Wizardry

Wizardry is a mystical art where the Primal Forces of reality are interpreted and manipulated. Unlike Primalshapers who bend themselves to channel the Primal Forces, the Wizard commands the forces. This gives them more control and freedom from the downsides of Primalshaping, it means it is harder for them to develop spells that hijack the Primal Forces. Practitioners need to be educated in the energies they seek to manipulate, and train their minds to focus on the manipulation of those energies. Excelling in Wizardry requires focus, mental discipline, and deep understanding. This can lead practitioners to be distracted from mortal concerns or their immediate circumstances leading to them being isolated socially or emotionally.

History of Wizardry

Different traditions of Wizardry have different origins based on the access to Elemental fonts, Godswar artifacts, and bargained for knowledge. Sufficient research and experimentation can lead to replicating other magics, but the most esoteric or powerful discoveries are the most coveted.

Baeon and the Grey Marches

With access to the Necrowells the secrets of Necromancy were unraveled and with those secrets other aspects of Wizardry were explored. But because of the destructive nature of the magic and its ability to interact with the souls of the dying, Wizardry on Baeon has always had a cloud of suspicion around it.

The Rah'ee

With access to the Elemental Fonts on Thousand Seas, the Raee Philosophers untangled both how to manipulate the elemental forces, but also bind and direct Elementals.

Maguses of Duranti

Access to Godswar artifacts led the Maguses to develop rudimentary Wizardry. Unlike other cultures, it lacked the jealously guarded secrecy and was integrated into the imperial educational system and was developed in the open. However, without access to the elemental secrets the Maguses were limited in their development.

Elven Wizardry

Elven wizardry is limited to Emerged Elves with their memory of the Pre-Godswar era. The idea of educating the Antecedent Elves of its secrets never occurred to them as they would learn them on their emergence. With the insular societies, and that emerged elves may return to their true house teaching an Antecedent Elf arcane secrets would allow other houses to gain those secrets. Some Houseless Elves have deigned to share their secrets with the other ancestries to secure their own security and position.

Nexus Universities

During the 2nd Nexus Wars, the Duranti Empire realized that that Wizardry was going to be key to dominating the sphere. The Emperor expanded and funded the Imperial University system to gather Wizardry knowledge from other traditions. This made the Imperial Universities — and later the Nexus Universities that inherited their tradition — the premier centers of Wizardry learning. While it demystified the basics of Wizardry, it did nothing to undermine the tradition of jealously guarding high powered secrets. In the end it created a cohort of minor wizards how could build magical trinkets, perform simple communication spells, and lay minor enchantments. These wizards tend not to push themselves to risk themselves and develop their abilities.

Dangers of Practicing Wizardry

Of all the magics, Wizardry can only be pushed so far by a mortal mind. The greatest danger to a wizard is mental exhaustion, where they can no longer focus on maintaining their arcane formulae to manifest them.

Limitations of Wizardry

While Wizardry can channel the Elemental Energies and Forces of Creation there is only so much a mortal mind can control its manifestation. While magic can create powerful manifestations, the maximum amount of force such manifestations can apply is limited by the mastery of the caster. And there is an upper limit a mortal can manifest without destroying themselves.

Manipulation of Primal or Radiant Energy within living things is a limitation of Wizardry as what is intended to heal will turn cancerous without the intervention of a Divinity or shaping the Primal forces. Unwinding the mysteries of both of these energies has remained elusive.

Societal Understanding

Depending on the history of the Wizardry societies may have a positive or negative view of Wizardry. But some views are consistent across the Spheres. Because of the focus required for Wizardry, Wizards tend to be distracted, vague, and detached from the world around them. It leads to difficulty creating and maintaining personal relationships.

For other magical practitioners, they tend to have a dim view on Wizardry because of its tendency to unravel the secrets of their magic and repurpose it. As such they tend to be distrustful of Wizards too interested in their magic. Some consider Wizardry outright theft of power that they shouldn't have and some Religions have severe prohibitions on Wizardry.

But with Wizardry being the edge against the Dwarven March during the Third Nexus War, or Wizardry's role in the development of a society changes that perspective.