Magic in Raokrá works pretty much the same as anywhere else, with some exceptions concerning certain powerful magic effects and the historical and social role that wizards have been through during the history of Raokrá.

During the Era of the Sword (see the description of the eras), a crusade against evil necromancers turned into a full fledged war against all wizards, fueled by demagogues and fanatical priests, very few lands escaped the wave of hatred towards magic, prominently main Thyrana and all of Astar. While the Thyranian empire was officially against this witch hunt, several overzealous governors disregarded this fact.

Due to this, wizards as a whole still bear something of a grudge ever since that time, and while some wizards conceal their powers from the common man as much as they can, others are openly hostile to common folk, believing that they must be forced to respect magic and anyone who can wield it.

For this same reason, wizards do not get along with priests very well except in some regions (elven regions mostly), and it is said that a silent conflict between clerics and wizards is already under way in the highest political spheres of all powerful nations.

This section contains certain beliefs concerning the different practicioners of magic in Raokrá, some unusual and powerful magical effects unique to Raokrá, as well as a few influential wizard organizations.

 

The Schools of Magic

Mages: These wizards, who don't specialize in any of the schools of magic are mostly demihumans, humans usually prefer to become specialists. While this may seem a bit strange, it has a logical explanation, the different wizards of Raokrá are quite zealous when it comes to their craft, and usually teach their arcane secrets to those who belong to their same school of magic. Indeed, most of the powerful spells are kept by specialists and are not shared easily.

Becoming a mage (at least in human lands) means that the wizard will have to struggle a lot to learn any powerful spells (4th level and above ). This is not usually true in elven lands, where most wizards are mages and pupils have a vast assortment of spells at their disposal.

Still, human specialists have several spells that are unknown even to the elven sages, these secret spells are to be learned only by other specialists of the same magic school, under severe penalties.

Note: The secret spells of the schools in my campaign were those taken from the Wizard's Handbook, necromantic spells from that handbook were known ONLY by necromancers with the proper instruction and so forth and so on.

 

Necromancy: Said to be the most powerful of all specialist wizards, necromancers have an enormous tradition and history behind them. Necromancy is said to have been discovered thousands of years ago by a mysterious figure known only as "The Dark One", a figure whose existence has never been proved, but is said to be still alive today.

Necromancy is a hard path to follow, the training is rigorous to the extreme, both spiritually and mentally, and very few pupils are able to complete it. And of those few men who withstand it, many pay the price of their sanity.

As with many other worlds, good aligned necromancers are very rare. But in Raokrá, there are NO good aligned powerful necromancers, it is said that necromancy derives its power from the very forces of Chaos, and that due to this, necromancers grow equally in evil and power. To this respect, necromancers have an old saying, supposed to be The Dark One's first teaching;

"The path of Necromancy leads only to death and destruction; its knowledge is tainted, and it will eventually taint the soul of anyone who has it. The more powerful you become the more evil you will be, it is an absolute truth that only an ignorant or a fool would deny"

Still, some try to challenge the above statement, and up to this day, they have all failed.

Necromancers are sages by nature, they understand the fabric of reality better that anyone else, knowledge they hardly ever share with anyone.

 

Abjuration: Abjurers are usually viewed as inferiors by all other specialist wizards, the reason they are usually on the defense when dealing with other wizards, and rival necromancers when it comes to denying their spells to others. Some abjurers have a serious complex of inferiority, and usually risk life and limb to prove their worth.

 

Conjuration/Summoning: Conjurers are normally quite arrogant, believing that their magic is superior to all others. Conjurers have a long running rivalry with necromancers, and many conjurers have taken it upon themselves to protect the world from the predations of necromancers.

The final part of a conjurer training requires them to successfully summon a familiar using a "Find Familiar" spell, they are to keep the familiar from any harm and learn all about him. For this reason, all conjurers begin gameplay with a pre-rolled familiar (I have a big familiar table right here).

Conjurers are very hard to work with, because they don't like taking orders from anyone.

 

Greater Divination: Diviners are not well seen by other specialists due to the nature of their magic, but are respected for their wisdom and profound insights on all things. Diviners are great sages, maybe more than necromancers. They live in the more civilized regions, especially Latis.

Diviners are not fitted for combat and refrain from it, staying as far from battles as they can. But they are superb counselors to any adventuring group, which they sometimes join in a quest for hidden knowledge or to explore wild regions, or simply to travel around the world and see exotic places.

 

Enchantment/Charm: Enchanters in Raokrá often tend to enjoy the more "earthly" pleasures, some becoming hedonists (especially those that reside in Latis) to the extreme; these are very sociable, and feel at home within the high society of the more refined and civilized nations. Most enchanters have an enormous aesthetic sense, thus enjoying sculpture, music, theatre and other art forms.

Not surprisingly, many enchanters are of noble birth and reside in Latis.

 

Illusion: Illusionists usually tend to be flamboyant and outgoing, prefering company to isolation, but ever since the persecutions of the Era of the Sword, illusionists have become a lot more cautious. They still prefer living in cities, but tend to conceal their powers a lot more than they used to. Illusionists like to live outside the politics of the magic schools, they mess with no other specialists as long as they don't mess with them.

Still, since most specialists are neutral or good, they are prone to get on the wrong side of necromancers.

 

Invocation/evocation: Invokers are among the most powerful specialists, they wield powerful magic and are not afraid of using it whenever necessary. The Era of the Sword was very hard for them, and made them quite jumpy and easy to anger, good aligned Invokers are not very violent in this respect, but if a mob forms against him or the townspeople begin to act hostile, a display of power is in order.

