Editing Diaphane (section)

==Magic==

Magic in the Twin Cities is learned informally (for petty magics), or most often as an apprentice in a guild. There are schools for advanced study of magic, which confer degrees of magister, or doctor of the eikonic arts. 

-- by Kakita Kojiro

====Pellucid Magic====

Transparent magicians use their magic, not to respond to assaults, but to allow danger to pass them by harmlessly. Extreme transparency is invisible to the unenlightened. Transparent magic allows one to pass through obstacles and walk without being seen. (Though some claim this concept is dangerously close to the "hidden power" of the Opaque.) Their are powerful, defensive, introverted and fragile.

-- by Glyptodont

Pellucid Magic is the magic of transparency, of invisible things.  Transparent magic makes things clearer, reveals hidden things, allows seeing of things that otherwise could not be seen, and allows light into darkness. 

-- by Kakita Kojiro

mantra: “perception goes through”

spirit-world:  [[Spirit_world|the Invisible World]]

tools: lenses

talent: Pellucid Magic (10 pts/level)

spells:
- ''see clearly'' (IQ/Average)
- ''fade'' (IQ/Average)
- ''see unseen'' (IQ/Hard, req. Pellucid Magic 1+)
- ''see through objects'' (IQ/Hard, req. Pellucid Magic 1+)
- ''see small things'' (IQ/Hard, req. Pellucid Magic 1+)
- ''see distant things'' (IQ/Hard, req. Pellucid Magic 1+)
- ''allow danger to pass through'' (IQ/Very Hard, req. Pellucid Magic 2+, at least one other pellucid spell)
- ''pass through obstacles'' (IQ/Very Hard, req. Pellucid Magic 3+, allow danger to pass through, at least two other pellucid spells)
- ''translucency'' (IQ/Hard, req. Pellucid Magic 2+, at least one other pellucid spell)
- ''invisibility'' (IQ/Very Hard, req. Pellucid Magic 4+, translucency, at least three other pellucid spells)
- ''enter Invisible World'' (IQ/Very Hard, req. Pellucid Magic 5+, invisibility, at least five other pellucid spells)
note: using pellucid magic to enter the [[Spirit_world|spirit-world]] generally makes you permanently invisible and intangible. presumably there is another pellucid spell that would allow you to leave the spririt-world and return to the material world again.

-- by Kakita Kojiro

====Magicians of Diaphane====

Only magicians skilled in pellucid magic are licensed in Diaphane – barbarous magics such as chromatic or shadow magic are not prohibited per se, but working them for-hire is against the law. Most licensed magicians hold degrees from one of the schools of the eikonic arts (though rarely at the level of magister or doctor of the eikonic arts). Professions such as lens-wrights or glass-wrights need not be licensed (they create for sale, but are not for-hire).

'''Cryptomancers''', licensed magicians of Diaphane
Cryptomancers see invisible things, and are hired to deal with the Invisible World – particularly, for negotiations with the invisible Neighbors. They are diplomats, negotiators, and go-betweens, and occasionally exorcists if all else fails. Cryptomancers also deal with other invisible spirits than just the Neighbors, as well as other odd invisible phenomena that occasionaly occur in Diaphane. They mediate between the city’s human and invisible citizens, and arrange trades with the Neighbors (as for glass cats, or other wonders of the invisible world). Most cryptomancers are quite odd and strange, suffering from invisible afflictions acquired by annoying the Neighbors or being cursed by other invisible spirits.

Advantages: Pellucid Magic 2 (20 pts)
Disadvantages: Disciplines (ritual purification, -5 pts)
Backgrounds: Licensed (social status 1, 5 pts), Comfortable (wealth, 10 pts)
Skills: Forbidden Lore (Invisibles), Thaumatology (pellucid magic), Carousing, Diplomacy, Savoir-Faire
Spells: See Unseen


'''Optomancers''', licensed magicians of Diaphane
Optomancers see hidden things, and are hired to discern unknown flaws and ailments. They are able to see past the surface of things, to see the truth within. They are hired to look over newly engineered buildings or the works of glass-wrights, to find any hidden flaws which might compromise them (hidden flaws are common in glass, and can be devastating if not discovered). They are also hired to look into people and beasts, to determine what ails them. In this way the medicine of Diaphane excels at finding broken bones, tumors, and other internal injuries (diagnosticians such as this are also known as “iatrists”).

