Talent

As seen in

The Great Tree: Soft and Subtle Wind

Talents simply are an innate connection to a plane of magic. Whether it is elemental, inspiration, divinity, temporal, astral, ect... This is mostly referred to in a broad untrained step. someone who has a talent, isn't necessarily talented in that magic. They only have access to it, with much more ease than someone who doesn't. Then again, there are some with no Talent at all.

Domains

Domains refer to the strongest level of talents. Domains offer the user an absurd amount of access to their plane of magic. One example that is seen inside many of the God's Eye's of the Wayfares Guild, is that of the Domain of Air. Many are more specialized in the aspect that they are unable to fully utilize the plane of magic to the degree that they can. The Domain of Air in this example has the ability to influence anything pertaining to Air, Air movement, Weather, pressure, temperature of all gasses, Humidity. This can be seen in the story of Becoming one of the Few, Where Sage Emily was gifted a brief access to the Domain of Air during The Battle of Hurion. She was able to pull the clouds and the ambient humidity of the air to create a few million icy spears to land down on the enemy army. The Domain level of talent has many blurred lines of tangential realms of magic, as such those with a Domain are rare in the general population. Those born with a Domain of any kind happen in approximately 1:2,000,000 people.

In the simplest terms, Domains are rare, powerful and indicative to greater things. Those who possess Domains also have access to multiple planes of magic, a greater array of elements to access from. Domains are control over concepts rather than individual planes. Those who have a Domain, tend to be in a great position of power throughout the world, or are at least predispositioned for greater things.

Greater Talent

This is a middling level of talent that the majority of casters are able to use. While the caster is still limited to whatever planes of magic they are born with, they do have a greater number of these. Talents of Fire, Air, Life and Gravity are common. These allow a basic use of that aspect of reality, they are however not as robust as a Domain. Where as a Domain can manipulate anything even remotely relevant to that aspect of reality, Greater talents can only directly manipulate. That being said, someone trying to manipulate a Parcel of air, would not be able to effect sound as someone with a Domain could. In this example the caster would not be able to create the sound, but could manipulate it by changing the density of the air. Greater talents typically appear as a set of robust and multifunctional spells. Though learning new spells is always possible, it is more difficult for this level. Those born with Greater Talents are about 1:150 People.

Lesser Talents

This is the least powerful of the talents. There really isn't much to say by the time we get here, a lesser talent very simply means the person can use only a handful of spells. Those born with this amount of access of magic can typically only use 2-3 spells at the most. The vast majority of the population sits at this level of magic, where those born without talents at all are actually exceptionally rare. The general public is typically able to cast useful everyday spells like Candle Shot, or Mend, which is a very weak healing spell typically only able to head bruises and scrapes.

Classifications of Planes of Magic

There are generally thought to be three separate distinctions of magic and their sources. Though, it should be noted that during much research, that the closer one looks for true differences between these "categories" there is very little to actually differentiate them. As noted by The Sage of Huron: Emily Von Eule in her hunt for information on the Archon Stones, her and her old master Old Sage: Atrimir Schafer, found a peculiar facet to magic that they did not notice until far into their careers as Casters.
That being that there is a genuine lag time between casting and actual manifestation. Almost as if there is a conversation between intent and magic itself. This has led to the idea that all magic comes from something rather than being a true ambient energy as once thought of. They made the metaphor that it is very similar to waiting for a prayer being answered, a request, a hope, a wish is made, and whomever or whatever is listening, answers.

Divine Magic:

by Thereasonwhy

Is typically considered elemental in nature, though has an extremely wide subset. As such, four main elements have been identified along with a few associated subsets, though as stated before, the closer one looks, the blurrier the lines become. True Divine is absolute, without pause, usually instance casting. This is also why it took Emily and Atrimir so long to realize it, though it is only known as divine magic to those living in The Elsewhere, to those living on the Branches of the Tree, it is simply elemental magic.

• Air: Dominance over the concept of air.

  
  
  Subsets: Tonal, Resonance, Frequency, Vibration. Atmosphere. Oneiromancy.

• Water: Dominance over the concept of water.

  
  
  Subsets: Blood, ice, oil, fluids (in general), Atmosphere, nuclear properties. Healing Magic.

• Earth: Dominance over the concept of Earth.

