The Basics of Magic

Magic in Belthuran is a very potent thing, known as The Arcane by most. The truth of it is, it is life and is maintained by the Dragons of the world, who also generate it. The arcane also serves as a balance and anchor between the other planes tied to the prime. From above the more holy energies cascade down, from below the profane energies rise and meet in the center. Each race has its own thoughts and methods to it, but each knows the true masters, and only ones who truly grasp magic are the Dragons themselves, who work to keep the Arcane pure and balanced, aided in this by the Mist elves.
The first facts of magic in Belthuran are not hidden if one has the care to learn them. There is a consciousness within the Arcane energies, for much of the world's history this has been a subconscious concerned with only basic things like its own existence, growing, and so on. It has always had a dislike of being caged and contained, as such, it harbors resentment towards Dwarves and casters such as wizards. Those who prepare spells take a more cautious approach to magic, their formulas and calculations within their spells are built safeguards to bring order to what they think is a chaotic and dangerous thing. The Dwarves runes are akin to this approach but to a higher degree. The reason that these users hide behind their structured formula and runes is because of how the Arcane interacts with casters. It is empowered by those who use it, as it empowers those who use it. The best example of this is the more recent appearance of Terrorgheists, in order to explain them, we must look at innate casters more.

Innate Casters

Innate casters are those with magic in the blood and take to the Arcane in its fullest way. There are many views about what the true nature of the Innate casters is with Bards and Sorcerers being the most well-known and infamous respectively. To these beings, the Arcane is both their ally and enemy, gifted with great powers from it they also are known to shape the arcane into their own enemies. Creatures known as Terrorgheists are a subconscious manifestation of the caster’s fears, doubts, and other negative emotions. They follow the simple principle of the Arcane, that the caster is shaping and empowering it. The Terrorgheist will attempt to control the sorcerer for some unknown purpose.
Emotion is a strong source of power as it can give great focus to the caster when being driven by one or another. Both factors led many to fear magic in general but Sorcerers the most. The commoners do not know of this, but the magically inclined of the world know that the number of Sorcerers is on the rise.
The Anrasha have always had a high population of sorcerers, they also do not fear them as they were trained by the Dragons in the proper way of magic, as such the Anrasha, Kobolds, and Drazgor/Drazgorra are the only races seemingly not affected by the Terrorgheists. This has led to these races producing some of the most powerful mages to walk the world, a recent example from the Elves is the Witchking Moralagos. It is said that these masters achieve such a unity with the Arcane they can shape the world around them with thought, not through complicated ritual or harsh binding of magic but by knowing how to guide the energies. In all the world’s history, no one has achieved this level without study from a Dragon master.

Bard

Bards are connected to the Arcane in a similar way to the sorcerers but a different aspect of it, within their essence they can hear a tune they can never really place or fully recreate but through their songs a fragment of that tune can be expressed. This tune is from the seal of binding that holds the planes together made as the arcane moves through the binding, in a sense they can tap into the same magics that helped create and bind the world into what it is.
This helps explains why despite them being innate casters no bard suffers the same way as other innate casters from the Terrorgheists as their music seems to pacify the Terrorgheist of themselves and any who hear the music.

Sorcerer

Sorcerers within the Draz Tyran as thought to be living embodiments of the Arcane, something like elementals to the other elements with mortal bodies as demanded by the Tyrannus. There is a certain logic to this thought as elementals cannot be anything than what they are, and a sorcerer has an inborn need to use magic. This need takes the form as a phenomenon known as the Arcane-sickness or Arcvortis

Arcvortis

This need takes the form as a phenomenon known as the Arcane-sickness or Arcvortis (loosely translated to mean soul lash in draconic) this is what happens when a sorcerer doesn't cast spells for an extended period of time, the amount of time is different between examples but is generally an issue after 5-10 days after the first manifestation of power. A common early symptom is discomfort deep in the body gradually seeming to move through their veins.
If the sorcerer still doesn't cast a spell of some kind after this period, it will worsen until their major blood vessels begin to glow through their skin in a silver-blue color with a rarer version taking a more prominent silver-blue coloration on the eyes.
If allowed to progress further it becomes a danger to not only the sorcerer but those around them ranging from a simple explosion of magical energy during an emotional outburst, strange manifestations, or callings to monsters or creatures influenced by the magic seeping out of the 'sickened' sorcerer. The sorcerer will also be in a great deal of pain and often on edge which can make the inevitable discharge more violent. At this stage it is only a matter of time before the pent-up magic will explode out seemingly angry at being caged for so long and often causing harm to those who tormented the sorcerer into keeping the power suppressed or just damage in general.
An example of this would be a child who is a sorcerer has been raised in a village that performs witch hunts for whatever reason and the fear of being discovered leads to them suppressing their power until it finally erupts, instead of a violent blast or curse that curdles milk the town begins to have strange wisps that lead the witch hunters away from the village where they become lost in a swamp or killed by a magical beast called to the spot by the wisp to attack the hunter. The sorcerer may never have wished harm on them but their life of being hunted and fear was turned back on their hunters.

