A Brief Account of Magarthrea, and Its Significance in Modern Magic

A Brief Account of Magarthrea, And Its Significance in Modern Magic

The history and discovery of western magic - most notably verbal charms - owes much of its heritage to the ancient land of Magarthrea, which many regard only as a legend. It was an island, somewhere off of the coast of Africa, inhabited by some of the most densely populated Magical folk in the world. The story of the destruction of Magarthrea (which came circa the year 423 BC) is a tale fraught with sorrow does not come directly into play here. Magarthrea's king was Magarus, the infinitely prolonged, and who is said to be the first student of what we consider today to be alchemy. Alchemy, transfiguration and potions - nonverbal, noncharmal magic were Magarus's specialty, and it is said he was a brewer of potions, the like of which we have not seen since. While experts have often commented that there is no magical way to reanimate the dead, it is entirely possible that this was Magarus's ultimate goal in his pursuits of nonverbal magic.

His eldest son, the first of fourteen, began the foundations of experimental charms. He was called Garemus. Wands existed in Magarthrea, but were primarily a device used to aid transfiguration. Often had the people observed the magical qualities of the animals that inhabited their islands (animals which are undoubtedly extinct today), and desired to use their powers for their own gains, but it was not until the system of wands was devised that they could achieve this. Without wands, the theory behind verbal magic would not be able to exist, simply because humans, on their own, do not generally have the capacity to produce such quantities of magic without aid.

Garemus' theory of verbal magic is immensely complicated, and is far less understood than the principles of modern Balfour Blanian and Escopalanian theory today, so I will not go into the principles with which he used to invent his method of verbal magic. Various experimental charmists, particularly in Southeast Asia, where his work had the largest effect, are attempting study on Garemian modes, but not yet unlocked a significant difference between his verbal magic and 12^th and 15^th century modes.

After the destruction of Magarthrea, none of sons of Magarus remained alive, but a grandson of Garemus, whose father was married to a non-magical person in northern Russia, lived, and he alone was among those that witnessed the work for charms and verbal magic in Magarthrea. His name was Garthrama, and though his knowledge of Garemus' theory was rudimentary, it was never the less enough to document and pursue. When he arrived in Europe c. 20bc, he found many people who possessed similar magical powers, and he began to educate them about the ways and techniques of his homeland. In present day Germany he began the very first school dedicated to modern charms, transfiguration, potion making and alchemy.

A very significant student was Paracelsus, who took many of Garthrama's skills to ancient Greece, particularly Alchemy and Charms, and began the modernization of wizarding there. Far later came Maeve, who helped develop Wizarding in Ireland. It was a great influence upon influence a passing traveler, Merlin, the founder of modern British magic, and, perhaps, the greatest wizard of all time. It was he that brought this school of German magic to the Anglos and developed it further. Of his students, there are two whose names survive in the history books today - Aurkanius and Anglomis, for Aurkanius is attributed with being the teacher of both Slytherin and Gryffindor, whereas Anglomis taught Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Hogwarts: A History shows the circumstances on how these two groups of wizards would meet and begin the largest and longest lasting school of magic in Europe, but that is not the subject of this particular myth. With the advent of Hogwarts, there was no single magically gifted person left behind anymore, and magic spread very quickly throughout Europe and into the middle east and back into Africa. Magic in Asia had existed for many a century, but in a very different form. However, as western magic spread, it became inevitable that the two forms would collide, and they did, but that is the subject of a different story.

Though the fate of Garthrama's school is unknown (a subject of a different myth, no less), it lasted a good few centuries, and was a very important factor in developing western magic further.