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That which is known as Magick manifests itself in intelligent beings who are fortunate enough to be born of a bloodline that has magickal abillity. Most intelligent beings have enough Magickal herritage to learn Magick but only very few are born with enough Magick in them to spontaneously discover the power within.

Magick is as old as creation, and in some ways it can be seen as an opponent to faith and the faithful. Magick came into being when the universe was created during the first thought and as the shattered remnants of the great spirit were torn asunder bringing fourth all life and indeed existence itself, just as the largest concentrations of this original essence brought gave rise to the gods, so smaller pieces gave rise to all of the other inhabitants of reality. Some species have within their ranks, bloodlines that inherited more of this original essence than others, these bloodlines are the families of the Magus.

In times of old these families cultivated magick and some of them even took it upon themselves to teach magick to others, after all, all children of creation are capable in at least some small way of learning and using this natural power we call Magick.

Years of persecution by the faithful of all but the gods of neutrallity have lead to the demise or obfuscation of all of the Magickal bloodlines. The Magickal have been driven underground in communities of the faithful, burned at the stake as enemies of the god (or gods as the case may be). This persecution is largely the doing of men than gods, men who fear the powerful Magi, fear those who could overthrow them and their churches!

Playing a Magickal alter-ego is unfair to the rest of your non-magickal party in the sense that being Magickal is indeed a huge advantage over average mortals. Magick is however only a tool and does not guarantee success in all situations, nor does it solve all problems, indeed, being magickal is usually the reason most Magi die!!! The magi are largely feared and persecuted by common folk wherever they go, many an unwary magi has met his end at the hands of the mob!

So lets look at the mechanics of Magick, this hidden art, the forbidden knowledge. The mixed blessing and curse that it is.

Magickal abilities

Just as the body, the mind and the soul equip the mortal with abillities to affect change in their environment, so to magick is summarized as a set of abillities that the wielder uses to effect changes in reality.

These Magickal abillities loosley describe the sort of reality the magician is attempting to effect. In the same way that strength is used to bash down a door but agillity is used to dodge a blow, so to the magickal abillities can be used to influence the world around the mage.

Their are five magickal abilities, one that governs each of the four aspects of the physical world and one that effects changes in the spirit world. Let's look more closely at each of these five abillities and what sorts of things in reality they dominate.

Fire

Fire magick is the magick of energy and vigor. All forms of fire and energy rich reality are governed by fire; sound, light and heat are all aspects of fire. Fire also represents the destructive forces in the universe, most battle magicks are indeed based largely upon the bold brash physical nature of fire.

Air

Air magick is the magick of change and illusion. All forms of air and gaseous reality are governed by air magick; wind, noxious fumes, invisibillity and fleetings thought are all aspects air. Air also represents the powers of thought and the changing mind, Illusions, scrying and claivoyance are the sorts of powers found within the realm of air.

Earth

Earth magick is the magick of creativity and order. All forms of structure and ordered reallity are governed by Earth. The realm of earth represents resistance to change and chaos, defensive magicks and conjuration of of solid objects from nothing are all aspects of earth.

Water

Water is the magick of secrets and chaos, undoing and subterfuge. All forms of water, mist and percipitation are aspects of Water magick. The realm of water represents the subverisve undoing or order, the introduction of chaos and the errosion of stabillity, jinxes, curses and deceptions as well as the magicks of cold are aspects of water.

Ether

Ether magick is the magick of the un-earthly. All forms of interaction with ethereal beings, the dead, and the soul are aspects of ether magick. Ether magick also (rather curiously) involves all magicks that directly manipulate life force itself, creating undead minions, ressurection, and fear are examples of ether magick.

Using magick

The use of magick is similar in many ways to the use of any other abillity your alter-ego has. The main difference is that undiscaplined use of magic is impossible, there is no simple magickal equivalent to instinctively using your agillity to dodge an incomming blow. Magick requires conscious effort, many theorize that this effort is a self-preservation mechanism similar to sleep paralysis that stops us from hurting ourselves while we dream, likewise we cannot accidentally use magick.

Magick actions are by nature, pre-meditated and often very specific because of the levels of concentration needed to perform even simple tasks. As such a number of practiced have evolved that magi use to achieve specific tasks. These skills, for the most part, take the form of spells; highly structured rituals that achieve very specific effects by carefully ordering and focusing the thoughts of the mage on the task in hand so that his magick manifests correctly.

There are also less formal spells known as cantrips that the mage essentially makes up as an when required, these also require some training in the basic thought discaplines required by all magi.

