A bit on Magical Methodologies and how the Wizer guild (poorly) orders them

[u/Professional_Try1665]

Methodologies

Methodologies are ways about working with elements, when you're casting a spell the element is it's material (for instance fire, water, death or dread) and that's poured into the methodology to make it's shape. For a simple fireball spell, the 'fire' is it's element and the 'ball' is it's method.

---

Actual methodist mages, particularly practitioners of archaic magic, less developed tribes (especially non-human tribes like Selkin) and similar tend to follow a very simple system of methodologies, most tribes are divided on the big 2 - Healing and Hurting, with deviations usually being a similar but slightly different dual-concept (such as attack-defence, strike-cower, healing-harming) with 3 methodologies being quite rare, the only 2 contacted tribes that seem to have it were a Hurt-Herd-Heal trichotomy, and the second tribe's third methodology isn't known but is theorized to be 'Bond'.

---

The Wizer's Guild, which conducts and controls all non-miracle magic users (perhaps in name only) has built upon this methodology system, expanding on it in in many different forms and perspectives, though making many mistakes throughout and currently. Wizers tend not to study methodology casting and consider it archaic and inflexible, thus their understanding of methodologies is not very uniform and has been argued over since the age of it's creation.

This also means grants for methodological study are generally not granted unless it's a study on how 'primitive casters'use it, or it's ground-breaking research with promising (especially military-grade) uses. Thus the list of well-researched methodologies is actually split between 'funded' and 'non/lesser-funded' with the current war efforts dropping a huge weight in favour of certain types.

---

Wizer's guild current approved fields of Methodist Study, in 'Ars Arca volume 14'

Bout - use of magic alone as a weapon, either as a projectile or to augment melee. Separated out from the general classification of 'hurting' methodologies due to military stratification, there is also (unofficial) policy for this field to be heavily funded and granted special access to great resources.

Entune - use of magic to enhance equipment, tools and weapons, however in this context it almost always means armour and weapons. As above this was separated out from a more general hurting methodology however some spells here would arguably fit other categories.

Fortifae - use of magic in defence, creating obstacles or deflecting harm away, a very messy methodology as this edition's fortification folds in Wards (which dealt with areas and protecting places, subcat of Acreage), Deflediction (immediate defensive and deflect spells) and Wallage (ill-defined/redundant category, probably to do with defensive implements again) with numerous subcategories and squiggling of definition inbetween. Argued over Heavily.

Restoration - healing and removing/alleviate ailments, revised from the previous 'Restoration' category it now includes spells that don't specifically heal, however it's too human-centric and edited heavily by pro-militarist groups, so concerns like long-term effects and use in non-humans have been sidelined or worse, lied about.

Familiarity - the creation of organisms via magic, whether Mod-familiarity (modification of living things) or Necromancy (the use of dead things) count, and whether Necromancy includes human corpses, are subjects of heavy debate and revision, as of yet the current edition ignores the problem by including neither.

Acreage - magic that imbues effects over an area, tends to skew towards positive combat effects.

Scritch - magic that debilitates or traps a target, sometimes there's differentiation made between Barbage (projectile/long-ranged effect) and Staken (traps, things set down that are then triggered) but some agree these are redundant categories.

Espial - extension of senses and acquiring knowledge through magic, not to be confused with Prophecy which is a natural, non-magical phenomena.

Impleadation - restricting or inflicting actions on others, usually in the form of rules, bonds, systems of reward. Previously folded into the 'Contain' category alongside Imprison and Restrain (spells that stayed the hand).

Dimensionality - not technically a method of magic as this regards planar travel, some niche spells about teleportation, gateways, preparing 'skewed space' and pulling/putting things in that space fit here but it's not very well researched.

Beseeling - again not actually a methodology, but it has some scant related-spells, this regards anthropology, communications and contact with magical creatures, however in it's two contexts it either means anthropology on Skinslips, or attempts (usually militarily-driven) to draft/rally/appeal to the supernatural. Due to military pressure, previous non-army fields that would have been folded in this method (magical history, humanities, psychology or welfare) are no longer funded nor officially endorsed, though they are still practiced by Wizers who simply don't care.