>[!info]- **Pages (Click to Expand)** >%% Begin Waypoint %% >- **[[The Gift]]** > - [[Ritual of Life Everlasting]] > - [[Shrines]] >- **Towers** > - [[Tower of Blight]] > - [[Tower of Sorcery]] > - [[Towers of Magic]] >- **Types of Magic** > - **Major** > - [[Air]] > - [[Blight]] > - [[Earth]] > - [[Energy]] > - [[Flame]] > - [[Ice]] > - [[Life]] > - [[Mind]] > - [[Nature]] > - [[Primal]] > - [[Spirit]] > - **Minor** > - [[Augmentation]] > - [[Necromancy]] > - [[Summoning]] > - [[Technomancy]] >- **Uses of Magic** > - **[[Artifacts]]** > - **[[Technology]]** > - [[Alchemy]] > - [[Scrolls]] > - [[Spells]] >- [[Souls]] > >%% End Waypoint %% > ^94eb2d *** >[!quote] >Magic does not belong to you; it exists on its own in this world. You must work with the magic, not force it to do your bidding. > — **Admetus Perros** Magic is an umbrella term used to refer to those forms of energy that respond to and can be manipulated by thought and intent. Due to the very nature of the Prime as the convergence point of cosmic energies, magic permeates everything; it is impossible for matter to be completely devoid of it, though it's possible to approach infinitely close to zero. The amount of energy able to be stored in and channelled by a material varies depending on its properties. It's well known that certain gems, metals, and woods exhibit superior magical capabilities to others, making them more desirable, but also more difficult to work with.​ *** ## Origin ^b4ac7a Magic, like other forms of energy, cannot be destroyed, only transformed. It is as old as the Cosmos, considered deeply intertwined with its very essence, with some even positing the Cosmos itself is a physical manifestation of magic. What their true origin and history are is still a mystery. *** ### Potential Magic has been observed in two major forms: **unfocused** and **focused.** **Unfocused** magic, also referred to as **Potential,** is a form of energy that isn't aligned with any Realm or element, but which can be focused, or **keyed/attuned,** to one. Potential flows through the Cosmos in currents, which are believed responsible for the historical ebbs and flows of Realms. When Potential enters a Realm, it will eventually become the Realm's element — so Flame in the Realm of Fire, Ice in the Realm of Ice, etc. On the Prime, however, it coalesces in the form of **[[essence]].** **Focused** magic is a form of energy aligned with a Realm and its element. While most magic in the universe is produced via Potential harmonising with a Realm's element, it's not the only mechanism on the Prime. **Mixed** or **hybrid** elements are those that arise from interactions of two or more primordial types and may exist without a parent Realm. For example, **Mind** is unique to living beings, as evidenced by elementals being completely unresponsive to it, and is thought to be a mixture of Spirit and Life. **Primal** exhibits traits of all eight primary elements in roughly equal measure, which allows it to shift between them, but which also makes it very difficult for non-Dragons to control and interact with. In theory, there could be hundreds of hybrid elements that could exist under specific circumstances. *** #### Cycle of Potential ![[cycle of potential.png]] All elements slowly diffuse from their Realms into the Void, where, free of a Realm's influence, they return to Potential. This Potential is then redistributed throughout the greater Cosmos via **currents**, once again entering Realms and taking on their attributes. *** ## On The Prime ***Main page: [[The Prime]]*** *** ### Equilibrium The Prime exists at an equilibrium with its parent Realms, ensured by a constant bidirectional flow of energy. Realms are **monomagical** (comprised of one type of pure magic in all its forms), whereas the Prime itself is **polymagical** (comprised of multiple types of magic that freely mix). All magic that flows into the Prime from a given Realm is of its element and affects the Prime accordingly, but only temporarily. Shifts in the flow — both increases and decreases — cause observable, even globe-spanning changes, from **seasons** to **ice ages.** These shifts are, by some scholars, thought to be caused by **cosmic currents** of Potential "pushing" onto a Realm and forcing more of its element into the Prime. As the Realms orbit around the Prime, the Realm subjected to the strongest outflow changes over time, resulting in the yearly cycle of seasons. These currents fluctuate, usually only slightly, but flares can lead to extreme weather. It's believed Istaria underwent a period of significant volcanic activity thousands of years ago as a result of a massive influx of Flame from the Realm of Fire. Were the influx of magic from other Realms to completely cease, all of it would eventually convert to **Primal** and the planet would be subject to massive shifts in climate, including losing its cycle of seasons. > The Char region's volcanic activity would lessen