Compendium: Divination School of Arcane Magic

Written by: Inquisitor Mor'Denàth Dawnlight

A copy of this document can be found in:

- Darnassus

- Dalaran: Purple Parlor

- Silvermoon: Sunfury Archives

- Undercity

- Stormwind: Keeper's Library

Divination is a school of magic that often tends to be poorly regarded (sometimes even cast aside) by several nowadays students, as there is the unfounded belief that it cannot lead to anything useful. Most of the times, the Youngs who dwell in the sea of arcane knowledge prefer to choose a more straightforward approach, which efficiency is determined by the offensive or defensive capability of a spell while fighting on the field. Indeed, Divination does not include any direct manipulation of the elements of our world and using it on the battlefield, unguarded and without preparation, could lead to unfortunate, if not even deadly results.

Why, then, should someone "waste" his time to analyse and gain the suitable experience and expertise to be considered a skilled Divinist? What can this School offer to us, now that our time slips away from our hands while the enemy is at our doorstep?

Let's go through what this Art can offer:

- The Divination School is the art that allows a magician to mentally cross any distance to be able to scan, scry, oversee and overview situations and places far from his current location. Those who succeed to master the highest level of preparation, could leave Azeroth itself and venture there where no mage's eye would ever dare to look.

- It detects magically-oriented misdirections, used by the enemy to keep strangers away from hidden locations, high-quarters or concealed artefacts. The experienced eye of a divinist manages to unravel those who can hide their presence in the shadows and disrupt such protective layer.

- Unlike what people think, being able to cast Illusions doesn't mean to be able to dispel them. In fact, the spellcraft that generates a distortion in the fabric of reality, aiming to fool the viewer's eyes, ears, and senses, is only detected and countered by the laws of Divination, as long as the illusion is lower or equal in power to the skills of the Divinist himself.

- In the same way Divination can cross the distances, expert masters on this field are not only able to follow the trails of past but also (even if rarely) gain foresight of the events to come.

- Last but not least, a much less used branch of this art is used to penetrate into the minds of other living creatures to extract information, communicate over long distances and, of course, replace, misplace and erase memories.

If wisely used, Divination offers a powerful array of support abilities, exploited from spying purposes to the mental annihilation of a target.

As someone with experience in the School of Illusion, it was almost mandatory for me to approach the Divination School and focus on its laws, powers, limitations, and dangers. For starters, it's necessary to have a basic knowledge of the flowing and raw energies that shimmer deep under the surface of our world, which once had the largest nexus in the Well of Eternity: the Ley Lines. The collapse of the Well happened ten thousands years ago, modified the primal structure of the Ley-Patter and allowed a wider and most efficient use of magic on a large scale.

Thanks to the bed these rivers of energy leave behind in the lands where they flow, it is possible for a Divinist to "sail" along with their waves, reach a correct destination and see its conditions and its unfolding events. Once the arcanist reaches the chosen location, he (or she) can cast spells, create Runes, even set down anchors to open portals as if he was truly there, overcoming the obstacles of the physical world. A full-fledged Divinist knows no bounds and could be able to attack his enemy or support his comrades even without being present on the field.

~ Dangers and pieces of Advice

It's my duty to point out that during this process, the arcanist's mind almost entirely dislocates from the body, remaining connected to it with a very fragile and volatile thread of vital energy. Once the spell is active, the caster is left exposed and completely vulnerable to any attack since the mind is not able to feel and elaborate -any- information coming from its shell of flesh and bones.

Alas, the dangers of mind travelling don't linger only on the "physical" world. This arcane art can be fatally dangerous if used with recklessness: when the mind of a magician temporarily abandons the body, it can cross the range of senses of another divinist, who not only could detect the intruder's presence, but also trace the location of the caster. If such unfortunate event occurs, the assaulter could attempt a mind-break and, if lucky, rip information contained in the victim's mind. Once an exposed mind succumbs to the mental assault, it becomes a toy in the winner's hands whom, if ill-intentioned, might sever the weak link connecting the consciousness with its body forever. It's extremely hard to reverse this kind of damage.

