Magical Theory
Within Terra Rynn, the study of the cosmos, outer planes, and magic is a hopeless mismash of fields of inquiry. Enough is known about the nature of magic and reality to understand that the field is too complex for any mortal individual to truly comprehend. Nonetheless, academic arcanists and researchers persist in making models of the world sufficient to experiment with and attempt to manipulate it to their use.
Ǽther
Among most contemporary researchers, the general theory of Ǽther serves as a foundation of basic and advanced magic dynamics. At its core, Ǽther theory posits that overlaying all of known reality exists a parallel field or aura that is both (paradoxically) separate-from and combined-with all aspects of being. Known as Ǽther, this force is considered the source and conduit of all magical power (though not magical control, see Quintessence). Ǽther can be used to refer both to a discrete essence underlying a magical phenomena, or the entire collective of all auras combined. To avoid confusion, the term Ǽtherwæve is often used to refer to the field in totality, while Ǽther is used in relation to discrete or isolated examples. While the fundamental purpose of Ǽther remains a hotly debated subject, it is understood that the primary use of such a force is for the manipulation of reality by a controller trained or experienced in the art. The term Mage (or Magi) is a common, if outdated term used to refer to an echinder possessed with Quintessence and aptitude to manipulate Ǽther. Recent attempts to apply the term to non-echinder or even non-humanoids have likely cast doubt and confusion onto the efficacy of the taxonomy.Vitae
Vitae represents the sum total energy that binds a creature’s body to its soul. While most creatures possess only a minor amount of Vitae that allows the body and soul to work in mortal unison, more exceptional creatures possess an excess amount of Vitae. This excess can be used as a resource in order to protect both the body and soul from harm, or be expended to enhance one’s body or soul. One of the most common uses of Vitae is in conjunction with Quintessence in order for souls to interact with the ǼtherQuintessence
Quintessence is the ability to manipulate Ǽther. Any body (be it willful thinking, fully autonomous creature, semi-conscious plant or animal or pseudo-living mass) that exhibits Magi-like capabilities is considered to possess a non-zero amount of Quintessence, and is thus defined as a Quintesent. As such, all Quintesents are defined as containing a minimal amount of Vitae and Quintessence. Vitae is the energy, while Quintessence is the Catalyst. While such a body is predominantly a singular creature, counter examples have been observed sufficiently to extend this definition. Despite its articulation in a theoretical sense, it should be known that Quintessence has not conclusively been measured or isolated separate from Vitae according to any real-world records. Previous studies that propose various observations of differing levels of Quintessence do so indirectly vis-a-vie a Quintesent’s other vital or nominal presentations - thus inferring Quintessence as a by-product. The fundamental quality, therefore, that defines quintessence and its make-up remains a mystery that serves as a central limit to a greater enlightened understanding of all arcane theory.Infinite yet bounded
As far as any research has discerned, , Ǽther is an inexhaustible resource of energy that is unfortunately mostly inert or inaccessible for manipulation by Quintesents. Attempts at measuring the limits of Ǽther within a certain span of space or time have resulted in some sort of physical failure, ranging from benign to catastrophic (the latter usually under dubious methods). As such, the primary understanding of Ǽther is that as a source of energy, its range is infinite - however the process of manipulating it suffers from some limitations, with innumerable parameters based on the context. Most fields of arcane study are often concerned with understanding the barriers that restrain Ǽther manipulation, and organizing the basic principles that model those barriers.Principles of the Ǽther
While conflicting theorists and practitioners have extensive disagreements on the finer points, there is a consensus on a few basic principles regarding interaction with Ǽther and associated phenomena.Law of Universality
This law states that Ǽther is considered both parallel and present in all other dimensions or planes at all times. Exceptions While areas of non-Ǽther are hypothesized to exist, these regions are usually defined as extra-Universe (outside the Universe), and thus not subject to this principle. For more colloquial examples, such as Void Magic Zones, these spaces are instead considered to be regions in which the threshold of Ǽther manipulation capabilities far exceed the realtime abilities of any quintesent to interact with them.Law of Quintessence
This law states that the influence of Quintessence is always non-zero (i.e. it is always present in all creatures), but that the effective or practical perception of this phenomenon is limited.An Introduction to Spellcasting
