Geos:Game Universe:Magic:Imperial Laws

What Magic Can't Do

Imperial wizards generally accept that their understanding of magic is limited. Certainly, the Imperial tradition has difficulty creating with some kinds of effects; this is why the tractii magia were created. Note, then, that these rules apply to Imperial magic only. Many of these rules also have subtle exceptions – wizards are very good at working around the inherent restrictions of Imperial magic theory.

• Magic cannot permanently enchant an already-magical object. A good enchanter can get around this rule, however, by altering the previous enchantment. Magical metals and gemstones can be enchanted, but it is more difficult. A conjured object can't be enchanted; the background magic keeping the object in existence is too strong and erratic.

• Magical objects cannot be conjured from thin air without the use of static thauma. This includes gems and magical metals like gold, silver, mithril and adamantite.

• Magic cannot change the soul. When the Word made these, He built them to last. It can, however, affect the persona built upon the soul. It can also move the soul around temporarily, or prevent it from leaving a dead body for a while. Magic can also probe a soul's form, showing what the possessor is potentially capable of.

• Magic can't create a spirit or soul. Creating a truly intelligent being is impossible without a soul. It is known, however, that some ancient magical items have their own personalities, that elves and druids can awaken the soul sleeping in a tree, and that souls can be taken from the ether and sealed into physical objects with an enchantment.

• In theory, magic could affect the archangels. In practice, though, it's not possible – the mightiest magician simply couldn't channel enough thauma.

• Magic cannot the affect the Celestial Spheres. Since Heaven is outside the lunar sphere, and Hell beneath the very foundations of the world, magic can't get you to either place directly. If the soul of a dead person has passed on, it cannot be retrieved (though they usually hang around in the ether for up to three days.) Magic can, however, transmit and receive messages through the Celestial Spheres, and move one to the ethereal realm (the land of dreams and the recently dead) from which passage to the other worlds may be possible. Magic can also banish demons from the material world by altering reality such that the demon is forced to leave.

• One cannot compel a being to come through the Celestial Sphere, unless the being is capable of coming on its own and its name is known. (Otherworldly beings like demons and angels cannot actually exist in the material world, and so always bring a pocket of their world with them.)

• Magic cannot permanently alter a thing's nature without the use of static thauma. One therefore couldn't create a permanent zone of reverse gravity, because it is the nature of gravity to pull down. One could, however, use magic to slay a living being: though many bodies are alive, it is natural for them to not be so. Similarly, a person could not be turned into a frog permanently without using static thauma, since animals do not have souls.

• It is possible to divert ambient or living thauma to a physical object to empower it with static thuama. Doing so permanently, however, changes the object's fundamental nature, and requires as much static thauma as is to be stored.

• Magic cannot predict the future, though it can give a good idea what the future is likely to be like. The uncertainty principle of magic dictates that the more specific a divination of the future is, the more unlikely and unpredictable the future taken as a whole will be. Striving for perfect detail in a divination practically guarantees the future will be utterly bizarre.

• One cannot travel to the past with magic, or send a message back in time.

• A magician can't deliberately create information out of nothing: there must be a source. Magic, however, can. One could, for example, conjure a book that's never been written, but there would be no way to control the contents. Magic can copy a book, or conjure one from someone's dream. Similarly, a magician couldn't teleport to a place if he didn't know where it was (or if he was lost.) The laws of contagion and sympathy are exceptions – one could cast a spell to find someone if they had a piece of clothing the subject had worn recently, or find hidden gold if one had a gold nugget.

• Anything with a magical nature resists spells cast upon it. This includes living beings, magical metals, and enchanted objects. Note that because diseases are caused by demonic infestation of the body, they resist being dispelled by magic, while wounds do not.