Steps of the Arcanist

Admin Antall Innlegg : 209 Join date : 2012-07-18

Steps of the Arcanist.

A lot of people don't know the difference between a wizard and a sorcerer. And who actually knows that 'blink' is a short for 'dimension blink'? While such details do not seem relevant, to magic-users in the game it's important that certain terms are acknowledged as cannon.

A great help for this is the (Wo) WRPG (short for Warcraft Role-playing Game). The RPG explains a lot of terminology gives detail to a lot of unexplored terrain, like the titans. Has no one ever wondered how the WoWwiki site got information on the Titans? The Titans were only mentioned and barely described even in the Burning Crusade. The RPG, however, already explained the difference between Vanir and Aesir Titans. A nice illustration for the wealth of information the RPG gives. Not only does it give such solid information, it also allows RPers like us to take liberty within a certain palette. It gives variant rules, like the corruption subject that I've already brought up in an earlier thread.

Today, though, I hope to discuss the 'paths' of different arcanist characters that you can potentially be implement in prologue. These are; the mage, the warlock, the necromancer and the inscriber.

Premise
When you decide to start a character, you need to decide in what kind of environment he will be. Will he be a tolerated warlock in the Undercity Sewers, or perhaps a misunderstood orc sorcerer? Perhaps, your character is one of those highborn mages that seek to reestablish their connection with their night elf cousins. Or, perhaps you an addicted blood elf who will do anything to gain more power.
In essence, choose your race carefully. Not everyone is as tolerant towards the arcane classes.

In this first step, you have to make a crucial decision. Are you a wizard, sorcerer or an inscriber? Some of these terms won't say much to people, other than 'magic user' and likely you'll only recognize the term inscribing because of the profession that shares the same name. However, choosing any of these 'classes' will determine a lot of your mentality towards magic. Note that none of these classes affect what kind of arcanist you are. An inscriber can still be a necromancer; a sorcerer can still be a mage. A wizard can still be a warlock. The eventual arcane paths you will take in your arcane career are unrelated to how you start your career.

Wizard

Wizards are arcane spell casters who have undertaken intensive study of magic in places such as the Violet Citadel of Dalaran or the Academies of Silvermoon in Quel’Thalas.
They do not act as mere conduits of their magic, but instead use their cast knowledge use their vast knowledge of otherworldly forces to harness the energies to their will. A night elf who takes this class is stripped of her racial heritage. Orcs and tauren are unlikely to take this class, since they lack wizards available to train anyone.

Example

A good example of a wizard would be Jaina Proudmoore. While many people assume wizards to be male, female wizards are not at all unheard of. Jaina Proudmoore was one of the few female mages of the Kirin Tor, presumably stepping in the footsteps of the very first of their sort, Aegwynn. Jaina Proudmoore's great love were books and could spend days on end in her library to learn more of spells.
The problem was that, while she had a certain understanding and even talent for fire spells, her lack of experience and understanding caused her to set a book on fire. One that someone else was holding at the time.

Sorcerer

Sorcerers own great talent for arcane spell casting, but they have not harnessed it through the intensive training that wizards pursue. Most people do not make distinction between sorcerers and wizards, although the latter may often refer to the former as "hedge-wizards" or some other pejorative term.
Night elves bear a particular dislike for sorcerers, seeing them as vessels of demonic power. Wizards, at least, attempt to manipulate arcane power through controlled processes, rather than letting their own bodies act as conduits.

Example

Sorcerers are known for their talent for magic. Illidan and Malfurion were no exception. They felt the world in a way different than others. They did not have patience or mutual understanding to be taught by the elders, which was the tradition of the time.
Illidan in particular picked up spell very fast. In a day, he could have learned a new spell with ease and flaunt about it years after. The turning point of his career can be attributed to this adaptability. When the night elves' had their first encounter with demons, specifically felbeasts, Illidan quickly figured out how to use his environment to slay it, even if it was immune to magic. That way, he became the personal sorcerer of Lord Ravencrest, who Illidan saved in this encounter.

Admin Antall Innlegg : 209 Join date : 2012-07-18

Inscriber

Whereas other arcanist focuses on destructive magic or truck with dark forces, the inscriber seeks to master the mysterious and ancient powers of runes. Inscribers are arcanist who has discovered the strange arts of rune-casting: a technique for channeling the arcane energy inherent in the world without the risk of arcane corruption.
Inscribers are most often found among humans and gnomes, for these two races are most likely to have arcane aptitude as well as exposure to runic magic (generally through association with dwarven rune masters); some Forsaken who have dealt with tauren rune masters have come to seek these secrets, as well.

