Magic

Collapsing to the ground, the young man clenched his chest. A faint whine of distress escaped his clenched jaw; he had never felt such pain. "That," his mentor said drily, "is what happens when you ignore your limits. There are very good reasons why there has never been a young wizard of great fame and accomplishment. You were able to stop yourself, though; That's excellent. The average person can't help themselves once they get a taste of that power. That exuberance won't hurt your progress either if you can hang onto it into old age. ...Alright, I'll train you."
Magic is a wondrous thing, used by the layman/woman to refer to a variety of splendid and awe-inspiring effects. The common masses are not entirely wrong to group disparate disciplines and methods together, of course; all magic is, at the end of the day, drawn from the excess energy given off by a universe filled with living things. The drama, emotions, efforts, and accomplishments of every living being leave wakes of indiscernible power, echoes of nebulous intent and purpose waiting to be given direction. However, those who learn to perceive and use these forces understand there are more ways to utilize them than can be imagined... as well as some very real limitations, which most are careful not to spread as public knowledge.

Limitations: What's in a Soul?

The hardest and simultaneously most difficult to define limit on magic is the soul of the user. In order for the magic drifting in the world to understand and apply its new purpose, it must bond to another soul at least temporarily. This is a strain on the soul of the casting magician, as their own life essence is already busily filtering Chaos energy into their own movements and intents of existence; adding more to their burden is a dangerous prospect. Those whose souls are hardy and certain, usually from a lifetime of experiences, can safely sustain larger effects than those whose souls are weak, such as the very young or persons who have largely lived a life of ease and indolence.
Quickly-deepening pain is a caster's warning sign they are nearing their safe limits; those who surpass their soul's ability to hold and channel magic die in spectacularly-horrible bursts of flame and corruscating energy. This is particularly terrifying for those who truly understand what is happening; a soul so overloaded quite literally disintegrates under the pressure. Magicians who pass their magical limits do not go on to any form of afterlife, nor can they be contacted as spirits. They are simply gone.
There are, of course, methods for getting around this danger, but it should be noted that any such methods carry their own limitations and concerns. These are addressed under the various magic disciplines. The danger itself remains real due to the second issue regarding the use of magic; it is addictive.
Much like a pleasant drug, but magnified a thousand-fold, the sensation of channeling the energy of life itself is a heady experience. Some compare it to a choir of the most beautiful voices one could ever imagine. Others say it is the sensation of sitting in their grandmother's kitchen eating freshly-baked sweets and knowing they are safe. Still others whose cultures lean more to a violent bent describe the feeling like a rush equivalent to beheading a thousand enemies in each passing moment. Those who find their greatest comforts in the arms of lovers say it is like a never-ending climax. Whatever one's personal inclinations, magic seems to trigger all the greatest feelings they could ever imagine and promise still more.
A common test for prospective students of some magical disciplines involves teaching them the simplest of methods to take hold of magic and then having them release it. Many cannot muster the willpower to do so and remove themselves as potential pupils in colorful displays of violent flames.
Another limitation (and constant subject of inquiry) involves the dead. Otherworlders speak of places and times where a mortal may channel sufficient power to resurrect the dead. On Tempax, the dead stay dead unless a deity directly intervenes. No magician of any discipline can overcome this barrier. While some have found ways to communicate with the dead temporarily or forcibly bind a soul to a corpse, the results are universally temporary and pale imitations of life.

Common Disciplines

The pursuit of magical ability and power can be grouped into several broad disciplines by way of their common methods of implementation and overcoming the hard limits of their own souls. While a thousand individuals with their own unique approach might be encountered, each can still be generally classified as a practitioner of a given type. What follows are those labels most commonly known on the two continents of Tempax.

