[Magic] Development of Spell-based Magic through TL0

[Prince Charon]

Something of a worldbuilding exercise, inspired by a different idea that I might work on later.

For clarity, I'm dividing Technology Level 0 up further than GURPS Low-Tech does:
Lower Paleolithic (began circa ~3 million years ago), TL0a
Middle Paleolithic (began circa ~300,000 years ago), TL0b
Upper Paleolithic (began circa ~50,000 years ago), TL0c
Epipalaeolithic/Mesolithic (began circa ~20,000 years ago), TL0d
Pre-Pottery Neolithic (began circa ~10,000 years ago), TL0e
Pottery Neolithic (began circa ~8,400 years ago), TL0f
Chalcolithic (began circa ~7,000 years ago), TL0g

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. The number of spells known would be very small, one or a few per band/tribe, passed on master-apprentice style, and on rare occasions learned through contact with other groups. As brains grew more sophisticated with the evolution of Homo habilis, H. erectus, and H. antecessor, this would become more common, and the first IQ/H spells could have been developed, though this is more likely in TL0b, with the rise of first H. heidelbergensis and then early H. sapiens - the Neanderthals and Cro Magnons. IQ/H spells would most likely have had no other spells as prerequisites for a very long period, with the first to have spells as prerequisites being more likely in either TL0c or TL0d. 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. Enchantment spells are possible, but are likely to be rare if we assume something too close to the standard rules - even Quick and Dirty enchantment requires learning at least eleven spells first, if you don't use one of the bypassing options (e.g. Wild Talent or the Charm perk).

The Neolithic would have an explosion of magical learning: First, specialization and what would otherwise be leisure time increase in this era, along with intellectual concepts like mathematics and proto-writing, allowing a village's mages more time to spend learning magic, inventing spells, and creating magic items (Slow and Sure enchantment probably started in Neolithic villages). Second, trade routes (possibly started by nomadic tribes who were passing through those areas anyway on regular or semi-regular migration circuits) would allow magical learning to spread more, so that a wider range of spells could be learned, and more new spells related to them could be invented. Where a TL0d mage that knew a dozen spells total would be exceptionally learned, a mage in TL0f or the later parts of TL0e might know multiple spells that need a dozen spell-prerequisites each. On a minor note, the idea of Spell Colleges could date from this era. Also, the Scroll spells probably dates from either TL0g or the early parts of TL1, whenever the GM agrees that writing has become sophisticated enough (which will also be the era in which spells can first be learned directly from writings, with no instructor). Magical Styles could theoretically have been developed in TL0d, but like Colleges (which arguably could be very old styles that got big), are more fitting at TL0e or later.


Thoughts?