Arcane Studies

There are two traditional types of magical study in Atheron; Arcanology and Thaumaturgy. There areas of study overlap considerably but have different focus. Arcanology is the study of the existing world – encompassing natural sciences, philosophy, alchemy and arcane properties of the universe. Arcanology is focused primarily on harnessing these forces for technological purposes. Thaumaturgy (wizardry) studies much the same topics, but concentrates on the ability of an individual to harness arcane power to empower their personal will. The largest city states have institutes of learning and research devoted to Arcanological research and development. The Dwarven bastions and the Seven Sisters are particularly famous for both preserving ancient arcanological knowledge and for developing new technologies. There are 13 named schools of thaumaturgy on Atheron. These are not individual learning institutions. Rather, they are collections of specific traditions with characteristic verbal, somatic and material components to their spells. Five of these schools claim to have arisen prior to the Sundering, but historical scholars are dubious of such claims. Several of these schools do have institutes of learning, but most Thaumaturges learn their magic via an apprenticeship under a specific mage. Additionally, several of these schools have significant rivalries between them. These rivalries do not tend toward violence, but do have some important political effects. There are dozens or hundreds of cantrips and low-level spells that are used, usually ritually, to accomplish societal and technological needs. More than half of all humans in a bastion city has some minimal ability to perform a cantrip or ritual spells. More women than men have such basic ability. Most neighborhoods have at least one ‘witch,’ someone with a small collection of simple rituals or cantrips that are useful.