A History of Magic: The History of Illusion (D&D)

Contents

Previously: Enchantment Subschools and Selected Spells

The earliest illusion magic appears to have been failed attempts at conjuration. As we all know matter is an extremely dense repository of energy. While modern researchers can have detailed formulae by which to calculate exactly what these ratios are it took substantial trial and error for early conjurers to realize how much energy exists in even the smallest sliver of matter. Some of these early experiments proved capable of producing phantasmal results. Ghost images of the desired objects and effects. The majority of these effects were disregarded as outright failures while others would provide the ultimate groundwork for the basic conjurations we know today. A few, however, lived on as minor tricks, demonstrations, and even the occasional practical joke.

                As these early would-be conjurations were passed around they came to the awareness of the underground enchanters. Segments of that community immediately recognized both the overlap with their own low-power, high finesse methods and how they could be bolstered using mental manipulations and found a variety of motivations for shifting their research in that direction. One of the most immediate benefits of this research was to “whitewash” and conceal their otherwise objectionable practices. The practices of illusion became a sub-school of enchantment, and in the initial surge of interest in newly discovered practices of creation many enchanters practicing this sub-school took the opportunity to re-integrate with the larger magical community. The initial part of this cover would be brief, however, as the window between the rise of creation magic and the subsequent flourishing of rogue summoners closed, these individuals would seek to again differentiate themselves as the school of illusion magic. Given the clear and qualitative differences between illusionists and these summoners, and given no reason to suspect their connection to the still reviled enchanters, illusionists quickly came to be considered trivial in comparison to the abuses of these rogue groups of magicians.

Practitioners adapted to this in a variety of ways, including many choosing to adopt personas of tricksters and blatant charlatans in an effort to further diffuse suspicion. Even apprentices received the majority of their training under this pretense, only being initiated into the master’s true specialty after passing tests of loyalty and suffering dire geasa. This was referred to among its practitioners as the Trompe L'oeil or, less frequently, the Grand Deception. The result, however, was an ever growing pool of practitioners of a tradition considered “partially trained” by their masters. Many enchanters were perfectly happy with these failures, relying on them to provide greater cover through the legitimacy of their adherence to the façade. However, while their masters may have been unwilling to trust them with their more personally dangerous secrets, this did not mean they were not capable magicians. Thus, lacking the shift in focus to traditional enchantment, they would still use the mix of principles between elemental conjuration and necromantic enchantment to push the limitations of their art. While the creation of the arcane tradition itself as a deliberate act is intriguing, what is perhaps more interesting is the result.

It would take several generations for a sufficient body of true illusion specialists to emerge and focus on the problems of their art, and these mages came into their own while the practices of both their parent traditions remained suspicious acts, and one was largely unknown to the majority of these students. However, as all wizards do, they wished to push the boundaries of their art; in this case the uses of the fictitious and quasi-real objects they create. This would result in a number of intriguing innovations that both conjurers and enchanters have borrowed back. However, remains the exploitation of shadow material. While a technical examination of the intersection of elemental and prime energy formulae is beyond the scope of this work, they discovered a method which creates a unique resonance with the coterminous Shadowfell Plane. While there remains significant debate on the exact mechanism by which this works, and whether it can be extrapolated to other planes, it does provide mages access to wisps of this this convenient, highly malleable quasi-energy. With this at their disposal illusionists became able to generate a level of reality without sacrificing the flexibility that their finesse over power style gave them. Since this discovery the various other schools have investigated the use of this Shadow, but of them only post-fall necromancers seem to have successfully integrated it fully into their studies making some clear statements about the nature of the material.

Next: Illusion Subschools and Selected Spells

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As my little tour of the magic schools draws to a close, there's really not much left to say. Illusion doesn't change much, though there is some beauty in making the school of illusion itself a not-wholly-real construct that gains enough substance to persist. This also follows some of my personal debates as I was rebuilding the schools; is illusion strong enough on its own? Is it simply an subschool of enchantment or conjuration? Obviously the answer I arrived at is "sort of." At the outset I talked about schools of magic like schools of science, and this conception of illusion is one of the truest expressions of that; the bridge between two other schools of thought and practice that becomes its own thing.