Magic

== Magic is the art and science of changing the world by use of a specific form of energy. ==
Magic is the general name for a vast number of practices. Describing all of them is beyond the scope of this document, though many are touched upon in other articles. This article exists to describe magic in its most basic terms. Magic is any change in the cosmos caused by magical energy, whether channeled by will or released by natural phenomena. This energy has several names: Mana, Quintessence, Dragon Blood, The Charge, or simply Essence. All refer to the same resource. 
=== The Source of Magic ===
There has been magic as long as there has a cosmos to contain it. The Precursor inadvertently created magical energy when shaping the realms and planes of the cosmos. When the Precursor simplified the raw energy of the Primals into the Six Great Elements (Light, Darkness, Earth, Air, Fire, Water) in his creation of the first elemental planes, his designs were not completely separate. Each plane contained just enough energy from others to allow different forms and phenomena to exist. The Plane of Fire always contained a bit of Earth in order to fill its seas with lava, for instance, but the designs were exacting in their specifications and altering the mixtures caused notable trouble in the first ages of the gods. Regardless, this is when he created magic by pure accident. When elemental Light and Elemental darkness mix, as they do on every plane, the metaphysical friction combines some of each into an energy which is both and neither while leaving therest untouched. The Astral Sea surges with magical power. This is also the energy that fills the Mana Spring and the Ley Lines. Some scholars call it the Quintessence, Fifth Essence, and include it as seventh Great Element. While not technically correct, it's a true enough assumption for most purposes. This energy, left on its own, alters the places where it concentrates in ways that are difficult to predict. However, it can be directed to cause change in controlled ways; this fact has caused more joy and more sorrow than anything else in the history of the cosmos.
==== Magic Use ====
People have been using magic since Mage first discovered the best way not to do so. They channel the energy with their wills, by instinct or training, and create effects. What they can do varies by the individual. People (and other things) are attuned more to specific forces and phenomena (like elements, living creatures, minds, time, objects, specific planes) than others on an individual basis. This creates the different types of magic users. This includes divine magic users, especially after the War of Deific Magic forced the gods to start using magic in the same way as mortals and their priests had to rely more and more on their skills rather than combining their abilities with their god('s)'. Conventional wisdom held for millennia that most people had no attunements whatsoever, and thus could not learn to do even simple magic. Over time, partially due to the availability of training by the Earthenlock Heroes' Guild, it has been discovered this not quite true. While most people are not capable of a broad range of magical effects, almost anyone can be taught to do something magical. However, it is often impractical to find out what that is and can be dangerous. Simply identifying the best method of access (Arcane, Divine, Druidic) can take a frustrating amount of time, and then the act may be useless and/or detrimental to the user. At least one of Regnial's many birds is actually a former druidry student whose only successful act of magic was to turn herself so thoroughly into an owl that no one has been able to change her back. This is said to be true of many of his cats as well, but its possible he simply keeps them that way because he likes them better as cats.
===== What Does Magic Actually Do? =====
Magic, whether left to its own devices or controlled by the minds of free-willed beings, tends to behave in five basic ways. It sometimes behaves in more than one way simultaneously. Different people, and other things, find some actions and/or combinations harder than others. Each act includes notes for clarity.
# Twist Borders. Magic can be used to twist the borders between planes, opening small holes in much the same way twisting fabric does. This process also closes other openings and stresses the material, making it dangerous. This was especially so for Arcanists before the War of Deific Magic, as other spellcasters had their gods' aid to stabilize the portals. They used Arcanic, the paradoxically uncreated lanaguage of planar harmonics, to stabilize their attempts. This is no longer necessary as the fabric itself is more stable due to the Precursor's Edict of Separation, but some mages (and even druids and priests now) stlll find it extremely helpful.
# Bend Time. Time is not one unbroken line. It is more like a vast tapestry of interrelated forces creating the illusion of duration for beings incapable of seeing outside it (which is virtually all of them except the Precursor, Dmalthtome, to a lesser extent Myrjala, and to an even lesser extent other gods and spirits). It cannot be broken nor can more of it be made, but it can be bent on itself, allowing information or "states of being" to move back and forth through time. This is one half of divination magic (specifically gaining information relating to the past) and also the power involved when a druid corrodes metal or a mage mends a broken object. Actually moving living people or entire objects back and forth in time has possibly occurred once, but if it, the resulting timeline no longer exists. It is also necessary for summoning magic due to the differences in how time flows between planes. As probability is either one of the forces that composes time or is affected by these forces (the debate rages on and has caused several fatal stabbings in otherwise quiet libraries) spells which positively or negatively affect luck are accomplished this way (with some help from Transmute Consciousness when seeing different probabilities and choosing a specific one is necessary).
# Bend Space. Space as we understand it is not an immovable object. Place can be bent, making some locations closer or farther away than others, or even overlaying one object on another. This is how teleportation magic usually works, as well as planar travel due to the necessity of linking two points in the cosmos that do not usually connect. 
# Transmute Matter. Animate or inanimate material can be reshaped into new forms via application of magic. This can be as simple as changing something's color to as complicated as altering a living thing on the genetic level or beyond. The more potent or long lasting the change, generally the more difficult. 
# Transmute Consciousness. Magic can be used to alter perceptions, read and control minds, or grant perception of things that are normally invisible (such as many magical energies, the True Dead, or someone under a spell of Invisibility). Due to the fact that consciousness flows from the Primals and is not simply a product of brain chemistry or electrical activity (though these things do give it physical form) altering consciousness on a root level is not the same as transmuting matter, and some complex acts of magic may do both (the ever popular "turn into frog" curse is much more effective if you also change the mind, since the personality and memories which remain etched into the soul will remain temporarily accessible to the subject otherwise and it may be long enough to enact some froggy mischief). Probability can also be made perceptible, and when combined with bend space and/or bend time can be radically altered.
====== The Consequences of Magic ======
For reasons still not fully understood, all magic costs something. Some magic changes the user in unsettling ways due to exposure to temporal or planar energies, some magic consumes expensive or rare reagents, and some simply alters the user because they do something with it that forces them to change as a person. Simply accessing the energy and having the will to use it is not enough. A third factor, a catalyst, is required, and why is and will likely remain a mystery. What is known, however, is that those who devote themselves to any form of magic slowly become very different from those who do not.
Category:Magic
Category:Plane
Category:Religions
Category:Deity