[Path/Book Magic] Monsters as Magicians... or vice versa

[Prince Charon]

From the viewpoint of a medaeval peasant (who were mostly the ones telling the stories), or a medaeval preist or monk (who were mostly the ones writing them down), what difference is there between a regular werewolf, a Gadget-user with a magic wolf-pelt that lets him turn into a wolf on the full moon, and a ritual magician with Skinchange (Wolf) and Moon-Aspected Magery? Not a lot, really, which is kind of the point of this thread: attempting to determine which creatures from folklore and fantasy could plausibly be ritual magicians, which might be spirits, and which don't seem to fit well as either.

The one that I've thought the most about recently is the werewolf (and to a lesser degree, other werecreatures), so I've come up with a sort of worked example:

The Book of the Wolf

Often, this work is not a physical book at all (as the practitioners are frequently illiterate), but a set of oral traditions passed down from master to apprentice. Many practitioners who have Magery above 0 will have Moon-Aspected Magery, and some have Path/Book Adept with either Moon-Aspected, Book of the Wolf Only, or both.

Ritual Magic (Book of the Wolf)

Seek Wolf [Book of the Wolf-0] (Thaumatology p156)
Summon Wolf [Book of the Wolf-1] (Thaumatology p156)
Command Wolf [Book of the Wolf-2] (Thaumatology p155)
Hunter's Blessing [Book of the Wolf-3] (Thaumatology p156)
Gentle Wolf [Book of the Wolf-3] (Thaumatology p156)
Speak with Wolves [Book of the Wolf-3] (Thaumatology p156)
Lick The Wounds [Book of the Wolf-4]
Locate [Book of the Wolf-4] (Thaumatology p151)
Ghost Fur [Book of the Wolf-6]
Skinchange (Wolf) [Book of the Wolf-6] (Thaumatology p145)

Some versions of the Book of the Wolf replace Skinchange (Wolf) with a variant of Astral Projection (Thaumatology p159) which shapes the user's astral body into that of a wolf, and allows the user to manifest in the physical world as a spirit-wolf. The base penalty is Book of the Wolf-7. Other versions that use Astral Projection (Book of the Wolf-5) include a ritual to possess a living wolf (also Book of the Wolf-5).

Seek Wolf, Summon Wolf, Command Wolf, Gentle Wolf, and Speak with Wolves are specializations of the similarly named rituals on the pages given. These rituals work on dogs with a further penalty of -1 (save for wolf-dog hybrids, which are treated as wolves), and other canids like foxes and coyotes with a further penalty of -2. The less similar a creature is to a wolf, the greater the penalty. In general, I suggest that these rituals are useless on species outside the canidae family.

Lick The Wounds works exactly like Succor (Thaumatology p150), save that the ritual literally consists of licking the target's wounds while in beast-form, and is useless for healing wounds inflicted by silver (50% silver or greater). The caster may be the target.

Ghost Fur works exactly like Ghost Shirt (Thaumatology p158), save that it is useless against silver weapons (50% silver or greater).

Similar books exist for other sorts of animals, with species-appropriate modifications (such as the Book of the Seal (for selkies) replacing Wolf and Wolves with Seal and Seals; some Books will add or remove rituals to better fit with what was believed about that species, or about that type of werebeast).


I've thought about vampires also, but in less detail. The myths vary a fair bit, but a vampire could plausibly be a living ritual magician who uses a style in which blood (human and freshly injected, perhaps) is an especially common material or symbolic component, or one who frequently practices a Path or Book similar to the Psychic Vampirism power from GURPS Psionic Powers (pp49-52); a Path/Book magic version of the Steal Youth spell (GURPS Magic p158) is plausible for either. One might likewise be a lich-like being that had in life practiced either of the above arts, and continues to do so after death (this is somewhat consistent with the version of Dracula depicted in Bram Stoker's eponymous book, though he'd have needed to prepare an appropriate ritual to raise Lucy Westenra, and was most likely doing the same for Mina). Vampires might also be ghosts or demons (possessing corpses or not), some other form of undead, or victims of a strange disease, but in general, they don't absolutely need to be.


In settings where faeries exist at all, I tend to imagine them as spirits, but I could see a lot of 'fae activity' really being ritual magicians playing pranks on other folk, whether out of immaturity, hostility, or even a desire to teach.


Thoughts? Suggestions for other monsters/creatures, or expansion on the above?