• Aliese's test
• Prologue: Pillars of Light (new draft)
• Basis of Magic

Basis of Magic

There are 4 main schools of magic in the world:

• Evocation: Evocation deals with any external magic that you bring about yourself, through your own ties to the source. There are two sub-schools regarding evocation
• personal: this would include things like holding a light spell in your hand, or burning someone through a touch
• ranged: any magic which continues to function for a short period of time after losing contact with you. That same light spell when projected away from you would be considered ranged. This is different from enchantment in that the energy still comes from your connection to the source, rather than from a permanently forged independent connection. Ranged spellcasting is more difficult because of the mental control needed to direct the spell.
  
• Summoning: Summoning is fairly self-explanatory. Any magic which causes an extra-planar being to come into existence qualifies. Control over the summoned being is dependent on the power of the caster and the power of the being summoned.
• Enchantment: Enchantment involves creating a direct tie to the source to allow a spell to function on its own.
  
• Enchantments have widely varying levels of power, depending on the capabilities of the caster and the durability of the object. A stone table with a simple light rune is going to be more powerful than the same rune on paper. A more elaborate rune pattern would increase the power substantially on either.
• Enchantments also have varying timeframes that they function. An experienced caster can create a tie that will outlive him. A novice would be lucky to forge a link that lasted more than a day.
• Infusion: Infusion is the ability to imbue yourself with magic to change properties of yourself. The ability to make yourself physically stronger or faster, more mentally alert, or to morph your body completely are examples. Infusion is the least understood school, and the hardest to detect. It is also the most dangerous. Where the other three schools are able to be controlled by any number of mages, it is almost (but not completely) impossible to have someone else control another mage's infusions. A mistake infusing yourself can have lethal consequences. Infusion runes can be drawn in the air alone, or could be drawn/tattooed onto your body for a much more powerful effect.

In a given academy, there exists one or more high mages from each of these schools. when testing a new student, one high mage from each of the schools must be present to act as a witness. In order to qualify for acceptance into the school, a person must be able to demonstrate one of two things:

1. They must have a very high raw potential in a single school. An evoker that can create a light spell that's blinding would likely qualify.
2. They must be able to perform the simplest of spells from two or more different schools.  Mages of this sort are more common, and although they may be weaker than a savant mage, they are more versatile.

Any person who cannot meet those criteria is turned out. If they have a basic talent in only one school, they are watched for a time to see if they will develop more. They are also taught enough to have control of their magic. People who can use only infusion are cautioned that experimentation with their own body is extremely dangerous, and are advised to forget that they have any magic at all.

Nullification is the fifth school of magic, and it is different from the other four in many ways.

1. It doesn't use any runes.  Since nullification is the absence of magic, creating a rune for nullification would be counter-productive
2. It is not taught. Since nullification doesn't use runes, it's impossible to teach it, because it has no structure. It is more like an aura, and only through honing the ability to sense and direct that aura can you progress as a nullifier.
   
3. Nullification isn't practiced. There are no nullification mages. They are practically shunned by the magecraft, for obvious reasons. That isn't to say that there aren't people who know how to use nullification. They just aren't tested and accepted as students.