License to Practice Magick

"Magick is a double-edged sword; its brilliance can illuminate the world or cast it into shadow. Thus, it must be wielded with wisdom, lest we fall to our own hubris."

The License to Practice Magick is one of the most feared and far-reaching legislative instruments in Everwealth. Introduced during the fragile reconstruction period after The Great Schism, it began as a preventative measure to rein in unchecked spellcasting and prevent further devastation. Over time, however, it evolved into a tool of widespread arcane control. Drafted in 207 CA and ratified by King Lucius Valmore in 211 CA, the License transformed magick from a birthright into a bureaucratic privilege. It is not merely a document, it is a chain. To cast without one is to risk branding, exile, or execution under the Magickal Subversion Doctrine (Arcane Coalition legal doctrine classifying all unlicensed spellcasting as a form of treason or terrorism, equating it with the intent to subvert societal order through arcane means). Enforced with zeal by The Arcane Coalition, the License is mandatory for all casters, whether they study in the great halls of The Scholar's Guild or whisper hedge-spells behind farm cottages. While amended sporadically, its original spirit remains: distrust magick, and punish its misuse. Licenses are rigidly stratified, classed by power level, specialization, and situational authorization. An enchanter might receive a Permit of Limited Influence for civilian trinketwork, while a battlefield Evoker would be bound to a Conductor’s Charter, complete with kill restrictions and surveillance glyphs. Alchemists and potion-makers, though technically not spellcasters, are still bound to the License under a looser regulatory web. Because alchemical effects are slower, more predictable, and typically require rare ingredients, the Arcane Coalition considers potion-making less immediately hazardous, yet no less worthy of control. A high-tier potion capable of invisibility, transformation, or even resurrection requires heavy authorization, depending on potency and availability. Unauthorized brewing beyond one's registered tier, especially of volatile compounds such as dreamgilt and Ichor distillates, are treated with equal suspicion as unlicensed spellwork.

Offenses are tiered under a classification system that rivals criminal narcotics law, ranging from petty misdemeanors to capital subversion. Forging a License is not just illegal, it is considered heretical, often resulting in fiery public executions with magick-silencing inks used to bind the forger’s soul. Though often touted as a necessary guard against chaos, the License’s legacy is one of division. It chokes magick at its roots in common society, turning would-be mages into criminals and herbalists into suspects. Its clauses silence innovation and sacrifice accessibility for obedience. Even among its defenders, there is quiet consensus that a handful of doctrinal changes, more transparent amendment systems, decentralized oversight, wider acceptance of mid-tier magick, might bring it into line with modern reality. But as long as the Arcane Coalition holds sway, such reforms remain fantasy. In practice, the License is less a protection and more a litmus test: those who hold it are trusted with power, those without it are punished for potential. It is Everwealth’s unflinching answer to a world that once let magick run rampant, and the iron mask it now wears to ensure it never does again.

Purpose

The License was established by the Arcane Coalition as a means to prevent “unauthorized magical incidents” (their euphemism for entire towns blinking out of existence). Initially resisted, the license system gained traction after 'The Conflagration' tragedy of 208 CA, when a young mage, unsupervised and untrained, accidentally leveled three city blocks trying to conjure water. The death toll reached 230. A simple goal at first-glance, though most think its true goal, however, is more primal: to tame the soul’s access to the Arcane, to channel it into permissible forms, and to break those who cannot, or will not, conform. It is the cornerstone of the Coalition’s societal dominance, a bureaucratic collar veiled as public safety. The license classifies all spellcasting into legal tiers. Those seeking to practice magick for any public, private, or guild purpose must apply, submit to screening, and undergo rigorous evaluation, not only of spellcraft knowledge but of emotional temperament, physical resilience, and bloodline purity. For those who pass, the license grants only the narrowest freedom, strict limitations on school, range, material use, and frequency. Renewal is yearly, with random inspections carried out by Coalition Task Mages.

