Magic In All Its Forms: Arcane

Arcane

Arcane is another fundamental force on the planet and in the universe. It’s said that at one point al the arcane energy in the world was concentrated in the Well of Eternity. When the Burning Legion attacked Azeroth in search of that vast well of power, the resultant portals shattered the Well of Eternity, and caused the Maelstrom, and spread Arcane magic throughout Azeroth in the form of the ley lines. Ley lines are present in other worlds and in the Twisting Nether, so this may be a natural state for arcane energy.

Mages are the practitioners of arcane magic, with arcane magic being unique compared to the other forms of magic. While other magic takes their traits from beings of immense power, Arcane magic is raw energy and a blank canvas that mages use to produce a very wide range of effects. Arcane is thus the most versatile of any magic type and can replicate any other form of magic.

The Kirin Tor has broken down the use of Arcane magic into 8 schools. These schools are Evocation, Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Illusion, Transmutation, and Necromancy.

Evocation is the base of all magi’s casting. It is the school of magic dealing with drawing in and manipulating mana and arcane energy. There are very few who solely practice this school of magic, but all mages learn it and must become proficient in it to master other schools of Arcane. A mage without sufficient ability to use evocation magic cannot support complicated, mana intensive spells.

Abjuration is the school of Arcane magic that deals with shields of all kinds. Abjurers use Arcane magic to form barriers, and with these barriers protect themselves and their allies, or imprison their enemies. Abjuration is a versatile school of magic and is often combined with another school of magic to create stronger or more potent shields.

Conjuration is the school of Arcane magic that deal with turning Arcane magic into physical objects or summoning objects or creatures such as water elementals. Conjuration is the art of turning Arcane into physical matter and requires years of practice to conjure complicated objects, and even years before conjuring a simple item perfectly each attempt. This is the school of magic that allows mages to use fire, ice and other elemental attacks, directly summoning the elements from their planes.

Divination is the art of seeing into the future, or scrying on another place. Divination involves spells that allow the caster to scry, see into the past, present and future, identify magical objects that are otherwise hidden by other magics and peer into the mind’s others. Diviners typically are used to gather information other people could never gather on their own and have little battle application for their abilities. One notable use is if they can scry into

Enchantment is the process of imbuing objects with magical properties. Enchanters empower objects with their spells, granting those who wear those items increased strength, agility, intellect and all other manners of enhancements. Arcane artifacts were always created by someone, unlike artifacts of some other magic forms. Enchantments range wildly in their effects, just as Arcane is the most versatile form of magic.

Illusion is the school that deals with sensory perception. Illusionists manipulate the perceptions and senses of those around them, or mask reality with their spellwork. Their spells affect the minds of their targets and allow them full control of a person’s reality. There have been few illusionists who have achieved that level of spellwork as the smallest of discrepancies allow a person caught in their spells to break out of them. Illusionists thus usually resort to smaller distractions in combat to defeat their opponents.

Transmutation is the school of magic that deals with bending reality and the physical world. They control the fabric of reality, able to change one type of matter to another, changing stone to gold or a person into a sheep. In addition to this, chronomancy falls within the Transmutation school. Those who have mastered Transmutation are dangerous opponents, able to quite literally manipulate space and time. However, these spells take an enormous amount of energy to use, and often require long cast times so a fast and aggressive approach is necessary.

Necromancy takes many forms and one of those is through the use of Arcane magic. Arcane can be used to conjure and bind the powers of death, twisted to conjure those forces and manipulate the dead. Necromancers often move passed using Arcane to conjure their magics, finding more direct ways to access the realm of Death, but they still have access to the power.

Fighting a mage requires one to first deduce what magics they are capable of using. If it isn’t apparent, or they use many different schools, then aggression can be employed very well against most mages. Using the Arcane takes time and intense calculations that eventually become second-nature to magi, but still take some effort, and thus if you can interrupt that process the spells will be stopped and the magi will be vulnerable. Counters to specific magical schools could gain its own section.