The Merlin Circle, primary magic symbol used in practicing sorcery.
In the world of The Steampunk Adventures of Sorcerer's Apprentices, Magic (also known as Sorcery) is an ancestral art and practice of utilizing one's brainpower to harness and manipulate latent energy called Mana drawn from nature to affect change and shape reality. While it's widely believed that only magically gifted beings that can cast magic, humans actually had potential to do the same, but in more inferior scale.
History and Scientific Explanation[]
In medieval times, magic was viewed as a mysterious force that both marveled and feared by normal humans. Humans at that time believed magic to be either a divine force that God gave to men to test them or instead demonic powers gained from demons to plunge the world into chaos. The sorcerous practice at that time was very different with the ones practiced nowadays, as sorcerers in middle ages utilizes their unique gifts for more supernatural practices, which including astrology, divination, and spirit communication. However, many of these magical practices eventually forbidden due to both dangers that those practices posed and those who practiced it eventually distanced themselves from God. These forms of magic later labelled by CrossMages as Dark Arts.
The superstition and fear of both Dark Arts and those who practiced it are what caused notorious witch hunts occured over several points of the history. During those dark times, many people become wary and biased those who possessed the ability to affect change and hunt them down. Unfortunately, more than often most of the persecuted spellcasters were proved innocent and not a heretic they believed to hunted down. Because of it, those whom gifted with innate ability to affect change went to hiding and attempted to figured out why they had their gifts. Among those who tried to find the truth of existence of sorcerers and maguses' gift to affect change and reality was Merlin, who dedicated his life to study his gift of magic. It was he who discovered Mana, latent energy with mystical properties that fueled a sorcerer's ability to affect the change by either following or defying laws of nature. His research also including how to focused large amount of Mana into one place through a formula that eventually become basis of his Merlin Circle, invention of catalysts (magical items that functions as focus for a sorcerer to manipulate Mana) and other items including portable prison called Grimdisk that become basis of both Grimhold and Grimlock, and revolution of overall practice of magic which now merely focused on manipulating Mana to shape reality by following or defying laws of nature and the practice now meant to benefit everyone.
Merlin's revolutionized way of magic eventually become acceptable standards by everyone, as he managed to prove that innate power to affect change (sorcery) is neither a bless nor a curse, as it was the hearts of those whom wield this gift and how they will use it that matters. Therefore, Dark Arts which condemned as act of distancing oneself from God is obviously the form of abusing this gift for selfish and sinful purposes. By the dawn of 20th century, advancements in modern science and technology revealed that sorcery is actually a force that still can be explained through rational thought and discovery in spite of still surrounded by mystery. It's also clarified that sorcerers and maguses' brains has a different cell pattern compared to normal human' brains, which resulting them capable to manipulate matter and Mana to shape reality at will through their mind powers, a feat that normal humans actually capable to accomplish, but is very difficult and only able to performed in smaller scale.
Aside being identified as latent energy that serves as fuel for sorcery, Mana is discovered to have sentience of its own to some extent, where they respond to whatever the conjuror who channel it feels and desires. Sentience of this latent energy also explained how a sorcerer can bring objects to life by channeling a certain amount of Mana on them and even "programmed" the channeled Mana so that objects moves and behave like sentient entity as he/she wishes. It was proposed that in this way, Mana was used to imitate properties of souls of sentient beings.
Even with these recent discoveries and improvements, there are still mysteries that surrounding sorcery to the day, as it involves harnessing forces that worked by both following and/or defying the law of nature, unlike science that only worked through following laws of nature.
Influence on Conjuror's Physiology[]
Some forms of magic such as Eldritch Magic, Dragonlord Magic, and Dark Arts can affect the user's physiology that resulting them to mutate. In Dragonlord Magic, the user will taking draconic characteristics including sprouting a long tail, a pair of wings, and bent legs for better locomotion. Eldritch Magic instead enable the user to transform into a humanoid creature with tentacled head whereas some forms of Dark Arts also deform the user's physiology to negative level and affect their health in negative ways. Further study on influence of magic on a sorcerer's physiology revealed that sorcery can also reflect the user's conscience and mentality: Whereas the benevolent sorcerers only had minor changes and their powers have little to no effect on their health with exception of exhaustion from overusing the magic, more malevolent and spiteful sorcerers will suffer worse mutations and more than often, their body will slowly ravaged through overusing their dark powers.
