Magic Users in Anglesey
Reputation: Magic users are rather rare in Anglesey due to nature and history. The past left a legacy of terror and deep distrust among the survivors of the Empire Occupation and the Revolt towards all magic users. Empire magic users certainly used magic to control and even 'toy with' the conquered peoples of Anglesey. It is no wonder that, even centuries later, there are many safeguards in place to curb the power of magic users and the fear that, despite the safeguards, magic users could seize control again. The Anglesey monarchy and even the priesthoods have done much to rehabilitate the reputation of magic users who are part of Anglesey and view them as a powerful resource and support. It both helps and hinders this process when you consider the priesthood, Knowledge and Learning, that is most closely associated with magic users is also the most influential in the higher levels of government.....
Nature: The ability to harness magic and force it to do the caster's will is a rare talent. It seems to run in families, but it also crops up in unexpected places where there is no family history of magic use. To be born a magic user is rare, to survive to become a magic user is rarer still. The ability to use magic manifests itself as early as childhood, but usually only becomes obvious with the onset of puberty (and in some cases even later). The first signs are subtle and can be explained away by those people who are unaware of magical talent; odd things happen like fires blazing up suddenly or fragile objects suddenly breaking or not breaking when dropped.... unlikely events that cause comment but not suspicion until these events are linked to one person's presence and feelings (saving a precious fragile object or destroying a hated one). A trained magic user learns control and how to harness his/her power. Without training, there are a few possible paths.... First, the magic user can subconsciously channel his/her power and become very adept at an accepted skill that can be enhanced by magic. For example, a herbalist who is a remarkable healer, a blacksmith who can reliably forge weld at the extreme heat required for the job, or a sailor with remarkable luck with winds.... Second, the magic user can repress his/her talents and hold all that power within him/herself. This extreme act of will later leads to serious health and/or mental problems. Physically, it starts with headaches, fatigue, and can continue until the body breaks down totally. Mentally, it starts with being distracted and progresses until the person totally loses control of his/her mind (usually the end is the person's mind shutting down and he/she curling up and dying or a violent and suicidal outburst. A few live for years with the voices in their heads as the magic user struggles against him/herself....). Usually the person has a mix of physical and mental symptoms. Third, the magic could manifest itself in a spectacular fashion killing both the magic user and those in close proximity.... Finally, there are many young magic users who simply disappear. Rumours range from infanticide to runaway teens to even secret groups that save/recruit/kidnap/enslave/kill young magic users.....
Training: Training in Anglesey is a combination of serving an apprenticeship with a trained magic user and schooling. The schooling is designed to give both basic knowledge that would be useful to a magic user (reading, writing, the sciences.....) and to thoroughly instill into the young magic user a sense of duty, protectiveness towards his/her fellow citizens, and a thorough fascination, even obsession, with knowledge. In other words, a person who will protect society but funnels will/talent/energy into learning/knowledge rather than trying to acquire power..... to the point that acquiring knowledge (i.e. spells and magical lore) becomes an obsession.
Spells: Spells are detailed in their own section/page (link here). However, here the following should be noted:
1. Magic users force magic to do their bidding. A cleric, provided he/she has not very obviously offended the Gods, will be given a spell or, at worst, denied the spell. A bard will persuade the magic to cooperate or not. At worst, it will not work at all or behave a little unexpectedly. But, failure for a magic user is often more spectacular and at best, injurious, at worst, fatal. To consider the implications use the analogy of dating: the cleric has left all the decisions to his/her date and as long as the cleric acts/reacts in the way the date expects, then the evening should go well; the bard has asked his/her date out and while they negotiate with each other on how the evening will go, the bard utilizes his charm so he gets his/her way without being obvious about it; meanwhile the magic user has planned out the evening to every last detail without consulting the date - if the magic user has prepared carefully and done the research then it will be a pleasant evening, but if he/she is wrong then all the blame and fallout rests upon the magic user (poor guy, he didn't know she was a serial killer and then insisting they have dinner at his very isolated house where he showed off his extensive collection of kitchen knives and then the blindfold....).
2. After considering this rather lengthy explanation in #1, it is no wonder that magic users proceed cautiously with magic. New spells are dangerous, very time consuming, and very expensive. Discovering scrolls with forgotten/new spells on them - priceless. Obviously, someone made the spell and survived to write it down....
