Development Sneak Peek: The Nine Disciplines of Magic, Part I (Patreon)

For this and next month's sneak peek, I thought it would be nice to go more in-depth with the nine types of disciplines that have been named in the story so far! Especially since your Crown will eventually be able to choose which one to learn in the story.

Most of these you can probably guess what they do based on their names, especially if you've consumed other fantasy stories before, but they do work in unique ways in Arsur considering the inner/outer magic system.

I've decided to split these up halfway through writing it because the post got quite long, so you'll get the first 5 disciplines this month, and the remaining 4 next month.

So let's get into it!

The Neutral Disciplines

These can be practiced by either inner or outer types; it doesn't give any benefits or disadvantages to either type! 

Warding

This type of magic is going to become extremely relevant in CH9 especially, so consider this a preview for what you will also find out later in the story!

Warding magic concerns the realm of space and matter, in a very physical sense. Wards are made of sigils, which essentially ascribe certain functions to the ward, and are powered by a user's magic. Because writing the sigils is the main factor in this process, inner magic users don't have any special advantages over outer magic users; as long as someone knows the basic of putting their magic into a sigil, that's all they need to know as far as that is concerned.

There are 4037 Arsurian sigils in existence, and magi that wish to specialize in warding magic are expected to have memorized all of them and even be able to fluently write using sigils.

By using sigils you can create and place wards on various surfaces, objects, and even people. 

The "sink" in the Crown's bathroom is a very simple form of ward: activating its corresponding sigil redirects the water to flow out of the wall and into the basin so the Crown can wash up. This ward is an example of a boundary ward; one that manages the boundaries of a certain space and manipulates which elements are allowed to pass through under certain conditions. The wards that guard the palace are also boundary wards.

A much more advanced form of ward is the mental ward used on the assassins that essentially controls their mind. Since the sigils are branded into the assassins' flesh using the mask, the ward is placed upon the person's head, and therefore "controls" that space, i.e. their mind.

There are many other types of wards, such as protective wards used on garments to repel dirt, water, fire--and they can even protect against physical damage. While wards are effective against offensive spells, they are not fully immune to magic damage. The rule is: if the magic attack is at least twice as strong as the magic that made the ward, the ward will shatter.

There are also wards that can regulate temperature, such as wards with a cooling or warming effect placed on clothes to keep the wearer warm or cool in certain climates. Or ones placed in baths to heat or cool the water.

The main thing wards are not capable of doing is creating elements or objects. The sigils that a ward is made out of must fall in line with natural law, that is to say, they cannot conjure things out of nothing. The sigils listed in a ward can also not contradict each other: you can't write a condition that a ward must protect against water, for example, and then write another condition that says the ward must pull in water; this would make the ward malfunction.

Divination

Divination is the discipline that uses the least amount of magic throughout its different rituals. I based this divination on the historical divination that was actually used in the Ancient Persian Empire. If you play A's route, you also get some details from them about the types of divination used in Chapter 5, but I'll go over them again here as well and add some new info too!

Firstly, divination does not solely concern predicting the future. There are also branches of divination that regard the present and the past.

To divine the future, there are several methods. Celestial divination, interpreting the positions of the stars, the planets and the sun to predict the future, is reserved solely for the Imperial House. For anyone else who has the money to afford it, there is palm-reading, face-reading, dream interpretation, and examining the innards of sacrificed animals. 

To divine the past and present, there are fewer methods, and most are limited to being able to track down where a person has been or currently is by following the "thread" of their magic signature. One can also use the magic in someone's belongings to divine specific visions of their past, tied to that object. They cannot do this with a person themselves, however, as human beings have too many experiences; the diviner would be overwhelmed. 

A's talent to read minds is similar but not quite the same; they don't see "visions" so much as the literal thoughts and memories that a person has, which may or may not be warped by a person's own perceptions. Their ability is more of a highly complex version of aura magic. 

Alchemy

I've described this type more elaborately on the Tumblr blog as well, but to recap: alchemy was seen as the in real life precursor to chemistry in the history of the Middle East as well. Of course, in the story, it's more so a fantasy element that is explicitly connected to magic.

Alchemy uses the magic of the ingredients one uses to create a tonic or potion with magic properties. It can also alter the properties of an object (or person). An alchemist never uses their own magic at any point, as it would interfere with the magic process. 

The eye glamours that the Crown uses in the story are a good example of alchemy, and highly advanced alchemy can even permanently alter one's body as Perjin mentions during the Crown's first magic lesson. Alchemy is also one of the types of magic most used by healers to treat illnesses, ailments or infections. 

The Inner-Type Disciplines

These disciplines are most suited to inner magic types, but they can also be performed by outer magic types when given additional practice.

Aura

This will be a short one as you've heard and seen a lot of examples of this in the story so far. Aura magic basically concerns the use of one's aura: the magic someone naturally exudes. This differs per person; the aura is what radiates someone's magic signature outwards. 

A clear example is the highly advanced aura magic used by the Imperial Guards. They disguise their auras, and transform it to make themselves invisible to the human eye. Even outer magic types among the guards have mastered this ability; it's a prerequisite in order to qualify for the Imperial Guards. The Crown also partway disguises their aura from Perjin during their magic lesson, if they are an inner magic type.

You can also use aura magic offensively, or defensively. Transforming your aura to reflect the element you have affinity to; Nazire was able to cover herself in flame by using her aura, for example. 

Connecting your aura to another person's aura also can give you access to another person's magic and, by extension, even their mind. A's ability to read minds is a highly advanced bit of aura magic. Similarly, you can also use your aura to protect against it, which is what X often did in the past whenever they and A came to blows.

Aura magic tends to be considered the foundation of the other two inner-type disciplines: healing and enhancement. Everything an inner magus does with healing or enhancing their own body requires at least some manipulation of aura.

Enhancement

We've seen a lot of this in the story with X. Enhancing one's physical abilities and senses. X has predominantly displayed it by enhancing their senses: hearing, vision, sense of smell and taste, etc. They can also do the opposite, such as numbing themselves when they are injured to avoid feeling pain, for example. Further than sensing physical things, however, X can also enhance their sensing of magic; this is how they are able to detect other people's magic signatures across long distances, and immediately distinguish someone's unique characteristics in regards to their affinity.

Besides your senses, you can also enhance your strength, your speed, your endurance and your stamina. Some especially talented enhancement users have even been said to have enhanced their health and prolonged their natural lifespans by several years. 

In combat situations, someone that is trained in enhancement magic can be especially difficult to take down, particularly one-on-one. Enhancing themselves physically does not make them immune to magic damage, however.

Next time...

That was it for this month! We'll get into healing, summoning, ritual and elemental magic during next month's sneak peek, as well as some extra lore about how the magus system and its hierarchy functions.

Until then 💖