in intensity, if not cease entirely. The permafrost of the Frozen Wastes would thaw. The resulting shifts in temperatures and wind patterns would alter ocean currents. The elements themselves would not cease to exist, but they would have to be created from Primal, severely limiting the Prime's organisms' ability to utilise them. The Prime is prevented from accumulating tremendous amounts of Primal by the constant diffusion of it into the Void as well as the other Realms. *** ### Channels & Conduits ^526c7e #### Nodes Nodes: major sources of magic, typically aligned with a particular Realm. Outside of the major nodes the Towers were built upon there are several lesser nodes. These have been known for centuries, if not millennia, as places of power, and have been coveted by both the Living and the Aegis. Kiatar node Ryson Stormbringer, the Hero who sacrificed himself at the Battle of Tazoon, seems to be bound to you somehow. Together, you have uncovered a Withered Aegis plot to conduct a great ritual on a magical node of power. The trail of clues has led you to an ancient temple known as the Kiatar and the Inner Sanctum within! Located underneath the ancient Saris Temple of Kiatar on Lesser Aradoth. It was discovered by the Gifted after they were led there by the spirit of Ryson Stormbringer.  Stormbringer describes feeling a “thinness between the Realms” upon entering the Inner Sanctum, where a ritual was being conducted to bring forth creatures from an Outer Realm. It was interrupted and Elith the Disgraced, the wraith responsible for it, destroyed.  The Dead Pool I suspect the source of the corruption is a magical node that lies not far to the north and west known as the Dead Pool. A foul location, this pool, and one that the humans have coveted for centuries. Long ago a temple was built there and the humans drew energy from the node. And now the Withered Aegis have claimed it! - Barin Quest: Corruption of the Spirit I GC An ancient source of magical power, a node, that lies near the southwestern side of the Granitefall Mountains. The Dead Pool (originally known as the Pool of Anthorras) was dug long ago by a powerful Sorcerer during the Age of the Dragon. The sorcerer was trying to find the source of the magical power. Eventually a temple was constructed atop the pool, but it eventually fell into disuse and then ruin. The Dead Pool was captured and fortified during the invasion of the Dalimond Peninsula by the Withered Aegis and is held with near-fanatic dedication and ferocity. - Istaria forums: Lore from the Tier 2 Revamp - AmonGwarethEC Located on the Dalimond Peninsula, southwest of Chiconis and north of the Tower of Clerics. The Dead Pool is a minor deadlands region nestled inside a crater with a particularly deep pit in the center, dug by a sorcerer from the Age of the Dragon - presumably named Anthorras - in their search for the source of its power. The undead within the Dead Pool are under the command of Annarvis the Foul, a fallen Knight of Creation. The Pool’s Blight influence reaches as far as the Chiconis Battlefield and Tomb of Moravvis on the other side of the Granitefall ridge. *** #### Leylines Leylines: observed lines of increased flow of magic, the major of which correspond with nodes. They cross the planet at an angle, consistent with the Planar Plateau visible in the night sky. During certain periods of the year, when the Planar Plateau aligns with the leylines, the magic is "stronger" Flow more stronger, easier to draw on and cast Reflected in cultures of Istaria Best time for the Transformation of the Fiends *** #### Condensation Zones ^345476 Condensation zones: areas with greater than average concentration of ambient magic, leading to oversaturation and condensation in the form of essence. Essence is a continually replenishing resource and a major component of Istarian life, magic, and technology. However, since the Age of the Sorcerer, the Living consumption of essence has been greater than its rate of regeneration. *** ### Primal ***Main page: [[Primal]]*** The Prime, owing to its unique position as the convergence point of all Inner Realms and energies, produces the potent, hybrid element of **Primal.** Primal, unlike primordial elements, is not formed out of Potential, but from the magic that seeps into it from other Realms. All energies on the Prime eventually become Primal. Potential behaves oddly on the Prime. Affected as it is by conflicting Realms, it instead remains entirely unfocused and coalesces into **essence,** which is not itself attuned to any single element without direct exposure. Exactly why Potential isn't able to directly attune Primal is not known. Primal is able to be temporarily keyed to other elements and does so readily in response to the environment — crystallising in the form of azulyte and inclusions in gemstones when interacting with Earth, increasing the intensity of wind phenomena when interacting with Air, and more. Primal returns to its original state when the other element's influence fades. Despite this changeability, it is difficult to harness by will, and altering it more difficult still. Dragons are uniquely suited for the task, adapted to using Primal to fly and breathe elements, but, in turn, severely struggle with drawing on primordial elements in their native form. **Essence**, on the other hand, readily responds to intent when combined with a compatible carrier (such as a magic-conducting metal, stone, gem, wood…), which forms the basis of **[[Technology]].