A Brief Guide to Slayers Magic as applied to Slayers Glorious
(A writer's handbook)
by Todd Harper

Preface: This is all from my perspective, but I'd like to consider myself
learned in Slayers canon. It is by no means a "series bible" for Glorious,
but I think people might find it useful. Any additions or useful
suggestions, email to lina@sandwich.net
>Todd

[Magic]
	Magic is a particularly strong force in Slayers, since that's mainly
what the main characters do: use it to blow stuff up. ^_^ Magic in Slayers
is defined into categories. The three main categories are White Magic (for
healing and protection), Black Magic (for attack), and Shamanism (for a
variety of purposes). Shamanism is further broken down into Water, Fire,
Earth, Wind, and Spirit/Astral categories.
	Casters of magic traditionally specialize. Shamanism is a common
specialty (like Zelgadis and, to a lesser extent, Amelia), but priests and
priestess (like Sylphiel and Filia) specialize in White Magic instead. Rarer
still are Black Magic specialists (like Lina). Most magicians know a good
chunk of Shamanism, some of either White or Black magic, and a lot of their
specialty. Naga seems to be the exception, as she is equally skilled in
White and Black magic, as well as Shamanism...however, at 22 she's older
than the rest of the cast.
	People have two 'factors' of spellcasting: magical power and magical
capacity (these are terms I'm using; the actual terms Kanzaka uses are
reeeeally confusing). Magical power is how much force you can put behind a
spell, and the level of spells you can use. Someone with a low magical power
could only use small, less powerful spells. Magical capacity is how long you
can cast spells over and over again...kind of like MP in a console RPG,
though that's a very broad comparison. Lina and Naga both have very high
levels of magical power and magical capacity.
	For more on this, check out QP's Magic Primer:
	http://member.nifty.ne.jp/QPHOUSE/magic/m_pri_e.html

[Who can cast what?]
	Cataloguing who could cast what spell would take forever. These
lists are given as generalizations (in Naga's case) and authorial intentions
(in Ace and Mari's cases) to better give a framework for authors who want to
"canonically" use spells.
	There are certain assumptions made in the following lists. It's
assumed everyone knows the Lighting spell, which is pretty basic. Most mages
also know how to form a defensive barrier of some sort, though these are
rarely as powerful as "true" defensive magic like Defense (White) and Windy
Shield (Shamanist/Wind).
	Individual spells are not described; descriptions of all of them can
be found in the spellbook at Slayers Universe (www.inverse.org/e/bkg/magic),
of which I'm a contributor, so I guarantee freshness. ;)

(Naga)
	Naga's tough to judge. She displays a wide category of spells in the
OAV series and the novels, as well as in the two Slayers Royal games (which
I am using here also, since I have them readily available). She is also one
of the few Slayers characters who creates her own spells, though these
usually have disastrous results.
	Naga's specialties are hard to pin down; she's not terrific anywhere
(save Water and Earth Shamanism), but she has an excellent grasp of
Summoning Magic (including Golem Creation).

White Magic - Believe it or not, Naga's skill with White Magic is
unfathomably high. She once used a Flow Break spell to take out an entire
*room* of Living Mail (who are only vulnerable to white and astral magic) in
"Jeffrey-kun's Knight Adventure", something which shocked Lina. This is
probably because while she was still just Princess Gracia, she was training
to be a priestess just like Amelia turned out to be. It's not difficult to
assume that she could use high-level white magics, but doubtful she could
cast something like Resurrection without outside help.

Black Magic - Naga styles herself as a Black Sorceress(tm), so she does know
some Black magic. I think the list is rather limited: she knows Gaav Flare
for absolute certain (Slayers Great), and can probably use Dynast Breath and
Dynast Brass, Dolph Zork and Dolph Strash, Zelas Bleed, and Blast Ash
(Slayers Royal/Royal 2). It's unlikely that she'd know anything more complex
or powerful, however. 

