Schools of Magic

Within the realms of Aurbis, magic is controlled by the flow of a mysterious force called “Aether”. Scholars believe that this energy (or membrane depending on the school of thought) is projected from the celestial realms of Aetherial, the worlds beyond the stars and sun. It is from Aetherial that all magical energies flow, hence why the sun and stars are so important to the study of magic.

However, it is not just the sun and stars, but also the earth itself that breathes magic. Shezzar, being a god, is an extremely potent source of magic as well, so much so that even spellcasters that find themselves separated from the sun and stars can at the very least work to attune themselves to the latent magical energies left behind by his blood. However, it is far more difficult to attune to this magic than it is the sun and stars. Scholars believe this is because Shezzar, though once a mighty deity, has had much of his latent magical energies siphoned away by spellcasters of the past eras, and thus magic is doomed to diminish over the years until finally the earth itself is dead of magic. When such a time comes, magic will only be able to come from the celestial spaces and the planes that lie between them.

Entropic vs. Enthalpic
The ways spells are cast in Aurbis relies heavily on the manipulation of aether and how that manipulation is done. For the most part, spells are cast by manipulating the aether of a space or object to create a desired effect, such as manipulating the air underneath a caster to become so dense that the caster begins to levitate, or by manipulate the membrane intersecting a creature’s mind to produce feelings of calm or even fear. These forms of aether manipulation are called “enthalpic” spells, because they rely entirely on using aether to manipulate or produce physical effects from already present and physical elements.

However, slightly more uncommon spells rely on concentrating or amassing aetherial energies in such a way that the aether becomes so dense or thin that it affects the world around it. By amassing aether into a solid enough mass, one can create nigh-indestructible “force walls '' that seem to be made purely out of aetherial energy, or sometimes even be used to take energy away or destroy things that once existed. Because this form of aether manipulation uses no physical matter or energy besides aether itself, or sometimes even removes energy from the world, it is referred to as “entropic” spells.

The eight schools of magic and how they function in Aurbis are as follows:

Abjuration
Abjuration is the school of magic that is focused on defensive magics, such as wards and projecting magical shields. It is one of the “entropic” schools of magic in that it does not rely on manipulating elements or other objects but rather is focused purely on manipulating aether to project a desired effect. For example, whereas an enthalpic wizard may conjure a rock wall to defend themselves against a javelin, an entropic wizard will simply project an aethereal barrier between themselves and the javelin, blocking it. This is often more difficult for the wizard to achieve, as aether is particularly difficult to concentrate in such ways as opposed to just using it to move stone, but it tends to be more generally available, especially in areas where stone is either not present or weak.

Abjuration has two subschools: the school of Aegimancy and the school of Entropy. Aegimancy is the most commonly thought of between the two schools, and is the one that focuses on magical wards and creating protective aetherial barriers. The School of Entropy focuses instead on the neutralization and cancellation of magic from other sources, such as through counterspells and dispellations.

Aegimancy
The school of wards and magical walls, this discipline is often thought of as “Battlemagic”, due to its tendency to be used in battle. Battlemages have been known to capture the imagination of their fellow soldiers, due to their ability to become seemingly impervious to weapons and spells that would kill the most hardened soldiers. Though the discipline is largely used for battle, it is also used for security, warding objects and places from intruders.

Entropy
This discipline of magic is entirely focused on the dissolution and neutralization of magical energies by either dispersing the energies so much that they no longer have any effect or by deleting them from existence entirely. The most powerful entropic spells delete magics altogether, however magical scholars are wary of using these spells except as a last resort due to fear of upsetting the balance and flow of aether in the multiverse.

Conjuration
Conjuration is a chiefly entropic school of magic that focuses on tearing holes in the aetherial membrane to allow things on the other side of that membrane to appear as if from nothing. Summoning creatures through this magic is fairly straight-forward: you tear a hole between the planes that allows that creature to appear before you. Conjuring objects, however, is a bit trickier, and instead relies on coalescing aetherial energies and shaping those energies into the desired object. This practice is highly difficult to master, and it is why most wizards do not gravitate to the school of conjuration.

Conjuration is divided into Planar Conjuration, which focuses on summoning extraplanar entities, and Mundane Conjuration, which focuses on coalescing aether to create more mundane objects.

