A Grey Wizard, also called a shadowmancer, calls forth the obscuring mists of Ulgu to shield the soldiers of the Empire.
Wizards, also sometimes called magicians[4a] or sorcerers among Men (though this term properly refers only to Chaos Sorcerers), or most often mages among the Elves, are individuals of any mortal race able to weave magic -- the very substance of Chaos -- into the casting of spells to affect a supernatural change in the physical environment or in the mental condition of other sentient beings.
Magic is everywhere in the world of Mallus, it permeates all living creatures and every inanimate thing. Its power is there to use for good or ill. Magic is almost as important as the fighting abilities of warriors, for it can make the difference between victory and defeat. As a consequence, mighty rulers and noble lords employ their own wizards to protect them and fight on their behalf. Some of the races of the world are even ruled over by powerful wizards, such as the Dark Elves and the Lizardmen.[1a][2]
In the Empire, the emperor himself encourages the study of magic by the Imperial Colleges of Magic so that he may have powerful battle wizards to help fight his wars. The Knights of Bretonnia are aided by the mysterious Grail Damsels, powerful mystics who have mastered multiple Winds of Magic. In Lustria, the Slann of the Lizardmen practice the most potent of all sorceries.[1a][2]
Even the Greenskins, low-minded and often simple as they are, have Orc Shamans and Goblin Shamans who can blast the enemy with raw magic.[1a][2]
Of all the intelligent races of the Old World, only the Dwarfs have no wizards, nor make ready use of magic. Their arcane skills lie in the manufacture of fabulous magical artefacts and enscribing runes of power upon physical objects to enhance their power. However, this does not mean that Dwarfs are incapable of wielding magic as other mortals do, as the existence of the Daemonsmiths of the Chaos Dwarfs so foully attests.[1a][2]
Aethyric Senses[]
In addition to the usual five physical senses of sight, scent, touch, taste, and hearing, there are three further types of senses all trained Imperial Magisters possess and other untrained people might possess in some way. These senses are those that allow a Human to become aware of the unseen world, the immaterial world of the Aethyr, which magic occupies. Although the senses can be sporadic and fleeting in some untrained magic-users, sometimes giving a strong effect and sometimes giving none at all, no magic-user can simply turn them off. The more training a magic user has in the arcane arts, the clearer these senses become, and the harder it is to ignore them.
There is no fixed order in which a Human may possess or gain the three Aethyric senses. Some have one or two of them, very rarely someone might have all three without any training. Those individuals who can channel without having either of the other two Aethyric senses are unfortunate indeed, for it is doubtful that they will ever know how and why it is that they seemed so cursed by misfortune and supernatural creatures. Sadly, these few are the ones who are most readily and frequently targeted by the Sigmarite Holy Order of Templars, as their apparent Chaos corruption is the hardest of all to hide and the most dangerous to those around them.
Intuition or Aethyric Attunement[]
Intuition or "Aethyric Attunement" is the simplest and most common of the Aethyric senses. It is also the most easily ignored. Although everyone feels it from time to time, most shrug it off as foolish or irrelevant. However, intuition is the most commonly observed gateway of Humans to all Aethyric sensitivity. Aethyric Attunement is a very real form of Aethyric awareness. Chances are if a person experiences a sudden flash of unexpected insight, gets goose bumps, or shivers though the day is warm, then that is probably a demonstration of an intuitive response to some kind of activity in the Winds of Magic.
Intuition is the "sixth sense." It is the ability to feel the Winds of Magic. Whether it is refined and developed or not, it is an individual's inborn ability to sense the various movements, disturbances, and "flavours" of the Winds of Magic as they move around or through that individual. Very few people who feel these otherwise intangible movements of magic know or understand what they are feeling or know it is due to an immaterial force external to themselves, rather than just some passing feeling brought on by indigestion or lack of sleep. Intuition is most often mistaken for some feeling other than what it is -- the perception of the Winds of Magic.
The more developed it is, the more likely one will be able to feel when a spell is being cast or some other Aethyric disturbance occurs. However, just because this person can feel the spell being cast, it does not mean they know what is actually happening -- they know only that something is happening.
