Chapter Two, Understanding Charter and Free Magic and the Theory of how Science can help in Understanding the Rules of Magic
The Great Teacher of Magic and the Main Reason of the Charter
To fully understand Magic, in all its forms, shapes and colours, one must imagine nothing. You must empty your mind of all thoughts, feelings and emotions, thinking of nothing but eternal blackness. This, as you may find, is hard to do, but what happens when there is a something in that vast expanse of nothing? Imagine that nothing was not everything, but only a little bit, even not nothing at all. This thing, you must understand, is the sense of creation. The something in this abscond of nothing is your canvas of creation. Though this canvas theory may sound clichŽd and unbelievable, the basic principles of life are structured upon its ways and beliefs.
The Great Teacher, one of the first before the time of the Charter, was the founder of the Ancient Magic. He taught the first scribes of the land a way to bend fire. Though this may be easy now to any magic or non-magic beings, the Great Teacher proved to his apprentice's that it could be done. By proving this and adding a theory to his action, he introduced science. Though some Charter Mages and Free Magicians may scorn science, the Old Kingdom could not live without it.
If you look around you, you will find that everything is built on the basics of science. How would we know about heat, fire, light, cold, welding, freezing, even the gravity and wing speed needed to fly in a Paperwing? Many theories and more importantly the laws of all Magic are based on science.
As the Great Teacher said, you have your something in your mind. Now you must sculpt it and reshape it until it makes sense to you. This sculpting and reshaping is magic. You grasp your impossible blob and you make it into what ever you want. Magic.
The Ancient Magic was an amazing feat in the history of the world. You could make anything out of your inner fire, canvas, or whatever you like to call it. But once the secrets of the Ancient Magic were learnt, there were no rules and no lines to keep Magic in boundaries. The Gods soon could not control as they had been able to, thus the collapse in the world's laws of nature. However, the Five Great Charter (though it has been suggested of there being seven) took the Ancient Magic and applied rules to it, making sure that there was containment so no one being could rule without the assistance of something else. This assistance, though it may sound like a line easily broken, is unbreakable by a Charter Mage. This assistance line prevents all sons and daughters of the Charter from destroying everything because they need something to keep themselves going.
The Charter webbed the Magic into a series of symbols and words, which are that of the Charter Language. This system gives the Charter greater strength than Free Magic, because it is contained and streamed in patterns that each holds their own significant purpose and strength. The Charter is a no mess Magic where you take the things you need and nothing more, making the magic focus, rather than blend and blur.
This is a difficult subject for many to understand and is better described in Charter reference books.
Free Magic
Free Magic is the closest form of Ancient Magic used today. It's faster to use than Charter Magic and is less powerful. A way of viewing the major difference is a sink. If you did not have the faucet controlling the water, you would just have a fountain of water, strong and powerful yet uncontrolled. With Charter Magic you have the faucet, you can control it much more efficiently. The good thing about Free Magic is its destruction properties. With Free Magic, you can do whatever you want without guidelines, aside from the few things that cannot be tampered with. Free Magic has a corrosive effect, eating away at the user. Free Magic, though it may be a faster form of magic and is very effective when it is used to control things or a dark origin, its power has been known to become the dominant power in a person, using them as a puppet.
Free Magic creatures have a strong connection to the Dead, Free Magic allowing them to enter its realms. Dead use the power of Free Magic to some extent, on binding themselves to a new body, to combating Abhorsen and being able to eat other dead.
Though this chapter on Magic is short, it provides a strong background on the rules of Magic and how one must not abuse the Charter or how one can defeat a Charter Mage.
End of Chapter Two
The Book Of the Dead will be continued in Chapter Three, Myths and Legends