Before we continue your education of magic let’s define what this process of teaching you magic is about.

I’m listening.

As you know I am a Necromancer, but what does that term mean?

You use death oriented magic? Raise the undead and control the power of life and death?

The first part yes, the rest not especially. Having to explain this to you in your own language is difficult enough as it is, but it might help if you understand what the Mancer of Necromancer actually means.

I’ve never really thought about that before, what is it?

Mancer or Manteia means “To divine by” a particular methodology. I study and refine the knowledge of magic through the concept of death. You learned earlier that the structures we build are made of mana, fueled and composed of base energy compounded into a form with a purpose. What happens to those structures when the base energy is then used but the form of the physical components remains?

It stops working, no power, no spell right?

Yes, but what about the vessel? The form of it still remains just without power. If left alone what do you think happens?

I don’t know, breaks apart, returns to the void as base energy?

It does not decay, it stays there, possibly forever if the structure is stable enough. My particular subject of focus is the breaking down of substances to their raw energy. Can I resurrect the corpses of the fallen into stronger creatures than the host? Certainly I can, but why do so? Unless you can get the electrical pattern of their minds fast enough before they decompose so badly that it can’t be restored. I can understand the psychological impact of using the dead and the complex structures just looking for a control mechanism readily available. That is only really useful for individuals with less power and limited resources available.

So there isn’t really a purity test for what the term Necromancer entails?

This has to do more with the magic using community, but there is one major qualification for calling someone a necromancer; their research of magic comes from death. In one sense we are the historians of magic more than any other. All the magic systems, schools of thought or practice, and ways of understanding how magic works that are studied fall to necromancers to classify and restore.

In another sense we research how death affects magic and vice versa. Most healing spells came from the different disciplines of necromancy, with some alchemists and experimenters doing the rest. At the same time necromancy has created the most destructive and terrifying spells known. I could detail countless details of the achievements of others, but that doesn’t help you understand why it is so important.

No, it doesn’t and sounds more like a sales pitch for necromancy.

Proximity is its own influence, you are being taught by a necromancer, and how you learn about magic affects a lot of your initial path of advancement in magic. Your personal character and personality also shape what you will eventually focus on for study. Your interest in explosions would suggest evocation, but your pattern in this discussion thus far suggests you would not be suited to the purely experimental and less assured manner of study that an evocationist must pursue.

Fair enough, especially the amount of structure and control it requires to not blow yourself up.

Be glad I formed the barrier before you cast the spell, though it did detonate rather nicely in the end.

So you’ve had your pitch for Necromancy, what about the others?

Evocation is principally the study of how particles interact with each other; usually violently. Illusionists mostly deal with psychology and how to alter perceptions; do not scorn an illusionist you will regret it. Diviners study how energy works beyond the physical existence, they also study patterns and mechanics. Abjuration is a relatively new field studying magical defense and magical combat systems mostly, they typically see themselves as law and order for magicians. Enchanter’s build systems from actual material that reinforces the mana structure they place into things, be it objects or people in some cases. Conjurors and Creationists build and change things out of raw energy, making their will literally manifest in reality. There are plenty of others, the rest are either not important or noteworthy enough to be their own discipline being relegated to the term Experimenters.

A lot of this varies between the different cabals of magicians you can find here and other parts of existence. Very politically contentious in most cases as well.

So there are institutions of magic out there in the universe?

Yes, but most of them are the result of Fabricated magic systems, more military academy than centers of knowledge.

What is so bad about these fabricated systems? I’d imagine it makes life easier for people in general.

In some cases, where the populace is all capable of performing it can. Out of a few billion worlds I’ve seen maybe a handful of them that unify under their magic so peacefully. Fabricated systems just increase the overall body count or force a suppression of those who can’t defeat a magician. It gives power to people who usually don’t earn it. Though it’s only really something you find on a god’s garden world, everything on it is a source of power and livestock to fuel their needs.

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Fuel? Why would they need that?

I’ll explain it more fully when I explain the divinities and outer planes of reality later. Remember, energy stays constant across all realities, when you build structures that react to your manipulation you retain that control when it crosses the boundary as well. You can see how they can pull the resources from one plane to another with this concept?

So they give you cool shit for the ability to bring it to the other side so to speak?

More, they have it embed itself into your entire energy structure, so when you decay all of that energy is released. Some are kinder and gentler about it, but most rip everything out, rendering you a resource engine in the existence they occupy. This is why fabricated systems are dangerous, they sap the motive to learning the true art of magic. Some prevent you from ever doing so without outside help.

Makes the politics of magic a bit more strained with gods and mortal magic doesn’t it.

