DraKaise Potential

Drawing on DraKaise to warp reality and infuse creations with immense power.

You see, anyone can make magic. It's about utilizing your life-force and focusing it into or towards an object. The difference is that some life-forces are bigger than others.
A common barkeep trying to enchant his broom to sweep for itself could try for thirty years before he managed to make it do as much as twitch.
But people like you and me, my boy. We can do it in seconds.

— Notes of Josh the Squash.

The act of magic is a complicated thing. One that takes much concentration and willpower. One that draws on a resource that few know truly exists and that even fewer can truly quantify. For every person is surrounded by the expanse of DraKaise. When people see the world bend and twist at the manipulation of these forces, it disturbs them. For it is the warping of the laws of the universe. Many people attribute the act of using magic to the available life-force within a person, but theories like this fail to explain the existence of extremely powerful magicians and the easy manipulation of DraKaise with magical items.
Indeed, one person is not generally allotted any specific amount of DraKaise so much as they find themselves in landscapes with a prevalence of the DraKaise. You hear of the battlefields where people suddenly have powers. Those that reached out and something answered their call. But realistically it means that the person gained enough potential to make use of the DraKaise that surrounds them. It just so happens that the method that seems to be the greatest way to increase this potential is through being subjected to great danger. So, this usually means that the people who can do great things have an excess of DraKaise surrounding them and demarcating their surroundings.

DraKaise Potential in History

If you look at notable members of history, you'll see a trend that continues fairly consistently. Hongden was charismatic, yes. However, he wasn't always the strongest of warriors. Compatriots said that his pretty face only really got him his work after a long stint with bandits. He only attained his true strength as a leader and a warrior after his campaign against Vhaskus.
Let's look at Cassiopeia. She was a myth beyond myths. She appeared out of the history books and religious texts looking like depictions of Chando Meywa, the Distant Arctele and bearing the powers to prove her status as a follower. Yet, she only increased in power as she battled alongside Hongden and continued to adventure past his death. She did great and wonderful things alongside the bombing of Araetule and the causing of the Funeral March. It's just that it's all obscured from that point on.
We'll try one more, to show that it isn't as constant as it may seem with those examples. Araelia, the daughter of Hongden, was never in war to any extent. She didn't put herself in great danger. She settled things with her words, and surrounded herself with people that could do what she wanted. And then she made them want to. She settled the civil war of ForkMaw with only words. And notes from the Wizards of the College note that after extensive checks, she had a potential that was only slightly larger than normal.

If you look at the world, there is a sea that we cannot see. One that's tides are guided by the whims of MeyGana as she plays with the waters that make up our world.
You and I are there too, and we are visible from far away. Because we are like two little whirlpools in the water. Two little whirlpools that the sea is rushing towards. If you look at your friends, and family, you'll see that they are also whirlpools eagerly sucking in the sea.
However in comparison; they can hardly be seen, while you are surrounded by thick tides that course towards you to sate your needs.

— Notes of Josh the Squash.

This, along with countless other points of research, has lead to an understanding by those in the higher magical community that exposure to danger and life-threatening situations increases your capacity for manipulating DraKaise. Which also contributes to reasons that people tend to learn faster in the field over just by studying in a classroom. While some manage to accomplish great things with just practice and due diligence, that can usually be attributed to their surroundings or an innately greater potential for DraKaise. This rule, however, doesn't quite seem to apply to the creatures that interact with DraKaise.

DraKaise Potential in Monsters

An interesting conundrum does present itself when you see a Dragon that has Human-level intelligence and is capable of using magic from birth. Compare it to the insectoid beast that is an O'eya in the Sea of Hearts. They are both creatures that have this innate connection to DraKaise, but they have very different life spans and views of the world.

Legends say that the Dragons were made as precursors to The Knotted Snake by the Celestial Giants, and in their creation, they were made to be able to ingest and utilize vast quantities of DraKaise. Capable from birth to make and use DraKaise in ways that are hard for us to even contemplate. Yet ways that other creatures have managed as well, specifically the related DragonBorn.
This direct link impacts the biology of the dragons, giving unnatural flight that their bodies probably shouldn't be able to support. Innate breath weapons that range from Lightning to Ice and have no biological basis. The only suitable explanation is that their connection to DraKaise has granted them these abilities in a way. Perhaps making it a constant trickle of power that even they can barely control.

