Magic

Magic in the world of the Shattered Isle is always derived from divine beings of some sort, whether gods or spirits of the fabric of the world itself. The difference between Arcane and Divine magic is that Divine magic comes with religious affiliations, and is built upon the support of the being/s which grants magical power. Arcane magic on the other hand is purely clinical, a deal between a spellcaster and some spiritual entity that has no more religious connotations than any business contract.

Your average mage deals mainly with the Four Elemental Princes, Local land spirits, Fey and sometimes even demonic forces. But above all these beings, arcane spellcasters deal with truly abstract spirits simply called the Spirits of Magic.

Barely even aware that they are alive, the Spirits of Magic are best described as the physical laws of reality given consciousness. They are completely unconcerned with anything other than their particular duty (a Gravity spirit for example only cares about holding things down so they dont float away). Naturally this single-mindedness and anti-social nature makes them hard to notice. Even when one casts a spell of detect magic they dont appear because they are so intrinsic to reality that they dont even register as the highly magical beings that they are, much like how one is not usually aware of their breathing or heart beating, so constant are they.

Mortalkind only learned how to communicate with the otherwise unnoticeable spirits of magic thanks to the meddling of the Genies. The meticulous and cunning Jinn were looking for a way to ingratiate themselves to primitive mankind in the hopes of currying favours and repayments later, and so they taught mortalkind how to notice and bind the Spirits of Magic to their will.

This unrestrained use of magic was incredibly dangerous and actually caused the Great Shattering to occur, though indirectly. The gods above were so self-obssessed at that time that they ignored mortalkind completely, and were not able to warn mortalkind about the dangers of speaking with spirits. The legend goes that mortals spoke to the spirits of magic as a solution to all their problems, they had no talents apart from this except those few primitive stone age skills they had already learnt. Their use of magic became so incredibly great, their voices so loud, that Rammak the Primeval serpent of Chaos and god of the immortal sea, heard them. Rammak now knew where the world was and immediately headed straight for it. Only thanks to the return of AO and the diligence of the Sun God Satoren was the Great Isle saved, though at a high cost.

Because of mortalkinds blind use of magic, and the luring of Rammak, the Isle was shattered. After this the gods took direct interest in the lives of mortals. forgiving gods built religions to prevent this from happening again, and sanctioned divine spellcasters. Some gods even rebuilt mortals into new races such as the elves or dwarves in the hopes of improving them. Evil gods began to foster plans to annihilate mortalkind so as the protect the universe. It was a very very long time before magic became accepted again. Countermeasures such as the institution of powerful magical wards that could not be broken by mortal mages, and the creation of an entire race of immortal machines dedicated to the guarding of these sacred laws were emplaced.

For thousands of years, Mages of any variety were feared and persecuted for using magic without the permission of the gods. But this very fear of persecution, along with the cultural memory of the traumatic shattering, helped mages to be subtle and silent. New methods of magic were formed, Gods had come to accept that mortals now had magical power, and this could not be reversed. Eventually some gods began to teach mortals magic, becoming Patrons of wizardry, teaching mortals to use magic without threatening the balance of the world. After all, if you cant stop them from doing it, at least make sure they do it safely.