It's strictly seen not necessary that you know which of these you are. Arcanists are still arcanists; the results will be approximately the same. However, it does influence how fast you'll pick up certain spells. If you are a wizard, you'll have invested a lot of time in learning your spells. If you are a sorcerer, these things came mostly natural to you. Inscribers are a different story altogether, because they spent a lot of time into developing their runes, making their magic highly personal and unpredictable to the uninitiated or rather more so.

It also affects how quickly you'll feel the tug of corruption. While personality means a great deal too how easy you will give in to your corruption, sorcerers will always be corrupted first and the inscribers last.

And naturally, not all sorcerers give up wizardry completely. Many nowadays mages were 'hedge-wizards' rounded up into schools. In fact, many high elves and blood elves are by nature sorcerers, but wish to have a more direct control over their casting.
However, wizards cannot decide to be sorcerers. You are born with the necessary talent or you aren't. Many human mages are wizards. They do not have the necessary talent or the touch that the high elves had when they taught them, but humans have the necessary stubbornness that allows them to force their will over the magical flows of energy.

Finally, these are by far not all ways to describe arcanists. Gul'dan himself, for example, started out as a shaman and never actively studied arcane lore to get his powers. He simply did his spells, without putting much thought into the processes behind it. The effects were the most important. Amateurs like many of the cult of the damned or demon cults simply try and sometimes succeed in casting spells. These combine arcane spells with divine spells, which results in an odd conglomeration of magic. However, these kind of spell casters will always suffer the earliest from corruption and will be felsworn or undead before they have the change to reach the rank of High Arcanist.

Paths

Now that we know what sort of arcanists there are, we should decide what of the arcane paths we will follow. There are 3 distinct paths that arcanists follow. The mage, the warlock and the necromancer. The most common are mages, they raise the least ethical and moral questions. Warlock and necromancers almost require performing acts that are considered evil. It doesn't really matter if you are corrupted or not; if you kill somebody so you can feed their soul to demons, you'll perform an evil act. There's no going around it, I'm afraid.

First, though, there are The Four Laws of Arcane Magic.

There are four important rules to remember about the use of arcane magic in Azeroth.
Magic is Powerful. Magic in the Warcraft RPG is the difference between a slave and a master, a foot soldier and a king. Few races and nations can operate without powerful mages and warlocks. The use of arcane magic is growing; historically, each time this has happened before, a great disaster shortly follows. However, even though the history of the arcane is well known, mages and their patrons invariably come to the same self-serving conclusion: It won’t happen to them.

Magic is Corrupting. Magic corrupts the soul; if the humblest person on Azeroth became a practitioner of the arcane, by the time that practitioner reached the higher levels in her art, all traces of her humble roots would be lost. Magic breeds pride and arrogance. Magic corrupts the body; it ages the caster before her time and hastens the blight that the world inflicts on things fair and beautiful.

Magic is an Addiction. When one feels the power of an arcane spell coursing through one’s body as its being cast, resisting the urge to cast it again is difficult.
Magic Attracts the Twisting Nether Like Flies to Honey. The Burning Legion has invaded Azeroth three times, drawn by the power of the Well of Eternity and those who employ it. Magic is a literal gateway drug that allows dark titans such as Sargeras to bring evil influences to the world. Those who employ arcane magic must deal with demons and other servants of the Twisting Nether.

How you deal with the Four Laws determines in part what class you will choose. Are you addicted to magic but do you resist corruption? Good chance that you will be a mage. Do you see magic as a means to power and don't give a damn about corruption? Most likely warlock. Necromancers give in to their corruption entirely. In fact, you could say that becoming undead is their ultimate goal.

Because Warlocks and Necromancers willingly risk the consequences of at least 3 of the 4 laws, their magic belongs to what is known as the 'Forbidden Arts' or the 'Dark Arts'. Note that 'dark arts' don't necessarily have to do with Shadow and Fel. They are simply magic that is criminal and thus often done in secret. Prime example is Kel'thuzad, who experimented with necromancy 'in the dark'.

