Magus
A magus is a practitioner of magic on Derkomai, as described in the Foundations of Magic on Derkomai. The term is a catch-all for all Human practitioners of magic; there are many specific types of magus. The specific term for a magus depends on the school of magic typically practiced:
- Thaumaturge for those that practice thaumaturgy, manipulation by concentration or dispersion of photons and the kinetic energy of molecules.
- Necromancer for a magus that practices necromancy, the manipulation of life energy, usually of people or animals already dead.
- Conjurer for a magus that practices conjuration, the ability to manipulate the location of an object or being in space-time.
- Diviner for a magus that practices divination, the ability to see past, current, and future events from afar.
- Agapyel Healer, for a magus that practices restoration, healing by manipulating life energy, living tissue, and disease, usually to restore health.
- Enchanter for a magus that practices enchantment, the ability to manipulate the mental state of other people and animals.
Career
Qualifications
A magus typically trains for many years as a Seer, an apprentice to another magus. Magi must be highly intelligent, highly passionate yet highly disciplined, and spend years studying and understanding at a deep level the inner workings of the universe and its natural laws; though not as the scientific principles as they are known in our modern world. They are able to sense the underlying fabric of space-time and focus their passions and emotions through rituals, usually called spells, to affect reality in specific ways.
Career Progression
An apprentice magus is typically called a Seer. Seers learn magic from elder magi that dedicate themselves to teaching promising and talented younger people. Occasionally, "wild" seers and magi appear that have developed spells and their magical abilities on their own, without training from a more senior magus, but such persons are rare, and their magic is strange and unpredictable.
The abilities of a magus vary based on how intelligent the magus is and how well he or she can sense and understand the fabric of space-time and the natural laws of the universe, the depth of the magus' emotions and passions and how able the magus is able to channel them through spell rituals, and the number and type of spell rituals the magus has learned to perfection and is able to perform in situations of stress.
Before becoming a magus, while still a seer, the magus to whom the the seer has apprenticed will have books of spell rituals available, and it is only those spells the seer will be able to learn, so seers apprenticed to magi with more resources (usually those in larger cities and towns or sponsored by royalty) will be able to learn more spells and will progress more quickly. In some larger cities, royalty may sponsor academies of magic where magi come together to research and teach. However, such places are usually tightly monitored, as royals rightly fear magi having too much power.
Once a seer has the ability to flawlessly execute a number of spells in difficult circumstances, he or she becomes a magus. In some places, there may be a formal promotion ceremony, and the seer is granted the clothing or other insignia indicating his or her new status. In others, the magus to whom the seer is apprenticed may simply release the seer from apprenticeship, saying that the seer has learned all the magus has to teach. At that point, the seer has become a de facto magus.
Most magi are obsessed with continually learning and seeking out new spell rituals. Scrolls and books of spells are priceless treasures to magi, and they always looking for or even trying to steal spell books and scrolls. In addition, many spells require special reagents, some very expensive or very rare and difficult to obtain. Magi will go to great lengths to acquire those reagents. Usually, the reagents used when performing a spell ritual are consumed as the spell is completed, so magi must continually buy or find more.
Rivalries between magi are often very intense and violent, each magus trying to incapacitate or kill the other in order to take spell scrolls or books and reagents from the other. There are exceptions, however. An Agapyel Healer is a magus that is able to manipulate life energy in such a way to heal wounds, and cure diseases. The most skilled are even able to restore life to someone that has died. Other magi usually do not bother them, as their value is obvious, and they are extremely difficult to incapacitate or kill, due to their mastery over their own life energy.
Because magi face so many dangers, from one another and from those that fear or are jealous of them, or seek to take their invaluable scrolls, books, and reagents, most learn spell rituals early in their apprenticeship that are able to protect them from spells performed by other magi, as well as from blades, poisons, and other harms. Like all other spells, the protective spells, often called shields, vary in effectiveness based on the skill and passion of the apprentice seer and the type of spell ritual performed.
A very highly skilled and knowledgeable magus is known as an arch-magus. As with the promotion from seer to magus, promotion to arch-magus may be formal, with a ceremony or ritual performed to mark the promotion at an academy of magic, or it may be informal, with others simply recognizing that the magus has exceptional skill and therefore, refering to the magus as an arch-magus.
Although magi are, without exception, very intelligent, they are not necessarily wise nor honest. Magi can be mentally unstable, given to outbursts of anger or frustration (which can be dangerous or deadly for others around them), liars, con artists, drunkards, lechers, or in other ways dysfunctional. Fortunately, the most skilled magi are the most focused, so very powerful magi rarely have deadly emotional outburts. If they kill or maim someone, it is very, very deliberate.