To put it lightly, yes. It also plays a big factor in the schools of thought concerning magic. Most gods ascended to another plane before really taking enough time to develop strong mortal magic or were too focused on one particular kind over another. This means acquiring magic rituals they can copy is extremely valuable, imagine trading a god a spell ritual, or a packaged set of rituals to use for their fabrication system. This is what many organizations of magicians have done, and extracting the kind of favors and rewards for doing so from a divine level power is very lucrative.

Magic arms dealers to low level gods? What exactly could they even give you for that?

Remember how most worlds don’t have a lot of base energy or raw particles for easy use? God’s are operating in other planes where there is plenty of those raw particles, not limited by space or time, and not subject to the rules of physical existence. They can build pockets of new physical realities. Jam them full of energy and non-physical resources and trade the access to them for services. The constraints of the physical can’t be crossed without significant expenditures of energy, and getting back to the physical is even worse which; which has caused some accidental ascensions.

So it creates a mutual benefit, trading guns for ammunition.

High level magical trade is part of how worlds get consumed, fought over, and destroyed. From competing gods to magical syndicates of research and development, it’s very similar to just about any other kind of conflict. Outside of a purely social group magician’s trade in resources, power, information, or services just like everything else in the physical realms. This is of course talking about magicians who can travel between worlds. World bound magicians are typically left alone or bartered with for information rather than materials.

I can imagine some trying to abuse their lack of power or insights to a much larger community being more common.

A world bound magician is not to be underestimated, just because they have not traveled or made themselves part of the greater universe does not mean they can’t defend their worlds. They have a vast home field advantage and typically carry an attitude of superiority since they live for very long periods of time if they are good at using magic.

Not to mention the fact they could be prepping the world for their ascension to godhood and spreading around those defensive structures everywhere.

Now you understand the kind of power a mage with a full world’s worth of power all on their own. It is very easy to destroy another mage caught unprepared or careless enough to ignore the danger. World bound magicians also have disadvantages, mostly in the level of knowledge they possess, most will typically be receptive of outsider mages if they think you can teach something.

Hence the trading for knowledge, what about the traveling mages? How do they live and interact with each other?

Travelers like myself are usually all out collecting something, be it material or knowledge. Knowledge has value if you monopolize it, but it doesn’t get you a planet’s worth of material if you don’t share some of it. Also just the freedom to rest peacefully on a planet for the cost of some information isn’t a high price. Everything I’ve taught you is more or less common at a traveler’s level of information, barring some of the tricks and specific spell constructions.

Is it common for travelers to stay in one place as long as you have here?

I’ve lingered here only long enough to teach you and pick up all the information your people give freely. I also traded for some that was not, time is even more valuable to some immortals like myself. Every second as precious as the last, we can still die if we do not maintain ourselves and let negligence destroy us otherwise.

So everything comes down to self-preservation in your condition? No greater collective you ultimately belong to or hold important?

Every magician walks a lonesome path, if you let your skills become power, it corrupts everyone else around you in an attempt to take your place in the divide of power. No group of magicians has lasted long enough past a certain size largely due to this innate power hierarchy. The best magician isn’t always the best leader, nor would a normally good leader want the trouble of followers that can erase their existence without resistance. We typically come together for tasks or interests only and with a heathy dose of mutual respect since we can all kill each other with equal chances of dying in the process.

So are there no large collectives of magicians anywhere?

How large is large?

A city? A town’s worth?

The difficulties of having a large concentration of magicians anywhere is the danger of that much energy all in one place attracting the attention of things in the non-physical. There are cults and the like who do this intentionally, but it’s like a beacon. If you have too much raw base energy in one place it can cause trouble. This is why pre-fabricated systems are so important for large scale magical combat.

So learning through a prefabricated system is safer but limited by the system, unlike magicians who construct everything from scratch. How do travelers keep in touch remotely then?

There are many fabricated networks of communication available, even your telephone and internet systems are not hard or the first such systems to exist. Just because magicians don’t base their magic in fabricated systems doesn’t mean we can’t use them to our advantage. There are far stronger methods of communication available but sometimes simplicity serves better.

So there’s a lot of ways to talk but you still have collapsing power structures?

The natural mental state of people inclined towards magic is much more likely to be isolated and mentally focused on task rather than social or in some cases biological priorities. It is also very difficult to get any kind of psychometric data on a population as spread and reclusive as magicians.

Makes sense, so when are we planning on leaving?

I plan on leaving once you are trained enough to handle traveling, and send you through your first tear into a new place. Its far better you learn on your own at this point as it is, but your navigation skills are naturally pretty good as you are. You don’t get lost, and can imagine space conceptually very well, making you a natural talent for traveling to different places.

Wait your planning to send me to a random world somewhere alone and just let me go?

Every student has to learn to be independent, I just kick start it a bit earlier than most. Speaking of which, let us see how well you’ve practiced your emergency survival ritual.

Oh SHIT!