Lecture 9: Advanced Magics
Greetings Students,
This lecture has been pre-empted by the College of Illusions' upcoming demonstration of a class project. Due to the Emperor's presence in the Emperor's box, security is of course tight. None the less, I shall undertake to give a short lecture concerning advanced magics.
As some of you may know, advanced magics is an area of endeavor where class three magical ability is required. There are very few colleges of magic that have spells requiring a class three magical ability. To wit, they are Communication and Empathy, Enchantments, Healing, Illusions, Meta-spells, Mind Control, and Movement.
Permanent Possession, along with Exchange Body are very powerful spells. Unless however, you have a mage who has undertaken the study of these spells, the existence of such is not a major issue. There is however, some major concern involved when a mage has traded bodies using the Exchange Bodies spell—primarily because for all intents and purposes when it comes to divination spells, the new soul occupying the body is the rightful owner!
Great Wish as an enchantment is truly awe inspiring. Its high energy cost to enchant into existence makes it a spell that is not often mass produced for the consumption of the common people. Add into consideration that this spell requires the caster to be of beyond genius level of mentality and or of great physical ability—makes it a spell that is rarely ever studied.
Instant Regeneration is another of those relatively rare spells that requires a mage who is dedicated towards the healing craft before he or she may learn it. It is a spell that while highly useful in its specialized area, is not a spell that is vital for the advancement of a magical society. The spell Youth on the other hand has some rather interesting ramifications. This spell's use by a mage possessing a class three magical ability can within reason, attain a sort of elven like immortality. It is highly suggested that mages who do have the ability to learn this spell, undertake its study as soon as is possible. The ramification of this spell on the leaders of society of course, tends towards a stable and conservative environment—as the leaders will attempt to keep dangers to their rule to a minimum. Such leaders will begin to take a longer view of planning and may change from thinking in terms of months or years, to decades and centuries.
Create Servant and Create Warrior are both spells that are very heavy in energy cost and have a relatively short duration for the amount of energy expended. As they are not truly strategic in nature, and have very little in the way of applications on a commercial scale, such spells have little impact on a magical society.
Delay and its subsequent spells of Link and Reflex, are generally useful spells, but again, are not vital for a magical society. As spells that are restricted to those mages of a class three magical ability—they do confer a rather interesting tactical and strategic edge for mages who learn such spells. Of the three, Link is a favorite of mine. I will of course, wait until the proper time and lecture to describe the benefits of such a spell.
Great Geas is a spell that can have major implications on any society that permits its use. I can easily see this spell being used as a means of controlling a population relative to authority figures. Couple the use of this spell with Youth, and one has a very long lived and stable government.
Teleport Other as a spell, has very little effect on a magical society. It does fill a niche and unfortunately can be used with criminal intent. It can in some cases be the ultimate pick pocketing thief.
In conclusion, those spells I just alluded to are not really vital in day to day affairs of empire or such elsewhere. As a consequence, the birth of a mage with class three ability, while a prime event, is really not an earth shattering event. Upon the detection of a suitable child born with class three magical talent, it is urged that such a child be perhaps pointed towards the learning of the Youth spell. This of course benefits the heads of state.
Enjoy the presentation of the College of Illusions, class of 783.
Game speak time:
In general, Magery 3 doesn't really impact on the game world except for those few spells. GM's looking for adventure hooks might want to consider what would happen if a ruler discovered a player character with Magery 3. Would such a ruler desire to live longer and feel that he wants the PC to become a court favorite? It should be noted that GURPS Basic set grants a bonus to Extremely beautiful/handsome characters. It should also be noted however, that the book points out that such characters become prime targets of slavers ;)
Spellcasters with Magery 3 (or higher) will, once their ability is known, will draw a lot of attention. Highly placed people will want their services. Jealous mages will seek to remove them in some way. At the very least, they are competition, and given the high stakes, will not hesitate to hire muscle (magic or otherwise) to get rid of them. Magery 3 characters will have to tread carefully.
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