Magic

**Magic** is a mysterious physical manifestation of life force, present in every creature on Letina, though only a minority has access to the spectacular fantastical abilities more commonly associated with the word. Magic originated as the unexplainable cosmic energy used by the Good Hat and the Bad Hat to create and sustain the world, with some of it lingering all around after each of their creations were made. Other than in creatures, magic is also found underground in magic crystals which can be mined and harvested. Magic crystals appear to grow from the roots of the Tree of Magic. Even though the tree is not that much larger than regular trees and located on Pole, its roots stretch for many thousands of kilometers all over Letina. Although natural magic (also called wild or undomesticated) serves as a power of creation, healing and empowerment, it has been in many different ways weaponized ever since sentient beings first gained control over it. Heavily modified forms of it, especially when used for unethical purposes, are labelled dark magic. The branch of science tasked with researching and modifying magic is called magicology.

### Natural magic

Also referred to as wild magic or undomesticated magic, it is a description of any magic not bound to a specific being.

### Passive magic

Passive magic has existed since the dawn of the world and is present in every living being on Letina, beginning from the simplest one-cell organisms up to those most complex. Because of this, in a sense it connects all life worldwide - and at the same time keeps all of it cosmically connected to the creators Good Hat and Bad Hat. Despite its name, it is responsible for several constant and important processes which occur in more complex beings. It is thanks to it that natural defensive/survival instinct (or the so called "gut feeling") as well as empathy towards other living beings are as accurate as they are. Passive magic is also responsible for dreaming during sleep. Dreaming is key to actually feeling rested and refreshed after waking up. All dreaming individuals at any time are connected by magic in a web called the dreamworld, one of the least-researched and understood phenomenons in magicology. Occasionally, for a higher being which doesn't have active magic, passive magic can suddenly become active for a short period in a life-threatening situation with an outside cause and defend the being with blasts of energy as if having a will of its own.

### Active magic

Unlike passive magic, active magic has only existed since the beginning of the Seventh Era, even though uothians are known to have had a limited understanding and usage of natural magic. Active magic allows the user to employ some spectacular unnatural abilities which would usually be the ones first connected to the word "magic" by the average person on the street. The rate of active magic users depends on the race. It stands at about 95-97% for basuns and elves, 10-15% for humans, 5-7% for talking animals and dwarves, 2-3% for orcs and goblins and only 0.01% or less for machines. There are two main ways available is to gain active magic if not born with it: kill an active magic user and steal their power or consume a magic crystal or a part of it in a form accepted by one's organism.

There are five schools of active magic: mana discharge, transformation, transcendence, mind exploration and empowerment. Most active magic users are naturally inclined from birth to one of the schools to a varying degree. Those with powerful enough innate mana control may over time master two schools. The very rare individuals who have managed to master three or more schools are referred to as archimages. Despite this name, that may not necessarily mean they are the most powerful - as a mage may master one school to such a degree they are able to overcome individuals who've mastered two or more. Good examples of this are the Chaos King and Cow Patch, masters of transformation and empowerment respectively. The term "master" is purely conventional as it is not possible for an individual to become magically complete and learn every single operation from a specific school.

### Limitations

Although magic is an incredible and very powerful tool making many otherwise unachievable goals accessible, there are certain actions that will always be impossible to be achieved with it no matter what. This is not a definitive all-inclusive list.

* Resurrecting a dead being
* Healing a fatal injury
* Reversing the effects of aging
* Altering someone's true free will or their personality
* Affecting objects outside of the world
* Curing certain diseases or poisonings
* Stopping, slowing or accelerating the flow of time
* Summoning a desired object or person to oneself, regardless of knowing or not knowing their location
* Creating an identical and fully functional copy of a sentient being
* Changing someone's luck or lack thereof
* Suicide (it can never harm its user)
* Permanently granting someone else magic