** *** ## Categorisation ![[magic placeholder.png]] **Table of major elements:** | Element | Origin | Category | Affinity | Synergic with | Dissonant with | | ------- | --------------------------------------------- | --------------- | ----------------- | ------------- | -------------- | | Life | Primordial (Realm of Life) | Mystical | Organic | Energy, Earth | Spirit, Blight | | Earth | Primordial (Realm of Earth) | Arcane | Inorganic | Life, Ice | Air | | Ice | Primordial (Realm of Ice) | Arcane | Inorganic | Earth, Blight | Fire | | Blight | Primordial (Realm of Blight) | Arcane/Mystical | Organic/Inorganic | Ice, Spirit | Energy, Life | | Spirit | Primordial (Realm of Spirit) | Mystical | Organic | Blight, Air | Life, Energy | | Air | Primordial (Realm of Air) | Arcane | Inorganic | Spirit, Fire | Earth | | Fire | Primordial (Realm of Fire) | Arcane | Inorganic | Air, Energy | Ice | | Energy | Primordial (Realm of Energy) | Arcane/Mystical | Organic/Inorganic | Fire, Life | Blight, Spirit | | Primal | Hybrid (all primordial elements on the Prime) | Arcane/Mystical | Organic/Inorganic | None | None | | Mind | Hybrid (Life + Spirit) | Mystical | Organic | None | None | | Nature | Hybrid (Life + Earth, Realm of Nature) | Mystical | Organic | None | None | There are over a dozen recognised types of magic, further split into the major and minor categories. ​Major types are those overwhelmingly present on the Prime, with most of them directly tied to Realms of the Inner Ring. These are **Air, Blight, Earth, Energy, Fire, Ice, Life, Mind, Nature, Primal,** and **Spirit**. These are further separated into Arcane and Mystical. • Arcane: relating to the world itself, i.e. to the ground, air, water, elements and flora. Includes Air, Blight, Earth, Energy, Fire, Ice, Nature and Primal. • Mystical: relating to living bodies, souls and minds. Includes Life, Mind, Spirit and Thought. ​​ Minor types are subcategories or composites of major types of magic. These include Augmentation, Summoning, Necromancy, Portal Magic and Technomancy, among others. ​Dissonant and Synergic Types Each major type, with the exception of Nature, Primal, Mind and Thought, has opposing (dissonant) and synergic magic. A dissonant type is its exact antithesis, whereas a synergic one shares some of its properties and can even bolster its capabilities. ​Dissonance is often tactically used in combat, as excess of one type makes one vulnerable to its opposite (for example, Flame is effective against Ice elementals). Magic synergic to a dissonant type - such as Energy synergic to Life, which is dissonant with Spirit - exhibits a similar, though significantly weaker effect. Some scholars further separate the eight Realm-tied types into Organic and Inorganic Mirrors. Organic includes the Life-Spirit and Energy-Blight pairs, Inorganic the Fire-Ice and Air-Earth pairs. *** ## Interaction with Materials ### Gems, Stone, and Metals Metal is better at conducting magic than stone, but is bad at storing it. Stone is bad at conducting, but good at storing it. Gems are significantly superior in both, but are rarer and not efficient for large-scale applications. For example, a stone shard can store the concept of a flame bolt, while a specifically modified azulyte can store a person's memory of a single moment in time. *** ### Wood and other Organic Materials *** ### Essence (essence is always present when magic is involved. It allows the abstract, cognitive aspects to meld with the concrete physical ones, as it occupies the space between intangible energy (magic) and tangible form (gelatinous, airy composition)). There are eight Realms that orbit and intersect at a shared centrepoint, the Prime. Each Realm has its own magic, and each has a counter: * Earth - Air * Energy - Blight * Life - Spirit * Fire - Ice Primal is raw chaos, manifesting as storms and winds, and is the building block of the world itself. Primal arises from the combination of the other magic types. Essence is stored energy that can power runes that, in turn, can "cast" a spell (heaters, coolers). Casters can draw on the energies surrounding them - "ambient" magic, the Arcane category of fire, ice, energy, blight (air and earth aren't used), or the internal magic of living things, the Mystic category of spirit, life, mind. Energy and Blight occupy the "edges" of the categories, as they're both involved with natural processes