Sleep

All of the innate casters have a unique relationship with sleep and the plane of dreams, when an innate caster goes to sleep their body does so as normal but they enter the Arcane in a lucid state it is here that they are able to gather the energy for their spells, those afflicted by the Terrorgheist get to experience the dread of having it stalk them outside of whatever mental construct they hide themselves in, often ruins or corners of a room only illuminated by the soft glow of a candle. Whichever form their ‘haven’ takes it is always dark and nightmarish to be within the Arcane often unaware of time until they wake up in the material. As such they do not dream in the normal sense instead their subconscious mind generates things in the Arcane for them to see and experience as if they were dreams. A keynote is that they are in most cases without a body more like a wisp of thought.
Sorcerers take this a step further in that they experience all the above but have a physical form as if they have been transported body and mind into the Arcane, they are capable of sensations like touch within the Arcane. This makes the experience even more horrifying if stalked by a Terrorgheist, and many Sorcerers develop insomnia or other sleep issues, this includes a sort of sleep paralysis with the ‘demon’ being the Terrorgheist. Those who are not plagued by the Terrorgheist through whatever means they used to tame it are more freely able to relax and enjoy their slice of the Arcane realm and shape it to suit them. This could even include a library of their experiences and memories that they can relive if they so choose. They are also free to experience their dreams much more directly as if they were a real event, as in some way they are.

Sanctuary

These places vary from person to person showing what style and themes they find most pleasing and relaxing, that is if the caster has their Terrorgheist tamed. If a Terrorgheist remains their enemy than the realm is one of darkness with only a small portion revealed in light the only safe feeling is within the light. Just beyond the light in the dark they can hear and possibly even see the Terrorgheist stalking them trying to reach them. As a result, most who have not tamed their Terrorgheist dislike spending time there.
The opposite is when a Terrorgheist is tamed or above the sanctuary becomes that, a peaceful and enjoyable place to reside and reconnect with the realm that helps supply their power. These places are said to be very comfortable, should an innate caster take the magnificent mansion spell the door they create leads to this sanctuary but is otherwise shaped and designed as normal by the spell.

Prepared Casters

The term used mostly for Wizards, those who must use complicated spell circles, forumlas, or other methods in other to harness the power of magic that they otherwise would not have access to. This method is widely believed to be the safest option so long as the user knows what they are doing and isn't meddling with something beyond their scope. This method is practiced by the Tavori mage faction for the purpose of harnessing magic as something to be controlled and turned to the benfit of those not born with an inherent connection to magic.

Pact Magic

A term that by its definition applies to anyone who gains power by trading something in return for that power. Which much to their chagrin includes servants of gods such as clerics or paladins who gain their power in return for faith and promoting the will of their deity. This kind of magic also applies to Warlocks and in some cases druids. The power isn't naturally the users, it was given to them by way of a pact of some kind or another.

Levels of magic

There is a drastic divide between the magic a true wizard can accomplish and that of the average person. A wizard or sorcerer should be seen as prodigies of casting, this can extend to any of the player classes that cast spells, they can learn magic that most people would destroy themselves even attempting, the ability to simply learn a spell through study or their blood awakening is rare and envied by many. The average person can learn some spells, but only through years of training and practice devoting themselves fully to their craft under the mentorship of a skilled master, those spells are fixed, they can only know those spells unlike the player classes who can learn, unlearn, or change their spells. Some have called the divide Low and High magic, often by the very same wizards who believe their abilities make them better. However, because of that singular focus to their one trade those who practice 'low' magic are far more skilled at the spell than others, able to prolong durations or have greater effects. A famous example of this is the methods taught to the Magesmiths of House Orior who use the sound of their hammers to keep spells that keep metal at forging temperature for as long as they need, it takes a ritual preperation and a medidative like state to do the work but they can keep the spell going for hours if needed. While this is all possible for most commoners to learn how to do, it requires a teacher willing to teach and a great deal of commitment and skill that not everyone has, often many give up before they can learn that kind of magic, and those who do have precious little respect for their efforts. Those who cannot look upon them with envy, or feel they cheated while they have to work harder. While the practioners of 'high' magic look down at them for only knowing such simple magics. It is from the commoner that they are given respect, often because they are able to produce quality wares faster, better, and cheaper than a mundane smith.

Divine Magic

While divine powers do exist within Belthuran to think of magic as separate between the Arcane and the Divine is not accurate. Arcane energy is the result of different energies mixing and then being stabilized and purified within the material plane. What would be considered Divine magic is one or more of the energies that are turned into the Arcane as a result they are more subject to influence from places attuned more heavily to one of the energy types.
While Arcane magic has its volatility it can function in any place except for null or dead magic zones, whereas a user of 'Law' or 'Good' energies would find it harder to use their powers in an area heavily attuned to 'Chaos' or 'Evil' while not impossible to use their powers it would take greater effort. Most of these effects are more story-based than mechanical. Some mechanical benefits to casting a spell of the same attunement include increased duration or potency at the discretion of the DM.

The Arcane realm

Also known as the Crossroads, The Arcane, and The Realm of Terror. This is where magic exists, to call it a plane in any sense is both accurate and false at the same time. It can't exist apart from the cosmology of Belthuran, nor could Belthuran exist without it. It is at once omnipresent and nonexistent. The most commonly accepted thought is that it is the fabric that makes up the great binding that holds the planes together.
The only ones able to enter the Arcane are those using planar travel, those partaking in 'mage duels', and as the innate casters, such as Sorcerers. It is known to be a realm of thought and emotion and in truth, any being of sufficient will can enter what the innate casters refer to as 'Sanctuary'. This is a place where memory can exist and the caster can reside in a relatively safe space, generally, this is done by meditation or by sleeping.

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