Magic: Little Details
The way magic works. Whenever a wizard does something with it, it comes from inside of him. Wizards have to focus on what they're trying to do, visualize it, believe in it, to make it work. He can't make something happen that isn't somehow representational of who he truly is.
Salt and fire are two of our oldest purifying agents. You can throw salt on faeries, fetches, and myriad other beasties and at least have them hesitate, though there's no guarantee that you'll get any other result.
Emotions are a kind of channel for magic, a path that can be used to get to you.
The Doom of Damocles is a sort of sudden death sentence from the White Council. It means that you're getting a second chance when they could just sentence you to death, but that if you step even a toe over the line, a Warden will come and cut off your head. No appeals. Dead.
Carrying out a full enchantment is expensive and time-consuming.
Wizards may be of any religion, but when it comes to wielding objects of faith against those who are subject to them (demons and vampires spring to mind) a pentacle will work just as well as a cross for most wizards. The symbol of order, of the controlled patterns of power that are at the heart of white magic.
Raw power doesn't determine all that you can do with magic. Focus matters, too. The better your focus is, the better you are at putting your power in one place at the same time, the more you can get done.
A wizard can feel the cloud of energies that accompanies a spirit-being when it comes into the mortal world.
Taking a potion while already under the effect of another potion can have dire consequences including unforeseen magical effects, illness, and even death.
Wizards can work together on a spell, but you can never use more than thirteen. Everyone in the circle has to be committed to the spell, have no doubts, no reservations. And they have to trust one another implicitly.
Magic is a kind of energy. It is given shape by human thoughts and emotions, by imagination. Thoughts define that shape-and words help to define those thoughts. That's why wizards usually use words to help them with their spells. Words provide a sort of insulation as the energy of magic burns through a spell caster's mind. If a wizard uses words that he's too familiar with, words that are so close to his thoughts that he has trouble separating thought from word, that insulation is very thin. So most wizards use words from ancient languages they don't know very well, or else they make up nonsense words and mentally attach their meanings to a particular effect. That way, a wizard's mind has an extra layer of protection against magical energies coursing through it. But you can work magic without words, without insulation for your mind. If you're not afraid of it hurting a little.
The very best wizards don't need much more than chalk, table salt, and a wooden spoon to pull off some remarkable stuff.
A wizard's staff is a tool that helps him to apply forces, to manipulate them and maneuver them to his will.
Salt and fire are two of our oldest purifying agents. You can throw salt on faeries, fetches, and myriad other beasties and at least have them hesitate, though there's no guarantee that you'll get any other result.
Emotions are a kind of channel for magic, a path that can be used to get to you.
The Doom of Damocles is a sort of sudden death sentence from the White Council. It means that you're getting a second chance when they could just sentence you to death, but that if you step even a toe over the line, a Warden will come and cut off your head. No appeals. Dead.
Carrying out a full enchantment is expensive and time-consuming.
Wizards may be of any religion, but when it comes to wielding objects of faith against those who are subject to them (demons and vampires spring to mind) a pentacle will work just as well as a cross for most wizards. The symbol of order, of the controlled patterns of power that are at the heart of white magic.
Raw power doesn't determine all that you can do with magic. Focus matters, too. The better your focus is, the better you are at putting your power in one place at the same time, the more you can get done.
A wizard can feel the cloud of energies that accompanies a spirit-being when it comes into the mortal world.
Taking a potion while already under the effect of another potion can have dire consequences including unforeseen magical effects, illness, and even death.
Wizards can work together on a spell, but you can never use more than thirteen. Everyone in the circle has to be committed to the spell, have no doubts, no reservations. And they have to trust one another implicitly.
Magic is a kind of energy. It is given shape by human thoughts and emotions, by imagination. Thoughts define that shape-and words help to define those thoughts. That's why wizards usually use words to help them with their spells. Words provide a sort of insulation as the energy of magic burns through a spell caster's mind. If a wizard uses words that he's too familiar with, words that are so close to his thoughts that he has trouble separating thought from word, that insulation is very thin. So most wizards use words from ancient languages they don't know very well, or else they make up nonsense words and mentally attach their meanings to a particular effect. That way, a wizard's mind has an extra layer of protection against magical energies coursing through it. But you can work magic without words, without insulation for your mind. If you're not afraid of it hurting a little.
The very best wizards don't need much more than chalk, table salt, and a wooden spoon to pull off some remarkable stuff.
A wizard's staff is a tool that helps him to apply forces, to manipulate them and maneuver them to his will.