Therefore, it is of utmost importance for a Diviner to not only build several layers of mental protection but also trace down a protective, focusing circle where to sit or stand during the channelling of the spell. Correctly fuel its runes and, if necessary, check the entire structure of the pattern ten times: remember that your life is at stake. Anyone who wants to perform such a spell is highly recommended to hold its sessions in a safe place, insulated in a protected and shielded chamber.

~ Notes

It is possible to share what a Divinist sees during and after a divination through Scrying Pools. These objects, basins filled with water contaminated with arcane energy, allow a magician to reproduce images and sounds emerged during the session. A scrying pool is the best friend of a Divinist, since via it the visions are more clear and straightforward. It is also possible for a practitioner of these arts to store the memories of his endeavours in a memory vessel; once properly enchanted, this kind of sealed containers can last for centuries or millennia.

There are too many factors that can disrupt a divination, and of these, we must also consider the possible presence of distortion spells performed to derail your intentions.

There are very few magicians who can sense the presence of an illusion because every Illusionist uses all the tools at his disposal to change the reality, making it indistinguishable to the mortal eye. It is here that a Divinist comes to play. To the eyes of someone who learned how to properly see the fabric of a spell and the flow of raw energies in every situation, an illusion doesn't pass unnoticed. The arcane energy that permeates the affected place and object attracts the attention of a Divinist even if we have to remember that the higher is the level of the crafted illusion, the hardest will be to detect it. It is, therefore, impossible for an apprentice in Divination School to see and dispell a distortion created by someone with more experience, as the first does not have enough knowledge to overcome the tricks deployed by an Illusionist.

What can one see, when standing in front of an illusion? It all depends on the Divinist's skillset but no matter the talent, it is not possible to directly understand what the spell is meant to hide. Instead, the altered arcane energy used to change the reality vibrates at different intensities depending on the power of illusion; a high-level one will create a vibration, so feeble to be almost imperceptible. In case you want to see what is behind the facade, it's necessary to dismantle it correctly. Only when the structure of the illusion is evident, there is the possibility to implement a counter spell, which is the reason why someone who never studied the divination arts cannot dismantle the spellcraft of a stranger: everyone weaves magic in different ways.

~ Dangers and pieces of Advice

The complications that can occur when dealing with a proper dispel are not different from the ones we analysed some paragraphs ago.

Remember: the use of divination is not an immediate technique and for those short moments needed to dismantle an illusion, the focus of the Divinist will mainly be orientated towards the task at hand, leaving him (or her) highly vulnerable.

Alterations of reality are deployed for important reasons, may it be to protect a place, to hide an artefact, to lead a helpless viewer straight into a trap. Before proceeding with a proper dispell, -always- scry the area for hidden traps that could be triggered before and after your attempt. It's unlikely for an Illusionist to drop a masterpiece without something that could prevent it from fading, and most of them have a very strange and wicked imagination.

It's wise to always consider the surroundings and the situation before dispelling an illusion; you can never know what hides behind it until it might be too late.

No mind can be stronger than the one of someone who trained it in the art of Divination. Depending on the specialisation of the spell weaver, the timeline itself is considered a limitation no longer. An object, a person, everything that exists on every plane and dimension leaves a trail along the Time-Line of its Creation. The resonance left behind by the flow of time can be sailed by a Divinist, allowing the person to experiment the events of the past and, in -extremely- rare cases, have a chance to catch a glimpse of the future.

Now, discussing the past and a possible future is always complicated as many questions arise when facing the possibility of venturing into the unknown. In general, this shard of the Divination school can hardly be considered a beaten track for the following reasons:

- It's almost impossible to scry across the Time-Line without proper reagents and preparations: a focus and an appropriate ritual are needed, to maintain the arcane flux as stable as possible and allow the mind not to wander off and get lost in the ever-changing river of time.

- A similar mental travel is dangerous, as the further one's will goes into the past and the future, the fragile the link with his body becomes: I went through the fragility of the connection between mind and body pages ago. Exposing the mind to the infinite width of a -single- timeline means be ready to face the possibility for it to break free and leave nothing but an empty husk behind.

