Goron's classification of magical styles

Goron's classification was invented to simplify the reasoning about different types of magic. While most of the styles can be described by a single magic system, it is relatively cumbersome to think of priests as using the trans-located weave inflation ...

Arcanic magic

Arcanic magic or Arcane magic (as it is more colloquially known) is always underpinned by lore, knowledge, and rigorous reasoning. Much like study in natural philosophy and philosophy of reason. In most cases, anyway.

Arcanic magics have variety of forms and sources, but in all cases, the precision and underlying knowledge greatly influence the potency of the effects, as opposed to say source magic or divine magic.

The exact workings of arcanic magic varies from sub-type to sub-type. However, the general idea is the same. While most other styles focus on increasing one's capacity for spell-casting (i.e. weave integrity capacity), here we focus on the efficiency of our enchantments. This requires precise and careful understanding of the used enchantments. This is how senior mages flex on each other - trying to create the most efficient version of standard enchantments and magics.

Divine magic

The source of this magic comes from entity – usually designated as deity. Although this type can be fully explained by conventional means of arcanic magic, it is useful framework of thought for those practicing divine magic.

Unlike arcanic magic, where precision and intellect scale one’s abilities, divine magic is empowered by aligning yourself with a given deity. Acting against the will of a deity may result in diminishing of your powers regardless of your arcanic prowess. This type is common among clerics, priests, and warlocks.

Source magic

This kind of magic comes from biological (or other) disposition of some kind. This is common type wielded by sorcerers as well as magic that comes from certain materials.

This type of magic is usually narrow in scope. Also, this may seemingly violate laws such as equivalent exchange or weave integrity, but it is not the case (if you take source into account).

This style is fairly unique in its focus. While most magics focus on efficiency to fully utilize them, they tend to be standardized for that purpose. Source magics do not tend to consider efficiency and thus are capable of achieving non-standard results and can be easily adapted to various situation, although this usually wastes a lot of wave capacity.

Primal magic

Considered a force of nature. This type of magic usually comes from the environment. Many aspects of the primal magic are difficult to control and predict but used carefully can be capable of great results.

Also some magics such as sympathetic magic and will magic fall under this category.

The core idea is that the source comes from a something that is difficult to describe rigorously, and thus we deploy a simplified model - e.g. being relaxed, flexible, or angry can influence how well your enchantments work.

Distinctly from arcanic magic, rigorous reasoning does not work very well here. While it is possible to study and understand certain aspects of primal magic, fundamentally, it is way more complex for an individual to control in real-time. Thus, mages practicing this style act more on instinct rather than on pure reasoning.

Consequently, this style lends itself to those with good intuition or those who dedicate themselves to natural studies. For example, sorcerers, druids, and witches are often found practicing this type of magic.

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See also:

• The unified theory of magic
• Theories of magic (and their weakpoints)