Planar Conjuration
These are what most people think of when they envision conjurers, wizards that call forth entities from other planes of existence to do their bidding. Because this discipline requires wizards to actively call forth fiends, fey, or primal elementals into the world, the common man fears them as worshippers of these entities. However, it is very rare that conjurers actively worship the creatures they summon, as doing so would run counter to the entire purpose of summoning them. Conjurers only summon these creatures to fulfill a purpose, whether it is as laborers, scouts, allies in battle, or to fulfill other, more nebulous purposes, and to worship the summoned creature would put them in a power imbalance. Dedicated schools of conjuration are generally ambivalent at best towards Camibrae worshippers and often hostile. To the public, this is because Camibrae worship is abhorrent to the gods, however in truth it is because conjurers desire to have fiends be subservient to mortalkind rather than the other way around.

Mundane Conjuration
By coalescing aether into solid forms, Mundane Conjurers seek to create objects out of thin air. This is generally seen as a populist school of magic, as even the most staunch anti-magic proponents have a hard time arguing against the usefulness of summoning things from thin air. Ironically, mundane conjurers are more unpopular among their fellow spellcasters than they are among the common populace, who view their lackadaisical use of aether to create a hammer as lazy at best and horrifically wasteful at worst. Schools dedicated to the teaching and practice of conjuration as a consequence tend to only teach mundane conjurations as a stepping stone to more complex spells, with planar conjurations being the primary end goal.

Divination
Divination is a school that is steeped in mysticism and suspicion, largely because it does not on the surface seem to obey the rules of magic when it comes to aether manipulation. However, divination as a school is largely enthalpic, and relies a great deal on the manipulation of time and space to allow a caster to remotely view things and events from afar. However, this is rather difficult, and sometimes impossible for the average spellcaster to accomplish, and thus most aspiring diviners use a “shortcut”, so to speak, by manipulating the aether to allow them to contact some higher intelligence that can manipulate time and space on their behalf.

Occulism
The most commonly used divination magics, occulism is the discipline of using magic to discern things about the world around them, and are commonly referred to as “detection spells”. Be it sensing magical auras or discerning the location of a lost alembic, occulism is used by its practitioners to see the world through a magnifying glass and pick apart its little details.

Spiritualism
One of the more mystical magical disciplines, the discipline of spiritualism relies on using magic to essentially propose a query to the universe, which then receives an answer. The true nature of spiritualism is often debated and is not well understood even by those that practice it. The leading magical theory as to the nature of spiritualism states that the universe has a sort of shared consciousness that spiritualismH is able to tap into. The nature of this consciousness is debated, with some believing it to be tied to ancestral spirits, latent psionic potential, or even that aether itself is somehow conscious and is able to respond to these probes in a way that spiritualists are able to understand. This latter theory is one that is most highly-regarded, as spiritualists note that continued castings of the spell seems to lead to increasingly random or erratic answers, which seems to provide evidence that the source of the answers becomes exhausted with repeated probing.

Some bolder spiritualists choose to instead propose their queries to known sources of information, such as deities or other powerful and knowledgeable entities. This is known to be a risky gamble, as most entities will not provide their answers without exacting some kind of toll.

Enchantment
The school of Enchantment is one of the least trusted schools of magic in all of Aurbis, rivaled only by necromancy. The reason for this is actually quite insidious: the school of Enchantment is both an entropic and enthalpic school that relies on manipulating, deleting, or suppressing aetherial pockets in one’s brain (or soul depending on the school of thought) to produce an effect of the caster’s desire. As a mind is a very delicate thing, messing with it too much can have some highly serious consequences. For most wizards, this results in the target becoming irrationally hostile towards them and others around them as their brain attempts to reboot after being under the effect of the spell, but can sometimes have far worse consequences for both the wizard and the victim. For this reason, Enchanters are viewed with wide-spread mistrust, derision, and scorn, and if one is caught using enchantments they are often severely punished.

Domanism
Whereas the discipline of mesmerism focuses on clouding a victim’s senses, judgement, and emotions, the discipline of domanism completely subsumes the will or personality of a victim and overwrites it with the casters. Domanism does not trick an affected creature into believing something, it simply drags them along like a puppet on a string. Domanist spells are often difficult to cast and require a great degree of power and concentration behind them, however they are far more effective in getting a creature to do one’s bidding, albeit in a way that is far more intrusive.

