Huemonics is a relatively rarified school of magic from which effects are evoked solely through communion with color. As an object's outward appearance is the primary way--if not the only way--we may gather information about it, it follows to the Huemonicist that its color characteristics must convey great power. The huemonicist spends his life struggling to understand the myriad ways in which the inherent abilities of color may be harnessed for constructive ends.
Because an object's color properties are almost invariably tied to its physical nature, it is not possible for a Huemonicist to actually destroy any item whose color properties he is attempting to use. It is, however, possible for a Huemonics spell to backfire, thus destroying the object's color properties: This renders the object unnatural in appearance, devoid of any discernible color whatever, and forever renders inert its potential for Huemonics applications. While it is forgivable for very young or inexperienced Huemonicists to do this occasionally while studying, it is considered highly shameful for any adult or even moderately experienced mage to inflict the burden of colorlessness upon an object.
Restrictions: As Huemonics's effects are intimately related to an object's appearance and visibility, that object must be within the caster's line of sight and clearly illuminated so that its color properties are visible. If an object's color properties are of a type other than those with which a Huemonicist sympathizes, the Huemonicist's incantation will certainly fail, though there will be no adverse effect on the object (the failure is the Huemonicist's, not the object's). If a Huemonicist is attempting to cast a spell using an object with color properties that are too weak, or if he tries to cast too large or complex of a spell with only a small amount of color, the incantation will almost certainly fail; if it fails under these circumstances, it will almost certainly (perhaps a 97% or better chance) that the spell will backfire, with the effects described above.
Though the powers and significance of color have been known since the beginning of time--the sun has always been revered for its restorative powers, the blue sky above us has always been considered restful, and trees or merely peaceful meadows are admired for their healing restfulness--it is only relatively recently that mages have learned how to harness these powers. Huemonics has only existed in its current form for about 750 years.
It is believed that the first true Huemonicist was [Folk Hero], a [prefect, professor, something like that] at [Major Educational Institution] 800 years ago, who spent over 30 years studying and meditating until he was finally able to use yellow flower petals to create a potion that would cure diseases of the body and the mind. [Folk Hero] spent much of the next two decades further refining his talents and introducing his methods to select colleagues and students, often those whose views of the world were too abstract or conceptual to succeed at the other styles of magic, and it was soon discovered that nearly all Color Mages (as they were originally called) could be grouped into the six disciplines we know today. Upon [Folk Hero]'s death, his first round of students founded the Huemonics Institute to foster and to further the education of those who would pursue Huemonics.
Each of the six Huemonics disciplines roughly corresponds to a recognizable color: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Violet. Red, Yellow, and Blue are considered the Primary Disciplines, to which the majority (60-70%, as a good estimate) of Huemonicists adhere. Orange, Green, and Violet are considered the Secondary Disciplines, generally involving fewer abilities of greater difficulty that are inexplicably tied to the characteristics of the magics of the Primary Discipline. Roughly once a century, a mage will display a predilection toward White, which gives him unique powers; no mage with a diagnosed tendency toward White is permitted to study any style of magic other than Huemonics, given the rarity of the White personality, and the perceived danger of letting that much inherent power remain unchecked and unused. Of the eighth and most despicable discipline of magic, Black magic, we do not speak.
As color is often a less-than-certain characteristic, so too do the huemonistic disciplines not comport to easy categorization. However, general guidelines are as follows:
Red: The powers of Red are those of fire and of destruction, but also of strength. Reds are among the kingdom's finest warriors, capable of utilizing the intrinsic heat of the color to dazzle and demolish foes. While Red magic can be the hardest to learn to completely control, it's the most inherently powerful of any of the Standard Disciplines.
Yellow: It is from the Yellow sun that some derive the ability to heal, to recreate that which has been defiled or destroyed. The Yellow tends toward the humanistic huemonistic arts, generally devoting his life to philanthrophy, medicine, and other professions that help restore Order to a frequently chaotic world.
Blue: If Red is the magic of discord, Blue is the magic of harmony, drawing from the blue sky of a perfect day or the blue waters of a calm lake the ability to soothe the savageness of man and nature alike. The abilities to calm others, to put them to sleep, or to put them under control are among the powers of the Blues, who have counted some of our land's greatest leaders and peacemakers in their number.