And finally, their are the Arts, after many hours of training the mage starts to develope sub-concious power over his environment because he manages to make his magick part of his every-day life and over-ride those natural safe-guards that prevent sub-concious use of magick by fledgling magi.

Cantrips

Cantrips are the simplest spells a mage can use, they are very weak in comparison to normal spells but they are very low in power cost, each cantrip only costs one power point even if they are cast in rapid succession.

The limit of the cantrip is that it only has a single dice of effect at best. Many mages cleverly stack cantrips to increase the desired effect but this soon becomes very expensive in magickal power.

Cantrips are also known as hedge magick, they are invented on-the-fly by the mage to suit his immediate needs, cantrips are simply small spurts of raw magickal energy roughly channeled by the mage to achieve an immediate goal. Cantrips in game play are desired effects described to the GM who then assigns a power cost to them and allows the mage to roll a number of dice equal to the power cost versus the mages Magickal School and a realm.

Cantrips are often used to assist other more normal actions, giving cumulative success to things like dodging or blocking!

Spells

Spells are the written word of magick, although there are many forms of magickal scripts, a mage can often understand them without actually being able to read them. Spells equate to complex magickal formulae that serve to invoke the correct sequence of events in order to draw fourth a desired effect from the mage.

Learning new spells involves practicing them or getting a feel for what the spell expects of the mage, learning a new spell is more like learning to ride a bicycle than memorizing a textbook. Spells are impure or vulgar magick and thus can run amok; only the most powerful mages are able to flawlessly cast spells over and over again. When a mage casts a spell he is forced to exert his magickal essence to keep it in check and produce the desired result, this is reflected as a loss of power points, the first spell a mage casts in a round costs one power point, the second spell costs two the third three and so on, in this manner a mage can tire very quickly and even kill himself with the extreme exhaustion.

Power expenditure in a round cannot exceed the mages Realm score for the spells being cast, thus a mage with a fire of six could cast no more than three fire based attack spells in a single combat round (one for the first, two for the second and three for the third = six points total). A mage may cast spells from many realms however, lets assume that the mage in the example above has a fire of six and a earth score of four, he could conceivably cast his three fire based attacks for the cost of six power points and then go on to cast a warding spell based in the realm of earth for the cost of four power points, all this in a single round, he would of course be exhausted to the point of collapse afterwards though.

Arts

The arts are acquired by a mage as he studies. A mage's natural talent for magick is brought fourth by repeated exposure to and use of his abillities, only a mages first field of study or calling awakens these hidden talents. Arts are the true magick from within, the art is the beings purest form of magickal expression and they cost no power to use only concentration. Some arts have been closely studied and replicated as spells but spells are no match for the pure power of the art.

Unless otherwise specified an art is only usable once per scene as the kind of inspiration they require is not simply on tap. One art is gained for each abillity the mage has, the art often grows in power along with the abillity.

Schools of magick

As mentioned earlier, magick is not somthing that happens to a mage sub-conciously without large amounts of training. Almost all magi have a mentor and at least one of field of magickal study known as a "school of magick"

The magickal school score indicates the level of proficiency the pupil has mastered within the field of study. It is also a broad indicator of the level of understanding a pupil will have of spells of that school. In short a mage can only learn spells of a particular school if the spell difficulty is less than or equal to his school score.

The first school of magick a mage studies, imbues him with a methodology that becomes that magus fundamental interpreter of magick. This first school is the one that the mage uses to unlock the base principles of how he cast spells and prepares cantrips, this first school is in effect his perception of the world of magick.

It is this first school that unlocks the Magickal Arts for the mage. Never again in his studies will he find the level of magickal expression that he finds in this first school, this becomes his magickal mother-tongue.

Lets look at some of the more common schools of magick and the arts they they unlock

Wizardry

Our ways are the ways of the just; we do not seek to dominate the world, heavens no, that simply wouldn't do

The last words a priest of Ralstan heard as he confronted a wizard with charges of heresy, apparently he was burnt to a crisp and rendered unrecognizable to his congregation...

