Magic, the stuff of power and legend among the masses of Myron, is accessed several different ways. But first, perhaps a hopefully plain and understandable description of the source of magic might help in explaining how each class accesses that magic.
Imagine a river, flowing through all things, alive or inanimate, touching all manner of creation. It is the force that makes electrons spin, binds molecules together, and makes the world work. There are those that must study extensively in order to understand how this force works and others that inherently understand the inner workings. This is the basis for each of the arcane classes, and how they access their magic.
Wizards
The provision of extensive study in order to gain magical power lies with the wizards. The Great Kwagin-Li, a renowned Warlord of Light, was the first to discover the vast knowledge of the way of magic, and made many studies as to its incredible nature. He developed the manner in which you are able to scoop up an amount of power, hold it in reserve within your mind, and then release it in prescribed rituals that manipulate the matter and nature of the world. This is how wizards gain their power, through their intellect.
In order to become a wizard, one must be exceedingly bright, able to grasp the finer concepts of the nature of the world, for one must be able to understand those concepts if one is to manipulate them. And the only way one gains such training is at the Vault, in Consort, the training house for the Consortium of Magi.
Training begins early for each wizard, and lasts for about 12 years on average, as some take longer to convince the Council of Masters of their competency. Children are recruited, and sometimes brought to the Vault, about the human age of 10, or just before puberty begins to affect the race, and their magical talent becomes noticeable. An acolytes training encompasses not only magic, but diplomacy, history, and politics, and so become well equipped to enter the world when they graduate. As stated before, the Consortium maintains an active list of all graduates from the Vault, listing their focus of study, relative power and potential, and tendency toward good or evil. The Consortium itself remains explicitly neutral, easily releasing powerful dark wizards from the Vault along with shining examples of light and goodness. The rolls update upon a wizard’s death, or if he passes on to lichdom, or finds some other fate, so it is a complete record of living and dead wizards, from the time of its founder, the Great Kwagin-Li, to the present.
Sorcerers
There are creatures in the world that don’t need to prescribe to the wizards study to access the magic inherent in creation. Angels, demons, and other monstrous creatures are products themselves of that magic and so have a connection that defies the wizards’ knowledge. They are able to access the magic and make it do what they will by channeling that magic in a limited amount of ways. Some are more powerful than others, the immortal among the most powerful, there are mortal creatures too, who have the same access. The most fabled and powerful of those mortal creatures were the dragons. Dragons have not been seen on Myron for near a thousand years, since Morgoran left the world to its own devices. The story goes that Morgoran recruited the dragons’ aid during his conflicts with the Three by earning their respect. In return the dragons named him Lord, and craft the great blade Dragonwrath, using their own blood in the process. Some say that the dragons left with Morgoran, others say that they mourn his death, and still others claim they remain in hiding waiting for his prophesied return.
Sorcerers, therefore, have limited powers over magic due to some sort of bloodline infusion with these mortal magical creatures. Somewhere in their lineage, an ancestor had some contact with one of these creatures, or made some sort of pact for the power they gained. The resulting access to the magic that the sorcerer gains is raw and sometimes unpredictable. Limited in some respects but powerful none-the less, sorcerers are an active force in the world, no matter the disrespectful view held by most wizards.
The Others
It is said that there is another way to access the magic of Myron, mastered by only one person in history. Morgoran was said to be able to manipulate the nature of the world with but his mind. Not limited by his intellect, nor in his versatility due to his blood, he could simply bend the world to his will. His power was unquestionably beyond that of any wizard or sorcerer, living or dead.