Magic and Mana
"I've seen a world sapped of all of its mana. Lifeless, barren... dead. Something has stolen or eaten all of it. This place no longer carries the means to produce life now, or ever. I pray that whatever being has done this is satiated."
Magic comes in many forms and derives from numerous sources, but all forms of magic have one thing in common: the ability for the user to overcome or manipulate the natural order of the world to achieve specific, supernatural effects. The theist's magic derives from the relationship with their god; the sorceress's magic derives from the rituals and formulae they have mastered; the animist's magic comes from his relationship with the spirits; and the mystic's magic comes from within himself. Despite their sources and the relationships that drive them, all these magicians are able to perform remarkable feats that are beyond the capabilities of non-practitioners.
Table of Contents
- Magic and Mana
- Representation and Meaning
- White Mana
- Blue Mana
- Black Mana
- Red Mana
- Green Mana
- Colorless Mana
- Magical Dicsiplines
Magic and Mana
Mana is a metaphysical form of energy that is expended when a mage or wizard uses magic. It is produced by the world and can be harnessed. It is the energy that flows through the land itself. The "rivers" of energy in the world are known as leylines. Its ultimate source is unknown. Mana dwells within all things, however, the mana dwelling with most beings is minuscule, so spellcasters have been known to siphon mana from the land around them. In areas whose mana has been almost completely siphoned off, magic becomes weaker and living things begin to die. Fortunately, unless that area has become completely severed from mana, time will replenish the mana naturally. Mana can be extracted into a physical nature and stored, though this process is very difficult and dangerous, and can only be stored in specific materials and ways.
Magic is defined by five colors, sequenced White, Blue, Black, Red, and Green. Each color signifies an ideological faction as well as its relations with the other colors. Magic and mana are considered living beings, and each color has its own means and motivation for doing battle, weaknesses, and unique mechanics. A color's philosophy explains how it sees the world, what objectives it hopes to realize, and what resources and tactics a color has at its disposal.
Mana is ones connection to their colors. All living beings, and some non-living, are connected to and influenced by these colors in some way or another; whether its how one acts, fights, or casts spells. Even if one is devoid of being able to cast magic, they still have connections to magic and mana. Artifacts, and very few beings are capable of being truly without color.
Mechanically when a player creates their character, they will need to decide how much of their mana is devoted to what color. This is usually represented by the character's motivations, ideologies, actions, and personality. A character can have all of their mana be Red, an even or odd split between two colors, or they can even decide to carry every single color in their pool or no colors at all. Every spell has a color or colors associated with it, meaning when you spend your mana, you must have enough of that color in your pool to be able to cast it. So a multi-colored character may be able to cast many different spells, but may find it difficult to cast more powerful spells that require more of a single color. On the other side, a mono-colored character may have a smaller pool of spells to draw from, but may be able to cast much more powerful spells.
Loyalty to a color is not set in stone. It is possible for a being to shift from White, to Black in extreme circumstances. It is also possible to gain more colors as you live your life and discover who you are, or lose them in the same sense. Mana is influenced by color in much the same way ones actions are influenced by morality. Those who are aligned with White, may find it easier to cast healing spells, and much harder or impossible to cast life draining spells, in much the same way a vegan would find it difficult to eat meat.
Representation and Meaning
White
Peace, law, structured, selflessness, equality, organization
Blue
Knowledge, deceit, caution, deliberate, perfecting, curiosity.
Black
Power, self-interest, death, sacrifice, uninhibited self-concern.
Red
Freedom, emotion, activeness, impulse, destructive.
Green
Nature, wildlife, connection, spiritual, tradition, instinct.
When pulled apart from their kin, individuals can be shown to have traits in common with their color or guild, but toned down to a smaller, more "realistic" scale.
For example, White Mana as a group works toward peace, harmony, and unity. But for White Mana as a lone soldier or citizen, these goals may be considered "too large" for their everyday life. A White Mana organization may believe in order and ethics, enforcing its beliefs through government, religion, and other large-scale institutions. However, a White Mana'd individual may mirror this on a smaller scale, such as preferring his or her family eat together at the dinner table, putting value in dining etiquette and proper manners. A White Mana group can outcast a troublemaker, but an individual has little to no power to do so on his or her own. An organized character is not automatically have White Mana. A character that values organization, however, may be.
Black/Red Mana has shown signs of organization in such cases as the mathematically designed destruction. Green/White Mana has shown self-concern in the form of life, but that does not make Green/White selfish — that would be comparable to saying that a person is selfish for brushing his or her teeth. Instinct is unavoidable in all forms of non-artificial life, as even vampires must feed to sate their natural hunger. Wizards cannot learn on an empty stomach and even they are drawn to sexual partners — it is as nature wills, but that does not make them Green. It is the value of these traits that defines a character to a color, not the presence of them. That said, their presence should not be taken into heavy consideration.
Second, influence must be taken into account. If the character spends a great deal of time around Black Mana characters, he or she will likely do some things that can be considered selfish or outright Black. This does not make them Black, as they may have been suffering under peer pressure, they may have lost or may be losing sight of morality, he or she may not be entirely aware of what they're doing, or they could perhaps be in the process of reconsidering his or her own views and making a shift into or toward the color. Influences also come from bloodline, race, and occupation. If the character is a Goblin in the Azorius Senate, he or she may be Blue/White, but will likely have a Red influence that will surface in his or her actions, words, responses, or thoughts. Typically, when an opposing influence surfaces, it serves only to dilute the character's other colors. For example, a Black/Red character with a White influence would be a much more toned-down version of a Black/Red character.
White
"Through the haze of battle I saw the glint of sun on golden mane, the sheen of glory clad in mail, and I dropped my sword and wept at the idiocy of war."
