Magic of Manesca

Throughout the magical history of Manesca, there are a limited number of spells, which can be categorised into different groups based on the magical skill required to cast them. New spells have occasionally been discovered, or older spells refined to be less costly, with decades and centuries of accumulated study.
What each spell can accomplish is fairly broad, but most spellcasters specialise in more specific techniques that they hone over years of practice and effort.

History of Magic

Magic in Manesca was developed largely to protect civilisations from supernatural threats, all of whom with access to much more sophisticated magic than humankind. As such, the vast majority of the advancements of magic have been in the field of combat. One of the primary principles of combat magic is preserving your essence, using as little of it as you can get away with in order to outlast an opponent.

Casting a Spell

In order to cast any spell, one must expend essence, magical energy stored within oneself. Most people's essence reserves are small, but with time, effort, and training, these reserves can be increased. The amount of essence required to cast a given spell is fairly consistent, though what can be accomplished with that spell can be variable depending on the mage. Mages can typically sense the general power level of other mages, provided they are not masking their essence. This comes with a visualisation of that mage's "aura", a field of their magical essence around them.

Type

Metaphysical, Arcane

It is curious, that despite a self-reported love for the practise of magic, most Manescans only ever utilise it in combat. The history of these lands is rife with violence, of course, but one cannot help but think what they could accomplish if they turned their study towards the more mundane applications of the craft.

— Notes of the Scribe

Anti-Magic

Most mages posses anti-magic skills, that is, the ability to dispel magic. Not considered spells themselves, dispelling magic requires using one's own essence to remove the essence of a different spell. This is incredibly draining to perform, and is almost never used during combat for this reason.

Combining Spells

Though the list of spells that mages can cast is finite, the existing spells can be combined together to create an effect not able to be performed with a singular spell. Such spell combinations are incredibly costly, and this is thus a technique saved for circumstances where it is required or when the mage in question has large amounts of essence to spare. Combined spells are typically much harder to counter or dispel than single spells. There are a few mages in history who have specialised in certain spell combinations, which have made them a menace to face on a battlefield.

Spells

Generate

Generation spells are those that create something from nothing. Such spells are often much more costly essence-wise, but can be more difficult to fight against, as it is impossible to separate a mage from the source of their magic. Mages that use elemental manipulation will often learn generation spells associated with their element to ensure they are not caught weaponless in a fight in the wrong environment.

Kasht

Kasht is a basic attack spell. It gathers magical energy and directs it towards a foe, tearing directly through organic matter without harming anything inanimate. Due to how straightforward the spell is, there aren't many alternate uses or variations to it. Combining Kasht with other spells generally strengthens the second spell, rather than applying any of the properties of an attack to it. Due to the lethality of the spell, Kasht is only taught/practised in controlled environments.

Eshek

Eshek is a shielding spell. It generates a one-way field which blocks any magical energy from passing through. Though it was originally created as a counter to Kasht, modern versions of the spell can block physical matter as well. Some variations of the spell shield a larger area over a longer period of time, while others focus on key points - sustaining a shield over a larger area for a longer period of time generally takes much more essence.

Eashe

Useful both in utility and in battle for mages who specialise in water manipulation, Eashe creates water. The spell has one of the lowest essence costs of all of the generation spells, largely because it often draws water from the environment instead of actually creating water from nothing.

Vaalen

Vaalen is a fire generation spell, taking two primary forms. The first is a mage heating their hands to set fire to what they touch, and the second is a mage creating a spark in the air, which can then be manipulated with fire manipulation magic. Vaalen is on the higher end of essence cost.

Senna

Senna is a light generation spell. While it can be cast to create glowing sources of light, it is much more efficient for a mage to cast it on something, causing that object to glow. Some choose to cast the spell on their eyes, giving them a sort of night-vision. Variations of the spell can cause blindness.

Fveshta

Fveshta is a spell that creates a weapon within the caster's hands. It is not often used due to its high essence cost and how unnecessary it tends to be; bringing a physical weapon with oneself if they intend to fight generally suffices for this spell's purpose. But there are some mages whose form of combat revolves around this spell: Creating a weapon just before they strike, or rapidly switching between weapons in combat, can make it incredibly difficult for an opponent to see an attack coming. For mages who specialise in this sort of combat, the essence cost is not an issue, as they don't tend to use their essence for much else in lieu of physical attacks.

Lossu

Lossu is one of the few spells specifically designed outside of the lens of combat, instead developed purely for utility. It is a spell that creates food, and is often used in settlements without readily accessible sources of nutrients. Food created by Lossu doesn't expire or rot, so it is often used to create large stores of food for eating over the winter, droughts, or when the harvest is tainted by disease and blight. Food generated with Lossu usually doesn't taste as good as the real food it is replicating, unless the mage creating it has spent many years refining their ability with the spell - a pursuit that very few have achieved, due to how relatively useless it would be to do so.