List of Magic[]
Merlin Circle Magic[]
Merlin Circle, mystical circle used to master Merlin Circle Magic
Merlin Circle Magic is the most well-known sorcery that has been practiced for centuries. This form of magic mastered with aid of Mana-manipulating formula called Merlin Circle, mystical, circular magic symbol that used to focused Mana in environment to help its user focused his/her energy and master spell of Merlin Circle Magic.
Elemental Domain Magic[]
Elemental Magic is a form of sorcery that enable the user to manipulate four classic elements of nature; fire, water, earth, and air. This sorcery can be mastered by using Element Domain of Merlin Circle. Following elements that mastered in this spell are:
Matter Domain Magic[]
Matter Domain Magic is form of sorcery that enable a conjuror to manipulate matter, giving them access to energy manipulation and construct anything from thin air. They can also manipulate pure Mana into light or darkness-based construct and sensing magical activity in this way.
Light Manipulation[]
Light Manipulation is a light-based Matter Domain Magic that allow a sorcerer to manipulate visible light (Commonly referred to simply as light), electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye, and is responsible for the sense of sight.
- Ricochet Bolt: Bolt of energy that ricochets upon hit.
- Powerbolt: Bolt of energy which the penetrating power depends of the focus of the used magical energy, ranging from equivalent with gunshots to as penetrative as tanks's bullets.
- Repulsor: Magical technique to control the surge of magical energy to generate enough repulsion to simulate flight and fly at high speeds. If used for offensive purpose, the energy surge are fired in form of a focused beam that pushed the targets backwards while leaving the slight burns due to the beam's heat.
- Seeker Bolt: Bolt of energy that can follow any moving target and would never miss unless if it struck an object that stood between it and the intended target.
- Shield Spell: Magical spell that enable the user to evade any attacks as a means of defense by creating an energy barrier in front of themselves.
- Flash-Bang Sphere: Spell to conjure a sphere of mystical energy that explodes and produce a blinding flash of light.
Darkness Manipulation[]
Darkness Manipulation is darkness-based Matter Domain Magic to manipulate shadow and darkness around the user to conjure dark constructs.
Electricity Manipulation[]
Electricity Manipulation is electricity-based Matter Domain Magic that allow a sorcerer to manipulate electricity, a form of energy resulting from the movement of charged particles (such as electrons or protons), allowing control over electric fields, all charge carriers (Ions, Electrons, Protons, and Positrons), electronics, and electromagnetic forces. This also includes manipulaing natural lightning on storm clouds as well.
- Plasma Bolt: Firing condensed, volatile balls of electricity, either in rapid shots or single but destructive rocket-like electrical blasts.
- Plasma Deflection: Spell to create a wave of mystical energy that push people or objects out of the user’s way as well as deflecting projectiles.
- Lightning Infusion: Infuse electrical energy on object, either to empowering or energizing it.
- Lightning Strike: Weather control spell to summon lightnings from the sky to strike the desired target.
Miscellaneous[]
- Disperse Spell: Spell to stops all nearby spells and other magical activities from continuing. In The Steampunk Adventures of Sorcerer's Apprentices, this spell works in form of near-invisible pulse.
- Replication Spell: Spell to conjure clones which shares with both the caster and the clone shares a link with each other.
- Deflecting Mirror: Ability to construct special mirror that can deflect anything.
- Biometric Pressure Spell: Spell to tracking any magical objects via special dark clouds.
- Absorption: Conjure life-draining aura to drain other being's lifeforce from distance. Only allowed for emergency situations.
Space-Time Magic[]
Space-Time Domain is form of sorcery that enable a conjuror to performing time manipulation, astral projection, and possibly more complex abilities such as teleportation and travel between dimensions.
- Ectoplasm Trap: Supernatural ability that can decelerate anything it hits via mass of ectoplasm energy. If utilized as booby traps, it mainly conjures as mines in form of a pool of transparent slime that had it stepped/triggered, would explodes into a wave of ectoplasm energy that spread in all direction which slowed everything that engulf around 1/20 times of the actual speed.
- Summoning: Calling forth object/creature/servants.
- Outcast: Banish the target to the magical dimension.
- Time Slow Spell: Spell to slow down time around conjuror.
- Teleportation: Spell to instantly move from one place to another without physically occupying the space in between.
Motion Magic[]
Motion Domain is form of sorcery that enable a conjuror to performing movement-related spells such as telekinesis, levitation of oneself or others, and enhancing conjured air blasts.
