Elemental Mages
Elemental magic is the most common form of Magic in Hysal. It has been with humanity since the dawn of time and is widely regarded as an integral part of it. It consist of the ability to control and create the natural elements that make up the physical world of Hysal, by manipulating the energy within those elements, which is called Nexurium and/or using their own reserve of nexurium inside their own body, which is called Mana. Wielders of elemental magic are most commonly called mages and are separated into 9 types, one for each element as well as Nexurium, which is the energy governing all those elements.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Elemental Mages look like any other human and easely blend into society. They do not have distinguishing caracteristic that sets them appart from normal humans when they are idle, with two exception.
Eye Colour
Some elemental mage's eyes will slowly change colour over the course of their life, in accordance with how much they use their powers. In fact, the more an Elemental mage uses their elemental powers throughout their life, the more their eye colour will slowly change from its original tint to an element specificic colour. The speed at which this occurs depends on the strenght of their elemental power and how many times they use it. However, it will always take years for any noticable changes to occur. As said before, most elements are associated with a specific colour. However, the eyes of Air/windmages and stonemages do not change colour, while the eyes of Archmages act completly differently than the rest but still retain their original colour when the mage is idle.Ear Shape
The top of the ears belonging to elemental mages are not round like that of a mundane human. Instead, they are pointy. This point can be short and barely noticeble, or very prominent. The shape of the ears is dependent on their level of mana, or in other words, how strong their elemental magic abilities are naturaly. The stronger their elemental abilities are, the longer and pointier the ears can get. The bottom portion of the ear remains largery the same, though slightly narrower.Nexurium
Mana Reserve
Like other mages, Elemental mages have a internal reserve of nexurium, called Mana. This reserve of energy can be used to power their abilities. However, if used too much, it can also be depleted, as unlike Soulmages, they are not connected to the Ether and thus cannot syphon energy from that dimension to recuperate lost mana. They only have their own reserve of mana that they can use as well as the energy of their elements, if it has energy on its own. The reserve itself can vary is size and mages can train themselves to hold on to more mana, which expands their reserve and can also use various talismans to get better results while using the same amount of Mana.Nexurium Syphoning
If a mage control a high energy element, like fire and light, they can also tap into that energy and syphon it to replenish their reserve, at the cost of that element loosing energy. For example, if a water mage takes all the energy out from a bucket of water, the water will freeze and will no longer be controlable by a watermage. If a firemage or lightmage take energy from their respective elements, that source will deplete. The fire will eventualy go out and the light will dim.Elemental powers
Elemental Control Abilities
Appart from the contraint of managing a limit mana reserve, elemental mages also have to take into account that controling solid elements can be fairly complicated. The number of individual pieces of material and their individual mass are very important metrics for Mages to keep in mind. Generaly, the larger the mass, the harder it is to control, and it is a fairly linear progression of difficulty. However, controling multiple material objects at the same time become exponentialy more difficult, no matter the total mass. It also usualy doesn't matter in what state the element is in. For example, some stonemages are able to control lava, while other can control sand or even glass, while others cannot.Elemental Creation Ability
Most elements cannot be created from just energy. However, that is not the case for fire and Light. Lightmages and firemages can use their own mana reserve to create their respective element. This uses a lot of energy but they are also able to take energy from those same element, which while the ration of energy used versus energy taken is still negative, it helps to offset the use mana cost to create those elements in the first placeLimits of their Abilities
If elemental mages try to push beyond what their own mana reserve allows, or if they repeatadly empty their reserve without letting it repleninsh properly, then they can develop a condition known as Mana atrophy. Thankfully, training can be done to prevent this condition from developing in the first place.Genetics and Reproduction
Natural Means
Children born from two elemental mages will inherit one of the parent's ablities and if both parents are the same type of mage, the child with have stronger abilites. If only one of the parents in a mage, then the likelyhood that the child becomes a mage drops as low as 10%.Supernatural Means
If both parents aren't mages, the child can still become a mage via a celestial gift, which happens when a child is born from mundane parent nonetheless develops magic abilites anyways. These abilities are random and cannot be encouraged or prevented by any known means.Additional Information
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Sensitivity to Nexurium
Most elemental mages are able to sense the presence of their element simply by being near it, generaly less than 10m away. This ability is innate and does not demand any practice or effort to do because they are sensitive to the particular form of nexurium that each element releases. Once a mage senses that energy, they are able to tap into it, or reverse the flow and put their own mana into the source.Other Perception Abilities
Using that same principle, these mages can also know with precision the volume and general shape of that elemental source, simply by mapping the energy coming out of it. However, some elements, like ice and shadow, do not contain enough energy for this ability to work. They instead have to develop unique abilities in order to be able to sense their element in the same way.Civilization and Culture
Major Organizations
Many Mercenary Guilds exist in Hysal, where members's services are bought by clients. Magic academies, large schools where Mages come to train their abilities and learn about them are scattered all over the world.
Culture and Cultural Heritage
Unlike Soulmage, most types of Elemental mages are widely seen as a good and natural force in the world. Therefore, they are generaly not victims of nearly as much persecution compared to soulmages, especialy in cities.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
In most Elemental mage communities, couple with a mundane human is accepted, but not prefered.
Types of Elemental Mages:
This article was quite thorough and very interesting to read. I like the parallel with soulmages (who are hated), since I started by reading them. As usual, it's all easy to understand and incredibly fluid.
Thank you very much!