On the Role of Magic in the Modern Era

'''On the Role of Magic in the Modern Era. '''

Erhan Minager with Devon Jubrik and Darryl Heissener;

Commissioned by the University of East Drumlin in Free Association with Legacy Aberration Removal Specialists; in Partial Completion of a Doctorate of Philosophy in Aberrational Sciences.

November 8th, 2008

Introduction
Every society on the face of Eurf has been touched by magic in some way. Before the inventions of electricity and reliable firepower, humanity was beholden to the will and whims of the sorcerer, whose mechanations were inscrutable and whose results were inconsistent and often disastrous. Many previous attempts have been made to study magic and magic users. Such attempts have generally been historical, though some recent anthropological work has been conducted on modern magic users in Eastern Marzath (Qur 2005; She 2007). Further research will illuminate shadows within our past hidden by the appearance of miracles and wonders, and providing constraints on the conditions needed to harnass magic may open up new possibilities for civilian and military technology. This manuscript will serve as a summary both of previous research on the subject of magic, perform meta-analysis of the sources as need arises, and construct a framework for dealing with magic from the perspective of an aberrational remediation service.

Chapter 1: Historical Context
The earliest recorded use of magic dates back to 10,000 BCE and is recorded by Ga'on cylinder seals in the Lamarian archipelago (Janisser 1998). Written in bone scrawl is a plea to the god Suduro to protect the bearer of the seal from sea storms and promises the safe delivery of goods and services. From the Dortseli Peninsula in Orosilas (ca. 6400 BCE) etchings on rune-stones mark a series of way-lines which are concordant with the vertical consignment of the eight outer planets and four closest stars to Eurf, with detalied instructions on what animal must be sacrificed to activate each respective runestone. During the Andronican Empire (3 CE), Zwartots Manikazian of Agol details how a member of the local Mage's Guild, a guild which he happened to the Arch-mage of, accidentally caused a statuary to explode after an incorrect application "heuristic willpower". For most of human history magic and civilization grew in complexity side by side, one fueling advancement in the other, until the scientific revolution of the Late Middle Ages. Magicians were among the earliest named professions in settled societies, appearing soon after farmers, hunters, and millers (Denmore 2001). Archaeologists working at the deepest levels of the Gol Hadol ruin in Vargelia noted that below the earliest indications of agriculture, remnants of a bone dress, a sorcerer's outfit which would remain in use till the 2nd millenium BCE, could be found next to a bone rattle (Denmore 2001). In the absence of complex settled society, magicians performed the role of chieftain, priest, and sometimes even prostitute (Grayson and Make 2000).

Throughout recorded history the relationship between magic and religion has morphed, at first being inseparable from one another, then developing into different means of influencing the world, before completely diverging their stated goals from affecting the natural world to either achieving salvation of creating political and physical change. In the earliest societies, such as the Ga'on, Merculians, and the Daodists, magicians functioned as the High-Priest of a particular cult, directing sacrifices and incantations so as to achieve the best possible invocation for the village (Janisser 1998). Among the Ga'on in particular, magicians functioned as intermediaries between the gods and men and were believed to channel power directly from their particular deity, serving out blessings and punishments as the god deemed fit. They were the keepers of the fire, in times before tribesmen knew how to create flame, and held ultimate authority over preparing the tribe's food for preservation (Geliner 1974). Merculian priests were considered avatars of the gods themselves and were associated with the element that particular god represented. One might posit, as Randall, 1978 does, that the magic users influenced the cultural perception of specific gods so as to more readily align to the powers of the individual magician. This would explain how different gods acquire and lose connection to various domains of control within their pantheon, though even Randall acknowledges external mixing and internal changes within the civilization could also prompt these shifts (Randall 1978). Within both the Ga'on and the Daodists, various spiritwalkers could be contacted by grieving widows to speak to lost or deceased loved ones, sometimes allowing themselves to be possessed by said spirits. In its earliest iteration, magic was seen as being tied to the same rituals and worship which would later fall under the domain of religion. However, both sought to appease the same higher powers that decided the course of natural occurrences (Janisser 1998).

Following the rise of the first empires, and the beginnings of organized religion, the distinction between religion and magic became much more defined, particularly in the North. In the Andronican Empire, Spearicus Cassius of Equitine recounted,

"During the third year of the reign of Emperor Marsus, the first of his name, the temple of Garala and its priestesses bade their followers turn from the ways of the necromancer; do not beseech the dead without Her approval and without an offering. For though they are apart from you, the dead are blessed in Her eyes and lie within Her bosom. They are not to be disturbed."

In this context, the services and the powers of the magician are seen as opposed to the authority of the cult, with the magician's potency in the realm of necromancy acknowledged as real by the temple, and as a threat (Janisser 1981). In these early times it bares mentioning that many of the cults active in the Andronican Empire were death cults, or rather, cults who venerated the spirits of the dead and beseeched them for blessings and miracles. The necromancer, divorced from his modern context, functioned more as a medium rather than as a practitioner of the Dark Arts. The rites and practices of each cult, such as the hierogamists of Miliah or the solemn ash gathers of Cohunim, were a means of reaching the dead and channeling their powers into the performance of miracles. Through trial and error, many of these cults inadvertently discovered the basic forms of hermetical ritual which form the building blocks for magical spells today. Of singular importance to the success of a spell, the old maesters discovered, was that the practitioner be of the correct alignment or possess the potency to wield such a spell. The second item of importance laid in the ritual itself, signs and symbols must be arranged in orders relating to those paralleled in other dimensions, where magic is now known to derive its power from (Felloft 2006, Klassen 2005). Over time, the connection between religion and magic was erased, non-clerical practitioners were discovered, and the importance of the individual will and the ritual exercise of power supplanted the death cults of the old religions. By the time Ninhavism was proclaimed the imperial religion in 486 CE, almost all cults had dropped their ties with magic and began focusing on personal salvation in the next world. There are some exceptions to this rule of course, the hierogamists of Miliah recognized the primacy of individuals in magic rituals early on and were one developed into one of the first Hermetic Sisterhoods, scouring the empire for girls of the proper alignment to wield the sex magic of the Amat Fellaes (Giorno 1911). Nevertheless, there remains a curious correlation between the rise of Ninhavism as the predominant religion in Orosilas and Western Marzath, and the secularization of magic.

Following the adoption of Ninhavism throughout the civilized world, magic became seen as a bastard pursuit, the social status of the old maesters and mages became severely downgraded. The intensity of prosecutions against magic users varied across the two continents. In some areas, such as in the old center of the Andronican Empire, Sarnis and Arath, two hundred magic users were placed on trial by the clerical authorities between 500 and 600 CE. Out of these trials 54 mages were executed, generally through burning at the stake or through piece meal dismemberment, or through evisceration by animals. The rest were castrated, if they were men, or placed into monasteries, if they were women, so long as they renounced their abilities and solemnly swore to do only Aiou's bidding, and not that of the Dragon of Chaos. In other places, such as the Zaborkan wilds, or on the eastern continent, magic was a distrusted by tolerated part of the social echelon. Secret societies and arcaneums sprung up throughout those lands, in the Marscilian decapolis, the Gaetian Highlands, and in the high woods of Elredor.