The Arcane

About the Relation between The Magic Circles and the Cult(s) of the Gods in Myrtana, about the Arcane and the difference between Mages and Priests.

Author: Flosha, 15.09.2024 - 16.09.2024

In order to understand the relation between the Magic Circles and what we describe as the “clergy” of Myrtana, between the priesthood and the mages, we have to clarify, what the magic circles are meant to be, how they relate to Cult(s) of the gods and how the Arcane, which is thought to be the root of all magic, is understood by and associated with both.

These questions are related, according to my current understanding, to a conflict between the imagination of the Gothic founders, in particular between Mike Hoge and Stefan Nyul. While Mike always laid emphasis on the idea that the mages were operating in form of these seperated circles since a long time and seemed to suggest that the priesthood of Innos is identical to the circle of fire, Nyul may have thought of a different idea, that led to misunderstandings.

These misunderstandings become clear in the question of how the split of the mages in the colony occured. Nyul described the events as such, that the mages split after the creation of the barrier and seemed to suggest, that they were one circle before. He has written it as such in the dialogue with Saturas and he (or Filler) has also written a book in the Sequel that suggested the same (see /phoenix-allegory).

Mages vs. Priests

For us, the question arises: Are the priests and the mages clearly identified with each other? Are they the same? Or are they something different? Or something inbetween?

The scriptures tell us about priests of Innos and Adanos, so we know that they exist. Priests of Beliar are not mentioned here, but also not excluded (they will be excluded in the Gothic manual; but we do not have to take what is written there too serious).

Die dem Adanos folgten nannte man nun Magier des Wassers, die Geweihten des Innos hießen aber die Magier des Feuers.

This document already identifies the priests with the mages of the related element. Being a mage that studies and practices specific forms of magic that are being associated with a god, wouldn’t have to equal being a priest of that god, but Gothic went with this solution.

The only other place in the sources that links the two are the dialogues with Corristo in the release version of the game, which we have to assume have been written in the last few months of development (and we don’t know by whom). Here too is clearly stated that mages equal priests.

Our magic is a gift of the gods. We are elected to be, at the same time, priests, teachers and judges. A gift, that is also a burden. An office, that dictates our life.

So, they are priests, teachers and judges? In a sort of “holy office”? Let us look at the facts.

The Mages do not act as Priests

The mages in the colony do not do any kind of religious or cultic service as a Priest would do, nor do they teach in the Old Camp, nor judge.

The mages in the colony are not residing in the chapel in the function of priests. They are not even using it as a chapel. On the contrary, based on the design concepts the building has been a chapel before; when the wardens were still living in the castle there may have been a priest here and wardens and prisoners came here to pray or listen to preachings. But this is no longer the case.
The mages have taken the chapel and actually desecrated it in order to use it as their residence and their laboratory. According to the concept arts they have barricaded the windows to create a darker environment and remain undisturbed in their magical studies and practices by anyone outside. No one is allowed to enter the chapel, no one is going here to pray or to bring sacrifices to the gods. It makes sense, because the fire mages in the colony are just not acting like priests, they are almost purely focused on the Arcane.
Perhaps other mages may work as priests and/or take this role more serious, they may preach and fulfill other cultic duties. But the circle of fire in the colony is obviously not interested much in this regard. Although based on our research, according to which we can assume that most of the convicts may primarily pray to Beliar, they have not much business doing so anyway.

The Mages practice Arcane Magic

The mages in the colony are practicing Arcane magic, as we know. In this context we should be aware of what this term “Arcane” usually means in the context of RPGs. In Dungeons & Dragons and many other rpg systems, so-called “Arcane Magic” is seen in opposition to “Divine Magic”. Divine magic is associated with clerics, while Arcane Magic is at the total opposite of the spectrum; it is practiced often by those who despise the clergy, by occult circles and idiosyncratic individuals.

Arcane power at its heart is really in a way about hacking the multiverse. It’s about taking a code and messing with the code around you. If you imagine the D&D multiverse and its magic, almost being like the matrix this world created by this magical code, arcane spellcasters are basically messing with it. (Jeremy Crawford)

In my endeavours to trace back the sources of this idea in history, I stumbled upon this interesting quote in an exchange about the origins of arcane magic:

A number of societies from antiquity believed in forms of magic that were not strictly divine in nature. In particular, both the Classical Greek and Norse cultures had forms of magic that derived their power not from gods, but from “secret knowledge” of the working of the world - the very definition of “arcane”.