of life. Mind is entirely unique to sentient and especially sapient beings and is not tied to any Realm. The two use cases of essence are the same resource - simply the difference between striking a match and detonating an atom bomb. The fundamental particles of each magic type can be found everywhere, with greater concentrations in regions closer to the Realms (volcanic regions = fire, tundras = ice) or near an existing source of the magic (a bonfire). These particles are either produced "locally" within the Prime, or bleed in and out of their source Realms. It's possible to temporarily pierce the veil between Realms and create a tiny opening, too small and unstable for actual dimensional travel, to draw on magic directly from the other Realm, but it's complex, dangerous, and taxing. There was an idea that what differentiates magic from other natural forces is that magic specifically responds to thought and intent. Something about its shared fundamental particles is uniquely responsive to thoughts, allowing a caster to seemingly summon fire out of thin air without allowing them to ignore gravity. Perhaps things like gravity are simply too powerful/abstract for casters to manipulate, perhaps the planet itself is, in a very cosmically vague way, exerting its "will" in the form of gravity, so it's not a hard divide between magic and science but rather scientific magic Mind (thought, intent translated through runes, also known as managrams) = blueprint for what a thing is supposed to do Essence = fuel, stored potential. Possibly simultaneously every type of magic at once, and it only manifests as one of them under the influence of intent. So there would be two types of core magic particles? The single-type, static ones leaking in from other Realms and produced by things like bonfires, and the superposed every type at once particles that condense into essence and can be collapsed into a specific type of magic by their environment, a managram, or thoughts and intent? More likely all the universes are full of "raw magic" (the superposition, "potential") that gets collapsed into specific types by something unique to each (Realm of Fire collapsing "potential" into "flame magic particles," which then leak into the Prime and can be drawn upon by mages) The Prime, being at the convergence point of eight realms and its unique magic, Primal, being "chaos" feels intuitively related to why essence would form from potential instead of it all collapsing into Primal. Pin it down? Maybe the effect of the planet itself, or Primal arising from the mixing of the collapsed particles? Planet generating Primal and emitting it? If essence = uncollapsed, superimposed, not-yet-anything then Primal = simultaneously collapsed into everything? I've used LED lights as an analogy for Primal multiple times - white light made up of multiple colours overlapping. Colours = Realms, types of magic. The Prime is at the centre, the literal convergence point of the Realms, and that tracks with the white light idea. If each Realm collapses Potential into one type of magic, and the Prime came into existence as a result of all of them overlapping in one spot, then Potential is being collapsed into everything at once at its location. *** Wood is of natural, living origin and retains the inner structures - "veins" that once flowed with sap. Like with essence turning into wisps, trees can, in sufficiently magic-dense environments, turn into treants - mobile, sentient elementals, and the same can happen to stone, metal, or gems, producing golems. Golems are more primitive and highly territorial, while treants are mostly neutral, have rudimentary souls, and one particularly ancient treant was capable of communication. From this - wood is structurally similar to a person. Living things (by possessing inherently powerful minds) are great at using magic, and their bodies have adapted to it, as they evolved in an environment rich in magic from the very start. Magic is transferred through the body by blood, and the heart is often considered a source of that internal flow. Corrupting the heart with a different magic type, such as Blight, either kills the person or induces mutations that adapt the body to the new energy, depending on individual predisposition. Staves and wands are not, by any means, necessary for casting - all a magic user needs is the intent and source of energy. Magic is usually cast through the hands (visual anchor - no inherent magical trait of gestures or runes, just like how Latin letters don't inherently store the concept of a word), but can be cast through wooden or metal weapons. Mind magic could, perhaps, be similar to Primal in the abstract. Primal magic arises at the convergence of eight other Realms. Mind arises at the convergence of a body and a physical brain (Life) and a soul, a sort of Platonic ideal of a living thing. *** #### Creature components Creatures found throughout Istaria, typically animals and