User:Trevyr/Sidhe Magic

From BrWiki

> The BoM gives us a smidge of insight into the differences between human and
> Sidhelien magic. The BoM tells us [...] that Necromancy is shunned by the
> Sidhelien.

Well, I play by a theory that was brought up on the OTHER Birthright list a while ago, where the elves are both biologically and spiritually different from humans. Rather than having unitary souls, like humans, the Elves have souls that are made up of a combination of the spiritual essences of the 4 elements. Thus, when an elf dies, his soul splits up into the 4 separate spiritual elements, and retreats to the elemental planes, from where it is recycled and reunified when a new elf is born. This is a reincarnation of a sort (i.e. the fundamental paricles/quanta/stuff (whatever) of the soul is reborn, but not in its original form, and so there is no memory of former "reincarnations" which is a common part of reincarnation theories. This relates to magic in this way: elves view the summoning of elementals as akin to Necromancy, and most will shun it.

> 2- Elves are masters of the forest AND magic, yet they don't officially
> have any ability to use nature spells. I've always allowed Cerilian elven
> wizards to use spells from the priest spheres of Plant and Animal. This
> seems to give them access to about as many spells as they lose by not
> having Necromancy (based on the spells listed in Player's Option: Spells
> and Magic).

Thats not too bad an idea. I may have to look up those spells and consider it. I have seriously considered allowing all elves access to simple nature-related cantrips, such as those associated with wood and rope published in a Dragon mag in the last year or so. I agree that the magic system of elves does seem somewhat lacking in nature-dealing spells. I might be happier with a set of new spells (if you feel like creating that many) rather than warmed-over priest spells.

Mark VanderMeulen
October 1999