Spellcasters, Part 2: Sorcerers

Sorcerers were the most common sort of magic user in Rothganar. The sorcerer’s channeling was the simplest and most direct, with Words and gestures of power directing the flow of thaumaturgical energies through the caster’s aura. Sometimes a circle was drawn or otherwise laid out to help the mind focus on the proper pathway.

Certain Words could only be handled by more powerful auras. Nearly anyone, for example, could learn a Word or two, and how to combine them, but to attain any mastery of the arts required careful study and practice. Basically destructive spells were most common: fire, lightning, and other energies of the world.

Formal sorcerous training consisted of many levels, of which theory and practice were both a part; individual sorcerers were on different levels for each, so it wasn’t uncommon to find excellent theorists who weren’t powerful casters, for example, or vice versa.

Some famous sorcerers include Ceadda of the Gray, who invented many of his own spells, and whose research was nearly all lost with magic’s fall; Basil Gravemoss, who discovered how to make zombies semi-intelligent servitors; Ihab Darzi, inventor of the spell to change a person’s body from one sex to another; Rhuez Kinslayer, who discovered the Raining Fire; and Oriana Drago, known for her work with the unicorn Ambiorix.

Just for fun, the first spells a sorcerer was expected to master were:

detect other effects
produce an orb of light
clean their clothing
produce a spark sufficient to light a fire
cause a small breeze to blow, sufficient to freshen the air in a dank chamber
lubricate moving parts
purify a gallon of water
sharpen a blade

 

Check back next week to learn more about priestly magic!