elementals, can be harvested for components with magical properties. These can then be used in alchemy and to create techniqued weapons, tools, spells, and armor. The type and tier of the creature dictate the power and effect of its components, such as wind elemental materia bolstering Primal spells or glacial wolf fangs bolstering Ice spells. When a specific spell is cast in the presence of essence (possibly a binding agent and/or catalyst), the magic contained within the components is released and imbued in the target material. *** #### Essence A core component of crafted magical items, such as spells, scrolls, potions, techniques (“enchantments”), and construction materials. It acts as a binding and reinforcing agent when properly worked into a material. Primal Essence is an azulyte crystal that has been imbued with the energy of essence. It is a common lairshaping resource, primarily used to reinforce walls as the essence bonds with the crystal making it much stronger and less brittle. - Relstaroth Essence, when processed into ink, is used to engrave spell shards and impart magical properties unto them. The same principle is applied to the creation of scrolls. Well, you should have known I would need ink! Stylus needs ink. Ink needs stylus. Why must I explain every little step to you?! Okay, fine. The ink is magic. It will make the rune glow and look impressive. Like that one over there, see? It's nice, isn't it? Anyway, you will need magical essence from undead wisps to make the ink glow. - Akhanis Geleon takes the Stylus, dips it into the Dark Essence, and begins writing what appears to be runes on the papyrus sheets. He mutters beneath his breath, perhaps casting a spell of some sort. At last he finishes and speaks a word, the essence flares golden then silver and finally fades into a muted black. *** ## Usage of Magic >[!quote] >While alchemy uses the magical properties of items in the world to produce effects when concentrated, we mages take the magic of the world directly out of the air. We feel it, form it, and send it on its way doing what we want. Only with much practice can we master plucking all of the magic from the air around us.
> We can only wear cloth armor, which is very easily pierced.
> What? Why won't we wear better armor? You imbecile, we can't! As mages, we must keep in touch with the energy around us. The arcane forces have to be felt through our skin to be controlled. Cumbersome armor like metals or leather prevent us from doing that entirely. Even a child knows this, keep up. > — **Admetus Perros** *** ### Spells *** ### Scrolls *** ### Potions Potions are consumable solutions imbued with magical properties of their constituents. They’re water-based, with essence as a base component of the enchantment, and - in some cases - additional creature components. Ingredients are first thoroughly ground into a fine paste or powder using a mortar and pestle, then mixed in a cauldron. *** ### Sockets and Techniques Techniques are earned abilities that can be applied during the creation of an item, or sometimes after the item was created (called post-creation techniques). These abilities allow the crafter to modify the item so that the resulting one has additional powers or modification statistics. Not all items can have techniques applied to them, and some items can have multiple techniques applied. The more powerful the resulting item, the more skillful the owner of that item must be in order to wield such power. - [istaria.com](http://istaria.com)  → FAQ → Craft Skills/TradesEC *** ### Crystalshaping //memory crystals, consumable crystals //slivers of emotion *** ### Construction //buildings, lairs, light sources - street lamps, essence lamps *** ### Artifacts ***Main page: [[Artifacts]]*** //Definition. Greater, Lesser, Minor. Galderos’s Heart, The Chalice, Ryson’s Artifact, the Tower of Nature lute and Silvane gauntlet. If a culture fixates on something hard enough for long enough - a sacred site or object visited for thousands of years - they become inextricably linked to it on a cosmic level. This is what caused Dragons to stop aging naturally after the Sleeper, an immense statue of a Dragon wrapped around a mountain peak, said to be made of living silver, was lost in a paradox. This is how the Satyr were brought under Aegis control when Bachan and its heart were captured. It's believed it's why the Dryads transported their entire city to the Void - because they, among other things, feared being controlled by a Race-bound artifact. Niatha's Breath lacks the millennia of association, but it was directly used in creation of the Fiends, which ties them to it in the same way. On the other hand, Humans are thought to lack such an artifact because they are the most variable of the Races, not only across time but among themselves. *** ### Gadgets A small machine capable of generating an aura of light. - Item description: Sunscope //Egg, milk, silk, kenaf, glass nodule