Magic

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In the Kenopsia universe, **magic** refers to the manipulation of reality and its components. By casting **spells**, one can use magic to perform a variety of actions, ranging from pushing an object forward, to altering a being's mood, to even creating simple lifeforms to aid the caster.

## Spell Composition

Each spell has four main components to it: Sembla, actions, modifiers, and objects.

### Actions

An **action** refers to the purpose of a spell, which consists of the spell type and the element used. It is the absolute foundation for a spell; one cannot cast a spell without an action. One can, however, theoretically cast one without an sembla or any modifiers, though the results will be chaotic and can create unintended consequences.

### Sembla

**Sembla** are fields of energy with biases towards a specific aspect of the universe. They represent the aspect that will be manipulated by a spell. What makes up a sembla can include both physical objects, like a metal cube, and abstract concepts, such as a creature's perception of the world. While not strictly color-coded, magic will tend to appear a certain color depending on the sembla used, such as fire magic being a bold red. This is best seen with the Vani, whose entire cores- also known as **tanjas** (TAWN-juhs)- will take on the color of their magic. Tanjas with magic outside of their element's color bias are known as deviants.

Any being can theoretically learn any sembla they wish to. Certain individuals may have a bias for one sembla passed down from their ancestors, but that doesn't mean they are locked to learning that sembla. With the exception of Vani, all species may also learn multiple sembla, though it is difficult. Many are only able to learn up to two sembla, and learning all of them is next to impossible.

### Modifiers

**Modifiers** refer to effects that can be added onto a spell to alter the action. Potential effects include semblal spins (Ex. A fire spell with a cold modifier conjures a flame that freezes objects caught inside), spell intensity, spell type, and the spell's target. There are two main types of spells. One is **Zai** (Meaning "attack" and/or "aim"), which turns a spell into an offensive attack that can damage a targeted object. Attack spells are more volatile in nature, making them harder to control. The other spell type, **mien** (MEE-ehn), is used for creation, be it cooking, art, architecture, sculpting, and more.

### Objects

An **object** refers to what will be affected by a spell, be it an item, a creature, or the environment. Objects are divided into two types: Ekaibu and Tanjaba. An **ekaibu** (eh-KAI-boo) is simply an inanimate object, an item without any soul attached. A **tanjaba** (TAWN-juh-baw), meaning "magical/mental creature" in English, is by contrast a living being.

## Casting Spells

In order to cast a spell, one must first have the **willpower** to do so. Willpower refers to the mind's ability to use and react to magic. A specific amount is required for every spell; weak, but simple spells will require far less willpower than a complex and powerful spell to cast. In addition to allowing users to cast more powerful spells, higher willpower also lets them cast more magic before it becomes harmful to the body. Using more magic than the body can handle will overload the brain and lead to a variety of detrimental effects, including seizures, comas, the loss of body parts, and even the brain exploding, which in turn results in instant death. All creatures have varying amounts of willpower within them.

Once the components are chosen and given they have the amount of willpower required, one can begin casting the spell. Doing so, however, is much more difficult than one would expect; it must be done perfectly, otherwise the spell main turn out different intended, which can have disastrous results. Casting has three main steps:

1. Imagine the spell's symbol in your head.
2. Say the spell's name using particles and the names of your selected components.
3. Do steps 1 and 2 simultaneously.

Should one be successful, the spell will manifest and hit its targeted object.

### Symbols

Spell symbols, in their most basic form, consist of a colored circle with the spell's element on top. Modifiers can change the appearance of symbols depending on their type. Attack modifiers will add an inner ring and a circle in the center known as a core, giving it the appearance of a target. Additional lines, known as **Wires**, can be added in-between the rings and the core to increase the spell's power. The position of these lines also affects the spell, changing the type of attack that will be cast.

For creation modifiers, dashes will appear below the base circle, the quantity of such determining the intensity of the spell and/or how much of the element will be used. With summon modifiers, orbs are added to the side of the circle, the number affecting how powerful the spell is.

### Particles

**Particles** are tiny words used when casting spells. They are used for connecting modifiers and objects to a spell. The known particles are listed below:

* **Bi** (BEE)- Translates to "and". Allows the caster to perform two actions at once. A lot of willpower is needed to use this particle.
* **Ze** (ZEH)- Means "by" in English. This particle is used to connect semblal modifiers to actions.
* **Te** (TEH)- To summon. When used with an sembla and/or modifier, it enables to caster to summon an object with said element and modifiers. Tanjaba summoned this way are extremely basic lifeforms with souls or personalities, and will disappear once their job is fulfilled. Only certain sembla can summon Tanjaba.

## List of Sembla

### Other Sembla

Below are sembla that aren't present on the sembla wheel, but are still recognized as such. These sembla aren't very well-researched, typically only mentioned once or twice.

+ Uses
Users

### Demigods' Sembla

The four Vani demigods each have a special "sembla" only they wield. These sembla are less like individual elements and more like groups of multiple sembla counted under a single one, technically making the demigods the only Vani to wield multiple sembla.

## Other Notes

* Tethers will have a bias towards their Vani's respective sembla. Their power over said sembla is weaker than the Vani's, though it will become stronger should the Vani die. They are also usually capable of learning multiple sembla.
* The orbs in a summon spell symbol represent souls.
* Although only 40 sembla exist in canon, any concept or aspect of life can be its own sembla. Like with tethers, Vani, and other Kenopsia species, fans are encouraged to create their own sembla.
* The Vanishing World Discord server has a dedicated channel for the discussion of magic, aptly titled "#magic".
* The term sembla is derived from the word "Semblance", as these magical powers merely have a semblance to a scale of manipulation.
* Sembla were formerly known as **elements**.
* There were originally only 30 sembla apart of the wheel. This was changed to 40 in June 2022, with most of the additions being non-wheel elements.
* Sembla were originally categorized by how specific their uses are and how difficult they were to learn. Sembla that were easy to learn and had broad uses were known as **Core Sembla**, more difficult and more specific ones were known as **Altered Sembla**, and the ones with the most specific uses and steepest learning curves were known as **Specialty Sembla**. It is unknown why this concept was scrapped.
* Sembla that are the most well-understood, such as fire, shadow, water, cold, and plant, are considered **Primary Sembla**.