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Magic exists in Dran as a natural force that can be manipulated by those with the appropriate skills. It works via lengthy rituals rather than whiz-bang spells. All magic is based on the channelling of forces, and as such spells cannot be stored for quick release, although magic can be incorporated into physical objects for lasting effects, such as wardings. There is no teleportation magic. Healing is usually the fastest kind of magic to perform. No magics can extend a life beyond, for example, what the provision of non-magical medical care would allow.
Magic cannot affect minds in other than a stabilising fashion - no mind reading, mind control or memory manipulation and so on are possible. Even the Gods cannot control minds directly, although indirect methods such as fear, pain and the like still work, of course.
The magic of a given mage is powered by one of three possible sources of power:
- The Gods, who lend their power to the mage directly. Mages with this source of power tend to be more powerful than those whose power is derived from other sources. The power of Cthon is greatly reduced when in the realm of other gods (for example when at sea), and vice versa.
- Life Force:
- Of oneself. This can be debilitating or even fatal if over-used.
- Of other living things, obtained by necromantic or vampiric means; the amount depends on the sentience of the living things - slaves are thus a good concentrated source of life force. This is usually done in one of two ways - either via a magical implement (usually a knife) which channels life force from the victim to the recipient, or by using a combination of magical circles, one for each victim and one for the target, linked with magical lines which channel the life force from the target to the recipient.
For example, there might be a mage who works surrounded by thousands of caged birds, whose life force they use to power their magery.
This type of magic has the disadvantage that it warps the life force, and eventually also the bodies, of those who use it on themselves too much...
- The Spirit World, where effects come from summoning and controlling or consuming sprits. This varies in power and danger depending on the power and attitude of the local spirits, of which there are more in less inhabited areas - urban druids are very rare! If done carelessly this type of magic can have the side effect of warping the Spirit World around it. It is possible to perform spirit-powered magic without causing damage to the Spirit World, if one takes longer to do so, using shamanistic rituals; this requires much more care. Very few in the Undying Empire make this effort, as doing so is not taught, and it is considered to make magic too slow to be useful. Spirits are usually summoned with a combination of ritual and magical circles to contain the spirit and render it down into pure power. There are also (rare) magical implements - large, bulky items - which can simply pull in spirits and render them down for their power.
As magical power cannot be stored, only channelled, for procedures that take a long time living things must be killed slowly, and likewise spirits rendered down slowly, to provide power as the ritual proceeds.
Stone circles, pyramids and similar geomantically-based structures can focus power from the Spirit World, making them better sites to perform magic. because of this Feng Shui-type geomancy is important in architecture and city building.
There are colleges of magic scattered throughout Umbra, and the Undying Empire. Some are small, some are large, and their ages vary. Some are as old as, or older than, the Undying Empire itself. Each college specialises in a specific area of magic, and all of the colleges jealously guard their secrets, so that people cannot learn more than one type of magic without having defected from or stolen the secrets of another college. In which case they are almost certainly hunted by their former college so that they can be silenced before they reveal the secrets of the college...
The Colleges do not discriminate on grounds of race, sex or social class, by order of the Undying Lord. They also do not actively recruit - people come to them and in most cases pay the college for tuition, either directly or by a period of service to it after graduation. The only exception to this is the occasional magical prodigy who exhibits magical powers without training, and who is usually snapped up by a college; these is normally a great deal of politics and infighting between the colleges involved in this process when it occurs.
In the Undying Empire it is highly illegal to teach magic outside of the college system, and also Mages cannot be nobles, for reasons similar to those used to exclude vampires from certain positions. For this reason many noble mages are the younger children of noble families who do not expect to inherit much.
There is rivalry and occasional 'gang wars' between different Colleges whose areas of expertise overlap.
The colleges of magic present many styles and faces to the outside world but generally share the same form of organisation, with its members ranked as follows:
- Head of the College - the most powerful person within the collage, although not necessarily the most powerful in magic.
- The Masters - highly experienced magicians, often specialised in one particular field of the magic of the college, who often teach lesser mages. This is the highest rank a vampire may hold.
- Mages - experienced magicians who use their magic to earn a living in the world.
- Journeymen - qualified but inexperienced magicians who often work under a fully qualified magician.
- Students/Novices.
The Colleges of magic in the Undying Empire include:
- COLLEGE OF ALCHEMISTS - members of this college can create poisons, potions, chemicals and so on, not all of which are necessarily magical. Some members of this college seek an elixir of immortality. In recent centuries others have had more success seeking ways to turn wood and similar materials into coal and oil like substances to replace the depleted natural resources of Dran.
- COLLEGE OF ARTISANS - who make unique, highly crafted equipment for individuals (unique magical weapons, magical prosthetics and the like). Enemies of the College of Engineers, they often co-operate with the College of Masons in producing structures with active magical effects. In addition they often produce magical prosthetics for the College of Surgeons.
