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~ III. A History of Human Magics in Gielinor ~

**This history of magic represents an modern scholarly account of human magics in Gielinor from a perspective both sympathetic to ancient modes of thought and appreciative of modern developments - it's something one might find in Thormac's library.**

III* An Overview

(1) In order to structure this history, let's begin with some more refined historical divisions. First, from humanity's earliest days on Gielinor, there was the Age of Sorcery . This saw the departure of Guthix and ended - perhaps at different times in different places - with the arrival of the gods and the establishment of their empires.

(2) Next comes the Age of Mysticism . This can be divided into three periods. First - Early Mysticism . We will address the concept of spirits below, but the following can be said here: Early Mysticism begins when a distinction is drawn between 'native spirits' - spirits native to one world or another - and 'principle spirits' - spirits that transcend worlds. This period saw the development of the mystical schools and the beginning of the Godwars. The Epic of Ikov also dates from this period, and provides an account of human sorcery in its last years.

(3) Next comes High Mysticism , during the latter half of the Godwars. It begins with the discovery of the concept of 'the ultimate darkness' and the subsequent condemnation of necromancy. This period saw the mystical schools, long militarized, diminish their military occupations in order to seek out protection from and solutions to the conflicts among the gods. High Mysticism ends with the return of Guthix.

(4) The last period of Mysticism is Late Mysticism . After the Godwars, druidism emerged as a distinct magical tradition and might even have eclipsed the mystical tradition entirely but for the stabilizing force of the School of Strite - a mystical school which preserved the magical scholarship from the millennia of the Godwars, until it was destroyed by the dragon Garak in the middle of the 4th age. The entire 4th age might alternatively be called the 'Age of Druidism.'

(5) The Age of Magic begins in the last centuries of the 4th age with a brief period called the Age of Obelisks - the time between the discovery of summoning among the druids and their construction of summoning obelisks, at its start, and the construction of the elemental obelisks, at its end. This was a time of rapid innovation and conceptual development. It probably lasted for a century or two.

(6) Our treatment of magic will end with the time of Modern Runic Magic , which begins at the start of the 5th age. The last 173 years have seen a rapid expansion of magical disciplines, in the practice of runecrafting, and of a single tradition of rigorous, rune-based, magical experimentation in place of the surviving traditions of mysticism. This period has also witnessed an expansion of the practice of magic among humans, the runecrafting crusades, and the establishment of powerful human kingdoms throughout Gielinor. The time of Modern Runic Magic continues to the present day.

(7) Now that we have laid out our historical divisions, we can delve into each of them in more detail.

III.1 The Age of Sorcery

III.1.1 The Original Experience of Gielinor

(1) In the early years after their arrival in Gielinor, it is likely that humans brought with them from Terragard various magical practices and accounts of magic, anima, and planes. It is also likely that many of these traditional practices and theories disappeared as Gielinor's humans adapted to their new home. Under the direction of Guthix, they likely came to appreciate the carefully balanced activities of spirits in the world - what we millennia later call 'nature.'

(2) Unfortunately, 'nature' today is often contrasted with 'culture' or 'nurture.' This distinction did not exist during the Age of Sorcery. The humans of this period believed that the spirits which animated the non-human life of their surroundings animated them too. They were part of nature, and nature was the world.

(3) In order to understand the tradition of sorcery that developed among them, we will need to address the experience of Gielinor's earliest human populations. The first humans in Gielinor were brought by a benevolent god to a world largely devoid of enemies. It was a world of peace and opportunity. If they could work together, or simply get along with one another, they would do well. But if they fell into factions, envy, suspicion, or cruelty, they would bring upon themselves all of the sorrows of the old world.

(4) Therefore, the earliest human communities placed great importance on maintaining peace and trust among themselves. Already we can relate to the language of maintaining "a good spirit" among themselves - a spirit of prudence and justice so that the nascent structures of authority earned the respect of the governed, a spirit of generosity and patience so that they did not splinter and fight among themselves.

(5) Peace and trust were more likely to be maintained if every member of the community valued peace and trust. Furthermore, peace and trust were even more likely to be maintained if the members of a community share many values in common. For this reason, the early human communities sought by regular communal rituals to orient their members toward the same values. This provides us with a context for understanding how the concept of spirits came to be developed and how it tied together many aspects of the experience of Gielinor's early humans.

III.1.2 Spirits

(1) Let's examine briefly how we experience spirits, how they affect us, how we relate to them, and what they mean for communal life.

(2) We experience spirits in four ways. First, whenever we act, it is possible for us to take notice of why we act, i.e. of the value we serve or seek to bring about by our act. The value which prompts us to act is the invisible manifestation of a spirit. Second, whenever we see someone else act (in a manner we understand), it is possible for us to take notice, empathically, of why the other person acts. We have empathic access to the prompting of a spirit. Third, whenever we see any evidence of purposeful activity whatsoever, e.g. writing, tools, buildings, paths, etc., regardless of whether the activity is ongoing, it is possible for us to take notice of or guess at why such activity is done. Finally, on rare occasions, a spirit will take on a perceptible body - examples are recorded in the Epic of Ikov and other legends from ages past.

(3) We can call the first three kinds of experience 'ordinary manifestations' of a spirit. In ordinary experience, spirits prompt us to action ; they are or bear values; they draw our attention, stir our emotions, motivate us. By providing us with reasons for actions, spirits provide us with the power to act . If a spirit can move me, i.e. if it can draw my attention, stir my emotions, motivate me to action, then a bond is shared between the spirit and me. If I follow the spirit's prompting, then I strengthen the bond between the spirit and me - I form a habit; I come to share the value of the spirit more deeply; I come to act in accordance with its guidance more strongly.