fabricators. //Sunscopes, fabricators, cargo disks - recharge cells *** Hardening Large amounts of magic can be concentrated and hardened into crystals. This process can occur naturally in regions with large amounts of ambient magic of a certain type, or it can be triggered and maintained directly by a caster. Hardened magic, if not continually supplemented externally, will slowly disintegrate back into energy. It's important to distinguish between true hardened magic crystals and other naturally occurring formations, like gemstones and, particularly, azulyte. While they share superficial similarities and the latter can, also, contain energies of the elements, in the case of mineral crystals they're impurities incorporated into the crystalline lattice (Imbuing). Pure hardened crystals, on the other hand, are primarily composed of a single element in solid form (Hardening). Examples of pure crystals: • Slivers of Emotion: physical representation of base emotions themselves, formed from pure Thought magic. Originally pioneered by Dragons who harvested slivers from their prey to power specific spells when refined and bound to a crystal. This forms the basis of the crystalshaper school. Slivers are discussed in more detail below, in the Thought Magic section. • Mind Crystals: fuschia-coloured crystals that form within brain tissue exposed to powerful Mind magic for long periods of time, typical of extended mind control. Aegis wraiths have been observed inserting pre-formed crystals into the skulls of thralls refusing or unable to follow orders, utilising the slow release of energy to bolster their own influence over the subject. • Sky Dome Blight Crystals: pulsing green crystals of raw Blight found in exceptionally powerful Aegis. These crystals are unique in their ability to form and maintain a localised Blight maelstrom, a telltale sign of Aegis presence.​ *** Factors Affecting Magic Racial Predisposition Different Living Races are predisposed towards specific types of magic, determined by their biology and thousands of years of history. • Dragons are uniquely able to intuitively harness Primal in numerous ways, from spells, to flight, to constructing lairs, to altering their very bodies and the world around them. Their ability to draw on the very energy that comprises the Prime makes dragons immensely powerful, and it is that power that drove generations to believe in their right to enslave and dominate Humans. However, everything comes at a cost. Dragons are unable to directly draw on any of the other elements, except for their elemental breaths, and they're particularly vulnerable to pure Blight. Additionally, many of their most powerful abilities and spells require large amounts of energy they wouldn't be able to source from themselves or their surroundings sustainably, instead relying on their hoards. • Dryads represent a perfectly balanced fusion of Life and Nature. Their small forms are almost more energy than matter, and millennia of arcane and mystical study in the grand Tree-City of Palmyra in the East have firmly placed them as masters of magic. Their intense affinity to Life and Nature simultaneously make them particularly vulnerable to Blight, which led to the Matriarchs of Palmyra and their most powerful casters to transport their City outside the Prime at the start of the Invasion.​ • Dwarves are not particularly predisposed to using magic, though they're masters of metalwork. Their tools and weapons are often decorated with Dwarven runes boosting their durability past the capabilities of regular steel or mithril.​ • Elves, like the other Eastern Races, are connected to nature, through to a lesser degree than Dryads and the Satyr. More commonly they use elemental magic to bolster their physical weapons rather than relying purely on magic. • Fiends, arguably the most magic-attuned Living Race, all descend from Humans who separated from the Vandus Confederation in the Age of the Sorcerer and altered their bodies with complex spells. Many Masters of Ice, Spirit and Mind are found in the ranks of Fiends, along with leading figures in arcane research. • Gnomes, similar to their Dwarven brethren, aren't particularly predisposed to directly using magic. However, their quick minds and a knack for improvisation and problem-solving lend themselves to mastery of the fickle Energy. Paired with their cultural fascination with technology it gave rise to Technomancy, which they still maintain an almost complete monopoly on. • Half-Giants are the least magically-endowed Race. While they possess sufficient power, they tend to lack in focus and patience. As a result their spells, though potent, tend to be more chaotic. ​ • Humans are a well-rounded Race in all aspects. While they're innately less powerful than their blue-skinned Fiend counterparts, they were at the forefront of the Golden Age of Magic and possess centuries of knowledge on how to use and defend against all elements. The