Practical Applications of Magic

Yes, the Fiery Tales speak of mages casting all kinds of destructive spells on enemies big and small. Even the legends from the Age of Sunarghs speak of Bloodmagic used to tear people apart – at a cost, but still. (See Magic in War). Talk of mighty magicks fertilize children’s imagination, but the tearing asunder of walls, or the summoning of a blizzard to freeze a river, or the conjuring of scalding air to burn foes to cinder are the exception, never the norm.

Over the millennia of studying magic, mages far and wide have again and again found new ways to employ Potential.

The Awakening of Practical Applications of Magic

When one looks at the barbaric way humans live, it’s easy to imagine a time before the Lightbringer taught our ancestors magic. And judging from the way even small human realms war with one another, limiting the knowledge we made available to them makes a certain kind of sense. But as the Phoenix debacle of Taogh demonstrated quite aptly, not teaching them the more destructive ways to employ magic did not prevent them from figuring it out all by themselves.

In the far eastern country of Gengharaidh, the elves proceeded differently. Once their pets proved their sentience, they began to fully treat them as equals, no formulae, no shortcuts, no spells. If humans wanted to learn magic, they would learn it the same way as the elves. There, training begins the moment a child displays self-awareness and an aptitude for Potential. Provided the child, and its parents, agree to the training, these human children are then taken to remote building complexes, similar to the dwarven Places of Contemplation, called manchainns, where they learn by observing nature, studying growth and decay, learning the same way elves do. The training is rigorous. The human children learn about the dangers of Bloodmagic, and how to calm their minds properly to avoid feeding their own life to the magic.

I digress. Suffice to say, there is no one true way to learn Potential. All roads lead to Honas Graigh, as the old saying goes.

Humans still wrestle with the concept of magic surrounding us all, thus the late Phoenix Wizards of Taogh viewed themselves as exclusive, their talents special enough to demand special treatment. It’s quite telling that none of them ever visited Gathran’s capital, or Ma’tallon’s Royal Palace. They would have been surprised how . . . common magic is. Or rather how commonplace it is.

Tapping Into Memory

It all boils down to Potential. Items remember. A wheel which has known movement remembers, and magic can remind the wheel of said motion. In many cases it’s still more convenient to use draft animals, especially since wheels very rarely are considered edible. (After all, a horse or cow has at least two purposes for a caravan or baggage train.) Still, Branh the First, Emperor of the Eastern Empire, abolished all transport animals in Breiamhbéo because of the manure thousands of animals produced on a daily basis. (The stench was unbearable, and an army of street cleaners had to be employed to manage the animal waste. ~K) Instead rails were cut into the cobblestone of the streets, each wide enough to contain a common wagon-wheel. Now, there are passenger wagons connecting virtually every spot in the city with every other one. A minor mage is employed as drover, reminding the wheels that they have been rolling before. Before long, they drovers’ guild of Breiamhbéo found a way to avoid having to bodily turn the wagons around at the end of the line, since the wheels only remember going in one direction. Now, the rails are loops circling the city.

In ages past, we are told, elves heated their homes with wood or charcoal burning in an oven or fireplace. A truly primitive concept, if ever there was such a thing. Humans of Taogh and in very isolated places, cut off from elven civilization, still resort to such barbaric methods. The modern elven household has stone floors which are riddled with connected pipes that converge at one point. At this point, a stone stands in the center of a copper contraption. The stone has spent a great deal of time near open flame. (Yes, we still use fire. ~K) They spent even more time cooling down afterwards. Once the cold season comes, and Lady Ice visits the lands her children built, mages remind the stones of the heat they once held. The stone remembers, and heats the air inside the container. Hot air rises through the piping, warming the stones, and pushing the cold air down to the hot stone. (This type of heating is supremely sophisticated. Not everyone can afford such a system, for the engineering skills required are rare, thus expensive. Most families, especially in apartment complexes, have stone powered ovens instead. Its piping is much cruder, but it suffices. ~K)

Noble houses might have a mage on retainer. This mage is solely occupied with reminding all kinds of things of heat or motion. Yes, motion is not just for wagon wheels. Wheels can also be stationary, horizontally aligned. With the right contraption, washing laundry becomes very easy. Provided one can afford the mage.

Reminding stones they once were hot is simple. Typically, a minor mage can take care of an apartment building’s ovens in a short amount of time, thus the expenses are comparatively small. The mage has a steady income in the winter months, and the people don’t freeze.

The same goes for cooking stones. The eateries for the common folk have a number of stone slabs with cut out trays for the food being prepared. These are heated by Potential magic as well. Noble households have far more elaborate and differentiated heating systems in their kitchens. It’s said that the Imperial kitchen even has dedicated heating plates, thin slabs of stone that maintain the barest minimum of heat to keep the contents of the pot resting on it warm. (It’s a fact, I’ve seen it. ~K)

Aside from these obvious domestic applications, mages also find employ in construction. Of course, they don’t lay bricks, their specialization lies elsewhere. Pulley systems have been in use for countless (elven) generations, and cranes were developed out of these. The mage simply reminds the wheel of its motion, and the weight is lifted up. Furthermore, with magic, transporting timber has become an easy task. A tree trunk is simply reminded of its past as a sapling, and suddenly a wagonload of trunks can be carried in a basket. Provided, of course, the mage doesn’t lose their concentration. Several rumored accidents are actually based on fact. Mages have lost their concentration whilst carrying baskets of saplings, and ended up being crushed by their load the instant their focus broke. In many instances the mage was not the only victim of the sudden appearance of a dozen tree trunks on a lively street.

Since introducing magic into the field of surgery, Caretakers are able to repair far more injuries. A broken bone needs to be reminded what it was like before the accident, once the pieces have become temporarily one again, screws to hold the fragments in place are applied. Bleeds can be halted, for however long it takes to put pressure and bandages on wounds. Any of these operations do require the mage be educated in anatomy, their knowledge rivaling that of the most dedicated healers of Eanaigh.

(I’ve been witness of one operation in which a broken collarbone and shoulder were reassembled by a team of surgeons aided by two mages, each focusing on another set of bones. ~K)

Other practical applications of magic include the production of olive oil, the weaving of cloth – basically anything that involves a piece of machinery repeating the same thing all the time. And while nobody can deny this method’s overall efficiency there are some who prefer working the old-fashioned way. Obviously their products are more expensive as it involves a lot more labor.

Local Variations of Practical Magicks

Elsewhere it’s been said that magic is the world, so its usage is as diverse as the people living in it. Glassblowers in the east have been using magic for millennia to heat the sand that is turned into glass. Mage-smiths have stopped using charcoal fires in other parts of the world. Some of these methods are copied with much success; others are shunned for one reason or another. Magically propelled carts are a common sight farther east, but virtually unknown in Gathran’s former heartlands. Then again, while mortar is used everywhere, Gathran’s liquid stone has yet to be copied successfully.