- Telekinesis: Spell to to levitate one or more items or person/people in the air with the power of the user's mind and magical energy. In The Steampunk Adventures of Sorcerer's Apprentices, anything that under this spell are glow in yellow aura. Maguses can also used this spell to enhanced their already possessed telekinetic powers. The most complex applications of the spell is merging several objects at once into various constructs and even enable some constructs to animated by combining it with Animation Spell.
Transformation Magic[]
Transformation Magic is form of sorcery that enable a conjuror to performing spells to alter both properties and appearance of oneself and/or desired target. Like in Matter Domain, spells that mastered in this domain worked by manipulating the desired target's matter structure, but in more complex scale as spells mastered in Transformation Domain are meant for transmogrifying oneself and/or other and in lesser extent, enchanted objects by giving them additional properties desired by the conjuror.
- Transmutation: Spell to reshape object into mollecular level as means to change its shape and properties.
- Car Spell: Spell to transmogrified a car into better or worse ones.
- Disguise Spell/Transformation Spell: Spell to disguise oneself or other person nearby into someone else.
- Animation Spell: Spell to brought any object to life as animal-like golem depends on what the said object previously are.
- Cleaning Spell: Spell that makes mops, brooms, sponges, and have everything else to clean things by themselves in a military manner.
- Invisibility Spell: Spell to magically turn either oneself or things completely invisible until the spell broken.
- Persian Quickrug: Spell to create a magical trap that is designed to turn any floor or carpet into a substance similar to quick sand.
- Hungarian Mirror Trap: Spell to trap someone or sealed away something into the reverse world, a pocket dimension behind the mirrors.
- Quest-Bound Immortality Spell: Spell to render an individual becoming immortal until the said individual's task completed.
Mind Magic[]
Mind Magic is form of sorcery that enable a conjuror to mental abilities-related spells (such as telepathy, second sight, etc.) except telekinesis and levitation.
- Hypnotism: Magical spell that enable it’s user to make suggestions on someone’s subconscious to make them do whatever the user wants without him/herself aware with what they did.
- Worm Tendrils: Conjure multi-purpose tendrils from pure psychokinetic energy that can either ensnare target like adhesive or probe other people mind so he can see their memories.
- Psychic Vision: Mental ability perceives the residual information of an object and/or person by using senses.
- Sympathetic Magic: Mental spell that allow a user to mentally connected his/her animated entity with an object to control them like a remote control. Had the bewitched object used to control the animated creature destroyed, the said creature will destroyed with it.
Symbol Magic[]
Technique to carving/utilizing formulas in form of symbols that can cause special events to occur depend on the shape and purpose of the symbol themselves. The magical symbols can be created in form of scar, tattoo, etc. User can formulate symbols that can cause special events to occur, depending on the symbol that empowers the user, they can achieve a variety of abilities. With a great number of symbols that can be turned to magic, the user can do almost anything. Though everyone can carving magical symbols no matter whether they have magical talents or not, they had to channel the said symbols with Mana so the desired effect can be achieved.
Magitek[]
A recently invented mystical art that enable the user to combine magic and technology in various ways and to various extends. Beginners can create, control and mimic technology via magic. Advanced users can infuse technology with magic, granting it considerable edge and versatility. True masters can fuse magic and technology entirely, retaining all of their strengths and none of their weaknesses.
Chloromancy[]
Ability to mentally control plants includes mutate them into combative forms. This magical technique is in it's greatest advantage in the area full of plants in one's vicinity, but is in the grave disadvantage if used in area that lack of plant-life(i.e. lack of presence of seeds). This form of magic is not common and thus not taught in CrossMages schools.
Eldritch Magic[]
Eldritch Magic Circle
Eldritch Magic is the practice of manipulating and conjuring dark-colored substances that can shaped into otherworldy constructs called Nightmare Fuel as the conjuror pleases, hence the name. Instead of Merlin Circle, a conjuror would master this spell by harnessing special form of Mana that can only generated by ancient mystical flowers named Shogflowers. Shogflowers are ancient flowers with ability to convert Mana into a unique form of latent energy which, if channeled by a sorcerer, it will give him/her special ability to conjure and manipulate dark-colored substance called Nightmare Fuel. Reasons why this substances called Nightmare Fuel are it properties changed relating to what the person who touch it finds scary and any constructs forged with this substance always takes otherworldy design.
