I am curious to know how magic actually works in the world of Norrath. I'm gonna list a few different possibilities, please let me know if any one of them is accurate, or if none of them are correct. If the answer can be read about somewhere, please link me to it! Granted by the Gods through a request. There are no godless wizards. This does / does not require knowledge of a certain language. Magical spirits or essence already exist in the world, magic is just how they are harnessed and controlled. Midichlorians, mitochondria, or some other microscopic organic component in every wizard. Temporarily causing a rip in one or multiple dimensional planes to summon energies into Norrath as spells. Words in the language of magic cause a manifestation of energy when spoken. Magic is an extension of psychic powers that all spellcasters have.
I don't know for sure what the right answer is, and what I think may be completely wrong, so don't quote me, just going off memory from what I heard a long time ago in EQ1 but... I believe mana exists somewhere, possibly in the plane of magic (Druzzil Ro is the goddess of magic, so stands to reason she'd have a plane), and mages can tap into that mana and use it to power spells. I think priests still ask their patron for assistance with spells (be it completely powered by the deity, or partially, I don't know). This could be wrong though, because theoretically that would mean priests had no power when the gods withdrew from Norrath in the EQ2 timeline, /shrug.
Well that's a start at least. Do you know if spoken or known languages matter at all? Is casting a fireball more about imagining a fireball until it happens? Is asking a patron for help done in their spoken language or by some other communication?
While I enjoy the lore, I am not a Norrathian Lore scholar by any means. =) Basic hings to note about EQ2's Norrath though: 1) We had magic even before the gods & goddesses returned. You are never required to choose a god. 2) You have magics based on the class you choose not the languages you speak. If we needed to know Draconic or Druzaic to cast we'd all have been in trouble for the first 45 levels of the game or so. 3) This isn't the Star Wars universe and as far as I know the magic we used isn't based on it in any way. 4) Most spellcasters/priests don't have anything directly to do with spirits or elemental beings. The rest of this is just the way I think about it in light of all the other fantasy I've consumed over the years. Magic is something you are born with. Either you are born with the magic or blessing if you wish & can study to become a proper spellcaster or priest or you are not and you become one of the melee based classes. Some of the melee classes overlap somewhat. Perhaps a paladin or shadowknight had a calling to be a priest but were more militant in mindset & trained their innate powers for damage dealing & absorption rather than a focus on healing & purification as one would as a priest. The pure melee classes go through much training to learn the more powerful moves and special abilities each class possesses. I tend to think of bards as spell singers. rather than using hand gestures as the foci for their magics, they use their voices & instruments.
I honestly couldn't tell you definitively, I don't know of a source that explains the details. I'm pretty sure there is a verbal component involved with spell casting (at least in EQ1, there were iirc silence debuffs that prevented you from casting, implying speaking was necessary), so I doubt it has to do with imagining the spell. The Gods have communicated with mortals without the need for a special language, so I bet priests can just talk to them in their native tongue and not have a problem.
in Norrath, Mana permeates the world and the planes. Druzzil Ro is the Goddess of Magic, though Soluesk Ro also is a diety with magic, adn her Plane might be the most 'potent' with magic, but it's a general theme it seems that magic permeates everything. think of the Lifestream from final fantasy kinda gimmick. Magic takes years to learn...intense study. and that is the arcane side. for the priests, it is magic that is innate to use, but the strength of it comes from thier faith in the gods. the interesting thing is yes, the deities were 'gone' before...but not gone like you think. they withdrew their influence on norrath itself, but I don't think that means that the planes, the energy that priests link into when they pray, might not have been touchable. so I'd probably go with number 2 in your choices for how magic works. as to Paladins/Shadowknights... they are literally holy warriors. it's not they are called to be a priest and then choose to go halfway and pick up a sword instead, but the are more like warriors that chose to, rather then master all weapons or hone thier body to the ultimate level...they chose to become the vanguard for a diety. they are a warrior of X deity...not a priest that chose to pick up the sword. if a a norrathain warrior was a US army soldier, and a norrathian priest was a US navy sailor...then a norrathain paladin/shadowknight is a US marine.
