Divination Magic

## Basic Schools

Divination magic is fundamental to many of the world's intelligence operatives, criminals, and even some regular people. In broad strokes, divination magic encompasses all magic that is designed for information gathering via a combination of magical styles. This includes things like camera spells, tracking, prediction, and mind-reading. Due to the massive amount of magic covered underneath divination, study of it falls within numerous different schools that are tailored to differing purposes, however they do often intersect. All divination schools suffer the major drawback of their existence being very common-place and known about, and as such, very common and easy to access counter-measures, from the simple anti-divination spells that render their users undetectable to the common and mass-produced anti-divination charms of Fiddlefen company.

### The School of the Eye

The first, and simplest, school is that of the Eye. The Eye School of Divination is concerned primarily with the gathering of information through projection of the senses. Conventionally, it is used via establishing recording spells combined with a link to where the user wants the information to flow, whether it is a mental one directly to their mind or an illusion based one to project visuals. The main application is often for observation of locations, such as private residencies or locations that are under the target of stake-outs. The advantage of this school is primarily it's discretion. Unlike other more-direct schools, a well-placed "Eye" is considerably harder to detect and cut off than a mental link. The major disadvantage however is the fixed nature of the eye, as such other schools are often preferred for the monitoring of individuals as the Eye cannot follow an individual without direct mana supply. This school is vehemently common-place and it's use is wide-spread.

### The School of the Tracker

The second school is that of the Tracker. The Tracker School is concerned primarily with the gathering of location through the application of a "tracking" spell. At it's barebones, the tracker is often a simple spell that projects it's location to the caster via a small feed of mana. It's main usage is in combination with the Eye and Mind schools (in the form of the Tracking Eye and the Observed Mind) and the Precognition school, but the barebones is primarily applied to finding lost items or ensuring that items that are lost are easily found. The major advantage, of course, is that the tracker is able to move with the target, allowing a nearly-constant feed of what is being monitored. The disadvantage is the lack of other data from just the tracker alone as well as the constant supply of mana, albeit small, still being able to be detected if not properly masked. This school is also incredibly easy and is common-place.

### The School of the Mind

The third school is that of the Mind. The Mind school is concerned primarily with the gathering of information via the application of mental magic to a target. It is, of course, shared with plain mental magic. At it's barebones application, it works within the aura of the user and is able to probe the mind as far as the user's power stretches, but it is most often combined with the Tracker school (Observed Mind) and the Precognition school to allow for remote observation without requiring the caster to be there. The major advantage is the ability to discern what a target is thinking, which furthermore allows one to potentially be able to piece together where they are or what they perceive. The disadvantage of this is that it is highly detectable, has a very noticeable mana trace, and is also incredibly easy to fool. This school is considerably more rarer and frowned upon, usually only accessible to Tier 2 Divination mages or Tier 1 Mental Mages.

### The School of the Prophet

The fourth school is that of the Prophet. The Prophet school, unlike the rest, does not gather information from the present. Through the application of mental magic, runic magic, and often Borrowed Power from another source, the Prophet school allows one to retrieve information from the future. The actual mechanics of this are unknown, with many theories ranging from Prophet school directly altering reality to Prophets interacting with the theorized narrative realm that overlays reality being often applied. The Prophet will receive this information often in odd and cryptic ways, seemingly randomly defined. Sometimes this information is unchangeable, and other times, it is very much not. Due to the complicated methodology, this school is rarely practiced (with the largest group being Solarionite Caravans due to their easy access to the Borrowed Power of their Pardners/Solarion), only being performed by Tier 4 Divination mages.

## Advanced Schools

### The School of Precognition

The most important advanced school is the Precognition School. Derived from the Prophet school, the Precognition school does not require borrowed power and can be merged with effectively all forms of divination magic. It handles three things. Firstly, it draws the non-specificity of the Prophet school, allowing one to cast spells without knowing all the details, such as putting a tracker on all people that have worn an item in the last 30 days, tracking all animals in 30 ft, or finding a path to refuge. Secondly, it draws the long-range casting of the Prophet school into usability, allowing one to apply any of the other schools at long-ranges, like applying a tracker from miles away with proper conditions. The success of these long-range oand non-specific castings depends on familiarity with the chosen target, level of specificity (it is easier to find John Smith the Farmer that lives in Porown and has bright red hair than a ginger farmer that lives in the Empire), and is greatly aided by the accessibility to any remnant's of the target's magical signatures.

Finally, it taps into a little bit of the Prophet school and combines it with Eye and Mind, allowing one to make extremely accurate predictions of things that are occurring in a short time span without requiring borrowed power, such as predicting an ambush seconds before it starts. Usage of the Precognition school is more common than the Prophet school but does require a fairly good knowledge of mental magic, usually only found within Tier 3 Divination mages and above.

### The School of The Tracking Eye/The Observed Mind

The combination of the Tracker School and the Eye or Mind Schools results in a spell that is able to permanently remain upon a target and continue it's effects via adding the Eye or Mind spell directly to the Tracker. This is a fairly easy divination school to access, but does require specific training to prevent the spells from causing 'signal' interreference, and is often primarily used by Tier 2 Divination mages. It still suffers from the trackability of the mana stream that supports the tracker however, and as such is far more detectable.

### The School of the Phantom

A combination of Mind and necromancy, the School of the Phantom allows one to draw upon the memories of the dead, instead of simply resurrecting them and asking them. It's application is readily simple, a Phantom school user is able to reach into the polarizations (and associated mana and memories) of a body and discern then into information that gives them the ability to perceive the memories of the corpse. Usage requires Tier 1 knowledge of necromancy and either Tier 2 Divination or Tier 1 Mental.

### The School of Tongues

A derivation of Mind, the School of Tongues is far simpler and focused on languages and communication. Via accessing the polarizations and emotions associated with words or probing the surface level communication of the target alongside other methods, the School of Tongues encompasses the spells that allow translation, communication without mutual language, communicating concepts with plants/animals, and other communication spells, such as remote communication over long distances. It is considerably simpler, requiring either Tier 1 Mental or Tier 1 Divination.