It is said that before Sairis was established and the Council of 21 Magical Schools within it, magical chaos reigned over the world. Talented but undisciplined users of spells and charms unleashed their power at will, leaving not only individuals but also kingdoms that failed to secure proper defenses at their mercy. This was an age sometimes called the “Tyranny of Mages,” for wandering spellcasters threatened the people, while insatiable masters of magic demanded ever-new tributes and concessions in exchange for providing kings and mayors protection against these militant sorcerers. The Elven realms locked themselves away from the outside world, relying on a ban on all foreign mages entering their territories.

Then, not long after the founding of Sairis, twenty-one Grandmasters of magic gathered within its walls and formed the Council, also known as the Samagant. Rumors circulate that the formation of the Samagant was initiated by a group of Azharians led by a young and promising mage named Suvarna. Others claim that the Council was formed by the Maghavans, who at that time did not yet have such clear doctrines or their center in Gandhara.

The Council then unitedly resolved to change the state of world affairs to establish order in magic, enforce laws regarding its use, and introduce examinations and ranks that entitle mages to practice and hold a corresponding level of authority. Although great changes were seen very soon after the Council’s agents began to straighten out the disordered conditions, wars with rebellious warlocks continued for many centuries.

The Samagant is such a traditional body that throughout its existence, no new school of magic has been admitted, even though some of the schools within it have nearly perished and others have gained influence and strength disproportionate to the rest. Yet within the Council, all are equal, and their voices carry the same weight. There are those who believe the Council no longer has a mandate due to its unwillingness to adapt to the present; however, the obsolescence of its composition is balanced by its immense authority and legendary status, which resonates with both commoners and experts, and which no one dares to defy.

New schools were eventually included in the Samagant by being affiliated with the old schools based on at least a framework of kinship. Some Archmages thus represent several schools at once, with the newer schools often being far more important for decision-making than the original ancient school.

Now, let us look at the individual old and classical schools as they are known in the city of Sairis and throughout the civilized world:

1. Earth Magic – These mages dedicate themselves, among other things, to defensive and shielding magic, the animation of matter, petrification, solidification, and crystallization. It is said that the earth is also the place where death dwells and from which it returns in the form of life.
   
2. Water Magic – They cultivate healing, mending, and regenerative powers, as well as the magic of transformation, delusion, exhaustion, and sleep. Liquids are their element, especially water, whose ability to dissolve, soak, wash, and cherish, but also to drown and suffocate, is key. Water also obeys firm shapes and fills them, yet it undermines them from below and mirrors all things.
   
3. Air Magic – Servants of the gaseous element can build illusions, vanish, and fade; they know how to fly and levitate and they control air currents. But air is also the breath of animals and plants, it carries messages and weather, it is the intermediary of speech and song, and its messenger is the wind.
   
4. Fire Magic – Fire mages control the magic of heat, light, and flame. They are dangerous opponents, for offensive spells are natural to them; they themselves tend to be invulnerable to fire. Fire is also connected with vision and light, with the brightness of day and the burning interior of the earth.
   
5. Magic of the Fifth Element – Few master the immeasurable Aether and understand the beauty of the invisible tension between all things. Such a person can direct the energy of tension to create new being. However, their power can be inverted, and things can be decomposed into primal tension. Power over lightning, vision of the unseen, the ability to dismantle others’ spells, and the creation of true new being are the visible aspects of their power.
   
6. Moon Magic – A sorcerer drawing power from the Silver Eye is dependent upon it; their power culminates around the full moon and vanishes during the new moon. The moon grants power over dreams, illusions, and the human soul. It is a mournful and dark magic, but it carries a fascinating beauty for which it is sought after by magical beings of Elven kind.
   
7. Sun Magic – A solar mage is dependent on the sun—the Golden Eye—and their power mirrors the strength of the solar radiance. Their magic is hot and explosive. It is all-encompassing and bombastic, but its effect cannot be precisely aimed. It strengthens the commanding will of the mage, who can control human hearts through more direct paths than the lunar mage. It gains sympathy through its warmth and enthusiasm.
   
8. Celestial Magic – This is the noble path. It is the magic of the stars and the vast sky. The celestial mage tracks the flow of time and the composition of space. Thanks to deep insight into metaphysical laws, they can not only predict what will happen but also intervene in apparent certainties. They can fold space and build magical portals, alter time, and play with the laws of the world. Always, even lying in the deepest dungeon, they know the time and see the stars.
   
9. Necromancy – This is, of course, nothing other than contact with the Afterworld. The Afterworld is a place whose inhabitants know much of the past and future and are owners of mysterious subterranean reservoirs of power that are difficult to control. Necromancy is related not only to the dead but also to spring and autumn, the sacrifice of the grain into the furrow, and the resurrection of the young god.
   
10. Healing – The path of knowing one’s own body to the very limit of possibility. The healer knows the nadi (energy veins) in the body and understands the physical plane of the body’s functioning, thus becoming not only an excellent savior of human life but also its most refined destroyer.
    
11. Druidism – Druids are those who have understood the beauty of the plant kingdom. They understand the growth and life of plants like no one else. In the desert, they are the most helpless of wretches; in the forest, they are absolute rulers. These men and women, despite the great power they could obtain, do not crave it; it is merely a side effect of their deep penetration into the mysteries of life itself. Among them are the priests of the Dream Tree.
    
