(04-21-2015, 07:16 PM)Kayllen Wrote: So is magic only thaumaturgy by classification of its use or is the TYPE of magic being used what makes it thaumaturgy over just 'more magic'? Same with conjury, arcanistry, and so on.
Pretty much this. Aether can be used in many different forms, from Thaumaturgy to Chakra. How aether is used seems to very much be the defining characteristic of the different schools of magic throughout history. Remember that Thaumaturgy can and was quite extensively used for healing at one point in time. (It can't now only thanks to non-lore based mechanic changes.)
Thaumaturgy draws on one's own aether and channels it via blood or bone or metal into a gemstone which focuses the spell into existance. Whether the spell is one intended to harm or to heal, the process remains unchanged.
Black Magic, while based on Thaumaturgy principles, is a technique which allows the mage to draw from an external source (ie. the Lifestream, the land, a la 1.0 other people...) and use that aether to supply the spell instead of draining one's own aether.
Conjury draws aether from nature by way of a stave or wand made of organic flora, the aether is then condensed into a spell via meditation, then unleashed.
Arcanima uses personal aether also, but instead of meditating on the spell like Conjury or tracing the spell like ancient thaumaturgy might have, Arcanists use a spell book of magical glyphs. The ink in which the glyphs are drawn acts as an amplifier for the magic.
