Tethers

Pathways to the Fundamentals
Every sentient creature, whether elf, behemon, human, goblin, or something other, develops a tether in their first few years of age. It is a supernatural link to one of five Fundamentals (Flare, Ocean, Sky, Psyche, and Life) that spears from the soul and harmonises into magical energy. The manifestation of this power varies from being to being but is always restrained by the limits of the Fundamental it stems from.
For example, a goblin born in a mining community abutting the Brimstone Wastes is almost always going to develop a Flare tether. Years later their aptitude will arrive - perhaps the ability to heat rock by touch. Then a few decades downstream, another talent may have confessed itself - such as stone-coating - but this is far from guaranteed. Typically, two is the highest number of idiosyncrasies anyone will have.


Objects
Whatever the power one has, without an Object it will be feeble: Shooting lightning may just create a spark, summoning animals may be limited to only insects, or inducing emotions could do precisely nothing. Objects are the physical ligaments to Fundamentals required in order to draw magic with more than just a scarcely connected soul. Consequently, Ocean, Flare, and Life Attunists may use pearls, gemstones, and saplings as Objects respectively.
The quality of an Object will determine its potency at enhancing a tether. Naturally, a sapling from an ordinary tree will be far less effective as an Object for a Life Attunist than a sacred elven herb that has been cultivated for generations.


Tether Bursting
The night-terror of many in Nikrea is having their tether burst; detonating inside them and reducing organs to grain. It's a nauseating anguish that seems all too easy to occur, as powerful Objects can be authoritative to a dramatic degree. They are able to not only heighten tethers from their own Fundamental, but trick any other tether into presuming it can be enhanced in the same way. Unfortunately, instances such as an Ocean Attunist's tether being augmented by a Flare-attuned gemstone, can lead to disaster if the Ocean Attunist attempts to connect to Flare. Their tether will be lacerated and extirpated in an instant, releasing the energy it had stored in a surge of incandescence. The Ocean Attunist will be left fine on the outside but a charred husk on the inside, dying rather quickly.
Amazingly, many behemons can survive tether bursting by virtue of their astounding natural healing. And curiously, those behemons retain magical power. Their once tether-bond abilities infuse with their body and soul: If they could create dazzling light through a Sky tether, their entire body may radiate light with malleable intensity after a tether burst. This strange condition has conquered the ideologies of behemons in the east of Nikrea, with the religion of Leviam demanding that all behemons must burst their tethers to be free.