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Adept
VexLSODMcover
Energy-Throwing, a common type of Adept magic.
Adept
Magic Type Adept
Power Various
Notable User(s) China Sorrows;
Tanith Low;
Billy-Ray Sanguine

Adept magic is one of the two base disciplines of magic available to sorcerers, the other being Elemental magic. Unlike Elemental mages, Adept mages have only one power, though it is typically more powerful than anything that an Elemental can do. However, there is often a significant drawback to using Adept magic.

Though a sorcerer can practice both Adept and Elemental magic prior to their Surge, it is impossible for anyone to be both an Adept and an Elemental, or to practice two Adept disciplines, after their Surge. The exceptions are mages who are magically ambidextrous.

Mechanics

Abilities

Adept mages focus their magic on a single ability, often an ability that other sorcerers have already learned (a 'discipline'). A common Adept discipline is Energy-Throwing. In rare cases, however, a mage will teach themselves a new magical ability, functionally creating a new Adept discipline. For example, Vindick Leather taught himself to be impervious to fire. Such disciplines are dangerous, as mages who do not understand the rules of their power will often become Neoterics.

Some disciplines of Adept magic are offshoots of Elemental magic, such as Tunnelling, which is a focus of earth magic. As practitioners of these disciplines are still focusing on one single ability, and do not have access to multiple Elemental powers, they are considered to be Adepts rather than Elementals.[1]

However, focusing their magic on a single ability will often have a significant drawback for Adepts. The more targeted their ability is, the larger this drawback will be. As a trade-off for being impervious to fire, Vindick Leather is unable to be submerged in water, or his body will simply break apart; this impediment is so extreme because Leather's ability is so specific. More balanced Adept disciplines such as Enhancement do not appear to have any drawbacks of note, but such abilities are far easier to obtain through other means; Enhancement, for instance, has been displayed by Elementals such as Mevolent and Children of the Spider such as Madame Mist, and can also be replicated through sigils.

Magical requirements

Different Adept disciplines require different amounts of magic. A Gist, for instance, is a draining ability that exhausts the mage and can only be used sparingly; conversely, the soldier Habergeon seems to be able to maintain a magical shield indefinitely, provided he is able to focus. If the magic requirement for a discipline is small enough, then Adept mages may have access to an additional minor power after their Surge, provided its mechanics are similar enough to their primary ability. A Wall-Walker, for instance, can learn the ability to seal and unlock doors.

Sometimes, Adept magic is so volatile that a mage cannot use it directly. Instead, they will place their magic in a specially created object, and access it through that object. This is known as Inhabiting, and the only major discipline to use it is Necromancy. In the case of certain other disciplines, the practitioner's body is not able to contain all of their magic, and they will be required to make room for it. Tunnellers, for instance, must gouge out their own eyes.

Certain Adept disciplines require a practitioner to be born with the aptitude for them, such as Teleporting. Sometimes, a mage will gain these abilities without needing to learn them, although training and practice are necessary if the mage is to become any good. Paul Lynch, for instance, gained powers as a Sensitive despite not knowing that the magical world existed, but could not properly regulate them.

Disciplines

The following is not a list of every Adept discipline, but rather, a compilation of some of the more notable ones.

Behind the scenes

  • In earlier books, Adept disciplines were capitalised inconsistently, but as the series progressed, they all became capitalised; for example, a ‘gist’ became a ‘Gist’. As such, this wiki capitalises designations that were not capitalised in the books, such as Bonebreakers.
  • At the very start of the series, an Adept was a sorcerer who could expand their magic to include a variety of powers at a potential cost. From The Faceless Ones onwards, however, with the introduction of Teleporters and Necromancers, Adept magic was quietly retconned into what is described on the rest of the page. This is the out-of-universe reason why characters such as Nefarian Serpine and Tanith Low have multiple abilities.

References

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