Foci

Within the magic community 'foci' are items used to focus magical energy and often required by most magi to first harness mana using a tuning technique called '*mana management*' to control how much power a spell or cast requires.

### **History**

It is often noted that Humans concentrate better when their attention and mind is focused into a single point, this applies to every human, of all architypes; neohumans can learn to increase or magnify their powers by learning certain fighting techniques, particularly ones that deal with energy, leaning about the energy or matter they control or about what their bodies can do; this is simply how the human mind works. Magi are no different when it comes to concentration but unlike a neo whose powers manifest and are able to control their powers at will (with time and practice) human magi are almost exclusively required to use such abilities and beyond to help focus their tuning and ambient magic.

As far back as the early Bronze Age, when the first examples of tuning are thought to have come around in Humanity, the Vox Magei that came around throughout the ages have always used such items, even the most powerful and aged wizards of the old age used foci right throughout their prime to have a change at easing the complex tasks of spellcasting without skimping on equivalency exchange, and has made them in fact more powerful because of this. If not for such a concept, magic users might have been limited to very basic spells or at least require to cast in large groups for any kind of affective spell.

Over the centuries many foci became storehouses of massive amounts of mana, becoming relics, hunted for by various orgnaisations, not least those within Vox Magei.

### **Purpose**

Foci, likely derived from the Latin word "Focus" of the same English word and altered during it's translation to Old Magiscript, foci have been in use by magi for as long as humans have been able to tune, and there isn't a single mage who hasn't used, and continued to use multiple focuses, be it hand-me-downs or created from scratch, to concentrate and magnify their mana and safely harness said energies whilst spellcasting.

Not only do foci compress magical force into useful amounts, and act to help give mages an idea of mana management without themselves becoming utterly exhausted and weakened, they can also protect learning magi from any harmful energy they are trying to control or create and once properly attuned will be able store massive amounts of energy too. The traditional and most well-known foci for magic users are wands and staves, but a 'wand' can in itself be anything.

So long as the mage has formed some kind of bond with it the item should preform as a mana focus; jewellery and weapons are often used too. Some foci have been used for centuries and contain fair amount of magic resonating through it for it to serve not just as a focus, but to amplify powers; some heirloom and hand-me-down foci are not always good to start with as they can be too powerful and initiate magi are encouraged to find their own foci. In modern times items such as phones, laptops and even toys and small vehicles can be used and a mage might find unique spells and artes based around their foci.

Foci are not to be confused with talismans that are designed to solely perform a certain, specific job or spell, though talismans *can* also be used as foci, doing so can cause interference or unwanted backlash and generally if a mage has a talisman for a specific effect, will keep it separate from their foci.