Orange: The Orange knows what others too often forget: Life may arise from death, and the boundaries between this world and The Other are not as clear-cut as we might prefer them to be. Great religious leaders and scholars have been students of Orange, while average men and women have learned great agricultural secrets from studying living plants can benefit from dead ones, or how those alive today may benefit from the studies of those who predate us by decades, centuries, or millennia. If Orange is by far the least glamorous of Huemonics Disciplines, it might be the most important for everyday living.
Green: As the sun and water are integral elements in grass, trees, and other essential growth, so too do Yellow and Blue inform Green. A Green is fascinated with the study of nature in all its forms: its flora, its fauna, the very air we breathe. He has learned how to enhance their lives, as well as ours by his ability to communicate with them, to understand more about them than the rest of us, and help understanding flow freely. Orange and Green are often kindred spirits, and more marriages between members of these disciplines occur than between any other two disciplines, or even within any other single discipline.
Violet: Destruction and creation are seen by those who understand as two sides of the same coin, however at odds they might first appear. Such contradictions are part of the very soul of the Violet, who is both as aggressive as a Red and as peaceful as a Blue, the very height of huemonistic curiosity, and who calls his own the least understood, the most infrequently adopted, and the most secretive discipline (aside from White). To the outside world, precious little seems logical about the caprice of the Violet, which may lead others to experience uncontrollable fits of laughter, crushing melancholy, or even an unavoidable urge to dance. While many of the kingdom's greatest entertainers, mediums, and sages have been Violets, it is sad but necessary to note that one in 10 Violets is certifiably mad, and roughly one in 20 dies by his own hand; these unfortunate circumstances are brought on, it is widely believed, by the inherent inability of anyone to reconcile such diametrically opposed forces for long.
White: Even less is known about White than about Violet, as no more than one White has been alive at any given time during the whole of recorded history; indeed, countless thousands have lived long lives without ever having seen One. The Domain of the White is extremely wide and varied: As He may tap into the abilities of clouds and ice alike, His control over the weather can seem to border on the miraculous; so too are His communication skills par excellence, and it often seems as though all light but that of the Yellow sun may bow to His whim. Anyone displaying even a possible tendency toward White is treated by all Huemonicists with the utmost reverence and care: A White, when discovered, may not be fully trained by anyone alive, but the health, wealth, and well-being of Him and His family is guaranteed for life, and a young White is instructed as best as is possible, and then essentially left alone (though strictly guarded and intensely watched) to find His own way. There has yet to be a White who has displayed anything less than legendary abilities, and confirmed Whites have all made profound differences in the world, and are generally spoken of in hushed tones even by non-mages. It is believed (but heretofore unproven) that all great religious figures and the most outstandingly valiant of heroes were Whites who never harnessed their powers as is encouraged today. (Note: Yellows are more commonly mistaken for Whites, usually as children, than are mages of any other Discipline; it is now generally accepted that [Folk Hero founder of Huemonics] was White, not Yellow as was believed for several centuries.)
Black: Black is the magic of horror, of hatred, of evil. No one may choose to study Black magic: it chooses its practitioners, almost always to terrifying, catastrophic results. Black is rarely spoken of, and even more infrequently acknowledged as a potential destination for the Huemonicist.
Grey: While not an actual discipline, mages who identify with Huemonics but are unable to sufficiently control their powers, and thus create incantations that frequently backfire, are often derogatorily referred to as Grey, after the color an object drained of its color properties most closely resembles. In some parlance, Grey is also used as a term for mages who do not follow Huemonics.
The Huemonics Institute is the remote facility established and maintained exclusively for the initial and continuing education of Huemonicists. Everyone visits it first either as a child (if they develop their powers early) or as an adult (if they develop their powers later in life), and all are required to return at least once every five years to associate with mages of all Disciplines, thus to ensure that no one color will ever dominate, even in their own minds.
