The Magic of Aarden

Ultimately, magic always comes down to power (how much mana can a user bring to bear) and will (how badly does a user want to change reality). With enough of the two, a magician can do nearly anything. Any problem can be solved if you throw enough magic and desire at it.

Magic becomes far easier as other factors are leveraged against a problem. Familiarity with the problem space and skill at shaping mana have multiplier effects. It’s the difference between wishing you weren’t hurt versus mending a bone in a precise location, in a specified way. The amount of mana and willpower required becomes orders of magnitude smaller.

But the best tool to have by far is a system of magic, which acts as a well-paved road for a magician’s intent and a lens for their mana. The majority of magicians would never consider using magic without a system. Many aren't fully aware that systemless magic is an option.

Spellscript

Spellscript is an ideogramic writing system whose origins are (to most people) lost to time. Every magician has their pet ideas about what Spellscript is and where it came from, but the prevailing theories fall into a few categories:

1. Spellscript characters are symbols rooted in the creation of the universe itself.

2. The goddess of magic, Nokomis, created the script when she gave magic to mortal kind.

3. A forgotten civilization, whose culture revolved around magic, used Spellscript as its daily written language. The spoken form is long forgotten, but the magic still works.

4. Some genius magician in the past invented today’s magic system and invented Spellscript. Separating written magic from normal writing was both a safety precaution and a bit of showing off.

   1. Some genius magician in the past invented today’s magic system and based the written form on a pre-existing ancient script.

The truth is closest to 4.1, with a few twists.

Spells

Spellscript magic can be used in verbal form. Human magicians generally use Old Orlut when casting spells, but demihumans often prefer Arcaic. The spoken language doesn’t seem to matter much, so long as the caster can visualize the characters in their head.

Spells are descriptive. They describe what the caster wants to happen, but the details are left to the caster’s will, imagination, and skill. As spells are used repeatedly by many magicians, they become easier to use. But they also become harder to customize. If millions of people use a spell to create white light, and only use it that way for a thousand years, the unfortunate magician who thinks that maybe it should produce other colors is going to have a hard time convincing it to behave.

However, magic is also personal. Spells seem to adapt themselves to a particular caster over time.

The Mythical Grimoire

It is widely believed that, somewhere, a book exists that defines the Spellscript magic system. Sometimes called the “Origin” or “Grimoire”, it is said that the one who controls it can change the shape of magic itself.

This belief is not without basis. Other magic systems exist, and each one has an origin object that physically encapsulates its rules.

There is a collection of spellbooks called “The Art and Practice of Magic” that was briefly published soon after the Collapse. The text is entirely in Spellscript and uses hundreds of unknown characters. Unfortunately, the cover and title pages are the only parts of the series written in Orlut. Some scholars claim to have deciphered significant portions of the text, but their spells tend to explode, weakening their claims of special knowledge.

Praxes

A praxis is an item engraved with a spell in Spellscript. Wands, staves, and pistols are the most frequent forms, but the shape is less important than the material. A praxis must be made from mana-conducting material for at least some of its parts, preferably of a type conducive to the attribute of magic being implemented.

Praxes offload some of the cognitive load of casting spells, but mana and intent are still necessary contributions from the user.

Many guilds have established standard designs for their profession's praxes and require their members to purchase guild-approved tools at set fees. The task of making these tools falls to engravers, who pay the guilds licensing fees in exchange for the privilege of using the standard designs and selling to their members.

Magic Circles

Magic circles are precise diagrams constructed to finely control mana and magical effects, usually without the assistance of a caster. They can be powered from a variety of sources, but mana stones are the most popular choice. Although the system has the word “circles” in it, there is no hard requirement that the diagrams be predominantly round. Nonetheless, it is often easiest to keep the magic forces controlled within a circular boundary.

Ferera Transcetti, the magician who invented the magic circle system, borrowed heavily from Spellscript for his glyphs, but altered some of their meanings for his new system. For this extraordinary accomplishment, Ferera was granted the title of Great Sage, and his family continues to serve the Emperor to this day. His original grimoire, Codex Ferera, is held by the Imperial Family in an undisclosed location, probably a deep vault. It is often wondered aloud if there are parts of the system Ferera never divulged outside of the imperial family.

Magic Devices

Magic circles power many consumer goods, household appliances, and complicated machinery. Their major advantage over praxes is that they require no inputs other than mana. Given enough mana stones, anybody can use any magic device.

Lamps are common, as they require little mana to run. Anything larger and more complicated quickly becomes expensive. At the top end, you have magic carriages and the occasional flying carpet.

Tablets

Dwergbank invented the communication tablet and continues to extend its functionality. The internals of how the system works or its encoding have eluded scholars for centuries. The Origin Tablet surely must exist somewhere, but nobody has ever reported seeing it. The widespread assumption is that the Origin is hidden away in a Dwergbank vault.

The Merchant Guild, the Empire, IEF, and several other large entities have tablet systems, but they are just extensions of the Dwergbank system. They pay hefty fees to Dwergbank for this privilege.

There is a story, likely apocryphal, about the Chairwoman of Dwergbank being called before the Emperor. When he leaned on her to hand over the tablet system, she reportedly said, “Is Your Imperial Majesty, with all His resources, unable to replicate an archaic invention?”

Knexenk

The sacreligious say that Knexenk is not a god, but a magic system invented by the gods. The class system is a subject of intense study.

Non-Systematized Magic

It is possible to use magic without a system, but it requires significant skill to do so reliably. Any magic that can be used through a system can be performed without one; it’s just far more difficult. In theory, a true master of magic is completely unbound by any systemic restrictions and can tune their magic effects for any circumstance. In practice, it presents a very steep learning curve, and each desired effect requires time and effort to achieve perfection.

By the time a magician acquires a broad range of non-systematized effects, they are more likely to create systems for their own peculiar needs than they are to master every effect in a non-systematized way.

Innate Magic

It is often observed that anyone who has repeated the same small task tens of thousands of times may develop an innate ability to improve that one task. Such skills take decades to hone and amount to an unconsciously developed, non-systematized, spell-like effect.

Enchantment

True enchantments are subtle alterations of a person/object’s nature by non-systematized magic. Some quality is magnified, causing the object to become more of what they are. Such changes are often permanent.

The word ‘enchantment’ is overloaded and is often used in a systemic context for spells that alter appearance or behavior of a target.