In all the wonders I've seen in this Age, I expect this chapter of my Guide to be the most fantastic to modern readers. For this is Magic of the Mythic Age and herein I shall detail the powerful sorceries Mythic Age magicians were able to command before our failure in the Doom Wars led to the jinn revoking it.

The key thing about magic in this Age is that even though it is vastly beyond the scope of modern sorceries and even wielded by the powerful legends of the Age, true magic (as used by deities and jinn) is still too much for a mortal body to channel. As such, the heroes of the Mythic Age developed magical styles to compensate. These were a limitation on the raw power of magic that brought it into the range a mortal could successfully use. This chapter will be organised around these magical styles, detailing their traditions, limitations, and powers. First, though, as befits my new profession, a history.

Magical styles as they are in this Age were unknown in the Draconic Age before it. I don't know what type of magic the daemons and dragons of that Age warred with, but it was certainly different than the magic Alzhrin knows now. Magic as it is known in the Mythic Age comes from a time early in the Age. A hero (commonly agreed to have been human) sneaked into the Vast and stole the power of magic from the jinn. A few stories claim they got away with it.

Most, however, agree that the thief was caught before making it back into our world. The ifrit, however, didn't take their power back or punish the intrepid hero. Instead they made a deal with all mortals. They would let us keep magic, using it however we were able. However, we had to use the power of magic to prevent the Doom Wars. If we fail to do so, the agreement will be void and we will lose magic. As my modern readers know, this is exactly what ended up happening. The people of the Mythic Age, however, still see it as a distant prediction, something which may come to pass or that they may be able to stop.

While there are a number of less-well-practised styles around the continent, here I present the most common styles used by magicians in Alzhrin.

Clockworks

Unlike the technological wonders of our own Age, Mythic Age clockwork is a technical-themed magical style.

Clockworks were granted to the skyborn by the demiurge Teknos. Though the people of the Aerial Nations still have the best clockwork engineers, the style has spread in lesser form to other cultures around Alzhrin. Despite their resemblance to technological items, it almost always takes a knowledgeable engineer to manage their use. Non-clockwork engineers may only use clockwork items in a very basic sense, if at all. Among the Hikarr, inductors are the best at intuitively using clockworks, though they have also started to develop clockwork engineers of their own in a basic sense. Other cultures have rare clockwork engineers, though the caverns of Balsteinn are the third-most-common place to find very much clockwork.

All clockwork spells are physical items of some kind. They have a wide variety of effects, from weapons and armour to specialised building tools. One interesting development is the idea of integrated clockworks. These devices are semipermanently bonded to a person, granting a constant enhancement of some kind. They can generally only be removed by surgery or after the individual's death.

Divine Lensing

This is an unusual origin for a magical style. Instead of coming from jinn this magic comes from a deity. The full power of a deity is too much for the world to bear so deities focus their magic through a mortal, treating them like a lens.

Priests who channel divine lenses must have a single deity they are devoted to. Each god only grants certain types of powers based on their own capabilities (more information can be found in Divinities of the Mythic Age). This lensing is the most diverse style, as across all deities they grant power over everything in the world. Each deity only grants power over a more limited area, however, and an individual priest can generally not handle more than two or three lenses at a time, though which lenses they are out of a god's selection can be changed with a period of meditative communion.

Planewalking priests report that the strength of their magic varies as they travel and planar scholars theorise this has something to do with distance from their deity. If I ever get into planewalking I'll be sure to investigate the matter further.

Elementalism

This is one of several forms of elemental magic known in the Mythic Age. In elementalism the practitioner focuses on one of the five elements. They have no ability to use the opposing element to their focus element, and a limited facility with the other three. Most elementalists are elemental knights: they focus their magic in a combat-oriented direction and mix this battle-magic with martial skill. More rare are elemental sages, who focus primarily on their magic.

