作者: raiderho@smth.edu.cn
標題: THE SCHOOL ON ROKE silverharpe(轉寄)
時間: Fri May 7 08:17:42 2004
THE SCHOOL ON ROKE
The school was founded in about 650, as
described above. The Nine Masters or masterteachers
of Roke were originally:
Windkey, master of the spells controlling weather
Hand, master of all illusions
Herbal, master of the arts of healing
Changer, master of the spells that transform
matter and bodies
Summoner, master of the spells that call the spirits
of the living and the dead
Namer, master of the knowledge of the True
Speech
Patterner, dweller in the Immanent Grove, master
of meaning and intent
Finder, master of the spells of finding, binding, and
returning
Doorkeeper, master of the entering and leaving of
the Great House
The first Archmage, Halkel, abolished the title of
Finder, replacing it with Chanter. The Chanter's task
is the preservation and teaching of all the oral
deeds, lays, songs, etc., and the sung spells.
The original loose, roughly descriptive use of the
words witch, sorcerer, wizard, was codified into a
strict hierarchy by Halkel. Under his rules:
Witchery was restricted to women. All magic
practiced by women was called "base craft," even
when it included practices otherwise called "high
arts," such as healing, chanting, changing, etc.
Witches were to learn only from one another or
from sorcerers. They were forbidden to enter Roke
School, and Halkel discouraged wizards from
teaching women anything at all. He specifically
forbade the teaching of any word of the True
Speech to women, and though this proscription was
widely ignored, it led in the long run to a profound,
long-lasting loss of knowledge and power among
the women who practiced magic.
Sorcery was practiced by men-its only real
distinction from witchery. Sorcerers trained one
another, and had some knowledge of the True
Speech. Sorcery included both base crafts as
defined by Halkel (finding, mending, dowsing,
animal healing, etc.) and some high arts (human
healing, chanting, weatherworking). A student who
showed a gift for sorcery and was sent to Roke for
training would first study the high arts of sorcery,
and if successful in them might pursue his training
in the art magic, especially in naming, summoning,
and patterning, and so become a wizard.
A wizard, as Halkel defined the term, was a man
who received his staff from a teacher, himself a
wizard, who had taken special responsibility for his
training. It was usually the Archmage who gave a
student his staff and made him wizard. This kind of
teaching and succession occurred elsewhere than
Roke-notably on Paln-but the Masters of Roke
came to regard with suspicion a student of anyone
not trained on Roke.
Mage remained an essentially undefined term: a
wizard of great power.
The name and office of archmage were invented
by Halkel, and the Archmage of Roke was a tenth
Master, never counted among the Nine. A vital
ethical and intellectual force, the archmage also
exerted considerable political power. On the whole
this power was used benevolently. Maintaining Roke
as a strong centralising, normalising, pacific
element in Archipelagan society, the archmages
sent out sorcerers and wizards trained to
understand the ethical practice of magic and to
protect communities from drought, plague,
invaders, dragons, and the unscrupulous use of
their art.
Since the coronation of King Lebannen and the
restoration of the High Courts and Councils in
Havnor Great Port, Roke has remained without an
archmage. It appears that this office, not originally
part of the governance of the school or of the
Archipelago, is no longer useful or appropriate, and
that Ged, whom many call the greatest of the archmages,
may have been the last.