Magic

Magic (in this universe) refers to a specific form of supernatural control of the world.

For more information on the other form of major power an individiual can have, see the information on Divine Power.

Fundamentals

The mortal world can be thought of as two realms that are connected: the standard plane (better known as the natural or physical world), and the ethereal plane; an invisible and unimposing layer that "binds" the natural world together.

The ethereal plane consists mostly (or entirely) of mana, a material that can be used to affect the standard plane. The manipulation of mana is the fundamental mechanic that allows magic to function.

Living beings carry within them a soul– the core of their being. A soul does not exist in the physical world, but instead lives within the ethereal plane. The physical body that living beings have are effectively vessels that are controlled by the soul.

For the majority of living beings, the soul is exclusively responsible for controlling their physical form. Those that can use magic have the ability to influence the ethereal plane with their soul. The consequences of these influences are reverberated to the physical world in what we know as magic.

Those that can perform magic are known primarily as sorcerers, but also spellcasters, and mages. The technical term for the act that allows magic to be performed is known as mana manipulation.

While mana manipulation is publicly known, the ability itself is uncommon, and only a small fraction of people are talented enough to be able to use it in any combat capacity.

Elements

Main Article: Elements

While theoretically speaking anything can be conjured up or performed with enough magical power, feats of magic are almost always strictly defined within the idea of an element– a concept that sorcerers can cast spells related to.

The exact boundaries between elements have been in debate over centuries, but overtime a classification has been defined on the different elemental magics that exist in the world, and attributes about them.

Mana Reserves

By default, a user cannot use their soul to directly manipulate the ethereal plane– they must use the mana within their soul. Mana acts as the fuel that powers the actions of a magic user. The mana that exists within a user is referred to as their mana reserve, or simply their reserves.

Though it can be explained as a fuel, a user's mana reserves is more similar to a muscle– wearing out and needing time to recover with usage. A magic user cannot cast at maximum output for a long period of time– their mana output would slowly weaken.

Mana Regeneration

Usage of magic will reduce the mana in one's soul. Enough usage, and the user will be no longer able to cast spells. As with exercise, the easiest way to recover is to rest.

While a mage's reserves cannot grow with usage, their mana recovery rate can. This is not something that is directly trained, but a phenomenon that occurs with regular mana usage. Additionally, mages often work to improve their mana efficiency, which provides similar benefits to an increased reserve.

Casting

Though referred to as many terms, the formal definition for using magic to perform an action is called casting.

In this magic system, spells are not predefined abilities that sorceres learn, but crafted actions learned through conceptualization and mastery.

Freeform (Conceptualization)

The first step of casting anything is to first figure out:

• What you wish to do
• What steps do you need to do to make this happen?

For example, someone trying to create a sword of ice could not only create the sword through imagining what it would end up looking like. Rather, they must think of the ice forming from their hand, developing into the full blade.

Spell Crafting (Definition)

As a magic user repeats a certain action, it slowly becomes easier to use. The amount of mana is reduced as the user becomes more efficient, and the speed needed to cast lessens.

Continuing with the ice sword example, after enough times spent constructing and using the sword, you would be able to create it without thinking much about it.

The main reason that this type of casting is called spells is that a physical action is almost always combined with the mana manipulation to increase the speed and potency of the spell. This can be as simple as snapping the fingers, to just verbalizing the name of the spell.

It's important to note that spells are not isolated actions– creating a spell for yourself does not simply improve your effectiveness at that specific spell, but all the magic concepts required to use it.

Direct Manipulation

The rarest of the three, direct manipulation is as straightforward as it sounds– directly using mana, often bypassing a user's mana reserves.

Direct Manipulation is special as it cannot be achieved by normal means, requiring extreme levels of control with the soul that the overwhelming majority of people do not have.

Being able to perform direct mana manipulation grants you with high flexibility in your casting, and cuts a significant amount of the excess mana produced.

Magic users who directly manipulate mana have the possibility of wearing out their soul, something that almost never happens to normal mages due to needing reserves to perform any magic at all. This wear out can be recovered by waiting, but it lacks the same feelings that warn magic users that they're straining themselves. In rare situations, a magic user may simply just pass out due to sheer exertion, unable to notice their limits until it's too late.

Mana Concentration

Mana can be thought of as a fluid-like substance within the ethereal plane, moving from areas of high concentration to low concentration. As mages use mana within an area, the concentration of mana is lowered, which is filled as mana slowly trickles into the area.

While regular mana manipulation is rarely strong enough to affect mana concentration to a noticeable degree, certain magic users are able to disrupt the concentration of mana to such a high level that it reduces the effectiveness of all magic. This is done in two ways; by removing all mana from an area, or overloading an area with mana.

Areas without any or very little amounts of mana are called void spaces. These spaces pose considerable concern for mages as the mana within their souls will continuously leak out in order to balance out the mana levels. This effect additionally makes spells both cost more mana and be less defined, as any usage of magic accelerates the draining effect.

An area overloaded with mana is known to be overloaded. This is significantly rarer than void spaces, as they effectively strengthen all individuals within the immediate area, by allowing them to regenerate mana at a faster right. This buff is minor relative to the strength of void spaces, and the difficulty in overloading a space with mana, combined with the speed in which an overloaded space will dissipate mana makes it extremely rare to see.