Mana and Magic (Obryria)

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## Mana and Spirit Contracts

Mana is a magical energy that is everywhere, however cannot be absorbed by choice, however instead will slowly transfer into the individual until it reaches their magical stamina limit. Since most high level spells require great amounts of mana, spirits and spirit contracts are required so the individual doesn't exhaust all their mana. Spirits generally have a greater mana affinity than most beings do, aside from dragons. Therefore they recharge their mana faster and have a greater magical stamina than most beings alive.

Mana can be manipulated into the elemental energies, which are used for spells, in addition to that mana can be transferred from oneself to another to replenish the mana of the other individual at the cost of one's own mana. However this requires some form of physical contact and most mana is lost if physical contact is not made.

There are conditions that reduce magical stamina to a bare minimum, which is generally regarded as a mana deficiency, those who do have mana deficiencies are discriminated against in current society more so than those who have other conditions that handicap them.

### Spirits

Most spirits are generally freelance-contract spirits, meaning they help whom they wish when they want to. That is why when magicians make requests for "greater spirits" to aid them, the spell will only reach the minimum standard.

However some spirits, primarily lesser-spirits are either forced into a bonded-contract with magicians or choose to enter a bonded-contract with a magician. With a bonded contract, depending on the terms of the contract, the magician can request any amount of mana or will be limited to a certain amount of mana to borrow a day. Regardless of that, there are some very rare instances in which spirits form unconditional bonded-contracts in which there is simply an oath to both partners in the contract. In that case, the spirit and the magician both have no pre-set limitations or specific conditions they need to meet to fulfill the contract. Both parties can agree to end the contract when they wish and it is simply a situation in which the spirit and magician both recognize each other as contract-bound partners.

More commonly, spirits are forced into a conditional contract in which they must meet a certain guideline or the other party must meet a certain guideline. However because magicians are the ones that tend to summon the spirits, they are forced into a one-side contract in which they usually are eternally bound to the magician and are required to do their bidding.

It is generally looked down upon in society if one individual has more than one spirit contract, however some have no care and enlist as many spirits as they can. It is also rumored that telepathy is possible with spirits, should you bond with them enough. Although that is a debated topic.

Spirit fusion is also a possible way to gain greater spirits, although it is widely seen as a sinful craft as it destroys a spirit's sense of self and after a revolution by spirits it has been strictly outlawed in most countries, although that doesn't stop dark magicians from forcing spirits to fuse.

Spirits are categorized into the following categories agreed upon after the Spirit Revolution;

* Superior Spirits - They have the greatest amount of mana and are perhaps the most experience spirits.

* Greater Spirits - A step up from lesser spirits, they boast a fair bit of mana.

* Lesser Spirits - The common type of spirit, they seem to have a little mana, but still greatly exceed most if not all beings magical stamina.

It is being debated if spirits can evolve after being exposed to enough mana, although there are not clear examples, it seemed that spirits are able to ascend a tier. In addition to that, it is debated whether spirits have a certain affinity to elements and whether certain spells outcomes are boosted by a spirits' affinities, which are restricted to one affinity as of current knowledge.

Furthermore, it is known that some beings do not require a spirit to cast spells, which are usually dragons or superior beings. Yet some dragons have made contracts with spirits regardless.

For a majority of the time, superior beings; such as dragons are considered to be similar to a spirit, as they hold vast amounts of energy.

## Magic and Mana Consumption

Spells are the manifestation and utilization of mana, which scientifically is some form of heat or energy similar to thermal energy. This is mainly supported because of the fact that when someone exerts all their mana, which is all the mana that is currently stored within them, they tend to become heavily fatigued and sometimes results in cases of hypothermia. Due to the dangers of mana-overexertion, it is highly recommended to stop casting or utilizing spells when you experience chills or fatigue, in risk of hypothermia or a temporary coma.

Spells were originally categorized based on the effects they had. The original theory of spellcasting was that a certain amount of incantations were required to cast a spell, however that was eventually proven incorrect when several researches managed to cast what was considered a basic fire-spell with an extremely damaging effect, which might've made it somewhat similar to a more advanced fire-spell. After that, even with multiple studies on the science of mana and spellcasting, it has yet to be fully included into the learning curriculum due to public doubt. Though it is somewhat acknowledged, the newer theory of spellcasting has yet to be fully-accepted by the general public. Though many scholars and researchers know of the theory and trust in its authenticity, due to a lack of understanding of the molecular and chemical reactions of the world, the theory cannot be used to its full potential. Until recently, fire-spells are the only field of study that has really experienced change from the newer theory.

Some experts believe that the lack of change in accordance to the newer theory is because of a lack of public understanding, and therefore no real consensus by the public has been reached about whether to include the newer theory in spellcasting education. Though some academies have begun to include the newer curriculum, none have fully integrated it into their curriculums. Mainly because the incantations have proved to help the visualization and manifestation of the mana required to cast spells.

Mana is more so a universal energy that can be harnessed by individuals to cast spells, however the visualization of the elements in the spells is crucial, so incantations were made to help with the visualization. That in addition to the fact that most students require some basic understanding of the sciences of the spell and elements in them, thus the roadblock in learning stands there. Because of the lack of consensus on the science of the world and physics of the universe, scholars have been unable to agree and convince one another on the theories of chemical reactions and advanced physics.

As of now, there is a national registry for spells, which is specific to each country and state. The registries are known to only includes some of the incantations, the effects and name of the spell and are not complete.

### Skills

Skills on the other hand are usually unexplainable, their nature breaking the very laws of the world. Making them usually shrouded in mystery and only that of the simplest of skills are understandable. According to some sources, most of the classifications of the small amount of recorded skills are as follows: Innate, Intrinsic, and Default.