Perception
Social Status
Magi are both revered and feared, sought out and shunned. Those sponsored, and therefore, controlled by royal or noble families, can enjoy high status and the perquisites, as well as the dangers, that come with close association with nobility and royalty. Royal and noble families often seek out diviners as advisors, but the life of more than one diviner has come to a tragic end when a noble or royal didn't like the result of a divination. Thaumaturges are sought out by military officers for their ability to kill quickly. Conjurers and necromancers are generally shunned. On the other hand, Agapyel Healer magi are sought out and in some cases, worshipped as saints.
Demographics
People with the abilities required to become magi are very rare. Fewer than one in a thousand people can sense the fabric of space-time and have the intelligence, passion, focus, and drive to become a magus. Even fewer are able to find a magus to whom they can apprentice as a seer. A good number of seers fail to progress to the point that they can become a magus. The number of successful magi in the population of a town or city is less than one in five-thousand. The number of arch-magi in the entire world can be counted on two hands.
History
Probably the first human magus was Edan. He learned his first spells from drow Elvirim and thereafter, spent decades and centuries researching magical powers on Derkomai. Other than what is known of Edan, the earliest development of magical powers by humans is lost to time; although, the Grand Imperial Historians of the Great Sacred Empire may have ancient scrolls and books deep in their archives that have some answers.
Operations
Tools
Magi often make use of an object, known as an Omphalos, through which they focus their emotions and passions. The omphalos can take many forms: a wand, staff, talisman, ring, or other object with which the magus has formed an emotional attachment. Magi usually also infuse the omphalos with magical properties allowing the magus to quickly perform some spells without requiring the complex rituals or reagents usually needed.
Materials
The spell rituals performed by magi require rare and often expensive reagents, many of which are difficult to obtain. Each type of spell requires a different reagent or set of reagents. Often the reagent is related to the function of the spell. For example, a spell to create fire might require a bit of brimstone from a particular volcano or a piece of rare wood as a reagent. Divination spells might require a magnifying glass, a small mirror, or clear, still water from the pool of a Naiadrim as a reagent. A spell to create light might require a candle infused with expensive perfume. More powerful spell rituals usually require a greater number of more expensive or rare reagents.
Workplace
Magi usually reside alone or with one or a few Seer apprentices. They need seclusion to practice their spells, both because they must concentrate without distraction when learning, and because if a spell ritual goes wrong, it can have dire or deadly consequences for those nearby. When a magus practices new spells, the magus will first perform shielding spells to protect themselves; others do not have that benefit.
Of course, a magus can perform spell rituals wherever he or she desires, given the right reagents are available and the place is free enough of distractions that the magus can complete the ritual properly and exactly.
Provided Services
A magus can provide whatever services that his or her spells allow them to provide. Typically, services provided are ad hoc; however, an Agapyel Healer may have a fixed location, a shop or clinic, where he or she heals individuals at set times and for set fees. The shop or clinic may also employ "normal" healers and pharmacists to handle mundane illnesses, leaving the Agapyel Healer to handle difficult cases. Magi practicing divination may also have a fixed place in which they perform divination. Many, but not all, are magi of low ability, often seers that failed in their studies, that are working as fortune tellers. Some are outright frauds, unable to perform any real divination at all. Many others can see the future, but so vaguely that their divination is next to or even worse than useless.
Dangers & Hazards
A spell ritual performed incorrectly will often lead to energies being released in unpredictable and dangerous ways. Necromancy and conjuration are particularly dangerous, as is thaumaturgy. More than one apprentice thaumaturge has been burned alive in uncontrolled fire or encased in ice and frozen to death. Necromancers and conjurers have accidentally released dangerous undead or hideous monsters that killed them in horrible ways before returning to the unholy place from where they came.
Alternative Names
wizard, sorcerer, magician, warlock, witch, thaumaturge, enchanter, diviner, necromancer, illusionist
Type
Arcane
Legality
The legality of magic in most places is dependent on the kind of magic it is. Necromancy is almost universally despised and illegal, and necomancers are shunned. Thus, necromancers typically abide in isolated places, such as abandoned ruins and dungeons. On the other hand, Agapyel Healer magi are univerally sought out and welcomed, even worshipped. Conjuration and enchantment are at least frowned upon in most places and are illegal in many. Divination is most often legal, at least until a divination predicts that noble or royal will come to ruin or worse - and the prediction becomes reality. Thamaturgy is viewed with suspicion most everywhere, but is typically not actually illegal. However, if a thaumaturge harms someone, even if in self-defense, the thaumaturge is likely to be prosecuted or outright murdered. Legality and acceptance of other schools of magic is dependent on the views of the local rulers and populace.
Famous in the Field
Other Associated professions
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