in battle. It was something that the humans and orcs with their primitive shamanistic magic could not hope to match. Then - and now - it requires a strict lifestyle of nearly ceaseless training, but its Blademasters are among the most feared warriors on Arcana.

Dojutsu

Many Life magics are hereditary, and the Dojutsu are some of the most famous. Some ancient bloodlines - most commonly among the God-Blooded - have magical powers centered in their eyes. Training in the Dojutsus teaches the practioner to both strengthen and effectively control the powers they wield. Some Dojutsu can be taught to those without the inborn abilities, others rely on that tiny spark of divinity.

Matter: Rote Spellcraft

The school most associated with archetypical 'mages', the Matter school is related to the Force school in that it is an externalization of magical creation. However, whereas Force is a functional assemblage of components, Matter is a monolithic whole. Once a Matter spell is created, it is immutable in its pattern, no matter how many times is imbued into an object or cast. This is why Matter magic tends to have many permutations of a given spell, typically resulting in lengthy variations on the activation sequence. The Matter school rewards a prodigious memory and keen intellect, particularly for the process of actually creating new spells, and many simple folk can recite one or two basic spells.

House Incarnadine

Specializing in lower-case force magics.

House Viridis

Specializing in lower-case life magics.

House Cerulea

Specializing in sensory magics