Thaumaturgy Is a style of magicplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigMagic
In common terms, magic is the art of producing a desired outcome through occult means. Various arts are described as magical, from common street illusionists, village herbalists, and rituals for the intercession of deities. However, true magic is the art and science of elemental mastery, harnessing elemental creatures and instructing them to perform simple or complex tasks., codified and practiced by the Rasian Academy. Thaumaturgy and magic are terms often used interchangeably.
Magicplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigMagic
Magic, also called thaumaturgy is the art and science of harnessing elementals, and instructing them to carry out simple or complex tasks.
Invoking more powerful spirits or gods is a related but much more dangerous art, called theurgy.
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plugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigMagic
Magic, also called thaumaturgy is the art and science of harnessing elementals, and instructing them to carry out simple or complex tasks.
Invoking more powerful spirits or gods is a related but much more dangerous art, called theurgy.
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topics sidebar beliefs
This is in a series of articles about magic, thaumaturgy and esotericismplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigMagic
Magic, also called thaumaturgy is the art and science of harnessing elementals, and instructing them to carry out simple or complex tasks.
Invoking more powerful spirits or gods is a related but much more dangerous art, called theurgy.
Subcategories
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Thaumaturgy means “work using thaumic energy”, also called Elemental Mastery, Elementalism or Magistryplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigMagister
Magister is a term in the Anrel Isles for a thaumaturges, or full practitioners of magic. More specifically, magisters are thaumaturges of the Rasian Academy with the ability to summon, bind and instruct elementals on their own, with no assistance from others. Sorcerors are practitioners with the skill and knowledge to instruct elementals, but without the ability to summon and bind them.magic, is the art of harnessing the power of elementals to carry out tasks, particularly those it would be difficult or impossible to achieve by conventional means.
Although the term can be used to describe any formal style of magicplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigMagic styles
Throughout history there have been a number of styles of magic, including spoken and gestural languages used to communicate with silfs, and magic scripts used to record those languages, often surrounded by the paraphernalia of costume and ritual with which some societies dressed up otherwise simple thaumaturgy.magicmagicmagicmagicMiyarris, today it specifically refers to magic as practiced by the Rasian Academy.
In ancient Miyarris it was called e'ahko-e'ahpf, “the working of wonders”.
Put simply, magic requires four steps: summoning an elemental, persuading it to accept instructions, telling it a set of instructions, and ordering the elemental to carry the instructions out.
Elementals have a simple method of communicating with each other using tones and frequencies, forming a primitive languageplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigLanguages
List of human languages and dialects, contemporary and extinct.
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This is in a series of articles about Languages and Communication.
topics sidebar cult1 called Erida. It is possible to emulate these frequencies using human speech, usually by repeating specific phases, or sometimes chanting or singing.
Capturing the attention of an elemental and persuading it to accept commands is called imprinting. This ability relies on not just skills and knowledge, but also the willpower and presence of the practioner. Some people are naturally gifted at imprinting, while others may study for years and fail to be able to imprint a wild elemental.
Those with the ability to imprint elementals are called magisters. Those without the ability to imprint can still perform magic, but they need a magister to bind an elemental to them first. Magicians without imprinting ability are called sorcerors.
Once the elemental is under control, the thaumaturge gives the elemental a set of verbal instructions. Instructions need to be precise, concise and specific, using the language and logic of the elemental.
Sets of instructions can be incredibly lengthy and complex, so they are usually written in advance. Few magicians can invent instructions on the fly. Most rely either on written notes, or on books written by others.
Elementals are not sentient and do not naturally live in the physical world, so even basic concepts need to be described. For example, to pick up a cup from a table, the elemental must first be told to form the equivalent of a physical hand and ground it either on the floor or table. Next the elemental must locate and identify the required object, move the hand towards it, close the hand around the cup hard enough to grip but not shatter the object, move the cup upwards, etc.
Instruction sets almost always began with a trigger, saying “when this happens, execute the following instructions”.
A common trigger was the magician uttering a key word. This meant that instructions could be prepared in advance, and triggered on demand by the magician. For example, the magician could prepare a magical shield, which protects them from harm when the magician says the trigger aloud.
Or it could be a physical event, such as “unleash fire when an intruder crosses this threshold”.
In ancient times such instructions had to be given every single time the practitioner wanted to do something with magic. Consequently, ancient magic styles involved groups of magicians who would take hours to recite lines of instruction, and magic was only used for the most complex and serious tasks.
Throughout history, a variety of shortcuts have been developed which make magic more practical. In Taigan magicplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigTaigan Magic
Taigan Magic was a highly ritualised style of elemental magic in the High Iskean culture of Traste during the Jade Epoch. Little is known of its formal practice, but its masters were highly praised and awarded rich gifts of cloth and treasures for their services.
Magic
magic, lengthy instructions were impressed on metal discs or wheels. The thaumaturge merely needed to summon the elemental, recite a short set of instructions telling it how to read and convert symbols into instructions it could understand, and then show it a wheel. This made magical instructions relatively quick and simple to repeat.
In traditional magic, once a summoned elemental has completed its task, it is dispelled and released back to the ether. In modern Rasian-style thaumaturgy, practitioners early in their career summon a single silf, and use a lengthy imprinting process to permanently bind it to themselves. They teach it the text of all their required spells, and give it the ability to summon other elementals and pass them instructions. These bound elementals are called their prime source, primus or familiar. This innovation means thaumaturges only need to do the lengthy instruction process once, and their primus will remember it for ever. There is a physical limit to the amount of instructions a prime source can hold, but bound elementals can grow larger over time than their natural size limits, meaning the number of spells a thaumaturge can hold in their arsenal grows with time.
According to the famed magister Belikast, “it is not possible to raise the dead, turn water to wine nor change the human heart”. Thaumaturgy is a subtle art with infinite applications, but it is still limited by what is physically possible.
Thaumaturges have always been subject to the law, and the Rasian Academy deals harshly with those who abuse their gifts by using it to steal, cheat, manipulate or harm others. The Initiant Oath contains a solemn vow to uphold the principles of the Academy, and the law of the land. During the time of the Magisteriate, many disciplines were effectively banned, because the skills they provided were considered open to abuse. Latterly, the Magisteriate “collared” the primus of all magisters, with cantrips preventing them from harming other human beings.