Magic and Minerals

/* ideas :
It is created by some plants in small quantities, but many animals use it as parts of their bones. Some individuals or species have mutated to get the "black bones" or "black blood" -> most herbivores and carnivores use the magical one => special ability/protection -> sneaky predator sometimes sacrifice magic for the black blood effect => almost impossible to detect and goes through most magical protection -> few apex predators, T-rex like, use the black bones mutation => utterly destroy all form of magic ability around them. -> some plants, mostly fungi, use black bone => like a poison for most herbivore/omnivore
In nature :

vein of magical ore in rocks => can be mined and extracted, can be incorporated in metal or wood laque to make magical artefact (humans are quite good at it)

Crystalized magical minerals => pure version of specific minerals => very powerful but unbalanced, different crystals have different impact on the world and/or the soul => great for heavily specialized artifact, requires less runes.

magical petroleum ? Called Aether ? Made of dead plants and animals decomposed in specific conditions ? (like in a place with absolutely no magic wind + no oxygen ?) Higly potent but higly toxic, destroys the soul?

some beaches have magical sand => lighten slightly in shimmering colors when magic wind passes through. Only visible at night but makes rainbow beach, with light fluctuating through it like aurora borealis

*/

A system of two parts

Magic is a very versatile power. It is a source of raw energy that can be casted into any kind of force. It can create heat, or supress it, it can move objects from afar, it can bend and shape light, create electricity, change gravity. It can even impact the soul and mind of a living being.
But what is commonly called magic can only occur when two parts are combined : Aether and Alchelith. Aether is a flow of energy that is used to make magic, Alchemium is an element that reacts to Aether.

Cycle of Souls

No one really no what Aether is made of, the most prevalent theory is that it is a mix of souls, of natural forces, and of the planet's energy.
This theory is based on several observations made primarely by Elsketts.
The first and most obvious to them, is that Aether follows a natural flow. it follows routes around the world, seemingly independant of the material world. Sometimes it plunges down into the ocean or the earth, it is then called Downcore, sometimes it rises up to the clouds, Skyward. Elsketts have charted most of the sea-level routes, Emporas knows every routes under the sea. They don't know much about the routes going through the human continent, but they have studied where the flow goes inland and outland, they have pretty good assumptions about how the Aether flows around the continent and about how much of it goes Skyward and Downcore.
There is sources of Aether that seems to come in constant flow from the core of the earth, which is known by Elsketts as "Pure Aether". It is raw energy, void of life and feelings. It is the easiest to manipulate to cast spells, it helps Elsketts to meditate, to clear their mind. They love it very much, most of Elskett's clans have made their villages on Aether sources.
Aether concentration vary with the seasons too : It's higher during automn and winter and lower during spring. The more animals and people die, the more Aether is available. The more animals and people get born, the more Aether is consumed.
This "Winter Aether" is known by Elsketts as "Tainted Aether". It is potent, but it is charged with the emotions of the creatures who have recently died and thus must requires a lot more control to be casted into spells. Elskett's mood tend to fluctuate when they stay to long in tainted Aether. They get influenced by it, and they have to stay focus to separate their own emotions from the ones coming from the Aether.
Because of this effect on the mind, it has been theorised that Aether and soul have the same nature. That means that the soul of the living become Aether as they die, tainting it with any unbalanced emotion until it dissolves in the flow. It also means that any creature open to the flow of Aether can both influence it to cast spells, and be influenced by it which can provoke mood swings if the Aether is too tainted.
It can be a problem with bones, as seen below.

Crystals and Bones

Alchemium is an element at the center of magic. Pure, it does nothing, even when Aether goes through it. But combine to other elements it creates various minerals that translate Aether energy into physical forces. Those minerals are separated into two categories.

Crystal and Ore

Pure forms of Alchemium derivative that crystalise under high pressure and temperature. Found in deep caves or some geological formations nearer to the surface, or in veins of ore. Crystals and ore are Dead and Monopotent. That means it has only one effect depending on the variety of crystal, and it cannot be influenced by the mind of a living being. It reacts in a predictable and reproducible way to the flow of Aether.
It's kinda like a prism that decompose light : white light enter on one side, rainbow comes out on another side. The problem is that Aether can litteraly become anything, be it physical force or raw emotion.
Mining Alchemium Crystal can be a very dangerous job. A crystal that translate Aether into physical push is very practical for many tools if properly cut and contained. But if a gust of Aether swipes through a cave full of metric tons of those same crystal, it will suddenly activate series of shockwave in all directions, which is often lethal to any living being present.
Same thing for crystal that taint Aether with emotions. An anxyolithic crystal is a life savior for anxious people when in a form of a rune-engraved bracelet that limit its effect, but miners surrounded by it with no protection can lose all notion of worry, which can have effects like not reacting when wounded, stop breathing and not being bothered by it, jumping into a dark pit just to see what's at the bottom, planting one pick into the neighbour repeatingly because it felt like a funny thing to do at the time, etc etc.