Magical artefacts come in three 'levels', with the time and effort required to produce increasing with the amount of time or the number of uses the enchantment on them has to last for:
- Empowered for one use only.
- Empowered for a number of uses, or for a limited time only.
- Permanently empowered.
For weapons, the thing striking the target is what must be empowered. So, for ranged weapons the bullet or arrow must be empowered, not the gun or bow. Thus magical melee weapons are much more common than magical projectiles.
Magical weapons are often easier to make if they have some kind of disadvantages added in, for example a sword which once drawn cannot be sheathed again until it has drawn blood.
- COLLEGE OF ASTROLOGERS - once able to predict the future with some accuracy, the magics known to this college have become unreliable ever since the death of the sun god Skirion, leading to the college losing prestige and becoming much smaller in size since then. They are utterly forbidden from predicting anything whatsoever about the Undying Lord, on pain of the most severe penalties. The current head of the college is the Lady of Sorrows (at other times, of course, it has been the Lord of Sorrows).
- COLLEGE OF THE BAN - mages specialising in cursing and 'voodoo' magic. This magic usually requires some sample of or thing linked to the target. Blood is particularly powerful for this, and can allow limited control of the blood of the target, causing pain or even burning in the target. This college is also known as the College of Witchcraft. They have close ties with the College of Seekers.
- COLLEGE OF BREAKERS - mages who can, given time, control animals in groups and individually. This includes using magic to enhance the normal training of creatures. Because of the similarities in some of their techniques, they have ties to the College of Inquisitors.
- COLLEGE OF CLOUD SHAPERS - specialists in weather control magic, which is slow, but can be very powerful. This magic can be used as a siege weapon.
- COLLEGE OF EARTH SPEAKERS - who have control of earthquakes and volcanoes, and who have major holdings in the volcanic islands off the mouth of the Lesus River. They have an equivalent in the Lunar Empire (as it is in an earthquake zone, and Earth Speakers are very good at stabilising things). They often co-operate with the College of Masons in mining operations. Their magic can be used as a siege weapon.
- COLLEGE OF ENGINEERS - who make magical engines and vehicles; theirs is 'industrial' magic. The Engineers are a new, 'upstart' college of magic, only founded within the last couple of thousand years. The Engineers are deadly rivals of the College of Artisans.
Magical engines derive the energy they need to run from any of a number of different magical power sources:
- Life force powered engines require a constant stream of sacrifices to feed them the power they require.
- Spirit powered engines suck in spirits in their vicinity, consuming them to power itself. This leaves a trail of spiritual damage around it which heals only slowly; in places of heavy use this damage never gets a chance to heal, resulting in permanent disruption to the Spirit World there.
- As far as it is known there are no engines powered directly from the gods.
- COLLEGE OF EXORCISTS - who specialise in the control and expulsion of ghosts and other spirits which affect the living world, as well as magics to ward areas against these entities. They often co-operate with the College of Masons, and are great rivals of the College of Necromancers.
- COLLEGE OF FARSPEAKERS - who understand the creation and use of magical long-distance communicators. These are stone circles or individual stone monoliths which, when activated, can link to other such activated devices, allowing communication between them via the earth (and thus via Cthon). Communicators can also be used to sense the state of other such devices, that is, whether they are currently activated or not. Stone circles tend to be blood-powered, while monoliths are normally spirit powered.. There are no man-portable communicators - the smallest can just fit onto the largest of ships, and even then their being on the water greatly reduces their range, and increases the effort required to use them. All Farspeaker devices are guarded and their usage is heavily controlled, with severe penalties for misuse.
- COLLEGE OF FLESH SHAPERS - magical shapeshifters, of themselves or others, allowing the disguise of and other changes to their subjects. Shifting oneself is harder than shifting others, so they often cooperate in such matters. Flesh Shapers can also heal wounds, though slowly, though the College of Surgeons frowns on this. They are un-trusted because they are essentially shapeshifters, and it is rumoured that they know far too much because of it. Nominally they are a small and weak college, but no-one knows whether this is actually true with any certainty. Certainly there are old horror stories of people being replaced by Flesh Shapers, of impostors replacing nobles and even Kings in the past, but again, no-one really knows how true these are... So, in response to this, the Flesh Shapers are entirely (on the surface at least) open and above board in all their dealings - they will sell their services if the price is right. All College members (as far as anyone knows!) have some physical sign or mark which distinguishes them, though this can be subtle or blatant. They are not allowed to create creatures which can breed true to any modifications made. Some Flesh Shapers perform regenerative magic for the College of Surgeons.
- COLLEGE OF FORESTERS - experts in magics dealing with plant growth and destruction, as well as the making and clearing of thickets, and passing tracelessly through the wild. Also known as the College of Druids. Unlike other colleges they are based in wild groves rather than buildings and cities.
- COLLEGE OF ILLUSIONISTS - mages specialised in the creation and moulding of illusions. The larger they are and the more senses they affect, the harder these are to produce.
