I'm guessing you all have your own ideas on the origins of magic on Oerth, however for those that don't, I'd like to share my short version (which is actually quite long, just not as detailed and long as the real one) that I made up. Feel free to discuss it, or add your own to the thread.
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The Origin of Magic
Oerth itself is the source of magic. It is for this reason that all the gods of Oerth are intricately tied to it's well-being. Even evil gods bow down before their mother, the Oerth. It's very life-blood is a source of the most pure magic that can be found. Refined Oerth-blood is a rare-prize and one that set off wars, or end them.
It is said that the Cauldron of Night is the congealed, tainted essence of Oerth-blood, mined for it's power and corrupted by those who would use it. Much like a scab, or a cancer on the flesh of the Oerth. Other regions are similarly scars on the Oerth. The Rift Canyon, said to be more magical and dangerous as one goes further down into it, can possibly be attributed to the flowing Oerth-blood that runs through it's depths, corrupted by the demi-god of undeath, Kyuss.
But these are asides and merely mentioned here to illustrate the fact that the very nature of magic, the very existance of gods, and the way in which magic infiltrates every aspect of even a peasants life, is tied to the life of the planet itself.
Such is the horror that is Tharizdun, the Dark One, the Unmentionable terror, as he would undo all the Oerth and destroy all that is for his own insane ends, despite destroying himself in the process. Or perhaps that is his end?
Whatever the case, the origin of magic is the origin of Oerth itself. As was the planet formed, so too did magic rise alongside it. Understanding this leads to the conclusion that the origin of magic is not with mortals, but rather that is the history of magic in mortal hands. For this end, we must start with the understanding that even the history of magic in mortal hands predates the history of magic in mortal hands.
The History of Magic
Before the rise of humans, came the Age of Dragons. Dragons were once born of one blood and were the personified essence of the Oerth itself. A great war between them broke out and seperated them into the beings we know today as dragons, however that is a story left to another to tell.
Suffice it to say that dragons wielded magic as if it were second nature, for they were magic incarnate. As humans began to evolve into tribes and war amongst each other between their mountain strongholds in what are known today as the Crystalmists, they began to encounter dragons more and more. This was before the great dragonswar which threatened to kill all human-kind before it ever became established.
As was natural, the humans treated the dragons like gods, and some began to think of themselves as such. But mighty heroes amongst their number rose up and challenged the 'gods', and it was found that a human could be just as mighty as any dragon.
But the damage had already been done. In this time of intermingling, some dragons took humans as concubines, both male and female, using their natural shapeshifting abilities to procreate and pleasure themselves with the humans. Other, more 'natural' relationships developed, and there are several tales of dragons taking human form and falling in love with humans. Others tricked humans and bred with them to create loyal armies of powerful half-dragons, in order to conquer rival tribes.
Whatever the sordid truth, the end result was a mixing of bloodlines. It was not long before the dragon-blooded dominated the humans, and it is said that this is what spurred the eventual dragonwars, as it created much conflict amongst the human tribes. But what neither the dragons nor the humans and their half-breed kin counted on, was the short lifespan of humans, and thus the relatively quick evolution and adaption of the species.
It was not long before humans with dragon-blood were more human than dragon, but retained their natural spell-casting abilities. Because of their natural looks, they associated with humans far more readily than they did with their half-dragon kin, and though some sided with their half-dragon brothers, many more sided with their human half. And thus eventually the half-dragon lords were swept away by time and breeding.
But the magic remained. Humans, though of the Oerth, were not of it's essence. But now, they shared the blood of dragons, they shared the life of Oerth itself, and thus could draw upon this power to manipulate existance.
And thus the tradition of sorcery came into being. Eventually, these people became the oeridians of the Crystalmists. For hundreds of years they dwelled relatively peacefully in their mountain strongholds, warring with each other only infrequently, as the power of magic made such battles deadly to both sides, and so soon they realized that treaty and negotiation were more beneficial than mutual annhilation.
It was not until they began to spread beyond their mountain that they encountered a most savage species and thus once again were threathened with absolute war.
The suel were a nomadic, plains barbarian culture at the time that had begun to form agricultural methods and trade with races from the far west and the islands to the south. They had begun to build a civilization and as every civilization demands, they had begun to spread out in the search of resources to fuel their every growing needs.
