Transactions of the Royal Society of Mages

Special Volume 1 of 3

Published on the 30th day of Spring 1209

Editor's Note

The board of publications decided to issue this special volume after substantial deliberation. The letter’s primary claim, that the author is a death mage, could not be verified as it was submitted anonymously. Three such letters have been received on different topics so the board decided to stagger their publication to allow time to check some of their findings and claims. An initial investigation has determined that the author, who calls themselves Kharon, took measures to obfuscate their true identity by routing the letter through several intermediaries disguised as other forms of correspondence. We do not even know if the author is within the kingdom or outside of it.

Despite the uncertain providence, the content of the letter is directly topical to one of the society's outstanding gaps in research. Very little is known about death magic and its very nature is too dangerous for any but a death mage to study. Many in the society predicted that no study could ever be ethically performed. However, here we have an opportunity to learn from a death mage who themselves employ the methods of rationality and caution promoted by our society to study their own magic.

Perhaps they are lying to us. Perhaps they are mistaken. But if there is a chance that their observations are genuine then they cannot be ignored. We hope that the receipt of this letter will lead the gold guard to find and apprehend the author. If you have any information on their whereabouts we implore you to come forward.

We all remember the horrors of Tor and it is our duty to prevent the recurrence of any such tragedy. But we are mages. It is our nature to look into the dark places of this world with unflinching resolve. If we can understand what death magic is and how to control it perhaps we can either harness it for the kingdom or stamp it out once and for all.

With best regard,

Thadious Opel

Mage of the seventh rank

Premier and Chair of the editorial board for the Transactions of the Royal Society of Mages

***

On Death Magic

Manuscript revived on the 11th day of Spring 1209

Manuscript accepted for publication on the 28th day of Spring 1209

To the Esteemed Royal Society of Mages,

I am a death mage.

My intent in this letter is twofold. My first aim is to dispel baseless rumors around death magic with direct observations. My second aim is to propagate knowledge of a method to safely discharge death magic that does not leave behind the poison it is so well known for. I make these goals clear so that the committee may judge if they are aligned with their own and with those of their readers.

I could find very little observation based information on death magic. Filber and Hobs both discussed how death magic could be generated from dying things. They explored the idea that the passing of the soul into whatever lies beyond released energy that can be hazardous to life. This has led them to speculate that graveyards and slaughterhouses are rich with death magic. As far as I can tell these speculations are baseless. I have visited both to see if there was any merit to these claims and observed there to be no difference in my regeneration rate.

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To introduce an alternative model for how death magic works I first need to discuss the enhanced senses it provides me. Just as fire mages have improved smell and water mages have a proprioceptive sense for movement around them, death mages too have enhanced senses that contribute to effective spellcasting. I have the ability to view objects I am touching extremely closely. So closely, in fact, that the smallest grain of sand visible to my eyes appears as a whole world unto itself. Even closer in, I can perceive mountains and valleys within the grain in enough detail as to hike to their peaks and descend to their lowest depths. Even closer I can perceive some of the fundamental elements of substance as the smallest grains of sand within the grain of sand.

Under this sight I am able to perceive the effects of death magic and what I have observed is entirely unexpected. The fundamental grains of substance, which I will call atoms, are rent asunder by the application of unaspected death magic. This process changes substances into other substances in unexpected ways. A simple application of my intent enables me to easily change lead into gold or copper into iron. The observation that gold and lead are extremely similar is not new and my ability to change the latter into the former is likely going to spark considerable controversy.

It should be noted that the reverse is possible as well but substantially more difficult. It requires aspecting the magic to reverse its tendency to split atoms apart to instead pull them together. Copper has a slightly heavier atom than iron as lead has a slightly heavier atom than gold. To reverse the alchemy, extra material is required. The material can be donated by another substance, anything else, or even by giving up a portion of the material itself.

However, before any death mages run to manufacture gold, be warned that there is a danger inherent in splitting and fusing atoms. There is a balance within atoms that must be achieved. If you try and don't achieve perfect balance the result will be unstable. It is this instability that I believe is at the core of the poison that death magic leaves behind. Unstable gold, for example, will randomly turn into platinum or mercury releasing harmful energies in the process. More commonly, an unstable form of sodium, which is one of the atoms in common salt, produces a form of invisible light so powerful that a spoon full of poisoned salt can kill a burrow ogre.

This may make you curious as to how the death mage survives when they are the ones most exposed to the poison. It is close to, though not exactly, what was hypothesized by Omar and Courier that death mages absorbed the poison to replenish their magic. The answer, I think, is related to the mechanism by which I am able to see objects so closely. By placing my hands together I am able to see my own skin up close. Within it, and just beyond it, are woven strands of impossibly thin hairs that bob and weave weightlessly about. These hairs weave through my skin without really interacting with it. These hairs are not made of normal matter but are instead singular atoms in their own right. Instead of being shaped like a ball as all normal matter is, these are pulled into a long string shape. Further, these hairs conduct small amounts of death magic which somehow enables my perceptions and, I think, protects me from poisonous emissions. The densely packed hairs may act as armor against my own magic.

It also appears that any time an unstable atom splits it releases a small amount of natural death magic in addition to the poison. In this way, if I am close to a large amount of poisoned material, I am able to recover my magic more quickly. I believe that this is why, as indicated in several interviews with current and former members of the gold guard, that some death mages carry heavily poisoned materials on their persons. Such items can be made by adding more and more weight to the atoms in substances and would increase the holder's magic recovery rate.

It should be noted that there is a distinction between harmful poison and death magic. There are in fact several types of harmful poisons. The first type is fairly large and so would be the most harmful. However this type can also be blocked by a single sheet of paper. The second kind is small and interacts with substances. This kind requires substantial dense material, such as lead or gold, to block and is why I suspect the gold guard is armored as they are. Then there is a type that is one of the parts of an atom but does not interact with other substances until it hits the core of an atom. This kind requires more than gold or lead to block as it moves through other substances with ease. This kind of poison is the most likely to make other substances unstable and therefore poisonous. It can be blocked by a few feet of water though this is not practical for armor. Lastly, there is a type of poison that is extremely high energy light, as I described is the case for poisoned salt. This requires at least the length of a wagon of dense material, stone, or water to block. I am experimenting with the creation of armor that incorporates structures similar to my sense hairs in hopes that it can effectively shield from all types of poison but I have not been successful thus far.

And thus we come to the method I use for safe discharge of death magic. I cover a stone with both my hands. By cupping my palms together I am able to surround it with the sense hair armor. This prevents the emissions of all but the high energy light. I then change the substance of the stone while focusing my will on two critical aspects of the transformation. First, the resulting atoms must all reach balance at the end. Second, that the transitional substance does not release light. This simple sounding spell takes time and effort to get to work properly but is extremely versatile. I am able to use it to create any small item I can imagine clearly. I am also able to use this spell to remove the death magic poison from any material.

It is my hope that this spell will enable a newly awakened death mage to avoid harming their communities. Perhaps they may even choose to work to remove the poison from the place where they awakened. Death magic, just as any other kind, is not something chosen but is forced upon us. What we choose to do with it is what makes us monsters or not.

Respectfully,

Kharon of the River Styx