Magic is the ability to create reliable and repeatable supernormal energetic effects through Ritual, Sorcery, Ley Lines or other means. Ritual Magic uses long, complicated, and extremely precise procedures. Sorcery uses complex, highly technical procedures. Ley Line magic uses Ley Line energy and only works for those with Demon ancestors. Some individuals come from other magical traditions that provide different abilities or have the ability to produce idiosyncratic magical effects. Some Sorcery specialities include Combat, Communications, Defense, Healing, Investigative, Natural, Structural, Transport, and Conjuration. Some mages have the ability to augment their magic with another power.
What does a Mage Signet mean?
A Mage Signet indicates that the wearer has graduated from a college that teaches Sorcery. Mages who learned Sorcery outside a magical college have the potential to have learned as much or more Sorcery than a college graduate, but they lack the rings.
Other Powers
Pattern
Logrus
SCIENCE!
Shape Shifting
Trump
Abyss
Suggested Addition:
Ritual Magic is probably the most problematic form of magic in that it requires long, careful technical actions to create an effect. It is strongly possible that a small mistake or omission in execution or preparation can result in dangerous and unpredictable results. You don’t require a strong mage gift to do ritual magic, anyone with a cookbook can try…it is a very equalizing activity, anyone may try and anyone can die or worse when it all goes horribly wrong.
Blood Magic is used by both black and white magic practitioners. It is illegal in the Empire and you will find yourself marked as a result. There is a death sentence associated with Blood Magic in the Empire. In Sable only licensees may perform white blood magic and all else is considered a potentially capital offense.
Black Magic using blood accrues soul debt in most all cases. It is not something I’d personally advise. You may not see the price, but it will be paid none the less.
Death magic…some black practitioners have the ability to use the energy of death or natural disasters or large scale negative emotion in order to perform ritual magic or create components for ritual magic.
Life magic and tantric magic use life and sexual energy in a positive way to enact spells and rituals. This does not accrue a soul debt to my knowledge unless there is a lack of consent.
Using slaves or allowing slaves to participate in magic or ritual in the Empire is illegal and will result in the loss of magical ability, enslavement, and/or death for a practitioner caught doing so.
Mage signets signify the college a mage graduated from, the level of attainment, and denote a license to practice magic in certain realms. In several realms it is illegal and prosecutable to practice sorcery without proper training and a license. It may also constitute a civil offense and lead to fines from the applicable Guilds. Practicing magic for hire without a license or Guild affiliation can similarly result in fines, punishment, etc.
From formal schools, one can obtain a doctorate, masters, or bachelors with certain specialties accruing to each. Obviously the more advanced the degree the wider the range of ability or the stronger the specialty in a particular case.
There are also military mages who undergo a different curriculum and who may lack some of the broader training of a university mage, but who may have in depth skills in combat specialties.
Most mages who receive licenses and rings also undertake an oath of one kind or another. It is different depending on whether the mage is Empire, Sable or Reich based, but all generally include a promise to abide by the laws governing magic in the jurisdiction they are in. Failure to comply will lead in the loss of magical ability, imprisonment and/or execution depending on the offense.
As Gudrun indicated, there is also the possibility to learn Magic within the Empire’s Armed Forces. If you survived the training you would become a Centurian Mage and do at least a tour in the Imperial forces, probably in the war against the Federation.
In the past, they taught recruits by Rote, so you have little understanding of magic beyond the specific Rotes you were taught and may be restricted to only the few specialities needed for your work within the service.
That may still be the case, I’m not sure.
Bill.
It is still mostly the case.
I served with an armoured tank division and with the Regensia’s Personal Guard when she kicked the Feds of Casablanca. I had a chance to work with the units and see what was up.
Mostly the Imperial military mages had a full and two partials and no other basic mage disciplines at all. Offensive, defensive and healing are the only specialties held and it sort of depends on the individual for which they are best at that they take the full in.
Occasionally you’d see an older one that had self studied or with just a natural bent for something, or someone who had mustered out to go back to school and come back…but that was rare. Sometimes the military would hire mages for particular things.
But I found being able to field a diversity of things, even at basic level was very helpful to people around me.
I’m not sure why this is policy, but it still seems the norm.
Ani’s journal mentions Sable and Reich as having military mage academies as well. It didn’t sound quite as restricted, but it was a more focused curriculum on military skills and practices. I know less about those. It may be that someone else can fill in there.
That’s good to know. It sounds like they have improved the tuition slightly from when I was taught.
Bill.
An additional note about the rings…
For off world mages or self study mages, it is possible to sit exams and certification at a Guild Hall in Casablanca. If you pass the challenge exams, you are awarded a license and may buy a ring at a visible token of the license. You also must pay Guild dues and an exam fee.
Checking Ani’s diary, she references that not all mages in Sable wear rings, although they are most common for mages. Reich and Sable also have lapel pins that serve as proof of licensure.
All these tokens are specific to the person they are awarded to and contain the mage signature and id of the person bearing them.
Perhaps someone would care to write something about “Talents”? Also…should Mesmerism go here too?
Talents? Maybe if you explain their natures we’d be able to determine. If you asked the question here, I guess it probably wouldn’t be a bad place to put it, as I’m sure you have a greater understanding of them than I do.
And in regards to Mesmerism, do you mean Hypnotism? Or something slightly different.
And given recent matters, putting a few notes down on Palantir and generally the Creation Items of a new Power might not be a bad idea.
Yeah, it isn’t a bad idea to have tings of that sort in a “what to look out for” list. Although I’m wary of putting too much info about Creation out there. Best to keep that club as exclusive as we can.
I’d agree, but I’d suggest that a few rules here ahead of time might avoid people making a few of the huge mistakes that I’ve seen and heard about. Maybe a list of what you should Do and what you shouldn’t? The less we have Abyss Hags appearing in creation the better.
Maybe no-one with Spec Ops ever makes another creation, but it’s better to be safe than sorry, and boy if someone messes up a creation, we could all be very sorry.
Sorry,
The Hags are a part of the process. They can not be avoided.
True, as far as I am aware, but the problems they cause can be minimised by a little forethought, thus lessened.
I would posit that why they are there is an integral part of the process. I am willing to discuss in private.
There was a conversation I overheard when a Hag claimed that they used the blood to repair the damage inflicted by the new creations in their world/universe.
No idea if that was a lie or had any basis in fact, but they do always come looking for the creators blood.
Maybe they use it to make a voodoo blood baby. Or, more seriously, maybe it’s tied to the physical emergence or a creator’s opposed projection.
Nah. Blood baby.