Schools of Magic/Magicians

Disciplines are personal to every Magician and are determined by the Circumstances surrounding their birth; where they were born, where the Moon was located at the time, the state of the weather, their personality, and about two hundred or more other technical factors. A Magician's Discipline could be determined by studying these factors, theoretically, but they are usually tested for since the process for calculating them from that data is tedious. Most Magicians are ambivalent about Disciplines, believing the theory behind them to be weak and seeing them as socially divisive.

Disciplines usually manifest fully in a Magician's twenties, but there have been cases where they develop much later in life.For some, such as Quentin Coldwater, their disciplines may not manifest if they are not mature enough, as personality is a factor that determines when disciplines manifest. At Brakebills University for Magical Pedagogy, students receive their Disciplines at the start of their Third Year during a series of tests performed by the faculty shortly after completing their Second Year finals. Students within the same Discipline groupings are given housing facilities to live in on campus, such as the Physical Kids' Cottage or the Tree House Dorm.

* Physical Magic
* Psychic Magic
* Illusions
* Healing
* Knowledge
* Natural Magic
* Horomancy
* Secrets
* Battle
* Meta-Composition
* Repair of Small Objects
* Phosphoromancy
* Travelers
* Sense
* Blood

* **Notable Members**: See Physical Kids
* **Known Disciplines**: Repair of Small Objects, Phosphoromancy, Cold Magic
* **Description**: Accredited as the rarest of Disciplines, Physical Magic is centered around the ability to manipulate the nature and properties of matter and energy and is seen as messy and crude. Magicians with Physical Magic disciplines are known as Physical Kids at Brakebills and are housed at the Physical Kids' Cottage on the college campus.

* **Notable Members**: Penny Adiyodi, Hyman Cooper, Plum Chatwin, Joe, Camille, Sheila Cozener
* **Known Disciplines**: Traveling, Astral Projection, Quaeromancy
* **Description**: Magicians with Disciplines in Psychic Magic are aptly referred to as Psychics and possess telepathic, empathic, and prophetic abilities. At Brakebills University, Psychics operate out of the Consciousness Building, where they use a Psychic Amplification Chamber to heighten their telepathic abilities.

**Psychic Magic** is a discipline relating to, affecting, and influenced by the mind. Magicians with an affinity for this Discipline are capable of extraordinary mental processes, such as extrasensory perception, astral projection, and telepathy.

*"You hear voices, and no, you're not insane (at least not for that reason). Fair warning, older Psychics sometimes "inception" first years as a hazing prank."*
―BrakebillsU[src]
The Psychic discipline is the area of magic that encompasses the mind as a whole. At Brakebills University, Psychics work frequently in the Consciousness Building to heighten their mental powers and process their experiences. The Amplifier is a room in which a Psychic's powers are 'dialed to 11', allowing them to experience more than normal by focusing the Psychic's abilities.

