Compendium: Transmutation School of Arcane Magic

The following Compendium can be found in:

Silvermoon | Dalaran | Undercity 

The transmutation School of arcane magic is without a doubt one of the most studied and practiced but despite its planet-wide diffusion, there are not many mages able to grasp the intricate possibilities offered by its laws and even less are the minds of those able to understand the dangers behind its fascinating and ever-changing world.

I started my personal studies in this field during the third century of my life and approached the School because I was attracted by theories wrote on old tomes. The possibility to alter the time flow on a whim, the chance to go everywhere and to transmute solid materials when necessary was extremely attracted to my young mind; during the years as magisters and the time spent on the battlefield, my extended knowledge in this field saved the lives of my elves and mine own several times.

However, while we all can agree on the fact that while Transmutation is without a doubt interesting, we cannot ignore its complexity and dangers, in the same way, a tranquil lake can drown inexperienced swimmers and lead them into its depths. Nothing is safe when dealing with magic. During this compendium I will share my personal notes and theoretical studies, hoping to offer a proper and solid base to those willing to understand dangers and praises of this specific arcane branch.

The transmutation School of Arcane Magic groups every spell and research concerning time, space, and matter. Every single aspect of this art relies on its own laws and it’s necessary to understand the theory and the physics behind the guidelines before rushing to a conclusion.

~ MATTER ~

Without a doubt, polymorph, one of the most famous spells commoners think about when imagining a mage’s ability. A transmuter is able to change the shape of an item or an individual for a finite period of time by altering the very matrix of the target’s physical structure and, in case such target is a living creature, its mental abilities.

This aspect of transmutation is usually deployed to take advantage of a situation and/or temporarily fool the adversary without relying on an illusion. An individual transmuted into an animal will earn all of its attributes (fur, scales, size) and lose the ability to speak and articulate complex thoughts depending on the creature he/she has been shifted into. An elf shapeshifted into a cat will act exactly as a cat would and lose the personality traits of the individual since the spell affects both mind and body. However, despite one’s mind being indeed affected by such imposed change, once the effects end and depending on the mental abilities of the target, the victim –could- keep memories of what happened during the time spent as another being.

Physical transmutation has its limits. While there are no limits when transmuting an object into something else, this rule doesn’t apply when the caster wishes to change the physical structure of a being that is at least partially sentient. In fact, the more intelligent the target, the less effective the spell will be. It will be fairly easy to turn a barely intelligent peasant into an animal and the effect can last for several minutes, but the same spell cast on an argute target lasts much less. Most arcanists are barely immune to polymorphic effects, or they last for a handful of seconds.

~ Arcane Terraforming (permanent)

While transmutation has its limits, such limits expire when arcane terra-forging is involved. We talk of arcane terra-forging when, through the use of arcane power, one or more arcanists transform the landscape and the elements around him/themselves into something completely different in shape, but still made of the original materials or one strictly related to it. It is also possible to modify an environment and partially reshape it to one’s needs. In a plain made of sand, a mage could manage to craft a small house made of sandstone or dome of glass, in the same way, a group of transmuters could be able to generate a village of stone at the bottom of a mountain.

Magical terra-forging is not the act to create something out of nowhere, but the possibility to re-shape and partially modify an already existing element.

The most famous display of arcane terra-forging was performed by Dath’remar Sunstrider and his Quel’dorei magisters whom, upon reaching the lands today known as “Quel’thalas”, used the power of the Sunwell and of the ley-lines connected to it to create Silvermoon almost overnight. The High Elves then shifted their attention to the woods surrounding their capital and adapted the vegetation to their aesthetic desires.

Of course, there are limits to what a transmuter can do when orchestrating the powers of terra-forging; depending on what the mage desires to achieve, this transmutation art can take from a spark of power up to the sort of energy a single mortal individual would never be able to muster on his own. The limits are the mage’s Mana pool and the possibility for said transmuter to access an external source of power (as a Ley-Nexus) that is able to provide the remaining Mana that the mage's Mana pool cannot provide.