The tradition of elemental knights is attributed to the laussalfar and svartalfar. More properly, it is said to be the style of magic the alfar used before they were divided into two people. According to adherents of Kalidos, it is the divisive nature of elementalism that divided their people and a more holistic style of magic is necessary to heal the division between the elves. Elemental sages, on the other hand, appear to be almost a natural phenomenon. Some people spontaneously develop a rudimentary control over one of the elements, one which it takes practice to nurture into proper sorcery.

Gin'na

This style is based on the Shutein's philosophical concept of a Prime Element which surrounds and flows among the other five. Gin'na practitioners blend their body and spirit together to create a harmonious whole, and blend the motion they use to cast spells in with the martial arts they use to fight. Gin'na disciples are warrior-monks who blend martial and physical training, gin'na magic, and zanwei philosophy (zanwei meaning, approximately, "stillness in motion").

Gin'na is a Chi'ar word meaning "Prime fist". Gin'na disciples cast spells through manipulation of their Prime Element. They start with a focus on the five elements, and once they have achieved proficiency in altering all of them they can learn how to channel the Prime Element.

Induction

This style focuses the power of magnetism through the user. Though this is primarily expressed in a sort of telekinetic control over metals, some inductors have found they can discharge electrical bursts as well.

Modern readers will note that, strictly speaking, magnetic magic should only be able to command ferrous metals. While I agree, this is the magic of a mythic age and doesn't always conform to our scientific notions. With minor exception, inductors can command any metal.

Induction originated among the Hikarr, who believe that their nascent demiurge taught the first Hikarr how to control metal. It remains most prominent among that culture, with almost every band having at least one inductor.

Psychic

This style manipulates one of the astral layers to produce spell effects. As such, most of these abilities revolve around perception and communication, though powerful psychics can teleport and alter time. Some psychics profess that they receive their powers from angelic magic rather than the jinn. This claim may be borne out, at least in limited quantity, as rarely a psychic transporter has access to their abilities when another spellcaster has cut local access to the astral cloud, implying that they were able to use the angelic paths for their skills.

While all Yaoren nobles are psychic, this magic isn't limited to solely that culture. Yaoren magicians are, however, rarely any other magical style. "Angelic" psychics never seem to appear among the Yaoren, lending credence to their claim that it is the asura and deva who are responsible for granting their powers.

Runesmithing

Runesmithing is a magical style based on the application of runes. Each rune has a given effect; in some cases runes can be combined to produce a new ability. Runecraft was discovered by the Hervarðr. According to Hervarðr legend, the hero Kjol Finstein retrieved the first runes from the trunk of the Ethertree.

To use a rune, the runesmith must draw, trace, or otherwise inscribe the rune on the object or person to be affected. While most runes can be drawn quickly if the runesmith is pressed for time, some more complex runes cannot be rushed. Runes rarely have instantaneous or damaging effects, such as conjuring a bolt of lightning. Instead they tend to be longer-lasting, such as making a sword's edge keener. While a rune's magic fades over time, I have been told of a Rune of Permanence that makes another rune's magic indefinite. Unlike most other forms of magic, runecraft does not allow for magical innovation. All runes a runesmith knows must be found somewhere in the world or learned from another runesmith. To date, all known runes have been traced ultimately to the Ethertree, where they can be found carved into the trunk.

As mentioned in People of the Mythic Age, jotunkin practice a unique form of spoken runecraft. Jotunkin runecraft practitioners are called runespeakers. Jotunkin cannot be regular runesmiths, and no other ancestry is capable of being a runespeaker. A runespeaker does not have to spend extra time pronouncing complex runes. For reasons runesmiths don't understand, runespeakers are unable to utilise the Rune of Permanence. Runespeakers are capable of learning runes in all the same ways as runesmiths and are capable of teaching runes they know to runesmiths without any difficulty.

Shamanism

This style has two major forms. Shamans of the Green channel the power of life and the natural world, while shamans of the Black draw their power from the void beyond the sky.

