Mages

=Overview= Mages are masters of magic. This includes the shaping of elemental magic, but they are capable of breaking reality and reshaping it in several ways. Restricted from mages is the summoning of spirits, as that belongs to druids.

Unique to mages is their ability to see the oddities introduced to the world by the game itself. They can physically see strings on played characters, hear whispers, and notice other details. (If you're not certain, ask!)

The ability to cast portals was restricted from players by the game originally, but in reality any mage can learn this with some time and dedication. Extensive warp and portal magic should be considered its own major school of magic, so it would be difficult for one to learn this and be a master of fire magic, for example.

Becoming a mage can mentally break the weak willed and the weak minded.

=History= The founder of the mages was the Asha, who ate Xumurdad's lungs and gained Its courage. He quickly formed alliances with the Alchemists and Spellswords, and together they founded Safta.

Still headquarted in Safta, the mages offer their services to both the Alchemists and spellswords, sharing the finer points of magical theory with both guilds. The Asha is in charge of a magical research institution which also houses the World Library, a collection of knowledge so extensive it's a massive labyrinth. Mages working as administrators of the World Library are called Mogh, collectively Moghan, and the Asha is called the A'zam Mogh.

Being a mage is not for the faint of heart. Only those with the courage to face the truth behind reality can grasp the theories behind the magic the guild practices. The idea of ripping into the seams of reality, seeing the universe at its core, and stitching it back together to one's whims is an inherently terrifying one in practice. Many guild candidates can't handle the revelation of what the world is like beneath the surface, and go mad. Those who face it with courage come out on the other side as mages.

The current Asha is Gabriel Chen.

=Details= Mages are a ranged combat class with no melee or support capability. Specialization tends to be by school of magic; most mages will concentrate on two or three elements, leaving their ability in spells of other elements limited. Some mages do round themselves out, but will be mediocre-to-average in all elements. They do have a few self-buffs to make them harder to kill without someone around to take hits for them, but these buffs cannot be cast on others and are a poor substitute for real support.

Mages are capable of powerful debuffs such as transformation, slowing or stopping opponents, and removing buffs. They are also capable of dispelling curses and removing enchantments. Most of these skills are part of a disrupt specialization, but dispel abilities are low-level and many mages branch into them.

As they have no melee capability and no defensive capability, they can easily be overwhelmed if they are unable to maintain their distance.

=Members=
 * Asha: Gabriel Chen
 * Alessia Saunders (DECEASED)
 * Allen Marks
 * Irena Rose
 * Majestica
 * Reilanin

=Headcanon=

Skills
Chain Lightning: offensive, lightning bolts leap from caster's fingers to bounce between targets, level affects target limit, can be cast continually.

Earth Spike: offensive, summons a spike of earth that shoots from the mage's hand at the target like a dagger.

Freezing Wave: debuff, slows enemies, no damage, AoE.

Lake of Fire: offensive, fire spell, AoE.

Rain of Fire: offensive, summons fireballs from the sky, fire damage, AoE.

Teleport: warp the caster only to a bind point; requires concentration, cannot be done as a means for evasion, for example

Volcanic Eruption: offensive, volcano erupts from the ground, fire damage with burning effect, AoE.

Dragon's Eye: ?
 * Unlocked to all skill builds at level 75
 * Quest-based

Disrupt Skills (Mini)
Absorb (magic damage): if cast at the right moment, will absorb the attacker's magic spell; the caster then has the option to reflect the spell back on their attacker OR replish their mana with ~70% of the original mana used by the attacker

Curse removal: single-target

Dispel: strip all buffs from target

Float: cause the target to float several feet off the ground; temporary

Slow: slow time of a single target; short duration

Shadow hold: control movement of the target by controlling their shadow; requires physical contact with target's shadow

Stop: stop time for a single target; very short duration, and immobilizes the caster

Transform: turn the target into an animal

Vanish: cast invisibility on one target; usually only of sight, but can be cast to trick all the senses, at the risk of the target vanishing for real (this would only happen while alts are playing themselves, ie it's not a skill mechanic from a player's perspective)

Teleporting and warping
As a gameplay limitation, player-character mages cannot learn warping skills, and they may have only one bind point for their teleport skill. Once mage characters become real, they can set additional bind points (though it is costly to set each one because of the catalysts used, and mages can only maintain as many as they have the cognitive skill for--three to five, for most mages), and may begin studying and learning warp magic (which is difficult and has a high learning curve).

Setting bind points between dimensions or warping between dimensions requires mod approval.

The catalysts used to set a bind point are:
 * 1 Basilisk Eye
 * Phoenix Feathers (unspecific amount)
 * 1 Starstone (a palm-sized stone, especially expensive and difficult to obtain)
 * 1 candle of theryad wax (theryads are a species of giant insect native to Saftan swamps)

A description of the process can be found here

This is not the only possible combination of catalysts to set a teleport bind, but is the most widely-known. Setting a bind requires the mage to be physically present at the bind point, though a physical presence can be substituted for some of the mage's blood, a 360 view of the area, and a piece of the world from that area (dirt, a stone, etc).

Warps do not have bind points. They are based on the mage's spatial understanding and an experienced mage can warp to any space they've physically occupied if they can remember the spatial location. There are some exceptions to the physical occupancy rule, such as following another warp's path (for example, following the warp-trail of a postdragon).

What can be teleported? The mage and anything on their person. Small animals (anything small enough to be easily carried in their arms) can also be teleported along with the mage. Other humans (including babies and children small enough to carry) cannot be.

No portal is opened during a teleport.

What can be warped? Anything that will fit through the portal the mage has opened. Size and capacity of portals will vary depending on the mage's skill at warping, and a portal's appearance will be unique to each mage. Beginners may only be able to warp themselves before the portal closes, or be unable to warp others without guiding them through to the other side themselves. Experienced mages can send large groups of people or large amounts of cargo through a warp without needing to guide it through.

Can mages alter things down to the molecular level?
Basically, no. The Asha could, but it's very much a power level thing and most mages are simply not powerful enough to manage matter on a level that mirco.

Mostly, mages just alter states of matter and rearrange (classic) elements to do what they want.