foremost teaching institution in the Empire, the Academy of Magic, is situated in Dalimond, capital of the Vandus Confederation. • Saris, while mostly known and renowned for their speed and dexterity, are beings as magical as they are physical. Traditionally they're spiritual people with a great reverence for life, and for centuries they've practiced blending mindfulness and lethal precision in the form of the Monk school. They tend to be skilled with Life, Spirit and Thought. • Satyr, more than their affinity for Nature - and celebration, before the Lament - are known for their mastery of stoneworking. Unlike Dragons, Satyr as the only Race draw directly on the Earth magic present within the material and shape it with both their hands and minds. • Sslik, remarkably resilient, possess an innate ability to rapidly heal wounds without directly drawing on spells. It makes them particularly suited for the use of blood magic and - by extension - its parent element, Spirit. Personal Aptitude While not everyone is naturally predisposed to be a magic user, the ability to interact with and channel energy on a rudimentary level is, under normal circumstances, present in all Living. Though it's understood one's magical capabilities are primarily determined by their experience, education and personal drive to improve, a person's inborn predispositions must also be considered. These predispositions are, at least partially, genetic and inheritable, as evidenced by the various lineages of important casters and researchers. The same applies to a negative predisposition, i.e. limited or below average magical ability. Factors affecting a person's ability to use magic can be physical or mental. • Physical factors include overall physical health, with power positively scaling with fitness, and potential disabilities that might affect the process of casting itself, such as blindness, deafness, muteness.​​ • Mental factors include one's ability to direct and maintain focus on the task, memory, and the ability to grasp highly abstract concepts. A person struggling with attention might find it difficult to direct enough energy to fully form a spell, or they might get distracted by a fleeting thought that alters the course of their magic. However, it is important to note that a negative predisposition is not an insurmountable obstacle; it can act as a motivator for an aspiring caster to overcome, which might drive them to surpass even their naturally talented but less ambitious and driven peers.​ Aberrations Rarely, a person may be born with an atypical connection to the energies around them. It's also possible for these disorders to develop over the course of one's life, though it's very unusual. It's unclear what exactly causes one to be born with a magic disorder; unlike simple predispositions they're harder to track across lineages. It is possible to severely weaken or even lose one's magic following extreme overexertion of the body, soul and mind. The most well-documented cases of developed amagia (lack of magic) were victims of torture at the hands of the Withered Aegis. Conversely, it is known individuals who have successfully Blight-bonded obtained the ability to channel pure Blight (so-called Blight hypermagia), which is otherwise completely alien to the Living. Hypomagia and Amagia • Amagia, or amagy, is a rare condition where a person is completely unable to use magic. • Hypomagia, or hypomagy, is its less severe counterpart, resulting in a notably diminished ability to interact with magic, but not completely eliminating it. Hypomagia and amagia can be partial - constrained to certain types of magic while the rest remain unaffected - or complete, where a person partially or completely lacks access to all magic. However, in most cases even complete amagics are able to imbue objects with Thought. • These conditions are more common among Dwarves, Half-Giants and Gnomes, Races that traditionally interact with magic less than others. • They're less common, though more severe, in Fiends, Dragons and Dryads, innately highly magic-dependent. Hypermagia Hypermagia, or hypermagy, is a condition where a person's magic is abnormally potent or excessive, often to the point of becoming chaotic and getting out of control. Hypermages tend to struggle as novices and might pose a danger to themselves and others, requiring additional oversight and training. However, should they successfully learn to harness and control their magic, they're likely to exhibit above-average capabilities and progress through tiers further and faster. The degrees to which one's power is enhanced vary widely. Not all hypermages reach Expert (V) or Master (VI), though the percentage of those who do is greater than in the general populace. However, it is understood that a particularly potent form of hypermagy is required for one to become a Paragon (VII). The standard limitations of experience, knowledge and drive apply. Nobody is born a