Schools of Game Magic ◾ 119
spheres are refreshingly abstract, shaped by a mixture of ancient philoso-
phy and new physics. Instead of falling back on the heavenly spheres of
the ancients (which only made sense in the context of an earth-centered
cosmos based on naked-eye astronomy), the mage designers invent their
own spheres. ese spheres are broadly conceptual and abstract, but each
in some way is shaped by a contemporary branch of science. Entropy as
a concept comes directly from the second law of thermodynamics as well
as information theory, both of which are combined in the summary of
“the forces of probability, disorder, and destruction.” e sphere of forces
comes primarily from physics and, while it includes the “forces of the el ...