Magic

Magic is, to put it simply, the science/art of causing change to occur in conformity with will that break or appear to break the known rules of the universe. It is influencing the course of events by means of supernatural forces in order to make what you want to happen happen. Of course, like most things, this is easier said than done. While the exact nature of magic is still largely unknown, enough information has been gleaned over the years to know how it generally works.

Magic is defined by human thought, and this is dependent on the user in question. This allows for flexibility in everything from casting to enchanting to potion-making. It's also why witches use a variety of dead or non-native languages to cast spells. The words simply help the witch shape exactly what they want the spell to do in their minds. Amateurs need rituals, lengthy chants, and meditation to do even simple spells while more experienced witches can do the same with a single word. This allows the magic to become linked with the word in your mind, which is particularly useful for different variations of the same type of magic. After all, if you just use the word "fire" for all fire spells, from cigarette lighting to wide-area attacks, you'll be burning your house down within a week. Don't use words, on the other hand, and the magic comes out raw and wild, which can be especially dangerous for amateur witches. Words become less necessary, however, as a witch increases their skill and knowledge. For this reason, magic words are often considered by more powerful and/or experienced witches to be the magic equivalent of 'training wheels."

Magic is generated by a variety of sources, primarily living things and emotions. The amount of living things in an area can affect the strength of a witch's magic. Magic can also be affected and fueled by emotions. Powerful emotions like rage, fear, happiness, etc. can make spells more powerful than usual or even fuel the spells by themselves; but any sort of delicate magic, such as complicated rituals, requires total calm lest they backfire and blow your head off. For this reason, magic can be targeted using connections between objects. A spell can be targeted against a person by using a sample of hair, skin, or blood; or an object can be tracked by using a small piece that's broken off of it. However, this magic can only be used so long as the two objects have a direct connection. Hair clippings, for example, can't be used to find someone who's shaved their head at some point after the clippings were taken because they no longer match up.

Another very important aspect of magic is willpower. After all, the whole purpose of magic is to enforce your will on the world around you and make it do what you want. In order to use magic, a witch must genuinely and wholeheartedly want whatever they're trying to make happen actually happen. Faltering willpower or indecisiveness can cause a spell to fizzle out or backfire on the caster. Intent plays a big role in magic power as well. If a witch genuinely believes imposing limits on their magic will make them more powerful, the end result will reflect this. There are ultimately no boundaries to the possible forms that a witch's magic can take; the only limiting factor is their imagination.

It should be noted, though, that using magic physically tires out the caster. Throwing spells around wears you out like doing any other act of physical exertion, and expending lots of energy can make you black out if used too quickly or too hard. And just like doing a lot of physical activity builds up muscle, using a lot of spells builds up your casting abilities. In addition, magic appears to be bound by the laws of physics as we know them. For example, wind spells still need air to move, fire spells suck the oxygen from an area (and the energy can be drawn from ambient heat), transmutation spells must obey the Law of Conservation of Mass, and force spells operate based on Newtonian physics.

All humans are capable of using magic, with enough study and practice. Like any learned skill, though, some tend to be better at it than others. Unfortunately, most humans aren't even aware that magic actually exists. This is largely due to a combination of magic users dying without passing on their knowledge and those sufficiently skilled in magic deliberately keeping their knowledge hidden from the public. Despite this, magic use has become common enough in parts of the world that magic users have come together to form whole communities and pass on their knowledge through tutoring and even through certain educational institutions.

How I Cast A Fire Spell

By Leila Katz-Kashif

• Think triangles! What's the alchemical symbol for fire? An upright triangle. What's the model for the ingredients to make a fire called? The fire triangle. In my mind, fire=triangles.
• Make it a fractal! The more fractals you make, the stronger the spell gets. DO NOT DROP YOUR CONCENTRATION WHILE DOING THIS.

From a simple burning hand to a raging fireball

• Only one magic word needed! I prefer אֵשׁ (esh) because its easy to remember and Latin is for basic bitches.
• Grab some marshmallows and enjoy! Or, y'know, just ignore everything I just said and cast fire spells your own way. Do whatever, I'm not your professor.