Manipulate

Manipulation spells are those that take existing matter and change it. Such spells are usually very inexpensive in terms of essence, but what they can do is limited by the environment. Mages who specialise in these spells often find ways to work around their limitations, either by learning associated generation magic or by getting creative in what they can use in their magic.

Seava

Seava is a water manipulation spell. In its most basic form, it moves water, but it can also be used to make blades or projectiles, or freeze water into ice and vice versa. Some variations of the spell can also work with steam, mud, and other less direct sources of water, though the spell usually does require a direct line of sight to the water being used for the spell. Some creative mages use clouds or sweat.

Yashou

Yashou is a fire manipulation spell. It is one of the weaker of the manipulation spells, since it does require the presence of fire in order to cast, it is relatively essence-cheap to cast, with the lowest cost of the manipulation spells. In order to be effectively used, it almost always must be cast alongside a fire generation spell, but the combination of fire manipulation and generation is more essence-efficient than casting both spells separately.

Takhan

Takhan is an earth manipulation spell, and one of the manipulation spells that does not have an associated generation spell - largely because there is no shortage of earth to manipulate. Takhan can be used to shift the ground, raise pillars from or sink craters into it, and even send masses of stone or dirt flying towards an enemy. Though small amounts of earth don't cost much essence, the amount of essence required to move larger amounts is monumental.

Veshte

Veshte is an air manipulation spell and, similar to Takhan, does not have an associated generation spell, due to the prevalence of air. It can be used to create gusts of wind, or slice at an enemy with unseen blades of compressed air that can be difficult to counter. Veshte is a difficult spell to master, due to a mage's inability to see the element they are working with. As such, it is very rarely used outside of mages who have chosen to specialise in it.

Voael

Voael is a light manipulation spell. Unlike many of the other manipulation spells, this one must be used in combination with another spell in order to be effective as an attack. However, its use in combat comes from more than this: controlling the light available for other mages to be able to see is an incredibly strong tool, and manipulating light to turn invisible is immensely powerful. Mages specialising in Voael can be terrifying for these reasons.

Uaala

Uaala is a transmutation spell, used to turn something from one material to another: wood to stone, ice to metal, or even heat to light. Though it is much more costly than most of the manipulation spells, it is generally less essence than a generation spell, making it the first choice of many a mage who specialises in manipulation combat - creating water from dirt is easier than creating water from nothing, and both are equally as useful to a water mage.

Fabricate

Fabrication magic is the magic of illusions, of disguising something as something else. Such magic is not particularly popular, seen as dishonourable, mages who specialise in it being looked down upon for using trickery instead of skill to win their battles. The mages who developed such magic have largely been lost to history, their names as forgotten as the reasons they created these techniques.

Rashaa

Rashaa is a masking spell, preventing other mages from seeing the true amounts of essence available to the caster. Rashaa costs negligible amounts of essence itself, though maintaining it for an extended period of time can be tiring. This spell comes with a major downside: the amount of essence tha a mage is currently displaying is the amount they are restricted to using for their spells, effectively limiting the power of the spells they are casting. Rashaa also comes with a tell, noticeable by practised mages: a flickering appearance to the caster's aura, though the longer a mage maintains the spell, the less noticeable this flickering becomes.

Tevat

Tevat is a spell that creates a visible illusion, with more powerful versions of the spell able to add smell or sound to the illusion - though never touch. More basic versions of Tevat are static illusions, usually on the smaller side, though the more powerful iterations developed later have been able to move in complex manners. Mages using Tevat in combat most commonly create duplicates of themselves, disguising their true location. It can also be used to create false spells, forcing the opponent to counter non-existent attacks, or disguising one type of attack as a different one, eliciting the incorrect counter. The spell can even be used to create illusory terrain.

Rashka

Rashka is a disguise spell, changing the visual appearance of what it is cast on. Combining the spell with a manipulation or generation spell can give physical credibility to the illusion. It is most often used to change the appearance of the caster, but it can also be used to disguise a weapon as a simple tool, or armour as regular clothing. Due to the higher essence costs, it is not often used in combat.

Kaarau

Kaarau is a concealing spell, meant to hide a magical presence. It prevents detection of magic, used by mages who wish to elude the eye of other mages, or to overcome wards that prevent magic from crossing. The spell can also be used to disguise magical effects as mundane ones, allowing a mage to perform magic while pretending they are doing something different. This can quickly drain essence, however.