Schools of Magic

“Arcane magic is beautiful for the same reason a blade is beautiful. It is precise, elegant, and utterly indifferent to the hand that holds it. I have seen cities saved by it, and I have seen greater ones erased by a single clever mistake.”

— Thalos Ir Vaen, Last Archmage of the Seventh Conclave

  Magic on Aerith is not a single discipline, but a collection of approaches developed to understand, categorize, and apply forces that already exist within reality. The term “schools of magic” refers not to places of instruction alone, but to philosophical and practical frameworks that describe how magical effects are produced and why they behave as they do. These schools are methods of interpretation as much as techniques of use.   At its core, each school represents a way of interacting with the same underlying structures of existence. Some focus on altering physical properties such as matter, energy, or motion. Others concern themselves with perception, thought, identity, or influence. Still others address transformation, summoning, or the manipulation of boundaries between states of being. The divisions exist to make magic comprehensible, not because the forces themselves are cleanly separated.   Different cultures emphasize different schools depending on history and need. Societies shaped by warfare tend to refine methods that produce immediate and visible effects. Scholarly traditions gravitate toward systems that allow precise control, repeatability, and long term study. Religious institutions often frame magic through moral or cosmological lenses, treating certain schools as sacred tools and others as transgressive acts. None of these perspectives are complete, but all persist because they work well enough to endure.   The boundaries between schools are porous. A single spell may draw upon principles associated with several traditions at once. An effect classified one way in an academic context may be understood entirely differently in a folk tradition. This overlap has led to centuries of debate over proper classification, with no universal agreement. Attempts to impose a single system have repeatedly failed when confronted with regional variation and anomalous phenomena.   Instruction in magic reflects these divisions. Some practitioners train narrowly, mastering one school to a high degree of reliability while remaining ignorant of others. This approach favors specialization and safety. Others pursue broader study, accepting increased risk in exchange for adaptability. Both paths are viable, and both produce failures when taken to extremes. A magician who understands only one framework may be helpless outside familiar conditions. One who studies too many may lack the discipline to execute any of them reliably.   Schools of magic also influence how knowledge is transmitted. Certain traditions rely on formal notation, standardized gestures, and codified theory. Others pass instruction orally through apprenticeship, emphasizing intuition and situational judgment. In some regions, magical knowledge is guarded tightly and restricted by lineage or oath. In others, it circulates freely, evolving rapidly and sometimes dangerously.   The existence of multiple schools reflects a deeper truth about magic itself. It is not a tool invented by mortals, but a feature of reality that can be engaged from many angles. No single framework captures it fully. Each school highlights some aspects while obscuring others. What one tradition dismisses as crude, another values for its resilience. What one considers elegant, another views as fragile.   Over time, schools rise and fall in prominence. Shifts in environment, politics, and metaphysical stability alter which approaches remain effective. Some traditions vanish entirely, leaving behind only fragments and misunderstood relics. Others adapt, absorbing new insights and discarding assumptions that no longer hold. The landscape of magic is therefore dynamic, shaped by necessity rather than doctrine.   The many schools of magic exist because reality allows them to. Their diversity is not a weakness, but a record of countless attempts to survive, understand, and exert agency within a world that never fully reveals its rules.