[Magic] Development of Spell-based Magic through TL0

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

Around the beginning of the Lower Paleolithic, mages of the genus Australopithecus and other higher primates begin using very simple, IQ/A or even IQ/E spells (still used by modern non-human Great Apes, and possibly other animals in the IQ 6-7 range), perhaps ceremonially; a few spells based on other attributes may have existed in this era.

It might be simplest in GURPS 4E to represent these sorts of magical powers as Perks or magic-based advantages which represent evolutionary precursors to actual Magery/ Power Investiture.

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

Advancement would be quite through the Paleolithic and Mesolithic, as any time spent on learning spells was time that could not be spent on other things needed by the tribe, and job specialization beyond 'hunter or gatherer' was far more common in later eras than in this one.

Remember that small bands of people living in prime environments only need to spend a few hours each day foraging for food. That gives people lots of time to do other things, especially given that the idea of generating excess goods for purposes of advertising social status or for trade probably doesn't catch on until the Upper Paleolithic.

Magical rituals might also be incorporated into daily routines, such as chanting incantations while fishing or foraging.

Imbuements might be precursors to formal Enchantments.

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

First, specialization and what would otherwise be leisure time increase in this era, along with intellectual concepts like mathematics and proto-writing

Actually, there's good evidence that free time and quality of life actually dropped considerably for many neolithic farmers (and possibly pastoralists). The tradeoff was that agriculture allowed much higher population densities, but at the cost of poorer health and increased disease risk for most of the population.

The benefits of neolithic agricultural society for magic are a more settled lifestyle which allows better access to specialized magical equipment and places of magical power, as well as the rise of dedicated mages/priests who could just focus on their magical training.

Neolithic settlements might spring up near places of magical power in support of dedicated a priest/mage caste, like the communities associated with Stonehenge and associated "henges" in SW England.