fandomhigh | Thaumaturgy 101 - Thursday, First Period

Thaumaturgy 101 - Thursday, First Period - 1/22

Abigail Irene Garrett was bundled up in her best city coat, traveling dress, and boots. As her students filed in, she pointed them towards the tea and coffee she'd had Mary help her set up before the class had started.

"I'll take the freezing charm off of them in a moment; I just wanted to make sure it was hot for when you all came in," she said to her class with a smile.

"Unfortunately, we're covering a bit of history today so there will be no fireballs," a smile to one of her students ~~who was hopefully there~~ "nor any other warming influences other than the drinks. Hopefully, however, your scholastic spirit will be given plenty of fuel to burn."

She turned to the class with a brief chuckle.

"Don't worry, I know how ridiculous that sounded. I just couldn't resist."

And now to the board.

"The history of magic started, as you might expect, as an outgrowth of religion. While most western textbooks will point to the Greeks and the Romans as our mystical forebearers, I don't regret to inform you that there were traditions in ancient Egypt, ancient Africa, ancient China, and ancient India which started at the same time or even earlier in some cases. You might notice where I place these, how widely spread they are. Magic, and religion, are powerful human forces and that they sprang up in a multiplicity of locations simultaneously surprises me not one whit.

"The first we could call 'proto-magicians', however are the Magi of Zoroastrianism. The rites and rituals of their work are what shape our first 'school' of magic: the Hermetics. Some parts you might find familiar in this school are the use of 'magic words', ritual tools, the usage of a circle, and the utilization of symbols and sigils.

"In the periods following this, there were a number of different schools that came about. The Druids, who provided quite a lot to the ideaology of the magician as community leader, are one. They also gave us quite a lot of the woodlore used in sorcery today. Another is the Norse or the Teutonics, which held two schools based on two different gods. The magic of Odin, whose use of runes and bindrunes as well as sigils and symbology expanded upon the Hermetic principles, and the magic of Freya, more trancework, which was one of the first magical systems which dealt with the female powers as ideaologies. Some scholars insist that the Druids did as well, but as always, there is debate.

"Stepping back, I must point out the Egyptian mysteries, but I admit to you all that this is neither my cup of tea nor anything I intend to teach overly much about. Egyptian magic dealt heavily with the gods and their religion and it's nothing I've ever used or felt the need to use. That said, their use of amulets and formulae has been documented as being some of the most advanced at the time.

"Somewhere in the 13th century or so, Jewish mysticism came into play in the form of the study of Kabbalah, which while dabbling in magic, mostly took the form of exploration into the deeper portions of the religion. I feel the need to mention it, however, considering that some of the principles have found their way into magic today. With this came also demonology and angellogy, which are seperate subjects but also worthy of note.

"In the middle ages, however, magic and science became a close thing. Alchemy, which some of you might be familiar with, was one of their ideaological 'children' but the results of this coupling are far reaching and many though somewhat beyond the scope of this class. One of them I would like to bring to mind was the practicing of folk magic, which was as much common sense as anything else. But it was one of the first periods wherein the 'common' people felt they could use magic."

"This continued on into the Renaissance, which showed a return to the Greco-Roman ideaologies in some part, as well as the decrying of certain arts, such as necromancy and other 'black' magics."

She took a deep breath and smiled at the class.

"Don't worry. Almost done."

Then she continued.

"The periods after this were some of the darkest in magic's history. Witch hunts and all manner of unpleasantness came about due to the actions of the church. In my own world, this was not long lived though it resulted in the continuing registration of those studying magic and the use of marks for those in such programs."

She showed her own mark, or part of it that was in a decent place, a swirling mystical symbol outlined in red ink.

"Thankfully, however, these things did end and magic moved from a place of fear to once more stand beside science. Currently, for me at least, there are a number of different lodges and orders about, each with different goals and processes."

She breathed out.

"For now, though, I think, a bit of discussion to liven the blood up, shall we?"

[ocd up!]

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"I don't have any questions today," she said honestly, "mostly because we were so far over the map, I don't think they'd be fair. So I open it up to all of you.

"Any questions? Feel free to answer each other, or discuss points of interest."

[go nuts as you like]

Tony had a question. "So in the world you're from, magic users are branded?"

She shook her head.

"Marked. Tattooed, if you will, though I hesitate to use the term since it's not precisely correct.

"Upon entering a school of magic, a design is drawn over your heart. If it is one of the great schools, the design will be in red, as mine is. If it is one of the lesser schools, black. This design is upon you the rest of your life.

"Once you complete your training, the center of the mark fades, leaving only an outline, as you can see on my own."

"What happens if you don't want to be marked?" Tony asked.

"Then you don't get the education," she said, "as simple as that. Someone with the kinds of abilities that a trained magician has must be held accountable for his or her actions."

"Yeah, I get that. But how does a tattoo help?"

"Magic users are professionals like anyone else, marked just as an officer of the law by his badge or a butcher by his apron. It's just that unlike either of those two cases, our 'office' can never really be set aside as the knowledge is with us," she explained.