* **Telepathy:** Telepathy is the magical ability to navigate through the many layers of a mind to discern thoughts and emotions. It's possible to use this ability to communicate as well, like The Beast did with Penny Adiyodi. Quentin Coldwater took advantage of his knowledge of this ability, as well as Penny's lack of self-control with it, to send a distress call out to the latter while under the effects of the Scarlatti Web hex. Victoria Gradley also used the same method to call for help while trapped in a Fillorian dungeon by The Beast. One of the girls in The League, Holly, was gifted at mind-reading, and although not being able to be specific, she could pick the emotional tone of people in the streets.
* **Mind Control:** Controlling the behavior of others through mental command. It is a common trait among deities and their demigods. Mind control might be limited by psychic wards used by skilled magicians, though more powerful beings have been known to bypass them. The Beast was able to control Eliot's boyfriend, Mike from another world, doing so in an attempt to kill Quentin with a magical dagger, as well as to kill Eliza. Demigods are able to unconsciously use this ability, as John Gaines had used this to win his political campaign. While absent from the bulk of Brakebills' curriculum, this field of magic is taught by Professor Mischa Mayakovsky to First-year students.
* **Memory Magic:** A specific strain of psychic magic that deals with accessing memories and manipulating them. Marina altered Julia's memory of her assault by Reynard, implanting incredibly realistic memories that did not happen.. At Brakebills, there's a group of employees that use this kind of magic to replace memories of people who fail the exam. Deities are capable of detecting traces of memory alterations, probing the mind of others to discern between genuine and false memories, as well as remove them. Gummidgy, a hedge witch, was able to restore the memories of Free Trader Beowulf if they had been wiped by other Magicians such as by the staff of Brakebills.
* **Dream Manipulation:** The ability to enter and change the dreams of others and communicate with them. It's a common hazing prank between Psychics, and something Penny used multiple times to communicate with Quentin and Margo..
* **Traveling:** The rare skill to move throughout the Multiverse. This is the discipline of Penny and Victoria, but others can also be studied extensively with years of study, notably done in practice by Martin Chatwin, and in theory by Professor Pearl Sunderland. It was a principal field of magic studied by Christopher Plover in his pursuit to reach Fillory alongside the Chatwins
	+ **Astral Projection:** A method of Travelling that works through letting your mind wander the universe instead of your body. This also exists as a discipline itself, as Chelsea, a member of The League, possessed and utilized this ability to pull an elaborate prank on a student at Brakebills.
		- **Object Possession:** While in the Astral plane, the user can channel enough energy to manifest themselves within living or inanimate objects, although Hyman Cooper mentions "controlling things with brains is a lot harder." Penny Adiyodi is seen doing this as he first enters a literal penny coin, the Margolem and eventually a candle that incinerates his physical body.
* **Precognition:** This is the ability to see minor flashes of future events. This is Pushkar's discipline.
* **Premonition:** This discipline was mentioned by Pearl Sunderland while testing Quentin.

*Note: Classically, the difference between Premonitions and Precognition lie in the fact that **Premonitions** occur while conscious, offering brief glimpses of the future while the Psychic is awake, while **Precognition** occurs while the Psychic is asleep, usually manifesting as a dream-like vision. The decision to differentiate between these two may suggest that they're treated akin to their classic manifestations.*

* **Notable Members**: Darcy, Harriet Schiff, Plum Purchas
* **Known Disciplines**: Camouflage, Mirror Magic
* **Description**: Disciplines in Illusions allow Illusionists to create, shape and manipulate illusions, causing targets to see, hear, touch, smell and/or taste things which do not actually exist or cause them to perceive things differently from what they truly are. They are capable of cloaking, invisibility, and projections that make the CIA look like amateurs, and are widely known as great liars. Illusionists are housed in the Illusionist Castle at Brakebills, which can be made invisible and levitate off the ground.

* **Notable Members**: Eleanor Lipson, Faye, Georgia, Sophie Carlson
* **Description**: Magicians with disciplines in Healing are referred to as Healers, a title akin to "doctor", and are credited with creating some of medicine’s greatest advancements such as the cures for polio and smallpox vaccines, erectile dysfunction medication, and the invention of x­ray technology. They primarily reside in the Brakebills Infirmary.

* **Notable Members**: Henry Fogg, Julia Wicker, Sonia Kikuno
* **Known Disciplines**: Meta-Composition
* **Description**: The Knowledge disciplines are a combination of Physical and Psychic disciplines, and involve exploring magical theory. Knowledge students are drawn, mind and body, to the discovery of magic, primarily dealing with the deepening and discovery of magical knowledge as a whole. At Brakebills, they're housed in the attic of the school's library.

* **Notable Members**: Josh Hoberman, Hamish Bax
* **Known Disciplines**: Herbology, Botany
* **Description**: The strains of Natural Magic disciplines focus on the manipulation and development of the environment through the use of magic. Naturalists are very grounded and poised to harness the Earth’s innate power, making them capable of cultivating plants with magical properties. At Brakebills, Naturalists are housed in the Tree House Dorm in the forest surrounding the school.

*"You’re very grounded, poised to harness the Earth’s innate power. Don’t be surprised if a lot of people start asking you to grow them weed."*
―Official description[src]
**Natural Magic** is a magical discipline concerning the manipulation and development of the environment through the use of magic.

## Overview

Natural Magic deals primarily with environmental magic. Natural students are known to maintain and groom the grounds of Brakebills, though it is unknown whether or not their magic allows them to manipulate fauna as well.

Josh Hoberman was able to use his proficiency in Natural magic to create a number of psychedelic crops, as well as a strain of marijuana that allows people to see other worlds.

