Magical Genres
Magic genres differ from Magical Colleges in that they are not covenant objects. Genres represent a particular philosophy of magic (namers, elementalists, illusionists, etc). (Note that MagicalGenres may also be Cultural Covenants but we don't know for sure. But Ged doesn't think so, see below.)
Here are some possible ideas derived from AlexisLi?'s suggestions:
- Priests? - Draw energy from a being, be it a demon, god or hero.
- Mages - Harness external nonphysical energy, such as oaths or 'cosmic radiation'.
- Sorcerors? - Draw energy from their body and/or soul.
- Techs? - Harness external physical energies, such as heat, kinetics and electricity.
- Monks? - Martial artists, physical adepts, those who draw physical power from inside themselves. Associated with physical feats such as levitation or coalwalking.
The key differentiating points therefore are energy source (primary) and energy use. Priests, Mages and Sorcerors all have a pretty free hand, whereas Techs and Monks are limited to external or internal effects respectively. Note the definition of an internal effect can become **ing broad, and external effects may include 'power armour' &c which produce internal effects. The above distinctions can become blurred if, for example, a Mage starts building boilers. Such a character should probably be considered 'multiclass' (in D&D parlance).
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The Covenant distinction the FaerieMUD group seems to be focusing on describes an energy source, to me (AlexisLi?). Oaths that oneself has kept provide internal energy, while sacred places and the company of oathkeepers provide external energy. Oathbreakers (and optionally sites of great conflict) drain this energy. Note this suggests an interesting profession of Magekiller, whose participants make and break oaths as often as possible (more difficult than it may sound) in order to nullify their prey's power. Since it provides an energy source, it is invisible to Techs? and Priests? who cannot draw on it.
The Priests and Monks described by Scotus are, to me, Mages. They have merely taken a community-based approach to generating mana from oaths, at a particular level in the social strata. It could be considered that the Priests I describe above generate energy through believers honouring a covenant to believe in a being, although this is stretching things a little. Evangelical Priests would therefore garner much power through oaths being made, and faiths with many worshippers would accumulate power through the oath being continually fulfilled. Worshippers leaving spells dark times.
— AlexisLi? - 16 Dec 2001
A good reference for a systematic analysis of various approachs to magic is the <cite>Practical Thaumaturgy</cite>, published by Steve Jackson Games for their GURPS game system.
See also Magic Users.
— Scotus - 15 Dec 2001
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A Genre, in my mind, is not so much a game-visible distinction, or one that results in "classes", but a construct that can be instantiated to provide an abstract ruleset for the gathering and channeling of Mana. Just as one can generate electrical energy by burning coal, gathering sunlight, harnessing gravity with a dam, or splitting atoms, Genres provide a a codified strategy for turning the potential magical energy of an area into some effect. There still exists a need for a system which governs how much energy is available for access; one which governs all of the others, and provides a game-tuning mechanism that is easy to keep in balance with the other systems.
I like the Genres AlexisLi? suggests above, but would suggest that the distinction between Techs and Mages is that Techs are channeling physical energy, not Mana, and so are subject to different laws. It would certainly be possible to form some apparatus or technique that incorporated both physical and magical energy, though, which might lead to powered armour or boilers or whatever.
As they are not social constructs, Genres are neither Covenants nor Cultural Covenants, I think. They are the language that generates the bytecode that executes on the Magical Virtual Machine, if you will. It will be likely that cultures are formed about Genres, but they have a relationship of association, not aggregation or composition.
— Ged The Greys Hain - 17 Dec 2001
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Sounding good so far. Here are some ideas:
Part of what a Genre has to define is what it means to be a magical focus for the practitioners of the genre. It also has to define what it means to be a ley line between foci. When a magical college is creating its physical identity, using its chosen foci and ley lines, it will create a network. When the magical college expands to include more than one genre, it must also be defined what a connecting ley line between any two genres is.
We also agree that terms like monks and mages are more appropriate to be associated with the magic users rather than the members of a particular covenant.
— Stillflame and Scotus - 12 Jan 2002
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I've created a proposal for the "system which governs ... all the others" under the Metamagic topic.
— GedTheGreysHain - 15 Jun 2003