Those that fall under the "innate skills" are those that are usually those that are that of an art or ability that someone may have for something. A few examples of innate skills are as follows: Innate skill for Spellcasting (Storm Variant), Innate skill for Learning, Innate skill for the art of the Short-Sword and Innate skill for Persuasion. Innate skills do not mean that you have an immediate innate skill for some art or possible vocation, it just means that you will be much faster in learning things related to that, at least faster and much more skilled overall compared to most people. It does not bestow knowledge or a proficiency in something whatsoever.

Intrinsic skills are skills that are rarely bestowed on certain groups of people, usually these are passed down through lines, and are the only skills known that can be transferred or passed down through a family line. A few examples of Intrinsic skills are as follows: Intrinsic skill of Lighting Wings, Intrinsic skill of Destructive Glare, and Intrinsic skill of Healing Touch. Intrinsic skills closely resemble Default skills and sometimes innate skills, but the one thing that sets them apart is the heredity factor that they have.

Default skills are those that are usually bestowed upon an individual through some means, those of which closely mimic spells or the such. However some of them more so manifest as things that might break the very laws of reality, such as Universal Language, which manifests as a skill that allows the person to communicate with everyone that can speak and understand anything that is spoken, if it has a meaning. Of course there is no explanation for such things, but some default skills are as such.

### Spellcasting

Several variants of spellcasting exist, because of the nature of mana being a manifestation of energy rather than a manifestation of matter, albeit mana is much less expensive in terms of manifesting and forming some form of matter, it still tends to be fairly taxing when being used to form something that has mass or is matter.

It is generally agreed that mana can both manipulate energy and mass, although the amount required varies depending on the conditions, one of the most strenuous activities or spells that can be cast are considered to be ones involving the element of Earth, following that is Water and then Fire, and finally Air. The "elements" of light and dark aren't usually able to be compared to the more traditional elemental because of their variability and somewhat general versatility of their nature. In addition to that, there are several "hybrid" elements that are born of certain combinations of the main elements.

Such as "**Lightning**" (born of Fire and Air), "**Steam**" (Water, Fire and Air) or perhaps "**Flora**" (born of Earth, Fire, and Water). All of which are not very well understood, the hybrid elements are shrouded in mystery mainly because of the inability of the denizens of the world to understand the science behind some of these things. So far, the most research done into the magic of this world has been limited to the basic elements. Due to that lack of knowledge, and the relatively young world that Obyrira is, most scholars tend to focus on manifesting spells as inscribed spellcasting rather than the manifestation spellcasting. Some individuals have tried to summon forth gold and riches using "Earth" magic, however they ultimately fail because of the requirement of such things, the cost of failure usually being their life as they are frozen over due to hypothermia, which can be induced by lack of mana. In the long run, the most common types of spells are those that are of Air and Fire, if at all ever Water. Light and Dark spells tend to be used by those who deem it religious, and even then, it is more so used for rituals or traditions rather than offensive spellcasting.

*These are the following elements, along with provided examples of their usage or domains.*
**Earth/ Thea/ Terra/ Terramancy** - Metals, Non-Metals (The most draining element of spellcasting, it is that which manifests matter)

**Fire/ Ignis/ Pyromancy** - Combustion, Explosions (Perhaps the second least draining version of spellcasting, it is simply the act of causing combustion.)

**Air/ Gale/ Zephyr/ Aeromancy** - Depressurization, Sound, Wind (The least draining version of spellcasting, it simply is manipulating the already existing air, unless you attempting to create a gas, it is relatively "cheap" in terms of mana consumption.)

**Water/ Aqua** - Liquid Water (The second most draining version of spellcasting, allowing the user to manipulate liquid water)

**Light/ Solaris** - Light (A element that varies in mana consumption, it mainly depends on the scale and intensity of the spell)

**Dark/ Tenebris** - Animation of Inanimate Objects, Mental Tricks, Sickness (A element that varies in mana consumption, it mainly depends on the scale and intensity of the spell)

*These are the following examples of Hybrid Elements, which will have the amount of base elements noted.*

**Lightning/ Electricity/ Galvanic** -

**Steam** - Steam, Water Vapor. Usually can be super-heated and used to boil a being alive, if not, well, why would you have Steam?

**Magma** -

**Spatial/ Astral** -

**Temporal/ Aeon/ Tempus** -

**Weather/ Tempest** - Weather, Storms. Usually widely unknown and not generally studied.

**Flora** -

**Ice/ Cryogenic/** -

**"Blood/ Orcus"** - Exerts control over "*Blood*" things, though this is not truly a hybrid element, simply dubbed by institutions as an element. It does not have any beneficial effects other than mimicking some aspects of Light or Dark, sometimes Fire. It is usually more mana intensive than those elements alone, and is sometimes 'used' along with "*Demonic*" spellcasting.

**"Celestial/ Helios"** - Exerts control over "*Celestial*" things, though this is not truly a hybrid element, simply dubbed by institutions as an element. It does not have any beneficial effects other than mimicking the Light Element, however with more mana involved. It can be 'used' to more efficiently combat it's opposing hybrid element: "*Demonic*".

**"Demonic"** - Exerts control over "*Demonic*" things, though this is not truly a hybrid element, simply dubbed by institutions as an element. It does not have any beneficial effects other than mimicking the Dark Element to an extent, perhaps mixed in with the Fire Element at times. It is more draining than simply the Dark Element. It can be 'used' to more efficiently combat it's opposing hybrid element: "*Celestial*".