Ever more impactful, the numerous shards of the Great Solace. Thousands of fragments, each like a web of petals, frayed reality's fringes. They were called "Schools of Magic" for a long time, though many called them "Paths" or "Disciplines" and some called them "Dynasties," for in many cases the knowledge of certain techniques was synonymous with inherited, entrenched, and calcified power. The Palace of Veils, for example, concealed the secret of the Burning Dance for twelve generations, until Princjes Erjorjers taught the Basic Forms to his Royal Guard in a moment of desperation during the Raider Wars. With his mystique broken and the founding betrayal revealed, the palace fell within the century. The Basic Forms of the Burning Dance became the basis for the Flame Wheel Tradition, which in turn inspired the many styles of Dancing. It seems that the same story repeats itself throughout the ages: once a technique escapes containment, it gives birth to myriad cultures and becomes mundane.
Yet the numerous shards have a certain unity. Some compare them to fragments of pottery, the broken parts of a single vase. That unified magic, or the possibility of it, represents ultimate power or ultimate serenity. Yet shattered pottery cannot be repaired without some glue or bonding-agent. The fragments are totally separate. Others argue that a secret unity underlies reality. The many forms of magic are not separate, but rather function like the different facets of a gemstone. If one could perceive all the facets at once, they would embody the total magic of reality. This debate has great substance: if magic has unity, then knowledge can be unified; if magic is riven by some fundamental cleavage, then each person is given magic germane to them, and different knowledges cannot mix. Certainly it is proven that one man may learn many magics. But nobody has managed to learn them all. Indeed, every sage, even the wisest, has reported that some Paths are completely inaccessible, while others appear nearly effortless.
The Path of the Construct promised to industrialize magic. If a tome or a staff could contain spells usable by any individual, then mystery and knowledge could remain in the hands of a few specialists, while powers could be duplicated and distributed among armies. Such ambitions have caused disastrous wars in every age. Each time, it seems, a rupture occurred and Humanity was cut off from some Mystery or another. Thus, the Constructs fell silent, one after another. In the Age of Sorrow, only a few remained: stone and sigil, staff and wand, scroll and tome. The great flying machines of the pre-Celestial ages faded and became nostalgic fantasies. It is strange to look upon a dormant construct and wonder what ambitions it once embodied. Some theorize that such creatures can be awakened again, or intend to awaken themselves, eventually. Perhaps that Mystery was never riven off from us at all, but its secrets were merely forgotten.
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In the Age of Sorrow, the art of Channeling was neglected, for it was rare to find anyone with a natural talent. The great societies preferred Holy Worship, which allowed a broad populace to empower a single God, and thereby receive magic. The wild spirits of the land grew reclusive and primal as they lost the forms gifted to them by Humans. Yet Channeling and Worship are essentially the same kind of magic with different points of focus, as Gods and Spirits are essentially the same type of being. Thus, the errant Worshippers of those Holy societies occasionally bonded with natural Spirits.
The wars between the various Gods of the Holy Empires, certainly worthy of many volumes of history, yielded continual advancements and refinements in the casting of Holy Spells, both wicked and kind. They focused on the acute manifestation of Blessings and Curses in military and economic contexts. The Channeling of Spirits, in contrast, was shaped mainly by the personalities and preferences of the particular Spirits and their Channelers.
The various traditions of Physic, Dancing, Chanting, Ritual, and Vision, along with Construct Artifice, retreated from spirituality and became secular, to avoid inquisitorial accusations of heresy. These fields progressed quite slowly in the Age of Sorrow, aside from Artifice, which was used by every military and economy, and Physic, which was popular among the mage-empires. Because these various fields constrained themselves for political safety, they developed narrowed paths which reified the theory of strict cleavages between various forms of magic.
- Herold Hjojmelm, Journal of Alchemical Sciences
