Prologue: On The Nature Of Magic
ON THE NATURE OF MAGIC, AND THE THREE LAWS BY WHICH ALL WORKINGS ARE BOUND
From the Saggestia, the Book of First Wisdom,
Author unknown. Surviving Fourth-Age translation from an earlier Classical recension.
Herein are set forth the Three Laws by which all workings of Magic are bound, and from which neither sorcerer nor mage may depart. These Laws command not Magic, but declare its nature; no hand established them, and no hand may amend them. Neither ignorance nor mastery places any worker beyond their reach.
Thus is the First Law: Magic is Life.
Where there is Life, there is Magic, whether perceived or unperceived, and apart from Life no Magic may be wrought. Yet the capacity for its working differs among living things: one may perceive what another cannot, bear what another cannot withstand, or direct what another can scarcely stir. Let none therefore mistake capacity for the measure of Life itself, nor strength for mastery. The wise worker knows the nature of that upon which the Art is laid and seeks first the course toward which Life already inclines, for that which is guided requires less than that which is compelled. Where little alteration suffices, let little be wrought.
Thus is the Second Law: Magic requires equal cost.
Every working has its cost, and the cost must answer to that which has been wrought. Believe not the price absent because it is unseen, forgiven because its payment is delayed, or escaped because another bears what the worker incurred. A debt may fall upon the worker, upon that which was worked, or upon some greater pattern into which the working has been joined; it may be divided among many or endure beyond the life of the one who made it. Neither mercy nor necessity alters its measure, for Magic judges neither virtue nor wickedness. What is taken must be answered, and what is altered must be reckoned.
Thus is the Third Law: Magic has memory.
That which Magic touches may bear remembrance of the touch. Flesh and blood may remember; so too may earth and water, living things and places. Where a working is repeated, its remembrance deepens, and where a pattern is carried through generations, it may endure when its beginning has been forgotten. Thus blood may preserve what lineage has lost, and a place may bear witness when every tongue that knew the deed has fallen silent. Nor must every such working be knowingly made, for Life touches Life without spell or instrument, and what is repeatedly joined, divided, or altered may bear the pattern thereafter.
Yet remembrance is not command. That Magic remembers a path does not compel the living to walk it again. What is inherited need not be obeyed, and what is remembered need not be repeated.
***
A warning, then, unto all who would work the Art: reckon not Death among the empty places, for Death is of Life, and Life of Death; these are the Twin Faces of Holos, the Eternal Whole, through whom all that lives passes in its season from one unto the other. While Life remains, Magic may strengthen, preserve, and restore it; but that which has passed wholly into Death shall not be returned unto Life unless Life is rendered unto Magic in its stead. Neither grief nor love, necessity nor righteous purpose, alters this reckoning.
Let none mistake ignorance for exemption, nor presume that all things unseen belong therefore to Death, for there are places into which the wisdom of the Art does not reach. No working passes from the world merely because the hand that wrought it has withdrawn, nor is any price forgiven because its reckoning is unseen. Thus let the wise take heed, and let the foolish learn too late: no working may trespass against the Laws without reckoning.
For Magic remembers, and all debts endure.
