Magic is a part of life in Faen’miir, an art form, a weapon, a tool for the common good, and above all a way for the Miirfolk to express themselves to their utmost and bring joy and beauty to the world around them. Mages are viewed with respect and appreciation, as they offer vital services to the community and work just as hard at their arts as any craftsman or merchant. They are just as able to achieve Maestro status as the practitioners of any other profession or craft, and many Miirfolk throw themselves into the study of magic with a passion and dedication that the folk of other nations find remarkable.
There is a communal perspective towards magic within the Queendom. The Miirfolk treat it as a public good, like well-maintained roads and sewers, and so all mages within the nation are expected to use their abilities for the benefit and defense of the community should the need arise. For the most part, mages are left to their own devices, offering their services for a fee as usual, but should an emergency occur and their services be needed there is a societal expectation that they will drop what they’re doing to give their assistance. The Queendom, in turn, offers significant assistance in training and any small supplies a mage might need for personal projects. In particular, the Court sponsors a large number of schools throughout the Queendom to ensure that no child who wishes to study magic is left without tutelage of some sort. As a result, it’s a rare village that lacks at least one teacher of the magical arts, and many cities sport multiple schools with large faculties.
There is always a yearning in the souls of Miirfolk to find ways to express themselves, to show the world what is in their soul and perfect whatever art they have chosen to perform. This is just as true for mages as it is for other professions, and so Miirfolk who practice magic are some of the most expressive and artistic mages on the Continent, no matter what use they put their magic to. Even those who perform basic community-improvement rituals such as blessing crops or protecting businesses from bad luck tend to work in their own artistic flourishes such as turning the blessed crops rainbow-hued, or attracting songbirds to sing a tune every morning on the business’ rooftop. Even battlemages have their own version of this, focusing on the performance and art of combat as much as the brutal effectiveness of applying magic to the enemy.
The concept of a never-ending cycle is a fundamental part of Faen’miir culture, and the idea has worked its way into the magical traditions of the Queendom. Circle, spiral, and infinity-sign motifs are everywhere in Miirfolk rituals and magical symbology, usually accompanied by symbolic representations of each part of the cycle that those motifs represent. Enchantment diagrams and ritual-circles are where this is most commonly seen, but even battle-mages often make circular motions with their Implements or foci when casting spells to invoke the power of an unending cycle.
Seasonal Invocation is the tradition that almost every Miirfolk is introduced to first in their training, and is a cornerstone of the nation’s modern magical practice. The cycle of the seasons is a motif that appears throughout Faen’miir’s culture, and so the tradition is popular amongst Miirfolk mages simply because it relates so strongly to the Queendom’s cultural core. Tenders, Oathweavers, and Starlings are the mages who most often make use of it, but many other mages choose to use it, either as their primary magical tradition or as supporting elements to enhance their primary tradition. Miirfolk Invokers tend to use seasonal wreaths as their talismans for Seasonal Invocation, and drink seasonal teas as part of their rituals.
Dendromancy is thought to have originated in Faen’miir, due to the nation’s long history with the Sidhe and the Primal Lords. The Miirfolk have a long and deep tradition of using Dendromantic rituals, and quite a few Tenders and Gloomblades use it in their spells as well. Even mages who don’t make it their primary tradition often take the time to learn the use of some of the Sylvan runes that are most relevant to their magical practice, using them as supporting elements in their rituals. Oathweavers in particular often appreciate the weight of tradition that Dendromancy brings with it, using ritual circles bearing Dendromantic runes to enhance their rituals even if the ritual is primarily performed using Seasonal Invocation or Logomancy.
Osteomancy is quite common amongst both the ritualists and battle-mages of Faen’miir, and the presence of the Spirit Kings throughout the nation adds a certain weight to the practice. Battle-mages such as Gloomblades and Solarians in particular favor the practice, finding Osteomancy’s invocations to be both swift and powerful when used in offensive spells. The tradition in Faen’miir is to never use parts of an animal in magic, as doing so is seen as disrespectful to that beast’s Spirit King; instead, Faen’miir Osteomancers exclusively use heraldic representations of beasts for their magic. Many make pilgrimages seeking out the Spirit Kings most closely tied to their favored heraldic symbols, asking for the Spirit’s blessing upon the images and talismans that they use as foci for their spells and rituals.
Logomancy in the Miirfolk tradition is a subtle thing, a matter of courtesies and favors and magic backed by oaths and the binding promises enforced by the Queendom’s Sacred Contract. It’s not a terribly popular magical tradition amongst most Miirfolk mages, but the Oathweavers and Starlings in particular tend to make use of it, which is unsurprising given the nature of their professions. Miirfolk Logomancers use bargains or binding promises — either their own or that of their ritual’s target(s) — to shape and fuel their magics; the more impactful the exchange or promise made, the more powerful the magic. Many Logomancers use the physical trappings of other magical traditions to shape the final result of their magics, though the actual performance of the ritual is fundamentally one of someone making an oath in exchange for whatever the effects of the ritual will be. Skilled Logomancers are in high demand amongst the Miirfolk who deal with the Sidhe, as those entities are famed for being able to twist words and bargains against those they speak with.
Spellsinging is very common amongst Miirfolk mages, as it is considered the tradition that allows for the most personal expression. There is no single method of using it in the Queendom, either — depending on their personal tastes and what style(s) of music they most enjoy playing, a Nightingale is just as likely to perform their magic by singing a ballad, playing an instrument, reciting a war-chant, performing a piece from an opera, dancing along to drum and pipe, etc. Nor is the tradition limited to Nightingales and other bards, as quite a few mages who are not professional performers make Spellsinging into either their primary magical tradition or a supporting one. It’s not unheard of for a Miirfolk Osteomancer to set up a ritual circle with the appropriate heraldic images and then sing a ballad to invoke them, for instance.