Main MenuBack to Main WikiOther Back to Main Wiki |
Religion and Magic in the Shilevan EmpireHistoryEarly in the history of the world, one of the gods, Tozek, gifted to the thinking peoples of the world a knowledge of the subtle unseen rhythms of the universe. Use of this knowledge to affect it in otherwise unnatural ways, is known as magic. Tozek expected that he would be worshipped for this gift, and indeed he was. The priests who use his power and magic together are referred to as Sorcerers. Priests following other gods eschew magic for the most part (relying instead on the miracles that come from their gods) as to use magic would be to an insult to their god. So with few exceptions, the Sorcerers are the only people who use both the power of a god, and that of magic. That all said, the modern Sorcerous traditions have evolved along very specific lines. They've found that the best combination of their gods power and magic is in undoing the revealed rhythms. So, in effect, what they tend to be best at is destruction, unraveling the reality of things. This makes them powerful if only by fear. Magic, however, as a force unleashed, is not the sole realm of the Sorcerers. The thinking beings of the world have discovered means to use it in many different ways. Some orders of magic subjugate themselves to the rule of the Sorcerers, who then deem this to be a suitable use of magic. The Sorcerers would disallow any other peoples from using magic if they could, but many organizations associated with magic have endeared themselves to secular powers in order to keep the Sorcerers from assaulting them. Also, the other religions support the use of magic as a way to keep the Sorcerers from becoming too powerful. Lastly, having magic abilities, those who use magic outside of Tozek's indications are not defenseless. Many individual users, or weak orders do hide from public view, however, in order to avoid the wrath of the Sorcerers. In any case, the political difficulties caused tend to make people wary of anyone who uses magic. Indeed magic is possibly the most common cause of wars in this world. Magic tends to have flashy outward effects, though there are exceptions (especially where such displays would render the magic pointless, such as a spell of hiding). Different orders and methods of casting magic can tend to be very different in how they effect magic. But most tend to have formulaic means of producing effects, which are generally known as spells. Magic tends to be limited by the source of the magic. People either draw on "rhythmic" potential of their surroundings, or from themselves. In either case, it tends to be an exhausting affair, and potentially dangerous, even for small effects. So it tends not to be used frivolously. Magic isn't too uncommon, but conservation of its use means that it doesn't have so much impact that it alters society radically. For example, the power of magic isn't enough to feed nations, so agriculture exists much as it did in our world in ancient times. At most magic tends to just have small anachronistic effects as though there were some technology with limited availability in existence. Major Gods
|