As a practice, Quintessants are able to utilize a series of physical and mental exercises to channel their Vitae in to useful effects, commonly known as Spells. The process of creating spells, then, is known as Spellcasting. In order to Spellcast (or more commonly just ‘cast’), a Quintessant must must be able to shape their consciousness in such a way that their desire can be communicated effectively through the Ǽtherwæve. The process of Casting is broken down into three steps: Priming, Drawing and Framing. These three steps work to allow a quintessence to gather their internal vitae, shape its form, and project it through the weave in order to produce a spell. Despite the complex nature of these steps, a trained spellcaster can complete them routinely with no errors, as long as their Vitae can withstand the use. "An Introduction to Magic", by Vadoma JunixPriming
Priming the first phase of any casting, and occurs when a Quintessant enters an altered physical state to prepare their bodies Vitae for conveyance. Most magi learn priming as an instinctive process, but those who lacked a natural affinity sometimes describe it as a sort of controlled meditative state, whereby they can feel a chaotic flux of energy's running throughout their body. Much like holding one’s breath or clenching a muscle, priming seeks to concentrate that energy into a single shape or form held in tension. At this stage, the energy can be released without any complication, though doing so repeatedly can be exhausting. Novice casters often learn this way by priming their energy in consistent low-bursts before they ever learn drawing. Priming too much energy can lead to backlash and inhibit a casters ability without proper recovery.Drawing
In order to impose one’s will upon reality, a quintessence must be able to communicate their will to the weave, and be understood. We say communication, but such a process is far more than any language can convey. During the drawing phase, Quintessence attempts to focus their mind and consciousness into the existence they once sought to enact. Many arcanists describe this process as trying to create a ‘memory’ of an event that has yet to happen. This means developing a clear mental picture (as well as other sense memories) at a moments notice. This process appears to be achievable in a variety of means, and is often how many types of spellcasters are categorized. Wizardry, for example, is done by practicing a series of mental heuristics and mnemonic techniques to memorize a vast array of partial memory fragments. (such as an intuitive understanding of heat, anatomy, or psychological states) These fragments, in turn, provide a quick internal reference guide that allow a wizard to ‘draw’ a new memory, as if it always existed. Bardic magic, as it's understood, works by linking such partial memory fragments to emotional reference points. A bard, by mental reciting a story, poem, or song (or often times aloud), are able to recall specific fragments that allow them to achieve the same process. Other such casters are thought to rely on more esoteric or eccentric means of obtaining these memory fragments. Regardless of their source, once acquired, they serve as a mental ‘quiver’ that a caster can draw upon before framing.Framing
Framing is the final phase of casting, and is most commonly understood as a type of ‘aiming’. For many types of spells that seek to place an effect upon an object or person, framing is as simple as orientating one’s body and mind toward their target. When a quintessence ‘casts’, their physical body (or a portion thereof) is thought to come into direct contact with the Ǽtherwæve. During this contact, the caster is able to use their body to direct a produced effect as it transits from the Aether to the caster’s dimension. Oftentimes, the points of contact with the weave are visible in the form of light along a casters appendices or body. During this phase, a caster who is inhibited physically - such as being restrained, gagged, or otherwise disoriented may often find it difficult to frame a cast effectively. As such, casters seek to avoid any instance of not being in full control of their bodies. Translations from "Meditations on Magic", by Bazyar KhasusaMana
Mana is defined as any substance that acts as a for quintesants to manipulate Ǽther. Most quintesants are considered to naturally produce mana, owing to their ability. However, the term is better understood as any substance that is not naturally produced by a host quintesent but is instead appropriated externally by them.Blood Magic
Despite its macabre trappings and cultural aversion, blood magic (in all its various forms) is best understood as effectively an early attempt to create mana for use by archaic magi. The basic theory has centered around the idea that all creatures that possess vitae likewise possess quintessence, and as such that energy can be harnessed via blood. While the use of blood magic has shown to exist, the actual efficacy remains unclear and far from reliable. The main ideas around this notion stem from the unreliable density of quintessence within various creatures, the decay rate once separated from vitae, and various other factors likely to do with the mixing of multiple vitae blood in a single source prior to catalyzation.Hermetic Magic
