The Gift

A treatise on Magicks, The Arcane, and the Study Thereof by Aurelius Madigan, Count of Orde, Second Mage of the Order of the Cold Flame.

The Gift

Magic is a force as mysterious as it is powerful. Any charlatan on the street can pretend to be a mage, any fool can espouse supreme powers. But the fact remains that but a select few are blessed with the Gift.

The Gift runs in families to different degrees and takes form in different ways. We of the Order have found wandering mystics capable of crafting wondrous items and powerful Scrolls, prognosticators who can see into the future, battlemages who can command the very elements themselves. The Gift governs all of these powers and more.

However, not always is the Gift treated as the splendid blessing that it is. Many Gifted are treated with suspicion and scorn, run out of kingdoms and town, called liars, necromancers, or worse. To those with the Gift I say this: you are special, you are powerful, and you are not alone. Never forget that you represent the pinnacle of human advancement. You are the best of our kind.

Now, how does one discover one's Gift? Many times, the Gift will manifest in childhood. Perhaps, while young you made an apple fall from a tree by looking at it. Perhaps you could silence animals with a glance. Perhaps you knew where to find buried gold. Indicators of the Gift are everywhere. Most smallfolk will fear the powers and try and conceal them - or worse, kill those exhibiting the Gift. Thankfully, most noble families will contact the Order and the children will be protected and nurtured.

Once a child is brought to the Order, the first step is to test them. The most standard examination is the Water Test, where the Gifted individual concentrates their whole attentions on a pool of water and the results are observed. A similar test might be preformed with a lit candle. Children might be placed in a library with one magical book in the whole lot and asked to find it by instinct. Others are placed in proximity of Scrolls, to see if the power resonates with them.

Once accepted and acknowledged to have the Gift, a child spends the remainder of their life with the Order, studying the history and theory of magics. Once they reach adulthood, students are paired with a specific master and given free reign to study the entirety of the arcane.

Perhaps the most difficult part of the Gift to conceive of is the matter of belief. Did I really make that apple fall form the tree? Or was it a random gust of wind? Did I really make the water turn a red hue? Or was it a trick of the eye? The simple answer is: both. For magic preys on and excels in the belief and imagination of man.