~ Warnings

Transmutation of living beings, if cast incorrectly, can cause physical and mental damage to the victim; while I never experienced or saw something like this first hand, Rumors speak of experiments made on mortals in an attempt to turn them into elementals or dragonkin. The effects on the subjects’ minds were so devastating they lead them to madness. Attempting to create chimera is also strictly forbidden; such creatures are terribly unstable and there are boundaries arcanists should leave in Mother Nature’s hands alone.

Refrain yourself from turning a creature of lesser intelligence into a creature of higher intelligence, since cerebral brain function hardly translates in a polymorph, but sometimes things can go wrong; dangerous creatures such as predators and alike must not have their predatory instincts supported by a human mind.

Try to use simple creatures for your polymorph spells because the more complex (and dangerous) the polymorph is, the higher are the chances for the spell to fail and going haywire. Changing the matrix of any creature into oozes, Ethereals, Silithid, and worst of all dragonkin is –severely- punishable.

Common sense applies when dealing with transmutation of living beings but I feel the urge to add this advice to the list; do not polymorph something or someone into a more powerful being. That’s a recipe for disaster.

Last but not least, the overuse of arcane terra-forging ruins the land and the elements of the location and, if the area is wide enough, is very likely to cause elemental unrest.

~ SPACE ~

The Ley lines are of fundamental importance for every mage; these underground rivers of arcane power bring life and magical power to all of Azeroth; In areas where two or more Ley lines meet, ley nexus forms. The shifting power of the arcane flow is used to empower the Kaldorei moonwells, the Sunwell, the former Nightwell and of course the well expanding under the canopy of Nordrassil. Other major ley nexuses can be found in Coldarra and, of course, under Karazhan.

Despite these energetic conduits that flow deep beneath our feet, sometimes (because of an abrupt anomaly or due to artificial intervention) power leaks to the surface. Such an event causes a severe alteration of the area all around the fracture; both soil and vegetation crystallize and often mutate to survive the intense energies, while the wildlife shows the classic symptoms of arcane corruption (crystallized body and mental instability are the most common ones).  There are two significant locations where the Ley line abandoned their usual pathways and emerged to the surface: northern Azsuna and, of course, Crystalsong Forest.

Many dreams to one day are able to muster and control the infinite power offered by the Ley lines and to shift their flow at will but the truth is that such a feat of strength was accomplished only twice in the past. Malygos, the former Aspect of Magic and father of the Blue Dragonflight, intervened directly with the Ley lines to change their direction and redirect them towards the Nexus under Coldarra. In order to achieve this, the deployment of surge needles along with the focusing iris were required.

Another ancient object, crafted by mortal hands, that is told to grant the wielder the ability to modify the flow of a Leyline at will is the famed “Sarcen stone”. It is extremely difficult for mortals to craft this item of legend, and until now the only ones who succeeded were a large group of arcanists of the Mennar Academy, during the Pre-Sundering period. The location was destroyed during the War of the Ancients and despite the Sarcen stone having been retrieved, the research that led to its creation was destroyed during the first Legion invasion.

Also before the Sundering, the Highborne of Suramar (now known as Shal’dorei, or Nightborne in Common) managed to build an underground network of elven crafted surge needles able to redirect a portion of the Ley lines' power flowing around the region to a specific location without altering the path of the arcane river itself.

It is known that portals use a connection to the Ley lines of Azeroth in order to bring an individual or a group to another part of the world, so it is important to point out that the Energy flowing through the Ley Pattern is very sensitive to changes and frequently suffers heavy stress and over-use, which is the reason why laws against random portals and massive ley-drain were made and are currently severely sanctioned. This fact is the reason why arcanists are asked to exploit already pre-established/artificial teleportation points when moving from one location to another; an overused Ley line is not only dangerous for the safety of those who are currently traveling along it, but also creates a large amount of power on the surface. A more extreme example of Ley lines being abused can be seen nowadays in the Outland, where the Orcs were responsible for the fall-out of their planetary ley-pattern, which led to the shattering of Draenor turning it into the broken land we all know.

