As according to Magist Primus
Telepathy:The Art of the Mind.
Telepathy is sensing and possibly changing the mind of another.
To title yourself a telepath is to lay claim to an absurd amount of creativity, off-the-charts learning, and, most importantly, the power to unlock one's own full mental potential. A telepath effortlessly observes every detail of everything they encounter, they are far more intelligent than any other mortal could hope to be, they know the inner secrets of thinking and sentience, and they remember all events in painstaking detail. Some even claim to remember being born.
But their unique talents are not limited to their own brain- no, that would not be enough. The greatest of telepaths have found ways to extend influence into the thoughts of others. They are able to cause hallucinations to the more feeble-minded than themselves (read: everyone), know what one plans before the plan is even set into motion, and see another's innermost feelings and beliefs. There are actually stories among the commonfolk that telepaths can control someone through mental prowess alone. But those are just rumors...
...right?
Alteration:The antithesis to telepathy, alteration is the utilization of magic that taps into the physical essence of the world around it, and there by manipulates it to one's own accord. Explaining, in simple terms, how it's done is beyond difficult; suffice to say, it allows one to change the properties of the universe. It can be both the most practical and the most gaudy of magics, depending on how it is used.
A less-practiced Alteration Wizard could, with a bit of effort, change a single item in some way: making it softer, harder, larger, smaller, and other things of the such. While fully possible, the use of this process on living creatures is generally frowned upon.
Some in this school have devised ways to heal or harm through changing the body. If you have a gaping wound, the more learned among these could force your flesh to mend and fuse itself back together.
An advanced Alterist- as they are sometimes called- is capable of easily transforming the laws of physics, but only in a limited area and only for a limited amount of time. They could, for example, suddenly nullify gravity within a few feet of themselves- effectively allowing levitation.
Only a rare few can accomplish this last feat: summoning. Summoning is not the same as conjuring (we'll get to that later), mainly in that summoning only works for people and objects from this plane of existence, and it cannot create life. Like suddenly causing water to appear in mid-air, transmuting iron to gold, or teleporting a person or substance from one place to another instantaneously.
Destruction:Some fools would argue that destruction is a simple, negative force, the sort of thing best practiced by goblins, orcs and other 'lesser creatures'.
They could not be more wrong.
Destruction is a beauty all it's own, one which has the power to un-make reality itself. It sets fire to wood, bends metal, disintegrates monsters, crushes bone and tears flesh asunder.
One starting to try destruction can probably create small fires, freeze things in a rather dangerous manner, or send nasty shocks.
Most mid-level mages of this profession are able to, along with the aformentioned powers, drain the life out of an enemy, sense what one is weakest to, and do other seemingly super natural feats. I could go on, but it would be a waste of time. All you need to know is that, at this point, one can harm in almost any way they desire.
Once someone has reached a point where they could be considered a "master", the transformation begins. They grow sharper teeth, nails like claws, eyes that burn red, gangly or brutish limbs, and the power to smell weakness like a wolf smelling fear. They have lost all touch with normal life, becoming little more than living war-machines. They are still intelligent, and still able to cast spells, but now they have an added arsenal of monstrous strength and speed.
That being said, a select few Destruction Masters have found ways around this effect, though it is uncommon to do so.
Alchemy:The science of magic. It is simple in it's founding idea: if you mix magical items and materials in the right way, you can achieve far superior effects than the items/materials could on their own. A unicorn horn, ground up and melted in a pot with a dragon tongue, could achieve a greater mystic effect than either objects could alone.
But it is complex in it's execution: while the above example seems easy, it would usually involve very, very, very exact instructions or settings to work in any sort of beneficial way.
Alchemy can create potions to weaken, strengthen, heal, kill, revive, or do any other manner of things to the luck (or horribly unlucky) one who drinks them.
Alchemy is still an emerging study, however, as it only came about within the past fifty years.
Demonic/Occult:First taught to mortals by the Archdemon Uklist. It is the only form of magic that has ever been proven to have originated from a non-mortal force, and thus doesn't follow the same rules as normal magic. Most spells can be traced back to some logical behavior, but Occultic magic instead seems chaotic and out-of-control.
It is primarily used for affecting the souls and lifeforce of living creatures in such ways that a normal mortal never could. This equates to necromancy, soul-stealing, and occasionally conjuring the servants of demons themselves.
Necromancy is the most recognizable result of Occultism, as it's hard to miss a shambling, still rotting corpse moving about. A necromancer is able to retrieve the body of a dead man and inject life-force back into it, returning it to this world as a servant and ghost of it's former self.
But as with all things, it is far from free. The first lesson of Occultism is that nothing comes without cost. To revive a body, a necromancer needs lifeforce that can be injected. Where do they get lifeforce?
Ironically, from other dead things.
When you die, your spirit lingers above your corpse for many days before ascending to the next world. All you can do during this time is pray that an Occultist does not find you, for if he does he may steal your soul. Once a soul is stolen, it can be divided into smaller pieces and used as a form of energy. A single spirit contains enough energy to raise dozens of zombies, skeletons, or any other manner of gross undead.
As for conjuration: when one has worshiped demons from other realms for many long years, they might find themselves gifted with forbidden knowledge. Conjuration is not the only secret they may learn from the Masters of Evil, but it is the most notable: it allows the summoning of demonic servants. As one learns, they will go from calling upon simple imps and hell-bats, to bring about the chaos of hulking battle creatures and world-destroying monstrosities. The best part is...the fiends are unable to break themselves away from the Occultist's grasp.
Mysticism/Far-seeing:Seers are a rather strange and mysterious people. Their power is drawn, like Occultists, from demons, and they operate mostly from a distance - from within darkened rooms using brightly flashing seeing-stones. Seers are trained in both the arts of 'farsight' through seeing stones, and the multifarious skill of mystics. They learn, even at an early age, the arts of cursing and blessing.
Seeing-stones are small, crystalline objects (like a crystal ball) that enable the user to watch places from miles away. Looking into one, the Seer will be aware of whatever happenings they wish, anywhere around the globe.
Of course, it's not always that simple: to find a Seeing-stone, one must create it personally from a fallen star, by imbuing the meteor with magical energies. Furthermore, the Stone will only ever work for the man who created it- if you make yourself a nice little seeing-stone, it will never work for myself or anyone else.
But these Stones have uses beyond watching the world from a distance; they are also capable of inflicting curses or blessings on any poor victim the Mystic may will. When cursed, the whole universe seems to turn against someone: anything that can go wrong, will. The ultimate bad luck.
Blessings are, of course, the opposite. If there is a good thing that can happen, it probably will happen.
Now only the most advanced of Seers can pull of this last trick: Voodoo dolls. Though a complex series of rituals, it is able to magically enchant an wax doll and bind it to the body of your subject. From that point on, whatever happens to the doll shall happen to the body of the affected person, depending on the skill of the Seer.
If a less talented Seer rips the dolls arm off, the subject the doll is bound to will also feel a great pain, but otherwise suffer no adverse effects.
If a more practiced Seer does the same, their victim will be in absolute agony as their arm breaks, but it will most likely stay attached.
The most masterful of Seers are actually capable of severing a subjects arms or limbs by doing the same to the doll. This, (un)fortunately includes decapitation and disembowelment.
Vec