The Legacy

The Legacy is the prevailing theory amongst arcanologists for the origin of magic on Essaria. After settling on our planet, the Pliscian Civilization devised some sort of mechanism to generate a web of energy that spans the globe. This magical web is self-sustaining, sourcing its power from the world itself and from adjacent Iterums. The act of "casting a spell" is done via focusing parts of the Legacy through material catalysts, somatic gestures, and verbal commands. Though many mechanisms might be similar, there is a wide variety of methods used to accomplish a spellcast.
Four distinct magical energies comprise the Legacy: arcane, divine, occult, and primal. Some researchers assert that all four are connected while others posit that the Legacy is actually different webs of magic superimposed on each other. These four energies can be further divided into eight particular "schools" of magic, each dictating a field of reality to be changed, although arcanologist believe that even more might exist. Different tiers of power exist, typically classified on a numeric scale from 1 to 10.
The spells that are used today are mostly ancient and Pliscian in origin. However, new spells have been developed by proficient spellcasters, either modifying existing spells from Pliscian texts or by completely building them from the ground up.
The idea of the Legacy is taboo to many, particularly divine casters. Researchers assure that the source of divine magic is deific in nature, but that the mechanism that allows the casting of divine spells is Pliscian in origin.
It is also thought that the Legacy is quite different today than it was at the height of the Pliscian Empire, leading some researchers to believe that the Legacy is not truly self-sustaining, and that it is falling apart. Researchers at Eshad University claim that the decay of the Legacy is, in fact, accelerating.