12. Psionics – This school is very dangerous and unpopular. Psionicists focus on the one-sided development of the intellect, which allows them, on one hand, machine-precise calculations and manipulations, and on the other, influence over the psyche of other people—both indirectly through well-chosen words and directly through will and thought. Besides direct psychic attack, they are capable of imperceptibly manipulating emotions and altering long-term human desires and resolutions.
    
13. Daemonology – It borders on Celestial magic on one side and Necromancy on the other. However, it focuses on beings of a different order. While the celestial mage speaks with gods and contemplates metaphysical laws (looking upward) and the necromancer turns to the earth (looking downward), the daemonologist reaches for the spirits of the elements and nearby non-material spheres (dealing with more or less equals), though of course, among daemons, there exist both small imps and noble angels or cunning devils.
    
14. Rune or Sigil Magic – It cultivates the culture of the Sign. That is, a kind of abstract entity, representable by a gesture, a syllable, or a pattern, which possesses a raw power of its own, but also a web of relationships with other Signs with which it combines into larger wholes. A correctly tuned rune mage is capable of seeing Signs even in things and events around them and drawing from them either information or magical power.
    
15. Energetic Magic – It works with lower energies in living beings and the inanimate environment. An adept of this art manages their fatigue exceedingly well and can drain this “fatigue” energy from other people or things, or conversely replenish it. A true master is capable of utilizing lightning in a storm, or even electric wires, to replenish or drive their strength beyond the maximum.
    
16. Dryad Magic – A bodily technique practiced by secretive Dryads. Since this magic works with the most intimate bodily matters (e.g., breast milk), their secrecy is justified. Beyond this, it is only known that Dryads live in close relationship with certain animals (e.g., the famous serpent magic) that possess supernatural abilities. Their magic is not like the magic of druids—the understanding of nature—for they are that nature.
    
17. Magic of Lines – Nicknamed “black,” even though good deeds can be performed through it. It is the magic of objects and intermediaries. It utilizes maps, diagrams, symbols, figurines, stars, bowls, candles, and many other instruments. Yet it is not called Instrumental—which would otherwise suit it well—precisely because the Lines are the main element. A “Line” is both the designation of a carved or drawn mark and the designation of a magical act. The Line here is an expression of the boundary, a measure that must not be crossed by any of the parties involved. It is the expression of order within the spell and its structure. It is the foundation.
    
18. Priestly Magic – There are people who feel within themselves the mighty power of their own unwavering faith. A faith that is capable of moving mountains. And then there are those who can actually do it. There are as many kinds of religious relationships as there are people, yet something more specific can be said in this area. Firstly, it is clear that the stronger the worshipped entity, the greater the potential power. The greater the love/reverence/surrender to the given entity/deity, the larger and more efficient the channel between the worshipper and the worshipped. But there are also religions without gods. There are even mages known to find a small godling somewhere beyond the borders of Qurand, whose strength is equivalent to their own, and make it dependent upon them. Such a godling is more a friend or partner, but a channel of power and mutual benefit remains between them.
    
19. Memorization Magic – Memorization magic is boring and arduous, and even one of the least effective, but it has many other advantages. Firstly, the casting of memorized spells is a matter of an instant; furthermore, even upon the loss of magical abilities or some mental attack, the mage is able to continue casting memorized spells because they are essentially pre-prepared “bullets” in the weapon of the mage’s mind. The enormous effort of preparation is balanced by the ease of casting and the durability of the spells. Precisely because spells must be prepared in seclusion and with care, they can be relatively elaborate and complex. Also, certain deities and powerful mages provide their followers with this kind of magic.
    
20. Magic of Word and Tone – It works with tone as a manifestation of the world—a pure auditory perception. At the foundations of this school’s theory is the assumption that our senses and the world are in a mutually influencing position. Thus, music corresponds to the essence of the world and can influence it. Long ago, musical mages mastered altering human consciousness with music, and since the state of consciousness determines how the world is perceived, they practically affect reality as well. Whether they change it “in reality” is an academic debate that is inherently unresolvable. A special form of musical magic is the magic of the word, which is quite close to psionics. It is the ability to issue commands with the voice that are then fulfilled.
    
21. Will – In the opinion of many, Will is the crown of all magic. It does not work with intermediaries of any degree; instead, the mage’s Will is the sole and unique instrument of all operations. It is a constant force, not an energy that can be gained or lost. It is a true sensory-organic part of the mage’s consciousness. For this reason, it is the most delicate, most precise, and simultaneously the fastest instrument, as the speed and subtlety of thought are inherent to the Will. In fact, every sorcerer uses it to a small extent, for it is the only intermediary with the world of magic. To strip someone of their Will is impossible, but if it were possible, that person would lose the ability to influence the world around them; in a sense, they would become paralyzed. For what else is capable of manipulating magical power and weaving spells from it than some mental faculty—something that truly acts? Yet few spend the necessary time in the difficult training required to perfect this ability beyond the ordinary average. Only true exceptions among the learned use the direct action of the Will. Acting through intermediaries and utilizing foreign energy is, after all, far simpler.