Shamans of the Green draw their power from Alzhrin's natural energy. They have spells that relate to the naturally-occurring flora and fauna of the world, as well as spells relating to weather and natural elemental phenomena. The strength of the Green waxes and wanes across Alzhrin, and thus so does a Green shaman's powers. Green shamans are also the type of magician capable of accessing the world's ley lines, and it is these shamans who built Alzhrin's nodes. Shamans of the Black draw power from the dark spaces between the worlds. They employ spells using cold and darkness, invoking terror and, in some cases, summoning beasts from the void between worlds. The strength of the Black is nearly constant across the world, though there are some dreadful locations where the Black gains better influence. Though shamans of the Black cannot use ley lines, they are able to conjure material from the dark. This is always aberrant in some way and only fellow cultists would be interested in consuming or using such objects.

Two lesser-used forms of shamanism are also known in Alzhrin. Shamans of the White draw power from the sun, while shamans of the Blue draw power from the energy of the sea.

Virding

Virding is a Mecci word that indicates "following the path". This style, rarely seen outside the Vasrimr, is based on exerting the strength of one's honour. Much of its spells are more powerful against less honourable foes, and jingr (the practitioners of virding) often have a technique that allows them to "follow" a more honourable person, allowing them to layer extra enchantments on such a "leader". Though the style of virding is tied intimately to maintaining the high standards of honour the Vasrimr value, I did hear rumours of darvirding, which is said to be a dark reflection of the art which is devastatingly powerful for the dishonourable.

Wa'ilea

Wa'ilea is an Elnor word meaning "sea magic". It uses the five elements but in a more generalised, inclusive manner than elementalism. It is drawn from the natural chaos of the sea and the strange pattern of ley lines in Tembel.

Wa'ilea is often described as chaotic and dangerous by non-stormkissers, though most Jami are used to its unpredictability. Stormkissers use all five elements in their magic, often integrating several elements in a single spell. While experienced or lucky stormkissers rarely have mishaps (or know how to manage them safely), there are sufficient occurrences of spells failing spectacularly and catastrophically to give wa'ilea its reputation.

Yatil

Yatil is a specialised art of sand manipulation. Yatil was developed by the thaki over a thousand years ago when they emigrated into Alzhrin. Using their talents at subtlety the thaki were able to calm the raging spell fragments of Khanos and form them into yatil. Presumably due to the primarily-matriarchal culture of the foxpeople, practitioners of yatil are called sandmaidens. Men who use yatil are only referred to obliquely, so I'm not sure what they call themselves. It is of limited use outside the desert and so has seen little growth among other cultures. Travelling sandmaidens carry a small pouch of sand with them to allow them some minor magical capability.

Yatil is a Fyx word meaning "to trick the sand". All of its spells involve manipulating and transmuting sand. Yatil is how the great cities of Khanos are formed and maintained. It is also how the denizens of those cities fight their rivals and raiders. While sandmaidens commonly craft temporary humanoid constructs with yatil, imbuing them with any degree of sentience is forbidden. It is believed that doing so always allows a daemonic spirit to enter the construct, forming a monstrous kilesthar.

Enchanted Items

While magicians often use their skills to temporarily imbue themselves and their comrades with additional power, there are also a number of items in the world which permanently bear the mark of magical enhancement.

By far the most common of these methods is the Rune of Permanence. This rune, when combined with other runes placed by the same runesmith, allows the magic of said runes to last indefinitely without taxing the capacity of the enchanting runesmith. Items can also be imbued with power by divine agency, and so many enchanted items were created by deities or other planar lords.

Enchanting Yourself

There are also some known methods for permanently enhancing oneself with the magical arts. First, the Rune of Permanence can also be applied to people, in the case that it and the other runes are tattooed on. Not every runesmith knows the skill of tattooing, so this is somewhat less common than rune-enchanted items. Something about wa'ilea also allows it to be worked into tattoos, and so some stormkisser spells may be made permanent in this way as well. Finally, a talented gin'na disciple can, through intense focus and extended meditations, enhance the Prime Element in their own bodies to give themself a limited amount of permanent enchantments. Unlike magical tattoos, this method cannot be done to another. An attempt to guide another person through the necessary meditations effectively requires them to develop gin'na skills of their own to do so.