Arcane Training and Education

Learning Magic
There are different ways to interpret and wield magic. Where does one learn to do so? The characters in the campaign will have to learn somewhere and that's what this section outlines.
 * A school
 * An academy
 * A wise teacher at the top of a mountain
 * The back of the box that carried the wand you bought
 * A good TED Talk
 * The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Thing Only Dummies Would Attempt: Magic
 * Experimenting from scratch (Do Not Try This At Home)

The exact sources and methods will vary depending on the nature of the campaign. The two primary measures are Magic Saturation and Magic Maturity. Saturation is a measure of exposure: is the campaign a "low magic" or "high magic" universe? Maturity is a measure of sophistication in magical understanding and use (science and engineering).

Magic is the fifth force of the universe, so naturally, it's an amazingly complex field. Speculation wrangles that complexity into four categories of game-related skills a character can learn.

The Arcane Skill Sets

 * Arcanology: the theory, physics, applied science and engineering of the arcane.
 * Discipline: advanced arcanology, including ways of categorizing routines.


 * Arcane Practice (AP): processing attenuation into capacity to accomplish Common Actuation. This is the foundation of personally-cast magic.

Arcanology and the specific disciplines within it explore the theory, history, science and engineering of magic. It is possible to mechanically actuate magic without ever personally actually casting a spell. Extremely complex or high-energy magic is best actuated with this kind of remote precision. This is also considerably safer than personal actuation.
 * Routine: a specific magical effect, colloquially known as a spell.

Arcane Practice (AP) and specific routines give the personal touch to magic. AP skill is like building muscle memory, allowing the character themselves to become a conduit for arcane energy. Routines consolidate that arcane energy and translate it into specific effects, whether that's using magic to mop floors or to light the roof on fire.

The Disciplines
Every school is going to have strong points, specialties, perhaps even dedicated colleges or named schools within a university. These subdivisions will usually be focal points that are defined by an arcane discipline.

Most schools by tradition will focus on the individual spellcasting experience, generally falling under the "Common Actuation" discipline, but high maturity schools, or schools in setting that have a high maturity of mundane (non-magical) science may even minimize CA instruction in favor of Remote/Mundane actuation more commonly seen in the "Enchantment" discipline.

Certain traditional/mundane schools will likely have their own college of magic, which will vary in it's quality of education based on the school itself, the maturity of magic in the setting and so forth.

Certain training centers or academies may entirely focus on a single discipline, and perhaps even on a single routine or routine category. In mid-maturity settings, it wouldn't be crazy to find a school that focuses entirely on combat magic, or even only fireballs.
 * Common Actuation (CA)
 * Enchantment (EN)
 * Arcane Productive Atomics (APA)
 * Transmutation (TR)
 * Conjuration (CJ)
 * Arcane Nucleosynthesis (AN)
 * Arcane Transit (AT)

Schools of Magic
The actual places of learning available depend on the campaign setting.

Regardless of the school, there is a process universal to those who will personally wield magic, whether they're doing so through a wand or tapping ambient magical energy. This is the process of first contact and attenuation. These steps are covered in the Arcane Skills page.

For anybody who works with magic, and no matter the campaign setting, not all schools are created equal. The differences are more than stylistic, the methods are qualitatively and quantitatively different, meaning that the routines available will vary per school. Other limitations may include a character's access to training, cultural affinity or distaste for magic in a given setting, and scientific or arcane knowledge. Finally, certain limitation are affected by traits of the characters themselves.

The idea is to create schools that follow a particular arc for generating certain types of magic. An introductory college class or magical trade school would teach the basics of AP and key utility routines, while graduate classes or specialized academies or institutes would focus on particular disciplines. A school might have its own take on universal regulars (like a "fireball"). Those regulars can be a good baseline of comparison.

Beyond the school, a character may attempt to research and develop their own spells. DIY with magic is inherently dangerous, but with the process of Objective Extrapolation, magic can adapt to substitute for other common functions (from flashlights to brooms).

The Schools of Magic section provides templates for tiers and types of schools. These templates can then be branded and adapted for whatever is appropriate for the campaign setting.

Note: the "Hours Equivalent (unenhanced" is a measure of classroom time as a basis of comparison. This may and likely will vary from actual hours, especially if enhanced instruction techniques are used (such as "Books of Learning").