Divine Magic

It may share many overlapping qualities with Nature Magic, but when it comes to magic with the best all around offensive-defensive split, there are no adequate substitutes to Divine Magic, and the fact that the various ecclesiarchies provide training in it only validates that mindset. Even still, much remains to be said about the secrets of divine magic, both those precious few we do know of, and the many we don't.
— Shirahime, Headmistress of the Archon Institute

Divine Magic is a very old form of magic with a storied history that draws its power from the higher planes, bestowing potent healing effects and offensive spells to its practitioners. It's consistently one of the most preferred forms of magic, both within the cluster and on Aldrin, with a variety of spellcasting options for its budding practitioners.

History of Divine Magic

Before the Gates

Divine Magic's ancient history is... confusing, as even though many would assume it to have been used by the Hysilens, the fox-folk never so much as touched anything divine magic related, with it never even being mentioned in any Hysilens records to speak of. This stands in stark contrast to Nature Magic, which the fox-folk seem to mention in archives frequently and use actively, which may hint that as a society, they had a greater preference for nature and magic that better manipulated it, as opposed to the upper planes and any potential concepts of the divine.

Early History

In contrast to the Hysilens, in the early days of the cluster, the use of divine magic was greatly pushed following its discovery, and prior to the discovery of Radiant Shards, those with divine bloodlines held very exclusive ecclesiarchal positions within religious sects - a practice that still remains true to this day. The discovery of Radiant Shards and the Shard Ritual really did change everything, though... while also changing very little structurally. The advent of the ritual allowed huge swathes of new Clerics to learn the art of divine magic, and with the relative abundance of Radiant Shards across the cluster, many ecclesiarchies provided the ritual to doctrinal followers with little if no cost. Structurally, the bloodline Divine casters retained higher roles, but the shards allowed a huge number of adherents to be inducted into spellcasting ranks for their gods.

Modern History

Nowadays, divine magic is quite well understood, and much of the research being done on it concerns matters such as the relative abundance of radiant shards. In many ways, it's the ecclesiarchies doing the bulk of research into potential links between Memoria Shards and other types of shards, Radiant ones in particular.

Aldrin History

The same story can broadly be said to be the case on Aldrin, with the Shard Ritual being used even more frequently there as ecclesiarchies and religion play a far larger role in the societies of the world than in the cluster at large.

Radiant Shards

Radiant Shards are found fairly evenly across the cluster, being one of the few shard types to appear closer to civilised regions, making it reasonably common amongst the powers of the cluster, and as such those with access to Divine Magic through the medium of the Shard Ritual are much more common cluster-wide than those with an inborn gift for the divine. On Aldrin, the Shards also appear most of the world over, but are most intensely focused around the human regions of Nezrin and the eastern continent of Greater Bhailu, where it forms a backbone of divine worship and many of the same trends can be observed, with less present who have a natural gift for the divine as opposed to having underwent the Shard Ritual. In fact, this is a relatively common occurrence on Aldrin specifically, as many religions inducting new faithful servants - such as Clerics - provide the Shard Ritual as part of their induction, making it an inexpensive way for those of religious bent to gain magical aptitudes.

Crysium Shards

Material | Apr 9, 2025

Crysium Shards are magically-infused crystals known to exist in space on asteroids and meteors, as well as on a precious rare few planets, such as Aldrin. Many tales are spun with regards to the origin of the shards.

Uses of Divine Magic

Winged Cleric by Lily Curtis

Healing Magic

Shared with Nature Magic, healing magic is a doctrinal aspect of Divine Magic that is trained early on by all aspirants to the art. The techniques of both Nature and Divine Healing Magics are very similar, and while both can achieve broadly similar effects, there does exist a distinction and difference between their functionalities. Nature Magic is most famous for being a form of accelerated natural healing; the magic employs strengthening natural remedies and magical energies to reinforce the natural healing capabilities of the host. This is generally weaker than Divine Healing Magic, but the techniques are very broadly applicable to beings, even those not of the Druid's own race. By contrast, Divine Magic Healing is most famous for leveraging the body's Aether as a vessel of regeneration. It's capable of fast-paced, combat-practical healing remedies and can heal more grievous wounds than nature magic can, but the Aether-channels of all races vary ever so slightly, which means that it's most practical to use Divine Healing on a target that is of a race near to the Cleric, or at least of a race they have expertise on the aether channels of.

Offensive Divine Magic

While Divine Magic is most famous for its healing methods, offensive divine magic is a very real and potent facet of its toolkit as well, drawing forth radiant energy from the planes themselves to smite foes with divine light or holy flames. These offensive spells are exceptionally potent - especially against unholy beings - and form the bulk of a Paladin's toolkit.

Divination

Divine Magic's divination capabilities are lauded in myth, facetious tales and half-truths, but no matter what any charlatan might say, only divine magic actually possesses the means to divine insights. Divination is easily the most fickle aspect of divine magic, with it being very difficult to get even partial truths from the techniques involved, but it also serves as one of the most useful tools for determining a caster's mental state, using simple true or false questions with a simple, quantitative answer that the caster already knows ahead of time.

Boons and Banes

Drawing forth the radiant energy of the upper planes, it's possible to enhance and degrade the abilities of others. When it comes to enhancing abilities, Nature Magic also has its own techniques to achieve broadly similar results, but the actual specifics end up varying as a result of the differences between the two types of magic. Divine Enhancements and Degradations draw from the higher planes to bestow great capabilities for a short period of time; the abilities available tend to be more varied than with Nature Magic, but don't last nearly as long once applied to a target, and this applies to both the divine benefits and drawbacks.

Cleric by India-Lee Crews