the Wane of Shaping in Elyden

The following is an except from something I've been writing - basically trying to explain the way 'magic' (shaping) is the way it is in Elyden. Flashy magic like fireballs and raise dead and polymorphs are not a thing in Elyden - but why is that the case? It's not necessarily that those things are not possible, but rather, events and have made them unlikely.

Please let me know what you think :) 

Shapers have the potential to be very dangerous individuals. A single shaper has the capacity to wield powers that may topple city blocks, defeat an entire enemy regiment, or influence the thoughts of others.

Those in power fear those who possess such abilities, for they threaten the stability of established regimes. Though governments and warlords may train shapers to work on their behalf, enforcing their laws and beliefs, they fear them for what they may do to them. Such hermetic abilities are not to be entrusted to individuals whose actions cannot be completely controlled.

The only way those in power can safeguard their lands, their wealth, and their control, is by restricting the spread of shaping and limiting the dissemination of knowledge and information pertaining to the arcane arts. Colleges exist around the Inner Sea and beyond, where prospects can study the theory, practice, and history of the Materia Omna, the Atramenta, and the Firmament, yet curriculums are deliberately set by faculties that are puppets to greater powers, with subjects chosen that can best service political, industrial, and military entities, without being of too great a risk to those in power. The most dangerous subjects are not only omitted from syllabi, but knowledge of them is actively suppressed, preventing their use. Applicants are vetted, and those with antagonistic personalities or histories that have brought them in conflict with authoritative bodies are declined entry, with particularly volatile individuals discreetly excised so the threat they pose does not bear fruit.

Despite this, those in power may hold on to original tomes and manuscripts detailing the use of otherwise forbidden or suppressed powers, keeping the power where it is wanted – in the hands of those who already have it. Perhaps this is why some of the most well-known rulers of the nations and empires of Elyden – Archpotentate Malichar of Korachan, the lich-king Sathep of Sarastro, and Queen Hetepheres of Venthir, amongst others – are such accomplished shapers, while few others exist on their level of infamy.

The way shaping is taught in organised institutions within the Korachani empire, for instance, is highly ritualised and is more akin to religious observance than scientific instruction. Specific details and schools of thought that are seen as contrary to current religious and political beliefs, or too dangerous for general use, are excised from records and syllabi alltogether. This practice has become so ingrained in imperial culture that teachers and professors of the Atramental arts are themselves ignorant of many spheres of shaping, either failing to acknowledge them altogether or dismissing them as extinct, with no presence in extant shaping culture.

In some cultures, an entire facet of the Materia Omna may be forbidden through prejudice or fear, or cultural norms. Most commonly this is seen in Near-hemisphere cultures being biased against Firmamentism due to the Arcane Tempers negatively influencing such acts of shaping there. The same is true of the Far-hemisphere, in the case of Atramentism.

Procedures and techniques taught in most arcane institutions aredone so in a manner that is only of any use in vocational applications. Where once arcane colleges produced thinkers, scholars, and alchemists, today they produce only engineers, technologists, advisors, amanuenses, and clairvoyants and others of their ilk – which are only of true use in every-day life, such as industry, communication (including diplomatic endeavours), or office-work, or where they can serve as husks entombed within technarcane engines that amplify their talents. Other institutions may train shapers for specialist roles, most notably in warfare, but they are secretive and little is known of such bodies. In effect the object of most arcane teaching is to provide students with qualifications needed to pursue a chosen career path,a nd not true arcane knowledge. Of course, graduating students know nothing of this nd believe that what they have learnt is the sum total of all arcane knowledge – a sad state of affairs that leads many to hubris and a growing ignorance and prejudive towards those of other cultures with differing traditions.

This growing focus on the mundanity of arcane teaching has lead to a decline in overall understanding of the Materia Omna, at least within the Korachani empire, though other powers around the Inner Sea region (including Almagest, Parthis, Sarastro and Venthir), show a similar, if less pronounced, willingness to gate knowledge of shaping.

With each passing generation dies a small part of esoteric knowledge of the Materia Omna and shaping – a part of the history of the Materia Omna effectively lost with each passing generation. Though ancient codices and arcane encyclopaedia do remain in existence, most are either forbidden, kept by paranoid institutions under lock and key, or exist unknown within private collections, where they slowly rot, their secrets incomprehensible to their owners, or otherwise closely safeguarded.

Laws require those with shaping abilites to register and carry licences, though the minutae differ from region-to-region, with different nations showing more or less leniency in different aspects. In general, those caught shaping without the required licence are likely to be punished, with the inherent difficulty in ascertaining the true talents of such individals leading to harsh and swift punishments, commonly including death.

Despite this atrophy of the arcane world, there remain other avenues through which one may learn esoteric secrects and knowledge. Occultists exist in most societies, often driven underground or to criminal circles by overbearing laws. Witches and fortune-tellers can be found in rural and urban communities alike, but most are weary of strangers out of fear of discovery by authorities, but those with enough coin or perseverance may find them.

Those who study under such dubious tutelage are referred to as hedge-mages, an antiquated term that has lost its meaning to most, but which most-commonly refers a shaper with no formal training and possibly little to any control over or understanding of their abilities and the consequences of their acctions. Such shapers are dangerous to themselves and those around them and are the reason such harsh laws limiting the use of shaping exist in the first place.