"But cops never really stop being cops, either," Tony said. Vicki had died and she was still going after bad guys.

"No," she agreed with a faint smile, wondering if he remembered, "but we also must work within certain jurisdictions and once we are 'off duty', we have the same rights and privileges as a normal citizen. And the same rules. A sorceress cannot lay aside her abilities or her knowledge. Neither can she lay aside her 'badge'."

"An off-duty cop's still got the same knowledge and abilities," Tony pointed out. "And maybe where you come from they're same as everyone, but back home, cops always get treated special by other cops, on-duty or off. Don't sorcerers have to follow the same rules, too?"

"Yes, but an off-duty police officer's knowledge won't allow him to hex someone to a painful death," she pointed out gently.

"And of course there's preference," she said, "but it's not institutional. It's a personal matter as opposed to a part of the system.

"And what sorcerers must or musn't do depend on their schooling. Myself, my knowledge is primarily in the forensic arts. A sorcerer in the army would have a different set of skills."

"Not hex them, maybe, but they could hurt or kill someone," Tony said. "Anyway, I don't see how the tattoo makes a difference. It's just a mark, right?"

"Anyone can hurt of kill someone," she pointed out, "but those methods are simple to track as opposed to magic. Either through the physical or the fiscal.

"And it is just a mark, though it cannot be removed once given."

She sat on her desk.

"Let me put it to you in this way: in a small village, an old man in killed in his bed, the result of magic. Now, there's a little old woman who's been arguing with him over the field between their houses who's always been a bit odd. She doesn't like people very much. Then there's a young student back from school to see his parents across town, a young bride visiting with her parents who were about to be foreclosed on by the man in question, and the man's son, who's never left the village but stands the most to gain.

"There's no physical evidence. And the thaumaturgical evidence has gone cold by the time that the investigator arrived.

"Who did it?"

"I don't know," Tony said. "Can you convict someone based on a tattoo?"

She shook her head.

"No, but it can clear the name of someone who might seem the most obvious.

"The old hag might be an old hag, but without a tattoo and no movement in her accounts, she can't be convicted or even truly accused. The young student was studying law. The young bride? Was a lucky benefactor. That the son had a friend in town..."

She spread her hands.

"It's no one thing, just as even a murder weapon or a confession mean that you've caught the culprit, but it narrows the field of who it couldn't be. It's as much to protect the suspects as it is to assist the officers of the law."

"But what if someone didn't go to the official schools but they still had the ability?" Tony asked.

Aha.

"Magic, I think, works quite a bit differently where I am as opposed to where you might be from. In my world, someone might have a propensity for magic, but without the training and the focus provided by a proper education, it will come to nought.

"For all I know, I could be the finest cellist in my world, but I've never touched one. Such is magic in my world."

Re: Discussion

wantstodirect - 2009-01-23 02:15 (UTC) - Expand

"I would be in so much trouble if it came down to me having to be marked to get official schooling in my magic."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Any particular reason?"

She gave her teacher her full attention, but there was a bit of sadness in her eyes. "Because first, in a magic system like that, I would have no place. It's hard enough that I come from two completely different sets and degrees of magic where the people have been at war for hundreds of years. I already have to be careful and be aware that I'm a walking target if the wrong people find out about me. Having a mark that would say what schooling I was getting for my powers would only make it easier for enemies to pinpoint me as a target. Witch schools and Sorcerer schools would have different marks and or colors in a system like that. Either way, I would be a marked target for the other side. Not to mention, if you are like me and come from two opposing bloodlines, how would someone decide where I was to go to school?"

Savannah's voice was soft because she didn't want to upset or offend Abigail -- whom she obviously respected -- but she could see how that kind of system could mean only one thing to people like her.

She nodded.

"I see. Well," and that came with a deep breath, "that's probably why your world doesn't have such a system."

She smiled kindly and tilted her head.

"If there's one thing I've learned while here, it's that what you have at home is what you have at home and the rest of the worlds can be quite different. We have no such divide, except perhaps between scholars who differ in opinions on matters. Nor are magic users 'targets' of anyone; they're professionals like anyone else, marked just as an officer of the law by his badge or a butcher by his apron. It's just that unlike either of those two cases, our 'office' can never really be set aside as the knowledge is with us."

She patted the edge of the design at her neckline.

"Also, I'm a bit of an old flirt and I wear things a bit more scandalous than most. Usually, the mark is not visible in public."

She was just proud of hers.

"And the point is only for private identification by officers of the law, not public display."

Savannah let out a breath of relief when she realized that she hadn't offended with her statement or her worries.

"I have to say, that your world seems like a nicer and more ordered place than most -- and I think that people on both sides in my world would really like to have a system were people were marked so they would know who was on what side." She smiled then. "Of course, I do pity any one who tried marking me as belonging to either side."

"My world has it's own trouble," she said, thinking of the Iroquis war mages that troubled the borders of the New World, "but we do like to keep things tidy."

"What happens if a person trains in more than one school of magic?" Agnes had to ask.

"The mark is reinked at the new school," she answered.

"Though this isn't done often. Each school has it's specialties."

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