Magic Overview
While Mainframe isn’t ready to detail out Magic yet, they have shared a few key pieces of information. First is that magic in Pax Dei won’t be you creating a spellcaster character and you can cast a spell in the first five minutes of playing. It is going to be more involved than that. You don’t create a spellcaster at creation, you become a spellcaster though play.
Magic won’t be limited to just combat, there are different schools of magic that have their own themes and things that are unique to them. Magic can be a simple prayer, an even curse, a song of the forest, a blessing. It can be found in wyvern’s saliva or the dust of a fairy. Remember, Pax Dei is a low fantasy setting. The developers do not need to create all sort of incredible things, the world of the common medieval mind was fantastical enough.
We do know that some magic will use reagents and that these can be traded between players.
Magic Philosophy
I create as I speak!
Magic is older than mankind and has always been attributed to the things we cannot fully grasp. It is, therefore, with great reverence and respect that we attempt to define magic in the world of Pax Dei. To understand the concept a bit better, I should mention a few definitions of how the universe of Pax Dei is put together.
“The natural world” is everything that originates and is found inside the current creation.
“The extra-natural” pertains to things and beings that originated in creations past (yes… there have been many) and somehow survived the wrath of the Divine, as one creation was destroyed and another made on top of it. Quite logically, if adventurers happen one day to find their way deep, deep down into some of the major dungeons of the world, there is a distinct possibility that they will glimpse parts of these extra-natural and long-forgotten worlds and learn of things that were never meant to remain or survive.
“The Supernatural” This is essentially everything in the universe that was never a part of any creation. Most of this exists as an ethereal spirit world, but there may also be physical realms within it, created by powers other than the Divine.
So, what is magic? As magic, as thought of in the world of Pax Dei, it is something that originates outside of creation, and those living within it can not understand its process to the fullest, nor can they grasp the origins or the power behind it. All they can do is experiment and, over time, play with it, using best practices, preferably without burning down their village or losing their fingers in the process.
I am obviously not going to spill the beans on magic too much, it is something we want players to discover and experiment with. I can, however, talk a bit about the nature of magic.
It has been said that magic in Pax Dei is real and unquestioned. What does that mean?
First and foremost, magic needs to be viewed as a part of normal existence. It needs to be logical, given the ideas about what the forces at play are and what the worlds are made from. Verisimilitude is key.
Secondly, we, as inhabitants of the world of Pax Dei, only see what seeps into this world of the powers beyond. Who knows what is out there, really?
The color of magic
What we DO know for sure is that when this world of Pax Dei was made, spirit power was used to extract the elements of creation, earth, water, air, and fire, from the ether and manipulate them to make everything we see today.
We also know that the Divine gave spirit to some of the things that were made and thereby sparked life, a magical force in itself, unique to creation.
This also means that everything that lives has within it an element of spirit, as well as the elements of creation. It should be noted that some beings were gifted a stronger spirit than others.
This spirit element can be observed, communicated to, and manipulated by the Divine, and this is the basis of what is called Divine magic. I.e., Divine magic uses spirit to manipulate the elements of creation and tends to bring energy into the natural world.
Likewise and as a testimony to the origins of the Dark Lord, demonic magic is also spirit magic, driven by the same mechanics, nature, and elements as Divine magic. But that is where all comparison ends. This type of magic originates in the desire to outdo the Divine, and be larger, greater, more detailed, and more impressive. Demonic magic is also a selfish force. I.e., Demonic magic uses spirit to manipulate the elements of creation and tends to draw energy from the natural world.
The origins of the other types of magic that are known will not be revealed here, but give them a short mention:
Druidic magic uses life force to manipulate the elements of creation. Powerful as it may be, it does not exist outside the natural or extra natural realms. Another important bit… as it does not employ spirit, it is not detectable either by the Divine or the demonic.
Shamanic magic uses spirit beings within the natural world to manipulate lifeforce directly. It has no direct effect on the elements of creation. As one might expect, this type of magic does not go unnoticed among the supernatural powers.
There may still be other shades of magic out there, but more about that later.