  
  
  Subsets: Metals, Gravity, Probability, Logic, Temperature, Necromancy, Healing Magic.

• Fire: Dominance over the concept of Fire.

  
  
  Subsets: Temperature, Gravity, Alchemy, Artifice, Light, Dark, Atmosphere.

Shadow magic:

These agents of change are incapable of creating anything new under their own power, and thus warp and metamorphose the things they're already familiar with. As such they share many of the same abilities as Divine Magic, only is generally considered under a different set of rules. Those of the Elsewhere are extremely familiar with this brand of magic, as they fought it for eons during the War of the Shadows. A corrupting force that has slowly leeched into ever facet of existence. This magic in modern times, by those living on the Branches of the Tree is generally considered ordinary elemental magic, with a few twists.

Without rehashing the information, the Shadow magic is capable of all the same abilities as Divine magic, only that it's source it slower to respond, but more powerful. As well with it's name, not many understand why sometimes their magic is far more potent than otherwise, it is not widely understood by the masses both Scholarly and mundane as to why this is. Though, this is made simple when one realizes that the Shadows were never built to actually handle magic, by were forced to do so when the only surviving source of Divine magic fled to the Elsewhere and cut herself off from the Branches of the Tree. As a consequence, the Shadows were forced to learn and continue to keep up the illusion that magic is omnipresent utilizing the Song's Afterglow. A remnant of Divine magic left in this world.

Where their magic differs is that they are masters over Illusion, Healing magic, Interconnection, and Entropy. Some would call this summoning, some would call this conjuring or manipulation of the metaphysical.

Shadow Speech:

"Remnants, fragments of power graced to us. A remembrance of what once was. Your voice a gift that we still use with our own lips. To be birthed to a world that was ours to make. See now, do I. The song ancient voices sung, the notes that make each star in the heavens. Oh Great One, see now the notes sung into our bones by voice soundless. Sightless, idea given form. To touch the sea, the earth between abyss and water. Breath deep and hear the voice that swirls above as the starlight reaches you where light never could. Mind cracked to accept the unfathomable, an insight of the mad. Locked away, keys swallowed have caused damage internally."

Warning: this is an actual spoiler. If you do not wish to spoil main story work for yourself, skip this. It only becomes relevant much later.

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Created by Ilgor of the Skullbrood Clan after she became an ascension candidate in the same way that Anlyth, First Son of Syn, Taneth The Navigator, Y'vitol had become gods. Ilgor had stripped herself of the darkness that the Shadows had done to her soul at birth, and regained her full status as a Child of Vilorlith by becoming a Brownie. A once Goblin now turned Divine Species once more, she had an epiphany.
She was both Shadow and Divine. Her magic used both sources for it's power, and instead of rejecting it as those of the Elsewhere had, she embraced this change in force and created a new, much more potent, variant on both systems. Where as Divine magic is the realm of reality and creation, Shadow magic is an agent of change and possibility. She combined them and made a magic that was both Creation and Desturction. A final whole to partial magic from either source. Her magic is by far and away, more powerful than the Shadows and the gods, even when she has not ascended herself. This had made her feared by both parties, despite being allied to the gods.
She took Vilorlith's gift to her Children, Brownie Speech, to it's logical conclusion. As The Quartet had always intended, ascended that gift into something her people as well as all Shadow Touched Children could use to an immense degree.
Spells she and her people had created are: Elemental Enhancement, War Throat, Spell Parry. Potent, irreverent, agnostic magic that effects everything it is directed at.

"Magic is a dangerous thing though. Those without the concentration, those who play with reality, those who care not for the god's power they hold in their hands. Well, they can be reminded of just that fact, magic as it exists on the branches of the Great tree, belongs to the gods. The talents that people are born with are those very gifts. Please be mindful with that power." -Great Sage of Huron-

Though this is a more nuanced discussion as Talents is only the General term, talents are divided under three categories of influence.

"From the poisoned chrysalis we were reborn. The echo of a womb that had long forgotten, the world built by her voice, longer forgotten. Bring forth the voices of the children so oft removed from their source, to breath life back in this emaciated corpse of the Great Ones. A metamorphosis."

Make no mistake, when you use magic you are using a power that you need permission for. Do not be so arrogant to think that just because you can use a power, means you are the one in control of it.