Document Structure

Clauses

The license is broken into five primary classifications:
Tier I: Cantrips, ritual candles, minor hex breaking, healing of surface wounds, non-combative scrying.
Tier II: Basic spellcasting with recognized instruction. Includes entry-level warding, elemental shaping, alchemical infusions.
Tier III: Intermediate schools. Magickal constructs, binding spells, major healing, elemental summoning, potent restorative brews or elixirs.
Tier IV: Restricted spells, including teleportation, memory alteration, necromantic divination, and ritual conjuring. Also includes creation of potions with long-term cognitive or transmutative effects.
Tier V: Forbidden to the general populace. Includes true soulbinding, mass-scale destruction, planar interference, resurrection magicks, and high-order alchemy with widespread physiological or dimensional impact.
Each tier requires documented mastery of the previous, psychological evaluation, Coalition sponsor endorsement, and continued renewal every five years through mandatory re-testing and moral examination. This applies to both direct spellcasting and any alchemic or glyph-based practices with demonstrable Arcane effect.

Caveats

To better manage enforcement, the Arcane Coalition instituted a Class system for unlawful spell use. Each class defines the severity of risk to society:
Class I - Minor Misuse: Unauthorized healing, light generation, or cantrips. Punishable by fines or detainment.
Class II - Arcane Distortion: Illusions, minor transmutation, unsanctioned scrying. Offenders may be branded or publicly shamed.

• This includes unlicensed potioncraft with cognitively altering effects (e.g. memory mists, emotion oils).

Class III - Spatial, Elemental, or Summoning Breaches: Includes portal manipulation, uncontrolled evocation, and volatile alchemical compounds capable of causing widespread property damage. Incarceration or conscription into dangerous fieldwork.
Class IV - Soul Intrusion or Necromancy: Creation of undead, blood-binding, or soul tethering. Also includes resurrection elixirs, necrotoxin distillates, or potions that alter one’s essence. Execution is the standard penalty.
Class V - Spellweaving without License: Creation of new spells, casting during Magebane episodes, or use of divine leylines. Alchemical equivalents include soul-infused elixirs, ley-reactive tonics, or untested philosopher’s brews. Treated as high treason.
Any spell or alchemical concoction produced or cast above your authorized tier, even in self-defense, is treated as an unauthorized invocation and carries criminal charges ranging from fines to public execution depending on severity.

• A caster or alchemist who fails to renew their license is immediately downgraded to Tier I and must reapply through full protocol.

• Licensing does not prevent Magebane despite what Coalition propaganda implies, only really mitigates it. Wielders and brewers alike are expected to self-regulate their craft. Unintentional overuse is considered personal failure, not systemic flaw.

• Enchantment, illusion, necromantic arts, and alchemy involving bodily manipulation or memory are subject to additional scrutiny regardless of tier, particularly in proximity to religious institutions, military compounds, or noble courts.

• Expiration occurs upon death, mental collapse, or permanent revocation due to criminal use. Reinstatement is rare and often fatal to pursue.

