Upon Magic and Its Origins and Applications – A Treatise

By Mary Elizabeth Browning

Translated by Lyriel Elhana

Magical Affinity

Accumulator

The accumulator is not an offensive affinity and, unlike the other affinities, cannot be practiced by any except those with a natural affinity. Much as the name suggests, an accumulator takes excess magic into her body and can distribute that magic into another, acting as a conduit through which magic can be exchanged between multiple people.

The accumulator is something of a misnomer as the Accumulator both gathers and disperses magic. In this way they act as a natural battery. By fostering a highly emotional connection between herself and the target (be it gathering or dispersing magic) the accumulator can drain or charge the other party’s magic store.

While generally this connection is sexual, any highly charged emotional link will work. The transference drains the accumulator greatly, requiring quite some amount of rest time to recharge. Real physical harm can befall the accumulator if she is not allowed to rest, up to and including death.

While it is possible for the accumulator to dispense her own magic it is highly discouraged as this can drain the accumulator’s magic to dangerous levels, similarly the accumulator should not simply accept excessive magic as this can lead to a dangerous spike in her own magic levels leading to a potential discharge.

Smith

The smith possesses the deepest magical pool of all the affinities and, similar to Accumulators, cannot be practiced by any except those with a natural affinity for the discipline. Sometimes called an artificer or tinkerer, the smith is able to imbue items which she creates with magic and are considered the armorers of the Empire. They create weapons of war or subterfuge for the factions they serve. Through the use of both magical and technological techniques they can create powerful, dangerous, whimsical, or useful items. Through the use of advanced smithing techniques most of their creations are created from a combination of steel and Allicereum. The presence of Allicereum allows the smith to pour their own magic into the item, creating unique, powerful, and sometimes unpredictable and surprising effects.

While the majority of smiths are human, many elves, dwarves and even some goblins have joined this craft, using their own extensive magic to create delicate and finely crafted items imbued with powerful effects.

There are two additional affinities which I hesitate to mention as these are so exceedingly rare as to be nearly myth. As this is a scholarly document, I shall include these in the list, though information on these two affinities is extremely limited and neither have been studied authoritatively.

Wild Witch

The “wild witch” has never received formal training in any way shape or form. They have no true affinity and often dabble in things which most magic users find exceedingly distasteful, difficult to master, or are largely illegal.

The term is used to identify a magic user which engages in necromancy, construction of golems using human remains as a base ingredient, any of the nature-based magic users involved in manipulating organic matter and any other pursuit which falls outside of the scope of what is acceptable magic use. While there are exceedingly rare examples of powerful magic users following one of the Wild Witch ways of life, they are as a general rule, low powered individuals playing at slightly advanced herbalism, insane people attempting to revive and manipulate the dead or charlatans looking to take advantage of unwary or desperate Imperial residents and are of little consequence in the grand scheme of magic. They are mentioned here only in the interests of authoritative cataloguing.

Soul Render

Throughout the span of recorded history, both after Azadora’s founding and prior to it, there have only ever been three recorded Soul Renders. The first, a woman named Skuld Icehammer, is widely believed to have caused the Sundering of the Isles wherein the Kingdom of Drailum was, according to legend, shattered into the current Drailum Isles, and the capital city was swallowed by the Sundered Abyss. There are no surviving contemporary accounts of this incident and, in fact, no accounts whatsoever from the timeframe Drailum was supposed to have been in existence. Given what little we know about the abilities of the Soul Render it is highly unlikely that, even if the event had taken place, the Soul Render would have been capable of such a thing so this story must be considered apocryphal.

The second Soul Render, a young girl named Samira Neit-aker, was supposedly born in the far south of the continent in the Duneland Isles. While many stories of her deeds are told and retold and, with each telling become more fantastical and unlikely, it is a very near certainty that she did exist. There are relatively authoritative accounts of her existence, though her actual deeds are suspect at best. While her existence has been widely assumed, her deeds are so clouded in myth and legend to be considered, again, mostly apocryphal.

The third and final Soul Render, Phoebe Chatwyn, most certainly did exist. Most people in the Empire know her many deeds and either hate or revere her depending upon which side in the Despair Wars the individual’s ancestors fought for.