Shamanist/Fire - Naga prefers Water magic, but she does know some Fire
magic. I didn't realize until after I'd written Glorious #1 that Burst Flare
*should* be beyond her level, so I guess she knows that spell. ^_^ Normally
she'd probably restrict herself to "common" Fire magic like Fireball, Burst
Rond, Flare Arrow, and Flare Lance.

Shamanist/Water - Naga's favorite category of attack spell. It's likely that
she'd know anything possible in this category, including some of her own
spells (like Freeze Rain). Her default mode of attack in the series is
Freeze Arrow and Demona Crystal spells, but if the situation was right she
could probably whip out anything in this category.

Shamanist/Earth - Naga's second favorite category, for one particular
reason: golems. She is an expert at the Vu Vraimer spell, and has created
the Vu Raywa and Mega Vraimer spells (even if they don't always work as
planned). She has a combo spell between Water and Earth called Bogardic Elm,
one spell she made that actually works as promised. As far as mundane Earth
magic, she is shown to know Bephis Bring, Vlave Howl, Dil Brand, and Mega
Brand (from the movies). It's possible she'd know Dug Break and Vigarthagaia
as well, since she's an advanced study at Earth spells.

Shamanist/Wind - Naga isn't shown to know a lot of spells in this category,
but she does know *strong* spells in this category. She uses a casting of
Windy Shield in Slayers Return that stood up to a Dragu Slave, which is
nothing to sneeze at. Stuff like Levitation and Ray Wing are a given (Naga
apparently goes supersonic when using Ray Wing...). The only other canon
spells I can remember are Dimilar Wind (from Great) and Bomb di Wind
(Special #2). In terms of the video games, she also knows Bram Fang, Bram
Gush, Aero Bomb, Arc Brass, Dam Brass, Digu Volt, and Mono Volt, all of
which are fairly reasonable expectations.

Shamanist/Astral - Patchy but effective. Naga knows the basics of this but
is a far cry from tossing around Ra-Tilts. She knows Elmekia Lance and
Elmekia Flame (to be expected), Bram Blazer, and Fehlzareid in terms of the
series. In the video games she also knows Goz Vu Rou, Guumeon, and Gark
Ruhaad. She could probably be expected to know Protect (which Lina says is
an easy spell). Also, Naga's two original Dragon summoning spells, Guy La
Douger and Gu Lu Douger fall into this category.


(Mariposa)
	As a student, it's not expected that Mari has developed her magical
power just yet, so her spells will probably fall into very basic categories.
However, this does mean she has 1.) the chance to learn and grow magic
during the impro, especially from Naga, and 2.) the chance to surprise
people by casting a spell she isn't expected to know. In terms of the video
games, she'd be a lot like Lark (who, in fact, learned two magic spells from
Naga in Slayers Royal 2's backstory).
	Mari isn't old enough to have a specialty yet, per se, but learning
magicians tend to stick with Shamanist/Fire, since it's a reliable and
easy-to-use source of defensive and attack magics.
	Also, as Ravi noted, Mari's spells may occasionally go wrong due to
lack of training. This is highly comedic and encouraged whenever possible.
;)

White/Black - Mari probably knows Recovery, since almost every mage on earth
knows Recovery, and maybe Dicleary and Sleeping. Also, Ext Ball or Mos Varim
might be good plans (since she knows Fire spells). Other than that, I'm not
sure. It's not very likely that Mariposa would know any Black magic, but she
*might* know something basic like Laguna Blast or Balus Rod...and if she
cast it, the look on Ace's face would be priceless. ;)

Shamanist/Fire - Authors have already shown Mari as knowing Fireball, so
it's likely she'd know Flare Lance and Flare Arrow as well. It might be
interesting to see her branch out into different types of Fire magic, like
Bomb Rod. Flare Bit would not be an unexpected spell to know, nor would
Burst Rond or even Bomb Spread. If Mari was really pushed, she could
probably even manage a Rune Flare, but we're talking life-on-the-line here
(yay dramatic buildup!)

