The Academy Arcane: Background

[Vyriello]

Alright, class. Today's lecture is one of three that I will be giving you to prepare you for school here. This one is on the basic guidelines of magic. Every spell you cast is grouped by its fundamental nature into different 'schools' of magic. In the different schools, you will obtain certain levels of mastery, which I will now explain.

Apprentice Level: At this level you are capable of casting fairly basic spells only. (First or second year students)
Novice Level: At this level you are capable of using magic of more moderate difficult. (First through third or fourth year students)
Mage Level: Difficult and potent spells are in your grasp at this level of aptitude. (Fourth through tenth year students)
Master Level: It takes many years to reach this level of aptitude in any given school of magic, but once you do, few spells will likely be out of reach to you. (10+ year students; faculty)

As you grow in aptitude in a given level in a given school, casting spells of that school will become simpler. At first, even the most basic spells will recquire you to have a material focus of some sort, usually a wand or staff, accompanied by an incantation. As you progress you will be able to begin to abandon your focus and replace it with hand gestures, retaining the necessity of incantation. A little further down the road and you can use hand gestures only; casting your spells silently. And the most significant accomplishment is the ability to cast a spell with merely a thought. Keep in mind, though, that as you progress in casting ability, the more difficult spells will take much longer to advance in. The most powerful spells in a school often recquire focus materials for even the mightiest Archmages.

That is all for part one of this lecture. The second part will be on the different schools of magic and their uses. Class is adjourned until after lunch.

[Vyriello]

Good afternoon, class, I hope lunch was pleasant. Shall we begin part two of our lecture-the schools of magic and their uses?
The first set are the elemental schools. Each is used to create, harness, control, or otherwise manipulate the element of its namesake. They are:
Fire Magic
Water Magic
Air Magic
Earth Magic
The second set are the fundamental schools. These schools cover quite a lot of ground and are essential to the overall effectiveness of any Mage. Slack off in any one of them, and your enemies will exploit your weakness in an instance, but if you keep up in all of these subjects, you should be able to handle yourself well in nearly any situation. They are:
Abjuration: Protecting yourself and others from harm
Divination: Magically discovering valuable information
Illusion: Deceiving others perceptions
Compulsion: Influence the mind of others
Enchantment: Create lasting beneficial or detrimental effects
Transmutation: Alter the physical property of objects, yourself, or others
Evocation: Manipulating the energy around you to exert them on objects, others, or yourself.

The Final set of schools are the specialty schools. These are more difficult to learn and use, and have more specialized applications. They are:
Rituals: Immensely powerful spells that have incredibly complicated casting rituals necessary to perform them.
Runes: Magical runes and glyphs that perform a variety of functions
Summoning: Calling otherworldly creatures to you and binding them into service
Alchemy: Making potions and elixers from rare and magical ingredients
Necromancy: Manipulating the energy of death, often to turn the dead into undead. This is the only school of magic here that is forebidden.

Though you are recquired to study and gain a minimum proficiency in all the schools of magic here, you will likely find that you have a certain knack for some more than others. That is why you will also be able to train extensively in one or more chosen schools, as you please, once you have graduated from the novice-level rank in all the fundamental schools and two of the elemental schools.

Well, that is the end of the second part of this lecture. The third and final part will be tommorow and it will be an overview of the history of the school and an introduction to some of its facilities.

[Vyriello]

Ah, welcome back class. Today I will give you an overview of some of our facilities here and a little background on the school. Though to most it is known as the Academy Arcane, it is not the only such school in this world. There are many Academies of Arcane, each with their own design, methods, and name. This one is called the Tersai Academy, as we are located in the Kingdom of Tersai. While some academies, like Zaga the Impenitrable, have a very isolated, hands-off approach to teaching, we adopt a much more traditional education style, putting you in classes with teachers who instruct in you in a given subject. This has been an established school for over 3000 years, so be proud that you are students here.
As for the our facilities; you will be housed in one of several dormitories spread across the campus. We have fully equipped labs for every subject and some of the best professors in the world teaching in them. Our buildings are extremely difficult to damage, and even if they are, they are self-repairing. Our library is open 24 hours every day and in it you will be able to find books on every conceivable subject, though many are forbidden to you without the proper permission form. Students may come and go between the school and the nearby city of Lorady as they please, though we ask that you keep in mind the fact that they depend on us as we depend on them, so please do not do anything to stretch our relationship with them. That is all for this lecture. Welcome to the Tersai Academy for the study of the Arcane.