Tellus: Of Mages and Sorcerers

It is no surprise that, with it being my first edition, that D&D 3e has left a significant mark on me for better and for ill and this is quite apparent in how I've separated the concept of a Wizard and a Sorcerer. Tellus is not different and while the two classes are similar enough they have deep differences whose roots are in the misty past of that world.

The Black, Red and White Mage are from this Final Fantasy-inspired homebrew.

On Magic

Maybe a Dragon Clan lady with unusual hair?
Art by Jeff Chen.

It is a well-known and established fact that, on Tellus, the Ulma (or Human, as we'd recognize them) are the least naturally attuned to raw magic. On average it is said that about one in several hundred Ulma has the potential to wield magic. There have been many theories proposed, ranging from the scientific to the completely mystical and religious (with a few smug Sky-Folks or Dragon Clan simply believing the Ulma to be inferior beings) to explain this. It takes more than the required stats of a class to be able to learn magic, meaning there are many intelligent individuals who could master entire crafts and never be able to cast a meager magic missile. However, for simplicity sake the rules for multiclass are unchanged and any player who wish for his character to multiclass is simply assumed to unlock some latent potential.

Those designated as Sorcerers are member of the non-human races (generally speaking either Sky-Folks and Dragon Clan as they are the most well known and still extant sapient non-human beings of Tellus) whose blood and/or soul resonate with a deeper connection to magical energies. Mages, on the other hand rely on complex formula and their spellbooks in order to cast spells. These traditions are rooted in a mixture of human and non-human beliefs, philosophies and sciences which have all melded together to form the current paradigm of magic.

White Magic and Black Magic

Accept no substitute.

The early Ulma's view on magic has massively shaped all thoughts surrounding it. Ulm belief separate magic into two opposite-yet-complementary forces, which they designate under the crude terms of White and Black magic. The first is a magic of stasis, order, support, reinforcement and light. The other is that of change, transformation, chaos and raw power. Neither is technically good/evil but the cultural trend and the history of the Ulma has colored these views, as ancient Black Mages were seen with suspicion and fear due to their destructive powers while those who wielded more benign powers were seen in a better light. This, combined with Ulm religion, has long shaped the image of White Magic as the power of divinity when in reality it is completely distinct from that of the (much rarer) Clerics. The root of these traditions are themselves found in the culture of the Sky Folks and Dragon Clans.

In modern times, Black Magic has evolved from being seen as evil witchcraft into something more orderly and scientific: the study of primordial forces which can impact the world through fundamental changes. While White Mages have remained healers and mystics, the Black Mages are increasingly seen as scholars who wield their magic to fuel the larger and more impressive feat of geomancy and engineering which the Ulma have accomplished. The energies are seen as part of the natural world, even if some still believe they have a spiritual component. They are fundamental forces but not under the direct control of the Gods and thus technically separate from the spellcasting of other, stranger and more exotic classes.

Other Mages and Wizards

The Wizard of the core Dungeons & Dragons rules still exist but is not the default 'Arcane Spellcaster'. Wizards are more specialized, more unique and unusual mages whose traditions might have split off from the common branch which became the modern Black Magic (which is a very wide array of topics but also very heavily invested in elemental forces). A few of them appear among the ranks of Black Mages: iconoclasts trying to bring back a certain form or tradition of magic back into the fold of modern magic. Others, most likely, are people from exist land and locale or members of more insular Wizard communities or perhaps the apprentice to an eccentric hermit.

There is no clear naming convention for these mages, but there are those who sometimes call the nine major schools of magic by names such as Grey Mages (for Necromancy) or Purple Mages (Illusionist). In truth there is no official or coherent naming scheme for these and the attempt at slapping a color on it is a result of people assuming you have to slap on one them less the entire system falls apart. They simply draw upon some aspects of both sides in specific ways and do not represent a completely new dimension of magic for the most part.

Meanwhile, Red Mages are a result of pragmatism and wisdom: where Ulma science and theology had increasingly pulled apart two sides of the same coin, the Red Mages were born from a desire to wield back both forces and refining them as one. Where the current paradigm preached for spellcasters to forget the mundane and physical, there were those who believed in the importance of both The term Red Mage come from the fact many early adopter of this philosophy of magic, which seek to balance white/black magic and the physical/mental, were mercenaries and warriors of some stripe who applied their new skill to the battlefield.