Shamanist/Water - Considering she's around Naga, Mari is bound to pick this
stuff up eventually. For now, it'd be safe to assume she knows Aqua Create
and she definately knows Freeze Arrow (#2), with the possibility of learning
more quite likely.

Shamanist/Wind - See above, but replace Naga with Actinaea. Ace is probably
teaching Mari in her own tradition, so it'd be reasonable to expect her to
know Wind Bleed, Aero Bomb, Diem Wind, and she obviously knows Mono Volt
even if she doesn't get it right all the time. Arc Brass or Digu Volt seem
like possibilities also. Most mages know Levitation and Ray Wing, though
Mari may just know Levitation at this point.

Shamanist/Earth - Eh. It's not very likely Mari knows anything more than
Bephis Bring in this category, or maybe Dil Brand and Mega Brand. She may
learn Vu Vraimer from Naga, though.

Shamanist/Astral - Probably only Elmekia Lance. The Astral group of spells
is more complex than the other Shamanist magics, but she might learn
Fehlzareid from Naga or Shadow Web and Shadow Snap from Ace.


(Actinaea)
	Ace was originally intended to be a specialist in a school that's
rarely used in Slayers, Shamanist/Wind. She may be a Guild Praetor, but that
doesn't necessarily imply skill or even power; rather, it's good politics
and knowing when to slam people's heads into doors. Still, Ace knows what
she's doing and is probably the best example of a competent, hard-working
Slayers Mage.
	Actinaea's specialty is Shamanist/Wind and Shamanist/Astral magic,
but she knows a few Black Magic spells to boot, as well as a smattering of
other spells.

White - Probably just Recovery, Dicleary, and Sleeping. She may know Flow
Break for emergencies (Ace seems like that kind of woman). Defense is also a
likely know.

Black - In terms of what I *intended* her to know, Ace knows Blast Ash, Gaav
Flare, Ferrous Bleed, and Disfang. These were supposed to be "spice" spells
she picked up through research, rather than a true leaning in the Black
Magic direction.

Shamanist/Fire - Ace is probably competent but not exceptional here. She
obviously knows Flare Lance (#2) so it's likely she knows Flare Arrow and
Fireball, the basics of the Fire group. Balus Wall and Burst Rond wouldn't
be unexpected, nor would Flare Bit or Bomb Spread.

Shamanist/Water - See above. She probably knows Freeze Arrow, Aqua Create,
Dark Mist, Icicle Lance, and maybe Sea Blast. The thought of Naga helping
Ace fine tune her Water magic is remarkably humorous.

Shamanist/Wind - Actinaea's speciality. It can probably be assumed that she
knows nearly every Wind category spell, even Raza Klouva (which would make
an interesting last-ditch spell for her). Considering the Air group doesn't
have many spells as is, Ace may be researching new Wind magics to add to her
repertoire.

Shamanist/Earth - Only the essentials. Dil Brand, Bephis Bring, Mega Brand,
Dug Break, and Grey Bomb are the definates. Vlave Howl or Dug Haut are
possibilities, but not both.

Shamanist/Astral - Another lesser specialty of Ace's. The list of spells she
would certainly know includes Elmekia Lance, Elmekia Flame, Assha Dist, Bram
Blazer, Shadow Snap, Shadow Web, Goz Vu Rou, and Protect. She may know Gark
Ruhaad or Astral Break in terms of stronger magics, but that's about it. It
might also be interesting in the developing Getehl/Ace relationship if she
knew Astral Vine.


(Getehl)
	Let's get one thing straight: Getehl is not a mage in any way,
shape, or form. However, even Remi the sword-collecting maniac from Slayers
Delicious knew one spell (it was Flare Arrow). It's possible that Getehl
picked up the Blade Haut spell from the Shamanist/Earth category, but it's
up to the authors to decide that. I *will* add to this, though, that without
formal schooling, the Blade Haut spell would be in the "Well, I learned this
one trick, see..." category. Without formal schooling, he'd never learn more
than that.