[u][b]Established Lore:[/b][/u]
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[hider=The Great Power]The Great Power is the underlying magical force in the world. As fundamental as gravity, the Great Power permeates this world. Magicians can access this power, drawing from it as one draws from a source of water. However, just as a muscle in the body, the Great Power’s presence in an area grows or recedes by how much it is called upon. Long ago, the Great Power was strong in the land. Magicians and magical beasts were everywhere, and most men were able to feel its presence. Since the end of the Great War, and the inquisitions that followed, the Great Power has receded from the lands of men. Now few feel its presences, and even fewer acknowledge that they feel it. [/hider]

[hider=Magicians]Magicians are the people who are able to call upon the Great Power. Though they are only channeling this power, not creating a power of their own, it requires great physical strain and stamina to call upon. While every Magician is calling upon the same Great Power, each individual has a different ability in how much and what way they use it. With training, Magicians can learn to use more of the Great Power in different ways, but everyone has their limits. If a Magician tries to draw too much of the power at one time they can become overwhelmed by it, and perish in the process. In the days when magic was plentiful, there were five specializations of Magicians: Elementalists, White Magicians, Dark Magicians, Alchemists, and Blue Magicians.[/hider]

[hider=Elementalists]Elementalists were the most common, and specialized in the manipulation of the elements: earth, wind, fire, water, thunder (electricity). Elemental magic is the least physically demanding because elementalists are simply manipulating the physical world around them. (This works very similarly to ‘bending’ in [i]Avatar: The Last Airbender[/i]). Historically there were multiple elementalists even in each village. Generally an area would specialize in a certain kind of elemental magic. Elemental magic was generally a trusted and celebrated use of the Great Power. The common person knew enough about elemental magic to trust its use around them.[/hider]

[hider=White Magicians]White Magicians use the Great Power to form a connection with the gods. Because they rely on the gods to perform magical feats, their powers are limited to how strong of a connection they have forged and what things the gods are willing to do. White Magician generally lived in fraternities of Priests or Priestesses, and spent much of their time praying, performing ritual rites, and studying theology. Their abilities generally depended upon which gods they had formed a strong background with. The most common god was The Mother Goddess. The Mother is known for compassion, healing, and rejuvenation. White Magicians following The Mother could heal wounds, bring strength and courage, lift curses, ect. Another noteworthy god is The Warrior. The abilities he bestowed included forming barriers, enchanting armor and swords, granting courage, lessening fatigue, augmenting strength, ect. White Magicians were historically well respected. Their name comes from the white color of the light that emanates from their spells. While the common person knew little about the nature of their connection with the gods, they trusted White Magicians the most to do good rather than evil with their power. In addition to performing magic, White Magicians headed the Church of the Gods. Under the Church their duties included leading religious services, making sacrifices, tithing the surrounding community, and advising political leaders and other Magicians on the will of the gods. [/hider]

[hider=Dark Magicians]Dark Magicians use the Great Power to summon the spirits of the dead to do their bidding. Becoming a Dark Magician is a harrowing process, and only the strongest of people can undertake the task. The powers of Dark Magicians are far reaching and encompass many powers associated with other Magicians. When summoning the Great Power, Dark Magicians use it to call back the spirits of the dead and force them to do their bidding. The spirits can be made to do any number of things once they are summoned. Because it is only the act of summoning a spirit, Dark Magicians actually don’t use much of the Great Power themselves. Rather, once the spirits are summoned, it is a battle of wills to force the spirit to do what the Magician wants. If the spirit is particularly strong and is able to overpower the Magician, they will possess his body and walk the earth as a Shade. Dark Magicians were historically the least trusted of Magicians. The common person knew little about the way they actually performed magic, but heavily associated Dark Magicians with Shades (to the point some didn’t know the difference). Even within the magical community, Dark Magic was thought to be akin to playing with fire. However, Dark Magicians were some of the most powerful magicians. [/hider]

[hider=Alchemist]Alchemists were different than the other Magicians in that they never summoned the Great Power directly. Though they never draw on the Great Power, Alchemists are said to have a special connection to it. They are the only Magicians that are able to understand and learn the Ancient Language integrally linked to the Great Power. Unlike other languages, the Ancient Language is unable to be taught, but must be discerned through long hours of intense meditation. Once enough of it is learned, an Alchemist can begin using it to perform enchanting rituals and imbue the Great Power in objects, potions, and runes. A well prepared Alchemist is especially powerful on the battlefield because their magic use doesn’t strain them like it does other Magicians. Many Battle Alchemists were historically trained to use a weapon to compliment their abilities. Alchemists were so few and little-seen that the common person couldn’t differentiate them from other kinds of Magicians. Among the magical community, however, Alchemists were considered the scholars, and were generally on the front lines of magical research.[/hider] 

[hider=Blue Magicians]Blue Magicians are the only of the five kinds of magicians that use pure Great Power to perform their magic. They don’t manipulate elements, call on others, or prepare enchantments beforehand, but rather channel the pure Great Power. Because they call upon the Great Power directly, Blue Magicians are made up of only the strongest of Magicians. Blue Magicians can perform any number of things: divination, powerful bolts of raw magic, magical barriers, summoning of magical demons, communication with animals, control of the weather, and anything else the mind can imagine. Though Blue Magicians posses all this power, they are the most susceptible to being overwhelmed by the Great Power. When that happens, they are first engulfed in blue magical energy (where they get their name from), followed by an enormous and destructive explosion of force. Referred to as ‘Wizards’ by the non-magical community, they are historically considered the strongest kind of Magicians, and always held positions of leadership in the magical and non-magical community. Every Magical College was headed by a Wizard Headmaster, and every king had a Court Wizard. Blue Magicians were both respected and feared. What they said was considered law, and oftentimes even kings would change course at their behest. [/hider]

[hider=Shades]
The extent of the power of Shades is unknown. What is known, is that they are immensely powerful and inherently evil. Created when a spirit successfully overtakes and possess the body of a Dark Magician, they seek to destroy the world of the living. Shades almost exclusively are known to use necromancy (reanimation of the dead) to do their bidding. Historically, Shades were hunted and destroyed by other Dark Magicians looking to preserve their reputation as a force for good in the world similar to other kinds of magic.[/hider]
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