#academic magic

[shouldbewritingbutguesswhat]

Types of magic

I count 4 big different types, or sources of magic. 

Elemental ; Witchery ; Academic Magic ; Alchemy. 

Elemental magic is like a base for the other types. It can be self-taught by an academic or even a convent (gotta think of making a distinction between those two...), and in some case, it’s more like a divine gift.

There’s a hierarchy of the elements being :  Fire, water, wind and dirt/rock as primaries thunder/storm, ice, lava, sand as secoundaries

(Technically speaking, primaries are stronger than secoundaries, but that actually depends on the mage level...) 

By itself, it makes you able to feel the elemental energy around you, communicates with it, asks, very basic stuff that most don’t even count as magic. 

Witchery is the DIY of magic. Mostly self-taught, convent or by a master, each one has their favorite tools/spells/tips and tricks, but you can find a sort of a general guide and rules that almost all witches follow.

Most will prefer to use one element, some don’t, others use two. it doesn’t mean they can use elemental magic though. 

Academic Magic is the ‘official’ magic, taught in... a school. Yep. It tries to be as open as possible, so you can get the most diverses types of magic there are. They try to “fix” the uses, rites and spells of magic, and to not let newbies ‘f around and find out if yes or not this thing you just made is deadly for you or the whole town’. They use elemental magic as a base, with science and maths. Some can be like web-developpers. 

Played World of Warcraft ? The school is a bigger place than the whole city of Dalaran. I want to have it  B I G

Alchemy is a almost lost form of magic, taught by a master to a student, and near its end in convent. Didn’t help. You saw FMA or played Genshin ? Same thing. Take a thing, modify its structure and form, ta-daa, new thing. The goal being to make it stable enough so it stays the new thing, and don’t go back or just ex/implodes. It didn’t really used elemental magic, because it wasn’t that developped at that time, but you can find the principles of alchemy in some classes in the Academy

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Emoji spell for motivation and academic fortune in the final weeks of the semester! It can be hard to stay on your game and get those grades at about this point in any semester, so here’s a little magic to keep you going!

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🌒🌕🌘 Blessed be!!

[shouldbewritingbutguesswhat]

How magic works

It has to be polished, but magic can be described by "taking your own energy and chaneling it".

What it means.

old magic used the very energy that powers your soul. Your life force. The very thing that keeps you alive.

so not everyone was found of that, and there was not a lot of people "strong" or "powerful" in magic because you'd just be dead.

the first mages were more on the wise and knowledge spetrum than on the power.

But it changed. People found a way to ease that "use your very life force" into "use your stamina". Which is still draining a lot of energy, but at least, it's less deadly (and actually less powerfull).

So you have :

old ass magic that use your soul. Is very powerful, but very limited. It's not like taking your breath away, more like taking your life span, decades for one spell. not worth it.

new magic !! that use your endurance/stamina, which means !! you can train yourself !! to last longer !! which makes magic much more durable, efficient, ethical, and accessible to (almost) everyone !

it still asks a lot of knowledges, but it's better now.

To add details,

Elemental magic started in random people as a feeling, an attraction toward an element. It was a feeling of connection. Of being able to communicate with a god, to dance, to pray, to chant with the element. And then it evolved with the ability to bend the element at will. In some rare circonstance, the element can refuse to obey.

This type of magic was said to be unruled. Each and every one did their best, no teaching beforehand. Sometimes they didn't care, and just lived their life, ignoring this gift.

Alchemy was the first formal use of (old) magic. You'd use your life energy to add value to physical object, to reapair broken objects, in way that couldn't have been done by non-magical hands. You use your life to conteract its time flow.

Which is a very powerful magic, but hasn't ever been used in a way that was worth it. A few did learn what 'mastering you soul' really meant, but that's for another time, and that knowledge was lost forever, since no one wants to go back that time.

Witchery is, in a way, Alchemy little's sister. For the few that never gained fame, power or grand abilities through alchemy, they mastered the potions, the prayers, the knowledge of herbs, spices and stones and passed it through time. They stayed at that level for a while, and when the 'new magic' grew popular, they incorporated it into their small spells, and developped curses and uncurses, that mostly relies on beliefs and potions.

Is it a placebo ?

Maybe. or not.

Sometimes. and not.

And then, you have the 'Academics'.

All smaller types of magic, of the 'new magic' that got assembled together, in a big university, dispersed around the world to teach to the most of people how magic works, and can be used. In this case, it's better to see it as 'science application in every day life'. You do find again potion making, repairing objects, curses and uncurses, and elemental spells... but you don't have to believe in some outside strenght as some witches may tell you.

You might need to believe in yourself though.