## Brakebills House

Natural students live in a large treehouse in the forest surrounding Brakebills, past the border of the Sea.

## Disciplines

* **Herbalism**: The study of magical plants and fungi, Eleanor Lipson listed Herbalism during Quentin Coldwater's examination for his Discipline.
* **Plant Manipulation**: Alice Quinn was able to perform a spell that accelerated the growth of an apple tree from seed to full development.

* **Weather Manipulation**: Natural students can create and shape the meteorological patterns, such as creating rain, invoking changes in the wind, or even calling upon thunderstorms. A group of Natural students were shown capable of manipulating a miniature cloud when Quentin first arrived at Brakebills. Julia Wicker and Kady Orloff-Diaz later used a Natural spell to provoke a sudden excitement in the atmosphere to create a lightning storm in order to fool Reynard the Fox into believing Persephone had returned to Earth.

*He's a horomancer. You know, time magic, fourth dimension shit."*
―Marina Andrieski[src]
**Horomancy** is a magical discipline that uses clockwork to manipulate magic to various effects, including manipulating time, shifting probability fields, as well as traveling across alternate realities.

### Discovery

Sonia Kikuno discovered horomancy after experimenting using cinnabar and clockwork to manipulate magic. She developed watches that kept her mind in the present to counter the effects of cinnabar, enabling her to continue her work.

### The Stoppard Cube

Daniel Kikuno, Sonia's son who went by the name "Stoppard", studied horomancy and created the Stoppard Cube, a device that allows him to manipulate time. After Penny and Marina Andrieski arrived from Timeline 23, Stoppard had the two kidnapped by Jay, using the Cube to return them to their original timeline due to their quarks interfering with the spells that allow his mother's watches to function properly.

*"It's gotta be some kind of scheme, right? To record us playing naked truth or dare, so they can blackmail us or something.""Unfortunately, Margo wasn't lying. It's arcane and a bit unorthodox, but secrets magic is a real thing."*
―Kady Orloff-Diaz and Alice Quinn[src]
**Secrets Magic** is an arcane magical Discipline that deals with the internal Circumstance of truth.

### Emily Greenstreet

*"She became predictably moody and depressed. She started wearing black listening to The Smiths and reading Camus in the original whatever. She started hanging around at Woof with all the other goth kids. Now she had a secret with a capital 'S' and ironically, that made her more attractive. And sure enough, before long a deeply unfortunate boy fell in love with her."*
―Janet Pluchinsky[src]
### The Third Trial

*"I'm sure by now you've realized Brakebills teaches us to be arch and ironic about magic. But this one plays it serious.""You must bare yourself in the presence of another magical adept and expose your highest-governing internal Circumstance, which is to say, your utmost truth. You have 'til midnight."*
―Eliot Waugh and Margo Hanson[src]
At Brakebills University, an unofficially sanctioned mid-term tradition arises known as the Trials is performed every year, in which the upperclassmen set up three challengers for new students that will determine whether or not they flunk out of school. The third and final challenge required each team to find a partner and perform a spell naked on the school's roof before midnight, instructing that each magical adept must bare their inner truth - or their deepest secret - to free themselves from a bound rope. Kady Orloff-Diaz complained that the challenge was just an attempt to blackmail them, but Alice Quinn revealed that, though it was arcane, secrets magic was a legitimate practice.

### Bindings

*"This is a Binding. This will make it impossible for us to discuss what happened in the woods with anyone but each other.""Thish ish unpleashantly literal."*
―Brian Lee and Pat Masterson[src]
After witnessing the death of Sophie Carlson during an unsupervised magic demonstration at the Proving Grounds, Brian Lee, a Third-year student, performed a binding that would prevent any of the witnesses from discussing Carlson's death with anyone else. When Audrey Flowers later attempted to explain everything to Professor Keshawn Warren, the binding appeared to sew her mouth closed, preventing her from speaking.

**Battle Magic**, also known as **War Magic** and **Unauthorized Magic**, is the discipline of magic comprised of offensive and defensive spells, the study of magical warfare tactics, and the creation and buffing of magical weapons.