(4) For every spirit we encounter - whether in its ordinary, invisible manifestations or in an extraordinary, visible manifestation - we find ourselves in one of four possible relationships to it. First, we may find ourselves bound to it peacefully . In this case, the spirit commands our attention, reveals a value to us, stirs our emotions, and grants us the power to act, and we follow its prompting. Second, we may find ourselves bound to and struggling with it . In this case, the spirit commands our attention, reveals a value to us, stirs our emotions, and grants us the power to act, but another spirits competes for our attention, reveals an alternative value to us, stirs contrary emotions, and grants us the power to act in a different manner. Thus there is conflict within us. Third, we may find ourselves unbound to, uninterested in, unstirred by, and unmoved by the spirit. Finally, we may find our relationship to the spirit unclear , so that more time is required to discern whether it has any hold over us and whether it may be granting us any power to act.

(5) Whenever we perform or witness an action, there is a question of what spirit or spirits motivate or animate it. Culture and education, as they function traditionally, seek to develop in us the capacity to identify and to distinguish among various spirits and to bind us to those spirits that preserve the community. For this reason, the earliest human communities upon Gielinor attended to the spirits carefully - for ultimately spirits shape our habits, bind together our communities, and guide all living things in the maintenance and development of their own existence.

III.1.3 Sorcery

(1) I have called the first historical division of human magics in Gielinor the Age of Sorcery. Sorcery is simply the reflectively self-aware use of or participation in spirits. To participate in a spirit is simply to act in accordance with its guidance. Sorcerers were those humans especially gifted with the sensitivities for discerning the work of spirits in their hearts and in the hearts of those around them.

(2) Such reflective knowledge would have made these gifted humans powerful in their communities. By 'powerful,' I do not mean that sorcerers had a kind of quantifiable power with which they could do whatever they wanted. Instead, they had the power to identify and to act in accordance with particular spirits. The contribution of sorcerers to their communities would have included identifying and banishing spirits that undermined the unity or survival of those communities.

(3) There is one central doctrine which captures the nature of spirits and their relation to human activity, and which will summarize for us concepts central to the first age of human magics. It is called the Law of Sorcery . It has been formulated in many ways, but these are understood as expressions of the same basic idea. Here are two of its formulations. (1) One submits to the spirit by which one acts. (2) One is bound to the spirits which give one power. Both of these express the intimate connection between spirits and human action, and subtly recommend caution in all relations with spirits, i.e. in all actions.

III.1.4 Early Runic Magic

(1) In addition to the rituals and reflections and actions directly associated with spirits, humans made use of the runestones provided for them by Guthix. Ancient runic magic differed from modern runic magic in important ways, but we will address these later. It is likely that, like the Fremennik before the runecrafting crusades, they treated runestones as a gift and that they used runestones as components of their broader practice of sorcery, which was itself concerned with the good of the community.

(2) In the late 1st or early 2nd age, V discovered the rune essence mine on Lunar Isle and a method for crafting more runestones. The Moon Clan then set up altars throughout the world. It is likely that they also discovered life on Zanaris and its portal system at this time. Although runecrafting might have threatened to change humans' conception of magic, since now the power to create runestones lay in their hands, I doubt it had a significant cultural impact.

(3) I think this for two reasons. My first reason concerns the architecture of the runecrafting altars. Altars in general indicate an attitude of receptivity, an attitude further exemplified in the altars' simple construction, open archways, and relations to their environments. These features suggest that early runic magic was treated as a gift and as a human activity embedded within the broader activities of the world. Second, the runecrafting altars were cared for by the Moon Clan under the leadership of V, and cultural change happens very slowly under an immortal leader.

III.1.5 The Images of the Age

(1) Often what matters most for ages to come is not the technicalities of magical practices but the images with which practices are described, for images shape the imagination and suggest new directions for development. Therefore, we will conclude this section by examining the images of spirits, light, darkness, shadow, anima, and worlds as they were used during the Age of Sorcery.

(2) Spirits receive little direct, theoretical description, for sorcerers were more interested in their practical effects. When spirits were described, they were described as invisible beings, existing in multiple places at once, immortal - unable to die, but susceptible to banishment, and always able return. **Accounts of their extraordinary manifestations are recorded in Parts VI and V.**

(3) The images of light and darkness were widely used during this period. Spirits were treated as bearers of light. By revealing a value and possible actions in accordance with it, spirits made human activity possible, just as visible light does. Yet not everyone acted according to the same spirits, or 'according to the same lights.' From the perspective of the community, to live in the light was to live according to the spirits of the community, i.e. to see things by the same lights as everyone else and to act accordingly. To live without their guidance or to live by foreign lights was to live in darkness.

(4) From these images also developed the first concept of the shadow realm - a place of unseen things and designs, of secrets and forgotten things. Among sorcerers this was probably not understood as an actual space but as an unseen dimension of reality - either a dimension of reality that could not be seen immediately but only after some time, or a dimension of reality that could never be seen but could be felt. Because spirits were ordinarily invisible it was thought that they dwelt in the shadow realm, even though they provided the 'light' for human action.

(5) Just as spirit received little direct, theoretical description, so too anima received little attention. Anima was attributed to those things that moved and acted of their own accord. This was interpreted as responsiveness to spirits. Therefore, anima was understood as the receptivity of visible things to invisible things.

(6) While some stories of ancient homeworlds likely survived, it seems that there was little development of planar theory during the Age of Sorcery. Humans had access only to Gielinor. They knew of the worldgate through stories of their arrival in Gielinor, but the worldgate was likely seen as an anomaly. They had no theory of interplanar travel or portals, at least until the end of the age. When the gods arrived from other worlds, they were understood according to the concepts familiar to Gielinor's humans - as powerful sorcerers. But Gielinorians soon grasped that their familiar paradigm was insufficient, and the Age of Sorcery gave way.