The first meeting of these two peoples did not go down well. There was instant distrust between them and a gross misunderstanding led to the death of the oeridien diplomat, which in turn warranted retribution from the oeridiens. The retribution was swift and decisive. A sorcerer was called in and the end result was little short of complete destruction of the suel camp and all it's people. The oeridiens went off thinking that was the end of that, and made it known to the other tribes that dealings with the suel were not recommended.
But the suel were nothing if not pragmatic. They did not strike back in retribution as they saw no real benefit in doing so. Their armies, though strong, would be as but flies to candle against such a powerful being as a sorcerer. Instead, they sent another envoy, this time bearing gifts from all over the known world. Exotic spices, flowers, fruits, meats, silks, gold, jewellery, clothing, weapons and other miscellany all given freely and without asking anything in return.
And a cunning gift it was, for it was in all truth several kings worth of treasure. At first, the oeridiens were suspicious of the gift. Several tribes had banded together to accept it and discuss the matter of the suel. They left the treasure alone, letting the perishables rot, until there was little more than mold and the remaining goods.
Their sorcerers cast spells to detect evil and poison and magic but nothing was found. Their shamans prayed to their ancestors for advice, but none was forthcoming, for none had ever dealt with these strange people before. It took some time before one of the chieftains boldly inspected the items and found them to be most appealing. In short order, the items were distributed and became icons of wealth and prestige. This drew jealousy from the tribes who were not a part of the collaboration, and so these tribes sought out the suel, not heeding the initial warnings of their treachery, and so soon a brisk trade was established between the two cultures.
It was here that the suel began enacting their plan. They didn't really have any use for anything the oeridiens could provide, although access to the various ores in the mountains was certainly advantageous, as was learning of the forging of steel (which the oeridiens were rumoured to have learned off of mountain dwelling dwarves long ago), but it was not this that they were truly after. Instead, they sought knowledge of magic.
A powerful noble woman of much influence was the first to hit upon the idea of wizardry. Experiments into sorcery had gone on for almost a decade without success. However she was the first to notice a difference between the way a sorcerer cast a spell and how a dragon did it. For a dragon, it was entirely innate, however for a sorcerer, they needed to summon and control the energies and manipulate them into the shape desired with a considerable amount of effort.
So instead of trying to breed with them, or infuse their blood with her own, or concoct potions of their drained essences and the like that had been tried ad nauseum, she instead studied the way in which they summoned the power and manipulated it. In concert with an oeridien lover, who was not of dragon-blood himself, they were the first to create a key to magic, an arcane text of symbols that conveyed methods that allowed one to manipulate magic. The problem, however, was in summoning it in the first place.
The oeridien man knew of one place he could go to find the answer to this question, however he realized at this point that should he do so, no longer would the dragonline be revered as noble-born, and that anyone with some aptitude for memorizing the arcane texts could then become a sorcerer, albeit a non-natural one. Unsure of what to do next, he went to the source of the answer to discuss the dilemma.
The great wyrm that he spoke to was wise and did not make the decision for him. Instead, he said that he must decide for himself what fate his people would have in the face of this new development. But this he could tell him, if he were to go further, he would become an enemy to his own people, and hunted by the suel. He would be unwanted and unwelcome, but he would also be the true guardian and creator of wizardry, and would forever be responsible for its care and proper use.
Unbenknownst to both of them, the woman had followed her lover and heard all that was said. She cursed him and fled, determined to find her own answer to the riddle. And she did, in another dragon.
The dragon she sought out, however, was terrible and cruel and still sought vengeance for the many horrors committed against her and her kin in the dragonwars, and before that, the oeridien wars of the dragon-kin. In exchange for the knowledge, she demanded a sacrifice of a thousand souls whose ancestors had wronged her in the past. This, she said, was an execution of criminals and nothing more. To this end, the woman examined the evidence and agreed to the bargain, seeing that, indeed, the dragon had been wronged and that she would merely be an instrument of justice, whilst also getting what she ultimately wanted: power.