Invokers are a bit hostile to common folk, and often regard them as ignorant sheep. They can also react violently to the wrong kind of comments.

Good aligned Invokers, while not as fanatical as conjurers, hate evil necromancers and fight them whenever they can.

 

Chronomancy: At least at the moment, chronomancy is completely unknown in Raokrá, it will discovered in a few hundred years, which certainly means there may one or two temporal visitors roaming the land today.

Changing Raokrá's history is a nearly impossible task, for nearly all chronomancers are (secretly) under the command of the great Akashi, the immortal chronicler (see the council of immortals). And this powerful immortal sees that to it that no meddling chronomancer causes any paradoxes, a crime punishable by death.

 

Ritual Magic

First developed by ascan wizards, ritual magic may well be the most powerful form of magic ever to exist. It is based primarily in the same movements and components as common magic, but rituals require a longer casting time and a much greater number of chantings, movements and material components.

Rituals work on the very forces that make up the universe, but while normal spells are quick and disruptive (violent, an ascan would say), rituals slowly and harmoniously bend those forces to fully alter their functioning for a small time, producing spectular effects produced by the very forces of the universe.

In a way, the caster does not produce the effect, but rather "tricks" greater forces into producing it for him.

The secrets of ritual magic have been long lost, but still a few powerful beings can cast a ritual or two. For example, the rune inscribed on the moon by Sao Diasonori during the year of the dead was the result of a ritual; and Lord Ruzsell (Ascal merloth of ascan legend) knows many rituals.

Rituals are divided into; rituals of light, capable of growing a small forest on a desert; rituals of darkness, devastating rituals capable of slaying an entire village; rituals of power, capable of increasing one's power or to trascend to a greater existence; rituals of Apeiron, which allows the caster to command incredible elemental forces.

There are no texts on rituals, and they are only passed down (rarely) from mouth to ear, but usually nobody who knows them shares his knowledge.

Unlike common spells, rituals cannot be cast constantly, for doing so would bring the caster to the attention of greater forces (even Ancient Ones) who would certainly be displeased with the abuse of power.

In theory, ritual magic allows very low level wizards to produce extremely powerful spell effects, but these novices are not able to muster enough power to invoke them or enough willpower to control them.

As a last note, rituals are an NPC tool, and like artifacts, adventurers should be lucky (or unlucky) to see one during their entire lives.

Wizardly Organizations

While there are innumerable wizard organizations in Raokrá, these are the most famous and influential;

 

The Shadowlords

Requirements for membership: Being a necromancer (evil necromancer that is)

Area of influence: the Shadowlords are the absolute rulers of Valhick, once a provincial capital of northern Alis. The Shadowlords conquered the city (and nearly the entire province) eight decades ago, and is currently a shadowed ruined city where horrible screams can be heard at night.

Organization: Completely hierarchical, members advance based on power and achievements.

Leadership: The infamous Master of Shadows, perhaps the most powerful necromancer alive, rules supreme within the shadowlords; his second in command is an animal like creature called "The Beast", a true oddity, he is one of The Created (see below), but a very intelligent one. A powerful necromancer (16th level), the beast once was a pupil of the Master of Shadows himself.

Military forces: The Shadow warriors, highly trained and magically armed soldiers (at least fifth level), while this warriors serve as an elite force, the Shadowlords main combat force are The Created, horrible broken ones resulting from their foul human experiments, these are numerous enough to be considered a small army, and their fearsome combat abilities have kept the army of Alis at bay all these years.

Goals: The unrestricted study of Necromancy, including all sorts of experiments with humans and other races. Stamping out any organization that attacks necromancers or hinders the development of magic. Their long term plan is to gain control of all Alis.

Resources: Aside from the fees of members, they tax the population of the province (they tax them fairly, strangely enough) and are secretly involved in slave trading and all kinds of legitimate and illegal activities.

 

The Bane

Requirements for membership: Being a conjurer (preferably good) above the 6th level, and hating necromancy with a fanatic's passion.

Area of influence: the activities of the Bane extend over most of the continent of Gatzrhé, but they have taken a particular interest in Alis, since they wish to stop the seemingly unstoppable growth of the Shadowlords.

Organization: Completely hierarchical, members advance based on power and achievements.

Leadership: The Bane is ruled by regional leaders and a council of seven powerful conjurers

Goals: The Bane is a very violent group prone to terrorist acts devoted to the single goal of stamping out any and all forms of necromancy, their methods leave a lot to be desired, and usually don't care how many innocents gets in their way.

Resources: Many of their members are rich, and many powerful politicians and wealthy persons sympathize with their goal and contribute large sums of money.

 

The Chamber of the Seven

Requirements for membership: There are only seven members, and all of them are powerful elven mages holding influential positions all over Astar the elven continent, getting accepted within the chamber would certainly take a titanic effort.

Area of influence: Astar, the chamber has influenced many important decisions in all nations of the elven continent and holds an incredible grip over many important political pressure groups, mages' guilds, commercial organizations and many others.

Organization: The decisions are taken by the seven members by voting.

Leadership: Each member is entitled to his own opinion and posseses the same influence as the other members. Still, political conflicts within the chamber are known to exist.

Goals: The chamber of the Seven is a very conservative group, concerned mainly with limiting human influence in Astar, carefully monitoring commerce and human communities in the elven land. They have appointed themselves as guardians of the elven way of life, and do not allow any "exotic" ideas to enter the elven lands.

Resources: Every member contributes monetary resources to the Chamber, and its vast network of supporters allows them to influence all sorts of political, military and commercial decisions.

 

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