Magic In Society
Many people who practice magic use varying disciplines based on what suites their needs in the moment. Learning one discipline does not limit your ability to learn another, nor are they different enough in practice that learning one yields no benefits when learning another.
While individual practitioners tend to be more generalist, when people get together to form cults, covens or schools, they most often tend to lean strongly towards a particular discipline.
Divine magic is often the specialty of newer orders who have formed out of communities who were born without a natural affinity for magic, or who actively seek to recruit new members.
Bargaining and nature magic are the most common among groups of magical practitioners, as they are generally the easiest to avoid unstable magic while practicing.
Binding magic is uncommon to appear as the focus of a larger order, as it requires cleverness and intellect to use it effectively. While it is not terribly uncommon for individuals to achieve success in the discipline, fostering that mode of thinking about magical practice is difficult to achieve amongst a larger populous.
The Dichotomy
Stable Magic
Stables Magic is often associated with goodness and wholesomeness. However, it is just as common for stable magic spells to be just as destructive as unstable magic. That being said, stable magic is far more predictable and is therefore more common to use for simple tasks such as completing chores or travelling quickly, where they are repeated often and regular negative side-effects would be highly problematic.
Unstable Magic
Unstable Magic the more chaotic side of the magical coin. While generally having more raw power behind it, unstable magic spells will always have wild and unpredictable consequences, even when performing the same spell repeatedly. The only predictable side-effects of utilizing unstable magic is that it will affect the mental faculties of those who use it repeatedly over time, typically driving them mad with enough usage. It is not uncommon for physical deformities to develop with regular practitioners of unstable magic, however this tend to be fairly unique to the practitioner as they are random in nature.
Magical Disciplines
Divine Magic
Divine Magic draws its power directly from a covenant with one of the gods. Generally, this kind of magic is performed by those born without an affinity for magic. This is because it is one of the only ways that they can practice. That being said, there are some cults which continue to worship a particular god, drawing their power directly from them despite having a natural ability.
Bargaining Magic
Bargaining Magic is that which exacts a cost from its caster. In some cases, it may require the caster to bleed, in others perform a sacrifice, or maybe even years off their life. In milder cases, it may only require certain ingredients to be burns or otherwise destroyed in exchange for the benefit of whatever spell they are casting.
Bargaining magic is particularly interesting in that it is the only discipline of magic in which it is not a difference of spells which determines the stability of the magic, but rather whether or not the user is willing to pay the cost. By simply withholding the cost, the magic instantly becomes unstable. In most cases the spell will attempt to forcibly exact its cost, however if the caster is strong enough, they can withstand it and perform the unstable version of the spell.
Nature Magic
Nature Magic produces its results by calling on the lingering divinity of the creation found in nature to produce an outcome. Nature magic revolves around the balance of all things. Similarly to bargaining magic, nature magic always extracts a cost, however rather than extracting that cost from the caster, the cost is built into the spell's outcome. As an example, to grow a plant, it may also kill a plant. Alternatively, it may instead wither several plants in the surrounding areas, but still leaving them alive. Most spells are designed to produce a cost in the outcome, which is as least apparent as possible. Where a significant outcome is desired, however, the cost typically becomes much more apparent.
Blinding Magic
Binding Magic functions by taking two entities and tying them together. In many cases this becomes confusingly conceptual. In straightforward case, a caster may summon an object to their hand by binding that object to their hand. In another case, they may teleport by binding themselves to a different location, or create a portal by binding two locations together. Other instances may require a more conceptual link, by binding the concept of a human with the concept of a bird, a caster may grant themselves magical wings, giving themselves the ability to fly. Alternatively, then may bind themselves to the atmosphere in order to move fluidly throughout it. Much of binding magic requires the user to be clever about exactly how they garner their result, as each different method may come with slightly different drawbacks.
Transcendence Magic
Transcendence Magic operates by elevating the subject to a higher state of being which allows them to enact their will. Transcendence magic is the oldest form of magic harnessed by humans. The exact nature of its construction is not remembered, and therefore the spells and rituals recorded in tomes and scrolls are the only remnants left, with no chance of creating new spells or enchantments.
The tomes and scrolls containing the spells of transcendence magic which remain are highly coveted, while most were lost to time.