Magickal Theory

I used the alternate spelling because it's more myst'ikal.

Basically I created this article to cover exactly how magic works in my campaign(s).

What is Magic?

As far as its primary practitioners know, magic is... something. No one can say for sure. No one really knows.

There exist many theories on what it is, many of them contradicting each other. There are, however, a few broadly observed phenomena that typify "magic":

• It permeates all things.
• It can affect space, time, matter, energy, and life.
• It can manifest from mental or physical processes, usually some combination of both.

And that's about all anyone can agree on. As far as what magic "is", here are some theories:

• It's the potential for the extraordinary existent in all things.
• It's the ability of the mind to affect the environment around it.
• Reality is a hollow shell of illusions and figments, and magic is seeing it for what it is and changing it as such.
• And so on and so forth.

There exist perhaps hundreds of other theories, all of them with strong evidence supporting them. The problem with magic is that no one can prove or disprove incontrivertibly any particular theory, because magic is so mutable and changing.

Practitioners of Magic

Despite nobody seeming to know what magic is, there is by no means a shortage of techniques for using it. Spells are the most common way in which people use magic, since they provide a "tried and true" technique for attempting to use magic.

Wizards are the most common of spellcaster because anybody, with hard work and discipline, can achieve some degree of wizardrous ability. Any other spellcasting requires some form of inborn talent, or reverence and communion with a divine source or deity. In addition, Wizardry schools are well-established and have long heritages, making learning the magical arts easy... if one has the money.

Sorcerers learn their spellcasting ability through an intuitive, personal understanding of magical flows that is affected heavily by one's own sense of self. To a Sorcerer, spellcasting is less of a science or fine art and more of a spontaneous creative activity.

To make an analogy to learning piano, a Wizard would read books on musical theory, learn to read music, listen to and interpret piano recordings, and practice playing in conjunction with this. A Sorcerer, on the other hand, would just start practicing one day, letting his own sense of inspiration guide him and becoming better over time. Consequentially, you have a professional concert pianist who, given the sheet music for any song, can play it, as opposed to a teenage prodigy who can't read music but knows enough good songs from memory that he can give an impressive performance with less preparation.

Divine casters such as Clerics and Druids, on the other hand, are something else entirely. They cast spells based on faith. It is difficult to explain, but easy to fit in to the above analogy: a Cleric would attend lessons with a Master pianist, who shows him how to play without requiring him to read sheet music or exercise his own intuition. However, this Student must be VERY stringent in how he treats his Master and ensure that he arrives every day, lest the Master reprimand him or refuse to give him further lessons.

If that made any sense at all, it was intended to show that Clerics and Druids cast spells in a different way than Wizards and Sorcerers. Perhaps they don't need as much personal skill (thus why their spells are easier and cheaper in general) but they require no less dedication or hard work to master their art.

There you have it: you can cast spells through knowledge and intellect, intuition and spontaneity, or from faith.

More on Spells

Keep in mind that just because someone can cast spells, does not mean that he knows exactly what is happening. Someone who moves his hands, utters some mysterious words, and manipulates some substances in order to create a fireball does not "know" what he's doing any more than a child who inserts a coin in a vending machine, pushes some buttons, and has a soda pop out.

A Wizard who "knows what he's doing" could tell you that the vending machine has a polyurethane facing and metal parts on the inside, and a Sorcerer could tell you it "looks so eighties," but could either one explain to you exactly what's going on inside the machine? No. But they can get you a soda better than someone who's randomly inserting whatever objects they can find.

So that's what a spell is: a method of accessing a packet of magical energy that has a known result. That's why creating spells is so difficult: it requires the user to directly manipulate something that isn't well-known.

Some are, in fact, capable of using magic without the aid of spells, but such people are extremely rare. In addition, mastery of such technique is impossible to teach - indeed, it must be learned by personal experience.

Why Towers?

A common theme in a lot of fantasy works is the fact that Wizards live in towers. Why is this? Well, aside from being cool and intimidating, and impressing one's fellows in the magical community, there is an actual reason.

In my universe, the explanation is simple and well-known. Matter contains magical energy. The earth contains all sorts of matter, and thusly flows with all sorts of magic which bounces around and mixes, creating a swirling magical "soup."

In concentrating to create magic items, potions, spells, or simply meditate to gain greater understanding of things, one has greatest success in an area of relative peace and quiet. Outside distractions such as noise and motion make concentration difficult.

The same goes for intangible magical energy. Magical "noise" exists where a lot of magical energies collide and bounce around, and this "noise" makes it difficult for a mage to concentrate.

Thus, an area of isolation from these energies is best. Areas of high elevation are well-separated from the earth, allowing for a minimum degree of interruption. A tower provides good measure for this.

Towers are usually built of stone. This stone is often cleansed magically, and there exist boutiques which offer "pure" stones that come from reaches of the earth far from any sort of magical influence. A lining of leaden paint or lead sheets is often placed within or between the stones to "insulate" the tower from the outside.

There also exists a secondary benefit: a mage's tower brings one closer to the astral energies which flow strongly through the upper reaches of the atmosphere (ley lines). As a druid's grove isolates one inside the purity of nature's flows, a tower isolates one from the magical soup of the earth and the noisesome distractions therein.