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paracelsus_mods) wrote2014-03-23 05:33 pm
paracelsus_mods) wrote2014-03-23 05:33 pm
Entry tags:
Mythology
Many members of the magical community are ancient. The average lifespan is close to three hundred years, and it is far from unheard of for mages to make themselves live for more centuries or even millennia. Because of this, mages have a strange relationship to mythology; some of the older ones feel more comfortable with the trappings of religions (and sometimes, dead religions) than science. Others are skeptics in the extreme. Like much else in this world, experiences vary a lot from mage to mage, House to House.
Every mage, however, knows of a set of legends and myths related to magic. Scholars debate over the veracity of these legends, and religious mages have tried to incorporate these legends into their dogmas and canons over time. Many variations exist, but every House tells their scions some version of the story of the origin of magic. The similarities with the ancient Sumerian faith have been noticed; they are not thought to be accidental.
The legends claim that in a time before recorded history, magic was a force that any human being could learn, through sheer force of will. This era was dominated by the Three Kingdoms, and in each of the Three, mages formed the royalty, the aristocracy, and the military. The Three Kingdoms grew powerful and large, and were among the first true civilizations of mankind.
Magic, in those days, required no sacrifice and had no limits on its powers. This, they learned, was because it touched upon a realm called Irkalla. Magic was drawn from this other world, and each unfettered use pried the boundaries between Earth and Irkalla further. The residents of Irkalla, called Gidim in the legends, began to slip through as mankind went to greater and greater excesses. The Gidim proved to be enormously powerful and destructive; some legends claimed them to be demons, others said they were vengeful spirits who felt magic was stolen from them.
To fight them, man used magic -- and magic only brought more to the Earth. In the end, they found the answer was not magical might, but to create limits on how magic can be drawn; to limit the power to cast spells to certain bloodlines, and to certain sacrifices each bloodline must make. With this, they sealed the holes in the world, and banished the Gidim back to Irkalla. Civilization was left half-shattered in their wake, and it took a thousand years before new ones rose.
Ever since then, magic has remained a secret from most of the mundane world, for fear that knowledge of it might prompt someone to undo the bonds placed on its use.
The Houses identify themselves as the descendants of these bloodlines, and regard themselves as the shepherds of a force that could destroy the world. This attitude is not as strongly felt as they once were, but ceremonies and rhetoric throughout the Houses emphasize this ancient role. Magic users that do not follow the House system also speak of these ancient events, though the names sometimes change; however, they tend to identify the mages who restrained themselves as their direct ancestors, instead.
There is debate over whether this has occurred. A few mages have claimed to have seen Irkalla and the Gidim within, but most have a reputation for madness. The few people who claim to see Irkalla have reported the same things: a world without color, where all sound eventually becomes the same everpresent hiss, and all other senses are dulled. Others have taken a more scientific approach, arguing it to be a justification for the existent systems of magic and control upon the mages. They point to the fact that no one outside of an established bloodline has ever cast the slightest spell, and not for want of trying, as part of their proof.
Every mage, however, knows of a set of legends and myths related to magic. Scholars debate over the veracity of these legends, and religious mages have tried to incorporate these legends into their dogmas and canons over time. Many variations exist, but every House tells their scions some version of the story of the origin of magic. The similarities with the ancient Sumerian faith have been noticed; they are not thought to be accidental.
The legends claim that in a time before recorded history, magic was a force that any human being could learn, through sheer force of will. This era was dominated by the Three Kingdoms, and in each of the Three, mages formed the royalty, the aristocracy, and the military. The Three Kingdoms grew powerful and large, and were among the first true civilizations of mankind.
Magic, in those days, required no sacrifice and had no limits on its powers. This, they learned, was because it touched upon a realm called Irkalla. Magic was drawn from this other world, and each unfettered use pried the boundaries between Earth and Irkalla further. The residents of Irkalla, called Gidim in the legends, began to slip through as mankind went to greater and greater excesses. The Gidim proved to be enormously powerful and destructive; some legends claimed them to be demons, others said they were vengeful spirits who felt magic was stolen from them.
To fight them, man used magic -- and magic only brought more to the Earth. In the end, they found the answer was not magical might, but to create limits on how magic can be drawn; to limit the power to cast spells to certain bloodlines, and to certain sacrifices each bloodline must make. With this, they sealed the holes in the world, and banished the Gidim back to Irkalla. Civilization was left half-shattered in their wake, and it took a thousand years before new ones rose.
Ever since then, magic has remained a secret from most of the mundane world, for fear that knowledge of it might prompt someone to undo the bonds placed on its use.
The Houses identify themselves as the descendants of these bloodlines, and regard themselves as the shepherds of a force that could destroy the world. This attitude is not as strongly felt as they once were, but ceremonies and rhetoric throughout the Houses emphasize this ancient role. Magic users that do not follow the House system also speak of these ancient events, though the names sometimes change; however, they tend to identify the mages who restrained themselves as their direct ancestors, instead.
There is debate over whether this has occurred. A few mages have claimed to have seen Irkalla and the Gidim within, but most have a reputation for madness. The few people who claim to see Irkalla have reported the same things: a world without color, where all sound eventually becomes the same everpresent hiss, and all other senses are dulled. Others have taken a more scientific approach, arguing it to be a justification for the existent systems of magic and control upon the mages. They point to the fact that no one outside of an established bloodline has ever cast the slightest spell, and not for want of trying, as part of their proof.