~ Portals: Rules and Limitations

The Ley lines are extremely important for every Transmuter since their presence makes the creation of portals much easier than what it would be in an environment deprived of them. Every Ley line, in fact, acts as a proper highway. Despite the reliability and the beauty of going from point A to point B without spending days or weeks riding through hostile regions, the massive traffic through a line from all over Azeroth wears down the pattern infrastructure and forces the dutiful mages to spend time and effort to repair what was caused by reckless and mindless abuse. Portal technology is, in fact, close to becoming banished from anything but emergency usage. Because of this, it is important to use a portal only when absolutely necessary for a group of people.

When properly used, mastery over the usage of portals is safe, improper usage and lack of attention can make even a simple portal into a serious problem. Every Transmuter who has obtained a license to create portals from their respective mage authority knows that this spell must be created in a proper location, and use it in the way it is meant to be utilized. Never linger halfway in and out a portal and do not back out of it after partially entering it, do not use a portal to trick a friend into generating it under their feet or throw a polymorphed target through it unless you want to create a remarkable explosion. A portal –must- be used for safe transportation only and it is not a toy to be used at anyone's leisure.

I would also be amiss to not remind readers that the warp-hole around the portal itself (its “edges”) is extremely volatile, so do not have anything or anyone touch it unless you want to see how solid disintegration works. Shape it with your mind carefully, stand by its side and wait for everyone to move through it, before moving in yourself. Furthermore, be mindful to open a portal only in licensed zones, because you never know what is waiting on the other side and it would be extremely unfortunate to have the landing side of the warp-hole cut someone in two.

Portal spells are created to innately prevent a large amount of flowing water through them and have a proper liquid filter which must not be removed; this filter allows mages to use this spell under water. The removal of said filter in a peculiar situation leads to an almost uncontrollable flood the likes of which happened in Lakeshire and Ironforge.

~ Teleport and Blink

Arcane teleportation is without a doubt less stressful than a portal since it does not keep the Ley line “busy”, but it still follows the same general ruleset. Furthermore, it is very hard for a mage to teleport to an unknown location, somewhere where they have never been before. The spell itself is not taxing, as long as the arcanist will translocate only himself and a few objects. Like every spell, the wider the task, the bigger the effort needed.

Blink, however, is a translocation spell that doesn’t directly connect the user to the closest Ley line and has rules that an arcanist must always follow in order to protect his own life and the integrity of his body. Despite the spell having been perfected over the years and many resources having been spent to make it almost perfectly safe,  it is, in fact, important to never use this spell somewhere occupied by another person or animal. Blink –replaces- the air and water from the caster’s target position, to the caster’s starting position. This spell is perfect in its elegance and its objective is to replace the mage’s body with whatever is in his/her planned destination. The fact that the arcanist is actually moved to that area is nothing but a mere side effect. A deliberate and foolish choice to blink -into- someone can cause several outcomes depending on the stability and expertise of the mage, ranging from moving the target to the location of the caster and vice-versa, to both of them occupying the same space, and in the worst cases merge the two individuals into one. Such result is irreversible, so for yours and other’s safety make sure that there are nothing and no one occupying your chosen location.

As you can imagine from the rule above, it is also wise to not blink anywhere you cannot see with your own naked eyes. Countless mages in the past have tried to blink through walls or enter closed places. Solid matter is rigid and strongly connected to itself. These solid bonds - will- translate into the caster- and reversing such tragedy will more often than not lead to limb loss, or worse still, death.

~ Summon: singular, forced and mass summons.

Arcane summoning is indeed possible, no matter if the target wishes to be summoned to a specific location or not, however, an arcanist must reach true mastery of both transmutation and divination in order to achieve such a result.

The theory around this spell is simple, unlike its practice: the mage must be able to scry for the location of a specific individual and/or be able to see the said object, animal or person in the first place. While the summoning of the object is not a challenging endeavor, everything else becomes much more complicated when we add an active and thinking mind to the equation, may it be the instinctive one o fan animal or the more complex mind of a humanoid.

