text; un: beatrix [1]

[fiendennor]

Do you believe in magic?
If so, what do you know about it?

Comments

text; un: crimson duelist

[verflair]

Magic is quite common where I am from, so I do more than simply believe in it. I practice it myself.

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[fiendennor]

As do I. I was curious about its prevalence in other worlds. Do you have a specialty?

[verflair]

I practice what is known as red magic. It is a combination of the more common schools of magic from my world, and as such mine own skills can seem rather eclectic.

[fiendennor]

May I ask what makes it "red"? That's not a terminology I'm familiar with.

[verflair]

Ah, the schools of magic from which the red derived are also named for colors. White magic, and black magic.

Why it is called red and not gray, as logic would dictate, I do not know.

[fiendennor]

I see. Presumably, "white" magic is for restorative or helpful purposes and "black" magic for harmful ones? Is it typical to specialize in only one or the other?

[verflair]

As to the first question: Yes and no. It's true that white magic places more of an emphasis on healing, and black magic on dealing damage, but that is not to say that one is inherently good and the other not. Practitioners of white magic have their fair share of offensive spells as well.

As to the second: For the most part, yes, though some people may borrow from more than one school, or learn more than one. One of my pupils was first an arcanist before she took up the red.

And before you ask, arcanistry is a school of magic where spells are more akin to mathematical equations than the manipulation or creation of the elements like black and white magic.

[fiendennor]

Naturally. A surgeon's scalpel is still a knife, after all. Then there are four different schools in your field of magic, assuming we count red as a separate one: black, white, red, and arcanistry?

[verflair]

There are many more than that, but those are the most common.

What sort of magic is it that you practice?

[fiendennor]

I wouldn't say that there are quite as concrete distinctions in the magic I practice. There generally seems to be one holistic whole. I suppose if you had to be exacting about it, I have more of a specialty in restorative and curative magic. Curse-breaking, poison-cleansing, and such.

[verflair]

A skill set that will prove most useful here, I'm sure.

But if I am understanding this correctly, you can do other things aside from that, yes?

[fiendennor]

I can. My magical education covered offensive and defensive magic as well. Less time on those, however. Obviously, we're hoped to not have to use them.