3. Complicating #2 is Anglesey's history. Magic users were a priority target of the rebels and, to make sure he/she was gone, their houses/habitation was usually burnt down with the corpse inside to just make sure.... So, except for a few weak underground groups, the knowledge and skill of magic was stamped out in Anglesey. It has been a slow rebuilding process which is why magical knowledge is somewhat sparse and each rediscovered spell is precious. Of course, no neighbouring kingdom/country would be willing to share such knowledge as it would just make Anglesey more powerful....
Again, to see what is potentially available and what has been rediscovered, see the Spells section (link here).
Nature: The ability to harness magic and force it to do the caster's will is a rare talent. It seems to run in families, but it also crops up in unexpected places where there is no family history of magic use. To be born a magic user is rare, to survive to become a magic user is rarer still. The ability to use magic manifests itself as early as childhood, but usually only becomes obvious with the onset of puberty (and in some cases even later). The first signs are subtle and can be explained away by those people who are unaware of magical talent; odd things happen like fires blazing up suddenly or fragile objects suddenly breaking or not breaking when dropped.... unlikely events that cause comment but not suspicion until these events are linked to one person's presence and feelings (saving a precious fragile object or destroying a hated one). A trained magic user learns control and how to harness his/her power. Without training, there are a few possible paths.... First, the magic user can subconsciously channel his/her power and become very adept at an accepted skill that can be enhanced by magic. For example, a herbalist who is a remarkable healer, a blacksmith who can reliably forge weld at the extreme heat required for the job, or a sailor with remarkable luck with winds.... Second, the magic user can repress his/her talents and hold all that power within him/herself. This extreme act of will later leads to serious health and/or mental problems. Physically, it starts with headaches, fatigue, and can continue until the body breaks down totally. Mentally, it starts with being distracted and progresses until the person totally loses control of his/her mind (usually the end is the person's mind shutting down and he/she curling up and dying or a violent and suicidal outburst. A few live for years with the voices in their heads as the magic user struggles against him/herself....). Usually the person has a mix of physical and mental symptoms. Third, the magic could manifest itself in a spectacular fashion killing both the magic user and those in close proximity.... Finally, there are many young magic users who simply disappear. Rumours range from infanticide to runaway teens to even secret groups that save/recruit/kidnap/enslave/kill young magic users.....
Training: Training in Anglesey is a combination of serving an apprenticeship with a trained magic user and schooling. The schooling is designed to give both basic knowledge that would be useful to a magic user (reading, writing, the sciences.....) and to thoroughly instill into the young magic user a sense of duty, protectiveness towards his/her fellow citizens, and a thorough fascination, even obsession, with knowledge. In other words, a person who will protect society but funnels will/talent/energy into learning/knowledge rather than trying to acquire power..... to the point that acquiring knowledge (i.e. spells and magical lore) becomes an obsession.
Spells: Spells are detailed in their own section/page (link here). However, here the following should be noted:
1. Magic users force magic to do their bidding. A cleric, provided he/she has not very obviously offended the Gods, will be given a spell or, at worst, denied the spell. A bard will persuade the magic to cooperate or not. At worst, it will not work at all or behave a little unexpectedly. But, failure for a magic user is often more spectacular and at best, injurious, at worst, fatal. To consider the implications use the analogy of dating: the cleric has left all the decisions to his/her date and as long as the cleric acts/reacts in the way the date expects, then the evening should go well; the bard has asked his/her date out and while they negotiate with each other on how the evening will go, the bard utilizes his charm so he gets his/her way without being obvious about it; meanwhile the magic user has planned out the evening to every last detail without consulting the date - if the magic user has prepared carefully and done the research then it will be a pleasant evening, but if he/she is wrong then all the blame and fallout rests upon the magic user (poor guy, he didn't know she was a serial killer and then insisting they have dinner at his very isolated house where he showed off his extensive collection of kitchen knives and then the blindfold....).
2. After considering this rather lengthy explanation in #1, it is no wonder that magic users proceed cautiously with magic. New spells are dangerous, very time consuming, and very expensive. Discovering scrolls with forgotten/new spells on them - priceless. Obviously, someone made the spell and survived to write it down....
3. Complicating #2 is Anglesey's history. Magic users were a priority target of the rebels and, to make sure he/she was gone, their houses/habitation was usually burnt down with the corpse inside to just make sure.... So, except for a few weak underground groups, the knowledge and skill of magic was stamped out in Anglesey. It has been a slow rebuilding process which is why magical knowledge is somewhat sparse and each rediscovered spell is precious. Of course, no neighbouring kingdom/country would be willing to share such knowledge as it would just make Anglesey more powerful....
Again, to see what is potentially available and what has been rediscovered, see the Spells section (link here).