THE COLOURS OF MAGIC

My ‘WFRP Story’ series on the history of WFRP1 will return next year with the penultimate section of the account. However, to whet your appetite in the interim, I have posted below an extract adapted from material planned for the final section of the history.

While many aspects of the Warhammer world altered greatly in the five years following WFB1‘s publication, magic was not one of them. That situation changed in late 1988.

…One of the things we are quite keen to do is to rework the magic system for Warhammer Fantasy Battle. We envisage doing this initially by printing new spells in White Dwarf…. We’d also like to do a piece concerning magical colleges, whereby we create a dozen or so separate colleges of magic, each of which is associated with a particular colour. The relationship between the different colleges is best envisaged as a sort of wheel with the colours arranged around the edge. As you progress around the wheel (in a clockwise direction) you have a situation whereby a member of a particular college has greater offensive capabilities against a member of the next college round the wheel, which is, in turn, more vulnerable to a member of the preceding college.

– Andy Warwick, letter dated 7 December 1988

The principal elements of the revised magic system are already present in Warwick’s comments: magical colleges associated with colours, arrangement in a wheel and relationships of superiority or inferiority dependent on the colleges’ positions in the wheel. There is little evidence of a gradual development of these ideas prior to this point. It is possible that there were antecedents of which I am not aware, but an account from the Design Studio supports the notion that the new magic system was an abrupt development.

I remember this well. As far as I know, it came out of a conversation between John Blanche and Bryan Ansell and was created by decree from above.

– Graeme Davis, comment on Realm of Chaos 80s (13 September 2013)

The ideas developed rapidly. In the space of a month the plan for “a dozen or so… colleges associated with a particular colour” mentioned in Andy Warwick’s letter (which I term the “12~ model”) changed in two important respects. First, the number of colleges in the wheel was reduced to seven. Second, an eighth college was added that sat outside the wheel. This arrangement (the “7+1 model”) was documented in a brief that was sent out to writers in January 1989.

‘Brief for Warhammer Fantasy Battle Article: The Colour [sic] of Magic’ (January 1989)

The brief gives names to the eight colleges. The rapid formation of final ideas is again evident. The names and colours of the colleges would undergo very little further modification before publication.

Colleges of magic per ‘Brief for Warhammer Fantasy Battle Article: The Colour of Magic’

No descriptions are provided for the specific colleges at this point. There is merely some vague and general guidance on their nature.

…The colleges for roleplay magic… will be rather like research institutions where a wizard pays as an individual to be taught spells.

Wizards who attend military battle magic colleges, on the other hand, are sponsored by, for example, kings, nobles, warlords, etc. They are basically retainers who learn the art of battle magic at the expense of their sponsor and who are then put into his service to demonstrate their skills (rather like company-sponsored students at college today, who go on to work for their benefactor at the completion of their degree). Of course, not all wizards remain in the service of their sponsor – some move to other masters, the more powerful become independent, and a few return as teachers to their alma mater.

Although the background can imply that there is some structure to these colleges, that they have one or more centres where their way of magic is taught etc (although not all wizards would be trained in this way), it should not attempt to strictly codify this. We do not need a rigid and pre-defined hierarchy of magicians in institutionalized colleges – the word ‘college’ itself will imply this, but will also allow us a more flexible approach to the allegiance of these wizards.

You should make sure that the different colleges and their magicians are characterized by more than just colour: you can have one briskly academic, one stuffy and scholastic, another laid-back etc….

It should be made clear that wizards of different colleges may operate together….

– ‘Brief for Warhammer Fantasy Battle Article: The Colour of Magic’

The brief also introduces Warhammer‘s first attempt to provide a coherent metaphysical background to magic. It describes a “magical flux” of many colours derived from “the Chaos warp”.

The source of all magic in Warhammer Fantasy Battle is the Chaos warp. It bubbles into the world from the warp to be used by earthly magic users, both mortal and daemonic. A wizard is able to enter a semi-trance state which allows him to observe this flow of magic across the world, and is able to ‘see’ the very stuff of magic, or ‘flux’, as rolling polytechnic [sic, presumably “polychromatic” or “Technicolor”] clouds swirling across the sky [sic] forming fantastic shapes. Falling to the earth, this flux boils into a flourescent [sic] mist that hovers above the ground. (All of this is, of course, totally invisible to the normal observer.)

