Cosmic Forces / Magical Arts
You might not believe me, but I really meant--last post--to do what I'll be setting out to do in this post.
Establishing the great cosmic forces--and subsequently, magical arts derived from them--in the universe that is WarCraft. I did mention them, briefly:
Light, Void; Life, Death; Order, Disorder.
Predictably as fuck, Blizzard attaches morality to these. Very quickly. In fact, the morality they use is present in all their games--even if they tease you with little tidbits about how there MIGHT be a little nuance present.
I won't insult you with describing these moralities, but I will offer you the honor of not being forced into a corner. These moralities? We're throwing them out.
We ARE, however, going to keep the descriptions given to the forms of magic derived from these cosmic forces. Not for the implication of what is good or what is evil, but because I'm an edge-lord who loves calling myself a master of unholy arts--and I'm sure there are plenty who would do the same, without strictly proclaiming themselves to be bitches.
LIGHT : Holy Magic
VOID : Shadow Magic
LIFE : Nature Magic
DEATH : Death Magic (Although they call it Necromancy)
ORDER : Domination Magic (Although they call it Arcane)
DISORDER: Eldritch Magic (Although they call it Fel)
Now, the wiki speaks of how there is a...suspected...m y s t e r i o u s seventh cosmic power. The ULTIMATE COSMIC POWER, stronger and harder and longer than all the others!
Before I unveil their version, and my version, of the seventh cosmic power--I would like to point out that each of these energies are supposed to originate upon a plane of existence unique to them. So whatever in the cosmic funky-fuck could there be that is greater and more phenomenally phenomenal than those six?!
Well, they say math.
I say fuck that.
They've already given us a seventh cosmic force, from the very fucking beginning! It has its own planes and everything! But, just like the tragedy of the Draenei accidentally getting retconned because they forgot the Eredar existed... They've once again proven that drinking or smoking is the only thing their people do.
What is it?
E l e m e n t s.
Elemental Magic.
Elemental Planes--Fire, Air, Water, Earth.
Now, you might also be asking where "Spirit" magic falls. And I say that's a good point. So let's make some corrections up above, shall we?
ELEMENTAL MAGIC
🜍 ORDER : Domination Magic, from the plane of the "Celestial Aether."
Also sometimes called Holy Magic, by priests.
🜁 AIR : Aeromancy, from the plane of "Skywall."
🜂 FIRE : Pyromancy, from the plane of "Firelands."
✡ LIFE / DEATH : Spirit Magic, from the Mortal Plane.
🜄 WATER : Hydromancy, from the plane of "Abyssal Maw."
🜃 EARTH : Geomancy, from the plane of "Deepholm."
🜏 DISORDER : Shadow Magic, from the plane of the "Twisting Nether."
Also sometimes called Unholy Magic, by priests.
ARCANE MAGIC
Now...you'll probably notice something's missing here. "Arcane" magic. Well, I've redefined that. See, most elements have a capacity to combine--and it's what one does with them that defines them as moral or immoral; which, in further elaboration, is a state imposed by societies and cultures and religions...not the magic itself.
So where does Arcane magic come in?
Well, in examining the things attributed to Arcane magic in the setting--I've concluded it's the blending of either ORDER or DISORDER (Chaos) with the natural behaviors of things present in the universe. For example, there's a quote in the wiki in which Medivh--espoused as sorcerer supreme--reveals that the difference between elemental fire and fire conjured by a practitioner of magic...is that the exertion of mana upon heat in the air produced a flame.
Arcane Magic is the use of Order or Chaos to modify and/or affect the natural energies of a plane. Those natural energies are...
Kinetic Energy, the Power of Motion
Spectric Energy, the Power of Light
Thermic Energy, the Power of Heat
Gravic Energy, the Power of Gravity
Organic Energy, the Power of Flesh
Sonic Energy, the Power of Sound
Magnetic Energy, the Power of Magnetism
Chemic Energy, the Power of Chemistry
Radic Energy, the Power of Radiation (Decay, to the uninformed.)
Psychic Energy, the Power of Thought
Chronic Energy, the Power of Time
Ambic Energy, the Power of Space
Schools of Magic / Elemental Synergy
I mentioned combining elements. Yes, that's how you get the varying schools of magic. Let's examine those.
Going forward, however, allow me to introduce a few terms for your vocabulary--terms I'll be using in the rewrites. Noble Elements, Primal Elements, and Basic Elements or Synergic Elements.
--Noble Elements - These are elements which cannot quite exist in a pure form within the universe, at least outside of their respective planes; Order, Spirit, and Disorder. Note, now, however...that because living things originate upon the Mortal Plane--which is also the elemental plane of spirit--pure Spirit will be perceptible to characters within the story, and referred to as Mana.
--Primal Elements - These are elements which do not really have a...mental compatibility with mortal minds; Fire, Air, Earth, and Water.
--Basic Elements - Refer to any of these seven elements which are uncombined.
--Synergic or Alloy Elements - These are the results of two basic elements joining to create something which is and is not Primal nor Noble.