To the ancient Greeks, there was a clear distinction between religion (the worship of the gods) and magic (attempting to gain the powers of the gods). In many cases, the two were tied closely together; the popular practice of divination, for example, was seen as the gods speaking through an oracle. But it’s clear, from the language if nothing else, that the Greek idea of “magic” matches very closely what we could call “magic” in modern English, separate and distinct from religious worship.

Since the Greek gods were an integral part of nature, it’s difficult to separate them completely from magic, or any other aspect of Greek life. However, there is evidence in pre-Classical Greek writings of magical practitioners that studied the forces of the world around them (what they would have called the “sympathies”) in order to control them. The gods were still usually present in these stories, but not as suppliers of magic, but suppliers of knowledge of magic.

Every men can potentialy acquire this knowledge - or even steal it - from the gods and thereby becoming “like a god” himself, in the concept of divination, which is strongly linked to magic (also see the idea of the Absolute Individual), but as this knowledge is so dangerous and can be abused, the priests of the realm explain that the “Arcane Gift” as it is called in Gothic, must only bestowed upon the “elected ones”, the priests, excluding everyone else, hiding the secret knowledge of the arcane from laymen and forbidding any magical practices they deem too dangerous or evil to be done.

The Arcane Gift

The Arcane Gift is bestowed upon the worthy, according to the priests of Innos, it must only be given to the elected ones.

The Innos Cult calls it a Spark igniting the Fire.
The Adanos Cult calls it the Blessing of Water in the game.
The Beliar Cult may call it a Kiss of the Night or a similar metaphor.

But this dictat is not followed. Corristo is taking Milten as an apprentice, a deserteur, not a cleric. He does not make him a “priest”, he simply admits him to enter their circle and teaches him the magic arts. Same with the player. While claiming the mages are equaling priests, the game doesn’t suggest the player or Milten to be initiated into any kind of priesthood, they do nothing to support such an idea; they just become mages.

Forbidden Practices

The priests may forbid entire areas of arcane studies and practices, by which the clergy of Myrtana tries to restrict magic in the realm for reasons of safety and control, but neither Corristo nor Saturas care about it, as according to Mikes earliest notes and all the old versions of the story, they are both secret disciples of the Demon Evocator and study the Dark Arts themselves.

Additionally, in our lore, by telling stories about the fall of the old civilisation, ruined by demonic interference in consequence of an abuse of the Arcane Gift by Dark Mages, and by constructing links to the orcs, the priests and the cult of the realm evoke fear of the demonic sphere and dark magic (perhaps for valid reasons). But this, again, is not the position of the mages in Gothic.

Magic over Everything

The mages in the colony are greeting each other not by saying “For Innos” or “Innos zum Gruße”, what they are saying is: “Magie zu Ehren”, which translates to “In honour of magic”. The arcane magic is their primary interest.

As they are living in an early medieval inspired world infused by the idea of gods, the gods are always playing a role in their understanding of the happenings in the world, and the very term of the “arcane gift”, the idea of magic as thought to be given by the gods, shows this relationship and also shows how gothic went for a more realistic presentation instead of the clear distinction between “arcane” and “divine” magic in that the mages think and the priests preach that there is a secret knowledge of the arcane, which is thought to be divine in nature and originate from the gods. But it can both be given as well as it can be “taken”, with or without the approval of the gods (in the sense of the priests interpretation and communication of the divine will).

In this universe there is always the possibility - and as story authors we should never give a definitive answer on this - that the magic is not really coming from the gods, but is just this hidden force in the world that some have access to due to alchemical processes, due to work with their body and mind. We do not know if magic comes from the gods, but we know that most people in Myrtana believe so.

Only the official successors started to establish the gods and magic as being given by them as blunt facts, thereby destroying any possibility of different interpretation. It was a blunt and superficial solution for their blunt and superficial stories.

Magic is described as an Art. In the sense of the old greek “techne”, like aesthetics, ethics or logic. In an early medieval inspired world, there is no differentiation or understanding of a difference between magic and science. Mages represent science. Some things that they do would also be seen as science in a modern understanding, while other things they do would be seen by a modern understanding as either wizardry or illusion or whatever. What today is hypnosis, back then is just magic. What today is physics, back then was just magic. The mages are involved in all of these different aspects of magic and they are involved in this more than in any kind of religious practice.

The Gothic Mages of the Early Vision

In the Novel the only occurence of a fire mage, there still called a fire alchemist, is Lotho, a mage that is clearly serving the barons. In this short description about Lotho the alliance between “the fire and the storm”, as Corristo would describe his invovlement with the barons in his allegory, was shown more clearly than in the entirety of the game.

