Hermetic Magic
Requires: General Education 2, Research 2.
“Magic is not given—it is earned. And it is earned not with talent, but with time, pain, silence, and ink.”
To call it "magic" at all is a vulgarity. The Hermetic calls it The Art, or more precisely, the Language of the Living Universe, a language which most will never hear, let alone speak.
Hermetic magic is not talent.
It is not bloodline.
It is not a gift whispered by faeries or bartered from devils.
It is study. Endless, exhausting study.
Each spell is a proof, and each proof requires years of unravelling. Even the simplest incantations take months to memorise, and longer to inscribe correctly. The lines of power must be measured with callipers. The syllables must be intoned without accent. The ritual gestures must be practiced to the point of muscle pain.
To master even a single field, whether of flame, soil, air, or breath, is the work of a lifetime.
And the tomes that teach these things?
They are not shelved in libraries.
They are hidden in vaults, sealed behind blood rights, or burned to keep them secret.
Each is worth a fortune. Each is likely cursed. Many are written in languages that no longer exist, requiring the practitioner to learn extinct tongues, decaying philosophies, and symbolic systems.
Tutors, if they exist, are proud, paranoid, and few, relics of noble bloodlines, secret academies, or forbidden lodges.
Hermetic magic is not a wonder.
It is a huge undertaking.
Acceptance
Most people know rumours about true magic as its known, its an ancient rediscovered art. Its practice is a closely guarded secret generally kept by secret societies, gentlemen's clubs and some Noble families.
You gain access to Hermetic magic by taking it as a Job or Position (Middle or Upper class) during character creation and thus loose out on other options. This represents the huge amount of time required to master. Each study is the equivalent of a entire skill.
Requirements
The requirements for each spell are you need the corresponding skill at a rank equal to the position in the spell list. For example Flame study: Flickerbolt is the third spell in flame study thus requires three ranks in Flame Study skill.
Hermetic Magic is rolled on Resolve + Appropriate study skill unless noted otherwise.
Anyone can learn Hermetic magic, it requires no merit just hard work. I
Cost: In Quintessence, if you have no quintessence you can still study and learn magic but are not able to cast it.