It is in fact not enough for the summoner to see a person to summon or teleport it somewhere else; the summoner has to enter the target’s mind and attune it to his own will and to the chosen destination before even thinking about finalizing the spell, a fairly easy step if the “victim” of the teleportation/summon is willing to abide, and extremely difficult to apply if said individual refuses to follow the caster’s will. In the latter case, a conflict of interests will come into play, during which the more powerful mind will overcome the weaker (The details of what occurs during a mental battle of this nature can be read in my Divination Compendium).

Mass summons and teleportations are possible, with mages such as the "illustrious" Jaina Proudmoore over-using such abilities to an obscene degree by moving entire battalions across the field, yet such practices require a level of mental skill very rare among mages. If it can be hard to attune someone’s mind, attune a dozen or more is a feat worthy of note.

~ TIME ~

Every living being on this world lives its personal and private life on Azeroth but may it be a simple fish, to the mightiest of dragons, no individual is not bound to the flow of time itself. While hard to understand for a commoner’s mind, every mage who wishes to spend his life studying Transmutation must learn that time is relative. We all exist on the same and single “timeline”, in a complex multiverse.

A timeline is a single path and sequence of events that follow their singular and spontaneous causes and effects; the number of timelines is as high as the number of choices of every single living being existing on the said timeline, and the number of variabilities suffered by unliving and natural elements. Because of these rules, it’s safe to say that the timeline quantity is infinite.

The infinite number of timelines don’t collide with each other but exists simultaneously in what we call “multiverse”. A multiverse is a set of various possible and existing universes including the one we live in. Together, these universes compromise everything that actually exists, since time, space, matter, energy, physical laws, and constants are as variable as every single and infinite timeline that forms the multiverse pattern.

The explanation, however, can be simplified with simple examples: all of us living on Azeroth and every being populating the Twisting Nether is currently living, experiencing the same timeline, which origin is unknown to us at this very day. Every action performed by every creature and every natural variable (cause) affects both present and future, in the same way, the past is the reason why our present is as it is. To make two practical examples: there might be a timeline where Arthas Menethil didn’t fall to the whispers of the Lich King and didn’t kill his father, causing the fall of Lordaeron and everything related to that event. There also might be a timeline where the orcs didn’t get fooled by the Deceiver, didn’t cause the degeneration of Draenor and, as a consequence, the First War of Azeroth never happened.

A timeline is extremely sensitive to changes, and the Time (force) generating it spreads the effects of every cause depending on their magnitude. The bigger the cause, the wider and massive the effect will be, and the faster the consequences will happen.

Being this sensitive to changes, the flow of time must be preserved and protected from third parties manipulation. Before the Hour of Twilight such was the task of the Bronze Dragonflight, which powers allowed every dragon under Nozdormu’s guidance to be “everywhere and nowhere” at the same time, and to know the exact path every single timeline had to take. However, with the sacrifice made by the aspects to destroy Neltharion once and for all, such extensive powers are no longer in the Dragonflight grasp; the task to protect the timeways from nefarious people who want to take advantage on the Bronzes mortality is now in the hands of the Timewalkers, an order of both humans and dragons founded by the Keepers of Time.

The collision of two timelines is also possible, despite highly improbable. The recent events that led to the rift to alternate Draenor are a perfect example of what –shouldn’t- be done when playing with time.

~ Time Alteration

As said, Time is an extremely volatile force which flow can be altered depending on our actions. With the fall of the Bronze Dragonflight, many might feel the temptation to change events they didn’t like or alter them in a way that could instead be beneficial to their personal agenda. Tre truth is, that no one can predict the future anymore and the energy needed to significantly alter the time to the point of traveling to the past is consistent. For us mortals, as things currently stand, the game is not worth the prize.

Then what can a transmuter do once learned the rules behind time alteration?

The possibilities are limited by one’s abilities and imagination, but if I had to write a proper rule I would state that time alteration is possible, there where it happens in the present and can only affect the unfolding of future events. Every attempt to time travel and change the past on a great scale will be antagonized by the Timewalkers and nullified. In fact, while the bronze dragons and the Timewalkers are not able to know all causes and events of every single timeline, they can still sense that a precise event is not bound to happen and was somehow altered. All they need to do is keep reversing time and change the events until they re-establish the correct time flow and get rid of the cause.