## History

Battle magic was developed as a discipline in times of war to be used solely for combat against other Magicians. It was once a required course at Brakebills University and was notably led by Professor Neeny Bigby, a prolific Pixie-American Magician who previously won the Battle of Gettysburg for the Union during the American American Civil War. Professor Bigby was hired as the department head of Battle Magic in 1893, a move seen as a progressive step forward for Brakebills, which, while long hailed as one of the first magical institutions to embrace ethnic and gender diversity, was seen as rather limited in the species front.

As the scrying specialists at the school detected unrest and stirring dark magic in Europe in the 1940s, Professor Neeny Bigby urged the school to create an advanced track of Practical Applications geared toward training students in Battle Magic. One of the spells Professor Bigby taught was the Rhinemann Ultra, a spell that delivers a powerful blast capable of destroying all matter in a 20-foot radius. James Forsyth and Rupert Chatwin both learned the Rhinemann during their attendance, with the latter notably using it to end the Battle of the Bulge in 1945 and win the Second World War for the Allied Forces. Chatwin, along with the other Battle Magic students of the 1945 class, later participated in the design and implementation of highly-advanced wards around Brakebills.

However, previous concerns of Bigby’s direction were brought to a climax when three students were killed, and one irreversibly transformed into an ostrich, during an unsanctioned duel in the 1979 school year. The course was discontinued and Professor Bigby's eighty-year tenure was terminated after a dispute with the school board against the ruling. Prior to leaving, Bigby hid a copy of *Last Hope Options* under an anagram in the school's library with instructions for how to contact her when it was their “last hope”.

In 2016, The Beast manipulated Penny Adiyodi into helping Alice Quinn and Quentin Coldwater perform a spell Quinn believed would summon the spirit of her brother, Charlie, but unbeknownst to the group would allow the Beast to bypass the wards surrounding Brakebills, giving him a chance to kill Coldwater before he could discover Fillory. The Beast also previously entered Brakebills in a former reality, but instead killed Amanda Orloff, a Third-year student who managed to break free of the Beast's paralysis spell and tried to fight the Magician off; however, the Beast ate her before she managed to complete her casting. When Coldwater managed to undo the paralysis on the class, Kady Orloff-Diaz shot off the Force Push spell against the Beast to little effect before being knocked down.

In the aftermath of the Beast's attack, Professor Pearl Sunderland investigated the circumstances surrounding the event and discovered the missing book used in the ritual that weakened the school's wards buried in the woods near Van Pelt Fountain. After confronting Coldwater, Quinn, Adiyodi, and Diaz, Professor Sunderland brought the group back to the Dean's office to interview each student. Adiyodi, not wanting to take the fall for the ritual, blamed the entire ordeal on Coldwater, leading to his expulsion.

Coldwater, scared of losing magic and Brakebills in his expulsion, confronted Adiyodi outside of the Energy Center and in the heat of the conflict fired off the Force Push at Adiyodi, but the spell rebounded back due to Adiyodi holding a protection amulet, sending Coldwater flying several feet before Professor Sunderland broke the two up and sent them to the Infirmary.

*"That is a Second-Year spell.""I- I read ahead.""More than that, you- you understood the theory behind the spell and you- you reshaped it. Your discipline is meta-composition. You are a Knowledge student."*
―Julia Wicker and Henry Fogg[src]
**Meta-Composition** is a Discipline of the Knowledge strain of magic.

## History

In the Timeline 23, Julia Wicker was identified as a Knowledge student by Henry Fogg, who determined her Discpline to be meta-composition after witnessing her ability to understand the theory behind a Second-Year spell taught at Brakebills University and reshape it to combine with the sequence of another spell.

*"Repair of small objects.""Uh-huh!""Small like a chair?""Think smaller. Like, I don't know, a coffee cup. Have you had any special luck with that? Lesser bindings, reconstructions, that kind of thing?"*
―Quentin Coldwater and Pearl Sunderland[src]
**Repair of Small Objects** is a Physical Magic discipline that focuses on restoring minor physical structures to optimal condition.
**Phosphoromancy** is a highly technical Discipline of Physical Magic that focuses on manipulating properties of light and photons.

**Travelers** are Magicians who possess the natural ability to move between worlds throughout the Multiverse. A rare breed of hybrids, Travelers are regarded as the most powerful and knowledgeable of all Magicians.

