Magic that uses an infernal power source in addition to another form of magic, typically Arcane. The ability to cast infernal magic comes with many costs and knowledge of it comes from Devils by way of various pacts.
History[]
The history of infernal magic upon the face of Arland can be attributed to the Summoners - those arcanists who called to them creatures and people to do their bidding. Summoning magic involves two components - creating a ritual circle where by the summoned creature will appear and the target to be summoned. Essentially the summoner is connecting two locations at the same time - the location of the ritual circle and the location of the target. This, by its very nature, is a form of planar magic and to teach it to humans (who had been dabbling with arcane magic for at least two centuries prior to the Great Silence) was outlawed by the Gizerad.
Humans have a bad habit of doing exactly what they're told not to do - even if knowing it will harm them in the outcome. Tell a human that the stove is hot and not to touch it and they will run up and burn themselves just to prove that they can defy you. It was this stubborn independence that lead the first human arcanists to push further and further with their dabbling into summoning. First it was Rites of Summoning - opening portals that could pull people across a room or across a valley. Then it was further. In time, through stolen aracanabula, they began summoning creatures from the elemental planes and from the shard realms. Fire Elementals, Stone Lords and whatever they could call were unleashed upon the world - letting the Gizerad clean up the mess when the elemental escaped their control.
Infernal Contact[]
With so much activity bouncing into the other planes - it was no wonder that the Devils of the Abyss began to notice was was going on and took an interest in the human dabblers. No one is certain which of the Abyssal lords was able to make first contact - everyone of them claims the honor - but it is known that there were several failed attempts to convince the summoners to pull the devils into our world. The dabblers simply weren't strong enough. So one of the Devils was clever enough to send a lesser servant in his place and though the 'distance' was nearly beyond the reach of the Summoners the imp made it through. Unfortunately, for the servant to pass through the barrier he had to be protected less he be destroyed in the process. To do this, the Imp was protected (imprisoned) within a magical Blood Ruby called a Gaol .
It was the Imp, Pizfip , servant to Malphas , who made it through and began teaching the dabblers about how to control their magics in the hopes that they could be taught how to widen the summoning portal and increase their range.
Invasion of the Imps[]
With Pizfip pretending to be the servant of the leader of the Cabal who summoned him, they summoned more and more imps through - creating a trail through the etherspace that other lesser abyssals could follow. The problem was that they could not break through to this world without the aid of casters on our side of the planar barrier. Servants of nearly every Abyssal lord swarmed to these 'thin spots' - hoping, waiting to find someone willing to open a conduit for them to enter.