- OF MAGIC-USERS
”Magic-users, sorcerers, wizards and the like I have been intrigued by since I was a youth within the spired workshops of Brikmel. I have always had a fascination with their otherworldly demeanor, endless depths of power, and general majesty - and then I met a magic-user and any conceptions such as these were wholly dashed.”“The first magic-user I met was the Dwarf white-beard Romfaer, older than dirt and even less scruples than dirt. I have never met a more utterly despicable, more degenerate, wholly perverted old codger in the thousands of miles of my travels. When one thinks of an elderly Wizard perhaps they may think of a kindly old man who uses his power for a greater good. This could not be farther from the truth, and in fact Romfaer spent more time stealing sweet cakes from children and spying upon the baths of the woman folk than approaching anything close to being useful.”
“Romfaer was hardly alone in this among the wizardly sort. I can altogether say that they are capricious and hateful lot with a panache to make one loath them within the first few moments of meeting one. They are a spiteful, self-absorbed folk who rely on otherworldly power to intimidate those they deem as lesser (just about everyone). They are quick to anger, slow to forget, and never compromising. Their only redeeming quality is that they are over-confident enough to speak with spirits and will likely be carried off by hungering claws at some point.”
“Many children are told to avoid Magic-Users, and ill events follow them. Naturally these are folktales designed to scare children. Unfortunately this is true! Listen to your mothers! They were right! The most unfortunate events of my life have almost always occurred in the presence of a Magic-User, and I forward any humble readers to take this to heart.”
“Perhaps the most noteworthy and informative Magic-User I have met was the Halfling Gobinue (Gobinue the Infallible as he says). He traveled with my caravan for several months, and by the end of the trip most everyone within had wished great injury upon him. A vile and self-consumed being, Gobinue cared little for the suffering of others and indeed went out of his way to hobble stray cats, pry dark secrets of others, and demand the utmost respect in the process. My time with him was luckily not entirely miserable as I learned a great deal about the practical nature of Magic-Users.”
“The first most noticeable things upon meeting a Magic-User is their otherworldly demeanor. Their hair will fluster with no wind, smoke will mist out of their ears when angered, their eyes will flash like lightning, and all sorts of mystical occurrences can forewarn you of their general mood. As I learned over the course of several months, this has to do with the spell they have knowledge of and have prepared.”
“As I am told there are three sorts of spells. The first are common spells which a Magic-User can cast as often as they wish. These sorts of spells can hold a book closed, clean a stable, light a dark night, unlock a door, and many other sorts of things. Gobinue said these spells are limited only by a Magic-User’s knowledge of them. Spells are rare however and require a great deal of research, wealth and time are required to fully understand them. It is an endless process for Magic-Users to enhance their repertoire of magical knowledge.”
“The second class of spells are dreadful incantations which slay or fascinate foes. These spells I am told are mostly used in defense (though the wizards are often the first to strike) and are quite draining upon the Magic-User. It seems that spells which are cast in stressful situations are cast with such speed and power as they have a meaningful drain upon their caster. Older more powerful Magic-Users have learned to stretch these limits very far, while younger ones may only cast a spell or two in the midst of combat before becoming exhausted. Furthermore these spells must be memorized specifically with the correct aptitude to bottle up the magic might within the caster. Then, at a later point the caster can utter a short phrase and gesture to release this bottled up power which is let loose like a geyser.”
“This bottled up power has a side effect upon the caster which affects his physical being. Should the Magic-User contain a spell of fire, then ghostly flames will appear when he is angry or steam will shout out of his ears when flustered. Should be know a spell of fascination, sparkles of magic will rain down over his skin and his eyes will sheen like a mirror. Should they bottle up a spell of conjuration, small birds and squirrels will appear out of no where and scamper off in the wizards presence. There are endless permutations to this bottled up magic upon the Magic-User, and is one of the things that is most wondrous about them.”
“The third and most dreadful class of spells are those that Magic-User do not intend to cast. These spells are sometimes placed into the Magic-Users mind by the spirits when it is vacant - and the mage must cast them to be rid of them. Such spells are usually powerful and not of the realm of men. Few Magic-Users intentionally gain spells from the spirits as they often have an unpredictable and baleful effect upon anyone near when cast. These spells occasionally occur when a spell is incanted improperly or is cast when the Magic-User is already exhausted. I saw this first hand when a horse stepped on Gobinue’s foot while he was casting a simple spell to light a camp fire. The result was all of the leaves for acres around fell off of the trees, rustling many nearby spirits. Luckily we fled before they could come upon us. This was one of the few times that I saw Gobinue (the Infallible) to be flustered and unsure of himself.”
“All Magic-Users script their spells into spellbooks which are designed to safe house their knowledge. Older more powerful wizards often have several books or even libraries while young mages usually only carry one. These spellsbooks are highly magical in nature themselves and contain far more pages than they appear too. I found the script to be unreadable when peering over Gobinue’s shoulder but I did see blots of colored liquid, strange circular pictographs and occasionally illustrations of hand gestures or strange creatures. Magic-Users usually edit and add to these books in their spare time. I am told by Gobinue that they can learn from another Magic-User’s spellbook, thus they are very wary around one another lest they be thieved upon.”
“When Gobinue attempts to bottle up some of the magic might into him self he carefully incanted a series of phrases while reading the book. I felt the magic seep from the world into himself and could hardly stand the reverberations even being near it. I can not fathom being the one to be the fulcrum of such things. Afterwards he rested a brief while as the magic settled within him. He spoke of such as eating a fine meal, which is best eaten slowly lest one become irritated in the bowls. He also said that once the magical might is released, his mind was like an empty flask, waiting for something to pour in. At these times he said it is most dangerous for outside powerful to seep within, granting him a baleful boon of forgotten incantations.”
“Ah, I babble. I am glad to know some truth of Magic-Users even though it dashed the glorious illusions I had of Wizards in my youth. While I indeed think of them in a different light, I am still generally intrigued by magic in general. One last word - Gobinue spoke of foul Magic-Users (which is sort of like a camp-fire calling a torch a hot bastard). Evil wizards he said are a very dangerous and chaotic sort who can steal souls and rips the limbs off of travelers with but a word. I sincerely hope he was jesting in an effort to put some fear into me once again. I am unsettled by the sullen tone in his voice however when he spoke of such things however.”
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