Commonplace intuition does not signify a noticeable ability with or awareness for magic. However, in some people this sense is more highly developed, perhaps by some freak of nature or because of the particular psychology, beliefs, or personality of the individual. When this is the case, this heightened intuition is expressed as Aethyric attunement.
Depending on the experience of the magic-user, Aethyric Attunement can manifest itself as anything from a faint shiver when the person is in proximity to a magical object or someone casting a spell, to a very specific physical and/or emotional reaction that is dependent upon the strand of magic being used. For instance, when in proximity to Aqshy, individuals with Aethyric Attunement might become restless, irritable, or aggressive. They might become physically warm or even hot. They might imagine they can smell brimstone or ozone.
With regard to all forms of Dark Magic, any individual with Aethyric Attunement in proximity to it feels an edge of panic and of creeping dread. This does not necessarily apply to the one using the Dark Magic, because their mind is invariably flashing with coloured lights and rushing with a sense of incredible power.
Witchsight[]
A Human seer blessed and cursed with the witchsight, the capability to see the flow of the Winds of Magic across the world -- and usually also to channel them.
"Witchsight," also called "Magical Sense" and sometimes referred to as the seventh sense in the Colleges of Magic, is the term widely given by Collegiate Magisters to the ability to actually see the Winds of Magic. In some ways, this term is negative, as no trained Magister would ever accept being called a witch and certainly do not consider themselves as such. However, the term is older than the Colleges themselves and has entered the common vernacular of most Magisters alongside less degrading terms such as "spirit-sight" or "magesight."
Any person possessing witchsight sees the mortal world as if through two types of vision superimposed upon each other. With his normal mundane sight, the Aethyrically sensitive person sees like any other Human does. With his witchsight, the person actually sees the Winds of Magic to some degree, either as swirling clouds and rivers of churning coloured energy, or as manifestations of their own thoughts, memories, emotions, expectations, beliefs, and fears and those of the people around them. The common expression of witchsight in untrained magic users is as strange shapes and flickering lights just at the corner of their vision. Depending upon how strong one's witchsight is, one may be able to see the movements of magic and magically charged items and beings, even in the dark or if one’s eyes are shut, blinded, or missing.
Some people with the most developed witchsight are able to see the entire world even without their eyes, perceiving with perfect clarity the souls, thoughts, and intentions of all living beings around them, seeing how magic swirls around and through them and all other things in the world. Witchsight may never be turned off and even the greatest Magisters with all their discipline have trouble ignoring it. This is part of the reason why Magisters and other magic users with witchsight are so eccentric, if not plain mad. Those with it are surrounded by a world of swirling magical colours, plainly visible thoughts, dreams, and nightmares, flashes of future and past events, auras, and any number of other arcane and bizarre visions.
Unlike intutition or Aethyric Attunement, witchsight or Magical Sense cannot simply be explained away as just a feeling. It is either considered madness by most people of the Empire, or else people with the witchsight actually believe they are seeing physical things existing around them. Those who were born with witchsight grew up believing that seeing coloured auras around living creatures is entirely normal -- they may also be convinced by family and friends who do not posses a similar talent that they are haunted by spirits or tormented by Daemons. In a sense, these friends and families are correct, for these things do exist almost everywhere, although these things are almost never visible and can only very rarely interact with the mortal world.
Channelling[]
The failure to properly channel the Winds of Magic in an amount the wizard can handle can prove disastrous.
Channelling is sometimes called the "eighth sense" by Imperial Magisters. It is questionable whether Channelling is truly a sense (even an Aethyric one), or whether it is an in-born or learned ability. Essentially, this is the most dangerous of all the Aethyric senses, because it is this one that allows someone to actually manipulate the Winds of Magic. This can manifest itself in countless ways, from minor Poltergeist activity around the affected person, right up to Daemonic possession or spontaneous combustion.
Whatever part of the mind or personality that allows a Human to interact with magic is more highly developed in a person who can channel. The effect is they can actually draw to themselves, focus, and direct a Wind of Magic, mentally manipulating and making the energies of Chaos have a tangible effect upon the environment around them.
