GURPS: Church and State Magic

Discussion of Magic use and rules in Church and State.

Roles of mages in society

By tradition dating back to the Suri, those with magery are seen as touched favorably by the Gods, especially the Jeshera who regard it as a call to the cloth. This is why magery grants a level of status equal to magery level, but this free status does NOT add to others. Before confirming an heir to the title, there is a religious ceremony where the spark of divine inspiration is "found" in the heir. Leaders are coronated by church officials, and lead by Divine Right. This kind of political message is generally bought by the young, naive, pious, or uneducated. Most of those with magery 0, and enough brains receive some magical training during their teen years. This takes place in a craft apprenticeship, as a lady in waiting, or during squire training. It counts as about 2 total years in GURPS terms (or 4000 hrs, or 20 pts). So as young adults, those with magery (about 1/15) can count on having magery 1, and roughly 10 pts in spells. A mason might learn move earth and earth to stone. A knight might learn hast, lighten burden, great hast, grease and glue. Many of these people never progress much beyond this and may add 2-5 pts per decade to their magical skills. There is no more formal education at this point, unless they are wealthy enough, and have enough free time to pursue it themselves.

Lords and land owners are usually occupied with administrative duties (and whoring, hunting and carousing) that they don't get any better. Smart lords push their people to get a little better, and in larger families, there is often 1 or 2 in a generation that have enough talent to be worth while. This talented one will often fill a duty for the family like High Mage of Rotbrueck, and is in charge of both organizing the Barony's magical response to any threat, as well as being the adviser to the Baron. It's widely known (and accepted), that those chosen to rule will likely never make great talents as the demands of rule take of all their time. On occasion for this reason, the first born will be passed over for the title if he's the most talented, knowing that him concentrating on his talent will mean more to a dominion than wasting his talent while he learns about crop rotation, guild structure, and cannon law. Magery is an inherited trait, but recessive. Many families are known for their magery, and it's type. The Galfies of Highbrook are known to get it every 2d generation, and it only comes to their boys, but they are particularly good at earth spells.

Low born with magery are often discovered by their parish priest or the landowner if he has talent. He/she might then either end up in a monastery or squire's training to further his talent. High born will be squired off (or ladies in waiting), or sent to religious training, or sent to university. Guild born are often taught in house, or if they're quite talented, sent to university. Chalouth's university is considered to be quite good, with all 7 traditions, and many styles taught there. Lords often have their mages concentrate on a few spells to make maximum use of ceremonial magic, and parish priests, and conscientious land owners might spend significant time on agrarian magic (Fantasy p. 95), which could do wonders for their crop yield (and their pocket books).

A few country gentry specialize in training magical squires, as they are known to be better than most (magery 2). Of those, in Rotbrueck, Sir Phillip Parsons is by far the best (magery 3) and he's a known methuselah, who was the nephew of the Baron Rotbrueck, three Barons ago. Rumors abound about his ideosyncracies. Sir Phillip is not a very martial man, and knows few traditional knight skills, but he's known to very good with a dueling bill, and a good horseman.

Rotbrueck's younger sister is quite talented (currently 2, but expected to be a 3), and he married her to arguably his most important knight, Sir Calbert of Highbrook, lord of Fuessen. Due to her sharp mind, Rotbrueck's father spent extra effort on her education and she has done well for it. Rotbrueck has 5 children himself, two of which are smart enough to make quite good mages, and Rotbrueck is making sure both receive the right education to make use of it.

Traditions

Magical understanding falls under 7 broad theories of how they work. Thaumatology skill must specialize in one of the traditions and this affects spell availability. Generally, all beginning spells in the colleges are open to all mages in all traditions. Advanced spells in a college are only available to a tradition that specializes in that college (and I'm only really talking the 4-8 hardest spells in that college). The traditions came about slowly, and more advanced magic (including the colleges of meta-magic and gate) are fairly new in history. The first colleges of magic developed were animal, plant, and weather. Traditions bear a name of one of the icons associated with their founding, or the patron of their art. Protection and Warning (P&W) is a major college for all traditions. You can only have one Tradition, but you can learn spells outside your tradition through research and find how that spell can be done under the theories of your tradition. Traditions (with their main colleges) are:

