![]() Over centuries, not only did most imbued objects fall to the nobility, but the nobles came to regard such objects as theirs by right. Once a magical object came into noble hands it tended not to leave again, except to pass into another noble family. Commoners who possessed them might thereby ennoble themselves (it was only much later that the use of magic was forbidden to commoners). They might buy, steal or otherwise acquire them. Magical items tended to wind up in aristocratic families. Knights were not those who rode armored, they were those who fought with “sword and sceptre” as the phrase went that is, they could fight with magic as well as with weapons. But their main activity was the preservation of spell books, which were meticulously copied and exquisitely decorated. Some of these even tried to teach the next generation. Many writers still spoke of the role of the genius in the creation of magic.Įven so, in the collegia there were attempts to gather mages of similar temperament or discipline into communities. Magic was generally regarded as opus rather than labor, an art that was fundamentally a product of an individual. These efforts were still only occasional, though, and no one yet was able to formulate general principles. Humans organized its practice and began writing about magic in treatises. Silver Age magic is much more disciplined and ordered than Golden Age magic. Nevertheless, especially in the scholae, Human scholars studied the new magics intently and profitably. Elven and dwarven magic were fundamentally different in origin, philosophy, and practice much, indeed, remained beyond the comprehension of Human mages. The Silver Age saw the arrival of dwarves and elves, with profound consequences for human society, but it also had a powerful impact on human magic. How much was borrowed and how much was simply re-invented is not at all clear. All these had their antecedents in the East, but all underwent significant changes when they appeared in the West. Collegia appear as well, as do mage-knights. Scholae come to the West in the Silver Age, coming to their first maturity under Charlemagne, who promoted them vigorously. Indeed, many historians place the creation of Europa in this Age, with its characteristic combination of feudal magic within Antique socio-political structures. The advent of the Carolingian kings brought an element of order to the Silver Age that even the terrible dragon invasions could not permanently disrupt. From Charles the Hammer to the Interregnum These centuries are also often called the Second Dark Age, so called by earlier historians who focused more on the destruction wrought by the new menace of dragons than on the very real accomplishments of the kings of the House Carolus. ![]()
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