Naturally, people with this ability in small villages or very superstitious and pious regions often find themselves on the receiving end of a lynching or witch-hunt. For one untrained in such matters, it is almost impossible for them not to create supernatural effects around themselves unintentionally. If this was not dangerous enough, unwitting magic-users can often harm themselves or be harmed by some Aethyric entity that they either have created through their own fears or have attracted by their uncontrolled use of magic.
Just as someone who can channel may touch magic, so too can the embodiments of magic touch them in return. Many are the stories and folktales of people troubled by violent Poltergeists and Daemons who were invisible and intangible to all except their victim.
Spells[]
There are many different kinds and methods of spellcraft in the Old World and beyond, from the magic (wizardry) of the Empire's legally-sanctioned spellcasters in the Orders of Magic, to the nightmarish sorceries of Chaos-worshippers.
Magic is a unique force in the mortal world and is entirely its own thing. It is not an amalgam of other, predictable and understandable forces that appear within the mortal realms but is instead an entirely unnatural thing coming from the immortal realm of the Aethyr. In one sense, magic is the very stuff from which the Aethyr is made. It must be kept in mind that the Winds of Magic Human Magisters perceive is Aethyric energy as it manifests itself within the mortal universe. Magic has the power to change both matter and thought, both body and mind, because magic transcends the usual boundaries between the material and the immaterial.
As the power of fire is to burn and consume, the Winds of Magic that blow down across the Known World from the Chaos Wastes is not a movement of air or gas, but the movement of the vital and uncaring energy of transmutation -- the raw energies of Chaos itself.
To counteract the dangers that come as a part of magic use, successful magic-users use a multitude of methods to sculpt it into shape. Although there are some people who can sculpt the Winds of Magic through lengthy ritual and the absolutism of their faith in a particular god or concept, which is known as Divine Magic, or through the sheer force of their towering egos, these are still quite general in effect. There are few, if any magic-users who can create a controlled magical effect without using some kind of formula or spell, which are collectively known as the "lores" of magic.
Arcane Tongues[]
Despite the fact that the Winds of Magic are drawn to physical things and seek to interact with them, they are still random and uncertain in their nature and effect. Although will and intellect can channel magic into a spell, magic is so diffusive and powerful it takes very specific and crystalline thoughts, concepts, and directions. Magic not so fully controlled might leave a loophole through which it can seep out and therefore ruin the spell or leave an uncontrolled magical residue behind.
If a spell can be considered a kind of container for the energy of the Aethyr, then magic naturally flows towards the weakest point in the container. Spells must be absolutely precise in structure and specific in purpose, a bit like a legal document where the wording is precise in order to assure there is no chance for misinterpretation by a bad actor. Without this level of specification, magic leaks out of the conceptual container that is the spell and at best creates detrimental side effects.
To prevent this from happening, most spellcasters use incredibly specific formulae to bind and weave magic into spells -- formulae that leave little or no room at all for the magic to leak free. Even priests and clerics use long and convoluted ritual prayers and blessings that draw and focus the Winds of Magic in particular ways to create their god's "miracles." This does not take into account the effect their potent faith in their deity has on the magic or the whims of Aethyric beings. But still, the principle is there.
In order to create these flawless conceptual containers, arcane languages have evolved that are so specific and so incredibly deep in their subtleties and wide ranging in their vocabulary that when used in an exacting enough way, reduce the possibility creating a spell that is not exact enough to prevent magical leakage.
Magick[]
The Imperial Colleges of Magic use a language commonly referred to as Magick (or less frequently lingua praestantia in the Classical tongue) to enunciate their spells. Lingua praestantia is said to have been developed with and for them by none other than the Loremaster of Hoeth and High Elf Archmage Teclis of Ulthuan himself during the time of the Great War Against Chaos.
Though it is said to be an even more complicated language than the tonal language of distant Grand Cathay, Magick is still only a simplified version of the High Elves' own language, Eltharin, mixed into a kind of dialect with the Imperial academic language of Old Reikspiel. Eltharin, though incredibly more complex in structure and massive in vocabulary, is fabled in High Elf culture to be a devolved and very simplified version of the language spoken by those ancient, godlike beings the High Elves remember as the "Old Ones." When the High Elves enunciate their own spells of such magnificent power and breadth, they do so in their own arcane language, Anoqeyån, which is the closest surviving mortal language to the words spoken by the Old Ones.