References

The Wardweaver’s Pact (Post-Schism Treaty Draft, 199 CA):
A proto-license agreement created by a circle of post-Schism magickers to regulate and restrict defensive spell use after witnessing mass ward collapses. Cited in the historical appendix of the License as a conceptual precursor, its idealism giving way to Coalition doctrine.
Guild Codex for Scholarly Compliance (Initial Draft 201 CA, Revised 309 CA):
A compendium of arcane academic protocols drafted by the Scholar's Guild. Referenced within the License as a baseline qualification metric for apprentices seeking tier elevation. Also details acceptable spell books, instructional language, and rune formations permitted in tiered examinations.
The Magickal Subversion Doctrine (206 CA):
Legal foundation for prosecuting unlicensed spellcraft as high treason. Classifies all unsanctioned spell use, regardless of intent, as an act of societal sabotage. It established the precedent for class-based arcane crimes and remains the backbone of Coalition enforcement. Referenced explicitly in every License clause pertaining to punishment and revocation.
Permit of Limited Influence (214 CA):
A sub-license tier issued to low-tier enchanters and civilian magickers producing trinkets and protective goods. Mentioned in the License as an example of restricted-use certification. It outlines both use limitations and where such magick may be lawfully sold or practiced.
Conductor’s Charter (217 CA):
A wartime variant of the License granted to military Evokers, specialized in destructive or elemental magick. Sets strict operational conditions for battlefield magick, including kill quotas, duration limits, and glyph-inscribed terms for conduct. Referenced in the License under tiered enforcement protocols for armed mages.
Doctrine of Bloodline Purity (Unratified, circulated 219–261 CA):
Though never officially codified, this inflammatory document circulated internally within the Arcane Coalition and suggested restricting License eligibility based on ancestral lineage, magickal potential, and signs of Arcane “taint.” Mentioned obliquely in early License revisions regarding “heritage scrutiny” and often cited in critiques of discriminatory application practices.
The Alchemical Concord (First Draft 233 CA, Ratified 241 CA):
A Coalition-authored supplementary charter outlining regulatory expectations for potioncraft, tincture use, and compound-based magicks. Drafted in response to a string of high-profile deaths linked to unregulated brews during the Tarmahc Border Crisis, the Concord defines “Arcane Alchemy” as any concoction that channels, manipulates, or imitates spell-like effects. It divides alchemical products into four potency classes, mirroring the License's magical tiers, and restricts production of any brew exceeding Class II without formal certification. While less strictly enforced than direct spellcraft, the Concord mandates ingredient registration, cauldron licensing, and standardized glyph-labelling on all volatile brews sold within Coalition territory. Referenced in the License’s Clauses and Caveats sections as the legal scaffold for enforcing potion-related offenses. Often criticized by rural apothecaries and herbalist orders as an overreach, but defended by the Coalition as “a necessary tonic to civic health.”
Inquisitorial Handbook: Enchantment, Illusion, and Necromancy Oversight (428 CA Edition):
Internal manual for Coalition Tithers and enforcers. Provides interpretation guidelines for spells considered “invasive,” particularly those influencing mind, soul, or memory. Referenced in License clauses as the rationale for harsher penalties and tighter regulations on specific schools, even within the same tier.
Silent Conduit Clause (472 CA Amendment):
A controversial addition to the License granting the Arcane Coalition the right to deploy covert surveillance wards in cities deemed "at risk of subversive magick." It allows remote divinatory observation of suspects without trial or notice. This clause directly expanded the Coalition’s reach beyond Guild halls and into civilian life.

Publication Status

Public. Mandatory posting in guild halls, temples, apothecaries, and schools. Distributed in condensed form within all official spell books. While the complete document is available in most cities, interpretation is left to appointed bureaucrats and often manipulated for political or personal reasons.

Legal status

Though officially described as a “protective civic measure,” the License to Practice Magick functions more as a binding contract of subjugation than a simple legal requirement. It carries full weight across all territories recognized under the Arcane Coalition’s dominion, and under Coalition doctrine, the unlicensed use of spellcraft, regardless of purpose, is categorized as Magickal Subversion, a felony punishable by seizure of property, forcible silencing, arcane branding, or public execution. There are no alternatives, and certainly no exemptions. Even The Merchant's Consortium, despite its vast economic power, must petition the Coalition for sanctioned enchanters and rely on licensed artificers for their arcane goods. The Dwarfish Cartel for all its underground smuggling and black-forging operations, holds no legal sway over magickal licensing, though they are known to traffic in stolen scrolls, potions, and enchanted equipment; Each one a death sentence to possess and in-turn a very profitable facet of their operations.
In the untamed stretches beyond Coalition reach, remote forests, sunken towns, or the fractured islands of Tarmahc, the License is rarely enforced, but the law remains. Should Coalition agents discover unlicensed spellwork, they may issue retroactive charges, or worse, declare silent sanction, whereby the accused is erased from record, and no trial is ever held. Captured license-forgers suffer the highest penalty: soul-binding and immolation, their false scrolls ritually burned and the ashes mixed into cursed vellum for Coalition edicts, a poetic fate wherein fraud is rewritten into servitude. Even in regions untouched by patrol, the very act of spellcraft carries the silent risk of becoming noticed, marked, and hunted.

