Magic in the World of Amahara

Sengoku Amahara
Steampunk Amahara

Oriental

Shinto

Shinto is a belief system centered around the concept of animism - that every describable aspect of the world, from seasons and weather down to the finest workings of clockwork, is managed by a vast community of gods and spirits. It is the national religion of Amahara and its clerics, the shrine maidens, practice its most revered magical art - that of mediating interaction between the human realm and the spirit realm. In this way, it is essentially a very highly developed form of shamanism tempered by the concepts of bureaucracy and order imported from the Middle Kingdom. The magical practitioners of the Shinto religion are the shrine maidens (miko) who might, depending on time period and region, be expected to fill all the traditional duties of witch, shaman, wisewoman, healer, oracle or priestess. Using elaborate rituals, dances, and other traditional methods of attracting spiritual attention, a shrine maiden may summon and interact with gods and spirits who may be asked to do any number of things. The emphasis is on objects, emblems, and physical or artistic rituals such as music or dance. Scriptures are an imported Middle Kingdom advent. Although now considered an acceptable medium of interaction, Amaharan gods are still "wilder" than their Middle Kingdom counterparts and even the greatest Shinto workings can be accomplished without literacy.

One important distinction from most other forms of magic is that the miko has relatively little personal power inherent to herself - the spirit does all the heavy lifting and the ways to compel them against their nature are limited. The effectiveness of Shinto rituals, while potentially dramatic, therefore require the cooperation of the spirits. This can be more difficult to achieve in areas outside of Amahara until shrines have been set up, the local gods enshrined, and people taught to worship them appropriately.

Onmyodo

Onmyodo, the way of Yin and Yang, is derived from the Tao of the Middle Kingdom combined with Shinto and some esoteric parts of buddhism. Unlike shrine maidens, onmyoji are not technically clerics of a religion, but practitioners of an art that can be described and repeated. Indeed, in both the Sengoku and Steampunk eras, Onmyodo is defined by an orthodoxy and regulated by what is effectively a guild under the control of the Grand Shrine.

Tao

Tao is the Middle Kingdom ancestor of Onmyodo, dating to at least the 7th century BC. It has evolved and divided into numerous sects over the course of centuries, of which Onmyodo could be considered a branch or family of branches.

Martial Arts

The Martial Arts is the systemised practice and enhancement of bodily performance in combat through development of physical prowess, technique, internal energy and clarity of mind. Martial training in cultures outside Lotus Asia tend to be missing one or more of these elements, making this a unique advantage for oriental warriors with the time, talent, patience and strength of will to master it.

Middle Kingdom Martial Arts

Martial arts reached their highest peak in the Middle Kingdom, where it mixed freely with other philosophies such as Taoism or Buddhism or else came with their own philosophical studies. They equate to occidental Sorcery as a path to personal power, though it is concentrated in the person rather than in great works of magic as is popular in the west.

Occidental

Sorcery

The Catholic Church describes sorcery as any magic not derived from their One God, but among its practitioners, Sorcery more specifically describes an occidental symbology-based magical practice founded in the ancient era along with (so they say) the development of written language and the alphabet. Although the most powerful mages have at times been European, the art was born in what is now the Jasmine Middle East and transmitted to Europe gradually from 1500 BC onwards. Following the Council of Nicaea, the Catholic Church began increasingly persecuting sorcerors, a battle in the shadows that contributed to the Rose Europe's Dark Ages. With the rise of Islam, the practice of sorcery once again centered on the Jasmine Middle East.