Many blasphemous texts, written in centuries and millennia past, share vocabulary and grammar with the arcane language of the High Elves. Indeed, there are similarities between many of the oldest arcane languages, the languages of some of the Elder Races (like the Dwarfs and Elves), and the corrupt and caustic language commonly referred to as the Dark Tongue spoken by the shamans and sorcerers of the Chaos Gods.
The witch hunters would be even more concerned than they already are if they learned that the language the Empire's sanctioned Magisters use to cast their spells is related to both the language of the High Elves of Ulthuan and to the hellish languages of sorcerers and Daemons.
Many scholars use this example to argue that all the various mortal tongues of the Old World are descended from the speech of the Old Ones. The "prime language" theory has many adherents -- for many are quick to point out, the various languages of the Old World are so closely related they can scarcely be defined as separate tongues, more as highly developed dialects of a single "Old Worlder" tongue. Thus a Reiklander can make themselves at least basically understood by a Bretonnian, Tilean, or even Estalian (though why he would want to is another matter).
However, there is considerable debate amongst the scholars of the Colleges of Magic as to whether the prime language of the Old Ones existed at all, or even whether the Old Ones existed! The inner circle of Magister Lords at the College of Light hold the great Old Ones were the first and only beings to fully identify and quantify everything. That is, they catalogued every single thing, state, and process within the mortal universe, and almost every single thing, state, and process that was possible through and in the Aethyr. In addition to this, the Magister Lords also believe that the divine tongue once spoken by the Old Ones now has a life of its own, expanding with every dream and every thought of any and all mortals and immortals.
It follows that if there was a prime arcane language, from which even Anoqeyån descended, it would supposedly have a word or phrase to express every single concept and possibility, and every combination of concepts and possibility, that exist within creation without regard for temporality. Naturally, few outside of the White Tower of Hoeth could comment with even passing authority on these theories, and they have never chosen to. Just as Eltharin is a simplified version of the Elves' arcane language, Anoqeyån, the arcane language of the Imperial Colleges of Magic is a devolved form of Eltharin.
Yet possessing knowledge of even a simplified version of Anoqeyån would denote an ability to grasp and verbalise concepts and processes that are otherwise inexpressible through any other Human language. Magick is the pre-eminent language of spellcasting in the Empire precisely because it is exhaustively specific.
Wizards of the Known World[]
- Battle Wizards - Battle Wizards are Human wizards of many types who specialise in learning spells that are useful in combat, especially for large-scale actions, which is known as Battle Magic. They were usually hedge wizards before the founding of the Orders of Magic. In the years before the creation of the Imperial Colleges of Magic in the wake of the Great War Against Chaos (2301-2304 IC), Battle Wizards were one of the few types of wizards considered acceptable, but only just barely, in the Human societies of the Old World. As a result, in terms of social standing and public respect, practitioners of Battle Magic were more highly regarded and more trusted than any other types of wizard at that time. In the time before the founding of the Colleges of Magic and the legalisation of colour magic-use by Emperor Magnus the Pious, particularly during the Anarchy (1979-2304 IC), self-taught Battle Wizards often sold their services to the nobles and armies of the various nations of the Old World, particularly the Empire of Man. This service helped to combat the steep prejudice most Old Worlders have towards magic-users since they make themselves useful to the powers-that-be, though they are still accepted only grudgingly by the military forces they serve alongside. Ultimately, Battle Wizards have that name for a reason. Most of their spells were specifically designed for offensive and defensive combat, and in particular for defending themselves and unleashing death and destruction on large groups of enemies. As a result, after the founding of the Orders of Magic, many preexisting Battle Wizards retrained as Celestial Wizards, Bright Wizards and Light Wizards, whose Winds of Magic they had long channelled unwittingly in battle.
