Pre-Hundred Human Magicians

The Hundred, though the first formally trained and 'recognizable' Arcane sorcerers among the Human tribes, were not the only sorcerous tradition in Arathor. Though they eventually displaced the pre-Hundred sorcerors and evidence is uncertain as to their practices, some information has been preserved in folklore or in the writings of the Hundred themselves.

# Origins

The exact origins of the pre-Hundred sorcerors is uncertain, but three main theories exist. The innate sorcery hypothesis, derived from the Elven discovery that humans had a surprising grasp for magic, suggests that in the absence of formal schooling humanity nonetheless developed magical aptitude.

The Shamanic hypothesis suggests that the proximity of the Elemental Stones of Arathor to the nascent Tribes (along with, in recent developments, the inclusion of the Gilnean tree of Tal'doren) was responsible, and that early Human 'mages' were actually psuedo-shamans.

The third main theory is that the pre-Hundred sorcerors carried on with half-remembered Vrykul sorcery. This theory, the most recently developed, appears to have some promise due to the bloody and ritualistic nature of recorded pre-Hundred rites.

### Innate Sorcery hypothesis

It is well known that humans are innately skilled with arcane sorcery, and have been for millennia. It is the contention of supporters of this hypothesis that the early human sorcerers were not psuedo-Druidic or quasi-Shamanic, but rather tapped into this innate capacity to use a form of extremely basic and unpredictable arcane magic.

This hypothesis rejects the idea of humans as being capable of druidism and shamanic learning, predicated on the belief that such things are the marks of 'savages' or 'beings in communion with nature', with humanity being 'above' or 'outside' nature. This belief is largely unjustifiable as it falls short in two critical areas:

1. Humans are as natural to Azeroth as the Wildhammer Dwarves, the Vrykul, the Orcs, and the Draenei.
2. Not only do these forms of learning occur outside of the 'savage' races (most notably in the enlightened Draenei and Kaldorei, but also in the Gilnean Harvest Witches), but humanity's early period can most accurately be charactetized as 'savage', being a non-unified state without centralization, organized religion, literacy, and other bedrocks of civilization.

With the recent finds in Northrend of the Vrykul's sorcery and its close similarities to certain known pre-Hundred practices, and the two shortfallings above, the innate sorcery hypothesis has begun to fall to the wayside in favour of the Vrykul Inheritance model.

# Nature of their Magic

## Herbal 'magic'

A recurring theme in the study of pre-Hundred sorcery is a heavy reliance on plants and plant-derived substances. Such a reliance is present in both the scarce records of the early sorcerors and in their supposed modern inheritors. The majority of recorded pre-Hundred rituals (and a significant portion of Harvest Witch and Gypsy sorcery) involved the imbibing of plant brews or the inhalation of smoke.

This reliance has lead to many modern Magi to dismiss the early human sorcerers as nothing but herbalists and alchemists posing as genuine sorcerers, but this is a simplistic view. Given the extant reliance on plants - including, it must be noted, hallucinogenic and deliriant substances - by Druids and Shaman, and the legitimate magic of these sorcerous traditions, it is perhaps worth re-examining this long-held conceit.

Nor should it be forgotten that, though not inherently magical, the preparations of a skilled alchemist can accomplish effects that themselves are nothing short of miraculous. Wounds heal more swiftly and without pain, men brought back from the brink of death, enemies silently killed by tasteless and odourless poisons slipped into their wine. To a people lacking the concept of a rigid division between alchemy, spiritualism, and 'true' magic, such things would fall squarely into the field of sorcery and witchcraft.

## Enchantments

### The Lifstein

A recurring feature in pre-Imperial and early Imperial finds are small beads attached to the hilts and scabbards of swords. While the majority of these beads appear to be solely ornamental, a number - largely carved of obsidian, amber, and raptor-bone - carry distinctive magical signatures. Though greatly diminished over the course of millennia, where this magic remains it has been studied. While Magi have found it peculiar - as have practicioners of conventional Eastern divine magic - it has been remarked by Druids that it is strongly sympathetic with the healing process.

These lifsteins are attested to in poems, stories and certain Tower records. In these attestations they are the only solution to a cut inflicted by the sword they were attached to - time, conventional medicines, and even other magics would routinely fail to heal such wounds. While few grave-swords are enchanted, and many lifsteins are completely mundane, this may explain the ability of the magical swords in early Highlands folklore to do the impossible: To permanently harm a troll.

### Swords, Axes, and Other Blades

The enchanted blades known to date from the pre-Imperial and early Imperial periods may be divided into three categories. The bulk belong to those given crude and often ineffectual magical essence. Second in number, though much rarer, are those blades forged using elemental components. Third, and rarest of all, are those blades that hold genuine and powerful enchantments on par with the work of modern sorcerers.

#### Quasi-Magical Blades

* Typically forged with 'magic' elements added to the material, e.g. ground mana residue.
* Lingering traces of greater enchantments mistaken for weak ones.
* Blades that do not rust especially common.

#### Elemental Forged Blades

* Making use of particularly pure or useful minerals stolen from Earth elementals or bargained for.
* When forged in elemental fires, including fires built around the remnants of fire elementals, near unbreakable and extremely sharp, treated properly.
* Often form the basis for the 'true' enchanted weapons.

#### True Enchanted Blades

Of these rare blades, one has entered legendry like few other weapons: The Trol'kalar (or 'Troll Slayer' in the modern tongue). This sword, the ancestral blade of the Trollbane family, is a classical example of the greatest enchanted weapons to surface from the Pre-Imperial period. Though lethal and unbreakable, the bulk of its magic is poorly understood and potentially irreproducible, and only effective against the Troll.