Aside Shogflowers, a sorcerer can also practiced and mastered eldritch magic by channeling powers from Elder Ones as both Shogflowers and Elder Ones share same ability to convert Mana into special latent energy required for this magic. But this practice is frowned by CrossMages and forbidden because it will open oneself to Great One and/or His Elder Ones' influences that may too much for the user. This is why only practice with use of Shogflowers that legal when mastering this magic.
Like Dragonlord Magic and some forms of Dark Arts, usage of Eldritch Magic will affect the conjuror's physiology where in this case, his/her nervous systems changes so he/she can convert Mana in his/her body and in environment into Nightmare Fuel that he/she can conjure to perform Eldritch Magic and gained the ability to transform into their Eldritch form; in this form, their skin become pale with hair on their head turned into tentacles. How a conjuror looked like in this form reflects his/her character and mental state.
Because of this form of magic greatly affected the user's hysiology, this mystical ability can be passed to his/her children that the conjuror's children immediately developed Eldritch Magic.
While the practice of this sorcery still legal with exception of channeling Nightmare Fuel from Elder Ones, this sorcery is the least popular magic due to its difficulty.
- Nightmare Tendrils: Sorcerers can conjure Nightmare Fuel-based tendrils at will. The tentacles can impale, remove, lift, interact with, and toss things on a whim.
- Eldritch Transformation: Sorcerers who practiced Eldritch Magic can gained the ability to transformed into a creature with tentacled head at will to scare and/or at least intimidating their foes. This form usually reflect their character and mental state.
Vampire Magic[]
Vampire Magic is a form of power as result of infected by mutated pathogen produced by failed Dark Arts experiment on power over life and death at Transylvania. Aside enhancing superhuman attributes, humans whom infected by Vampire pathogen had their brains' cell pattern altered that resulting them capable to manipulate matter through their mind powers in the same way with sorcerers and maguses. But Vampiric magic providing its wielder unique ability to transform into bat-like monster.
- Haemokinesis: Vampires can manipulate blood within them into weapons.
- Transformation: Perhaps due to vampire pathogen proposed to be originated from certain pathogen that contminated blood of vampire bats, anyone that transformed into vampire can taking a form of bat-like Creature
Dragonlord Magic[]
Main Article: Dragonlord Magic
Dragonlord Magic Circle
Dragonlord Magic, is mystical ability that exclusively possessed by Magus race which allowed them to turned into draconic creature.
Dark Arts[]
Dark Arts is form of magic which practice frowned by CrossMages due to dangers it posed and some of them also frowned by religion due to those who practiced it will distanced themselves from God. According to Raido, spellbooks and other items related to dark arts such as Abysshold only available in black market due to them banned to produced freely. Spells that categorized as Dark Arts ranges from curses, spirit communication, to necromancy. Some of them can also came from other Magic as well, but the practice still frowned that it also considered as one of Dark Arts.
Dark Arts from Morgana Star/Merlin Circle[]
- The Rising: A powerful and deadly spell that resurrects and even commands a legion of long dead wicked sorcerers. It is said to be sorcery's most dangerous spell that has ever existed. Any undead beings that revived by this spell identified as Terrorcorpse. This spell involves the usage of Forbidden Domain of Merlin Circle or Morgana Star.
- Undead Puppet Curse Spell: Forbidden spell to curse corpses into caster's undead thralls. Corpses that reanimated in this way would become the shell of their former self and would obey the caster's instructions. This spell uses shadows as medium to reanimated the said corpses, and when the curse inside reanimated corpse/s still active, their bodies consantly twitching.
- Parasite Spell: Forbidden spell from Haiti to steal life energy from other spell-casters to replenish their sorcery or to increase their powers several times. This spell can be practiced by using Matter Domain of Merlin Circle and/or Morgana Star.
- Human Fusion Spell: Forbidden magical spell that said to enable a sorcerer to merges two souls into one in which one of the merged soul was his/hers. In reality, instead merging two soul into one, the spell instead reaping the victim's soul and uses both the caster's body and soul to cage the reaped soul, left the victim's body dissipated into mass of glowing dust.This spell can be practiced by using Matter Domain of Merlin Circle and/or Morgana Star.
Dark Arts of Eldritch Magic[]
- Unholy Vessel Ritual: Unholy Vessel Ritual is a form of Dark Art where a spellcaster allowed him/herself to become host of Elder One in exchange of immense Eldritch Powers.