And so she was given a ruby to collect the souls, and she did so, diligently, whilst her oeridien lover silently discovered the secrets to magic, but told no-one. Upon approaching the dragon with the ruby, she demanded first to be told what she wanted, as she feared the dragons true intent was to slay her upon handing over the ruby. And so the dragon whispered the secret of summoning the magic to her. Upon finishing, the woman smashed the ruby upon the stones, freeing all the vengeful souls and cast her very first spell, that of protection from the damned.
Stunned and howling in rage, the dragon was unprepared for the onslaught it faced, and the souls dragged the dragon down from this realm into the abyss, forever damned to that place.
And so it was that the Ruby Sorceress was born. _________________ In more modern times, only Delglath of Rinloru is known to have crafted any items from the stone of this atrocious place. Even masters of the dark arts such as Xaene and Karoolck would hesitate to follow.
This is obviously well thought out and took some consideration.
Personally, there are two aspects of this that I would be reluctant to adopt, IMC.
First, while the role of dragons works very well with 3E's alternative mythology of sorcerors, expanding upon it, I do not care for this with respect to sorcerors, or more widely. IMO, dragons are a too easy explaination that are also limiting.
Secondly, the use of the specific races of the Flanaess does not appeal to me because it is too provincial, IMO. There is all of Oerik and beyond that Oerth to account for. That the races of the Flanaess play such a prominent role, while certainly possible, strikes me as overly pat.
I'm sure others will have different opinions.
Despite these reservations, I think it is nicely done. Thank you for sharing. _________________ GVD
This is obviously well thought out and took some consideration.
Nope. Made it up on the way home from a D&D session where my friend, the driver, wanted to know as his character is a suel wizard.
Wrote it out yesterday as a first draft and posted it.
GVDammerung wrote:
Personally, there are two aspects of this that I would be reluctant to adopt, IMC.
It's not meant for everyone. Just thought I'd share it. It's my version, take it, leave it, modify it... I don't care. Just don't criticize it as there is no reason to since nobody is forcing anyone to use it. It's just my take on things is all.
GVDammerung wrote:
First, while the role of dragons works very well with 3E's alternative mythology of sorcerors, expanding upon it, I do not care for this with respect to sorcerors, or more widely. IMO, dragons are a too easy explaination that are also limiting.
It fits in with my campaigns cosmology and racial origins. Each race in my game has a magical tradition. Sorcery was the original tradition of the oeridiens, before they adopted wizardry (in a limited form, which will be explained in part 2). Wizardry is the sole domain of the suel, despite other races being able to become wizards, as was the purpose of creating wizardry in the first place (anyone with a bit of intelligence can do it), the suel are the masters of it.
Part of the history also includes the history of many of the gods rising to power, ie. Wee Jas and Boccob among others, as my cosmology has the gods being mostly ascended mortals, especially amongst the suel pantheon.
I also have witches and shamans (greenbonds) from Arcana Unearthed, which are eastern and western flan traditions respectively, although often the term 'shaman' is incorrectly used to describe adepts, which are a later development springboarding off of the development of clerics, and are thus not a magical tradition.
Lastly there are the magi (magisters from AU), which are the most open of traditions, coming from the baklunish. They are quasi-religious in their cultural outlook as their origins are the reverse of wizardry and sorcery. In other words, clerics came first.
GVDammerung wrote:
Secondly, the use of the specific races of the Flanaess does not appeal to me because it is too provincial, IMO. There is all of Oerik and beyond that Oerth to account for. That the races of the Flanaess play such a prominent role, while certainly possible, strikes me as overly pat.
Eh, I was going for the atypical arrogance of species when describing the origins of something. In truth, it's the origins of sorcery and wizardry, as the origins of the magi, witches, and shamans are entirely seperate, as are the origins of magical traditions in wherever else there is magic on oerth.
The only constant is that all magic springs from the Oerth itself and that thus, all magical beings, whether they be spell-casters, demons, or gods, are intimately connected with the well-being of the oerth.
GVDammerung wrote:
Despite these reservations, I think it is nicely done. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you. _________________ In more modern times, only Delglath of Rinloru is known to have crafted any items from the stone of this atrocious place. Even masters of the dark arts such as Xaene and Karoolck would hesitate to follow.
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