Mesmerism
The most reviled discipline among the school of enchantment, the discipline of mesmerism is associated with using magic to cloud, mask, or overwhelm the senses, emotions, and thoughts of a target to produce an effect that is desired by the caster. Though mesmerism can be used to inspire courage or senses of well-being in a target and not just negative feelings, most people associate this discipline with the more troubling, free-will inhibiting spells that are commonly used by more sordid mesmerists. Truly powerful mesmerists are able to produce feelings that are so powerful in targets that they not just overwhelm their senses but trick their bodies into believing that they are stronger than they are or even that they are dying.

Ironically, bards are some of the most accomplished mesmerists there are. Despite this, most bards are looked at positively by the general populace, who view their magic less as magic and more of highly inspirational songs and words. This has lead to somewhat of a rivalry between bards and bitter wizards who loathe that they are spurned for the same thing that bards are lauded.

Evocation
The hallmark school of enthalpy, evocation relies on the manipulation of aether to harness elemental powers, often seemingly creating something from nothing. In fact, what usually happens in this school is that the wizard simply uses something that already exists and upscales it, such as using embers to create a fire, or drops of water and sweat to create icicles. To the untrained eye, these wizards seem to create elements from nothing at times, however, at least on a scholarly level, it is little more than a well-done sleight of hand trick. However, in a pinch, a wizard will need to rely on entropy to cast their spells if they do not have the necessary resources available. This is very rare that it does happen, and is most often done by wizards that have no other recourse than to rely on entropic spells, such as magic missile spells that are made entirely of aetherial darts.

Evocation is often known as “War Magic” or “Siege Magic”, due to its destructive tendencies. Though all evocation spells have peaceful applications, their usefulness in battle outshines any other usage, and has caused the school to have a bloody reputation.

Aetherialism
While most evokers manipulate energies and forces that are already present in the world around them, aetherialist create energies and forces directly from the aether itself. By coalescing aetherial energy into a condensed form, they are able to create physical energy fields such as aetherial darts or giant hands seemingly made of pure aether. Unlike mundane conjuration, which coalesces aetherial energy into physical objects and substances, these evocations exist in a sort of metaphysical flux, existing in both a physical state and an energetic state. Many of these spells are notably enthalpic in nature, as the aether is simply released back into the aetherial membrane once the spell ends.

Elementalism
The most common discipline among evokers is the discipline of Elementalism. Elementalists study the four elements: fire, water, earth, and air, how those elements interact with each other and how to manipulate them. Most elementalists identify with one particular element over another and latch onto it, attempting to master wielding it. Some of the most accomplished elementalists, however, wield all the elements at once, using them as needed against a wider variety of opponents.

The discipline of elementalism is split into two camps: those that would harness the elements for war, and those that would harness them for peaceful purposes. Though the more bellicose uses of Elementalism are readily apparent, peaceful applications of Elementalism include creating everburning hearths to keep warm through icy winters, manipulating stones and earth to build, manipulating water to create irrigation systems, and weather control. However, due to their tendency for these magics to be used for war, society as a whole is reluctant to entrust evokers with such responsibilities.

Illusion
Like the school of Enchantment, the school of Illusion is both entropic and enthalpic in nature. Most illusion spells are enthalpic, manipulating light to create images that aren’t there. However, a very specific subset of illusion spells rely on destroying light, sound, or aetherial pockets in the brain to cause hallucinatory effects. These types of illusion spells are regarded with suspicion and often condemnation by others, who often view these spells as being on the same level as enchantments.

Fosimancy
This is the most common discipline practiced by illusionists, and it is rare that the other disciplines are even thought of by non-illusionists. Fosimancy is the practice of manipulating light and sound to produce images and sounds that are visually indistinguishable from actual physical objects. However, since these images are completely insubstantial, simply touching one is enough to undo the illusion, provided that a creature takes the time to investigate the spell.

Phantasmalism
Sometimes called “mirage magic”, Phantasmalism creates “quasi-real” objects that seem entirely real to those that witness them. However, these phantasms as they are called exist entirely within the minds of the creatures that witness them. By manipulating the aether within a person’s brain and projecting an image directly into their mind, Phantasmalists trick their victims into believing nearly anything in a truly frightful display that brings new meaning to the phrase “mind over body”. By projecting the phantasm of a sword through the chest of a victim, a phantasmalist is able to trick their victim’s body into believing that it has been killed, causing a catastrophic systems collapse of the target’s nervous system.

