I'm currently lacking sufficient inspiration to come up with a better name for this guild so I've used the generic term "Arcane Mage". The intent was to explore another facet of Sorcery apart from the Necromancer guild.

The consummate scholar, the Arcane Mage is (in his/her view) a trailblazer in the ways of magic. Disatisfied with simply abiding by the accepted and limited ways of the magic establishment, they forge ahead to uncover the greater mysteries of the magical realm.


Primary Skillset: Lore
Secondary Skillsets: Magic/Survival
Tertiary Skillsets: Armor/Weapon
Mana Type: Arcane


Arcane Mages receive three free technique slots in the Artificing discipline of the Enchanting skill.


Spellbooks:

Lunar/Holy
Lunar/Life
Lunar/Elemental
Perception
Psychic Projection
Teleologic Sorcery


Guild Abilities:

Synthesis skill [Lore Set] - Learned by casting spells outside of combat to emphasize the studious nature of the Arcane Mage's persuits. Sorcery skill is also learned by casting Guild Spells whether in combat or not.

Self Actualization - The mental discipline and secretive nature of the arcane mage's goals preclude the need to level with a guild leader past circle
20. Prior to that, they level with a moon mage guild leader.


Expanded insight - Twenty spell slots can be used to purchase spells from the Perception, Psychic Projection, or Teleologic Sorcery spellbooks. (Though it is still possible through spell scrolls). The leadership of the moon mage guild would view the arcane mage as a 'slacker' because it is clear that the arcane mage is not spending his or her time studying the advanced concepts of the moon mage guild. They are unaware of the true nature of the arcane mage's studies.


Arcane Discovery - The spells in the arcane mages spellbook are discovered in a variety of ways. Recovering magical documents [spell scrolls] and asking a leader of the corresponding guild about the esoteric intricacies of the spell. Learning an "arcane" spell might require a pre-determined combination of researched spell scrolls from established guilds. For example, the 'Disintegrate' spell might be a combination of teleport and fountain of creation [Lunar Magic is always used] to create a perversion of lunar/life magic. Not all spells can be combined and the ones that can be would be PAFO as would the effects of the spells that are learned. Studying certain books in the various libraries around the realms might provide the arcane mage with enough insight into the courage spell to craft a "fear" spell by combining Lunar and Holy mana. There are endless possibilities for how spells can be obtained once they are fleshed out. Whatever the mix an arcane spell is created by, the spells themselves will in most cases have perverse effects.

I don't think there's a way to use Arcane mana and not be crazy. Pretty sure my mind was broken so I could actually sense it. Though being wrong is something I do a lot around here.

"Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child." -Heinlein

Yeah. My lorefu is pretty weak.

"Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child." -Heinlein

<<Isn't that a Bard, in DR?>>

No. Not even a little. I really can't even explain how much this is NOT a bard lol. Bards are charismatic musicians who entertain the masses with their ability to perform and go out there and kick butt with their musical enchantes in their spare time using ELEMENTAL mana. Aside from both guilds being lore primary, that's not at all what I've described here. I made this guild lore primary to demonstrate that they spend a massive amount of time in study. Probably more than they do in actually practicing magic. The impression that I've gotten from descriptions of the act of researching and performing sorcery is that you can't just start mixing things together and then see what happens. That can result in blowing yourself or your entire city into oblivion. Instead, it takes painstaking research and even then, things could go wrong.

<<That said, if you define "Arcane Mana" as "a bunch of mana types smushed together like they shouldn't be," it's entirely possible to use it without being bonkers, because that's what Sorcery is in a very disconnected from severity of the situation definition. It's still seen as a Very Bad Thing that produces Undesired Results, but one of those results isn't necessarily insanity.>>>

I read up on it a bit and yes, from what I have read, arcane mana is the result of mixing different types of mana to create new types of spells. It encompasses different types of Sorcery depending on which mana you're using primarily. In the case of a Necromancer, they use LIFE mana mixed with Lunar or Elemental but not Holy. I think the intent is to demonstrate that they are literally corrupting and perverting LIFE. In the case of what I have simply called an Arcane Mage, they are primarily corrupting Lunar mana and mixing it with the other three types.


