[Torg] The Magic Axiom Chart (Magic Axiom, 4 of 9)

[Jones Jasyn]

The Magic Axiom Chart

This is the essential axiom chart, the chart reduced to the bare minimum of complexity (for ease of understanding). It is based around the Fundamental Principle of Magic and the Ages of Magic, but presents both in more detail.

0- Magic has no effect, and magical concepts and beliefs are contradictory.

1- Magical beliefs are now possible, including belief in luck, the symbolic manipulation of luck, omens, and so forth. The folk lore skill is possible.

This is the beginning of the Age of Superstition.

2- Magical energies first manifest in the natural world, though weakly. The presence of magic alters the outcome of events for good or ill, causing random outbreaks of good or bad luck. Such magical effects are known as hexes.

3- Superstitions can now evoke hexes; people can, through the use of symbols, bless or curse each other or themselves.

Omens, spontaneous events that prefigure good or ill luck, first manifest. The skill of omen reading is possible, which allows individuals to understand the import of omens.

4- Rituals to evoke omens are now possible, allowing for fortunetelling. Fortunetelling can predict the future, though only in the most general fashion, and doing so is very unreliable.

5- Rituals can now evoke hexes (though unreliably). A body of magical lore can be accumulated, which lore consists of a collection of recorded rituals. Many rituals do not work and those that do work are extremely unreliable. There is no way to differentiate between the two. As a result, magical knowledge is heavily entwined with folklore.

Magical Traditions can be formalized, and organizations based on a Tradition are possible.

This is the beginning of the Age of Mysticism.

6- Rituals increase in reliability; it is now possible to distinguish real rituals from folklore. A deliberate study of symbols is now possible, allowing the learned to guess at what symbols might evoke a desired effect. Through this process, they can discover new rituals.

7- The magical symbology of a Tradition can be formulated as a detailed series of magical laws; these laws delineate which symbols are needed to evoke a given effect (thus eliminating guesswork). Reliable rituals are now possible.

8- The rudiments of spells and spellcasting are developed. Specially trained (or talented) individuals can devise and cast spells. Spells allow precise control over when, how, and how powerfully a magical effect manifests. The spellcaster’s Tradition limits what effects are possible.

Divination effects are possible. Some types of magical creatures are now possible.

This is the beginning of the Age of Arcana.

9- Apportation effects are possible. Spells can be translated between Traditions. Focusing is possible.

10- Alteration effects are possible. Impressing is possible.

11- Conjuration effects are possible. Wards are possible. Charges are possible.

12- Traditions no longer limit the type of effects that are possible. Permanent magical items are possible.

13- Mages can discover the essence of a cosm’s magic; this essence underlies all magic in the cosm and is the source of all magic in a cosm. Knowledge of the fundamental nature of magic allows mages to transcend the limitations of a Tradition. They can share spells freely between different Traditions and can even devise and cast spells that use no symbols (although such spells are more difficult to cast and produce weaker effects).

This is the beginning of the Age of Mastery.

14- Spell manipulation becomes possible, allowing mages to bend the rigid limits of a spell (e.g. to allow the effect to last longer or to make the spell more powerful). Manipulating a spell requires extra effort during spellcasting.

15- Spell formulae develop. A formula is a spell that can be manipulated at will, with no extra effort or concentration.

16- Spontaneous magic (casting “on-the-fly”) develops. Mages can select an effect and cast it without using a spell (drawing the energy directly from the essence of magic itself). Spontaneous magic can use components, but none are required.

17- Conjunctional magic becomes possible, allowing mages to mix different effects into the same casting (either as a spell or a spontaneous magic effect.)

18- Wish magic develops. A wish mirrors the desires of the mage creating it; what he wants, happens. Mages no longer need to learn different magical skills, as a wish can duplicate any one of them.

This is the beginning of the Age of Myth.

19- Potential wishes (wishes which are created by mages, but which can enact the desires of anyone) are possible.

20- Wish magic can be used unskilled, though trained mages are far more proficient.

21- Wish magic becomes an innate ability. Anyone can evoke a wish, simply by concentrating.

Jasyn Jones
jasynj (at) gmail (dot) com

"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
Ulysses, Alfred Lord Tennyson