Tamwen
Troubadour
Okay... This is a very rough idea, and I'm trying to figure it out by discussing it. It's in no way a final draft idea.
So... This mainly stemmed from an interest in two games: Guild Wars and Thief.
In Guild Wars, one of my favorite classes visually is the Ritualist. http://wiki.guildwars.com/images/e/e6/Ritualist_render.jpg It always seemed very interesting to me; the whole blindfold yourself thing and all the very primal jewelry with the beads and teeth and tattoos. So when I was brainstorming a good magic system for my story, the visual interestingness of the Ritualist was a sort of... jumping off point.
In essence, there are two types of magic. They aren't mutually exclusive by any means, but the path of one is rarely taken.
The first and most common type is the use of crystals. This is where the interest in Thief comes in. In Thief, there were elemental crystals that grew in various places. You could find water crystals in fountains and streams, fire crystals among the coals of a fireplace, earth crystals wedged in trees or among grass and bushes, etc. You could use these crystals as arrowheads, and when they shattered, they would cause an effect that reflected their element. A water crystal that shattered would create water, a shattered fire crystal would start a fire, etc.
Crystals in my world are similar. They either are naturally suffused with a certain element, or a member of the next type of magic suffuses it with magic. More often than not, these crystals are used in a way that requires no actual skill in mage-craft. Fire crystal could line the edge of a sword, allowing it to be ringed with fire; or armor can have earth crystal embedded in it to provide better, lighter protection. This type of augmentation is extremely difficult and thus extremely expensive.
If one receives special training, one can control the magic in these crystals and cast spells using wands or staffs. Each elemental type is different, and thus different training is required for different elements. Consequently, it's very rare for a mage to be able to control multiple kinds of crystals/elements. People with certain personalities or dispositions may have a knack for certain elements; people who are independent, assertive, and difficult to control have a natural affinity for fire, while predictable, practical, responsible people tend to be better suited to earth. This is perhaps the crudest, simplest form of magic use, yet it's also the most common.
The other, more difficult form of magic use is the acknowledgement and control of the natural magic that is just there. Ambient magic, so to speak. However, to see this magic you have to be blind. This is where the visual aspect of the Ritualist class come in Those who are born blind and those who lose their sight in less natural fashions can join the Sightless Guild and are employed by courts. Some destroy their eyes on purpose to gain this new form of Sight, but this is rare. In exchange for their eyesight, and after effort and work, the Sightless gain the Sight. The Sight allows them to "see" the rivers of natural, raw magic that flow throughout the world. Since they can see this magic, they can control it far easier than someone with natural sight can. The result is more powerful spells, but at the cost of the magic being far more difficult to control, since it's "unrefined". Sightless also gain the ability to sense the emotions of people around them and tell if they're lying or not. With time, this can become a sort of Second Sight, but it's an incredibly cumbersome ability in certain situations. Some Sightless have been driven mad when exposed to large amounts of intense emotion for too long, such as being trapped in the middle of a riot or among tortured people. The Sightless also infuse magically neutral crystals with elemental magic, being able to pick out magics of certain elements from the air and force it into the crystals. These crystals are occasionally prone to randomly exploding depending on the amount of magic forced into them and the skill of the Sightless who forced the magic into them.
So... This mainly stemmed from an interest in two games: Guild Wars and Thief.
In Guild Wars, one of my favorite classes visually is the Ritualist. http://wiki.guildwars.com/images/e/e6/Ritualist_render.jpg It always seemed very interesting to me; the whole blindfold yourself thing and all the very primal jewelry with the beads and teeth and tattoos. So when I was brainstorming a good magic system for my story, the visual interestingness of the Ritualist was a sort of... jumping off point.
In essence, there are two types of magic. They aren't mutually exclusive by any means, but the path of one is rarely taken.
The first and most common type is the use of crystals. This is where the interest in Thief comes in. In Thief, there were elemental crystals that grew in various places. You could find water crystals in fountains and streams, fire crystals among the coals of a fireplace, earth crystals wedged in trees or among grass and bushes, etc. You could use these crystals as arrowheads, and when they shattered, they would cause an effect that reflected their element. A water crystal that shattered would create water, a shattered fire crystal would start a fire, etc.
Crystals in my world are similar. They either are naturally suffused with a certain element, or a member of the next type of magic suffuses it with magic. More often than not, these crystals are used in a way that requires no actual skill in mage-craft. Fire crystal could line the edge of a sword, allowing it to be ringed with fire; or armor can have earth crystal embedded in it to provide better, lighter protection. This type of augmentation is extremely difficult and thus extremely expensive.
If one receives special training, one can control the magic in these crystals and cast spells using wands or staffs. Each elemental type is different, and thus different training is required for different elements. Consequently, it's very rare for a mage to be able to control multiple kinds of crystals/elements. People with certain personalities or dispositions may have a knack for certain elements; people who are independent, assertive, and difficult to control have a natural affinity for fire, while predictable, practical, responsible people tend to be better suited to earth. This is perhaps the crudest, simplest form of magic use, yet it's also the most common.
The other, more difficult form of magic use is the acknowledgement and control of the natural magic that is just there. Ambient magic, so to speak. However, to see this magic you have to be blind. This is where the visual aspect of the Ritualist class come in Those who are born blind and those who lose their sight in less natural fashions can join the Sightless Guild and are employed by courts. Some destroy their eyes on purpose to gain this new form of Sight, but this is rare. In exchange for their eyesight, and after effort and work, the Sightless gain the Sight. The Sight allows them to "see" the rivers of natural, raw magic that flow throughout the world. Since they can see this magic, they can control it far easier than someone with natural sight can. The result is more powerful spells, but at the cost of the magic being far more difficult to control, since it's "unrefined". Sightless also gain the ability to sense the emotions of people around them and tell if they're lying or not. With time, this can become a sort of Second Sight, but it's an incredibly cumbersome ability in certain situations. Some Sightless have been driven mad when exposed to large amounts of intense emotion for too long, such as being trapped in the middle of a riot or among tortured people. The Sightless also infuse magically neutral crystals with elemental magic, being able to pick out magics of certain elements from the air and force it into the crystals. These crystals are occasionally prone to randomly exploding depending on the amount of magic forced into them and the skill of the Sightless who forced the magic into them.
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Acolyte
Istar