Bones

Organic matters that include Alchemium are very diverse. It can be found in claws, in hairs, in scales and fangs, in horns of all sort. It can be found in the flesh of fungi, in the fibers of trees, sometimes even in petals or in leaves. But the most frequent, and with the most concentration, it is found in bones.
Organic Alchemium is Alive and Pluripotent. It usually doesn't react much to Aether by itself, except in emitting some turquoise light. But it reacts to the will of souls.
Nobody knows exactly how it works, but a living being with alchemium in their body can use it to interact with Aether in several ways. Higly sentient species, like humans, Elsketts or Goblins, can do nearly anything they want. They can imagine very complex spells with widly varying effects. Though it has been observed that the use of magic is heavily tied to the culture of individuals and the way Alchemium is distributed in their body.
Most magical living being have very specialized use of magic. They're not really casting spells, but their body have shaped alchemium to have one specific effect.
Organic matter can also use Alchemium in a very different way, that doesn't exist in ores and crystals : it is called Black Bones, it repulse Aether and can even destroy anything that uses Aether a source of energy.
It's kind of a misnomer, because it's not always bones and they're not actually black. But they appear as a patch of void to someone who can see the Aether.
When a magic creature dies, it bones keeps some remnants of their soul. Most of the time, it's not a problem. The soul dissolves into the Aether and the bones become neutral sources of Alchemium. But sometimes, when the individual dies in a state of high emotion (usually negative, with fear, sadness or anger), huge chunks of the soul cling to the bones and taint the Aether around it. The consciousness of the individual is broken, leaving only the parts attached to the feelings, creating a loop of negative feelings. It cannot dissolve into the Aether naturally, there is only three ways for this situation to be solved :

1. Through the destruction of the bones (it can take quite a while in nature)
2. Through an intense an violent flow of Aether, either by powerfull magic users, or by a Magiorkan
3. By breaking the cycle of feelings. This can only be achieved by an Elskett mage specialized in this. It's a tough task, it requires to contact the fragments of soul attached to the bones and to help it feel better. Most of the time, the mage has to feel the emotions of the bones to communicate, which is never a pleasing experience.

Elsketts believe that mediation with the Will of the Bones is the best way to deal with those situation, as the other two end up polluting the flow of Aether with negative feelings.
Balams and humans are known to sometimes use tainted bones to cast their spells. If the feelings attached to the bone goes in the way of the spell, it will greatly help in casting it. However, if the bones disagree, the user will have to fight it to manage to cast the spell. Thus, using tainted bones is more powerfull, but more risky than neutral ones.
In Elskett's society, using tainted bones willingly is a taboo akin to murder or rape, and it is punished as harshly.
War zones and bogs are known for its high concentration of tainted bones. When several individuals dies with the same kind of feeling in a small area, their fragments of mind can sometimes fuse into an Aetheral entity. They're extremely rare and the source of many myth and legends about Spectres and Ghosts. They're also extremely dangerous, as their mere presence inflict their (usually negative) feeling on any unprotected living being, which can make them crazy. the most dangerous part is that any individual killed by a Spectre is bound to join it and make it even more powerful. The most unstable and dangerous of them all are those who combine several negative feelings. (One time a Spectre appeared in a human cemetery right after a wave of painful and deadly illness in a village. It was a Banshee, an incarnation of both fear and sadness. It took the lives of three peasants before the church managed to destroy it).

Impact on the world

Uses in Flora and Fauna

Most plants and animals uses magic in very specific ways, most can cast one spell, their whole body is designed to modify the Aether in a certain way. It's kinda like if the spell is embedded in their body, and they can only decide how much Aether they use at a certain point in time.
Those spells are almost always linked to the survival of the individuals and/or the species. Here's a few exemple :