So essentially what you have is SORCERY which is the practice of combining different types of mana. Within that you can have all kinds of different sorceries depending on which mana are being used specifically. This type of sorcery that I am proposing would be considered anathema just like necromancy is, but for different reasons, I think. it has been shown that experimenting with sorcery in the way the arcane mage does can have catastrophic results.

>>In the case of what I have simply called an Arcane Mage, they are primarily corrupting Lunar mana and mixing it with the other three types.

With this in mind, it sounds like what you're talking about might be best defined IG already as a Teleologic Sorcerer and/or Child of Kalestraum.

http://elanthipedia.org/w/index.php/Category:Teleologic_Sorcery_Spellbook
http://elanthipedia.org/w/index.php/Children_of_Kalestraum

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Uzmam! The Chairman will NOT be pleased to know you're trying to build outside of approved zones. I'd hate for you to be charged the taxes needed to have this place re-zoned. Head for the manor if you're feeling creative.

>>What I am proposing is a character whose purpose is to manipulate raw lunar mana and combine it with other types of mana to create new spells that don't necessarily deal with the webs of fate.

As far as I know, Children of K aren't limited to just wanting to revive Teleologic Sorcery. I'm sure they won't exactly balk at researching Domination (Holy + Lunar) or Evocation (Elemental + Lunar) Sorceries.

I get that half the fun of the idea is a whole new guild by its entirety, but it sounds like a lot of what you want to do can be summarized as Lunar-based Sorcerers, which sounds a lot like Children of K, who are for all intents and purposes rogue Moon Mage sorcerer terrorist monsters of doom, which is about as close as you can get to being the Necromancer version of a Moon Mage, which is what I think you're wanting in the first place.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea. I'm just saying that the groundwork is already there and it just calls for more lore on Teleologic, Domination, and Evocation Sorceries.

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Uzmam! The Chairman will NOT be pleased to know you're trying to build outside of approved zones. I'd hate for you to be charged the taxes needed to have this place re-zoned. Head for the manor if you're feeling creative.

The Children definitely do not limit their exploration of sorcery to Teleologic Sorcery.

-Raesh

"Ever notice that B.A.'s flavor text swells in direct proportion to how much one of our characters is getting screwed?" - Brian Van Hoose

>>Without making this too tangential, how do The Children feel about Necromancers? Or is that where they suddenly develop morals (the fools).

I wouldn't say the sect has a unified viewpoint. There are lots of different personalities and viewpoints from those drawn to the Children. For the most part the two don't traffic with one enough much, they both have large enough problems already, but there's some cross over. See Thee Mottl'd Tyxte for some discussion, but the line between Sorcery and Necromancy tends to be vague in indirect references like that. Also, Necromancy is rooted in life magic and the Children are rooted in lunar magic, so their areas of magical research only overlap in a small slice (mostly Lay Necromancy).

Of course, the lore that supports most of that crossover is from the Rigby era where Necromancers were going to be very different then they ended up so take it with a grain of salt. For example, Lasarhhtha was going to be a necromancer guildleader for a long time and several of the spells in their spellbooks were related to the Children directly (I want to say one of them was called Kalestraum's Dark Rift and there was Bonegrinder).

-Raesh

"Ever notice that B.A.'s flavor text swells in direct proportion to how much one of our characters is getting screwed?" - Brian Van Hoose

<<Lasarhhtha was going to be a necromancer guildleader for a long time>>


I would have enjoyed that immensely. :-)

more s'kra, less humans. I still think Xerasyth should have stayed S'kra!

<Chirr>





<<If I can't cast thunderclap, you can't summon the dark lord of the abyss to devour the flesh of the innocent>>