Like the Trol'kalar, most of the true enchanted weapons to have surfaced from the early Imperial period hold enchantments of an uncertain nature, distinct from the Elven-taught practices and from the terrible and savage magics of the Trolls. Often, they are effective only in specific circumstances, though it is difficult to generalize among such a varied - and small - sample of weapons.

The bulk of these blades either hold a lifstein or are mentioned in conjunction with them in stories and songs from the period, and possess one almost universal feature: Cuts from these weapons take far longer than usual to heal, especially for the troll.

# Eradication

### Conflict with the Monotheists

Concurrent with the conflict between the proto-magi and the Hundred, the rising Deist faith took a militant stance in opposition to the predominantly pantheistic or naturalist 'witches' found throughout the nascent Empire. Viewed initially as rivals for the spiritual guidance of the people, the conflict was at first relatively peaceful and focused on the conversion of Old Faithers and the exile of known witches (many of them to the unsettled southern areas of the Gilnean Peninsula - hypothesized by some to be the ultimate origin of Gilnean druidism) from Imperial territory.

This changed with the Council of Oenomaus. The previously apocryphal perspectives on the bleak 'underworld' known as Hell were integrated into the teachings of the newly unified Church of Deus. Under Cardinal Oenomaus, pre-Hundred magi and Old Faith priests were declared to be servants of the demons of hell, and a full-scale purge was commenced. Conversions were achieved en masse at the point of the sword (usually wielded by members of the Tyrite sects) and by the official outlawing of the practice of and belief in 'heathen deities' and 'unholy sorcerous communion' by the Emperor. Captured pre-Hundred magi and priests were no longer exiled, but were executed whenever they were found - usually by being drowned, infrequently with fire or by stoning.

Where the conflict with the Hundred had failed to make a significant mark on the outlying Imperial territories, the violent purge by the Church entirely eliminated the pre-Hundred magicians according to historical record and propaganda. Recent developments and belief however hold that isolated enclaves survived. These enclaves - predominanetly in the mountains of the Arathi Highlands, the towering Alterac Range, the deeper woods of the Gilnean Peninsula, and among the nomadic peoples known as 'gypsies' who wandered beyond the reach of the Empire - remained hotbeds of the pagan faiths as well as of non-Hundred magical traditions.

# Modern Inheritors?

## Witch-cults in Stromgarde and the Highlands

The Arathi Highlands, while the birthplace of the Hundred and of the dour mages of the Tower of Arathor, has maintained a small pagan presence since the days of the Empire. In the caves of the hills witches and sorcerors reside, and from time to time the people themselves engage in pagan ceremonies syncretized with Orthodox Light worship.

The pagan sorcerers of the Highlands, while rarely claiming descent from the original pre-Hundred magi, are the most likely inheritors of their actual traditions. They are treated with suspicion by the local peoples for their 'uncanny' acts, and while often sought out for their abilities, there remains a significant stigma against them thanks to the millennia of strife between the Hundred, the Monotheists (and later the Light) and the Witch-cults.

### Volva and Galdre

The largest grouping of the varied sorcerors of the North, the volva and the galdre are the 'average' witch. They are not

   particularly noteworthy (on the whole), possessing relatively limited sorcerous abilities and often passing unnoticed. They are distinguished primarily by what they are not: They are not ivioia, nor 'proper' magicians. Volva and galdre who trespass into harming others or otherwise causing trouble are dubbed 'illrvolva' and 'illrgaldre' and may face exile, as legally they are placed in the same category as ivioaia.

The Volva, though often identified as a 'mere' grouping of Harvest-Witches, are in fact closer to shamans than they are to druids. What magic they do practice is typically elemental in nature, though highly limited - and often, reliant on the byproducts of elemental creatures. That these creatures infest the Highlands has allowed the Volva and Galdre traditions to make ready use of genuine magical water and fire in their workings. Most healing salves and potions crafted by the tradition are in fact reliant almost completely on the 'sacred water' that wells up around the Lorgrgastrhorgr (or, in the Modern Common, the 'Shrine of the Water Spirits').

### Ivioaia

The ivioia are the other main grouping of Stromgarde's indigenous witches. They are those witches that dabble in dangerous or unholy arts - necromancy, infernalism, the levying of curses, the summoning of pestilence. Ivioaia are not just seen as untrustworthy - they are routinely put to death for their sorcerous crimes, by the barbaric measure of severing their hands and feet, burning out their tongue, and drowning them in a body of water.

## Gypsy Mysticism

*No offence is intended towards persons of Roma, Traveller or other Gypsy descent. This article plays on the idea of the Gypsy mystic but is in no way intended to be reflective of actual Gypsy cultures, beliefs, or practices.*

### Stregha

The itinerant *stregha* exist outside of both settled and Gypsy society, on the fringe. Like the *volva* of the Highlands, they are distrusted by their communities due to the uncertain nature of their powers. The *stregha* claim absolutely to be the inheritors of the pre-Hundred traditions, and perform a number of magical ceremonies. There is some difficulty in ascertaining the truth of any claim by a so-called *stregha* to real ability as they often provide basic herbal remedies as 'magic' potions.

Though broadly categorized as capricious, the *stregha* system in fact prizes balance in all things. This value suggests cross-pollination with the Harvest Witches or an inherent druidic component to the *stregha*.

##### Key characteristics (dot points for the time being)

* Entheogenic.
* Low-grade effects.
* Blood sorcery.
* Theories of the chakra.
* Sympathetic magic.