Transcript
The History and Nature of Magick
By Grey the Diviner
In the Year 1256
I leave in this tome the full account of my research into the annals of magickal history, which others of my order have wished to suppress. They have ordered me to desist, even upon threat to my person, but I must reveal what I have learned. For the true nature of Magick is not taught in our institution.
Much of the impetus for my research stems from the field of Numerology. Who cannot but notice the power of Four at work in our accumulation of knowledge. The four skills in the four groups, the four basic mental and four basic physical traits, and of course the four-on-four colleges of spells. This repetition of Four at the most rudimentary level led me to wonder why each college had only 5 spells. Should they not have 4, or unthinkably 16?
My colleagues were at first disinterested in my research. Magick is eternal and unchangeable, they said. There always has been and always will be 5 spells in each college, they said. But as I delved into forgotten tomes and communed with spirits from remote times and distant planes, my colleagues grew angry and then fearful. Leave this subject be, they warned me. But my order is devoted to discovery of the arcane, the hidden treasures of knowledge that contain the basis of Truth.
And here is what I found.
Uncountable millennia ago, there were 8 levels of spells, not the 5 that are available today. Records from those long-ago eras are fragmentary at best, but the authors of some ancient texts mention spells such as Mass Resurrection and Eternal Flame as magick that was used by their forebears but that no longer functions.
Contrary to common opinion, as magick wanes it is the most powerful spells that lose their effectiveness. These spells seem to rely on the malleability of natural law more than their weaker cousins, and as magick wanes, natural law becomes more rigid and these powerful spells begin to fail.
The most important discovery, however, is that
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