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Magic vs Sorcery; The distinctions
Tweet Topic Started: Jun 15 2010, 08:36 PM (237 Views)
Post #1 Jun 15 2010, 08:36 PM Kullervo
Magic vs Sorcery:

First, there is a fundamental difference between what is known as Magic, and what is known as Sorcery.

Sorcery is the ability to make possible something that is impossible to realize in the current era. If it is possible to realize "sorcery" regardless of time and fund, then the "result" isn't sorcery. At the current time, there are only 4 magi capable of performing sorcery in the world, or possibly the universe. I won't go into extreme detail here, but basically, no one gets to do sorcery in this RP. Certain servants may have Noble Phantasms that may have effects that are similar in scale and power to sorcery, but even those aren't really true sorcery.

Magic, on the other hand, is the ability to reproduce what can be scientifically realized regardless of time and funds. The limits of Magic have changed with time, as science evolved and miracles from before became technically possible through science. Yet, modern Magic remains far inferior from that of the past. So much that someone like Medea, who comes from the Age of Gods when Magic was much more powerful, would seems like a Sorcerer to the eyes of a modern magus, even though what she can do is not really Sorcery.

Magic that interfere with people’s mind do not need material compensation, but instead will take a toll on the user’s mind.

In layman's terms this means that anything that can be accomplished with magic, can also be accomplished with science eventually. For example, the ability to fly can be accomplished by a powerful magus, but a normal mundane could easily fly by using a plane. In the modern age, there are few things that magic can accomplish that science has yet to uncover, but even these will eventually be found.

Note: Due to many translation differences, ‘Sorcery’ and ‘True Magic’ are interchangeable, whereas ‘Magic’, ‘Thaumaturgy’, and ‘Magecraft’ are the type of craft modern magi use.

The Basics of Magic and Equivalent Exchange:

Divergences can be found among different schools, but the fundamental basis is “to convert prana inside the user’s body to transform the external world”. The practitioner acts in accord with the system that each school operates under to execute a pre-built program. That program(or "spell") is a set of universal rules that interfere with nature once they are enforced. The power that enforces those rules is the prana of the magus and the command to do it is made through his circuits. The greater the interference, the greater will be the amount of prana consumed.

Magic draws its power from the Earth. However, because that amount of power is fixed, the more people draw from it at the same time, the more Magic’s capacities become mundane. In short, the greater is the collective number of magi, the weaker their individual power will be.

Each school engraves their system of Magical Theory into the world and uses the rules of that system to operate their spells. The efficiency of a system depends on how disseminated it is (i.e. the more people believe and/or use it). It is not uncommon for a system to not work properly when used outside its place of origin. In that regard, the teachings and holy words of the Church is the "Magical Theory" with greatest number of believers and effective area, even though technically their miracles are not considered magic. The Church has its own brand of thaumaturgy called Divine Intervention the effectiveness of which depends on numerous factors.

The primary rule of Magic is Equivalent Exchange. In order to create something, another object must be given as a price. It may also involve modification to an existing object. The base of all Magic is the use of prana to produce something that either already exists or can exist. That which falls into the Phantasm category, something made out entirely of images and might even not exist naturally anymore, will be eventually wiped out by the world for being in conflict with this rule.

Emiya Shiro is able to bypass this rule to some extent when it comes to his Projections, since everything that he Traces is actually being pulled out of his own internal world by the power of his Reality Marble.

Elements:

Fire, Water, Earth, Wind. The set of Elements that, according to the teachings of Magic schools, are the basic substances that shapes the world. Fire is called normal and Wind is said to be noble.

A magus normally has the capacity to manipulate at least one of them. However, there are cases of those who can manipulate Elements that are completely different from any of the ones specified above. Within the Mage’s Association, individuals like these tend to either very selective houses or not be part of the Association at all. Cases of magus who possesses more than one Elemental Affinity, and even affinity to Compound Elements, are also known. Usually said individuals try to master spells that make use of more than one Element at the same time (ex: “liquid manipulation” through the use of Water and Wind Elements). Those capable of manipulating all the four Elements receive the title of Average One and are very valued by the Mage’s Association. Methods to change one’s Elemental Affinity exist, but they are very painful and dangerous.

Magi usually only use spells that are related to their element. This is not because using spells outside one's element affinity is impossible, but merely because it is extremely difficult, often requiring as much as twice the prana consumption. However, spells that are of a sub-element of a magus' affinity do not cost extra prana. Here is a list of the normal elements and what spells of those elements would pertain to. Note that there are other affinities which are not considered part of the four, such as Ether, and while the affinity is usually related to the elements it doesn’t have be the elements; for example, Sakura’s was Imaginary Numbers, then Drowned Bird, and Shirou had ‘Swords’ as an element.

Fire: Spell of the Fire element are related to consumption, heat, entropy, fuels, energy transfer and thermodynamics. Known sub-elements: Heat

Earth:
Earth element spells relate to grounding, cultivation of energy and energy embedding. Known sub-elements: Metal, Jewels

Water:
Related to flows, forms, cycles, combinations and manipulations. Known sub-elements: Ice.

Wind: Deals with air, kinetic forces, static energy, free energy and directed movement. Known sub-elements: Lightning
Edited by Kullervo, Jun 18 2010, 07:48 PM.
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