By Lidellia
When I was asked to write a history on the development of magic, I felt momentarily intimidated. After all, there is no singular magical system whose history can be traced. Every tribe in Shavay, every age of the civilized world, every realm and every province – they all have their own methods of manipulating magical energies. One could literally document more than four hundred different systems of magic, all of which could be considered Caradorian.
After I got over the initial shock, however, I realized that what I really needed to do was to look deeper, at the roots that gave us the ability to manipulate magic.
To do so, I am going to take us very, very far back, beyond the scope of any tome of history. Thus, please understand that some of what I set down here is theoretical, and is based on the Great Wyrm creation theories of the world. Theories which, I might add, have been highly reinforced by recent discoveries.
Let us begin our journey, then, in the times when the lands were all of stone and grass, and the Great Wyrms flew lonely over the skies of the world. In their desire to experience new things, they spread their creation magic over the lands, dividing islands between them so that they could explore each others’ masterpieces.
From their magic arose strange, unintended beings – we know them now as the fae. And it was the fae who tempted the Great Wyrms to shapeshift into human-like forms. While it is thought that three races were created from this shifting – the eldritch, the demons, and the humans – we will follow only the human race.
First, we must understand the nature of Great Wyrm magic. This was a power much like ‘magic shaping’ (but vastly more powerful), in which the dragon simply ‘willed’ something to be. The process was somewhat logical, in that the dragon consciously desired a result and the result manifested – though not always precisely as intended.
Secondly, an understanding of fae magic will aid us – this is called ‘Glamour’ by modern sages, and is also a form of ‘magic shaping’, in that no spell, incantation, or reagents are necessary to invoke the magic. Instead, the results are simply ‘willed’. In the case of fae magics, however, it is imperative that we attempt to understand the faerie mind – a mind to which our logical methods of thinking are quite alien. Thus, a faerie does not so much perform an action to get a result, as they simply DO. In their simple, pure action, glamour is often invoked.
As an example of the contrast between fae and human thought processes, imagine a woman magic practitioner in the forest. Suddenly two men jump out and rush her. First she would feel alarm. Then she would try to quiet her mind so that she could think of an appropriate spell to defend herself with. Once selected, she would cast the spell. Now, let’s contrast that with a nymph in the same situation. Again the men rush her, and the nymph, almost as a reaction, turns and runs. There is no conscious desire for a specific effect, but as a part of her intrinsic nature, the forest behind her suddenly melts away into a blur of darkness. The men are left stumbling in the dark. Magic has been raised, but without conscious intent.
An example like the one above, which involves fear and obvious reaction, leaves us better able to understand the fae mindset. But what about a more "thought-out" situation? Let’s use the case of a pixie attempting to steal a muffin. Even if the pixie appears to be ‘thinking’ the process through, in reality he or she is acting without the cause/effect thought-process we Caradorians are all so used to. The pixie may not take into 'consideration' certain elements that would appear important to the human mind, and would undoubtedly 'call up' glamour without any intentional thought of how to use it. This is why faerie races whose minds function more closely to our own, such as elves, Sereg, and trolls, have little or no powers of glamour. (And why cookies and other delicious treats seem to disappear quite quickly, although everyone claims to have 'only had one'.)
Now let’s examine the mating of a Great Wyrm (in faerie form) to a faerie. This is largely believed to be what spawned the race of humans. Each ‘human’, with a blending of fae and Great Wyrm blood, emerged with a curious deficiency. They inherited much of the glamour from the faerie parent, but most of the Great Wyrm magic was eclipsed. On the other hand, they inherited the Great Wyrm mind-set of rational thought. So the human was left with strong powers of glamour, and a mind incapable of using it. A bit like giving a sword to a squirrel.
As the humans (who had also inherited a shorter life span) bred and formed colonies, only an occasional person manifested any ‘magic’ – usually in the form of what we call ‘glamouric’ magic, or ‘psychic’ talents. These magics emerged spontaneously, and were very rarely at the command of the wielder. Still, this was enough to show humans that the capacity to utilize magic still dwelled within them.
The quest for magic began. The only things in the humans’ world capable of utilizing magic were the fae, and by mimicking the fae, the first magics were born. Specifically, it was in the mimicking of the fae language – Old Tongue. This language is highly saporitic, meaning that it utilized words whose sound resonated with the essence of whatever was named. Thus, it was not so much that the words had power, but that the words, when uttered, brought the humans a little closer to the faerie mind-set. And in that mindset, the humans’ own innate powers of glamour tended to emerge. Soon rituals were formed, complete with gestures, the use of specific substances relating to the saporitic word, and sometimes special, significant clothing. In these examples, you can see the early development of the incantation, ceremony, gestures, and reagents-- elements which are so much a part of modern-day magical practice.
Many of these original forms of magic can still be seen today, practiced by tribal peoples the world over. Whether one examines the native traditions of Moraithe, Shavay, Jedda, the Old World, Rel Morde, or Masalla, one sees similar styles of magic – each revolving around the use of rituals intended to ‘trance’ the practitioner into a faerie mind-set.
As people became more civilized, so did their magics, and in general, the more ‘extreme’ practices involving sacrifice, blood, huge fires, etc., were supplanted by more ‘moderate’ practices emphasizing reagents, gestures, and incantations. These incantations, which at first were taken from Old Tongue, changed as time went on, mostly in an effort to find words that were even more saporitic.
Thus the magical languages were developed, and schools of magical practice were formed. Of course, it was only in Masalla, Jedda, and Japura where civilization advanced far enough for magic to develop to this point, and from here on, I will follow only the development of Masallan magical systems.
War. Nothing could have created such a swift growth in magical learning as the Masallan wars. Early on, magical practice set itself apart from religious magics, for in the one, worshippers asked boons, first of the fae they worshipped, and then of the deities who stepped into the opening the faeries provided. Magical practice was anti-worship, for through magic, humans could aspire to be as powerful as the gods themselves. This egoistic attitude served well in war, and magicians strove to develop systems of magic which were more suited to the battlefield. As time went on, this spurred the creation of magics which were quicker to work. For as one magician began a lengthy incantation, raising an elemental to destroy the enemy’s entire army, a weaker but faster magician struck him down with a bolt of lightning.
This, of course, led to the modern day magics – magics which are rather weak and limited in scope (at least in comparison to the Elder Magics), but are swift and reliable. Sadly, much of the old magics have been lost.
The important thing to recognize is that all systems of magic have a common thread – their main goal (which allows them to function), is for the practitioner to achieve a mind-set close to that of the fae.
Today we still have the manifestation of glamouric or psychic powers, and we have systems of magical practice, such as Invocative, which utilizes saporitic words and gestures in an attempt to bring the practitioner into the correct frame of mind, and Substance, which uses word, gesture, and reagent to achieve the same goal. Jeddan and Japuran systems, likewise, utilize various methods to attain the fae mind-set.
So it is in the accessing of this faerie state-of-mind that magicians enable themselves to harness and focus magical energies.
History has shown that people are quite creative in their methods of achieving that end. We can only suppose that the future, as well, will bring new and interesting surprises in the realms of magical practice.