A Treatise on the Nature of Magic

It seems a lifetime ago since the spires of the Holy City of Messara became my home for the first time; though it is said by many Tovenaar that Messara was always our home and we had simply not found it yet. I myself was a young boy when the Priests found out about my gift from Aed, a Messarom-Byrnom born away from the Holy City in Byrnis to two loving parents from two separate worlds. It was, however, no solemn occasion that I left for Messara but for my mother's tears of joy that Aed, Blessed is He, deigned that one such as myself was deserved of a gift so great that my life should change forever. This is of course a common vision seen in the South, of sons or daughters whisked away from their families because Aed chose them for a higher calling; one that required them to sacrifice a part of themselves to help all under Aed's divine light. Though, after nearly six decades of service to Aed since my first days in the Colleges of the Vaekirate my viewpoint is certainly less giddy though no less driven by a desire to be of service to those less fortunate than myself. And so I find myself at my lectern, nearly seventy two years of age, writing this book that shall no doubt become a dusty tome on some shelf in a Gelaer's library. 

The purpose of this treatise is to better explain the nature of magic in all it's natural forms in a way that the common man or woman may indeed read this book and have an understanding great enough to develop their own educated opinions on the subject. The desire to write such a book is spurred on by two major points; one such point being the invasion and subsequent conquest of the North not but twenty years prior to this day. Before such an invasion the idea of Tovenaar being used for violence, as no doubt was made necessary when the warriors of Aed were beset by the Apostate Mages of the Northern Kingdoms, was completely unthinkable. Indeed, to squander such a gift in pursuits of conflict seemed wasteful of the power Aed gave unto us. This is not to say that the martial studies of magic were ignored; such arts were viewed as meditative practices to hone one's body and mind so that we might better ourselves and do our Mastery unto Aed. With the conquest of the North completed the very idea of the Tovenaar-Akur left a stain on the collective minds of the Northernfolk that would not so easily wash out. It is my opinion that such a scar on the conscious of an entire people must be healed through education and understanding rather than the simple expectation that they must forget what had happened and accept their fate. The second is to allow the layman to understand what magic truly is; all other books on the subject have fallen short and other works are far too steeped in complexities that require prior education on the matter of Arcane Studies that no farmer could possibly begin to scratch the surface.

To meet the end of educating the wide world on what magic truly is and what it means to the sons and daughters of Aed this treatise shall be broken into several points of focus; the nature of Magic itself, the academic study of Magic, and finally how magic is viewed by Aedakom. On the Nature of Magic, I shall expand on how magic itself works and attempt to abolish the idea of magic being within the purview of the occult and witchery as opposed to the natural science that it truly is. This shall consist of an in-depth analysis of magic as an elemental force and how such power can be directed. On the Academic Study of Magic I shall detail how the Arcane is researched within the Tovenaar Colleges of the South and as much information I can provide on how it was previously studied in the north by both Benign and Malign Apostates. Finally, I shall write on the subject of how magic and those with the gift of it's usage are viewed by Aedak in an attempt to assuage and educate those whom feel that the Tovenaar are but slaves or prisoners to the Vaekirate.