Paragon. *** EXPERT Examples: - Ability to utilise Tier V materials Healing: - Ability to reattach severed limbs, assuming immediate action (once the tissue of the limb decays or the wound site scars the damage is permanent), and to heal severe internal injuries - Ability to permanently alter a person's physical appearance, within limits (for example, it's impossible to change one's race or grow extra limbs). Used both cosmetically and to treat deformations - those a person was born with or caused by injury and disease - that would severely hinder one's quality of life. MASTER Examples: - Ability to utilise Tier VI materials Healing: - Ability to permanently and completely change a person's sex (leads to infertility, which is in all its forms incurable) PARAGON Examples: - Ability to transmute living flesh into stone while preserving the mind and spirit. The three (in)famous examples are the Sleeper, now believed lost, the Entombed Will imprisoned by Draak Helian Masters, and the people of Kaiyar turned to stone by the Dragon-King Nazderon. - Simultaneous and complete control of the minds of dozens of Living without the use of Mind crystals. Torrin Macalir's signature ability. - The Ritual of Life Everlasting, which was able to permanently tie a splinter of the Realm of Energy to the Prime, preventing certain souls from passing on to the Realm of Spirit upon death. *** - Arcanists draw on the energy in their surroundings. As any layer on their bodies hampers their ability to sense and interact with the magic around them, they wear cloth with minimal leather reinforcements. - Mysticists draw on the energy within them and others. As such, they're not nearly as reliant on contact with their surroundings, and prefer leather, or, in the case of healers and clerics, heavy metal armor. *** >[!quote] >The true power of wizardry is knowing your limits. Opening the conduit to the Realm of Energy is something any mage can do. Opening it wide enough to do anything useful without burning your own guts, that takes some practice! > — **Stromba Stonefist** *** spell shards are literally imbued with the concept of the spell, and scribing them means absorbing it, therefore understanding it The stone is a storage medium, the essence is used to channel and bind it, the carved runes are there more to guide the mind and prevent stray thoughts from interfering. You need to be at certain (skill) levels to scribe spells, i.e. you need to have a degree of preexisting knowledge to understand the more advanced spells. Memory crystals seemingly bypass that limitation because they're able to provide a significantly clearer... brain blast, for a lack of a better term You suck the enchantment out of the shard, maybe, which is why it's consumed on scribing. In universe you probably end up with a regular carved spell shard I think this concept has some weight to it, it can explain scrolls and imbued scales - the crafter stores the spell itself in the material, and the user doesn't need to understand it to release it. Scrolls, too, are "imbued with the concept" of the spell, but not with the goal to impart the blueprint, just deliver the result. Such an abstract concept, I really like it, even if I can't explain it properly Core idea is that thought and intent drive magic, and we know you can literally store memories in specially prepared crystals, and others can use them to directly learn new concepts from the experiences of another (Khemarius's drain bolt crystal about midway through the questline) It's also interesting you don't need to be able to scribe the spell to craft scrolls from it (to my knowledge, at least). This implies there's a difference between having a mechanical understanding of a spell and the ability to cast it - of having a proper grip on it, to the point of being able to use it from memory. Spell makers read note sheets, spell casters play by ear. Further expanding upon the concept, it even explains hoard values. If hoard is one way and dragons actively spend it to enhance their own abilities, it stands to reason items in one's hoard are being in some way "consumed" and exchanged for magical energy. If you can imbue objects - crystals, spell shards, scrolls - with the concept of a spell or a stat boost, you're imbuing them with energy driven by thought. Objects that are deemed valuable, such as shiny metals and gems, statuettes you painstakingly carved yourself, trophies you obtained from dangerous beasts, would be imbued with thought, but a different kind - sentiment, for example. If thought and emotion themselves are a form of magic you can impart onto objects to alter their properties, it easily explains everything from alchemy to enchanted heirlooms. It's easier to consider an antique or a jewel-encrusted crown to be more valuable than a pretty pebble, so the "amount of thought" given to the former means more energy dedicated to it, means more energy stored in it, means more hoard value. ***