Magic

The history of magic explains the nature of the types of magic that exist today.

In the beginning, gods wielded magic, and man wielded none. That was what made a god a god and a man a man. But then, some learned to work the tools of the gods; thus came Witchcraft. By saying the words of power, by wielding the magical components, men could wield the power of gods, albeit in a miniscule form, and at great risk of retribution.

Some sought an alternate route; some contracted with the gods, to wield power on their behalf. Though gods are powerful, men are clever, and some profited well from this arrangement--about as many as suffered horribly under it. These were the first Warlocks.

As men came out of their primitive villages and began to form communities, the needs of the nation began to outweigh the needs of the tribe, family, and individual. Suddenly, there was a need for organization, for towns must be built, walls erected, and farms plowed. First among this new order were the Druids, whose hallmark was their unity as an organization; in their numbers, they found greater reliability in their magic than their forebears. They learned to appease those old gods who were quick to anger, and harness the strength of those who gave it willingly. This is how they learned to harness the power of harmony with nature.

As man evolved, and civilizations grew mighty, newer, greater gods emerged, expelling the old ones from their sight. These newer gods offered greater magic to their followers, but with stricter rules--the hard-and-fast moral codes of religion. From this development came the Priests.

As cities grew, wars intensified, and the cleverness of man was not limited to the art of smithing and siegecraft; some applied their minds to the advancement of magic to solve the problems of civilization. They drew from the wisdom of old witchcraft and developed a more structured and reliable form of magic, one that owed fealty to no god, to no moral code. Thus, the Wizards.

Finally, in the modern age, as man grows ever more clever, and explores ever vaster corners of the universe, there have emerged those who wield not the tools nor the words of magic, who cast not at the behest of gods nor primal forces, but for whom magic comes as naturally as it does for the gods themselves. These are the Sorcerers. As they would have it, they are the ultimate form of man's evolution, obseleting all who came before.