Divine Magic in The World of Tertara
For as long as mortals have walked the world, gods have roamed above and below them. Gods and spirits are distant, but real beings that have existed for as long as mortals can remember. Unlike the magicians and shamans of arcane, the gods need no rocks and stones to show their power and prove their existance. When those that swear to them and their creed are marked for greatness, a spark of the gods is given to them. This results in holy magic, a gods very power and image made manifest into the Mortal Realm. The feinds and otherworldy monsters burn and turn to ash admist singing holy warriors, blinding their enemies in holy light. So it has been that while arcane magic has been seen with suspicion, divine magic is perhaps the greatest comfort the common mortal can see.
Those of the Spark
Not every priest or believer is able to utilize magic gifted from the divines. It is not known how exactly one manifests thtese powers, and its likely that each god has diffrent requirements for obtaining such power. However, typically those able to use divine magic are particularly devout followers of a creed or faith, and typically their births have various omens marking them for greatness. While it is not understood how it is manifested, many faiths have special priests that willinitiate various tests and trials to see if such magic manifests itself. These trials at times can be dangerous, even lethal, but for those who do manifest these powers, it is perhaps the greatest moment of their lives. This magic primarily comes from the gods, and as such is almost if not entirely stable. The only time any sort of divine magic goes awry is when one draws the ire of the gods they swear their soul onto. In fact, its believed that divine magic could perhaps be the work of gods infusing ones soul (an inherently magical metaphysical entity) and thus allowing the soul to channel divine magic. The primary practioners of divine magic are:- Clerics: Clerics are often clergy or initiated servants of a divine being or organized religion. Such clerics are unique, as not every priest is a cleric, but every cleric is an initiated priest. Typically trained in both martial and divine magic, they channel their faith and their god to advance their gods authority over the world, and above all combat the enemies of their faith.
- Paladins: A paladin is a holy crusader, a warrior bound by an unbreakable oath. This oath is an all encompassing vow, that they must fight for their beliefs and values. These powers are granted by various gods or churches, and this allows them to be the great and famous holy warriors and crusaders people think of when heresy begins to fester. So long as they stary true to their oath, they are powerful indeed, but should they break it they lose this power and feel the weight of their sins.
- Sorcerers: While primarily arcane casters, there are a rare few exceptions of some sorcerers who channel magic from some sort of divine blood in their ancestry.
- Druids: There is actually fierce debate on if druids get their magic from nature focused gods or from the primal energies of the land. This is a topic that has been done to death, and the answers vary wildly based on who one asks.
- Warlocks: While this is a point of fierce debate among some circles, it can be argued (and it quite often is) that warlocks are a type of divine spellcaster. After all, they are gaining power from an entity, and given the ability to channel it. There is some debate on if a great outer being of tentacles and madness can be considered "divine" and some of these entities are not necessarily gods and instead super powerful supernatural beings, but going into the topic would take years of debate.
Type
Metaphysical, Divine
