[Theori]

The following excerpt is from a lecture given by Professor Cleon vey Pelleaux in 1552 at the Imperial Academy of Osrona regarding Occultism.

"Now, I've gone into the various ways elemental magic might influence one's personality. But perhaps one of the most interesting cases of magic causing personality changes is Occultism. Now, the Headmaster is of the opinion that the less said about Occultism, the better. I respectfully disagree. Occultism is a magic that you very well may encounter in your lifetime, and better to know why you shouldn't be meddling with it on your own, however tempting. Firstly, of course, is that Occultism is illegal under the Crown Law, and carries a very harsh sentence. However, this is not the least of the reasons to avoid using  occultism.

Occultism is an unnatural magic to men. It is the unholy creation of demons, they a creation of Witches. Many assume that it is because it is unnatural that it is known to warp the mind. I do not believe this is so. Or at least, not primarily. That Occultism is unnatural to humanity certainly exacerbates the effect, in my mind, but it is not the root cause.

Fire magic is powered at its base level by passion. Emotional casting is the simplest manner of performing elemental magic in general, as we've discussed earlier in this lecture. However, it is also possible to cast elemental and metaphysical magic in other ways; vocal, runic and the like. Occultism is almost completely unique in that there is always an emotional component. Occultic magic requires a focus on negative emotions -anger is most common one expected, but also despair, sadness, hatred and yes, passion in its most destructive form, without a care for the consequences. Occultism is a chaotic magic at its core.

The issue comes, then, in another commonly accepted truth of Occultism -that it is a hungry magic. It feeds on negative emotion to power itself. However, much like addiction, the more one uses occultic magic, the stronger the emotional stimuli must be, and so it becomes necessary to use stronger emotion to power the same strength of magic, because the more something becomes the norm, the less 'intensity' it holds, and in that power. Where once simple anger sufficed, now one requires rage, for example. It eats away at one's mind, forcing stronger and stronger negative emotions to be used until the positive emotions begin to seem comparatively weaker.

This is what we call Occultic Madness -the state in which a person is ruled entirely by negative emotions. And, of course, when all you are is a creature of negativity, its harder to feel happiness, save for in sadism. 'Why help someone', despair says, 'when we're all going to die anyways'. Selfishness and Nihilism becomes the norm, and once you are that...you are nothing. Occultism is a powerful magic, yes, but can you say its worth the cost?

Occultism is not the only magic that does this, however. While few are really interested in studying it, due to the implications were such a theory proven, it has been hypothesised that Holy magic has a similar effect. Exorcists power their magic primarily from a drive to protect others, to heal, to help. As Occultism is a selfish magic, so is Exorcism selfless. However, this doesn't mean it is intrinsically healthier for the user. Exorcists have been observed to become more extreme as they develop their magics. Most commonly, this takes the form of a hero or saviour complex, where they are driven to recklessly endanger themselves to protect others, no matter the risk. However, it does occasionally also express itself as Zealotry. An exorcist comes to believe that because they are the 'Good guy', their ideals are the 'Greater Good'. Therefore, to uphold the 'Greater Good', they must overcome, eliminate, or defeat all that disagrees.

The Exorcism of the Moonfall Valley in the early 8th century serves as an excellent example of this. A group of Exorcists who called themselves the 'Pillars of Civilisation' took offence to the druidic ways of the occupants of the Valley, and -despite their being no evidence that they were harming anyone- spent the better part of five years attempting to exterminate these Druids, until they were forced to seal their Valley from outside interference. The Druids were already somewhat reclusive, and hurt no-one. However, the Pillars saw their refusal to adopt certain aspects of civilised life as a threat to their own ideals, and thus sought to 'protect' against it.

There is also precedent of Holy Magic potentially influencing someone in the opposite regard, until they desired peace to the point of passivity, even in the face of significant danger. An example of this is the Celestialist sage Lysiscus. He was a deeply pious man, and also a very powerful holy magi. He was active in the early witch trials of the 9th century, standing vocally against the Faith's inquisition, and is known to have continued to do this even after watching his family be tortured to death by actual witches.

Now, Holy magic is not illegal. In fact, in some professions it is even encouraged. I simple ask that you consider the implications and potential consequences of such arts before you decide its worth dabbling. Becoming an Exorcist or an Occultist is often a decision one makes for life."