Schools of Primal Magic
Known collectively as...Elementalist Magic.
We have our basics, and then we have our alloys. The mastery of two forms of elemental magic allows one to get into the practice of a combined form--we know this ought to exist in the setting, because we have seen elementals formed of combined energies. Here's our list:
Basics:
--Fire (Pyro Magia)
--Water (Hydro Magia)
--Earth (Geo Magia)
--Air (Aero Magia)
Dual Alloy Elements:
--Sand; Air/Earth (Ammo Magia)
--Ice; Air/Water (Cryo Magia)
--Lightning; Air/Fire (Electro Magia)
--Mud; Earth/Water (Laspi Magia)
--Lava; Earth/Fire (Lava Magia)
--Steam; Water/Fire (Atmos Magia)
Triumvirate Alloy Elements:
--Azoth; Air/Earth/Water (Ermis Magia)
--Acid; Air/Water/Fire (Oxy Magia)
--Brimstone; Air/Earth/Fire (Theio Magia)
--Crystal; Earth/Fire/Water (Litho Magia)
"Complete" Elemental Alloy:
--Star / Plasma; Air/Earth/Water/Fire (Astra Magia)
Schools of Noble Magic
Known collectively as...Spirit Magic.
We next address the schools of magic as derived of the noble elements, which--in the esteem they are held to by scholars, priests, and the like...are not actually ever really referred to as elements; but as godly and divine forces.
The mage, often scorned for their viewpoints, finds no real difference to exist between the noble elements and the primal elements--and this is why mages tend to prefer a degree of isolation from the greater majority of the world. This can be called the conflict of intellectualism vs spirituality, which is a highly popular writing angle not often touched upon by Blizzard. For obvious reasons.
We'll get to those in the Americanism section of those massive post.
For now:
Basics:
--Spirit Magic; the Power of Communion
On its own, Spirit Magic is a system which permits communication with the energies of living things and nonliving things--which, due to the nature of the elemental planes, do have their own sense of soul.
--Domination Magic; the Power of Control
Most invaluable to those who partake the practice of summoning, the power of control primarily exploits binding and commanding.
--Shadow Magic; the Power of Warp
Perceived to be monstrous, for the ways it changes what it is infused with; the power of warp is the power of change--it alters and reforges the things it touches, typically in a nightmarish manner.
Alloys:
--Life Magic; Domination/Spirit
Also called nature magic by some, though this will very quickly piss off any priests "of the light" by insinuating in any way that sentient creatures are not somehow superior to nature--despite the very same principles having application.
--Death Magic; Shadow/Spirit
Also called necromancy. This is the power of warping the spirit and commanding death. It's largely considered abominable.
--Arcane Magic; Noble Elements + Primal Elements
This is covered above, already, in the Arcane Magic section.
The Americanism
Now, you might be thinking that I've left something out here. Or, rather, a fair few somethings out. Let's first address the most glaring, American thing about Blizzard's version of these magical powers: their principles are all very Baptist.
I would've said "Christian," but anyone who has spent any amount of time in the US can immediately determine that this country has a very warped form of Christianity--which places most focus on trying to utilize it as a form of hate and control rather than as a religion, willfully and blasphemously eschewing their holy book's lessons in favor of made-up shit that justifies spewing hate, abuse, and frankly awful things.
Fire is actually kind of an important thing, for example, in many forms of Christianity. Considered holy, even.
Here, it's just associated with evil--and in fact, the Firelands are considered basically an evil dimension. Light is, of course, the most important and wonderful and holy and correct of all elements--and anything the "Light" says is wrong, is evil and awful and horrible. Blizzard establishes this as an objective morality.
Keep that in mind, going forward, because it's going to come up...A LOT. You literally cannot have Americanism without this utterly awful corruption of religion as the underlying motivator for everything. Chiefly...that you cannot question it, as that would simply be heresy. You're not allowed to understand anything--because that would be going against faith.
But faith sounds an awful lot like totalitarian obedience whenever the WASPs talk about it.
Now let's get to the..."missing" schools of magic.
Druidism. Voodoo. Shamanism.
So, I have a massive fucking problem with the use of these three things as...schools of magic. Why? Because they're religions, they're not toys.
Using them is exactly the same as something like "Quickly, Medivh--use your Jewry to destroy the orcs!"
This becomes a lot more awful when you realize that those three "schools of magic" come from what Blizzard portrays as rather...primitive cultures. As if any form of religion besides the obligatory pseudo-Christian is primitive, backwards, or uncivilized.
Worse...is the way Voodoo is treated and portrayed. As is typical of absolutely any form of faith practiced by persons of remotely African flavor (although, to most WASPs, basically anything that any person of color does--Shamanism and Druidism appear in ancient European traditions, to an extent)...it is immediately regarded as an evil thing. It takes control of your mind maaaaan, and it's got a funky beat involved! Here come the afro demons! Aaaaah--hide yo womens!
Fuck you.
Fuck that.
Fuck Blizzard.
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