ThornsWiki ThornsWiki

The Noble Uses

Ideally, there are certain Noble Uses for which magic may be used. These noble uses are:

1. Knowledge
2. Conquest
3. Glorification of the gods

(An unspoken but almost universally accepted fourth use is helping others.)

It is considered unwise to use magic for a base or selfish purpose, for fear of offending the mona or the Circle Gods.

However, magic is often used for entertainment: magic shows, duels and other displays of power are seen as paying tribute to the gods, and are quite common. Magic may also be used to teach others, to help others, to experiment, or to punish. Combat with magic is not unusual, justified through "conquest." Most galdori use Perceptive Conversation to fight with, since it can be the most painful.

No Base Magic

The Noble Uses have more or less led to a No Base Magic rule in galdori society, and most Kingdoms have developed scientific methods of replicating spells that prove themselves useful.

Spells are often used to aid scientific advancement, such as in the case of air balloons, timekeeping and steam engines. This way, the galdori have every convenience they need without having to resort to selfish magic.

Many galdori do not adhere to the noble uses, although they outwardly pretend to do so. In reality, a single slip-up does not often affect the potency or effectiveness of spells; however if they abuse magic repeatedly, they might gain a bad reputation among the mona and their spells might not work as well as they would otherwise. With more complex spells, it is very wise to follow the noble uses.

Because the mona has a long (possibly eternal) memory, habitual abuse of or long term purposeful ignorance of the noble uses will eventually lead to backlash, overstepping, and failure.

Wicks, on the other hand, are not bound to the noble uses nor do they care to follow them, mostly because their magic is weaker and their relationships with the mona much more casual. However, some wicks try to abide by the noble uses on principle.

Limitations of Magic

Magic is limited by certain physical rules. Galdori have struggled to overcome these limitations for years, but they appear to be fundamental. Many galdori consider these limitations to be positive things, because in most cases, overcoming them would upset the balance between life and death. Additional limitations of magic are as follows:

• The mona cannot show anyone the future, due to the linear nature of time.
• Currently, magic is not advanced enough to allow for complete transmutation between organic beings. All experiments regarding this have resulted in subject death. Organic beings are believed to be too complex to transmutate. Aspects of organic beings can be changed, or their growth accelerated, but to change an organic being fundamentally is impossible.
• A galdor cannot summon anything alive from another location.
• Matter and energy cannot be created from nothing. Everything that is summoned is drawing energy from somewhere else.
• No magic is eternal, and often aspects of a spell will wear off the moment the galdor who cast it falls asleep or ceases the mental connection with the spell. Only an Everspell comes close to lasting forever; these spells require the cooperation of hundreds of galdori to cast, and the oldest of these spells has lasted for millenia.
• Life cannot be created where none was previously, although it can be recovered if death was very recent.

Biological Consequences

The use of magic by both galdori and wicks is physically taxing. Casting a spell, maintaining a spell, and the complex nature of spell casting takes a physical toll on all magical beings. For this reason, casters have a finite spell casting endurance—they will tire, grow ill, pass out, or suffer physical maladies if they push themselves too far in any given situation. Prolonged use of some types of magic has permanent side-effects. No spell caster is invincible!

A Note on Spell Complexity

Complexity is a factor in the difficulty of magic spells. Single elements are easy to control, as are simple molecules. The more complex the design, the longer the spell takes to cast, and the more difficult it becomes.