Well, nice to see you all here discussing how magic works in EQ1. Now if you dig into the monk lore you'll find that shortly before the whole 2nd Rallosian Empire rose some of the Ashen Disciples developed a new form of combat that combined magic into martial practice. Some of the Ashen Monks captured by Lucan D'Lere were forced to divulge the secrets of this practice and from there it worked its way into all combat styles which is the reason all our modern selves use power when old time EQ1 melee types didn't have mana bars. As for what the source of magic is...it permeates Norrath. Various elementals and spirits naturally come into existence here. Corpses spontaneously animate. Lots of magical phenomenon happen without a sentient being behind them. By studying these events, people have discovered how to make them happen. The first to discover how to manipulate magic were the Dragons. Independently the Elves discovered much later and spell casting was learned by other races who either learned directly from the elves or from tomes stolen from them. Well, that applies to the races on Tunaria (Antonica) and Fadewyr. On Kunark it was the Shissar that discovered magic and we're not sure if they were before or after the Elves. From what I've seen talked about with magic the different kinds were discovered at different times. There isn't any lore that states if clerical magic, shamanism or druidic rites were developed first. Just guessing I'd have to say that clerical magic would of existed first since the gods were involved with their creations from an early date, though druidic magic could come from the same time frame if it was focused on the worship of Tunare and Growth. Shamanistic magic deals more with spirits that arise from powerful animals so I figure its probably the newest. Better recorded in lore is when various types of magic came into being. The first were the wizards who directed elemental forces. Next were the mages that summoned elemental beings and created objects from magic. Next came the enchanters that cast mind altering magics. Then came the necromantic magics that caused internal strife in a lot of societies when it was discovered. Geomancy was discovered (and lost) with the Combine Empire. Geomancers were said to be able to erect great constructions with their magics. The last to be discovered...chronomancy. Chronomancy generally isn't known to the player races (though there are some in every city) and was probably first discovered by Miragual. Or was it first discovered by dragons? Honestly, it could be either. Oh, one last bit. All the divine magics don't actually require a god. What they require is a source of power. In EQ1 after the gods cut the players off the various guilds constructed sources of power for their divine casters and powered them with magical items they sacrificed. The players in EQ2 have internalized divine power and can provide it for their own use. Which begs the question: if you are the source of divine power for your spells...isn't that like being a god?
The gods, as the creators of Norrath, are the sources of Mana. Even if the Gods were cut off from Norrath, since Norrath was created by them it is permeated with their essence. You have to remember that while the gods do appear as an avatar to us, they are Gods and are thus present in all of their creations.
Thaaaaats what I'm talking about! Thank you for the history lesson, this is exactly what I wanted to know!!! But now I'm confounded about something else: Silence. How does a "silence" debuff work? Is there still some verbal or auditory component to spellcasting, or is it more of a mental silence that makes it tough for the wizard to form words in their head? Does a player affected by a Silence spell also lose the ability to chat and communicate in other ways?
I don't think there is any lore around 99% of the magic spells/effects out there. They exist purely for the mechanics of the game. Plenty of non-humans use spells that duplicate what we cast (since most of the monsters share classes with the players) and that includes monsters that don't speak. I subscribe that more to mechanics and convenience than a Lore implication. Also "silence" isn't a condition in EQ2. I think your referring to "Stifle" which is an effect that won't allow you to use abilities (more than just spells, it also affects combat arts and innate abilities). There is also "dazed", "stunned" and "interrupts" which have similar effects but different particulars on how that happens. I'm not sure which class has it, but I think there is a spell named "silence" which applies the condition "stifle".
hmm interesting =) but I seem to remember that Vhalen once touched upon the topic/source of mana and magic.. I also faintly remember few words..like 'ethereal plane' or 'mana tornado' etc (bah sometimes miss old eq2 forum...really )
Your remembering his quote for "The Mana-Flow" is the plane where much (if not all mana) comes from i think, or something like that. I remember the name because a player mentioned it in a post and Vhalen took notice because he never remembered anyone ever revealing the name of "The manaflow" before but this player had the name somehow.