Finally, remember that following multiple paths is allowed, but even then, these casters still follow one single mentality.

Mage

Mages are arcanists who study magic for the sake of magic. Magic empowers them, but it doesn't necessarily give them actual power. A mage is often equally excited when he can raise a goblet of wine as when he can raise a rock. The effect doesn't matter; the application of magic on itself thrills him.

Mages are often part of the nation of Dalaran. After the Troll wars, humans spread their knowledge of magic. Eventually this threatened a civil war and the human nations splintered into 7. Dalaran was one of the most powerful. They were not simply human anymore, either. Gnomes, high elves and even some dwarves flocked to Dalaran to learn more of magic. Trolls are probably the only other race that has become a mage without also becoming warlock or necromancer. Warlocks are simply too powerful for a troll warlord to ignore; they are a threat to their ruler ship and thus likely killed before progress can be made. Mages are probably more acceptable because of that.

Whereas warlocks are careless and necromancers are needlessly nihilic, mages are curious. They want to know more about their surroundings, even if it doesn't involve magic. Mages are not simply up to date with the newest developments in magic, but they can equally discuss history with historians or gossip with courtiers. To them, the credo 'Knowledge is Power' extends to any field.

Example

Both Medivh and Khadgar show the characteristics of a mage. Khadgar was probably up to date with all the rumors in Dalaran and even know some questionable details about a certain librarian collecting posters about warlock magic. Such curiosity was providing quite a nuisance to even the Kirin Tor, who decided it better to send Khadgar to Medivh where it might do more good than harm. For them. Medivh appreciated this trait greatly, though, often testing Khadgar to see if he had missed or forgotten obscure details such as the names of the boat and crew that shipped him from Lordaeron to the continent of Azeroth.

Warlock

Almost an anthesis to the mage, the warlock cares almost solely for power. Whether or not he wants to use those powers for (his own) good doesn't matter. He weighed corruption and damnation with power and decided that power was worth that risk. His interests lie almost solely with power or the reason he needs such power. Amateurs include dim noblemen who need a boost in either their moneybag or their reputation. They summon demons in the hope that they can outwit them once they are here. Some fail, some succeed.

Nearly all warlocks belong to the folds of the Burning Legion. Warlocks are sadistic and megalomaniacs. The questionable morality of their actions does not bother them. They see only power and vengeance and suffering and they enjoy all equally. They do not necessarily use the Fel for this purpose, though. They might as well study scrolls from ancient civilizations that they do not necessarily understand but give them great power. Old gods, for example.

There are other warlocks that are simply insane, but these have no particular goal in mind anymore. They are insane, they serve demons unquestionably and are hard to recognize as insane followers of demons. When found out, they probably do the worst damage because no one expected them to be insane. These incidents can then lead to witch hunts where every senile fool is hung for possibly being an insane servant of dark powers. As such, you can class the Twilight Cult as the insane type of warlocks.

Plenty of rogue mages eventually become warlocks, because they do not notice the danger of corruption. This is also why many wizards from the Kirin Tor consider sorcerers damned.

Example

Gul'dan did not start out as a mage, like many warlocks. He also was not a politician who wanted a boost. Frankly, he didn’t even need any money. He was offered power by Kil’jaeden and where his master he denied, Gul’dan greedily accepted. He didn’t want power for any specific purpose, he just wanted it. For that reason, he would have the entire Horde bow to his will and accept warlock magic as –the– way of using magic. And even then, he didn’t care a mote about the Horde. He’d see them all killed or set in internment camps, as long as he could attain the power of gods.

Necromancer

The Cult of the Damned is nihilistic to the core. The only thing that they care about is immortality. And, in undeath, they hope to achieve this immortality. Never mind the loss of will; somehow it doesn’t occur to them as important. In any case, the necromancer fights to become a lich, a sentient being of undeath. They exert will over their minions for self-preservation, in part. If some threats have to be utterly destroyed or better yet put to serve under your personal guard, then so is it.

Nearly all necromancers are part of the Cult of the Damned and loyal servants of the Lich King. However, not all necromancers are nihilist cowards. Some try to attain power for the sake of power. This was why many orc warlocks ‘multiclass’ as a necromancer or were death knights. Note, though, that these warlocks still had simply power in mind. Giving up their own will does not sit well with them. Instead, they study under dreadlords or other necrolytes.