On Reviving Magic

First a little history:
In the year 1600, the mainstay form of magic on Ae'rinus, Elven based magic, ceased to exist. Its delicate matrix of stability and support was quickly and permanently dismantled by a lich greatly wronged by elven magic. In the last forty years of Ae'rinus' history, thaumatergic magic has been virtually eradicated. Only a few small sects remain, and those remain only because they held on to the ancient arts of the Arconian Wizards, who were summarily destroyed in the late 1100s. In the meantime, divine magic, and faith in the gods on a whole has increased dramatically. Partially from the influx of now ex-mages in search of ansers that turned to Kaeleb, god of magic (among other things), and partially from a series of Gods Wars waging between the two dominating Pantheons of Ae'rinus and Terrasond respectively.

Although apparently gone, many sages and former wizards knew that the magic, though now stripped from the air, still remained somewhere in another form. Research on discerning the new form of magic went essentially nowhere until 1641, when a pair of researchers found that the so called "wizard rocks," as named by Helena, chosen servant of Halisos, could be used to create a particularly volitile reaction. This reaction, however, killed the researchers, and it would be another year before it was repeated with similar disasterous results. Once this reaction was verified, various sources around Riversedge began scrambling to be the first to create stable magic. In 1643, the Brotherhood of the Raven successfully mimicked a Light spell. In the process, the group learned much about how the fallout of magic affected the current generation of humans upon Ae'rinus. Many were bore with innate magic coursing through their veins; magic that they could bend and use to their advantage. By the end of the year, The BloodRaven school of Magic appeared in Mercacci, Ikathia.

Mechanics

I wanted to make the rediscovery of magic to be a very exciting thing, so I put a fair amount of thought into how it would get pulled off in gameplay. I started with the decision that I wanted my player to be very specific in all her statements regarding magical research. I came across some stuff on using task resolution instead of conflict resolution as seen in D&D on Treasure Tables (article here). The whole "What is your intent?" idea really helped both myself and my player figure out how to go about making magic work out of seemingly nothing. The key to the wizard rocks is that they have to be absorbed to be activated; essentially, they are solidified magic. So once you absorb said rock, you can theoretically push out any result as long as the rock had enough magic in it to accomodate.

To absorb a rock, the caster must know rudimentary channelling. Then until the caster got used to channelling the stone into her body, I gave a success percentage (starting at 1%, and increasing at a rate calculated by the player's wisdom score 1% + 1%/2points of wisdom above 11). Eventually, after a lot of practice, the caster could successfully absorb a rock after 10 minutes of meditation. Not useful for combat applications, but still, something from nothing.

After the channelling part was conquered, the caster could then go forward to creating a reliable spell. If the caster only knows how to channel, the result of the desired spell will be erratic at best. Creating stable spells requires a series of mental checks and balances to manipulate the spell's energy in a constant, even, and predictable manner so that the result of the spell will be as expected. This is where the primary usage of "What is your Intent?" came into effect. I payed very close to the player's intent, and we walked through a dozen or so half-working attempts, before the character started to learn how to put the pieces together and form a coherent spell.

By this time, the character had spent a couple hundred hours of study to get a functioning light spell with adjustable intensity, color, shape, and location after 10 minutes of uninterrupted meditation. The character then began researching a method to decrease the casting time for the spell. After another couple of weeks of work, she could cast the spell within 5 minutes of meditation. At this point she had reached her physical limit of channelling. Without proper channelling training, she is unable to break the five minute barrier. This is because, for a spell to be cast faster, it must consume some of the caster's own energy to help form the magic into a stable form. Without greater knowledge of channeling, this is impossible.

Moving towards actual application

In order to cast spells at speed, the character must learn how to channel her own energy into the spell. This will likely require a channelling expert to assist her with learning the flow. Either that, or moments of extreme stress, where the character doesn't really have any other option. Considering the currently light usage of spells (ie light spells and small cantrip-like spells), I doubt the latter will be much of a case.

To begin facilitating the revival of magic, I will move to the GURPS 4th ed rules governing magic. After reading them, I became immediately aware of how clunky, antiquated, and plain boring D&D style magic rules were--especially for use in the given situation. D&D makes the assumption that magic is an established subject, wrought with research and plenty of surrounding knowledge. This is made apparent by the necessity of tomes, named spells (ie Tenser, Melf, Nystal, etc), established schools, and the whole "must be memorized" bit. Granted 3ed sorcerers can get around a lot of that carved in stone mentality, but the idea here is that no one on Ae'rinus is an inherent mage, and while many folks may have inborn magical traits or abilities, those traits are no easier to use than the wizard rocks, and their overuse could lead to a quick death.

GURPS uses a skill based system, where the caster has skill in an individual spell, just like a proficiency. This works well for pioneering, because it doesn't assume spell levels, memorization, or other structure evident of an established system. In addition, spells are cast by expending Energy (Fatigue/constitution) or Health (HP). Again, in a pioneering field, it should be hard on the caster to create an effect. Thirdly, GURPS offers the concept of Mana levels, which determine the relative amount of magic in the area. Since all the magic on Ae'rinus is pretty much trapped in wizard rocks, or in a format that is undetectable by most, Ae'rinus qualifies for Low to No Mana across the board. Therefore, the only source of mana for spells comes from Wizard Rocks, which by default, are weak (functioning as low mana, and able to support 1 Cost spells). However, as Magic begins to rise, people will learn how to shape Wizard Rocks into more efficient creations, thus increasing their relative Mana rating and Cost storage. In addition, wizards will be able to craft manastones, powerstones, or even learn to draw granules of magic from the very ground they are standing on.

Granted, magic on Ae'rinus is a long day off from returning to its heyday, but in a few years, a lone wizard weilding the equivelant of Magic Missle will be a terror on the battlefield. And this is what I've been waiting to see for some time; magic that is mystical, powerful, and frightening all at once. A truly exciting time indeed.