– Ibid

Within a few months the system had developed further. A two-part article in White Dwarf 113-114 (May-June 1989) by Bryan Ansell and Rick Priestley, with contributions from Geoff Lynas, unveiled the new ideas. There were now ten colleges of magic: eight in the wheel and two outside it (the “8+2 model”).

‘Colleges of Magic’, White Dwarf 113-114 (May-June 1989)

The new framework repositioned Dark Wizards outside the wheel. Grey Wizards replaced them in the wheel, and another college, of Golden Wizards, was added, taking the colour yellow from the Bright Wizards.

We added some more Colleges…. The Dark Wizards… were added… to have a ‘black magic’ style [sic] College (the Grey Wizards took over from the old Dark Wizards) and the 8th college added to bring the number up to the number associated with Chaos (cf the 8-pointed wheel).

– Phil Gallagher, comment on unpublished draft of ‘Colleges of Magic’ (mid 1989)

Colleges of magic per ‘Colleges of Magic’, White Dwarf 113-114 (May-June 1989)

Summary of the development of the colleges of magic

The colleges are each briefly described and given distinctive characters. It is made clear, however, that they are loose orders of wizards and do not correspond to specific physical sites.

The colleges are not teaching institutions centred upon buildings as might be expected, but traditions maintained by their countless members.

– ‘The Colleges of Magic’, White Dwarf 113 (May 1989)

The ‘Colleges of Magic’ article does not provide specific spells for each college. Instead, it includes a selection of new spells for manipulating the colours of magic, which are available to all wizards except those of Dark college.

The outline metaphysical system from the article brief has been expanded. The notion of a “magical flux” remains, but it is also described as a “Wind of Chaos”. This is now the source of the Spindle of Magic, which comprises a Dark Cone of raw magic, the Great Wheel of the colours of magic and the Light Cone aggregating the separate colours. Eight of the colleges derive their power from the colours on the Great Wheel, Dark Wizards from the Dark Cone and Rainbow Wizards from the Light Cone.

The Spindle of Magic and Great Wheel from White Dwarf 113 (May 1989)

The primary inspiration for the new system was the colour wheel in painting.

It had something to do with the theory of the colour wheel in art, I think – I could never make head nor tail of it myself, and I don’t think I was alone there although that was not a healthy opinion to express in the GW Design Studio at that time so I can’t be sure.

– Graeme Davis, comment on Realm of Chaos 80s (13 September 2013)

The colour wheel has been commonly presented using the twelve primary, secondary and tertiary colours or the seven Newtonian colours. This would appear to explain the original choices of “a dozen or so” colours in the 12~ model and seven in the 7+1 model.

Colour wheels based on the twelve primary, secondary and tertiary colours and seven Newtonian colours

In the final 8+2 model adopted in the ‘Colleges of Magic’ article, the wheel’s six chromatic colours are arranged according to their positions in the colour wheel, with two monochromatic colours, white and grey, added in an opposing pair.

The six chromatic colleges marked in their positions on the colour wheel

The colour wheel was not, however, the only source of inspiration. There also appears to have been a gaming influence. The SPI board game Sorcerer: The Game of Magical Conflict (1975) featured different colours of magic.

Cover and Colour Value Chart of Sorcerer: The Game of Magical Conflict (1975)

Once upon a time, either past or future, reality was (will be) less fixed than we know it. Seven universes impinged, one upon another, ebbing and flowing in and out of phase. That which was substantial waxed insubstantial and that which was figment became fact.

Ordinary men settled in the region they called Bannorkhemea, in such areas of that land that were free of “the colors.” Wherever an alien universe intruded, it signaled its presence with an aura of characteristically colored light….

In modern times there have existed (and do exist) many great Sorcerers who have power in many colors. All men now know themselves safe from magic and conjured armies as long as they keep to the Graylands. And so the Sorcerers do battle on the plains of color, vying for dominance in the realms of magic….

The Sorcerer game posits a world in a weakly magical universe which is at the intersection of six strongly magical universes, with each of the six types of magic being represented by a color (Blue, Yellow, Green, Orange, Red, Purple). Each hex of a certain color denotes an area where that variety is most effective….

There are also White (a combination of all six colors of magic) and Gray (non-magical) hexes.

– Sorcerer: The Game of Magical Conflict (1975)

Many of the properties of magic in Sorcerer are similar to those in Warhammer‘s revised system. There is a magical flux. The six colours in Sorcerer are arranged in a circular relationship of superiority and inferiority. A white colour of magic represents the combination of all the colours.