Careful Now!
Don't let it out all at once, let it build up within you until you see where it must go.
If you let it out early, bad things can happen. It's like eating the roots of your garden along with the plants. You may be full, but what do you do when nothing grows back?

— Notes of Josh the Squash

You have to sink through the water and let them catch you. The O'eya like to greet outsiders this way and are unlikely to accept you in any other way.
You have to be careful not to offend them. They have a long memory, and if you piss one off, you may never get the answers you are looking for.

— Notes from Josh the Squash

The O'eya approach this in a different manner. Namely in that, we don't have any ideas about the origin of the O'eya. They don't seem to have been special, yet they possess a level of control over DraKaise that is immense and terrifying. Each can exert willpower to force away an infinite amount of water from it's body. To maintain it's idyllic habitat at the bottom of the Sea of Hearts. While this doesn't seem like much, this is a feat that is difficult for specialized monks of great power to do and even moreso difficult for wizards that have prepared for the eventuality.
Yet the O'eya can, and do, do this from birth. They also have a calming effect that suppresses harsh thoughts and potentially magic in the area. Imagine that, manipulating DraKaise to the point of consistently refuting another's use of it.

However, we could fill an entire almanac with information on beasts that disobey our natural laws and define what we assume to be the boundaries of the use or manipulation of DraKaise. No, our final topic will be on the simplest application of DraKaise. You see, all mortal creatures have the capacity to direct their focus of DraKaise and channel it towards something, or for our focus, into something. Yes, our topic is the infusing of items.

DraKaise Potential in Items

When one thinks of magic, the topic invariably turns to the discussion of an item that contains magic and what that would allow someone to do. Due to their wide differing forms and functions, that answer can be "Nearly Anything". There are rods that can cast spells. There are blades that light on fire. There are cloaks that allow you to fly and brooms that sweep on their own. The topic is vast and mysterious, with many variations on theme and understanding. However, that isn't quite what we are talking about here.
No, we want to know how the magic gets into the items.

At it's simplest, the magic comes from us, Mortal Beings. Channelers of DraKaise. When we focus on something we attribute it the meager amount of DraKaise that we process. So, that means that for an average person, if they put their heart and soul into something, and try their hardest... They might get a magic item before they die. However, for most people, that will never happen. More often is the artifact, the heirloom that's been passed through generations. It's been slowly concentrated on and filled with magical potential before activating under the touch of someone with just a minor amount of skill.
Things like these tend to be easy to enchant. Something that beginning artificers seek out are holy relics, ancient war memorabilia and other items that already have a healthy soak of DraKaise. This means that it will take far less energy to make it truly magical. However, it's clear that there's a "But" coming. Because not every magic item is ancient or favored. There are freshly forged swords lit into fire with a word, what is different about those?
Very little. They usually have far less innate DraKaise, but the people wielding them are more powerful. They are the ones that make the difference more than the material. They have the ability to focus and pour DraKaise from that invisible sea into the items as massive quantities.

If you take that sea and really examine it, you'll have to ask a harder question than what I've posed so far. Can you guess it? It's "Why are our whirlpools bigger?", and that's a harder answer to field.
But having been in a lot of places, learned a lot of things; having fought many times, I can try.
Because at each of these junctures, my whirlpool has grown and I've been capable of more. I ascend a level every time I defy death. You do as well, your spells now are just the beginning. Someday, your whirlpool might be bigger than mine.

— Notes of Josh the Squash.

What is DraKaise Potency?
Well, DraKaise Potency is your capability to interact with and channel the spirit of DraKaise, because DraKaise is a spirit that's drawn to conflict and adventure, the best ways to increase your potency just happen to be having an adventure.
This is designed to justify the use of D&D 5e Mechanics and making it clear that this world operates on slightly different rules than you might assume from just glancing over the lore. There is no "Weave" to disturb the threads of, but there is DraKaise that you can channel.

Where are these quotes from?

The Notes of Josh the Squash are a long-winded set of notes from a sort of magical professor that wandered the landscape of Ithungsida helping and training young magic users and delving into the secrets of DraKaise.