Magic in the Old World

The art of Magic, and most of its practicioners, were lost to The Collapse centuries ago. As such, much of the knowledge on the topic has faded from the public conscience, with few prioritizing the archival of related works and techniques over the continued survival of their selves and societies. While it is entirely possible that the information will never again be relevant to the world, its historical importance is such that I have deemed it necessary to include it in this chronicle. In this article, I will be continuously adding recovered materials and works related to the topic of how Magic was practiced, including its various rituals and applications.

Types of Arcana

Magic was primarily performed in two distinct forms: Faith, and Elemental.

Faith

Faith Magic involved the art of invoking and channeling the powers of alleged higher powers. Practicioners of Faith Magic held belief and devotion towards a specific divine entity that would cover a particular "doctrine" of magic. These doctrines would determine what kinds of powers the user could invoke and were tied to the deity in question. For instance, a deity of Knowledge could grant the ability to grant insight into innumerable topics of History.
Beliefs in these deities were, for the most part, monolatrist, and recorded cases of a Mage performing acts of multiple disciplines through Faith Casting are rare and only used fields that were tangentially related. Performing the incantations of a chosen deity typically came in the form of Rituals related to their specific god, and would manifest in forms depending upon the region's culture. Interesting to observe with this is that there have been records of the same deity being invoked in different forms by Magi originating from different continents - Qitres, God of Spirits, would have his power brought forth by intense rituals involving intricate markings and runes in Urushee, while across the ocean in the land of Ubrua, talismans and charms would be burnt to achieve similar effects.
Faith Casting would offer the invoker's self as a primary conduit for their divine magic, channeling it through their body in order to shape and control the power being used. Excessive use of the abilities, or invoking powers stronger than the user was experienced with, would often prove dangerous to their "spirit", requiring long periods of recovery or potentially causing fatalities depending on the stress exerted upon them. In some past circumstances, higher ranking Magi have even channeled a divine entity directly into themselves, destroying their spirit and acting as a host in times of great need, sacrificing their lives in the process. One such example of this is recorded in the Battle of Grepigh in Urushee.
Faith Magic could theoretically be performed by anyone provided their dedication to the chosen deity was genuine and backed with a powerful conviction. This made it the more accessible form of magic, meaning the majority of known Magi practiced this form, but never reached the capabilities of more advanced Elemental users.

Elemental

Elemental magic, by comparison, required years of intensive studying and practice in order to perform the most basic of spells. This form of magic worked by harnessing the chaotic elements of the "Flow", an aetherial matter that was never fully understood, directly through the use of incantations and special objects touched by the appropriate element. An example of this is a Purewater Crystal, like those found at Lagon Ethereal in Urushee. Whereas magic brought forth by Faith was typically limited and controlled in its nature, Elemental Magic had a greater sense of unpredictability and potential to it, capable of devastating destructive output if handled incorrectly.
Only individuals born with a special gift for drawing energy from the aetherial Flow were capable of learning Elemental Magic, and these abilities appear to have been passed down hereditarily through family bloodlines. Without proper training, these Magics were uncontrollable, chaotic, and prone to causing destruction, requiring subtle gestures and manipulations from the mind of the user to mold them into functional forms that they could properly control.
To give a hypothetical example of this, imagine a roaring water rapid heading downstream. This abundant, violent energy could be broken off into innumerable amounts of smaller streams, each still containing this same intensity. Next, you place small but important obstacles in its place in order to alter the flow of this water - To slow it down, branch it out, or even to still it entirely. These additions to the stream seem almost insignificant, but can greatly alter the outcome. This is the principle in which Elemental Casting is performed, with grander and more intricate spells requiring greater focus in order to shape the spells appropriately.
To this end, institutions and Universities were established in the years following the advent of the 7th century, where studies of the art were conducted and new Spells were created. Elemental Magic is multi-disciplinary, with a Mage theoretically being able to learn as many arts as they could remember the proper invocations and procedures for, though this obviously heightened the risk of errors in their casting that could cause unintended side effects or catastrophic failures.
Elemental Magic was the foundation upon which Arcane Machina was created.

Professional Applications

Below are some particularly notable applications of Magic in the realm of professional work. An interesting discovery made when researching Old World Magic is its evolution into a topic of mundanity, where it became commonplace enough for people to treat it as an everyday facet of life, and how these roles may have aided in creating this status quo:

• Healers - Strictly limited to those of Faith following the appropriate domain, but faith-based healing for major wounds or those that could afford expensive private care
• Transportation - Magi with the ability to send others over vast distances were a valuable commodity for a variety of purposes, such as business travel and even recreational visitation. Very few mages were powerful enough to transport others across the ocean, meaning their services fetched a high price.
• Construction - While a large amount of construction work was still performed by manual skilled labour, companies would begin to hire Magi to assist with supplementary operations or to assist in heavy duty tasks, such as the raising of foundation structures and transportation of materials.
• Jewellers - A noteworthy luxury in rich countries such as Ihhir, Elemental mages were known to be able to craft spectacular jewels and gemstones through experimenting with their power.
• Enchanters - Some disciplines of Faith casters would imbue otherwise ordinary objects with the ability to emit powers related to their divine through lesser uses of Faith, whereas Elemental casters would become an instrumental aspect in the creation of Arcane Machina, storing their magical energy for later use.
• Military - Primarily, most War Mages were Faith casters, bringing forth the power of more violent Divine entities onto the battlefield or using their powers to tend to the wounded, but some instances of Elemental disciplines have been noted fulfilling a similar role.