Treatises on Conclave Magic
by Ardias Kayen
Necromancy
Necromancy first entered our world from another plane all together.
Nagash the lich sorcerer broke through into our world at a site called Kalib
Duhr. There are many texts that speak of him but all knowledge pertaining
to him is scarce even while compiled together. What we do know is that he
may have originally been from our world, and found a way through magic to
leave our plane. When he returned he was himself one of the undead and is
the most powerful Necromancer to ever live... Or not as it were.
From the Conclave of Magic studying Nagash, they were able to discern quite
a great deal about his craft. Part of Nagash's power is religious and
divine in nature, so the Conclave dismissed much that was granted by
otherworldly powers, and focussed instead on what they could understand.
When the spellbook was compiled it gave the Conclave what we know today as
The Necromancer. Though from ancient studies we can see that these are not
True Necromancers, but their powers certainly reflect some of what is
possible.
The Necromancer is a powerful mage. But they are also an embalmer and an
anatomist. They study all parts of the dead. It's stages of decomposition,
and it's affect on surrounding environments. The most powerful Necromancers
can maintain a grasp upon life and their soul beyond even the borders of
mortality, which speaks to an expansive understanding of exactly what death
is made up of. They also seem to understand that darkness, and more
specifically The Dark Powers have a very heavy pull on Necromancy, even
though there are white robes that practice it. The Black Robes were the
original bringers of such an art.
Animating the dead is the core of what they can do, but it seems the
disconnect between Necromancy that we know, and the Necromancy brought back
by Nagash, is that the Conclave has almost no ability to manipulate souls.
Most reanimation done by a Necromancer of the Conclave will give a state of
living to something that which is dead, but recovering memories or souls to
such things is nearly beyond them. Most will tell you that such magic is
very difficult and beyond their skills. Others will simply say nothing and
move on.
Their magic is always stronger in the darkness and the night hours. Which
is evident that this is a magic of our Pantheon, no matter what the
scholarly of the towers will say. Darkness gives it strength, thus it
belongs to Darkness. In this fashion we can assume that what holes that
have been left by the Conclave not being able to understand what has come
from beyond, they have filled in with the dark powers from our Pantheon.
These conclusions lead me to several questions that I think we would all
benefit from considering. Firstly what could this art be if there were a
more complete understanding of it? Second, what could we learn from Nagash
about his journeys. And finally, if death itself is a power, and the
conclave only wields it in the most adjacent of manners, what would it take
to have a full grasp?
Transmutation
Transmutation is the study of the very tiniest of elements of magic. The
Magic that exists in all things, that connects all things. Transmutation is
the science of manipulating this magic, it is one of the most difficult
spellbooks to master.
Transmutation is another art that has fallen short of it's potential. With
the study the Magi have learned to change things at their basest nature. Go
into the divine magic of creation and change it very slightly. Even the
dangerous spell of Disjunction is a magic strong enough to strip away and
nullify other magics. All transmutation is based around such wizardry.
The roots of such magic come directly from the trinity of moons that are the
patron gods of the Conclave. They gave the Magi a tiny glance into the
magic that links all things, but I cannot help but think that with more
study they could be even more powerful.
The possibilities are beyond imagining, what could be done with
understanding of magic that binds all things, that is the basest level of
creation. Changing the very primordial nature of objects. More research is
required, but the applications are endless.
Invocation
Invocation is the study of Magic amplified. An Invoker is a mage taken
to the next level. They do not hold true to any certain field of magery,
more moving all fields of magic into one and through study, learning how to
make it even more powerful.
Invocation is the simplest kind of Spellbook the Conclave holds, it is
merely an in depth study of what makes up a Magi.
The end result is a mage that can torque the powers of magic to such a
degree that they have the ability to even produce a shell that is immune to
magic and magical weapons.
Magic of this caliber is very strenuous on the mind. Many magi do not have
the mental talent to endure what kind of power they have to channel, it is
the most attempted and the most failed spellbook in the history of the
Towers.
The power of the Invoker is quite a draw for many inside the towers, but
it's lack of specialization drives many away. We may remember the longest
reigning champion of the Gladiator League being a Minotaur Invoker. Truly
those who can do Invocation well, are magicians to be feared.
The next study will be the final study in the Spellbooks of the Conclave,
the study of Battle Magic.
Battlemagic
The final Magic study is in regards to Battle Magic. Unlike the other
spellbooks of Conclave this specialized art is a recent innovation for the
soul reason that protecting themselves in combat has become a way of life
for the Mage school.
It's study is solely based upon the spells used in Combat and spells that
would benefit a magi in comabt. They tend to be very long lived, and can
withstand copious amounts of punishment on the field of warfare. They stand
best in groups and basically have the ability to expand a groups battle
longevity tenfold.
The only issue with Battle Magic is that it's arcane study is not expansive
and was brought to the Conclave by Seanan the Mage from a time long in the
past, even though some say it was far in the future he came from.
Thus because the Conclave has not had time enough to fully study the
spellbook, or have any books that may be pertinent to the betterment of it,
they have no real grasp of how to properly use Battle magic. Though through
further study, the Conclave may be able to expand it's usefulness to more
than just combat and give it even greater clout in their school.
For now the greatest application for such is in the yearly Tournaments of
the Clans, where they can use Battle Magic to heal and protect their
fighters. Even with this spellbook however they have not been able to hone
their skills enough to hold a Tournament Title. However the future is not
clear to us, and we may be surprised, but the current state of the Conclave
suggests that they won't be able to compete very well in this year's
Tournament.
I hope you have all learned from these studies in Magic, I have learned a
great deal from my time spent with the Magus' of the Conclave. No further
studies will follow, but I am of course open to questions at any time.