Mana
Mana is the technical term for a form of potential energy common to all living creatures, notable for its ease of conversion to other types of energy and its importance in the laws of Magic.
Critical to nearly all magical rituals, mana is what makes every type of matter-state shift possible in the first place, whether it is something as mundane as igniting a wet torch or as spectacular as heating the thick armor glacis of a landship into a pile of molten metal. Through a mage's understanding of materials science and thermodynamics, their mental willpower converts mana (their own and/or others') into more useful forms of energy, and delivers this energy into a targeted object to achieve the envisioned effect. Since every living being, mage or not, only has a limited reserve of mana, attempting to brute-force shifts without either understanding the science underpinning magic or proper focus is highly impractical and extremely exhausting, hence magic's reputation as a skill requiring both finesse and stamina. Even with proper training and study, the caloric requirements for a magic user are far higher than those of a layman, due to their need to nourish highly-strained organs and frequently replenish exhausted pools of mana.
Studying some of the processes involved, particularly the transfer and application of converted mana, produces data that usually flies in the face of conventional physics, as the non-localized phenomena of shifting is intricately linked to the mindset and preexisting beliefs of the wielder. Still, research into mana and matter-state shifts have not been entirely unproductive, as quantitative measurements of magical behavior have lent great legitimacy to formerly-maligned fields of study such as psychology and quantum mechanics.
Utility
One of the most crucial forms of energy powering magical rituals, with its unstable nature making conversion to other forms extremely easy.
Manufacturing
Naturally produced in biological processes. Certain types of mana jars are expressly designed to convert and store surrounding energy into mana for easier storage, but are themselves difficult to manufacture.
Parent Technologies
Access & Availability
Mana is at the core of all magical mechanisms, with the vast majority of such energy being the byproduct of biological processes. Though the definition of a living creature is one that bears a mana signature (hence viruses not falling under this category), most beings are unable to directly access their mana reserves without external devices. Mages are the exception to this rule.
Discovery
Origins unclear, likely created in the same process that resulted in magic and reality as understood today.