- Chaos Sorcerer - Chaos Sorcerers are powerful spellcasters who use the raw Winds of Magic to cast spells and unleash Chaos Sorcery. Chaos Sorcerers are masters of Dark Magic, and there is little beyond their might. They can transport themselves over vast distances, call upon the fires of Tzeentch, slaughter men by the scores, and more. But such magic comes at a terrible price. As they tap the energies of Chaos, their sanity withers whilst their bodies twist and mutate with the invoked energies. Chaos Sorcerers may be found amongst the savage tribes of the Men of the North, serving as oracles and counsellors, but many also come from the civilised lands of the Empire and beyond. These individuals, finding the limitations on magic within the Imperial Colleges of Magic too restrictive, and lured by the power to be held by dabbling in daemonology, drift north to bring themselves closer to the source of their magic in the Chaos Wastes, learning through trial and error. What separates Chaos Sorcerers from other spellcasters, namely the Magisters of the Empire, witches, and warlocks, is that these individuals derive their power directly from the Chaos Gods. Thus, only mortal servants of Nurgle, Slaanesh, and Tzeentch may become Chaos Sorcerers. There are no sorcerers of Khorne, for the mortal servants of the Blood God abhor the use of magic as the weapon of cowards, like their divine patron. According to Magister Patriarch Verspasian Kant, Chaos Sorcerers benefit from the guidance of their chosen Chaos deity, similar to a practictioner of Divine Magic, channeling and focusing the unbridled potentiality of the Aethyr through their Dark God rather than drawing upon the Winds of Magic directly. As such, the magic of a Chaos Sorcerer bears unique traits that are otherwise non-existent or unachievable using more usual methods of spellcasting.
- Cleric - A cleric is a member of one of the priesthoods of the religious cults of the Old World, authorised by their churches to conduct services and to minister to the spiritual needs of the faithful. In order to carry out their duties, clerics are granted access to their deity by the medium of prayer, as well as a number of divinely-granted magical powers that are expressed as "blessings" or "miracles." Clerics are defined by their ability to wield such Divine Magic, since not all priests of a deity are considered faithful enough to be so blessed. These powers come from prayer and a fierce devotion and belief in the deity and the concepts it represents rather than knowledge and force of will in bending the Winds of Magic to the wizard's will.
- Daemonologist - A daemonologist is a warlock who specialises in the arcane study and binding of Chaos Daemons.
- Daemonsmith - Daemonsmiths, also known as "Hell-Workers" or simply "Chaos Dwarf Sorcerers," are the sorcerers, priests and artificers of their society, ruling over the desolate Chaos Dwarf empire of Zharr-Naggrund in the Dark Lands with iron-fisted malice. Their magical lore is terrible and ancient, and involves the study of machines, and the mastery of forge-craft, weapon-making and the terrible Chaos magics gifted to them by Hashut, the minor Chaos God of fire, greed and tyranny who is their divine patron. Combined, these create terrifying weapons and arcane machines of great power and destructive potential. The greatest of their number are the ruling sorcerer-prophets who serve their Chaos God Hashut as high priests.
- Druid - The druid is a practising member or priest of the Old Faith, following a system of Human beliefs whose origin is lost in the mists of antiquity. The Old Faith is a belief system that exists outside but parallel with the structures and organisations of the main religions of the Old World, but co-exists peacefully with them most of the time. Druids pursue a strict code of life and strive to live in harmony with nature. They long for the natural order of a bygone age and have little patience with the demands of the present-day world of Men. Many choose to live apart from it altogether and all prefer the rural countryside to town life. Only Humans may become druids.