- The risk of losing track of time during the channelling (that can indeed last for hours) exponentially increases with the level of difficulty of the spell: during a similar session, the body continuously consumes energies, and it's unable to communicate with the consciousness of the magician. The caster won't be aware of the health of his mortal shell. As a consequence, dying from starvation, lack of sleep or exhaustion is everything but a farfetched possibility.

- Moral can come into place. For the most, the future is something that must not be investigated; every action of every being can influence it. Nothing is written in stone, but the thought of an impending demise or a prosperous future can fool or destroy even the most cunning and confident mind.

~ Pieces of Advice

First and foremost, never dare to force your mind into time travel without a proper reason and -obsessive- preparation. If you are an apprentice, average or even skilled Divinist, leave this branch of the school to those who mastered the secrets, dangers and tricks of this Art.

No matter how recent it might be, a vision will always be cloudy and sometimes hard to comprehend. As soon as the ritual is over take care of the state of your body, then store the information obtained during the mental journey in a proper vessel; you will be able to review them without such interference and give them a logical order.

The health of your body always comes first and scrying through both time and distance is energy-wise extremely expensive. After a ritual, do not make compliments or worry about your fit: sit down, try to relax and eat meat, bread and food that can grant a high amount of calories to avoid a fall-out, since the body keeps burning its energy reserve for a good hour after the end of the ritual.

Absolutely avoid consuming alcoholic beverages, as alcohol clouds your mental readiness. Your mind has to be 100% clear.

A general rule that works with everything: If unsure, do not risk it.

During the first stages of the Sin'dorei Regime, immediately after the Fall of Quel'thalas, Divination played a sad but significant part to detect, find and deal with the Insurgents. It is thanks to the so-called "mental scrying" that the Spire managed to contain the number of Exiles and maintain order among Silvermoon streets. Those Divinists specialised in this field are called "scryers" (and must not be confused with the Order, The Scryers, of blood elven Magisters founded in the Outland) or "inquisitors".

These magicians deploy their skillset to query without the use of physical torture. It not only saves time but the obtained information are always reliable, yet this doesn't mean that the procedure is always smooth and flawless. The rules to perform a successful scrying are the same as always: the most powerful and trained the mind of the target is, the more complicated and arduous will be to penetrate the erected defences.

While not many know how to organise a decent mental barrier, investigating a nicely structured mind is an action that can turn against the caster. Due to this reason, there are not many licenced Inquisitors, and those who study to acquire such skill are properly registered to the archives of their city. If the scryer happens to be less skilled than the victim, the latter could overthrow or reverse the assault. It's useless to say that the consequences of such an event would be devastating on the scryer's mind. Mental manipulations are, in fact, hard to reverse.

Mind Scrying across the distance is possible, yet one must remember that mind travelling is everything but safe.

~ Pieces of Advice

Always keep in mind that this practice without the approval of the target is not only forcefully violating the consciousness of someone else, but that it were also against the laws and considered a proper crime, punished with reclusion. The punishment is justified not only because the practice itself is an irruption into a third party privacy, but also because, if done incorrectly (or with ill intentions), it can cause irreversible damage in the victim's "data store".

In few words, depending on the purposes of the inquisitor, mind-scrying can be considered as one of the cruellest tortures; for this reason, and it is the duty of the very Divinist himself to cause the least damage possible to the target's mind.

The subject of the ming-scry must have accepted to undergo the said treatment unless the inquisitor received orders from the high echelons of his commanding structure. Depending on the defensive barriers of the subject, a Mind Scrying can take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour.

_____________________________________________________

- OOC References-

All the information found in this compendium can be found and read by anyone in the following, canon books:

- The Last Guardian (written by Jeff Grubb)

- Circle of Hatred (written by Keith R.A DeCandido)

- The Sundering (written by Richard A. Knaak)

- Illidan, the Betrayer (written by William King)

You're not allowed to use this text as your own.