White puts value in the group, the community, and its civilization as a whole. White believes that suffering is a by-product of individuals not prioritizing the good of the group. White's ultimate goal is peace—a world where there is no unnecessary suffering, a world where life is as good as it can be for each individual, a world where everyone gets along and no one seeks to disturb the bonds of unity that White had worked so long to forge. To govern and protect its community, White makes use of and puts value in a number of broad concepts; morality (ethics, grace, truth), order (law, discipline, duty), uniformity (conformity, religion), and structure (government, planning, reason). White is a color commonly associated with good and justice, but if left unchecked or if everyone is not working toward the same unified goal, White can become authoritarian, inflexible, and capable of sacrificing a small group for the sake of a larger one. Everything necessary to preserve the laws, rules, and governance that White created.
Blue
"The fatal flaw in every plan is the assumption that you know more than your enemy."
Blue is the color that wants perfection and looks on the world and sees opportunity to achieve that, figuring out what you could achieve with the right education, experience, and tools. For Blue, life is one of constant discovery as you keep seeking to better yourself. This way of living requires the right attitude. You have to be open to possibilities, but also not too hasty in action. Blue is methodical and exact and recognizes that there are many forces, even some that come from within, that lead an individual astray. It is better to think one's options out carefully and select correctly than to rush to a decision. Implicitly, in that general world view, blue believes in tabula rasa: every one of us is born a blank slate with the potential to become anything. One need only understand how, to make the change. So with this ill-formed goal before it, Blue reasons that if it is to make itself better, it must become capable of everything it could be capable of, for that is to "merely add" to its own capabilities.
Blue believes it can't possibly be bad to acquire the potential for any conscious action. Thus, Blue, believing it is capable of changing anything if it understands the change, and believing it is imperative that it acquire every capability it could have, concludes that it is imperative that it understand change. As such, blue is the color most interested in technology and wants the latest and greatest version of whatever it is using. Moreover, blue decides that it must understand everything; for truly, understanding can only improve one's effectiveness in any task. To gain understanding, blue must acquire knowledge. Since knowledge itself will inform every other decision, blue forms its principle goal: omniscience, the knowledge of all.
Black
"A drop of humanity for a sea of power."
Black doesn't see anything as fundamentally immoral. To black, the only measure of right and wrong should be whether or not it leads to success. Black is open to opportunities and strategies rejected by others as taboo or forbidden—death, torment, infection, betrayal. Black Mana characters will do anything to ensure their own well-being even at the expense of others; to black, anything less only allows others to do the same. Thus, black does everything possible to gain the only commodity that can secure it from weakness, and ensure its ability to get whatever it needs or wants—power.
Although if taken to extremes, black's selfishness and lack of ethical restraint can result in tragedy, at its most basic level black is not inherently evil. It has a very cynical world view, and its core philosophy is that of self-determination and release from society-imposed limitations. Black has an ally in blue, as it appreciates its subtlety and use of cold logic. Black is also allied with red, respecting its desire to do things on its own terms. However, black's disregard for other members of the group, spirituality/religion, and the sanctity of life opposes it with green and white.
Red
"No doubt the arbiters would put you away, after all the documents are signed. But I will have justice now!"
Above all else, Red values freedom. It wants to do what it wants, when it wants, to whom it wants, and nobody can tell it otherwise. In summary, Red thinks that all you have to do is listen to your heart and simply act accordingly, letting your emotions guide you. Red loves life much more than any other color and so it believes that all people must live to its fullest. Red believes that life is an adventure, that it would be much more fun if everyone stopped caring about rules, laws, and personal appearances and just spent their time indulging their desires through experience. Red doesn't live its life questioning choices it has made, and lives in the moment; Red is spontaneous and embraces every adventure put before it. Red is the color of immediate action and immediate gratification. If it wants something, it will act on its impulses and take it, regardless of the consequences. Red embraces relationships and knows passion and loyalty and camaraderie and lust. When Red bonds with another, it bonds strongly and fiercely. To outsiders, Red might seem a bit chaotic; that's only because others can't see what's in red's heart. Red sees order of any kind as pointlessly inhibiting, believing that only through embracing anarchy could everyone really be free to enjoy life to the fullest with no regrets.
Green
"Nothing in this world, not even magic, likes to be caged."
Green doesn't want to change the world, it wants everybody to accept the world as it is. Green is convinced that the world already got everything right. Green tries to coexist with it instead of trying to change it, regulate it, norm it, or take advantage of it. Green is the color of nature and interdependence. It believes that the natural order is a thing of beauty and has all the answers to life's problems, that obeying the natural order alone is the best way to exist and thus favors a simplistic way of living in harmony with the rest of the world. This can often lead to it being perceived as a pacifistic color, as it does not seek to make conflict with the other colors as long as they leave it alone and do not disrespect nature. However, it is fierce when it feels threatened and can be predatory and aggressive if its instincts dictate. Green believes each individual is born with all the potential they need, that it's imprinted in its genes. That everyone was born with a role and that the goal is to recognize it and then embrace it, and thus do what they were destined to do. But that role interconnects with the web of life, and thus everyone has to learn how you fit into the larger picture. We are not alone, we are a part of a complex system full of interdependence. Green truly believes that every individual has to bother to sit back and understand the bigger picture and don't get so caught up in the details of their lives.
Colorless
"Because I am incapable of tears does not mean I have no need to shed them."
Colorlessness is the absence of color. Most artifacts are colorless, which are run for the most part on magic, rather than science and technology. In terms of alliances artifacts can be considered neutral, though green generally dislikes artifice as a concept, while blue is more than happy to work with them extensively. However there are some colored artifacts, which have a stronger connection to their respective color.
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