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She was the one withe demon rock. Why was the top mage the one acting even more stupid?

Magic is a type of toxin that has spawned from a realm beyond our pure world. This aberration anti-nature actively seeks those who are "fit" to wield its power and strength, corrupting the mind in the process and giving birth to lunatics who proudly cast the wand of Satan. Wizards, sorcerors, mages, all the same hellspawn. Thus, it is humanity's duty to purge these impurities and cleanse the world of these casters. The only good wizard is a dead wizard and by God, there will be plenty of dead wizards

>Where does it come from?
No one knows
>Is it common or only a small group of people can use it
It's rare and knowing how to practice witchcraft is even rarer
>Do the common people fear it?
Yes, the same way you'd fear someone with a pet tiger. It can harm you or others if the owner isn't responsible and even then that's no guarantee.
>Are there schools to study the arcane arts?
The closest you'll get are cults and covens who teach through the ancient knowledge that's either orally passed down or preserved in text.

>How is magic viewed in your setting?
There is no universal view of magic in my setting. The only real consensus on magic is that it's damn useful to have and damn dangerous to face.

>Where does it come from?
Magic is divided roughly into two general forms: arcane and divine. Arcane magic is based off of tapping into the echoes of the universe's birth, and is fairly consistent wherever you go in terms of effect, while being activated differently based on culture, physiology, and/or training - a wizard's spell may require somatic components while a bard's require verbal, even though they produce the same effect. Material components vary even more wildly, and one magical tradition might require a child sacrifice to complete a where another demands a symbolic dance under a specific astrological conjunctions. The magic doesn't require symbolism to function, but most beings require symbolism to shape magic.

Divine magic is literally made of hopes and dreams. Gods exist because enough people got together and thought really hard about them, and if enough people decide that their god is different in a certain area, that god will actually be different for them - think the Greek & Roman deities in Percy Jackson's books. The effects of divine magic can vary from area to area, depending on how people interpret your god in that area. Say you worship a fire god of vengeance, but travel to a nation where firestorms are associated with agricultural renewal and prosperity. Your ability to place curses upon people may grow weaker, but any spells related to healing will improve.

>Is it common?
Somewhat. Most every tribe and village with a favorable or tolerant attitude toward magic will have some kind of minor healer or druid, usually in a priestly or shamanic role. The more advanced a nation's military and economy, the more likely magic will be used on a larger scale, given the obvious advantages available to magic users.

>Do the common people fear it?
Depends on the common people and the magic. Practically nobody likes a necromancer, but only the most superstitious people will say no to a healer saving their son's hand from amputation.

>Are there schools to study the arcane arts?
Mostly in major cities. Elsewhere, magic is usually taught through apprenticeships.

>Where does it come from?

Three sources: Arcane comes from your own soul, Natural comes from your own soul and all the souls around you (plants, animals, rocks, bugs, even the air), and Divine is borrowed from the grand souls of Demons, Gods, and Angels and channeled through you. None of them can ever 'truly' replicate what one source of magic does.

>How is magic view in your setting, Veeky Forums?
Arcane magic is viewed as unknowable, tampering in God and Nature's domain, a form of magic practiced by both learned men of progress and science but equally selfish men who seek only power.
Natural magic is viewed with a sense of comfort, informality, and familiarity it's practiced by those who're comfortable with themselves and the world around them, people who talk to the trees, bees, fairies, fire, and leaves.
Divine magic is viewed with a sense of awe, respect, ceremony and sometimes fear- it's the word and will of GOD after all channeled through a mortal and while they respect the Divine's capacity for 'GOOD', that doesn't always align with the common man's WANTS or NEEDS.

> Is it common or only a small group of people can use it?
Arcane magic is the least common magic practiced as access to it is restricted by not just literacy, but individual aptitude and intelligence. You could be exceptionally intelligent and be shit at Arcane magic on the basis of having no applicable talent- doomed to copy texts and teach for the rest of your life.
Natural magic is the most wildly practiced: anybody can do it, anybody can learn it, and availability is widespread and difficult to gatekeep. Someone can literally sit under a large enough tree and starve themselves for a few months and gain a few very simple cantrip.
Divine magic is the second most common and entirely dependent on an individual being 'faithful' enough to their proprietor. Ordination DEMANDS casting- if you lack the faith to cast miracles, you simply cannot be a priest.

Because even in awakening, Anders was a retard. Who somehow got more retarded, since he was fucking free from Templars as a Warden, and a local semi celebrity in ferelden because the Warden solved literally all the problems

They were doing just fine until some retards nuked the pope twice

I murdered him every time. Why these idiots thought anyone would side with them is beyond retarded.

>How is magic viewed in your setting, Veeky Forums?
Depends on who you ask. One extreme view is that of the nerds and thaumists: they love it with a passion and think it holds the answer to everything. On the other hand, you have die-hard traditionnalists, who think that it went too far and started spawning abominations, and on not!Judgement Day, all those who dabbled in the profane and tainted otherwise pure machinery with it will face retribution.

