Traesaes magic system

The magic in Traesaes is known as mancy.

## Limitations

Mancy has natural limits based on what kind of mancy it is; a hydromancer would never be able to animate a corpse, for example. An individual mancer's mancy is limited by how deep their well of magic is. It is very difficult to deepen the well, and this determines what degree of mancy a mancer can perform. Mancers don't really try to get around these limits, but they do their best to make their powers more flexible. Even a first-degree mancer can be surprisingly powerful as long as their mancy is flexible enough.

The price of mancy is energy, as if it is a muscle that wears out. However, mancy energy usually feels a bit different than life energy, and mancy only starts dipping into your physical energy if you overtax yourself.

## Origin of Mancy

Mancy originates from the aptly named Tree of Mancy, found on the tallest mountain on the continent. Its fruits created the first mancers, and the 'tears' it now sheds (it's nearly barren, this is its sap) is full of a diluted magic that flows in rivers throughout the land, improving the fertility of it. Technically, each mancer's well of mancy is exhaustible, as explained above, but it doesn't cost any more than working a muscle. Everyone's magic comes from the same ancestral and watery source.

## Manifestation

It's a natural part of aging that the mancy begins to manifest: as a baby, it's impossible to tell without an ergomancer if the child will have mancy and to what degree. The mancy roots itself either within the caster's head, heart, or gut, and from that point they must rely on their thoughts, feelings, or instincts to give power to their castings. Occasionally this can cause a blockage, like if a cogitomancer's power roots itself within their chests instead of their heads.

Mancy requires no spellcasting focus or rituals; it is like exercising, in that it can be done at any time. While certain equipment can aid a mancer, like a [[chromomancer using dyes and paints to color something faster, it is not necessary to the craft.

While mancy is only done by individuals, individuals combining their efforts against a single goal tends to meld the mancy together into something stronger than the individual attempts could have achieved.

Power level is known as your degree of mancy, something that you cannot control. But you can control how versatile and subtle your mancy can be, which is the main way you can improve. Both of these factors affect how a power level is defined, although your degree of mancy is more of a status symbol. Most of the time, higher degree mancers have trouble wielding their magic with finesse than lower degrees, so it's not necessarily superior.

## Risks

Power always comes with risks, and people have been driven to insanity by the overuse of their own mancy and becoming drunken with power. But it is fairly rare that this happens, and a good dose of humility is all that is needed to keep your head on your shoulders straight. Some types of mancy are more obviously inclined to insanity by their very nature. And pathomancy, cogitomancy, etc., tend to be dangerous because of how manipulative they are.