The advanced magic class of the Talvadi school of Magecraft and Artificery was in it's usual uproar.
"Hey did you hear that McMenice made a pact with a demon?"
"Really? Of course that asshole would go and do such a thing."
"Well what do you expect from the guy who broods in the corner thinking he's better than everyone else?"
.....
"Kinsley! You were supposed to come to my birthday party!"
"I'm sorry. My dad broke the alarm sigil on the shop door and I needed to fix it. It took me hours just to find the sigil he busted, and even then I still had to remake the thing over the whole building."
"Ugh, gosh, fine. But you're coming to my after-birthday party."
"Geez, how spoiled our you?"
"Kinsley!"
.....
"...they were so cool!"
"Dude, calm down. It was just some adventurers. Sit around main street and you'll see a party go by every half-hour."
"But they had an Angelkin with them! His hair was sparkly and his eyes glowed!"
.....
Everyone quieted once the classroom door opened. Mordeki walked in with papers in hand. His frills were fully erect telling everyone he was in a bad mood today, and that he really shouldn't be tested.
He stood behind his lectern, his eyes piercing knives into the stack of papers in front of him. An erie tense silence filled the room. A brave dwarvish boy broke the silence.
"Hey, uh... Are you alright Professor Mordeki?"
Mordeki's sharpened eyes turned to gaze at the boy causing him to shutter in silence. "No. I am not 'alright'. There was an incident in the dorms last night, so now I have to change my lesson plan today from ritual magic to a PSA about Lycanthropy." Mordeki let out an angry sigh.
The class, however, was relieved as they didn't have to do lengthy, painful rituals, and instead could spend the hour relaxing.
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Glossary of the Fundamental Guide to Magic, 6th Edition
Ritual: Some rune spells require a lengthy amount of time to cast. Usually several minutes to several days of pure concentration on a single rune. The benefit of rituals is that they often don't consume a lot of mana and suffering mana drain during the process is rare unless one is activity forcing more mana into the ritual to speed up the process. The danger of rituals, however, is that unlike runes, glyphs, and sigils, rituals have a high chance to backfire on failure or have unforseen effects that are usually very detrimental. Rituals can be casted by one individual or several which is often the case for long lasting rituals.
Magic Circle: A type of sigil layout that can act as a reusable catalyst and focus point for other spells. The most common use is for rituals and teleportation magic respectfully.
Bloodline Magic: A form of innate magic that is past down from parent to child. This is often restricted to race such as elves, dwarves, dragonkin, etc. However, witchcraft, hemomancy, and many others are types of bloodline magic can be transmitted to anyone.
Lycanthropy (Feral): You're classic fairytale werewolf. A magical affliction that causes one to shift into a wolf-like, blood thirsty monster every full moon. The afflicted will have no control of their body in the process but will be conscious, trapped in their own body like a waking nightmare. The curse can be transmitted if someone drinks the blood of a feral werewolf or survives being slashed by their claws.
Lycanthropy (Spirit): A much rarer form of Lycanthropy. People of great power will sometimes attract a werewolf spirit to latch on to them. Those with enough will power can shift into the werewolf at anytime and even resist the shift during full moons, with the exception of a blood moon. The afflicted will have full control of their actions, but will never remember their time in their shifted form, so many are often unaware of having a werewolf spirit. The spirit also has it's own gender, so those who shift will sometimes find their orientation reversed.