Consider how dark the mages were shown on the early sketches by Mike and Ralf alike, clearly more “occult”, less clerical in character.
And what is the fire mage in the Novel doing? He is torturing a member of the Organisation for the barons in front of the people, clearly serving as an instrument of the Storm, dedicating his magic power to the regime.

Is this sort of an arcane, occult, alchemist gothic mage, under the patronage and in the service of brutal criminals, how you imagine a priest of Innos, that is meant to bring light and warmth to the people and the blessing of the sun?

Initially, the mages were meant to be presented as idiosyncratic individuals with their own individual interests and attire and not as humble clerics in uniform robes.

What is a Magic Circle?

The mages of a magic circle are literally mages around a magic circle drawn unto the floor to create a sacral/magical/ritual space. The mages after the fall of the barrier were studying together in the old camp for some time, around ONE magic circle they had drawn in the old chapel that they’ve taken over. It is in this sense, that Nyul and the Sequel story writers may be totally right: They were one circle before, since this should be seen completely independent from their religous background. In this original circle of the colony, water, fire and also some dark magic was studied before they split over disputes, but the leaders of both circles are still disciples of the demon summoner; their disputes were not religious but political in character.

The mages were working together for a while as a sort of united circle and then founded the two circles. Not in the sense of inventing the idea of a fire or water circle, of which there might be many in the realm, but in the sense of just forming local ones in the colony. This history also explains that they still meet and have some common traditions, as we know from the documents.

Priesthood is something that spans across the entire realm. The “house of Innos”, the “house of Adanos” and however we may call the Beliaris is their community as a whole, like the church.

In comparison, it is a much better understanding of the magical circles to see them as a small, local community of mages who learn, study and practice magic together. And in this sense, you would say that there may be douzens of circles in the realm.

And in opposition to what the official successors explained, originally the mages in the colony shouldn’t belong to the same magic circle before the ritual; they are told to be among the most powerful mages. They came from different corners of the realm and were commanded by the King to perform this ritual together. After or in the context of the creation of the barrier they were forming a new magical circle.

I think that this understanding brings us much further and enriches the lore much more.

Circles and the Elements

A magic circle does not have to be linked to a specific element either. It is so with the colony mages, but there could as well be a magical circle that calls itself “Circle of Laran” or something like that, where the mages study different forms of magic. Or there is a Circle around a specific Master X and thus called “the Circle of X”.

There might by as well another circle of fire in Khorinis, or another local circle of focused on a different element. A circle of air. Or a circle of earth. Most circles may have their own archmage or a similar leader; but there may even be circles without one; where a group of not yet fully mastered mages practice together in lack of a master mage. And there may be “laymen circles” too, which depending on what they are doing and practicing, may be highly illegal.

The idea of the circles when interpreted in this way, is much more fitting to the gothic setting. Just compare this to all kinds of modern magical circles.

“Circle” may be a rare case where the term used in the english version serves the desired connotation better than the original german “Kreis”. Kreis, while actually being identical in meaning, gives it just a bit less of a mysterious, esoteric feeling. It evokes the notion of an open “kreis” that anyone can visit, while actually a very “closed” circle (“geschlossener Kreis”) is meant. The circles are exclusive, so exclusive that in many or even most cases it should be an absolute secret who belongs to a circle, if not even its very existence is concealed. The mages in the colony of course have nothing to conceal, they are surrounded and part of an anarchist prison ruled by criminals. In fact, in the prison the mages can practice their magic with more freedom than perhaps anywhere else in the world.

Gladly, in German “Zirkel” can be used just as well as “Kreis” and in this context we should use it more.

Alchemical Magic

The magic in Gothic is strongly linked with the four elements. The four elements (fire, water, air, earth) are mentioned in the book Astronomy [G] and one of the books of the circles is called Elementare Arcanei.

The magic spells in Gothic are also clearly referring to at least three of the elements. There are fire spells, water spells and air spells too; the latter are just not really assigned to any dedicated air focused mages circle. In the Alpha, spells like petrification existed, which would commonly be seen as earth spells.

The idea of four elemental mages may seem stereotyptical, but this is not really the case; on the contrary. The magic of the circles is “alchemical magic”, they are described as alchemists. Alchemy deals with these (as well as other) elements and this lore would have given all kinds of opportunities to introduce additional “elements” in the successor and so additional circles of mages too. The other elements would then just not have been focused on in the first game (other than later in the original vision perhaps the introduction to the orcish “earthen” magic and the blood/necromantic magic of Xardas).