Historical Details

Background

The License to Practice Magick was born in the ashes of unchecked arcane devastation. Following The Great Schism, Everwealth was littered with the bones of burnt cities and shattered minds. Unregulated spellcraft, particularly conjuration and necromancy, had unleashed horrors still whispered of in broken townships, possessed villages, plague-fires, blood-hail, and deathless armies raised by the desperate and deranged. Amid this chaos, the newly formalized Arcane Coalition, supported by royal writ and public desperation, sought to restore control. Their answer was not education nor aid, it was regulation, enforced with blade and brand. The license became a tether between soul and state, offering legitimacy in exchange for servitude, and binding one’s practice to scrutiny, surveillance, and the threat of sanction.

History

The roots of the License trace back to the early Civil Age, amid the bloodstained aftermath of the Schism, when arcane misuse still haunted the waking memory of Everwealth’s people. Unregulated spellcraft had turned entire regions to ash, and whispers of rogue necromancers and reality-warpers still echoed through the cracked foundations of shattered cities. In 207 CA, under mounting pressure from both the newly formed Arcane Coalition and the fractured remnants of The Scholar's Guild, King Lucius Valmore commissioned a document that would centralize control over all sanctioned spellcasting within Everwealth. What began as a cooperative accord soon twisted into a tool of containment. By the time of its official ratification in 211 CA, the License had evolved into a strict legal framework codifying every aspect of public and private magick usage, including thresholds of acceptable power, required registration of spell books, and mandatory arcane testing for young initiates. The public was assured this would “restore order.” It instead replaced freedom with surveillance. Those who resisted found themselves publicly silenced, their tongues removed and nailed to Coalition obelisks as warnings. The License has never been repealed. Its most recent amendment in 472 CA introduced the controversial Silent Conduit Clause, which authorized covert arcane surveillance in cities suspected of harboring unlicensed mages. Even now, its doctrines remain a stain upon the soul of the kingdom, regarded by some as a necessary evil, and by others as the slow death of magical freedom.

Public Reaction

The License is both feared and mocked. In cities, its bearers are seen as privileged or arrogant. In border towns, they are envied, or stoned. Within The Scholar's Guild, opinion is divided. Senior archivists see it as a necessary evil, while younger apprentices whisper about dismantling it from within. Among the populace, a grim resignation has set in. Most accept its rule the way they accept the rain, cold, constant, and deaf to protest. Rallies have been crushed. Underground markets flourish. Prophecies carved into hidden corners of apothecaries warn of a coming “Second Schism,” led not by monsters, but by those who once wore the license with pride.

Legacy

The license has created a two-tiered society of spellcasters: the permitted and the persecuted. It has reshaped magical education, enforcing strict curricula, banning certain schools outright (notably Necromancy), and granting the Coalition sweeping authority over any “arcane deviation.” While it arguably stabilized Everwealth, it also cemented a climate of fear, where even accidental spellcraft can result in exile or execution. Over time, the license became more than policy, it became cultural law. Stories of unlicensed mages are told like ghost tales. Children grow up fearing “the unmarked,” and bounty hunters make fortunes turning in their former peers. Still, some argue that minor reforms, such as localized community licenses or a multi-tier probationary system, could render the document far less draconian. But any attempt at reform is swiftly quashed by the Coalition, whose doctrine sees compromise as the first step toward catastrophe.

Term

Ongoing. Individual licenses expire every five years and must be renewed. Severe infractions may result in permanent revocation.

Read the Document

License to Practice Magick

The license includes:

• Full name and mark of the spellcaster.

• Tier certification and authorized schools.

• Signature of responsible Magister.

• Fingerprint in mage-ink (glows under scry-light).

• Arcane tether imprint (a metaphysical resonance unique to the soul, used to match a caster to their spell residue).

Close

Medium

Paper

Authoring Date

Drafted in 207 CA, disseminated 211 CA.

Ratification Date

Ratified by King Lucius Valmore, 211 CA.

Expiration Date

Ongoing. Last amended 472 CA.

Signatories (Organizations)

• The Monarchy