The wizards are the most wide spread of all mages, Wizards are what most people imagine when there's mention of a mage. The wizards are the scholars among the magickal community, they spend most of there time in study and research and thus have access to many spells of varied types, members of there order have gone as far as documenting and evaluating cantrips, keeping the best examples so they can demonstrate them to there pupils. To put it plainly; wizards are spell junkies, they use magick for magick's sake and they thirst for power and knowledge, if you bump into a mage in a dungeon, he's likely to have been sent by his mentor to find some or other trinket rumored to lie in the foulest pit in the place, simply because "it might be Magick my boy". A wizard lives for his magick - magick is everything to them. Unfortunately wizards have almost brought about the end of all things on more than one occasion, some say all those books made them mad and in truth that's not too far from the mark. To be a wizard is to put magick before all else, they feel intense pleasure when they cast spells, some say "it's better than sex", many wizards are a little eccentric to say the least, but overall they are a tightly knit community that hold regular meetings where they all revel in there power and have spell casting competitions and the like. All that spell casting has had an evolutionary effect on the bloodlines of the wizards, they have amazing capacity for magickal power and they put it to good use, casting huge and wondrous spells, imbuing items with magickal properties and crafting great artifacts with arcane ability. The wizard's arts are "power-centric" and focused on the creative use of magical energy.

Imbue (Fire)

The Imbue art is the natural ability that wizards possess which allows them to pour power into objects making them magickal or enchanted. The imbue art simplifies the process of enchanting items for wizards, it removes the need for specific binding spells and all binding related power expenditure. (see artefacts section) The imbue art also enables wizards to make gifts of power to each other. Simply put imbue allows Wizards to permanently detached magickal energy from their being and make it available for other uses.

Duel (Air)

The wizardly art of dueling allows a wizard who defeats a magickal foe in combat (to the death or otherwise) to gain a measure of his opponents power on a permanent basis the maximum number of points that can be taken in this way is equal to the duelists score in Air multiplied by five. Wizards often use their dueling art in wagers of magick, they have non-lethal magickal combat and the winner gets a pre-agreed amount of power from the loser.

Magick resistance (Earth)

As a wizard gains more experience and is exposed to more and more Magickal energy, just like repeated exposure to any substance the body builds up natural resistance to it. Wizards count their Earth level as AV when dealing with any magickal effects.

Counter-Spell (Water)

The counter-spell art enables the wizard to attempt to negate spells (not arts and cantrips) that are cast in his presence. Because of the wizard's broad field of study he gets a feel for a spell as it is being cast, this enables the player to make an Water & wizardry role in an attempt to divert the incoming magick. Note that a spell cannot be negated but it can be diverted away from the would be victim or even changed in nature to render it harmless.

Vitae Diabolus (Spirit)

This wizardly art; Vitae Diabolus or "life power" Enables wizards to channel there worldly experiences into new sources of power, in game terms the wizard may buy permanent magickal energy by spending experience points. All of this extra power surging through the wizard causes hair to turn silver in colour. Wizards are usually easy to spot by their silver streaked hair and beards. The experience cost for this extra power is five points of experience for a number of power points equal to the wizards spirit realm.

Necromancy

Let them come, I will call fourth the chill powers of undeath and cast all of our foes down into the fires of hell's belly!

Orbain Gothgar, Lichking

The Necromancer is the death mage, perceived as the ultimate representation of evil and persecuted more than any other of his brethren, the way of the Necromancer is difficult indeed. The school of Necromancy was begun many eons ago by a great mage searching for the pinnacle of magick, the ability to escape death itself and some say that great mage succeeded in his quest, but it is apparent that there were many failures along the way, sadly these are the walking horrors known to us as the undead, the Necromancers of old unleashed the forces of the netherworld upon us in there quest for knowledge beyond death, many mages themselves still scorn the teachings of Necromancy for this fact alone, some rival schools have even declared open hostility towards the death wizards. Many Necromancers content themselves in quiet study, simply pursuing their art in peace, however there are those who are angered by the criticism of their colleagues and unleash hell and damnation at their foes at every opportunity. The teachings of Necromancy are learned at the peril (and oftentimes benefit) of the pupil; here I will include a list of each of the five arts taught by the school and a brief description thereof;

Exorcism (Fire)

The power of exorcism is the main reason that undead obey Necromancers, with a mere thought a mediocre Necromancer can inflict so much damage and pain upon an undead target that they strike fear into that which fears naught else, a necromancer may inflict a number of points of damage equal to his Fire score multiplied by ten, this wrath can be visited on any one undead creature once per round.

Damnation (Air)

The Necromantic art know as Damnation allows the Necromancer to claim the souls (and bodies) of the still living as payment for services rendered (or imagined so), this allows the necromancer to use these corpses and souls to craft greater undead minions who retain all of they're powers and memories of life yet are entirely beholden to the caster.

