shadow magic and its relation to witchdoctors (HEADCANON!!)
okay so in this post im gonna discuss my ideas for how shadow magic is related to witchdoctor magic! once again, this is all heacanon for my wizards/pirates spiral.
warning this post is long. lol.
so im gonna start off with how magic in the spiral relates to each other in general. also for Reasons, i have changed ‘hoodoo’ to ‘witchcraft’.
astral schools - magics that were created by combining 3 (or more) of the main 7 schools. they share attributes and abilities with the schools they were created with. astral magic is very hard to master, which is why only few beings in the spiral are able to use them as their main school. instead, they are mostly learned as to enhance the main schools.
main schools - standard magic schools. have been studied thoroughly and can be safely learned by the people of the spiral.
shadow magic - like the astral schools, shadow magic is a combination of the main magic schools. shadow magic was the attempt to combine all 7 schools into one, however it was much too powerful. during these experiments, the being known as The Shadow was created, and while efforts have been made to destroy it, The Shadow persists, funneling shadow magic into every part of the spiral. shadow magic has no stable form, and if one were to try and main this magic, it would destroy them quickly overtime, feeding The Shadow’s power. even casual use of shadow magic can corrupt even the most pure-hearted wizards.
light magic - an attempt to create magic that rivaled The Shadow, made out of the Sun and Star astral schools. this type of magic wasnt very strong, and was quickly destroyed by The Shadow. however, rumors in avalon say a being made of pure light lurks in the forests, slowly growing stronger.
witchcraft - once shadow magic reached darkmoor, the humans there found a way to contain it. through vigorous research, testing, and attempts to contain The Shadow, witchcraft was born. witchcraft was able to do what the scholars of the past could not, it could contain shadow magic. with time, witchcraft evolved to not only use shadow magic, but pull from the original 7 schools as well, like Storm and Death. since then, the magic has been even more refined, with little room for shadow magic to take control. however, wizards still think that witchcraft is too dangerous to be considered a proper school of magic.
shadow magic and shadow corruption
so, shadow magic as a school by itself.
shadow magic is very unstable. you must have shadow pips in order to cast shadow magic, so shadowmancers push themselves to be connected with The Shadow. the deeper connection with The Shadow, the more powerful the magic, however, the chance of the user being killed by their own magic grows higher. shadow magic is much too powerful for one body, and slowly destroys the wizard using it.
shadow corruption happens with the consistent use of shadow magic. shadowmancers usually get corrupted willingly, feeding themselves into The Shadow. casual user corruption takes time, but happens eventually.
corruption usually starts at the palms, and slowly grows up the arm. however, because shadowmancers are willing to be corrupted, their corruption starts near the head and trickles down.
since they are corrupted by shadow for a very long time, shadowmancers actions become influenced by The Shadow. The Shadow’s end goal is to absorb the entirety of the spiral, including its patrons. It begins to encourage more dangerous heights of shadow magic, to the point the user fully relinquishes itself to The Shadow.
(heres a doodle of my OCS, Skullgarden and Jack. Skullgarden has been corrupted for almost a decade, while Jack has only been corrupted for a few months. Jack has full control of his actions and thoughts, but Skullgarden is losing themself to The Shadow.)
witchcraft and shadow corruption
since witchcraft is like a tamed version of shadow magic, shadow corruption pretty much never happens at all. the magic is safe to use, just like the main 7 schools. in fact, The Shadow is weakened by the mere existence of witchdoctors. however, it does not experience wide practice, because while its safe, its not easy. a witchdoctor must have the will to push past The Shadow to master their craft, and if they dont, they risk becoming shadowmancers themselves.
witchcraft is flexible, and can be changed and bent in many different ways. while you can harness the shadow, you can also harness the powers of the main 7 schools. many witchdoctors like to combine shadow with its roots, popular choices being death, storm, and fire for the strongest of spells. a witchdoctors eyes will change colors to represent the school of magic they draw from the most. (ex; purple/storm, gray/death, orange/fire, etc)
speaking of harnessing shadow, a witchdoctor has the ability to harness raw shadow magic, however it is risky. if a witchdoctor chooses to do so, they will more than likely suffer from corruption, but starting at the palm. this will only happen if they choose to harness it.
(a doodle of my witchdoctor Stephen. he has chosen to tap into raw shadow magic once, and luckily was not overtaken by it. however, he still suffered from shadow corruption. hes fine tho, dw)
so yeah!! this was fun to write and draw for....might do more like this in the future :]!! if u have any questions feel free to ask me!!! i love talking abt world building.