However, not all phantasms are deadly. In fact, the usage of phantasms in this way is highly rare among mages and is only often seen among those with more sordid characters. Most mages that practice the discipline of Phantasmalism use it simply to create “more real” illusions that won’t be undermined by a simple touch.

Obscurism
A relatively rare off-shoot of the school of illusion is the discipline of obscurism. This discipline is seen as the antithesis to the school of divination. By setting up entropic fields around certain objects and locations, an obscurist can shield an affected area from divination spells and thwart magical detection.

Umbramancy
Umbramancy as it is commonly called is the entropic counterpart to fosimancy. Though umbramancy has the “-mancy” prefix, it does not revolve around manipulating shadow at all, but rather the destruction or dispersion of light, thus creating voids of light which shadows and darkness fill. Umbramancers do not simply make rooms darkers, however, they also make things silent by dispersing, suppressing, or destroying soundwaves or make things invisible by doing the same thing to light particles. Umbramancy is a popular discipline of magic among criminals and others who prefer to remain unseen, and for this reason it has a well-earned reputation.

Necromancy
The most reviled school of magic in Aurbis, necromancy is feared by all cultures, and at best it is morally viewed as being a darker shade of gray. Necromancy itself is divided into three separate subschools: White Necromancy (or Vitamancy), Black Necromancy, and True Necromancy.

Vitamancy
Both Vitamancy and True Necromancy schools are entropic in nature, consuming aether to create life and healing energies in the case of Vitamancy, or using aether to destroy life energies in the case of Necromancy. Some mistakenly believe that Vitamancy is enthalpic in nature, using aether to accelerate natural healing processes. However this is not the case, as once the spell’s mechanical processes are carefully examined, one can determine that the spells do not accelerate natural healing at all, but rather replace the damaged tissues, marrow, and blood by coalescing aether into those forms.

True Necromancy
True Necromancy is often mistakenly believed to manipulate “death energies”, however really what it does is destroy life energy. Just as darkness is not a physical energy but merely the absence of light, so is death not a physical state of being but rather the absence of life. True Necromantic spells destroy living tissue, causing organs to fail, blood vessels to hemorrhage, and bodies to be ravaged by disease.

Black Necromancy
Black Necromancy is a perversion of both life and death, and is seen as the most vile discipline of magic. It is a fundamental corruption of the natural order, being somehow both enthalpic and entropic in a way that scholars still have yet to fully understand. By destroying life energies, one is able to somehow create a twisted and distorted form of life that is also its antithesis. Something that is neither alive nor dead; a form that is colloquially known as “undeath”. Mechanically, this process involves the tethering of a soul to a corpse in ways that are barely understood. Somehow, this tether is seemingly created from nothing and is entropic in nature, however without a soul to animate the body the spell is impossible, thus the spell is also enthalpic; what is used is also, somehow, destroyed. This property is wholly unique to Black Necromancy, as no other form of magic known to modern scholars is both entropic and enthalpic, it is always one or the other. This leads many religious institutions to view Black Necromancy as a perversion of natural law, and the belief that it should be banned as a result. However, there are scholars who disagree with this assertion, believing that because of its alien nature that study of Black Necromancy could be used to unlock the deepest secrets of the multiverse.

Hemomancy
An ancient discipline of necromancy, hemomantic spells use life force as their fuel source rather than actively destroy it. Ancient peoples unknowingly tapped into hemomancy when they made blood sacrifices as part of their rituals, creating powerful and often destructive magics. Latent magical energy present within the blood of all things serves as the fuel source for these spells, enhancing what would be ordinary necromantic spells into something altogether necromantic spells into something altogether more destructive. Hemomantic spells also are known to manipulate life force, often transferring a portion of it to the caster of the spell. While this makes hemomancy lean a bit towards the enthalpic side of the axis, most of the spell’s energy is lost rather than transferred.

Transmutation
Out of all the schools of magic, none capture the mind as much as transmutation. From the child who wants to turn their bullies into frogs and the charlatan who wishes to turn dirt into gold, people from all walks of life wish that they could simply change the mundane facets of life into something more extraordinary. Transmutation magic is divided into two camps: aetherial manipulation or alchemical manipulation. Both camps are chiefly enthalpic in nature.

Alchemy
Alchemical transmutation is more akin to a science rather than a magical discipline, but still has a fair degree of magical practice behind it. By blending the essences of similar objects, such as different plants, animal parts, and substances, one can either enhance the desired effect of a particular essence or blend the essences in such a way that an entirely new effect is created. This discipline of magic is colloquially referred to as “alchemy”, and it is just as much a science as it is a school of magic.