The parallels seem to be more than coincidental. Bryan Ansell appears to have played Sorcerer. In The Wild Hunt 12 (January 1977) he bemoaned the “rather bland abstract format” of its playing pieces.

The colours of magic have some echoes in the occult. The ten colours are very similar to those of the sephiroth in the Hermetic Qabalah.

Tree of Life in Hermetic Qabalah

Sephiroth colours rearranged as in the Great Wheel

Another figure in the Hermetic Qabalah tradition, the Rose Cross of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, incorporates three colour wheels: one based on the three primary colours, one of the seven Newtonian colours and one of the twelve primary, secondary and tertiary colours.

Rose Cross of the Golden Dawn

These similarities may be coincidental and independently derive from common conceptions of colour. However, there are other signs of the influence of Hermetic Qabalah in the ‘Colleges of Magic’ article. It includes the symbols of the menorah, Tree of Life and circumpunct, as well as other designs from mysticism and the occult, such as the ourobouros, triskele and Eye of Providence. This perhaps reflects a general plundering of occult imagery, rather than specific imitation of the Hermetic Qabalah, but it does at least indicate familiarity with some of the latter’s elements.

Fiction provides further influences on the colours of magic. The most obvious is, of course, JRR Tolkien’s legendarium, in which wizards carry colour epithets.

The five wizards named in JRR Tolkien’s Middle-earth stories*

The significance of the colour titles is not made explicit by Tolkien, but some ideas can be inferred. The most obvious is that they correspond to the colours of the wizards’ garments. However, it not specified whether the epithets are derived from their garb, or vice versa.

The first to come was of noble mien and bearing, with raven hair, and a fair voice, and he was clad in white; great skill he had in works of hand, and was regarded by well-nigh all, even by the Eldar, as the head of the Order. Others there were also: two clad in sea-blue, and one in earthern brown; and last came one who seemed the least, less tall than the others, and in looks more aged, grey-haired and grey-clad, and leaning on a staff. But Círdan from their first meeting at the Grey Havens divined in him the greatest spirit and the wisest.**

– JRR Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (1980), part IV, chapter 2, p389

The ‘Colleges of Magic’ article also observes a connection between the colours of magic and the colours of wizards’ robes, but explicitly determines that the colour of latter derives from the former.

A wizard’s colour does more than proclaim his allegiance. It also enables him to use his powers; for real colours act like magnets to magic of that colour. A wizard wearing an inappropriate colour would therefore find his powers reduced or even negated.

The study and use of a single magic colour necessitates that a wizard adopt that colour in his dress….

– ibid

There are, however, hints elsewhere in Tolkien’s writings that the significance of the colour adjectives went further than appearance.

“And here you will stay, Gandalf the Grey, and rest from journeys. For I am Saruman the Wise, Saruman Ring-maker, Saruman of Many Colours!”

I looked then and saw that his robes, which had seemed white, were not so, but were woven of all colours, and if he moved they shimmered and changed hue so that the eye was bewildered.

“I liked white better,” I said.

“White!” he sneered. “It serves as a beginning. White cloth may be dyed. The white page can be overwritten; and the white light can be broken.”

– JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (1954-1955), book II, chapter 2

“Behold, I am not Gandalf the Grey, whom you betrayed. I am Gandalf the White, who has returned from death. You have no colour now, and I cast you from the order and from the Council.”

– Op cit, book III, chapter 10

These passages seem to signal that colours have some meaning regarding the wizards’ powers or status. It is clear from the first that Saruman perceives many colours to be superior to a single colour. In the second Gandalf implies that white is superior to grey, and that the loss of colour represents a diminution. However, a precise meaning of these terms is elusive. The wizards’ colours can be interpreted as titles that reflect status within their order. They can be seen as representing different levels of magical power. It is also possible that they signal the wizards’ spheres of influence. Thus Radagast’s “earthern” brown denotes his interest in flora and fauna and the “sea-blue robes” of the Blue wizards might indicate a connection with the sea. However, the latter’s sponsor is Oromë, the Huntsman, not Ulmo, King of the Sea (Unfinished Tales, p393). Moreover, the colours of Gandalf and Saruman cannot easily be interpreted as denoting their specialisms.

The colours of Tolkien’s wizards might even have a moral aspect. Saruman’s hubris and corruption are reflected by his multiple colours, and Gandalf’s resurrection and purity by white.

