Nature Magic

***A Legendary tale…** This player-written lore is non-canon and may not exist within Elysium until revived and approved by Staff upon request.*

***Alas! An Ancient Relic!** This page contains information that may be outdated or incorrect.*

## Branches

Dominion of the Forest

Dominion of Life

Dominion of the Sky

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Note: Stay reasonable when using this magic.

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Nature Magic refers to the art of using magic to conduct a Mage's will and form an alliance with nature itself. Nature Magic is an elusive magic, and truly cannot be considered a true magic. Since nature magic doesn't work to bend and control nature as other magics would do with for example: the elements, such as a fire mage going to manipulate fire and launch it at people — Nature Magic instead works by connecting one with the "dominion" of nature itself. By passing magical energy through their bodies, Nature Mages open up a communication channel of sorts with animals, plants, and even the sky. While the benefits of nature magic is great — it is an incredibly hard form of magic to master, and most fail within it. Below are the specifics of nature magic. Nature Magic is also one of the most mysterious and mystical magics.

## Origins

Nature Magic's creation is an elusive topic. For as long as mages have been around — so has been nature, and thus nature magic can be considered an Ancient Magic. Dragons are known to be the first users of magic, and thus the first Nature Mages were of course dragons. Even for the dragons, this force of magic was unlike the others and difficult to master — many Nature Dragons faltered and died as a result of incompetence. Save for the few who could truly master the school — they had found serenity in the forest and often isolated themselves from the world. Nature Magic is recognized widely as the first known form of magic; though this can't entirely be justified, since there are no written documents on it — as it's one of the rarest forms of magic in existence. Nature Magic is inherently sourced from Mother Nature herself, and believed to be a running force between all plants and animals.

## Specifics of Nature Magic

Nature Magic is a very free form of magic — as such there is no "spell-book" or specific list of spells, rather branches and or abilities for a nature mage to use. Instead they are left to channel their magics to produce whatever effect they choose — further justifying the ridiculous difficulty of the form. Though some have a natural affinity for it; they often will always encounter difficulty, until they can truly master it. There are currently three dominions or "branches" of nature a mage can utilize. Nature Magic can also be mastered without mage-dragon blood.

### **Dominion of the Forest**

The first dominion, is known as the forest. The forest is self-explanatory, and the easiest form to latch onto and master. The dominion of the forest works by opening a communication channel with plants utilizing a Mage's mana source to bridge what is normally divided. Nature Mages will have ridiculous difficulty the first time they attempt this. When a nature mage becomes more experienced they can order the plants to perform tasks. A beginner magic will be able to shoot vines at people and perform basic tasks, whereas a Master will be able to create a colossal tree "monster" — of huge proportions.

The average Nature Mage user of the Dominion of Forest is able to raise tree monsters of considerable size and grow forests within minutes. The reason for their unexplainable power is inherently unknown — but generally hypothesized that the Mages will leech the mana of various plants to continue their communication channel, which in essence is quite easy to maintain. This dominion is the most popular. In a way, this also allows them to "speak" with the forest, due to this, it also — for higher level users, allows a Nature Mage to "see" through the eyes of the forest and extract various information. A nature mage, when they have imprinted their will into a forest-system will be alerted when someone enters their system, every plant and tree included in the complex system will be incredibly responsive, the Nature Mage acting as the "central nervous system" to the system.

#### *Touch of the Forest*

A more elusive practice of the form is known as "Touch of the Forest" — which enables Nature Mages to commune with the life force of the plant system they tap into. It allows for healing, and often transferring of the life forces. When this is done, a plant will be drained of it's life force, in some cases shriveling up and withering away to replenish another life force. A strong mage can use this to resurrect a single human — at the cost of an entire forest's death. A more common practice of this otherwise forsaken sub-branch, is replenishment — when a Mage's mana supply is dampening, they will leech mana from the plant system and replenish their own to continue casting — making Nature Mages very deadly and enduring.