- Elementalist - An elementalist is a wizard whose magic concerns itself with natural forces and the elements of earth, air, fire, and water, also known as Elementalism. As well as being able to control the forces of nature to some extent, elementalists have some limited control over the four traditional physical elements and the beings composed of them known as Elementals. Elementalists were most common in the Old World in the days before Emperor Magnus the Pious and the High Elf Archmage Teclis established the Imperial Colleges of Magic and the foundations of Colour Magic after the Great War Against Chaos (2301-2304 IC), though they still exist today. As essentially wizards of nature, elementalists have a close affinity with living things and -- though reclusive -- tend to be kindly and slow to anger. The magical energies upon which an elementalist draws are fundamentally opposed to those of Daemonic and necromantic magic. Those who have embarked upon a career as an elementalist may never become daemonologists or necromancers. Finding a teacher of Elementalist magic is not as easy as finding other types of wizards, but much easier than finding a daemonologist or necromancer. Many elementalists are hermitic and live in isolated dwellings close to sources of great natural energy (waterfalls, oceans, volcanoes, mountain tops, and so on). Individuals wishing to learn elemental magic must convince their would-be teacher of their sincerity, demonstrating their love of nature in some way. In the years before the creation of the Colleges of Magic, when magic-users were not accepted in Imperial society, wizards like elementalists were shunned in some places, and welcomed in others, so the acceptance of magic at that time depended on where one was in the Empire, and what kind of magic the wizard was using. For instance, during the Anarchy in places like the Grand Duchy of Talabec, wizards like elementalists in tune with the natural world were thought of as healers and wise people, those who could be relied upon to bless the crops and heal livestock. But if one went to the Reikland -- where the Cult of Sigmar reigned supreme -- and were seen to utter a strange-sounding phrase, that person might find themselves a target of the witch hunters and end their days atop a bonfire. Most elementalist spells are specifically designed to allow the wizard to interact with facets of the natural world, including its flora and fauna. As a result, after the founding of the Orders of Magic, many elementalists in the Empire retrained as Jade Wizards and Amber Wizards, whose chosen Winds of Magic -- Ghyran and Ghur -- they had long channelled unwittingly.
- Goblin Shaman - A Goblin Shaman is a shaman who uses the powers of magic to aid the his people among the tribes of the Goblins. A Goblin Shaman's spells are weedy and irritating, but dangerous -- just like the Goblins themselves. Like all Greenskins, a Goblin Shaman's powers grow in intensity as more of his kind gather together, for he draws upon innate gestalt magical energies produced by the Waaagh!.
- High Elf Mage - A High Elf Mage is among the most powerful wizards of the mortal world, but due to the High Elves' natural affinity for the Winds of Magic, they are far more powerful than even the most experienced Human wizards, even Imperial Battle Wizards.
- High Elf Archmage - A High Elf Archmage is one of the most potent practitioners of magic in the mortal world and perhaps the most powerful wizards known among the Elves or any of the peoples of the Known World. Through decades, and often centuries, of painstaking research and scrupulous study, High Elf Mages learn to master magic in its purest form, an art known simply as High Magic or Qhaysh. Those who mastered this most challenging of magical lores hold the entire spectrum of the Winds of Magic at their command, in a balanced, non-corrupting form. It is a skill that only Elves can master.
- Hedge Wizard - The term "hedge wizard" or "hedge witch" refers to a variety of spellcasters who channel the power of magic outside the formal Imperial magic system and bureaurcacy overseen by the Colleges of Magic. By and large, hedge wizards only know a small amount of basic magic and come from rural backgrounds. Most hedge wizards dwell in villages, making their livings as healers. In fact, most claim not to be magic-users at all, instead professing to be apothecaries or herbalists. However, hedge wizards are in constant danger. Every day there is a chance that a witch hunter will execute them, the lure of Chaos will prove too much, their own magic will drive them insane, or some miscast spell will be their undoing. And this is only if they still have the trust of the local villagers... There are three main types of hedge wizards: Those who were apprenticed to other hedge wizards, those who received some education from the Imperial Colleges of Magic but did not complete their education, and those who are completely self-taught. All hedge wizards have some sort of sensitivity to magic, either instinctive or acquired.
