Heartlands RP Lore entry: Magical practitioners

Magical practitioners
The archetypical magic wielder is the 'magi', who wields elemental power directly. While Magi tend to be stronger and more independant than other magic users, primarily because they internalize the power of the elements instead of relying on external sources, they are not by any means the most common because of the intense levels of skill and concentration required by their craft. The skill of a Magi relies on skills and senses that are completely alien to most living creatures; magi have described attempting to teach magic as trying to teach a blind person to see, or a deaf person to hear. While these abilities come more naturally to some people, all people generally have the same potential to learn magic.

As a result of the intense effort and skill required to become Magi, more common practitioners are of the Ritualist or Divine varieties. Ritualists, rather than actually wielding magic themselves, use a number of ceremonies to influence the flow of magic around them. While useful as a rudimentary skill and very easily taught, Ritualism is extremely limited in its subtlety and power. Conversely, Divine magic users submit to a force or creature of divine spirit, and in exchange for their service and dedication can wield its powers as their own. As powerful as Divine magic might be for dedicated practitioners, it has its weaknesses; The moment the wielders deity decides to withdraw its power from them, they are left completely helpless, all traces of their former abilities gone. As a result, many Magi look down upon Divine magic practitioners, considering them foolish for relying so heavily upon another creature.

Finally, there are several less common types of magic, including shamans and blood mages. Shamans are similar to magi, but instead of internalizing the power of the elements they manipulate the elemental quintessence that exists around them. Blood mages are also similar to magi, but instead of internalizing elemental power they directly wield their own- and potentially others- lifeforce as a weapon, granting them unnatural control of the tissues within their own an others bodies.

While sapient creatures have a variety of types of magical techniques, Titans and Dragons and other divine creatures wield a power completely unlyke them. Rather than drawing upon their spiritual energy or lifeforce, or even the world around them, Divine beings are able to directly access the raw power of their divine spirit, which differs in nature to regular power. Magi who have witnessed true Divine power say that it is of a different nature than the powers they wield; Not that it was more or less powerful, simply extremely abnormal.

Throughout history, there have been a few magi or powerful Shamans which have outdone Divine creatures in displays of magical prowess. In fact, magi tend to have a better grasp of subtlety and efficiency than Divine creatures, using their powers with more finesse and skill.