• Hearth and Field- (Enkul), named after one of the first heroes, a great hunter who slew the Tarrasque. Plant, Animal, Food, movement, weather.
• Sky- (Usirius), named after a first hero who sailed around the Boden Sea. Weather, Air, Light and Darkness (L&D), Sound
• Earth- (Oldar), named after the great engineer and builder who during the Quani empire built many of the most important religious monuments. Earth, Making and Breaking (M&B), technology (only a few spells available), water, enchantment, plant
• Discovery- (Ampul), named after the Lord of Light. Fire, L&D, knowledge, enchantment, mind control, meta-magic
• Life- (Dunel, or sometimes, St. Ardius) Named after originally the St. who cured the prophet Morphelius, in divine intervention during "Morphelius' Trial", often commonly called Dunel now after the great scholar Dunel who postulated cell theory, and germ theory). Animal, Plant, Healing, communication and empathy, body control
• Deception- (Jutar), named after the Princess of Dark (one of her alternate names), one of the Quadrant, Mind control, Illusion, Sound, L&D, meta-magic
• Body- (Fardun), named after a great warrior during the Empire of Man age whose legendary feats still inspire. Healing, Body Control, Movement, Water, air. Fardun was a Trevan, which makes his inclusion even more remarkable.

Necromancy is a minor tradition itself, outlawed almost everywhere. Minor necromancy spells are generally available to all, final rest, turn spirit, affect insubstantial are all considered white necromancy.

Gate spells are almost completely unknown, and gate theory is just being developed.

Families and Nobles often have everyone in their given group focus on a few shared spells to maximize ceremonial magic. Grease, Fearlessness, Sparkstorm, Mass Daze, all become a pretty effective tool at stopping a cavalry charge (or breaking a line), if they can just be made big enough.

By tradition, and Baronial decree, most of the secular leadership in the Barony focuses on Earth or Body magic. Parish priests often learn Hearth and Field, the oldest tradition, and very useful for gaining peasant support by agricultural magic.

Law and Magic

Like weapons, powerful magic is controlled by the status. See main page for LC variation by Status. Permissions can be as simple as a person who can freely use it vouching for you; i.e., if your are a thane of a Baron directly, then with his knowledge you can do all MLC 1+. Tenants in Chief are military leaders and can grant permission to their subordinates for law enforcement and military purposes.

• MLC 4: Spells of healing; spells of perception, knowledge, and communication; spells of crop fertility and food production. (status 0-, with permission, 1+ free)
• MLC 3: Movement spells; protective spells; spells that shape materials or control natural forces or living creatures; spells of illusion or concealment; temporary incapacitation spells. (status 1+ free)
• MLC 2: Spells that inflict injury or break material objects; permanent incapacitation spells; mind control spells; flight spells; death spells; resurrection spells. (Status 1-3 with permission, status 4+ free)
• MLC 1: Elemental summoning and control; teleportation spells; spells for perception through physical barriers. (status 4+ free)
• MLC 0: Gate and necromantic spells; large-scale destructive spells; large-scale mind control spells; largescale curses. (Status 4+ with permission)

Familiars

Familiars are commonly used by mages. Mage PCs can begin play with one if desired, using the rules in the Allies advantage, and from Dungeon Fantasy 5- Allies. If you're interested, I can email you the DF-5 info for elaboration. Mages can bond with almost any creature using this technique, and the most common tend to be hounds or horses, but elementals are not unheard of, nor are owls, imps, foxes, cats, or other traditional types. Humans can also be bonded this way, but it is generally frowned upon. The nuns at St. Livians make common use of this technique to bond with male Wardens (a la Jordan's Wheel of Time series).

Familiars cannot be 'summonable' unless the mage knows an appropriate spell or power (conjure earth elemental, etc). Sympathy (Gurps Basic p. 38) is required.

The Gani use this technique as well with their totem animal.

Alternate Rules

Three new skills

Mathematics (Magical)- used to understand magic and do magic research. Only required or useful if you're going to develop your own spells or do raw research into magic.

Magical Heraldry- Requries Heraldry 12+. The knowledge of of the magical skills and techniques of schools, styles, monasteries, religious orders, noble houses, families. A success will give insight into the likely use of spells and their preferred employment by magicians. Use the same area modifiers as per area knowledge.