>Where does it come from?
Souls. Basically, every sentient being has a soul, and said soul gathers """energy""" linearly with time. Rule of thumb is that, at the current technology level, the soul of someone who dies at 50 years old - the average in the setting - can power a four-person household for 50 years.

>Is it common or only a small group of people can use it?
It's so widespread it's not even funny, especially in the field of enchantment. Almost everyone has some kind of Soullet; a bracelet enchanted to hell and back with all kind of magical procedures that let a user hijack their soul and use it to store money, data, maps, and enter the Internet. Most people also have a message ring to communicate instantaneously accross the globe with one another, and all but the most poor households have a purifying basin where they wash people and food, and dispose of their garbage.

>Do the common people fear it?
See first point.
The uneducated tend to fear the most experimental forms of it because they believe it'll lead to a golem uprising.
Those who dabble in it tend to fear it for the very same reasons.
The poor tend to fear it because it's mostly used against them.
The rich tend to fear it because any damn whiz kid with a simple Message ring can hack into their souls and steal their money these days.

>Are there schools to study the arcane arts?
Yeah, though they're relatively new: magic used to not be considered a global gamechanger until the Renaissance. Nowadays, enchanter is one of the most prestigious career one can land.

The universe is a ceaseless shifting mass of everflowing energy like the big bang, flowing ever outward and causing complete chaos.
Gods are born of this energy.
Gods create a prison around the source of the big bang which becomes the planet the setting is based in.
Prison cannot entirely stop the effects of the energy which seeps through and creates life on the surface of said prison.
Said lifeforms therefore possess the same energy within them.
This energy can be channeled through means of martial talent or magic.
Wizards believe that they know to the answers of the universe and their view and capacity to understand the world around them and how they view magic within it allows them to shape different things into existence.
Sorcerers believe an innate spark of power within them allows them to reach the same result, though through different means.
Divine magic is in turn based on faith. The faith that something of a higher power is granting you the power to affect the world around you is what allows you to do just that.
Some theorize that the collective effort and the faith in the gods is what created them to begin with, which would mean that the collective faith and consciousness of all those who believed in them was powerful enough to cause a rip in time for the gods to go back into to begin existing to begin with and by extension allows the gods create the world upon which the lifeforce that grants them their own being lives upon.

I feel like amongst non-humans magic should be pretty normal, but humans should have to tough it out (and being able to do so is their main perk, since they're "adaptable.")

So human clerics and wizards exist but they're pretty rare. Other races are confused as to what the heck these 'doctor' things humans have are, and why humans ride horses when they could just teleport where they wanna go!

>How is magic view in your setting

Generally with wonder, tinged with caution and trepidation. Magic users are common enough that nowhere can really afford to hate them, but few know the limits of a mage's power.

>Where does it come from?

Wizardly magic comes from Lifestream-like energy flowing through the universe, which practitioners of various traditions constantly argue about the nature of. Magic can also be granted by the Gods or other powerful entities and artifacts; whether these beings just concentrate the above, universal force is another debate. It can also be generated by the user's spirit directly, but this is generally not seen as magic, being more like how Monks work.

>Is it common or only a small group of people can use it?

Most people have witnessed magic at some point, and anyone can learn Wizardry if they have the time and resources. In one country, educated commoners can frequently use a few minor (not even first level) spells. However, training yourself to be able to survive and succeed in channeling the magical energy to use the really big spells is very rare.

>Do the common people fear it?

Depends on the area, but everyone rightfully fears a high-level spellcaster they don't know, given their capacity for destruction.

>Are there schools to study the arcane arts?

Depends on the area. The country I mentioned above, in the capital, teaches magical theory and some practice in free academies, and hosts the most advanced arcane universities and research centers in the world. For the most part, arcane magic is taught on a mentor/apprentice basis, though.

Wonders, signs, omens, miracles, and the various odd happenstances are a common enough phenomena that most every being has witnessed them. The lay people have their charms and rituals used to ward bad spirits away and bring good health and fortune to their side. But there are those whose magical might is far greater, able to command the forces of the world to their bidding. Whether by being blessed by the gods, by the teachings of the intricate arts of mage craft, by dealings with the many spirits and forces of the world, knowing the true name of a being, or many other ways of harnessing great power.

Where does this power come from? Many are the answers to this question, with each people's scholars providing more and more each day. I don't feel like providing one to the players, so it just is. There is magic and it works and that's the way of the world.

As to the common man's fears, does the common man fear the soldier with his sword and armor? Does the common man fear the king and his generals? Does the common man fear the high priests of his gods? Of course, but that fear is one of logical wariness for those who wield power and dangerous tools.

The many great schools and universities of learning are as varied in their teachings of the magical arts as there are ways to harness it. From the Clockwork Cathedral, a new college where they study the mechanical arts, to the Academy of Applied Magic, a more pragmatic school focusing on the application of spellcraft toward infrastructure and construction, to the grand Acadamae, an old and well known school for wizardry where one can go to get a well rounded education on the magical arts but has a strong focus on the art of conjuring.

I had a mage Warden, mage Hawke, mage side playthrough, and I still murdered his ass, because his plan sucked donkey dicks and killed more mages than the Templars did.