Basics of magic
Magic bases itself on the use of mana in order to use spells, create enchanments or magical items. But it is not that simple, in order to use magic a mage is going to take into account his mana output, his mana reserves and his mana control. If one mage is not able to understand one of these three he wont be able to cast magic properly. So now let's talk about these three basics.
Mana output
Mana output is the quantity of mana that any living being emits just the sole reason of being alive. If something is alive it emits mana. But just emiting mana is not enough, because when mana is emited out of our bodies and it's not use, it will turn into natural magic, or natural mana, which noone can use.
Mana reserves
Mana reserves is the ammount of mana a person can maintain within himself be it by natural and innate ability or by the use of control and concentration. This mana will not turn into natural magic, so it will be always available to use when the mage needs it. There are several spells that requiere great amounts of mana, so if your magic output is not big enough you will have to rely on you mana reserves. Once you use them, the mana output instead of being emited out, will fill the reserves.
Mana control
Mana control is the ability the mage has to control his own mana, basically is the magicians ability to move and concentrate his mana or alter it into an element. It is also important in order to be able to control the spell at range, a mage with low control can only cast and manipule the spell at short distances, while a mage expert in control can cast and manipulate the spell dozens of metres from himself. Control is vital for magic casting, more in non elemental magic that the others, but still vital.
So after discussing these three basics, you may ask," I'm not good at this one, is it posible to improve?". Even though every mage has an innate ability is the three be it for better or worse, a mage can only improve his control through experience and practice. But do not worry, is your mana output or reserve are naturaly low, there is something that can improve them. Mana cristals are the solution for that, these cristals are mana concentrated into a solid form, this can be manipulated by us, the only thing a mage needs to use them is control. So if you practise your control you can use a mana cristal that will act as a mana reserve and extract the mana from the cristal as adicional mana output.
Mana cristals can be found in nature, there are not special locations, it can be near a mountain or inside it, in can be in a river or in the middle of the field. There is a wide variety of sizes to them and even though some can be verey big, one has to take into consideration the density of the cristal, if it is very low in densite the cristal will be use quickly, but if it is dense it can last for long periods of time.
If you now think, I cant afford those cristals at the moment, then do not falter. You can create you own cristals, all you need is good control. Artificial cristals vary in density and size and depends on the magitian that creates them, inexperience magicians will create low dense cristal that as big in size, the more expert mage will create a small yet very dense magic cristal.
Now we will talk about how to use magic in each magic school briefly.
Elemental magic
Elemental magic is bases itself on the converion of mana into an element, to then use that element in the spell. It relies on the ammount of mana used, either by great mana ouput or from a great mana reserve.
To cast elemental magic the mage has to first be able sense and control his mana. Once he is able to do so he has to concentrate the mana, inexperience mages like to concentrate the mana on the hand as it helps when they have to concentrate. When a reasonable ammount has been gathered, the mage has to sense this concentration and when thats done he has to alter the mana. If the mage is trying to cast a fireball he has to alter the mana into fire, or into ice if he is casting a ice bolt. Once it has started altering the mana into the element is the time to feed it more mana to increase the effect of the spell, for example a bigger fireball or ice bolt. It is important to remember that for example fire burns, so it's important to have control over the spell and keep it at a safe distant to not burn yourself.
The elemental magic school is divided in the Fire, Water, Air and Earth categories, but is not limited to them, this are the four more simpler to manipulate, earth being the harder of the four, but there are variants and combinations. Like for example water magic has the variant of ice magic, or the air magic has the lightning variant, or you can create lava with a combination of fire and earth, but these are more advanced and complex.
Nature and Healing magic
Nature and healing magic are very different from elemental, it bases itself on the manipulation mana, to for example make a plant grow faster or heal a person. Both rely on mana control rather than ammount of mana.
To use nature magic, the mage needs to have a great control over his mana as well as a great sensing ability. He has to be able to manipulate the mana into the plant or person, and them use it to influence them into the action the caster wants. As the different proceses to carry out both of this magics are complex, we wont detail them in the begginer manual.
Light and Dark magic
Light and Dark magic are the two sides of a coin. They are the same, the only diference is the visual represention of the spell. It relies on both ammount of mana and control, so it's one of the hardest types of magic to use.
For a mage to be able to cast light and dark magic, first he needs follow the same steps at first of elemental magic, sensing the mana, concentrating it on one point, but instead of transforming the mana on an element, the mage needs to change the mana into a solid form. This requieres a lot of control, it is changing the air like nature of mana for a more solid state, although this analogy does not represent it fully of what really is and happens, it helps get the picture of the process.
Now you may ask why we do a diferenciation between the two, and the simple answers is utility. Ligth magic is harder to see in the day, while very visible in the dark, and the other way around for dark magic. If someone wants to perform attacks with some stealth in the middle of the nigth where is there almost no visibility dark magic is very usefull. Or if you are under attack by dark magic you can use ligth magic to ligth the darkness and search for the agresor. If we go by the day, light magic is harder to see so it can give a certain advantage, while dark magic could be use to create a shield were the attackers from the outside cannot see what the defenders are doing on the inside.
Enchantments and magic items
Now if we go from casting spells, to do enchaments we enter a different field. Enchantment requiere an ammount of mana smaller, in most cases, than spells, as the enchament is just a mechanism in which can access and use the mage or users mana to be active and use the effect, like making a sword into a flaming sword, or emit light. Other type of enchaments would be making weapons and tools more resistant, sharper or making it more flexible. It's making a normal non magical item, into one that has a usable magic aspect.
Magic items on the other hand, are forged by the use of magic, so from the beggining they have a magical aspect. Enchanments can be broken, either by overuse, misuse, or by another mage. Magic items on the other hand will be able to withstand overuse, misuse and another mages to some extent, which makes them better than enchaments. The downside is that not only needs a feed of mana by a mage or user, it requieres a certain control, which restrict the ammount of people that can use them.
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