Air Magic

Air Magic is one of the premiere magic forms on this planet; with wind being such a prevalent force, why wouldn't control of it be so valuable? Whether it be the Moon Elves of the Ventari Isle, the adventuring companies of Lorent or the imperial navy of Anbennar's Emperor, we all value the aid of a Anemancer.

— Lorent Marshal Gustave Bruneau

Air Magic has had a strong historic preference the world over, as its mastery of the wind has proven crucial time and again for travel and trade. While it has been overshadowed by its elemental magic peers at times, it has consistently maintained importance and relevance. This began to change even more as nuanced and potent abilities began to become uncovered by investment into it, as the ability to conjure lightning, storms and even permit flight were each discovered.

History of Air Magic

The Hysilens

Little is known of most magic in antiquity, but ruins of the ancient Hysilens paint the picture that they were avid users of the magic, utilising it heavily in projects where its extreme mobility was required. For the Raqise, Hysilens' ruins were the first indicator that air magic could do more than simply manipulate the air, and in many ways this discovery was vital to beginning to change how they viewed the magic.

Early History

The Raqise Confederacy delved significantly into air magic studies during its prime, and while they did a lot to expand the world's knowledge of it, a few things ultimately... tainted this legacy. One was that the Raqise were looking for more... interesting uses of the magic, which they couldn't find right away, minimizing their interest in it, but the other was that when the Confederacy fell, most of their knowledge on air magic went with it.
As such, prior to the Shard Ritual's development, the world had limited ability to practice air magic, and while its value was seen loud and clear, their lack of knowledge relegated it to effectively being the ugly duckling of the magical types, seeing little uptake and with the perception of those that wielded air magic of the era being that they were little better than a nonmagical person - known in the magical community as a layman, or sometimes in a derogatory way as a lame, as they lack the magical expertise. The only distinctions here were the Orloki and the wyvern Draconid, both of whom were naturally gifted with air magic bloodlines that let them experiment with its powers.
As the Shard Ritual came into effect however, things began to change substantially, and expansive knowledge on air magic was quickly garnered which cemented it as one of the most valuable types of magic in the world.

Modern History

In the modern age, air magic is widely respected and sought after. The development of magical-boosting armour aided air magic exceptionally, granting Anemancers the ability to wield truly devastating power, and on a large scale.
Within the confines of the world's situation and technological state, Anemo Shards are one of the most vital Crysium Shard types around nowadays, being used for great air-based projects such as Feiten's legendary Airships, Spelljammers and anemo-based weaponry... though as with much on Elaienna, there's a dark side to that technology.

Anemo Shards

Anemo Shards feature sparsely across the world, but are replete within The Roost and the Wandering Isles, the homelands of the harpy Orloki and wyvern Draconid, respectively. Some believe that the harpies and wyverns know how to cultivate these shards in their homelands, but nobody knows for certain, and the respective races are much too aloof and evasive to be brought to discuss the matter.

Uses of Air Magic

Anemancer by WOTC

Lightning and Wind Manipulation

In the earliest days of the art, air magic was primarily used to control the wind itself, to influence its flow and create blasts of air. The abilities in this group allow a caster to create air blasts, redirect wind currents, speed up or slow down the wind itself, as well as blow projectiles off course, and the truly skilled casters of Air Magic can even use wind manipulation to fly.
Later on in the development of air magic, casters found out how to wield the magic in far more direct offensive ways through the medium of lightning. From defensive lightning manipulation to merely shock and knock opponents off of their pace, to offensive electromancy capabilities, once lightning manipulation became a standard part of the air magic toolkit, these mages could cleave through many enemies at once, and even traditional energy shields were of little value, spurring further innovation in Shielding Magic in order to counter it.

Sound Manipulation

Sound is ultimately a by-product of the air, which allows an air mage some limited control over it in turn. Sound Manipulation can allow for an Anemancer to diminish and muffle sounds, project those sounds over huge distances, and much more, as well as utilise the wind to carry a message on the caster's behalf.

Offensively, Anemancers can use sound manipulation to create thunderous blasts of sound which have little issue hurting the ear drums of those standing in the caster's way. Experienced casters can even take this to such a point where they can cause objects to create a sound resonance.

Weather Control

It's of little surprise that as an air magic caster gets more skilled, the weather itself starts to become part of their domain, their abilities being useful to exert a certain degree of control over the weather; while they can't bend it to their will, their magic allows them to rid an area of storms just as easily as they can create them. The most exceptional Anemancers can even whip the winds up into tornadoes, though these individuals are extremely rare indeed.

Elemental Summoning

While Summoning Magic is the core magical overseer of the summoning process, elemental casters like those with air magic can establish a link to the elemental realm of air to conjure forth limited summons. These typically range from binding small air familiars to summoning larger air elementals.

Lightning Anemancer by Bram Willemot

Combining Elements

The four elemental magics can generally by combined by highly experienced characters to create truly destructive things. To date, there have only been successful combinations of two elements at a time, with three-and-four element combinations proving invariably fatal due to the sheer difficulty in controlling it.

Air and Fire

The combination of Air Magic and Fire Magic is easily one of the most powerful elemental unions if mastered, with the wind magic allowing for flames to be fanned with air and grown to incredible sizes, or for fire magic to be introduced into storms and tornadoes to turn them into fire variants.
The most elusive and extreme ability however, exclusive to a precious few Wizards that mastered it, is to use both elements to create plasma, wielding untold destructive potential. This recorded use of the magic is so rare that only a single person is known to have demonstrated the capability to do so.

Air and Water

The elemental combination of Air Magic and Water Magic allows for the creation of far more potent storms, allowing for the formation of conditions reminiscent of monsoons, as well as massive snowstorms and hail-storms. At higher skill levels in water magic, ice can be turned into an even stronger weapon by accelerating ice projectiles with wind manipulation.

Air and Earth

Much like the combination with Water Magic, the elemental combination of Air Magic and Earth Magic allows for the creation of extremely potent storms. In the case of earth magic, this is done to create grand sandstorms with untold destructive might, but it can just as easily form floating clumps of earth that can be launched at an enemy. Similarly, air magic has great utility for launching grand spikes of earth at a foe.