The ability to alter the flow of time and temporary modify it to one’s need is called “Chronomancy”. The active practice of this niche spread very recently among Azerothian mages (Shal’dorei excluded), with Neltharion’s defeat. A “chronomancer” is a mage specialized in time alteration and temporal displacement, able to affect the time flow around single or multiple individuals (depending by the caster’s expertise) and/or enchant objects or locations in order for them to follow a precise set of time rules. Slowing down, speeding up and rewinding time are options available to every chronomancer; of course the powerful the mage and the more mana spent on a said spell, the wider will be the range of the spell and the more effective it will be.

It is, in fact, possible to modify the time flow around more than a single individual, yet when the number of targets increases the difficulty raises exponentially; the power of time is hard to control, unstable and unwilling to cooperate to any mortal necessity.

~ Arcane “healing” (Temporal displacement)

It is of utmost importance to point out that arcane healing doesn’t exist, or at least it doesn’t work in the same way nature, shamanic, shadow and light healing do, unless the creature we try to mend is completely made of arcane (example: minions and companions) and, as a consequence, has no organs or can suffer any physical injury. In such case, the arcane would reconstruct its form and shape to the original appearance.

The true arcane healing is nothing but cautious time manipulation that follows very strict rules. While a chronomancer cannot mend wounds, it is possible for him to reverse the time flow around a single individual and rewind the target’s physical state –and- location up to where it was before the injury took place.

This process is called “temporal displacement” and works only when it’s previously planned by the mage; the chronomancer has to set a “check-point” in a precise moment of the time flow, to which location he can return at will, in the physical conditions he was when the spell was cast.  This means that it’s not possible for a mage to heal a wounded like healers do; arcane healing must be pre-planned.

The further in the past the check-point was set, the higher the chances for the mage to lose his or her awareness of what happened before the reset.

The Shal’dorei ( Nightborne in common ), developed during their isolation an enhanced version of this spell that, while it still only works on the spot, doesn’t require pre-planning and allows them to reverse the time around an individual as many times as necessary and be (only on the battlefield) as efficient as any other battle-healer.

~ Warnings

When playing with the time flow, -everything- can go wrong in the most unpredictable way. Temporal paradoxes are, in fact, one of the first reasons why Chronomancers tend to do their best to not change events in the past, since it’s not possible to predict the outcome of an event and the further said event is from the present, the wider and more variable its consequences will be. Below I will list a handful of the most common temporal paradoxes.

-          Fermi Paradox: since time travel is actually possible, how many individuals during our present come from the future? The answer varies, but it’s actually impossible to distinguish a visitor from another age or timeline who disguises himself as one of the locals and lives among us.

-          Casual Loop: We can consider a casual loop, a paradox of time travel that occurs when a future event s the cause of something happened in the past, which leads to a reshaping of a future event. The alteration, in this case, causes a divergence on its current timeline since both events exist in spacetime, but their origin is almost impossible to be determined. The events that took place on alternative Draenor were part of this paradox; Hellscream traveled back in time and, knowing of the Deceiver's plans, led the orcs on another part. As a result, we had to deal with Gul’dan who exploited the timeline divergence to get to our future.

-          Grandfather Paradox: this paradox is probably the most famous among every time traveler; it occurs when the past is (by mistake or intentionally) changed in any way, thus creating a contradiction. A chronomancer can do anything that did happen, but can’t do anything that didn’t happen since doing anything that didn’t happen results in an alteration of the timeline.

-          Failed Existence Paradox: Consistency paradoxes occur whenever changing the past is possible, to the point that a time traveler stops existing without warning whenever the changes caused by his presence in the past affected and nulled the events that led to his birth.

Sources:

- Novels: Circle of Hatred | Illidan | Twilight of the Aspects | Stormrage | Warcrimes - Wowpedia

Notes: Players are free to read and use this compendium IC, as long as they won't change it's author.