• Deers are known to use their antlers as detection device. They can feel even slight variations in the flow of Aether from miles away, making them nearly impossible to hunt for non-specialized predators.
• The mountain saber tooth tiger is an apex predator with no magic. They are masters of camouflage and cannot be detected through the Aether. They are natural predator to the deers.
• The Void Panther is a close cousin to the saber tooth and also hunts deers, but with another skill : They can hide their magical presence, letting the aether flow around them freely, until deers are close enough to get a jump on them through a short (half a mile on average) teleportation spell. The activation of the spell is quickly detected, but when it's detected it's already too late.
• The Unseen Oak is a tree that wraps itself in a mind-altering flow of Aether that makes them nearly impossible to aknowledge. Extremely efficient on low sentience herbivores, but can be countered by highly focused people. Elsketts hate those trees.
• The Random Frog is a fascinating case of convergent evolution with the Void Panther, as they use the same spell. When the Random Frog feels threatened, it jumps away from danger and teleport mid-jump to land few meters away, in a seemingly random direction. Nearly impossible to catch.
• The Steel Birch has two spells that activates at the same time : whenever it is attacked by an herbivore, its leaves harden like stones and it sends a message through the Aether for every other Steel Birch in a small radius to harden their leaves too.

There are many more uses of magic in nature, it cannot be listed in an exhaustive way, and many more are discovered every years. But most them falls in a survival category either to hunt, to hide, to protect, to mate, to communicate.
From and evolutionnary point of view, spells seems to mutate quite easily. Some species can be separated in different sub-species based entirely on their use of magic. Most are genetically compatible and can have offspring with a spell from one of the two parents, or sometimes an entirely different one. Some species, like the Koinin and Merfolk, are known to have one spell only by individual, but each individual is born with their own spell.

Magic in society

Every society reacts differently to magic. Mostly because every species experiences it differently.
Humans have a vast majority of magic handlers among their individuals, but it varies greatly. Some have a lot of alchemium, others have very few. Some have none, and some very rare have Black Bones. Humans have made a strict hierarchy around it : potent mages are revered while black bones are discriminated as low-life monsters who shouldn't even exist.
Elsketts are all magic users. They don't discriminate against it because they live on Aether. They have few individuals with no magic, but they are considered as handicapped who need support from society. An Elskett with no magic is very easily tired and needs to compensate the lack of Aetheric energy with a high energy diet with frequent calorie intake. None of them have black bones.
Merfolks are all magic users, but each individual has one spell only. Most of them have weak and/or odd spells that are barely useful, so they don't really rely one magic for societal status. Though the few ones with very potent or useful magic have a strong advantage in life, most of them make a living out of it.
Some have tried to mate only between "strong users", or between users of the same abilities, to try and make even stronger spells, but the inheritance of spells don't seems to follow any logical patterns, it appears to be entirely random.
Koinins are close cousins, they also have random spells at birth, but they don't seem to have a society.
Emporas are kinda like Elsketts : they all have pluripotent magic and assume everyone has magic too. They are the most powerfull magic users in Terebim. Their bones have a high concentration in alchemium, their sheer size makes them extremely powerful, and they have the complex sentience needed to cast complex spells.
On the opposite, Goblins and Balams are mostly non-magic, with only few individuals able to use magic.
Goblins only discovered magic recently. They always had individuals with magic, but their main natural habitat is a vast Magiurken, with powerful and lethal magiorkan swipping through their cities every few year, it used to be one of the main causes of child death. It has started to change thanks to their relation with Elsketts.
Being very curious in nature, they have a scientific approach to magic. It is, to them, a new field that need to be discovered, and they're using all of their scientific tools and method that they have developped along centuries to explore the possibilities. They have millenias of lateness on the subject, but they progress at a relentless pace and have already helped Elsketts understand magic more precisely.
Balams, on another hand, have a long tradition of shamanism. They have tribal societies, each tribe have a few magic users that usually become shamans. Each tribe has its own way to use magic, with a strong oral tradition to keep their rituals inside their tribe.
They have rituals to keep the soul of the dead on their bones and use the bones of their ancestors to help when casting a huge spell. The Elsketts think it's the most disgusting thing ever.

Manifestation

Minerals affecting magic can glow when used by an animal. Proefficient spell casters can use it without the glow effect, but beginners light up when using spells too powerfull. Since it's the skeleton, hair and nails that light up, the effect can be very frightening for people not used to it.

Localization

Magic is accessible everywhere, it tends to be more concentrated around life and it seems to follow some kind of wind routes.
The Capitol has been created at the crossing of several wind routes.
The whole Elskett territory is a place of constant magical wind.
Magic currents also pass through water. In fact, the biggest flow of magic follow the oceans in a big loop that goes all around the world. Continent have a low level of magic in comparison, some places even get none and become Magiurkens.
The immense flow of magic that goes through the oceans is home to the Emporas, there is no way to travel between the two main continent without crossing it at some point.

Type

Metaphysical, Arcane