Realms of Power: Magic Chapter One: Introduction

This page is part of the Realms of Power: Magic Open Content.

Introduction

The book you now hold in your hands might be described by the magi of Mythic Europe as a great compendium of supernatural knowledge and wisdom — a book that describes the true nature of the Magic realm, and that outlines for the first time many of the fundamental concepts of the world of Ars Magica. Within its living pages you will experience the full majesty of the medieval setting at its most ideal, as Magic causes all things to become everything they could be — or should be. Here, Magic makes the lowly serpent into a fearsome dragon, it turns a tranquil clearing into a place of breathtaking beauty, and it transforms an ordinary and mundane person into a mighty wizard.

This book has been divided into two parts. The first part, Places of Magic, covers Magic tied to a physical location, including auras, regiones, vis, and the Magic Realm itself. This type of Magic is the most common sort experienced by people in Mythic Europe. The second part of the book, Beings of Magic, describes how players can incorporate the realm of Magic into their characters through magical influence, new Virtues and Flaws, Magic Abilities, and even ways to play magical beings as characters. It contains examples of characters that have been changed by Magic, or that have left the Magic Realm and come to manifest in the world outside of its boundaries.

What is Magic?

Of all the supernatural realms of power in Ars Magica, Magic is likely to be the one that characters will encounter most often, as covenants are usually located within Magic auras, and all Hermetic magi are aligned to the Magic realm. Yet unlike the power of the Divine or the Infernal, Magic is not associated with what people do, so much as it is a part of what they are. Theoretically, any person can become more Divine or more Infernal simply by behaving more or less virtuously, but to become Magical, the character must essentially change. Magic is in the blood, so to speak; it is part of the character’s fundamental nature.

Magical beings are simply better than mundane beings; and in this case “better than” means “idealized versions of.” Magical beings are closer to perfection. This is not always superior or desirable, since something can be a perfect failure or a perfect disaster. However, to measure how magical a thing is, a good method is to examine how closely it conforms to an ideal. For example, a magical wolf is even more like the ideal wolf than a mundane wolf, in that it has qualities that make it better at being a wolf, and inferiorities that make it worse at being anything other than a wolf.

To help players describe things that are more or less part of the Magic realm, here are three facts about Magic. Note that these facts are not necessarily known to all characters who are somehow aligned with Magic, including magi; only those who have at least a rudimentary knowledge of Magic Lore will be able to recognize them. These facts also relate back to how Magic is ideal, to make it easier to come up with ways that magical power can manifest.

Magic is objective. The realm of Magic does not change depending upon the observer, but rather acts as a constant and measurable influence. In the Magic Realm, reality is fixed, and a thing is what it is, though by the power of the realm it may become more or less so. However, Magic cannot change what something is at its most basic level; Magic cannot modify a thing’s essential nature. In its most idealized form, a Magic being is nothing but its essential qualities; and so in this respect the realm of Magic can be seen as a great pattern upon which all the more common, less perfect things of the mundane realm are based.

Magic is ancient. The longer something has been magical, the more powerful it is. Thus, the most powerful magical beings have been around for thousands of years. This does not mean that newer things cannot be magical, or even that they cannot be as powerful as ancient magical things, only that as time passes, Magic makes things more magical. In a sense, time is an idealizing force of Magic, so that the most magical thing is usually the oldest version of that thing. Magic auras and the Magic Realm embody this quality of Magic especially well, as a force of change upon mundane things and a supernatural record of their existence.

Magic is mysterious. Like fate, death, love, or tomorrow’s weather, Magic is unpredictable and strange. Unlike the power of the Divine or the Infernal, there seems to be no single guiding hand behind Magic, but rather a multitude of independent spirits and magical beings that act upon the mundane world and turn it towards their own ends. In the same way that no one knows what causes The Gift or a particular Virtue or Flaw to manifest, no one knows the true purpose of the Magic realm — and the less people know, the more powerful it is. For this reason, beings of Magic typically prefer secrecy and isolation.

According to these definitions, the most magical beings would have nothing but essential qualities, would be as old as creation, and would be almost entirely withdrawn from mundane society.

Magic and Other Realms

Magic primarily influences the mundane realm by making it more magical. That is, it brings about the ideal, whether by making certain qualities essential and removing qualities that are not essential, by preserving the magic of ancient places and beings, or by causing them to become more distant and withdrawn. Magic constantly improves upon nature as a supernatural force for change. It is powerful and consistent. When Magic acts upon other realms, however, or when beings of other realms interact with the Magic realm, the results are far less predictable.

Magic and the Divine

Most holy characters and Divine beings do not recognize Magic as a separate supernatural realm, treating it either as an expression of God’s gifts if used virtuously, or a tool of the Devil when used sinfully. Magical beings are seen as part of nature, and described as either blessed creatures if they serve God’s will, or corrupted beasts if they act against him. Magical power is lessened in the Dominion, and many magi believe this is because the power of the Divine is even more perfect than that of Magic.

Magic and the Infernal

Magic is easily assimilated with the powers of the Infernal, though magical characters might wish this was not so, as the Infernal realm can consume and corrupt anything it touches. The power of nature can be turned to evil in the same way that it can be used for good. Demons often masquerade as magical beings, especially ghosts and spirits, but while many magical characters do not serve the Divine, they usually oppose the Infernal. When Magic resists giving over to the power of that realm, however, it is less potent — fortunately demons are hindered in Magic places as well.

Magic and Faerie

Magic and Faerie both complement and act against each other. Magic is generally associated with objective reality, while Faerie is typically concerned with subjective reality. Magic is rooted in the past and evolves over time, striving towards perfection, while Faerie almost constantly changes and yet rarely matures. Where Magic prefers to be left alone by society and cloaks itself in secrecy, Faerie is primarily interested in interaction with humanity and seeks out company whenever possible. Magic and Faerie are opposites in as much as what they desire from the world is completely different.

On the other hand, both realms are often concerned with nature and what things are instead of what they do. Many have theorized that magical and faerie creatures could have a more direct relationship — that in the past they would easily cross over from one realm to the other, or that they both once belonged to a single realm of power that split into two. Many races that exist in the Magic realm may also be found in the Faerie realm, for example. Thus, while Magic and Faerie are often opposed, they also tend to have more in common with each other than with either of the other supernatural realms.

Attribution

Attribution Based on the material for Ars Magica, ©1993-2024, licensed by Trident, Inc. d/b/a Atlas Games®, under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license 4.0 ("CC-BY-SA 4.0"). Ars Magica Open License Logo ©2024 Trident, Inc. The Ars Magica Open License Logo, Ars Magica, and Mythic Europe are trademarks of Trident, Inc., and are used with permission. Order of Hermes, Tremere, Doissetep, and Grimgroth are trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB and are used with permission.