Feedback on my magic style

I have been writing about my background lore recently, and wrote long and hard about my magic. Warning: it's fairly long.

"Magic is the force of the supernatural. It can be used to control the elements, change shape, summon demons, speak with spirits and have all manner of other abilities. All mages must exercise caution when practicing magic – commit to casting too powerful a spell, and the caster will die. There areten magical disciplines:
Shapeshifting: This, as the name implies, is the art of changing one’s shape. This requires a great deal of will, not to mention having to have knowledge of the creature beforehand. It is achieved by studying the creature to be shifted into, both its natural habits and its shape. When understanding of the animal has been achieved, the mage can cast a transformation spell on himself/herself to turn into that particular creature.
Summoning: Summoning is generally frowned upon as an art that can easily be misused – it is the summoning of spirits and demons. This magic is only for the powerful-willed, as any summoned demon has to be subdued by willpower before it can be turned to the summoner’s use. Demons are generally malicious entities, but are only ever seen in the company of a summoner. Likewise, spirits can only be seen when summoned, and never be alone. Spirits, unlike demons, are not very capable of aid in a battle, but can be very informative. They can provide details on just about anything, from a cooking recipe to who is likely to be elected next Kindred Archmage.
Natural: Natural magic commands the elements. It is as hard to master as each element is volatile, but it is the most commonly studied magic. The most powerful natural mages can summon thunderstorms, incinerate large areas, and cause rivers to flood or freeze at a moment’s notice. The basic elements for command are: Fire, Water, Air and Earth.
Psychic: The ability to teleport and read minds, among other things, is alluring to many. Psychic magic is one of the less directly offensive disciplines, with abilities like teleportation and reading weaker-willed individuals’ minds. It also comes with the ability to move things with your mind – the heavier the object, the more willpower it takes to lift. The most powerful psychics could lift whole buildings. Potentially even whole mountains. They could rip the world apart if they were powerful and numerous enough, but then, so could any discipline. The psychics are pretty rare as mages go anyway.
Shadow: Wielding shadow magic is wielding raw power. A shadowmancer pours all of their power into an item, anything at all, and this item will then be a raw weapon programmed distinctly into that person. Should anyone else attempt to wield a shadowmancer’s weapon, it will not work. A shadowmancer’s ring would just be a regular ring to anyone else; but to him, he would be able to create shadows and control the ones already existing. Shadows made solid can be a powerful weapon, but shadow magic is generally not used much. There are small pockets of shadowmancers in most nations, and some extremely expensive mercenaries use this, but in respected institutions, it is a rare discipline.
Kinemancy: The power of sheer magnetism; the pulling and pushing of raw force is used by a kinemancer. With a wave of his hand, an incredibly powerful kinemancer could level cities and devastate armies. However, kinemancy takes more effort in sheer willpower than any other discipline, so much so that barely any can wield it. Those who can barely ever try to wield it, as other disciplines can be more rewarding earlier than kinemancy. This leads to there being barely any kinemancers, and those that do exist are usually Grand Mages or the Kindred Archmage in Kindred lands, or hermits in other lands.
Illusion: Illusion magic is not at all powerful, and is usually used by mages who enjoy magic, but put other training first. It can startle enemies, shroud people and objects into invisibility, and alter the way people think about something. In its own way, it has power unmatched by any other, but illusionists usually have some kind of melee or archery training, to defend in battle when against strong-willed warriors like elite dwarven troops. While other disciplines have a direct way of fighting, illusion focuses more on avoiding the fight in the first place.
Physical: Just as psychics utilise their magic to augment their minds, physical mages use their power to augment their bodies. Powerful physical mages can run faster than a natural athlete at the cost of exerting themselves in the same way a natural mage would casting a spell. They can hit things harder than any warrior, but the strength of the blow depends on the exertion. They do this by learning to channel magic to their muscles as a substitute or alongside oxygen from their lungs; this allows them to be some of the most physically fit people on the planet.
Vitamancy: Vitamancy is the wielding of life force. Vitamancers are healers, and some would say they are the most influential discipline. They can heal wounds, ranging from cuts and bruises to near-fatal stabbings, deep arrow wounds, and such – depending on the power of the mage. They may be scarce, but every court is known to have one or two vitamancers in their staff. Their power can also be terrible: their healing works by the vitamancer coming into physical contact with the patient, and thereby searching the patient’s body for the affliction or wound. This also has the unfortunate side-effect of being able to feel the patient’s pain – but, just as a wound can be closed, flesh can be torn from the inside outwards. In this way a vitamancer can stop a heart, freeze a brain, or even rip someone limb from limb. They also have the hindrance of having to be able to touch the victim/patient in order to work their power. This is also a relatively newly-developed discipline, and most practitioners find it unwieldy at times.
Tainted: Tainted Magic is the only outright forbidden art. It is wielded by the Blightchildren and their Doomfathers on the Unnamed Continent, and also by any mage Darkfollower who has surrendered enough power to the Dark. It uses willpower like all magic, but can also take others’ blood and life force as a sacrifice for spells that would otherwise kill. Any life or land affected by it turns twisted as the Taint spreads. It can be used to force other, weaker-willed beings into service, as well as corrupt living things. Its main offensiveness lies in sapping the life force of an enemy and causing them great pain in the process."

Feedback? Thoughts? Constructive criticism?

 

A mage can choose a discipline, and experiment with any discipline until they are satisfied with one. There are laws on magic which dictate that, when a mage comes of age, he or she must go through a ritual to lock their powers into a discipline. Once this ritual has occurred, the mage is more powerful in their discipline, but cannot use the other disciplines. Of course, rogue polymagicians exist, but they are hunted ruthlessly whenever one is sighted. The exception to the locking is Tainted Magic, which is bestowed through following the Dark God.

 

Races have aptitudes, but mostly it's down to personal choice. Humans are better shadowmancers and sometimes psychics or physicals, Dwarves are better nature mages, half-elves are the best illusionists, and elves have aptitude for whatever they want, but tend to prefer the less directly-combative ones, like psychic, physical or summoning. The orks don't have many mages, due to their seclusion from the rest of the world, but the ones that do are usually weak polymagicians, due to not knowing the ritual. Ork mages generally hold high positions in their culture, like advisers or tribe chiefs.

 

I have these rules, they're just under different entries in various documents.

I'm not too sure on the details of where it comes from, but for magic to be wielded it requires sufficient willpower to harness it. The stronger a magician's will, the more powerful they can be. There are also other ways to strengthen power, but they require dealing with various supernatural forces.

You become a user of magic by being taught by pretty much anything that knows it, whether a person or even just a book. The Mage Clouds (the magical schools in the Elven territories) generally have teachers in all of the disciplines, but also various different books on the applications of magic.

Anyone can learn magic; it just requires someone to learn how to harness their abilities.

 

Thanks! Always nice to hear that people appreciate your work.

I think that that is an interesting, let alone original, point of view. I don't think it would work for my disciplines though, but it's a good idea anyhow.