September's Featured Magic Lore

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September's Featured Magic Lore

Postby Gillar on September 1st, 2015, 4:08 am

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Hello Fellow Mizaharians!



As a way of changing things up a bit, our monthly Features will be alternating between the Featured Characters, Contributors and Threads and Featured Magic Lore, Featured Gods/Gnosis and Featured New Additions/Coming Soons. The first Featured Magic for September is, Magecraft. One of the most famous and difficult disciplines of world magic, Magecraft allows for the creation of magical items. A complex, intricate magic, Magecraft is more a science than it is an art. This Feature is meant to not only introduce everyone to a magic discipline but also give a little insight into it and maybe answer some questions people may have had about it or just reveal some lesser known characteristics of the magic.



Looking Deeper



Different from any other type of magic that produced "magical" items, Magecraft goes above and beyond other disciplines such as Glyphing or Malediction. Those who practice Magecraft are known as Magesmiths. The items these smiths produce can possess permanent, unique items with a potential for limitless magical powers and abilities. Before the Valterrian, individual Magesmiths of great power and skill crafted items of legendary abilities; the Smith's names being known across the land. After the Valterrian, the practice of Magecraft began to fade. Today, only a select few places are known for their Smiths. While there are scattered Smiths of varying talent spread throughout Mizahar, Sahova and it's Nuit preserve the old ways left over from the Alahean Empire while the Isur of Sultros Kingdom continue, as they always have, being the undisputed masters of Magecraft.

Magecraft, at its core, involves taking properties from various materials and transferring those properties to a greater item. A Smith can alter the physical properties of an item, grant it supernatural abilities such as mystical enhancements or even provide the item the ability to activate magical powers. With the aid of personal gnosis marks, a Smith may even transfer gnosis-related abilities to an item or grant the item intelligence. The technicalities of all this can be found in the Magecraft Lore but needless to say, the possibilities are endless.

Now, something that many might not realize is that there are certain core tools required to practice Magecraft beyond the various materials and items to be Magecrafted. First, there is the Pedestal. This pedestal is typically 3-4 feet tall and 3 feet in diameter. It can be made from many different types of stone and take a number of forms although the primary dimensions of the round upper slab is universal. While some Smiths may glyph their pedestals, this is not always necessary. The more powerful the item to be crafted, the more one may wish to glyph their pedestal for added protection and stability. The only required glyph, a glyph known to all magesmith regardless of their knowledge of glyphing, is the one carved in the center of the upper slab that helps contain the djed being manipulated in the magecrafting process. The cost of the pedestal can vary depending on the type of stone used. The actual design and form the pedestal takes varies greatly depending on the individual Smith however the upper slab must be at least 3 feet in diameter.

The Optical Ring sits on top of the Pedestal. This device is composed of 1 inch thick, 2 inch tall, 3 foot diameter ring made of cold iron banded in copper. Attached to the ring are half-a-dozen adjustable clamps with settings in the top where lenses and mirrors can be put in place. There are three lenses and three mirrors that are set into the clamps. These optical tools are able to be positioned at varying points around the ring, at varying heights and angles to allow for the most optimized point for which to view an item to be magecrafted. The ring itself is not magecrafted however the materials it is made of work together to contain the djed manipulated in the center of the ring.

The lenses and mirrors used in Magecraft are themselves very simple magic items that all apprentice Smiths learn to construct. The lenses are essentially specially cut pieces of glass similar to those used in spyglasses. They are 3 inches in diameter and cloudy in color. When used by a Smith as a part of the Optical Ring, the lens focuses the aura of an item being magecrafted so that the Smith can see and monitor it. The lenses are useful only in 3’s and effective only when placed at just the right angle when viewing an item within the Optical Ring.

The are also only useful in 3’s and are cut to different sizes; 3 square inches, 6 square inches and 9 square inches. The mirrors help to focus and contain the djed within the confines of the Optical Ring. They are positioned between the three lenses on the Ring.

A Smith also needs special hammers and tongs that, as with the lenses and mirrors, are simple, beginner-level, magic items that allow the Smith to handle the items and manipulate the item's djed. By striking the item to be crafted with a magecrafted hammer, a Smith may observe the changes in the item's djed patterns through the lenses of the Optical Ring.

Finally, a charge basin is needed to cool down a finished item. The basin is made of wood with a glyph carved in the bottom to charge it.

I've always imagined an old wizard walking around the pedestal, tapping an item with different sized hammers while looking through the lenses. What I picture him seeing is a variety of colors, undefined shapes, varying levels of illumination and simple patterns of each one of those properties. As he strikes the item, he watches the patterns shift before striking it in different places to get just the right pattern. The catalysts and reagents used in the process would be placed on the pedestal as well and as the primary item's patterns change, they become more open to absorbing the properties of those catalysts. This would be done via the mirrors which, while focusing the item's manipulated djed, would reflect that djed through the catalysts and reagents before directing it into the item itself.

Of course the auras seen through the lenses are not always perceived the same by different individuals. Perhaps one Smith may see the auras as mathematical lines, shapes and patterns which must be redirected, stretched, shortened, divided or warped to attain the desired outcome. Another may see puddles of color that are manipulated as if they were a smeared painting that is in need of restoration or reimagining.

I feel Magecraft items should be extra special. Even the simplest hammer made by an apprentice should be named with great thought taken into designing it. One of the big things that drives many types of magic in Mizahar is intent. By that I mean putting true meaning and purpose behind all magical creations. Character's who spend entire posts and even threads mentally preparing themselves for the creation process can put so much more meaning behind an item than character's who simply want to make a sword that cuts deeper. For example, a character who spends half of their creation thread remembering and focusing on a significant event in their lives or a friend/loved-one or even an experience that deeply touched them can create an item with related themes to those memories/feelings/emotions that gives an item a purpose and meaning that transcends the simple creation of an item because they want it to do something cool.
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Gillar
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