Advantages: Pellucid Magic 2 (20 pts)
Disadvantages: Disciplines (ritual purification, -5 pts)
Backgrounds: Licensed (social status 1, 5 pts), Average (wealth, 0 pts)
Skills: Thaumatology (pellucid magic), Diagnosis, Observation, Engineer or Physiology
Spells: See Through Objects, See Small Things


'''Telemancers''', licensed magicians of Diaphane
Telemancers see distant things, and are hired for a variety of purposes that require crystal-grazing. To a telemancer, distance is only another barrier to perception that may be overcome by pellucid magic. They can convey messages, by reading what is written for them to watch for at distant places, or writing messages for distant telemancers to read. They can learn news from distant places, by watching what occurs there. They watch the weather, as it approaches Diaphane from afar. The Worshipful Archons employ many telemancers to spy on the hegemony’s subject nations, and to keep watch on the city’s ships at sea.

Advantages: Pellucid Magic 1 (10 pts)
Disadvantages: Disciplines (ritual purification, -5 pts)
Backgrounds: Licensed (social status 1, 5 pts), Average (wealth, 0 pts)
Skills: Thaumatology (pellucid magic), Observation, Search, Intelligence Analysis or Meteorology
Spells: See Clearly, See Distant Things


'''Archiatrists''', licensed doctors of Diaphane
Archiatrists are highly-trained optomancers who specialize in not only diagnosing, but also treating internal injuries and ailments. They are more strictly licensed than mere optomancers, for in addition to looking into people to determine what ails them, they will also reach into people to fix them. They must be skilled enough in pellucid magic to ignore solidity so they may pass through barriers as light through glass. Being licensed as an archiatrist requires a degree of magistry in the eikonic arts from one of the schools of Diaphane, so they are usually referred to as “doctor.”

Advantages: Pellucid Magic 3 (30 pts)
Disadvantages: Disciplines (ritual purification, -5 pts)
Backgrounds: Licensed (social status 2, 10 pts), Comfortable (wealth, 10 pts)
Skills: Thaumatology (pellucid magic), Diagnosis, First Aid, Observation, Philosophy, Physiology
Spells: See Through Objects, See Small Things, Allow Danger To Pass Through, Pass Through Obstacles


'''Glass-Watchers''', civic magicians of Diaphane
Since the Second Shattering the City of Glass has employed magicians to watch for problems and enemies, from within or without. They spend their days peering into their scrying glasses, crystal balls and lenses, watching and reporting what they witness to the Worshipful Archons. Although they use optomancy and telemancy in their work, they need not be as formally trained as licensed magicians must – often the failed students of the eikonic schools are recruited as Glass-Watchers.

Advantages: Pellucid Magic 1 (10 pts), Contact (archons group, var.)
Disadvantages: Duty (almost all the time, -15 pts)
Backgrounds: Glass-Watcher (civic rank 1, 5 pts), Comfortable (wealth, 10 pts)
Skills: Thaumatology (pellucid magic), Observation, Intelligence Analysis
Spells: See Clearly, See Distant Things, See Through Objects


'''the Undraped''', naked madmen of Diaphane
The Undraped are thought of as enlightened madmen in Diaphane, although they are more akin to urbanized shamans. They wear no clothes, and live all year sky-clad. Their asceticism of abandoning clothing allows them to interact with the naked spirit-world around them – they are able to see the invisible Neighbors, and other invisible spirits. If citizens of Diaphane cannot afford to hire a licensed magician to deal with invisible woes, they must seek out one of the Undraped. Although generally disapproved of, the Worshipful Archons do not care to deal with the Undraped, or with the other madmen driven insane from living all their lives under scrutiny in the City of Windows (for there is little difference between the two, sometimes).

Advantages: Shaman Magic 1 (10 pts), See Invisible (access while naked, 12 pts)
Disadvantages: Delusions (severe, mitgator while clothed, -9 pts)
Skills: Occult (spirit-world), Exorcism, Forbidden Lore (Invisibles), Observation
Spells: See Clearly, Fade, Block Perception, others
Note: Undraped shamans do not really use pellucid magic at all, but apparently the way they access their magic causes no dissonance with the translucent theme of Diaphane and its spirit world.

-- by Kakita Kojiro

====Glass Golems====

Since the first smiths created the primitive glassware many generations ago, there has been the relationship between Man and Machina. This relationship is best represented by the silent watchers who defend our way of life. The Glass Golems not only provide exquisite beauty and an artistic ideal, but also provide defense against the insanity that infects some outlanders into defacing our city. They can never know which piece of art is watching them, or whether the statue of the Thousand Barbed Flowers will skin them for there transgression. We do not debase ourselves with men wandering down the street accosting citizens or thieves lining the watchman's pockets. We are a city of trust, and clarity. Is it not better to know that Justice is always watching. The statues are of a gift from the Temple, and have proven there worth in the past. Of course, some of the other cities has similar creations, however, they are far more base constructions. It is lucky we have so many criminals who are willing to pay for there crime by imprisonment with-in our Constructs. As there are no criminals in our society, many outlanders and heretics make up the majority of those imprisoned with-in them. A perfect sytstem for a perfect city.

-- by stephen_dean