Adepts

Adepts is a term that refers to those who have no extensive training or practice in overt magic effects, but can manage to sway the forces around them into motion through sheer emotion and intent. A nebulous term, this is more often applied by non-magical persons to those who seem supernaturally endowed with skill. A bard who entrances an entire room every time they open their mouth to sing or a local thief who is fast becoming a local legend for their ability to get through locked doors might be muttered about being an adept.
Of course, sometimes these muttered rumors are true. There are, in fact, thieves so confident in their ability to pick any lock or open another security measure that they are unconsciously casting unlocking and opening spells when they work. Likewise, some entertainers so enjoy their work that the magic around them moves to enhance that enjoyment, helping charm and entertain any who watch or listen to them. A longtime hunter fully focused on the act of tracking and trapping or killing his prey might actually be masking his own tracks and scent or camouflaging himself magically without realizing it. Adepts are most common among the elves, thanks to their naturally-deep passions.
These connections are fleeting and minuscule, and so there is little danger of an actual adept ever burning out from overdrawing. They also aren't truly aware of their abilities, either, however, and so cannot summon them on command in all situations.

Binders

Binders avoid testing the limits of their soul with individual magic effects; instead, they bind other beings to themselves, tasks, or objects by way of mastery of languages and elements those creatures bear familiarity or enmity toward. Where another caster might generate a gust of wind to press a ship's sails or a small spark to light a campfire, a binder issues commands to a summoned air or fire elemental or binds such a creature to themselves or an object to be able to perform the action directly.
Binders are arguably more powerful and versatile than other casters, especially to hear those who specialize in this form of magic tell it, but experience their own limitations and dangers. It is true that it takes only a minor amount of magic to generate the effects needed to summon or bind creatures, but only so many can be bound to the caster at a time; their soul bears the burden of partially sustaining the life of another creature. Binders also run inherent risks in the possibility of their effects being poorly cast or maintained, or broken by surprise; rare is the creature that appreciates having been forced into slavery and doesn't immediately seek the violent death of its captors.
Further, it should be noted that binders bear the special attentiveness and ire of the outer planes of existence. It is this type of caster who is most likely to attempt Soul Binding, the act of fully merging an existing soul with an inanimate object or another soul. While the gods have never explicitly stated this as being a forbidden action, angels and fiends alike are not shy about declaring it as blasphemous; outer beings who witness even a hint of such research or attempts spare no effort in seeking to destroy the perpetrator.

Clerics

Ordained clerics of any faith do not practice magic in the same way other casters do. They pray to their gods, who respond by forming the magical connection for them and even guiding the desired effect. Individual faiths may have prescribed vocalizations and gestures expected to be followed or may rely more on the fervor of the prayer itself. Bimseri expects her clerics to pronounce each syllable and reproduce every finger position exactly as laid out in her holy tracts, while Homundar generally only requires his name or title to be mentioned noticeably (his clerics usually do so at high volume).
If clerics can be said to have limitations on their casting, the primary listing might be that no deity offers effects without some symbol of their authority being present. If not on already-consecrated ground, a cleric without some representation of their deity's holy symbol is unable to summon even the smallest of magical effects.

Sorcerers

A sorcerer is the rarest of casters. These individuals don't devote themselves to a specific study of any kind; Rather, they quite naturally can perceive and manipulate far greater effects than other mortals. Those who study such things theorize that sorcerers' souls are the metaphysical equivalent of a fortunate birth mutation, quickly adapting to environmental stimuli of magical natures in ways others do not. This theory seems to be held up by the tendency for certain family bloodlines to produce sorcerers.
A sorcerer's gestures and vocalizations are not taught; they are literally made-up on the spot, sometimes consisting of common phrases (a sorcerer whose inclinations include fireballs might simply shout "fireball!" in their childhood tongue, for instance). A form of mental crutch, most encountered sorcerers are unable to overcome this need, much like overcoming a long-time habit from childhood in one's old age, but it is possible for a sorcerer to cast without any outward action whatsoever. Combined with their ability to generate unexpectedly-massive effects, these casters are possibly the worst surprise for an aggressive group to encounter among their foes.
There are inherent drawbacks included in these casters' heritage, however. Even among their small population across the races, it is rare for a sorcerer to produce anything other than obvious and physical magical effects. A sorcerer who can scry across distances or predict even the next few minutes of events is nearly-unheard-of, one who can charm others or reach into their minds rarer still.
The emotions of sorcerers should be borne in mind, as well. Even an elf might be surprised by the wild depths to which a sorcerer's emotions swing; an elvish sorcerer is more akin to an event one survives than a person one interacts with. Theories abound as to whether this fuels their enormous magical potential or is caused by the wild forces they wield, but their tendency toward bursts of anger, sorrow, or other kinds of passion certainly does them no favors when interacting with others.