Similar to blood magic, Hermetic magic has been understood as the use of living or preserved flora and fauna parts to power various magi effects. To some extant this tradition is still used, though it remains idiosyncratic and often translated via oral tradition among eclectic practitioners. As the practice relies on an array of rare ingredients that are often hard to obtain or reproduce, the tradition was never able to develop systemically in the same way more routinized arcane disciplines have flourished.Distilled Mana
With the recent discoveries of domesticated lichen-based quintesents and distillation of “Quintessence-Suspended Compounds” (QSC), Quintesents of appropriate skill and capabilities are able to empower their abilities to exceed normal limits by utilizing stored mana. Most important however is that distilled mana has been found to be more adaptable to artifabrications rather than simply reinforcing magi directly. The leading hypothesis is that such mana is considered to have a higher amount of independence and/or vitae than hermetic or blood sources. As such, when channeled by a larger vitae (i.e. the magi), there is a mismatch that reduces overall efficiency.Magical Origins
Magical aptitude comes in all sorts of shapes and specialties. Below is a bit of knowledge on how a few of these origins operate.Artificing
In the drawing process of casting a spell, artificers develop an efficient system for executing the process to an inanimate object. One of the techniques in artificing is called grafting. By taking specially prepared minerals, an artificer creates an anchor with the mineral. Then, as the artificer channels a spell in the drawing process, the mineral becomes the focal point of the magic, and retains the energy for reuse, using the same mental patterns from the artificer. When creating an artifice object, the object’s exact form is mostly up to the creators whim. Many artificers default to creating objects that are similar to existing objects and/or try to express the magical effect in their form. However, the crucial aspect of an artifice object is the graft. It is a predetermined surface area of the object that is coated with a fine grit or ground mineral. Once completed, an artifice object will have a rough like texture, and a measure of sparkle in light, as thousands of grains of mineral, that while appear random, are in fact a physical representation of the mental drawing process. From there, this physical surface must be coated in protective material and/or secured on the inside of the object to avoid scarring or scratching; such damage renders the object damaged and useless. Many artificers use runes as a form of schematic logging to help them keep track of the grafting process; as the graft is not obvious upon observation once set, runes provide a quick reference for their form and function once."Fundamentals of Artificing", by Nico Escondonte
Bardic Magic
Bards are arguably inheritors of the oldest style of arcane magical casting, and the technique manages to survive through the ages despite the disciplines of wizardry that formalized magic and its use. Like wizardry, the magical techniques and spells a bard has access to is rooted in one’s memory; unlike a wizard though, the ability to retain and recall these memories is based on emotion rather than logic. In retrospect, it is understandable. A general trait with mortals seems to be that an individual’s strongest memories are often linked with a powerful emotion or feeling. Bards are able to learn spells by anchoring those memories to important events. One of the primary ways this association is done is through music. Music, in all cultures, appears to hold an uncanny ability to distill a memory and allow memories to retain their shape through the ages with little alteration. For this reason, bards are often either accomplished performers, or consumers of various music. A breadth of understanding of music allows them to shaping more varied songs and notes to important mental triggers that allow for the casting of magical spells, and allow those memories to remain unaltered as a mortal ages. Another avenue that bards employ in the remembrance of spells is the collection of stories. Story is an important distinction from mere lore or history. A story is imbued with the personality of the storyteller, and is an emotional experience. A storyteller seeks to not just recount the details of an event, but to help the audience imagine themselves in that event. Much like music, each story is unique and personal, and is full of clear emotions that help a bard associate that story with important memories, or in certain cases spells. Regardless of the source, As long as the bard can recall the memory completely, they are able to draw the form of the spell to the fore, and sync their body to cast it. Bards do not need to actively perform a song or a story in order to cast; though a verse or line often helps."A History of Magic in the Ancient World", by Fabiane Flores
Tattoos
