At some point during the 90 years after the outbreak, magic appears to have returned to the world. Now, mages play an important role in keeping the population safe.
Magic comes in two variants, one for Finns, one for people selected by the non-Finnish Old Gods, so that nations that have not returned to the old faiths have very few mages.
Icelandic magic[]
Icelandic Mages (Seiðkona for females and Seiðkarl for males) have the ability to cast protective spells and receive prophetic visions. Their spells can also be used in battle and everyday life.
According to Word of God
, Icelanders who report to have seen spirits are not automatically considered potential mages because Icelandic spirits are known to deliberately reveal themselves to humans, including those without magic talent. It is yet unknown whether Norwegian spirits share this habit.
Channeling spells[]
Icelandic spells are channeled through galdrastafir, runes carved, written or painted in a ritualistic manner. Most of these runes appear to be circular, with varying symbols in their field, but it is unknown whether this holds for all runes in current use. Historically, magical runes also included stave(-shaped one)s.
Visions[]
Icelandic Mages can summon prophetic visions, mainly through dreams. It is unknown whether the visions are involuntary or not.
Training[]
Anyone who is discovered to have magic potential is trained in the Academy of Seiður in Reykjavik, and may choose a program of their liking.
Norwegian Mages[]
Norwegian Mages are also trained in the Academy of Seiður, and are apparently considered Icelandic Mages.
Source of Magic Powers[]
According to a Reader's Questions, mages of the Icelandic type are individually chosen and empowered by the Norse gods. Both being claimed by other gods (i.e., Finnish) or a non-believer makes a person unsuitable - the fact that Reynir, as a mage, obviously has close to zero experience with Icelandic rites notwithstanding. The necessity to be (noticed and) chosen by the gods results in Icelandic mages being much less common than their Finnish counterparts.
Finnish Magic[]
Finnish Mages (Noidat, sing. Noita; lit. "witch(es)") have the ability to control elements of nature and see spirits.The main task of a Finnish mage is to guide the souls of Beasts and Trolls in the afterlife. Lalli is seen using this power via an incantation to "fix" the Cat-tank's radio by dispelling the voices of the trolls in the area.
Most Finns can cast spells to some degree, but only those who can see - and thus command - spirits are considered mages.
Channeling spells[]
Finnish spells are channeled through a plea or a command to a spirit, God or element, called runo. The caster can go to some degree of coercion with his plea, which is typically how one deals with the rather malevolent (or just stubborn) spirits.
Apparently the spells are recited in Kalevala meter, but it is unknown whether they must be learned or are spontaneous.
Training[]
No official training institute exists in Finland, possibly due to the fact that settlements are isolated. A mage is usually taught by a more experienced colleague, but training apparently isn't necessary to cast spells, as Lalli can do so even not having received much real training.
Source of Magic Powers[]
While Finnish mages also use spells that request the aid of one of their gods - which means that that particular spell will become less and less likely to work the farther the noita is from home -, their primary source of magic lies within themselves, and its power is correlated with genetic inheritance from one's ancestors.
The Dreamscape[]
Reynir crossing from his own haven to Lalli's through "tier two", as it appears to him, in between
As shown in Chapter 7, mages of both types can enter, meet, and communicate - with real world's language barriers lifted - in a dreamworld. It is yet unknown whether they can sleep without going there, though, and there are grossling-ish entities present that can and will attack the mages.
Icelandic and Finnish mages differ in how they deal with this threat. They all seem to have a place within the dreamscape, dubbed their "haven" by the fandom, where they appear upon entry and which promises some degree of safety. Noita - and supposedly lesser spirits - cannot enter others' havens unless the owner allows them in, and use their own haven as a defensible position.
So far, we have only Onni's (sparse) information and the example of Reynir telling us how the Icelandic-schooled mages handle the dreamspace. Reynir can bypass the wards of others' havens as easily as not even noticing them present, which Onni remembers as a typical trait of non-Finnish mages. However, he also pronounces them "defenseless", which flies in the face of them using galdrastafur to cast protective spells.
While it seems that malevolent spirits can attack mages in their haven, Onni insists that the "visiting" Lalli does not return to his own haven because "it's looking for us again". Thus, havens apparently do provide some protection.
Besides the mages themselves and the adversary spiritual beings, certain aspects of the mages make appearances in the dreamscape. Noita who enter the "second tier" of the dreamspace by opening a portal from their haven can find it again because their Sielulintu marks the position. Reynir, upon entering his haven, is greeted by a flock of sheep and an Icelandic Sheepdog, the latter supposedly being his Fylgja - note that the closest Finnish analogue, the Luonto, manifests only in the real world instead.
Known mages[]
- Onni Hotakainen (Noita)
- Lalli Hotakainen (Noita)
- Reynir Árnason (Seiðkarl)
- Helga Árnadottir (Reynir's paternal great-aunt, last member of the family to be a mage; Seiðkona)
- Reynir's teacher and classmates at the Academy of Seiðr (all women; Seiðkonar)
- Ensi Hotakainen (Onni and Lalli's paternal grandmother and magic instructor; Noita)
- Väinö Väänänen (one of the four sentinel mages, "eyes of gulls"; Noita)
- Kauko Katainen (one of the four sentinel mages, "eyes of sparrows"; Noita)
- Aulikki Jokimäki (one of the four sentinel mages, "eyes of crows"; Noita)
- Sointu Takusuo (one of the four sentinel mages, "eyes of vipers"; Noita)