The Ancient School of Natural Magic

Long before man studied magic in its relation to the fabric of reality or the human mind and long before the first schools of magic appeared there has been Natural Magic. It is one of the oldest fields of magic and though it has changed quite a bit over the millenia it is still concerned with the most basic elements of the world around us. As the ancient philosopher Vlarem of Vale so eloquently put it Natural Magic is divided into three fields “Those purtaynyng to the beasts which crawl alongst thee grownd, fly thru thee ayr, and swim b’neeth thee waters [animals], those purtaynyng to lyfe immobile which feeds on thee son and urth [plants], and those purtaynyng to thee hayvens and thee selestyal formes therein [stars]”.

The cow goes “moo”. The sheep goes “baa”. The genie goes “I will grant you three wishes”. The Manticore goes “Look I swear upon my fathers pride that I am NOT going to eat you, now are you going to go for a swim in this gravy boat or not?”. Cyprozoology, the study of magical fauna is often considered a rather invaluable course for those wishing to magical fieldwork. Not only will it prepare you to recognize a hephalump from a woosel but will give you some good pointers such as how to avoid sphinx curses or why you should never accept a bargain from a genie. When a ravenous dire goat begins ravaging the countryside people can count on you to have been the first to flee.

In order to give students a first class education the school has a full bestiary containing many of the worlds more common or interesting magical creatures. Thanks to the careful watch of Beastmaster Thrungar, head of the department and head dance instructor, there has never been any cause for concern over keeping a few fire drakes and shadow giants in addition to the more sedate animals.

Cryptobotany is the study of not just magical flora but all manner of more mundane plants and fungi which can be used to magical ends. This study forms the basics of potion making and is considered to be a useful tool for a vitomancer. Often considered to be the much more safe, possibly even dull, counterpart of cryptozoology by those who have never had to harvest the precious fruit from a Strangle Tree or put a whole crop of Mandrakes to bed (the plant not the house, though that can be a daunting task as well).

The first thing any 1st year cryptobotanist learns is how to discern varieties of plants. As such this may grant one the ability to tell the Fumblebum mushroom, which will cause one’s head to sell enourmosly and turn purple, from the Wibbleberry mushroom, a recreational substanceomancer’s best friend. Of course all forms of recreational substanceomancy are strictly forbidden within the school.

Despite being one of the most ancient and well studied of any field of magic one can take a course in Meteoromancy, the study of magic in the celestial bodies, is still very shrouded in mystery. It is sometimes hailed as “magic to magicians”. Anyone wishing to study this as a first year better be ready to spend some serious time getting friendly with ancient start charts and memorizing all manner of random algorithms and geometric processes. The effect of Jupiter on the constellations in the western half of the sky isn’t going to calculate itself! If nothing else anyone who has succesfully completed a course in Meteoromancy knows exactly what the night sky looks like and can tell the date as accurately with a Lunar calendar as with a Solar one.