Arcane tattoo magic is an older version of Artificing, wherein the anchor of the grafting process is another living creature, rather than innate mineral. Due to the complex nature of living creatures, who inherently possess their own consciousness mind. As such, the process is much more complex, and requires a different set of criteria to perform. At the end of the process, however, the result is a process that creates a resonance and allows the recreation of a set of magical abilities to be used consciously by the recipient. This process was initially presumed to be able to allow nearly any creature to inherit magical power without the need for rigorous training or divine creation. Yet, repeated failed experiments have shown that not all creatures are created equally, and there is some element that is not yet understood that makes the acceptance of such power unreliable in many living creatures. Creatures that successful undergo this process are considered sorcerers, as their ability to benefit from it is considered possible due to an innate potential of magical power.Excerpts from "On Magic" by Fabine La Barca
Runes and Words
Common superstition holds that words, whether spoken or written, are full of magic. While this may be the case in a metaphorical sense, it is not so much a literal once. The power of most written words of magic are realized in either the reading or speaking of them; their existence alone is not enough to create magic. Runes, however, are different. The nature of runes often include symbols or letters that can be comprehended in language, and so the conclusion is reached that the mere inscription in itself is magic, but this is merely an error in perception. The nature of runes is merely a formalization of a process of enchantment where a magical creation is crafted into an item (usually the surface of paper, stone, or metal) and is marked with notation as part of the process. In reality, runes magic comes from the caster who create them, and who imbues the material in and around the inscription with magical energy. The tools of the enchanter, be they ink, chisel, or hammer are almost always magical in some form themselves and allow for the transference of the drawing and framing process into an inanimate object. While artificers have developed more advanced systems that allow runes to retain their drawing and framing schemes to work multiple times, many casters are able to develop simpler ‘runes’ that allow for one off use. Some spells, such as ‘Glyphs’ function in this manner, allowing for the temporary storage of a magical effect until a trigger is met. Otherwise, scrolls are the most common form of runes, usually etched in mana-infused ink that helps anchor the magic to the page, and doubles as an instructional manual on how to release the magic."Myths and Legends, A Modern Examination" by Telitsyn Yuliy Ilyich
Divine Magic
Magic from the gods is considered to be, more or less, a shortcut through all of the requirements of the drawing and framing process. Instead of developing the intellectual, emotional, and mental disciplines to interface with the Ætherwæve, creatures of divine inspiration are able to receive the gifts necessary to channel magical power directly. As the nature of the gods remain a mystery, in every sense, it is not clear such conduits are channeling power from the Ætherwæve directly, or if directing the power from a deity or deities, who is acting on their behalf. Also, unsurprisingly, the nature of such magic is so far, unreplicable, and its presence within creatures often defy any logical consistency."Revelations, Vol. I" by Euphemia Petrou
Psionic Magic
If divine magic is a shortcut around the Ætherwæve, then by all current understanding, Psionic magic is a direct feed. Arguably the rarest of any source of magical disciplines observed, psionic magic seems to ignore many of the constraints and limitations of other forms of magic. Among these gifts, are the ability of pisonic magicians to seeming ignore the framing requirement of so many other casters. From what can be seen, Psionicists seem to always be in constant, sympathetic communication with the Ætherwæve, such that their will is made manifest with little more than conscious thought. Many researchers speculate that once, all mortal magicians were psionic, and only with the Sundering were most arcanists severed from that connection to the Ætherwæve, and have been slowly reconnecting since. Perhaps more troublesome is research that indicates that many of the original demonic aberrants that once invaded the dimension, often possess this psionic connection to the Ætherwæve, making the limits of their potential power unknown to any who still possess the ability to write it down."Divne Principles of the Arcane" by Taariq el-Naderi
I'm a big fan of magic systems, especially relatively hard ones. The idea that your spellcasting is actually trying to communicate a request to an alien, shapeless force/intellect is super awesome and really something that I can draw a lot of inspiration from. :D Awesome stuff!
Creator of Araea, Megacorpolis, and many others.
Over 340 views but only 3 favorites? We'll have to rectify that!
Creator of Araea, Megacorpolis, and many others.
Many thanks. Your guess is as good as mine.