Origins of Divine Magic

Origins of Divine Magic, by Kundek Bartan, published 603YD.   The true source of so-called divine magic is a hotly contested issue, even among its practitioners (commonly called Clerics, due to their historical association with religious institutions). This dispute is largely an extension of the religious divide between Teghneists and adherents of the Colossean Pantheon, though there are also intra-religious debates on the matter. The Colosseans typically hold that the effects of divine magic are directly brought about by a supernatural power (either one of the Five for their clerics, or one of the Solars for ours) on behalf of the Cleric, with spells essentially acting as transactional religious rites that the relevant power is obligated to reward with an effect. Regular sacrifice and worship is then necessary to maintain a positive relationship with the higher power and access to its aid.   In contrast, there are two competing schools of thought within Teghneism. The first is that Clerics, by virtue of their spiritual authority, are capable of accessing a source of positive energy, allowing them to cast spells in a similar manner to arcane mages. The natural response to this position is to question how the Colossean and Mekonite Clerics, who lack any legitimate spiritual authority, are able to cast divine spells. One theory is that their false gods grant access to a similar but separate source of energy, perhaps one related to the Fallen Solars. An older view that has since been formally condemned asserted that the false gods somehow illicitly accessed the true source of positive energy, allowing their Clerics to access it. It need not be elaborated why this explanation falls short.   The second common Teghneist view is that divine magic is not fundamentally different to arcane magic, and is instead similar to the divide between wizardly and sorcerous magic. Under this view, divine spells simply manipulate reality via the Weave in the same way arcane spells do, and could theoretically be learned by anyone. They are most commonly learned within the Priesthood, however, as they were initially taught to mortals by the Solars, and so the celestial knowledge that has been preserved over the ages is the most straightforward and effective way to master them. The Colosseans, then, either learned divine spells from apostate Clerics, or their gods somehow learned of them (likely through Clerics traversing the Planes) and taught their followers. This school of thought was historically unpopular, until the rise of the Colossean pantheon and its Clerics made it seem more plausible.