[cedarlili]

Eat This While You Read That: Becky Jones

Eat This While You Read That: Becky Jones

Today’s dish and book come from the inestimable Becky Jones, and really, it’s appropriate that I should be publishing this on Independence Day. As a former political science professor, she’s intimately familiar with the whys and wherefores of this great holiday.  You won’t find politics in her Academic Magic series, but as the title should tell you, the fun urban fantasy books are deeply rooted…

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[cedarlili]

Book Review: Academic Magic

Book Review: Academic Magic

  Academic Magic by Becky Jones is a solid debut novel. I enjoyed the read, and would recommend it if you enjoy scenic campuses, academic politics, and talking squirrels. What? Why not? My alma mater has a clade of luxuriantly plump tree dwellers, so I immediately pictured one of those chonky bois as the squirrel who knocks on Zoe O’Brien’s office window and politely introduces himself…  But I…

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Library, University of Lightsbridge  [x]

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Magical Learning – cross post from our new subreddit, /r/magicbuilding

Another ‘Brainstorm’ post from our new subreddit, /r/magicbuilding.

A large part of fantasy stories involve wizarding orders and a system of arcane education. It varies from book to book and series to series – Harry Potter is centred on Hogwarts, while Trudi Canavan (The Black Magician) and Jill Murphy (The Worst Witch) also put their stamp on magical school stories. There are apprentices such as…

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[emelancircle-rp]

Academic Magic is relatively common, as common a gift as a talent for art or mathematics. It is magic practiced with charms and chants and proper procedures. It becomes evident in children when they are very young, and the trace of it can be found easily by those versed in magic-testing, who are often referred to in common slang as “mage-sniffers." There are three main indicators of academic magic that children often display: moving things mentally, producing images in fire, and creating light.

Unlike ambient magic, where the power comes from the items with which a mage is attuned, academic magic comes from within the mage. This means that while it is rare for a student’s early work to leave them drained, it does take them time to build up the reserves of their power. It is also possible—although rare—for an academic mage to pour too much of themselves into their spells, draining their life force along with their power, if they push too hard.

It is rare for academic mages to be overlooked, as their gifts usually manifest in such visual and obvious ways. As such, it is rare for an academic mage to come to their power late in life; they are almost all discovered well before they reach double-digits. Because the people of Emelan and its surrounding countries are all familiar with magic—it being an everyday thing, where they can buy small charms on street corners and rely on it for everyday things like keeping food from spoiling and houses from burning—they know how important it is that mages be trained. They also know how valuable a mage can be, and as such, even the poorest children with even a scrap of power find teaching; accredited mages are obligated to share their learning, after all.

The preeminent center of education for academic magic is the University of Lightsbridge. Even Winding Circle sends some of their more promising students to Lightsbridge, from time to time, when they require more focus in particular areas of magic than Winding Circle can readily offer.

Academic magic is a more general gift than ambient magic, but can also sometimes manifest with just as much focus. There are some spells that almost all academic mages can do—although if it is an area outside their own realm of talent, the spells do not generally work as well—but in some cases, talents are too focused to reach across the spectrum of skills. Niklaren Goldeye, for instance, is widely regarded as one of the preeminent vision mages of the age, but he cannot so much as light a candle with his gifts.

Of course, there are charms, powders, and potions that one can buy with which to approximate other types of magics; certain of these items work even for non-mages, and many a citizen wears protective amulets or good-luck charms crafted by mages from all ranges of talent and power. Magic is an ordinary part of life in the Pebbled Sea, and while large or uncommon talents indomitable and frighten people, simple charms and cantrips are no more balked at than are food vendors or storytellers.

Academic magic is less wild than ambient magic, and rarely bursts out of control, especially once a student passes their first childhood lessons. Academic magic tends to follow expected paths, and can be bent to understood rules and forms easily. It is thus often taught in similar patterns and its students expected to learn by rote and regulation. While Winding Circle is more open-minded and less rigid than Lightsbridge and similar institutions, those who teach academic magic at the temple-city still tend to follow the same lessons and expectations as those practiced elsewhere around the Pebbled Sea.

Only very accomplished mages forgo the use of charms and spells, and then only rarely, or for simple spells. There are certain things—lighting candles, moving small items—that most mages can do without relying visibly on ritual. For most things, however, academic mages follow approved practices and invocations, and as such carry the materials they need—be it powders, charms, oils, etc—with them at all times, usually in an easy-to-grab bag or pouch, calling such bundles their Mage Kits.

Both mages and non-mages alike know to respect these mage kits, and teach their children not to meddle with a mage’s things, because there is no telling what danger may be lurking for the uninitiated. Certain elements of an academic mage’s kit tend to be the same for everyone—the implements and ingredients of basic spellwork—but each mage will personalize their kit with those particular items that they work best with, and those that help focus the specific aspects of their power.

Some of the areas in which academic magic tends to concentrate are:

Air Magic

Fire Magic

Glass Magic

Healing Magic

Illusion Magic

Metal Magic

Plant Magic

Stone Magic

Vision Magic

War Magic

Water Magic

Weather Magic

Some ambient mages can also channel academic magic, but not all; when ambient magic is uncontrolled, it will also block a person’s academic magic.

ACADEMIC MAGIC