Phoebe was born in abject poverty in the southern Suttrie Woodland village of Eastdale to peasant parents in IY 1651. While there is little information regarding her upbringing or awakening, she burst onto the scene at the start of the Despair Wars in IY 1680.

During the Oceanfalls campaign in the winter of 1682 the Soul Render destroyed the entirety of Regium Cohort Ursa VII by herself after catching them separated from their Legion unawares and wintering in the hills above the town. While the Imperial armies had the vastly superior numbers and organization, the presence of the Soul Render turned the tide of battle often enough that, by the time of the Windshell Accords ending the war in 1693, the Imperial Legions had been devastated to the point that four of them would never be reconstituted.

Up until her disappearance in the Darktide Incident in 1696 the Soul Render continued to wield her magic with no signs of loss of control or potency. Unfortunately, there was never any actual studies done on the Soul Render, so we are unsure what her magical limits actually were, or even if she had limits. We also are unsure of what, precisely, her powers were even capable of. All we really know is the Soul Render is a uniquely powerful human rivalling even the dragons in the Bleakreach region of Northern Kradis in sheer magical ferocity and that, with only three having ever existing in the history of humankind, the chances of seeing another is, thankfully, infinitesimal.

While that sort of power used to further the ways of good can bring all of humanity great things, that sort of power can also cause untold devastation if used for evil. The power the Soul Render wielded is not one a human should ever possess.

Pseudo Magic

This section is developed, as previously mentioned, in the interests of creating an authoritative catalogue of magical abilities. Though not, technically, magical in nature there are several magic-related or purportedly magical groups which exist. Though there are, doubtlessly, more than are presented here, these are the main groups which purport or have been observed to use pseudo-magical abilities.

The Brotherhood of the Thorn

A male-centric, misogynistic group of clerics have sprung up in recent years claiming to possess magical abilities. None of these abilities have ever been verified and the general consensus is that this group is simply a collection of malcontents who are trying to snatch some sort of parity with actual magic users by using trickery, clever oration, and low-level technological gadgets to achieve their goals. While worth keeping a close eye upon as their propensity for violence and loudly espoused misogyny and anarchic beliefs are a danger to the established order of the Empire, there is no empirical evidence to suggest any of their claims of magic use are valid.

Church of the Gemini

The largest religion in the Empire and, quite possibly the world, the Priestesses, Paladins and Templars of the Church of the Gemini do not use magic in the traditional sense of the word. While their claims of divine gifts from the Twin Goddesses of the Moons, Caesonia and Atria which they use to great effect are most likely simply an affinity unique to the girls the church recruit to their ranks, their effectiveness cannot be disputed. While unable to bring back the dead or reconstitute missing or heavily damaged limbs their healing ability is indisputable. The church refuses to allow any sort of scientific study of their members’ ability so, in lieu of empirical evidence we must categorize the abilities of the Priestesses of Gemini as pseudo-magic.

(tn: Following the original author’s disappearance and presumed demise, a new church has emerged in the Empire. In order to fully flesh out this section I will include it.

Order of the December Muse

Living in a single village high in the Landsedge Mountains in the southeastern part of the main Island of the Empire, the Order of the December Muse is a relatively new player on the Imperial stage, having been in existence for a mere 7 years at the time of this writing. No one has ever seen the High Priestess, nor are there any accepted into their ranks above Acolyte, though the number of followers to their tenets increase dramatically each year. While few ever see their higher priestesses there are stories, as the author would say, mostly apocryphal, of abilities and powers such as the ability to move things with their minds, start fires with their minds, ability of some to see into the future as well as other forms of abilities which, though possibly not magic, nor even real, still bears some relevance to this section of the author’s works.)

While not authoritative nor overly involved in specific aspects of magic and its uses (I will leave that to other scholars who specialize in each individual aspect to further expand upon this work) we have endeavored to bring a rough overview of magic, its uses, its dangers, and its wonders. As time goes on and our research continues, I can only assume our knowledge of the inner workings of these powers will expand. As with all things I encourage each of us to open ourselves up to new possibilities and new experiences and, through them, gain a deeper understanding of the world around us and our place in it.

Humbly Yours,

Mary Elizabeth Browning

Scribe of the Order of Magi 17 Juenelius IY 1742