In Warhammer colours do have some implications for status, given the nature of superiority and inferiority in the Great Wheel and the independence of the hub wizards. However, this structure is not a hierarchy. Colours also seem to have connections with the natures of colleges and wizards. In most cases they seem to be based on obvious stereotypes and colour associations, but the personalities of Grey and Rainbow Wizards appear to derive specifically from Gandalf and Saruman.

Grey wizards rarely set up home in one place for very long. They are lean-bodied wanderers…

Rainbow wizards are regarded as conceited and self-opinionated, and it is said by other wizards that their position at the pinnacle of the Hub has gone to their heads.

– ‘Colleges of Magic’ White Dwarf 113 (May 1989)

The notion that magic is visible to practitioners as a colour seems to owe an obvious debt to another literary source: Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books, especially The Colour of Magic (1983).

It had been remarked before that those who are sensitive to radiations in the far octarine – the eighth color, the pigment of the Imagination – can see things that others cannot.

– Ibid

It was octarine, the colour of magic. It was alive and glowing and vibrant and it was the undisputed pigment of the imagination, because wherever it appeared it was a sign that mere matter was a servant of the powers of the magical mind. It was enchantment itself.

But Rincewind always thought it looked a sort of greenish-purple.

– Ibid

Ordinary men cannot perceive the magical flux or see its fabulous colours. Wizards, however, can feel the flow of the whole flux and can actually see the colours of magic as they swirl and billow across the world.

– ‘Colleges of Magic’ White Dwarf 113 (May 1989)

Another parallel in fiction is Piers Anthony’s Apprentice Adept heptalogy (1980-1990). This describes a system of magic with different disciplines associated with colours. However, there seem to be no specific overlaps between these disciplines and Warhammer‘s colleges, and any similarities are probably coincidence.

The colours and colleges of magic would not be incorporated into WFB or WFRP products for some time. Their first appearance outside White Dwarf was, in fact, in Advanced Heroquest (1989). This introduced spells specific to individual colleges. Bright wizards’ spells were included in the Advanced Heroquest rulebook, Jade in White Dwarf 121 (January 1990), Amethyst in White Dwarf 125 (May 1990) and Light in White Dwarf 139 (July 1991) and the supplement Terror in the Dark (1991).

Bright wizard’s spell list in Advanced Heroquest (1989)

WFB4 adopted the colleges of magic in its Battle Magic supplement (1992). This reflected a slight variant of the 8+2 model, where High Magic occupied roughly the same position as the Rainbow college.

There was evidently an aspiration that WFRP1’s magic system would also be revised to reflect the new ideas.

Ken Rolston is currently working on the WFRP magic supplement and he will be dealing with the colleges for roleplay magic….

– ‘Brief for Warhammer Fantasy Battle Article: The Colour [sic] of Magic’

However, it does not appear that any of this expected development took place. There is no trace of the colleges in Ken Rolston’s draft of Realms of Sorcery, which had in any case already been completed around the time they were revealed in White Dwarf.

Ken Rolston… crossed over the Atlantic last month to spend a week at the Studio. He delivered his new Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay book, provisionally titled Realm of Sorcery. This will be a massive tome containing everything you need to know about wizardry in the Warhammer world, with hundreds of spells and new magic items.

– ‘Culture Shock’, White Dwarf 115 (July 1989)***

[The system of colour magic] was not part of any pre-existing work for Realm of Sorcery. Ken Rolston was working on a draft of RoS a little before this came out (if memory serves) and it stalled afterward.

– Graeme Davis, comment on Realm of Chaos 80s (13 September 2013)

Colleges of magic did not appear in WFRP1 until much later, in Hogshead Publishing’s Realms of Sorcery supplement (2001). Even then they were an adjunct to, rather than replacement for, the existing WFRP1 magic system.

FOOTNOTES

* The information in this table is derived from JRR Tolkien, The Silmarillion, ‘Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age’, p300, and Unfinished Tales, part IV, chapter 2, p393, preferring what appear to be the latest forms.

** Although Gandalf is most associated with his grey robes, Tolkien made it clear in a late unpublished document that he wore a blue hat. See John Rateliff, The History of The Hobbit, second edition (2011), I(b), ii.

*** Since WD115 would have been published in the month before its cover date, Rolston’s visit seems to have taken place in May-June 1989, which coincides with the publication of ‘Colleges of Magic’. It is surprising, however, that Rolston was not aware of the development work on the article prior to then. The writers’ brief had been circulated to freelancers four or five months earlier.

To read more of ‘The WFRP Story, click here.

Title art by John Blanche. Internal art by Gary Chalk et al. Used without permission. No challenge intended to the rights holders.