The mages in the colony are simply focused on water and fire and perhaps this has a reason too in the context of the creation of the barrier, that these mages were selected for the task: After all the barrier forms a dome that billows around like water in the sky (even more so in the alpha textures), with flashes of lightning going through it. A fusion of the elements.

In alchemy, the downward facing triangle is the symbol of Water and of Earth. In the old story the water mages have become rebels and are joining forces with the orcs (earth), while the revolutionaries in Phoenix use the red/bloody downward facing triangle as their symbol to overcome the established rule. In the empire fire has the predominant role (and in alchemy fire is represented by the opposite of what we have chosen for the revolution, an upward facing triangle).

In the architecture of sacral and official buildings the upward facing triangle is therefore used by me as a shape for windows etc. as well as other alchemical forms in different contexts.

There also is the notion of a “generalist” mage (Gothic itself is hinting at this by enabling the player to go such a path), who would learn from the different schools and master spells related to all these different elements. And “Elemental Magic” is just one kind of school. Illusion, Bloodmagic, Necromancy, there are many other arts to study.

The lore of the gods tells us that magic was once bestowed to humanity as a whole. It was not limited to the priests; only due to the abuse, greed, discontentment, it was taken away from the majority and access restricted (or the “knowledge hidden”) to only the priests. But magic accessible to all, the idea of all men having part in this creative force of the universe, like god, is an old idea of what in the old cultures would be linked to the “Golden Age”, way before the existence of conflicting cults, long before the cultic wars, long before even the existence of priests, because men did not require mediators between them and the gods.

The modern categories roughly corresponding to the classical elements are the states of matter produced under different temperatures and pressures. Solid, liquid, gas, and plasma share many attributes with the corresponding classical elements of earth, water, air, and fire.

The “air” mages from Khorinis may mostly focus on this “gas” aspect. And you may imagine: Fire, Air, the Ore Factory, the plague, the disturbance of the magical sphere - everything is related.

Summary

So how can the quote from Corristo and the lore from the gods be brought into harmony with the earlier ideas of the mages as practitioners of arcane magic in local circles? We say: It can’t and shouldn’t. It has to be fixed.

This shouldn’t be misunderstood: The idea of priests of the gods in the universe is great, as are many characteristics developed in this regard. But by completely identifiying mages and priests, it diminished the potential as well as the stylistic presentation of both and immensely restricted the possibilities of developing these aspects any further; to present other magic circles in the realm, to show and develop actual priests deserving the name and so forth. By differentiating the ideas more and preserving the old ideas a whole horizon of narrative potential is opening up to us.

In this context, the quote by Corristo about them being priests and judges and teachers, in a sort of “holy office”… If they had told me, that the royal judge as we see him in the Intro and the Comic, who is presented in a golden robe, is a priest of Innos, a teacher and a judge, I would not have had a hard time to believe it. But these mages? No.

So: Not every mage is a priest. Not every priest is a mage. And not every priest of Innos, who has been bestowed the “arcane gift”, has necessarily to join something like the circle of fire. He may as well join the circle of air, for instance. Or none. And the kind of magic, that the mages in the colony are focused on, the circle of fire in particular, which are “battle mages”, burning and torturing their enemies, this is something that is certainly not what the common priest of fire is doing, is allowed or supposed to do; except perhaps for specific clerical battlemages who support the royal army in war.

The circles are esoteric, while the priesthood is exoteric. In some cases they are strongly related to the gods, in other cases less so, and they have their own rules and traditions and rituals based on general old magic tradition.

The magic circles have to be seen (often) in association with, but not as being identical with the cults of the gods. And mages may often be priests, but not always are.

By understanding the Arcane like this and by not simply explaining priests and mages to be identical, we not only can explain all the discrepancies that occur otherwise by the way the mages are presented, we not only create a more complex and believable society, but we also thereby open up many possibilities for future story telling in the universe that would otherwise be impossible or very restricted.

For example, it is unbelievable that there are no priests of Beliar in a society with a cult of the three gods, where Beliar is the god of the dead. And it is at the same time impossible to include them in a world that forbids magic assigned to Beliar, but only if mages and priests are seen as identical. If they are not, in a world where there is a differentation, there is no problem at all and we can display priests of Beliar who stand besides the priests of other gods; they are just simply not allowed to practice the dark arts.