Warlocks

Warlocks (the term is used interchangeably for different genders, just as with witches) can be easily confused for binders due to their method of gaining power, but bear a distinct difference. A warlock makes a promise to a powerful entity from the outer planes of existence, usually either an angel or fiend. In exchange for agreeing on a final destination for their soul and an eternity of service in the afterlife, the extraplanar entity possesses the warlock, granting them abilities in line with what the possessor can accomplish but letting the possessed warlock retain control of their own actions.
The resulting powers a warlock can bring to bear are eclipsed in raw strength only by sorcerers, but they also tend to run in the opposite direction of sorcerers' limitations. While most warlocks can summon gouts of infernal or celestial fire, this is generally the limit to their physical manifestations; the powers of a warlock more strongly manifest in the realm of the mind and other more subtle forms of energy manipulation.

Witches

Witches, by and large, cannot handle larger amounts of magic on their own. They form pacts with others, instead. By gaining formal agreement from another, a witch shunts most of the burden of channeling magical energies onto the other party's soul. The most powerful witches in terms of size and breadth of available effects are those who have standing agreements with a wide spread of subjects. Such being the case, those witch practitioners who consider morals and ethics "optional" are often quite wily in their methods of gaining pacts. When interacting with a witch, one should be wary of any conversation that ends with the caster asking any variation of, "Do you agree?"
An experienced witch has little limit on what he or she knows how to do via magic, but will require an agreement to do it. The main drawback witches experience is their own limitation; a witch without an available pact-mate or familiar risks much greater temptation of overdrawing themselves when performing more than the very simplest of effects.

Wizards

Wizards are the most-commonly-spoken-of caster on Tempax by far. There is no inherent talent that makes one qualified to pursue the intensely-formalized magical studies these casters practice, but there is a question of will. These are the casters who refuse to take on students they do not think will be able to resist the temptation to draw too much magic.
Each wizard is trained intensely in specific methods of vocalization, body movement, and materials used to bring effects to bear. These methods and requirements cannot be changed; they form strict processes and structures in the developing caster's mind that allows them to produce exactly the effect they want. Schools of thought and method are passed down from teacher to student with only minor variation from generation to generation; it is common for wizards meeting each other for the first time to trace their ancestry of teachers as far back as each knows, to see if their methods might be compatible enough to exchange notes and theories. Often, those who share a similar teaching history suspect so quickly upon seeing each other cast any effect.
Most wizards end up taking familiars; this is a purely-calculated action. The partial bonding of the two souls allows the wizard to safely channel greater amounts of energy than he or she could on his or her own. While the odd wizard will form a deep relationship with their given animal companion, most treat them as expendable in emergencies without a second thought.

Chaos Magic

There is one matter of magic which disobeys every possible expectation. It is possible for any sentient mortal being with enough willpower to reach out and command the very forces of Chaos which normally filter through their soul into more usable energies. This kind of magic is completely unlimited and unpredictable, however, and so bears a strong stigma among all beings outside of the fey races.
When utilizing chaos magic, a practitioner can attempt any possible effect of their choice. What actually happens is a question of unknowable factors. A chaos spell meant to set someone on fire might set something near the target on fire, blast the target with icicles or flower petals, or set both the target and the caster on fire together. It might also simply set the target on fire.
A more common and (somewhat) safer use of chaos effects is to bind them to some semblance of limited structure. Most often a deck of cards, set of dice, or other ordered representation of Chaos' influence, these allow a user of such items to at least know the effect generated will be one of a finite set of possibilities. Even these cannot be predicted, however; often, several of their potential effects are added spontaneously during their crafting through no intent of the creating magic user.
Another form of Chaos' reach into the world is in the magic of the fey. Faeries of every bent practice what the unenlightened call Wild magic. In actuality, it is simply chaos magic with a strange caveat that mortals do not experience. Each kind of fey can cause one or two specific effects to occur with certainty, while any other use carries the usual surprise and danger.
With regard to facing or dealing with those who choose to utilize chaos magic, there is a simple approach. In general, it is simply wise when someone is casting a spell whose effect they themselves cannot predict to dive for cover.

Type

Metaphysical, Arcane