Tactics (magical)- A tactics specialty focusing on the employment of magic is small battles. Success would provide the same benefits as tactics (land, naval, or air)

Using most of the rules from Chapter 2 of GURPS: Thaumatology (TH) and some from Ch 3.

Characters can take Ritual Magery or Spell based Magery. The are different advantages. Either may learn symbol (rune) magic. In either case, Magery levels cost 10 each, except level 3 which costs 15 points and grants the use of Threshold Based magic (TH p. 76) in addition to fatigue based casting. At Magery 3, he begins with threshold 0 and recovery 2 and can buy them up with pts.

Magical Styles: Feel free to use GURPS: Thaumatology: Magical Styles to create styles for schools and teachers. I will add a couple. The biggest advantage is quicker access to perks. Normal mages only get to buy a perk for every 20 pts of spells. Stylists can buy one of their style's perks for every 10 pts in the style.

Staff Spell: Normally requires all living or once living material; can now be used with weapons made of mostly living or once living materials. Specifically this adds dueling polearms, spears, and other similar weapons that mass much more wood to metal. Most weapons under axe/mace do not qualify.

Ceremonial Magic: (I reserve the right to throw these rules out if too unbalancing.) Normally requires the leader to have a 15 skill. In C&S you only need a 15 effective skill level. Energy for skill can be used to buy the skill level needed, as well as conditional modifiers from Thaumotology. Participants input is also changed. 15+ skill (NOT effective) can add as much as they can channel, 12-15 can add up to 1/2 of what they could channel, and below 12 can do 3. Rules for energy input for those without magery is unchanged. Ceremonail magic uses the long distance range modifiers and not the normal -1 per hex.

Healing spells: Healing spells only heal HP damage cause by anatomical damage, much like an orthopedic surgeon, not HP damage caused by disease, poison, or other effects. Resist Poison/Disease now only give a bonus to HT roll equal to pts applied. Cure Disease and Neutralize Poison now have specialties which are broad categories; i.e. for poisons, can choose paralytics, insects, reptilian, plant based, respiratory, etc; disease could choose influenzas, staph, GI tract (cholera and dysentery), pox, etc.

Magical diseases: During the Quani occupation, Argothans discovered their first great bane of magic, magically resistant diseases. During the Empire of Man, they finally understood that diseases had so many generations quickly, that only those resistant to magic were surviving, and as time progressed, they became more resistant. When casting cure disease against a disease with MR, subtract the MR of the disease from the success roll. When casting resist disease, note the margin of success in case you come across a MR disease. If that disease makes it a failure, the subject no longer gets the bonus.

Magical numbers (and how magical is Church and State)

(See Fantasy p. 102 "Fantasy as Infrastructure" and p. 103 "How many mages" for more on this.

I made a base assumption of 1/15 have magery 0, which is a recessive trait that manifests at puberty. From this and the population of the Barony of 110,000, there are roughly 7300 in Rotbrueck with magery. Of those, 1/2 have IQ 10 or below, meaning they will likely never be of any great importance as mages and never receive significant training. With a lack of wit, only those born to persons of status will receive any training, and likely find it very hard at that. Of the 3650 with IQ 10+, about 1/3 are too young to be considered even minor talents, leaving 2400 at a point where training could be completed (age 18+). Of those, only about 1/2 the peasants actually got training, but most of the others came from known bloodlines. Rotbruecks 250-300 knights/men-at-arms are about 90% mages, as are most of the parish priests (about 150-200) (and many of the wives of both the knights and priests). The two moderate Abbies and the one small Abby all have over 1/2 mages, which is where another 400 or so mages can be found. A couple of hundred are in guilds and crafts, and about 100 make a living as just being mages, selling their spells for hire. Typically, a person of talent comes of age after training with magery 1 and 10 pts in spells. If he pursues his studies still (and not just casting the same spell for a job), he's generally expected to get magery 2 in his 30s and about 20 pts in spells. Only the most willful, and those with money and time (to buy the texts, teachers, etc) pick up magery 3, and it usually occurs sometime in their late 30s or later with about 40 pts in spells. There are about 10-15 persons with magery 3 in Rotbrueck (with IQs from 12-14).

GURPS: Church and State