- Ice Witch - The Ice Witches are a female-only sisterhood of powerful female wizards that exists within the lands of Kislev. Women of great magical power, of whom the Tzarina Katarin Bokha is their most famous member, they command the very elements through their mastery of the Lore of Ice and bring to bear the might of their land in defence of their great nation. The Ice Witches are a strange breed, being physically and spiritually linked to the seasons of Kislev, growing weaker in the summer and stronger in the winter. The Ice Witches are firmly on the tzarina's side in Kislev's many political conflicts. She is currently the most powerful Ice Witch in Kislev, and some say she is a reincarnation of Miska, the first Ice Witch and khan-queen of the early Gospodars who founded Kislev. Katarin, in turn, favours the Ice Witches, granting them legal privileges similar to those extended to the Kislevite nobility known as the boyars. The main weakness of the Ice Witches, from a political perspective, is that they have very little to do with the common people of Kislev, remaining aloof while studying their magic. The level of power they bring to the tzarina's service is highly valuable, but they do not bring any other supporters with them. Individual Ice Witches who could win a place in the affections of the people would be especially favoured by the tzarina.
- Magister - A Magister (fem. Magistrix) is a wizard or another magically sensitive person who has had the wherewithal, good fortune, and money to be able to join one of the eight Colleges of Magic of the Empire. They are a diverse bunch with different outlooks and subtly different teachings from each other, depending on which of the eight Orders of Magic to which they belong. Yet theirs are the most advanced and most stable forms of arcane spellcraft practiced by Men in the Old World. They are also the only legally sanctioned users of arcane magic within the Empire.
- Necromancer - A necromancer is amongst the most cursed of all those who practice the magical arts, for they have damned their souls and exchanged their Humanity for the ability to raise the dead and command them to wage war upon the living as the Undead through the use of the most foul Dark Magic imaginable, necromancy. In the time before the founding of the Imperial Colleges of Magic following the end of the Great War Against Chaos in 2304 IC, magic-use in the Empire of Man was far less structured. Almost all Human wizards were hedge wizards of one kind or another, who had either learned to channel the Winds of Magic inherently or had learned at the feet of a master of a particular tradition of magic. Wizardry of any kind was technically illegal across the Empire, but different types of wizards were accepted in different places at different times. For instance, during the period known as the Anarchy in ca. 2276 IC when the Empire was riven by civil war and lacked a central government, even necromancers were not automatically viewed as intrinsically evil or corrupted. Their spell lore drew from the abilities provided by Shyish and included such useful powers as clairvoyance and communing with the spirits of the dead. Asking the spirits for advice on behalf of a noble lord of the Empire, for example, was seen as perfectly reasonable by most of the powers-that-be. A problem only began when certain necromancers, driven by an unwholesome curiosity about the nature of death or the need to increase their own power, began to emulate the practices of the Vampire Counts of Sylvania and use Dark Magic upon the corpses of the recently deceased to raise Undead. But during the Anarchy, the Vampire Wars had ended and the von Carstein bloodline of Vampires was no longer considered a threat. As such, malevolent necromancers were rarer than they had been earlier in Imperial history or would become by the time of the early 26th century IC. Once the Orders of Magic were established, many of these earlier necromancers who avoided the use of Dhar helped to found the Amethyst Order which specialised in the use of Shyish, and were the early Magisters who laid down the organised principles of what became the Lore of Death.
- Orc Shaman - An Orc Shaman is an Orc spellcaster, a living conduit to the twin Greenskin gods Gork and Mork and his fellow Greenskins who can wield such arcane might that even the crustiest old warbosses have to be impressed. Like all Greenskins, an Orc Shaman's powers grow in intensity as more of his kind gather together, for he draws upon innate gestalt magical energies produced by the Waaagh!.
- Runesmith - Dwarf Runesmiths work spells with their hammercraft, binding the Winds of Magic into mighty runes of power. They are a suspicious lot and jealously protect the secrets kept in their anvils and hammers, guarding the knowledge that allows them to make magic items -- weapons, armour, rings and talismans -- of greater potency than items wrought by any other mortal race upon the Known World.
- Shaman - Shamans are the key religious figures and intermediaries with the spiritual world of the monstrous (such as Greenskin or Ogre), or less civilised Human tribes of the Known World. It is their job to act as intermediaries between the mortal world and the spirit realm. Practicioners of the magical Lore of Spirits, they must drive off evil spirits, while placating benevolent ones. They have a special relationship with their tribe's tutelary spirits. Frequently Ancestor Spirits, these entities watch over the tribe and protect it, as long as the shamans show proper respect and make frequent sacrifices. The term "shaman" also encompasses the Amber Wizards of the Amber Order of the Imperial Orders of Magic who wield the Brown Wind of Magic Ghur and practice the Lore of Beasts.