Morphism
Morphism functions similar to other schools of magic in that the aether of an object is directly manipulated in such a way that it is shifted, or caused to change forms. It can be used to do something as simple as making the air around an area to become more dense, allowing for a creature to sit on it or fly through it. However, in the most extreme examples, this can cause a creature to become an object, or perhaps another creature. To the untrained eye, it would seem that the creature/object was changed into something else entirely, however close enough examination would reveal that nothing was changed or added, but rather the matter that was already there was stretched or condensed into a new shape. This is a rather unsettling discovery to aspiring transmuters who learn that when they turn a snake into a sheep, all they really did was stretch out the tissue of the snake and twist it into what seems on the surface to be a sheep, but is actually just a horrific abomination of stretched out bones, muscles, nerves, and tissue. However, because the aetherial membrane and signature of the material has been left unchanged, this transformation is largely painless, with only mild discomfort being reported among people that have been subjected to such spells.

Warpism
Whereas morphism is the impermanent manipulation of aether into other forms, warpism is the permanent transformation of aether into another physical form. Warp spells are known to be entropic in nature, twisting the aether first and then destroying it so that the affected material or creature is unable to revert to its former state. For the most part, warp spells are used to permanently shape more static objects, such as stone, metal, or wood, however it is said that the Ghost Elves have learned to apply warp magic to creatures, permanently altering them into twisted and abominable forms. Unlike morph spells, this process is theorized to be painful to a maddening degree, and nearly every creature that has been affected by such a spell is both physically and psychologically damaged beyond repair.

Some of the more bizarre creatures in Arenam are believed to have been created by powerful warp magics, from manticores to chimerae.

Other Magical Disciplines
In addition to the eight schools of magic, there are additional magical disciplines that don't neatly fall into the same categories as those listed above. These disciplines include:

The Sphere of Artifice
In addition to the eight primary schools of magic,	there is another “ninth” school of magic, the school of Artifice. However, Artifice is not a true and proper magical school, but rather a discipline that is often described as a sphere that draws from all eight of the schools of magic. By using specially prepared gemstones, a caster is able to imbue magical power into the gem, which can then be magically sealed to a mundane object, imbuing the object with the properties of the original spell. This has been used in the past to create flaming swords, bags with extradimensional pockets, and other similar objects. In the past, wizards from all schools of magic dabbled in artifice, however with the gems needed for artifice becoming increasingly rare wizards of all stripes no-longer dabble in it as they once did. Now, only those that are dedicated to the discipline of Artifice pursue the creation of magic items. This has given rise to many artificers calling the discipline the “Ninth School of Magic”, much to the annoyance of all other practitioners of magic.

The Thaumaturgic Axis
Though the rules of the magical schools and disciplines are for the most part straight-forward, things get tricky when the gods get involved and somehow fit mechanically into certain schools and disciplines in ways that should be impossible. For instance, channeling the mysterious energies of Marid-Nunda’s Verdant Rooms, which already seem to violate most known magical laws as they apply to Aurbis, should fall into the category of a Conjuration spell, however when such spells are cast by clerics they seem to behave in a way that is similar to evocation spells. This is but one example of how many spells that would function one way when cast by an arcane caster function differently when cast by a divine one, and it is part of a greater phenomenon that scholars call the “Thaumaturgic Axis”, a strange collection of spells that are impossible for arcane casters but are somehow possible for divine ones. Spells that fall along this axis are usually referred to as “thaumaturgy” spells by scholars rather than the schools that they belong to.

Chronomancy
Another discipline of magic that is not well-understood is the discipline of chronomancy. The discipline is one of the most closely guarded secrets in all of Aurbis, as it is feared what could happen if time is tampered with. This is largely because most chronomantic spells are entropic in nature, meaning that they actively warp and destroy time when used. Mages that tamper too readily with chronomancy have been known to disappear entirely, believed to be flung far into the past, future, or possibly even erased from time altogether. Among the highest circles of magical learning, it is known that powerful arcane orders jealously guard the secrets of chronomancy from the rest of the world, often clandestinely seeking out those that accidentally stumble upon its secrets and carefully removing them. Whether this removal means killing them, abducting them, or something else entirely is unknown, but all wizards know that it is rare that anything good comes from meddling with time.