### **Dominion of Life**

The second dominion, and the second step to true mastery is known as the dominion of Life. This dominion requires a bit more explanation. It works in similar nature to the dominion of Forest, but altogether more different. Instead of affecting the plants, it will affect the animals. This form will allow a Nature Mage to speak with animals and request certain things of them telepathically, or verbally. It is a difficult branch to master, but for those who can, they are quite respected. Most practitioners will find themselves surrounded by animals and wildlife if they choose to dedicated to this path.

While an animal may reject or disobey a user of this branch, overtime a Mage will often establish a hivemind connection with the animal they influence, and higher mages of the form are known to give a gaze so sharp and alluring that any animal will obey them. It is often easier to communicate with smaller animals; whereas elephants are saved for the masters of the form. The greatest "fabled" use of the Dominion has been recorded when the Archmage of Nature ordered one of the great dragons and established an alliance with it. But later on this "Archmage" was killed due to war and fighting over their newfound control over the dragons. Similarly to the Dominion of Forest, it allows Nature Mages to see through the eyes of various beasts and animals.

#### *Animal Shifting*

The hardest practice of this form is "shifting" — which in essence allows a Nature Mage to shift into an animal. Animal shifting is only done by higher mages. As when it is done by newer mages they often become entrapped or "half-transformed" and disfigured. Some mages are recorded dying by attempting this form, due to the large amount of magical energy they must muster. A nature mage must select an animal to attune to and will shift into this ONE animal for the rest of their lives, none others.

### **Dominion of the Sky**

The final, most destructive and hardest dominion to master is that of the sky. It is the most loosely related, though ever most the same — it works differently, and instead doesn't open a communication channel. Rather it establishes a connection with Nature. The progression of this branch is entirely focused on building this connection — and for those who've mastered the dominion are recording influencing weather planet-wide. The specifics of the form are loose and detached, giving much freedom to it's wielder. Essentially it allows a nature mage to wield the force of wind and sky (creating storms and various weather systems). Due to it's difference from the other two dominions, it is difficult to master. Though it's the most destructive — beginner users are able to create lightning storms and powerful wind systems — whereas masters are able to create tornadoes, hurricanes, and even are capable of destroying cities. This form is inherently different from Air Magic. It is also the hardest form to control out of all three. Anytime a mage casts this form, it will be followed by a clap of thunder — making it near impossible to mask use of this form. Even something as low as a gust of wind will start with a clap of thunder.

## Limitations and Dangers

Nature Magic is a very rewarding magic — however due to the ridiculous amount of training and focus it requires, there are some disadvantages and dangers present. A plant may "refuse" the Mage's orders. To further explain this, it is recorded plants disobeying the mage, and often recoiling on their own commands — in some cases, attacking the Mage them self. An animal may be overwhelmed. Sometimes when a Nature Mage attempts to bridge a communication channel with an animal — they will be overwhelmed and startled. This is called "startling" and when an Animal is startled they will go on an anxious wild frenzy. Either sometimes they may attack people, or timidly flee. This startling lasts up to a week for the animal — and only higher level nature mages can calm the beast.

A life-shifter may be trapped. When a Dominion of Life user shifts into an animal form — they may carelessly trap themselves in the animalistic form. When this occurs, they will be stuck for a week. After a week, the forest or other animals will notice the soul of the mage inside one of their own, and Nature will naturally shift the mage out of their form, effectively saving them. A storm may become uncontrollable. When this happens, a storm becomes volatile and dangerous — it becomes natural. A lightning storm will unpredictably shoot bolts of lightning and clap thunder — whereas a tornado may grow, and a hurricane may become more dangerous than before.

The mage may be rejected by the flow of nature. It is unclear why this happens. But some mages are simply "rejected" by nature. Nature will simply not allow them into it's "flow" and they will be unable to muster it's abilities no matter how hard they try. These people often become Air Mages or Life Mages, which are the too forms closest to nature magic — but are more controlling and less formal. A mage's personality may change. When a mage grows stronger in ability — they may become obsessed with their magic. Attaching plants and allowing herds of animals to trail behind them wherever they go. Inability to utilize any other magic. Similarly to dark magic, Nature Mages are inherently unable to acquiring any other magic. This is why most Nature Mages are masters of all three branches.