The disparities of magic and reason
As I've mentioned before, there is a substantial opposition between magic and science in the world. Like our own worlds conflict between religion and reason during the renaissance, colonial period, and even today, the struggle between magic and science is tangible, and permeates every aspect of the world. If you are on one side, then you are probably not on the other. The interesting thing is that in my mythology for the world, this conflict isn't just an idealistic one. It's a very real conflict perpetuated by agents of each side.
This conflict stems from the mythology of magic. I'm not going to say whether this mythological view is true or not. It's up to the players to determine how they feel about it. Magicians divide the realm of magic into five spheres: Fire, Earth, Air, Water, and Mind. Each spell draws from these forces and intermingle to create specific spell effects. Some to a lesser degree and other to a greater degree. For example, the spell magic missile is drawn from the force of mind and fire. The spell dispel magic is drawn from all five to create a deficit to nullify magic. Magical schools teach the theories behind each spell as well as their appropriate element, allowing students to understand how they interplay and create magical effects. Sadly the mages of Earth make many faulty assumptions about the nature of magic.
Each element does combine to create magical effects, but only because the elements create a form of miasma that then creates the effect. Spells are all essentially drawn from this. Is what mages mistake is that the form remains consistent; that is, the spell comprises of earth, fire, water, air and mind. In fact, it becomes something completely different. But, that isn't the point.
The basis for these elements exists in the elemental schema that mankind has adopted since the primordial times. Unfortunately, as things are wont to do, the more stock mortals placed in these ideas, the more pervasive they became. The more pervasive they became, the more real the ideas behind them became. Then, suddenly, at some point in mortals distant past, these concepts eschewed their conceptualization and took cognizant forms. Now, instead of mere ideas, they existed in a dynamic and living sense. One might call them Gods, although with the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim traditions so strong among most mortals, such words might be considered heresy. And, like the Gods of myth, they fought among themselves.
During the roman empire Mind flourished. His influence was felt by various cultures of the world, including the Greeks and Egyptians. Perhaps overcome with jealousy, the other elements began to suppress Mind by plunging the world into war, famine, and plague. Time gave way to the dark ages, wherein Mind was at his weakest. Thought, reason, order, were nowhere to be found on earth in any substantial sense. In this dark place, Mind went mad. He began to withdrawal from the world, biding his time. Finally, he began to slowly influence people by showing them reason and logic. He inspired countless men and women to embrace reasonableness and the renaissance was born. Soon, Mind became powerful enough wage war again but he realized that he could not directly affect the other elements. But Mind had learned that destroying that which gave the other elements purpose would be their unmaking. Still, he could not hope to take them on directly. Instead, he fragmented. In hundreds of thousands of motes of energy, he spread his essence across the world, and mingled with those whom he predicted would be the most worthy of his essence. Within each of them he gave them reason, order, and the capacity to take fledgling sciences to a level that would compete with magic. Because of Mind's illness, some of these people remained unchanged, and others tended toward megalomania. Still, each was a potent creator, and each would create Minds arsenal.
Each of these people would compound upon Minds essence the lessons learned during their life, and when they die, that mote would pass on to another to continue to learn again. It is speculated, by those in the know, that Mind simply waits for a moment when his knowledge surpasses everything. At that moment, he will reunite and reclaim all of the accumulated knowledge, as well as the weapons that were created by his essence. Then, he will have the strength to rid the world of the other four elements.
This conflict stems from the mythology of magic. I'm not going to say whether this mythological view is true or not. It's up to the players to determine how they feel about it. Magicians divide the realm of magic into five spheres: Fire, Earth, Air, Water, and Mind. Each spell draws from these forces and intermingle to create specific spell effects. Some to a lesser degree and other to a greater degree. For example, the spell magic missile is drawn from the force of mind and fire. The spell dispel magic is drawn from all five to create a deficit to nullify magic. Magical schools teach the theories behind each spell as well as their appropriate element, allowing students to understand how they interplay and create magical effects. Sadly the mages of Earth make many faulty assumptions about the nature of magic.
Each element does combine to create magical effects, but only because the elements create a form of miasma that then creates the effect. Spells are all essentially drawn from this. Is what mages mistake is that the form remains consistent; that is, the spell comprises of earth, fire, water, air and mind. In fact, it becomes something completely different. But, that isn't the point.
The basis for these elements exists in the elemental schema that mankind has adopted since the primordial times. Unfortunately, as things are wont to do, the more stock mortals placed in these ideas, the more pervasive they became. The more pervasive they became, the more real the ideas behind them became. Then, suddenly, at some point in mortals distant past, these concepts eschewed their conceptualization and took cognizant forms. Now, instead of mere ideas, they existed in a dynamic and living sense. One might call them Gods, although with the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim traditions so strong among most mortals, such words might be considered heresy. And, like the Gods of myth, they fought among themselves.
During the roman empire Mind flourished. His influence was felt by various cultures of the world, including the Greeks and Egyptians. Perhaps overcome with jealousy, the other elements began to suppress Mind by plunging the world into war, famine, and plague. Time gave way to the dark ages, wherein Mind was at his weakest. Thought, reason, order, were nowhere to be found on earth in any substantial sense. In this dark place, Mind went mad. He began to withdrawal from the world, biding his time. Finally, he began to slowly influence people by showing them reason and logic. He inspired countless men and women to embrace reasonableness and the renaissance was born. Soon, Mind became powerful enough wage war again but he realized that he could not directly affect the other elements. But Mind had learned that destroying that which gave the other elements purpose would be their unmaking. Still, he could not hope to take them on directly. Instead, he fragmented. In hundreds of thousands of motes of energy, he spread his essence across the world, and mingled with those whom he predicted would be the most worthy of his essence. Within each of them he gave them reason, order, and the capacity to take fledgling sciences to a level that would compete with magic. Because of Mind's illness, some of these people remained unchanged, and others tended toward megalomania. Still, each was a potent creator, and each would create Minds arsenal.
Each of these people would compound upon Minds essence the lessons learned during their life, and when they die, that mote would pass on to another to continue to learn again. It is speculated, by those in the know, that Mind simply waits for a moment when his knowledge surpasses everything. At that moment, he will reunite and reclaim all of the accumulated knowledge, as well as the weapons that were created by his essence. Then, he will have the strength to rid the world of the other four elements.
posted by Aleris at 4:16 AM
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