Wayfinding Magic
Thoughts began to form in Tash's mind. They were vague and elusive, as if he were on the verge of an incredible idea he just couldn't quite seize hold of. It was like being absolutely certain you'd forgotten something, but unable to remember what it was, or knowing you confidently put something important "somewhere safe" only to be unable to remember where. And just as suddenly as they had come, the slippery thoughts faded away. What remained were feelings and impressions. It was mildly frustrating, but Tashkerr had resigned himself to the notion that this was simply the nature of Wayfinding magic.
At the conclusion of the Great War, around year 842 of the First Age, the Dwarven peoples found themselves freed from the shackles of Elven Empire’s oversight and control of the secrets of magic. Members of House Trost poured their energies into exploring many different branches of magic.
One of these branches that saw significant success developed around the philosphical notion of responsible uses for magic in the post-Imperial era. It railed against the use of magic for aggression and inflicting harm, instead seeking practical ways to apply magic such that it was generally improving the lives not only its practicioners, but the lives of those around them.
This philosophy quite naturally led to a very fuzzy line of research and experimentation into whether there were ways to “detect” good fortune. The associated rights and rituals born from that research dialed into an interesting and previously undiscovered niche somewhere on the spectrum of divination magic (according to Elven scholars). This “Wayfinding” magic embraced by the Istoyaver (appropriately called “the Wayfinders Guild”) was not so concrete as outright prediction or seeing the future, but also not so fuzzy, grandiose, and intangible as outright prophecy.
The resulting magic combines a comfortable mix of reading unseen strands of probability and likelihood in a very grounded and near-term timeframe with aura reading, and telepathy. This has led to some, more knowledgable sages to refer to Wayfinding as “luck” magic.
This article is an entry in sunnybirdboi's Unofficial Magic March competition.
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