- COLLEGE OF INQUISITORS - magical interrogators within the Church of Cthon who deal in pain causing, and life and sanity supporting magics, often powered by the victim's own blood. Inquisitors usually use magic to keep victims alive and sane for later sacrifice. Circles around the victim are the most common implementation of their magic. They work off their reputation as much as by their acts. Rape is an integral part of all of their interrogation techniques. Their headquarters is the House of Truth, of which there is one in most major cities of the Empire. Inquisitors see the College of Surgeons as lesser, weaker, reflections of themselves. Because of the similarities in some of their techniques, they have ties to the College of Breakers.
- COLLEGE OF MASONS - who specialise in the binding and warding of structures. They often co-operate with the College of Exorcists and the College of Artisans in producing structures with active magical effects, and with the Earth Speakers to aid in mining operations. They also work with the House of Substance and various noble families to produce robbery-proof vaults. Their magic can be used as a siege weapon, to undo the magical defences of the place under siege. Spell-reinforced walls and the like produced by the College of Masons are used on major buildings.
- COLLEGE OF MATTER SHAPERS - not unlike the College of Flesh Shapers they can reshape living and unliving matter. Unlike the Flesh Shapers, however, their magics have no consideration of internals, and so will normally kill any living thing they are used on. However, their magics are faster than flesh shaping magics.
- COLLEGE OF NECROMANCERS - who specialise in zombie creation and the control of the spirits of the dead. Zombies need maintenance or drain life force from their surroundings, unless they are sustained by godly power; even if created by godly power, they will not be so sustained short of the direct intervention of a deity. Their colleges are some of the most haunted places on Dran - necromancers become ghosts more often than any other group as they are, basically, masters of death. It is not unknown for necromancers, working with artificers, to produce spirit-cages to catch the souls of dead loved (or hated!) ones on death, to keep them close. The Necromancers are rivals of the Exorcists.
- COLLEGE OF NIGHT - specialists in spying and assassination magic, they can call darkness, create silence and perform magic to do the equivalent of Ninja mystical tricks, as well as minor face changing. It is rumoured that they have close ties with the Order of Midnight and the Order of the Eye.
- COLLEGE OF SEEKERS - specialising in psychometry and seeking magic; at high levels of skill they can produce magical compasses which point at a target. Their magics usually require some sample of or something linked to the target. They have close ties with the College of the Ban.
- COLLEGE OF SUMMONERS - specialists in magic devoted to spirit binding and control for various uses (scrying, mind attacks, hauntings and so on). They can also warp, twist and change spirits into any desired form to summon what are effectively 'demons' out of the Spirit World, although this is hard and requires a great deal of skill to do safely.
- COLLEGE OF SURGEONS - specialists in healing magic who often call upon the skill of the Flesh Shapers to reform broken or severed body parts, and the Artisans to create magical prosthetics. All doctors are a part of the College, which is divided into two main branches:
- Magical life support and regeneration.
- Normal physical non-magical medicine.
There is considerable overlap between these two areas, but also considerable specialisation. Their magic cannot re-grow a body part which has been detached, unless it is re-attached very quickly (before it has died) and healed. However, as long as the injured parts remain alive and attached they can usually be healed regardless of the damage to them. They do not get on with the Inquisitors, who they see both as corrupt versions of themselves, and as knowing too much of what they know. They wear uniforms of scarlet, with a long (trench-coat length) jacket, trousers, shirt and tricorn hat plus a scarlet kit bag, boots and gloves.
[If a Surgeon's magic is powered by life force, they can drain it from others, by inflicting pain, or, for the most energy, physically killing them. They can also drain energy from themselves. In either case, the transfer of energy is not one hundred percent efficient. However, killing a person can heal anything up to a mortal wound.]
- COLLEGE OF TWO WORLDS - astral travellers in the physical and Spirit Worlds; they are concerned about the damage being done in and to the Spirit World, but have little influence with those in power to do anything about it. They can carry others into the Spirit World with them.
All College-taught magic includes protection against at least their own school of magic.
The Lunar Empire does not have colleges of magic as the Undying Empire has. They have much more a community of mages with no real boundaries between spheres of knowledge. As such, although their overall body of magical knowledge is no greater than that of the mages of the Undying Empire, individual Lunar Empire mages can learn magics from a much broader range of fields than is possible in the Undying Empire.
In the Lunar Empire there is Dance Magic, which does not exist in the Empire. This is mainly a woman's magic, and not well known even in the Lunar Empire. It gives the user the ability to generate a variety of hypnotic effects, and can enthral all in sight at once (though this is weaker the further away the victim is), but takes time to perform. It can also be used to manipulate the emotions of an audience.
They also have Sea Mages with (some) control of currents, tides, waves and the like, not unlike an aquatic version of the College of Cloud Shapers, as well as another group who can, given time, control sea creatures, not unlike an aquatic version of the College of Breakers.
The World of Dran | Feel of the World | History | Inhabitants of Dran | Larger Universe | Magic
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