- Shaman-Sorcerer - A Shaman-Sorcerer is one of the so-called "shamans" native to the Human Northmen tribes of Norsca, the harsh lands of the Chaos Wastes and the Eastern Steppes. They worship the Chaos Gods, whether by their more well-known names or some other, more barbaric title, and live among the Chaos-worshipping Chaos Marauder tribes. A Shaman-Sorcerer is in fact more of a standard Chaos Sorcerer than any shaman known to the peoples of the south or to the Empire's Orders of Magic.
- Sorceress - Sorceresses are the most prominent Dark Elf magic-users of Naggaroth. Chief amongst the magic-wielders of Naggaroth are the sisters of the Dark Convent of Sorceresses who are gathered in the great fortress of Ghrond. Competition for positions in the Dark Convent is bloody and fierce. Those that survive their sisters' ambitions learn some of the most powerful magic in the Known World. They can call upon ancient daemonic entities to devour their enemies, hurl storms of wicked shards at their foes or engulf them in dark energy. Though Dark Elves of both genders are capable of mastering the art of Dark Magic, male sorcerers are regarded with disdain, fear and suspicion among the Druchii -- a situation only exacerbated by generous bounties Malekith offers for such a being's severed head. The Witch King knows of the Prophecy of Demise, whose ancient stanzas foretell how a great warrior will one day be cast from his home by a sorcerer. Malekith -- ever given to a cautious mindset in such matters -- believes it is he to whom the prophecy refers, and he is determined to cheat that destiny -- one severed head at a time.
- Spellsinger - Spellsingers are those among the Wood Elves dedicated to the study of the art of magic, essentially serving as the Asrai's wizards. However, those spellsingers who choose to specialise in either High or Dark Magic become what are called "spellweavers." Spellweavers in turn are divided between High Magic specialists known as highweavers and Dark Magic sorcerers called darkweavers who often work together in balanced pairs.
- Slann - The Slann form one of the core species of the composite Lizardmen culture, and were created by that ancient and unimaginably powerful species known only as the Old Ones to be the leaders, organisers, architects, and techno-mages of the Lizardmen's society and the backbone of their culture. As the Slann are among the most magically powerful beings present on the face of the Known World, these favoured servants of the Old Ones have considerable intellect and magical abilities beyond the minds of most of the other mortal races, and rule the Lizardmen as a venerated caste of semi-religious mage-priests. Though they are not physically menacing -- their bodies are toad-like with large heads and bulbous eyes -- with but a flick of their fingers, the Slann can topple cities, engulf foes in flames or open vast vents in the ground below. Enemy wizards find the mightiest incantations they try to employ unravelling before them as a Slann contemptuously waves its hand.
- Witch - A witch is a hedge wizard who survived practicing their fumbling arts without going completely insane or dying. They have a broader repertoire of homegrown spells to work with and many dabble in areas best left alone. In other words, by merit of their ignorance as to the occult workings of the Winds of Magic, many witches begin to use Dark Magic without even realising it. As a result of trial and error, witches' spells are more diverse and more powerful than the petty spells of other Hedge Wizards, possessing elements of many of the Winds of Magic. However, witches that use the power of Dark Magic inevitably take a terrible toll upon their minds and souls.
- Warlock - A warlock is a male witch who is one of the very few witches that do not submit themselves to the judgement of the Imperial Colleges of Magic, or get caught by the witch hunters, or are slain by the misuse of their own dangerous magic. Warlocks are experienced spellcasters who knowingly use Dark Magic to power their spells and have become corrupted by its energies and probably seduced by the whispered promises of Daemons. Essentially, a warlock is a witch who is very aware of the dangers of using Dark Magic, but does not care -- in fact they rely upon it in all their spellcraft. These vile magic-users actively seek to study the ways of Chaos and to become proficient in the arts of summoning and controlling Daemons, often referring to themselves as "daemonologists."