Diabolus Mortis (Earth)

Diabolus Mortis is the "power of death" this art allows the Necromancer to channel his own life force into his magick, thus allowing him to cast spells far beyond the ability of his peers. Diabolus Mortis gives the Necromancer use of his Body score and Hits score as if it were Magickal energy, the amount of life force available to the caster at any one time for a single spell is equal to his Necromancy score plus his constitution score, points used are deducted from each block of health and the caster Body score, thus if a Necromancer with a School level of Five and a constitution of six wished to draw power from his own life force, he could draw a maximum of eleven points at a time, one from each block of health and one from his body score, points are deducted first from Body the Health block one onwards, but only one from each. This art gives the caster access to a vast resource of power however it comes at a cost and shouldn't be used unless necessary. A necromancer can expend his lifeforce (or part of it) on a permanent basis in order to enchant something, or create another permanent effect of some sort.

Putrefaction (Water)

Putrefaction is an aura that follows the Necromancer, perceived by all (often as an aura of evil) it is the presence of his death magick flowing about him, small plants and animals may wither or even die when this aura falls upon them, the Necromancer can contain the effect of his aura but never the feeling of dread that accompanies it, this aura can be amplified to cause a despair effect in those within fifty feet of the Necromancer, this focused aura causes a number of dice of shock damage equal to the Necromancers Water level.

Dominion (Spirit)

The power of dominion enables the Necromancer to control a total number of undead equal to the amount of experience he has spent on his Spirit score i.e. 10 for first level, 30 for second, 60 for third, 100 for fourth, 150 for fifth and so on. This art supercedes all spell descriptions for the number of undead a Necromancer may control.

Sorcery

Rise up, come to me, fell powers of evil, you are mine to control, rise up and do my bidding or I will cast you into the pit where you belong. Evelyn Godsbane - Sorceress

Sorcerers play the most dangerous of games... Sorcerers call fourth the powers of the nether; Demons! Sorcerers invoke the powers of the ancient spirits into this world, these powers come in a wide and varied range, some manifesting in the sorcerer himself, some manifesting in the immediate vicinity of the invoker. Sorcerers are often considered to be evil because they are "in league" with evil. Sadly it is true, a very high percentage of Sorcerers become corrupted by their art and their close involvment with evil eventually turns them to the path of corruption.

Dread (Spirit)

Sorcerers have a disturbing natural talent, refered to by many as the dread they feel in a sorcerers presence, Sorcerers drain the souls of those around them. Sorcerers have no control over this phenomenon. They feed parasitically on their friends and foes alike, draining their very life force. In game terms a Sorcerer drains one soul point per scene from each and every being in his vicinity. The amount is negligable (and not reflected on AE sheets) if the being in question has an empathy score of two or more. The Sorcerer can use this life force as Magickal power for the duration of the scene. The amount of additional power points gained is determined by rolling a number of dice equal to the quantity of beings in the area; One dice for wild areas with little or no life like desert or underground, two dice for rural areas and sparsely populated regions like forest, grassland or small villages, and three dice for a built up area like towns, cities.

The dice are open-ended, thus making this abillity a source of great power for a sorcerer.

Druidism

No, no, don't mind the bear... he's with me.

Duxion willowshank, Druidic bard

The druids are often known as the keepers of knowledge, they are clannish and very tightly-knit as a community. It is unheard of for druids to fight amongst themselves. Druids command the forces of the wilds, they summon forth nature spirits and command the beasts and birds. Druids keep darker secrets in their hidden conclaves often found in remote groves of oak or deep forest caves, some even say they murder innocents to draw power from them.

Calling (Air)

The calling art allows the Druid to communicate on an instinctive level with the wild spirits of nature. Calling allows the Druid to feel what animals, plants, birds and even inert objects such as rocks can feel. In games terms the druid can communicate with the wild spirits and ask simple questions of them. In some cases the druid is able to ask/command the wild things to do his bidding. The affinity that builds between a druid and his charges often means that the druid's needs are anticipated before he even asks...

Sacrifice (Spirit)

The druids understanding of the spirit world enables him to make use of expended spirit energy. As a being dies, a burst of spiritual energy is released, a druid who is correctly prepared can harvest this energy and store it within himself. In game terms a druid who strikes a killing blow or who is in contact with a sentient creature as it is killed can draw magickal power points into himself on a temporary basis. The number of points absorbed in this way is equal to the druids spirit score. The temporary magickal points are added to the druids normal magick pool and can be used as normal. The extra points can only be retained with some level of focused effort on the druids part and thus last only as long as the druid remains both willing to hold on to the power and awake.