## History

The collection held by the Order of the Library of the Neitherlands is largely the work of Travelers, with many of these Magicians documenting their exploration of the Multiverse and collecting knowledge from its worlds.

In the spring of 1883 on Earth, Brakebills University hired professor Neeny Bigby as its first non-human professor in the school’s history, paving the way for the institution to broaden its curriculum by moving beyond human-centric teachings to include theoretical studies of other worlds. At the dawning of the 1900s, Brakebills sought to recruit a Traveler adjunct professor to conduct further research into the Multiverse and train the influx of newly identified Travelers that had started to crop up amongst the new classes of students.

Hyman Cooper, a student during the 1920s, was trapped while using his powers to astral project into the women’s showers and became known as the “pervert ghost of Brakebills”.

Stanley, a member of the school’s Alumni Mentorship program, was assigned to Victoria Gradley and Penny Adiyodi when they were identified as Travelers. Due to his own experience with his powers nearly killing him, he resorted to tattooing an Anti-Traveling Spell on his neck, limiting his abilities to astral projection, and instructed his students to do the same. Gradley initially followed his instruction, but eventually broke the spell when she chose not to fear her abilities, while Adiyodi’s was later removed by professor Mischa Mayakovsky, who agreed to train him to control his abilities while attending a semester at Brakebills South. Gradley, however, was later captured by the Beast during an adventure with her classmates to Fillory for spring break, becoming one of the missing Third Year students of the 2016 graduating class.

Joe, a Traveler from a world that practices sex magic, was initially part of a love affair with Stephanie Quinn until the two were discovered by her husband, Daniel. However, the two eventually developed a polyamorous relationship, including Joe as their third as his physiology allowed him to adapt for each of their needs. He was sought after by Alice Quinn and Quentin Coldwater after Penny was trapped in the Neitherlands, instructing the two in how to perform a ritual to help Adiyodi return to Earth using the Neitherlands’ Fountains.

During the conflict between Jane Chatwin and The Beast, the Beast targeted Travelers in the 40th Timeline created by Chatwin to prevent anyone from threatening his claim to Fillory, causing many to kill themselves after suffering a psychic assault from the Magician, including Stanley and Joe.

In 2020, the ambient magic level was increased due to the energy stored in the Secret Sea being released following the death of Everett Rowe, causing more Magicians to emerge with rare disciplines, including Travelers and Time Travelers, such as Plum Chatwin.

## Characteristic Traits

This section needs a rewrite. You can help The Magicians Wiki by improving the content of the section in accordance with our Manual of Style. Once finished, this notice may be removed.

Travelers have the appearance as that of ordinary humans. They are not exclusive to Earth and can come from others worlds as well.

The primary ability of a Traveler is to be able to transport oneself between places and realms. It is the only magical ability they possess that is independent of the Wellspring. They are able to modify the way they travel through spells that they tattoo on themselves such as to only travel the mind, or to bring others with them.

Aside from traveling, Travelers also possess the standard powers and abilities of magicians. Travelers are automatically sorted into the Psychic discipline and appear to possess telepathy by default.

*"How did you find me?""Globes. Sense magic- it's not always right, so we test it."*
―Quentin Coldwater and Henry Fogg[src]
**Sense Magic** is a class of magic used by Brakebills University to locate potential young Magicians for recruitment at the school.

## History

At Brakebills University, Dean Henry Fogg's office contained several globes enchanted with sense magic that glowed to indicate the general vicinity of young Magicians, who were later scouted by recruiters before being invited to take the Brakebills Entrance Exam. During his interview with Quentin Coldwater, Dean Fogg revealed his vast collection of globes of different locations that were enchanted to actively show the approximate location of future students.

**Blood Magic** is a powerful and dangerous form of magic invented by the Aztec civilization.

## History

### Aztecan Rituals

*"They harnessed the blood of Quetzalcoatl knows how many slaves and prisoners of war to move the sun. Every single day, for hundreds of years."*
―Alice Quinn[src]
Blood magic was invented by the Aztec Empire and was used to sacrifice countless slaves and prisoners of war due to their belief that it would move the sun around the world. The Aztecs were later renown as some of the most powerful Magicians of all times due to the powerful and dangerous nature of blood magic.