Elements

There are roughly nine generally-accepted elements of magic. This is commonly organized as a grid with a fixed layout.

Sorcerers are classified by their affinity— the elemental magic that they are attuned to. Affinities greatly increase a sorcerer’s ability to learn and use magic in a given type, and is the only way they can effectively use magic in combat.

A sorcerer can have multiple affinities, though this is rare, with the highest amount documented being 3.

Tiers

The standard elemental chart groups the elements into vertical groups known as tiers. These are an approximation of the strengths of elements, with sorcerers in higher tier being consistantly stronger than those on a lower tier, and vice versa.

Tier 1: Low Elementals

Tier 1 represents the basic elements of Wind and Earth. Both of these have clearly defined use cases, but are overall weaker, with the former due to it’s lack of raw power, and the latter because of the high mana costs.

Tier 2: High Elementals

Tier 2 has Ice, Fire, and Lighting— elements considered to be stronger in combat situations. Ice and Fire are considered complimentary abilities, roughly equal in overall power, while Lightning is seen as a situational affinity that is extremely powerful when the opportunity is present.

As a tradeoff to their power, the Tier 3 elementals come with significant self-damage that must be mitigated;

• Ice lowers one’s body temperature, and can cause frostbite and hypothermia with long exposure.
• Fire is difficult to maintain for any length of time due to conjuring flames close to your body.
• Lighting almost always blasts the user back with every cast, and leaves a tingling sensation where it was cast. It also has the power to instantly kill you if reflected.

Tier 3: Abstracts

The highest tier of magic, Tier 3 describs elements that interact directly with systems that govern magic. While considered the hardest tier of affinities to have, the potential one has is dramatically higher.

Classifications

Physical

A physical affinity refers to the amplification and fortification of the body. It is best used in hand-to-hand combat, where users can multiply the force of their punches, and fortify themselves against incoming blows.

The physical elemental is treated as the weakest of all the elements, due to the inability to fabricate material, move objects from a distance, or affect others directly. The latter point is the most relevant in combat, as it means that a physical user has no way of fighting from a distance apart from traditional weaponry. However, the effectiveness of that typically ranges from moderately disadvantaged, to completely outclassed.

A physical affinity has a niche use case as a secondary affinity, as it allows a sorcerer to be effective from both up close and a distance with the right pairing (e.g. ice, lightning).

The reputation of physical is often unjustifiably lowered due to being treated as the default elemental, incorrectly assigned to those who do have the ability to manipulate mana, but without any affinity at all.

Wind

The simplest magic— wind magic allows for control of the air.

Standard usage of wind revolves around movement enhancements, with a user able to increase their running speed, jump height. With experience, wind can be used to increased the strength of physical attacks. With enough practice, wind can be used to increase the potency of one’s punches and kicks.

Wind has the unique trait of an extremely low mana cost, to the point where sorcerers are expected to make regular use of it, even without an affinity.

Earth

Essentially, telekinesis.

Earth magic revolves around the movement and restructuring of physical material.

Though theoretically powerful, Earth users are ranked lower because of their exceedingly high mana costs that scale with the weight of the object. Additionally, like wind, Earth users do not create their own materials, limiting their versatility to what they have around them.

Ice

Ice magic focuses on the creation and modification of ice.

Ice magic stands out as it’s the only element that allows you to freely create structures to your advantage. This can take many forms— putting your hand to the ground to prop a wall of ice, turning the ground at your feet cold to move faster, and even creating custom weapons on the fly.

Ice magic represents the first element in Tier 2, and additionally represents one of the first flaws with the stronger elements— self-damage. Unlike wind and earth magic, where overuse often just leads to depleting your mana reserves, overuse of ice magic will lead to physical repercussions— numbing of the hands, frostbite, and possibly hypothermia. Note that this is not due to any quirk of Tier 2 elementals but the natural consequence of extended handling of ice and cold materials.

Fire

Fire magic allows the user to create flames and generate heat.

Though simple, the cost of fire magic is noticeably lower than ice, making it easier to cast and use. However, fire at casting distance is naturally more harmful than ice. Fire users are often ranked by their speed at generating flames, as there is no reliable way to “hold a spell” due to the sheer heat.

Lightning

Simply put, a lighting affinity allows you to cast lighting bolts.

Despite effectively only having one spell they can cast, Lighting users are considered the most difficult to handle in a duel, due to the sheer power of a single strike. They become significantly stronger during a lighting storm, as the “materials” needed to create a spell are more readily available, reducing cast time.

Offsetting its high lethality, Lighting magic comes with an extremely high mana recovery period. Users can often only fire a bolt once every few seconds, giving wide windows to retaliate during a missed cast. It is possible for users to “hold a cast”, though the effects of this range from “definitely uncomfortable” to “charring of the skin.”

Chaos

Chaos magic gives the user the power to directly move mana in the ethereal plane.

The name Chaos magic is derived from the lack of control their spells have. Chaos users cannot modify the physical world directly— they must push against the ethereal plane, to the point that the physical plane itself is affected and warps in response. This is done by shifting massive amounts of mana around.

Defensively, chaos magic allows you to cancel or negate spells by siphoning mana directly from the plane. In offensive combat, chaos magic can be used to warp the physical space around an opponent, flinging or crushing them when the physical world attempts to fix itself.

Despite the extremely high mana cost (comparable to Lighting magic), Chaos users rarely “run out of mana” directly because they have the power to simply shove mana into their souls. However, enough siphoning will eventually create void spaces— areas in the ethereal plane where there is a low amount of mana, to the point where spellcasting is significantly weakened.

Ethereal

The counterpart to Chaos, Ethereal magic focuses on control over power of the ethereal plane, allowing users to envision and create at a much more developed level than any other user.

Because of their sheer control, Ethereal users are naturally efficient with mana usage, and can reliably perform Tier 1 and 2 magic with experience.

Ethereal users are both aggressors and defenders, being able to fight directly with mana, a normally unobserved substance brought as a white glow whenever casted. They are also viewed as healers, a few spending years understanding human anatomy, viewed as godlike saints.

Soul

Soul magic is a theoretical element that would allow a user the ability to control someone’s soul.

Information about soul magic is extremely scarce, as the majority of research is independantly conducted by the major kingdoms, kept secret apart from a select few. The prevailing theory is that soul magic operates by the user attaching themselves to someone’s soul, creating a permanent mark that they can use to extract control overtime. The properties of these attachments are unknown, and hotly contested— the amount of individuals a soul user can control, the range at which they can do so, and the strength of the control itself.

There have been no recorded instances of a sorcerer with a soul affinity.

Practical Usage

In the lore, the information surrounding magic and the elements has predominantly been in the focus of combat and warfare, as these fields/subjects are where the majority of research is funded.

In the documentation, this trend is followed by the majority of pages revolving around combat.

(This is also because fights are cool.)