Elven Healing Magic
by GreenbrierAoz posed a great question in The Glantri Great School of Magic and Glantri that I have wondered about too, and thought it deserves a topic of its own -
Aoz wrote:
When disease hit Glantri and the Council let the clerics in. Why didn't they just ask the Elves? [3rd level Cure Disease] or have an elf/mage build a magic device that casts cure disease once per person per day?
My thoughts on elven healing magic -
TREE OF LIFE - Erewan has one and Lady Eleesea is their Treekeeper. From Gaz 5 pg. 69 the Tree can cure disease or cure serious wounds up to 72 times before being drained and needing time to recharge. I assume they would only use this for VIPs to avoid draining the tree of too much power at any one time and being unable for other uses.
HEALING SPELLS - As you noted, Gaz 5 gives healing spells to elves who study with the Treekeepers and/or in Alfheim. Gaz 5 pg. 63 also says that "the elf must learn his new magic from the elves of Alfheim (or any other major elf population area with Treekeepers - it cannot be learned in areas such as Glantri or Karameikos where the majority of the population is non-elf)." It goes on to say that spells not on the Gaz 5 elven spell list cannot be learned by elves IN Alfheim but can be learned in other locations, such as Glantri, and that "Spells above 5th cannot be learned by elves outside of Alfheim unless they are in a similar country, such as the Sylvan Realm."
I'd change this a bit and allow elves to learn spells from the regular spell list above 5th level in Glantri, at the GSoM for instance. I think Micky takes that view as well -
Greenbrier wrote:
That makes sense, much like Gaz 5 allows elves to achieve higher levels of magic use by studying with the treekeepers in Alfheim.micky wrote:
not just higher which elves in Glantri do without going to Alfheim....but a different school of magic per say.. ain't going to learn spells of mass destruction in those Alfheim magical classes but magic geared to forest life.. almost Druidic IIRC.. same with Dragons.
I'd also allow elves to learn the elven spell list in Erewan, as a sylvan elf majority Principality. But I do think those magics should be elven secrets, and could never be taught at the GSoM or outside a sylvan elf majority area. I'd say the Belcadiz are not tied to Ilsundal and not into forests enough for them to be taught there, although they're still elves so I'd allow a Belcadiz elf to learn the Gaz 5 elven spell list IF they studied in Alfheim or Erewan to do so.
So if you subscribe to my interpretation, Erewan is bound to have a sizable number of elves who can cast the healing magics from the elven spell list, between elves who have studied elven magics in Erewan, and those who have immigrated from Alfheim or simply went to study magic in Alfheim and then returned. Like Gaz 5 says I'd restrict the spells with the (T) symbol to those who have embarked on the Way of the Tree studying under Lady Eleesea herself (or those who studied under one of the Treekeepers of Alfheim).
I imagine Carlotina keeps all of this as quiet as possible so as not to be accused of clericalism, but it definitely argues for Erewan to have suffered less from the plague than other areas of Glantri.
I will post some thoughts on Belcadiz later...