Size: Monumental. Though Huemonics is one of the least followed of all the styles of magic, the Institute is as large as the land's largest secular university, with the hope that continuing research and development will continue to expand the ranks of Huemonicists the land over. There are currently [some number--is 500 too many?] of practicing Huemonicists, and while they might know each other from their studies at the Huemonics Academy (if they developed their powers as children) or the Huemonics University (if they developed them as adults), Huemonics is one of the more individualistic styles of magic. Those adhering to each Discipline tend to congregate with each other, though the brotherhood among all Huemonicists is nearly absolute, and considered the strongest of all styles of magic. The tight-knit liberal Institute, which rigorously enforces discipline in all the disciplines but rarely imposes other rules or restrictions, is generally regarded as the reason.
Age: Youthful. The Institute itself dates to the founding of Huemonics proper after the death of [Folk Hero], almost exactly 750 years ago. (For more information, see Tradition above.)
Style: Efficient. The strictures of color magic ensure that no one (excepting Whites) practice it without extensive training, which is deployed with help of the most masterful mages of each of the six Disciplines.
Economics: Rich. Color mages are traditionally quite generous, and proud of the education they receive and the opportunities the Institute offers.
Membership: Highly exclusionary. Once a person has declared his interest or predilection toward Huemonics, he is studied and tested for verification purposes, and then urged to enter either the Academy or the University immediately to learn to control his powers. No outsiders--even members of a mage's family--are allowed within the walls of the Institute, and after one completes his education in any of the six Disciplines, he has generally grown to be extremely cautious about, if not outwardly disdainful, toward outsiders. While many Huemonicists do live their lives far away from the Institute and mingle and even intermarry with non-Huemonicists, they are generally the exception, and Huemonicist interaction with practitioners of other styles of magic is almost unheard of. Others often see Huemonics as an inexact, dangerous magic; Huemonicists tend to see their own powers as the fullest creative expression of their inner gifts, with the restrictions of other styles preventing those mages from achieving their greatest potential.
As Huemonics is primarily a conceptual art, and thus varies greatly from mage to mage, it's difficult to explain to outsiders exactly how it is practiced. Each Huemonicist creates, unleashes, and shares his incantations in a very personal, often indefinable way that many Huemonicists often have trouble explaining to each other.
There are no set rules for what spells a Huemonicist of any given Discipline may cast: He is limited strictly by his own imagination and the color focus he is using to make his perceptions a reality. However, due to the nature of Huemonics, and the powers inherent within each color, a red Huemonicist will seldom be able to cast anything other than battle or combat spells, a yellow Huemonicist will seldom be able to cast anything other than healing and rejuvenation spells, and so on. (Note: Huemonicists in the Secondary Disciplines have a certain percentage chance of being able to cast a spell more closely allied with the Primary Disciplines from their Discipline derives. In other words, a Green is more likely to be able to envision blue and yellow spells successfully than a Red might. However, the probability of failure of a Secondary Discipline Huemonicist attempting these spells is considerably greater than one from the associated Primary Discipline, or if he tried to cast a spell in his own Secondary Discipline.)
Once a Huemonicist has envisioned the spell he intends to cast, he requires a focus [feel free to suggest something less AD&Dy if you want]. The focus is the object whose color properties the Huemonicist is attempting to access and utilize: It may be a skein of blue-dyed fabric, a red flag, a field of yellow corn, and so on, but its color properties must be immediately and clearly identifiable to the caster. The size of the focus and intensity of its color properties determines the range, the power, and the duration of the spell: A Yellow will be able to cure a friend's battle-inflicted wounds much more effectively and completely with an ear of corn than with a single buttercup, for example. Because of this requirement, nearly ever Huemonicist carries on his person an object whose properties match his adhered Discipline, so he may always have something from which he may weave an incantation.
With the focus and the idea for his spell in mind, the Huemonicist then needs only project the idea through the focus and into reality. This is the most personal, and least outwardly understood, aspect of the Huemonicist's art: Some do this by speaking unintelligble words beneath their breath, others by shouting them at the tops of their lungs, still others through intense concentration or meditation lasting anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes, depending on the incantation. Once this process, known as the Transmutation, has occurred, the spell either takes effect or backfires immediately.