Mana

## Intro:

### Supply:

Normally MPs can only be contained within a spiritual body, which is also made up of MPs. Most commonly souls act as this container for MPs, but souls are relatively small and can be easily overflowed given enough time. To get around this, a physical substance: Mana, was discovered by evolution and an organ with it. Mana is naturally in a liquid state at room temperature and is able to serve the purpose of containing MPs.

Because mana is valuable, some mages were interested in profits, and so at some point in the past a group of these mages used genetic splicing to create a cow like creature that makes mana instead of milk. In the present day, this is where the majority of mana comes from that is used by either wealthy individuals or for larger scale / industrial use.

### Burnout:

It is completely possible for a person to run out of mana if they overwork themselves. This will usually result in a sense of tiredness, as your body works harder to produce more mana. If the person continues to use magic, they will end up harming themselves. This is because they will now have to use up the MPs stockpiled in their soul and the byproduct MPs will have to move through the body before being able to exit. The energy released from the charge drain will also not have a safe medium to be put into and will be poured into the user's own body. The energy release can increase a person's body temperature temporarily similar to a fever, and the byproduct MPs will cause damage similar to radiation poisoning.

If done cautiously and sparingly, casting magic without any mana will only have minor backlash to the user which can be healed quickly enough, but if a person does it too often they can make themselves sick enough to become bedridden for over a week, or even further will cause a slow and painful death. Those with a weaker will or tolerance for pain will faint long before they can cast enough magic in this way as to kill themselves.

### Magically induced Combustion:

If a magic user is forced to, or is willing to cross their own limits, they can cast a very powerful spell which they would otherwise not be able to. The cost of doing this though is death. Unlike the slow death caused by repeated and small releases of energy and MP byproducts into the body, the death caused by casting a single extremely powerful spell is quick. The amounts of energy and MP byproducts produced and released by the casting of the spell will easily overwhelm unenhanced or unsupported magic user and burn them to ash or annihilate them in an explosion.

## MP Storage

As stated in an above paragraph, there are creatures which have evolved an organ that produces mana. This organ produces the mana which is used for magic, but does not store the mana. There is also the problem of where the MPs from the soul go. MPs can't simply stay within the soul if its full. This is partially because it puts too much unnecessary stress on the soul. It is also because of how harmful the released energy and MP byproducts are. So instead a portion of the MPs are relocated to prevent harm to the soul and the body.

Technically mana & MPs can be stored within any free space within the body, but having mana & MPs in pretty much any location will cause irritation and interference with the body's function and damage will occur doing spell casting, so the only logical place evolutionary, is to put them somewhere which is not actively used by the body, This means that mana & MPs get stored within any dead matter which is firmly attached to the body, which is mainly head / body hair and finger / toe nails.

Very small amounts of mana are needed to perform even a somewhat powerful spell. This is because MPs are almost microscopic so relatively high numbers of MPs only take up a small amount of space when condensed. In relation, the organ that produces the mana can only do so at a very slow rate, which roughly the same rate at which hair grows. As hair grows, mana is fused to its surface. Whenever a magic user needs to use mana for magic, the magic will simply strip what it needs from the user's hair.

Because hair is used to store the mana which is used for magic, professional but poor / conservative magic users will typically not cut their hair ever, leaving it to grow as long as it naturally can. This is done because mana can be wasted if hair is cut, as well as an additional ability which the bodies of magic users have. If a magic users uses a high amount of MPs in a short period of time, leaving their hair with very little mana, then the organ which produces the mana can work at a faster rate and more mana can be sent to the already grown out hair. In this situation the mana will flow down the hair until the hair has once again become fully covered.

Note: It is possible to extract concentrated mana & MPs from hair which has been cut, from nail clippings, and even dead skin. This concentration of magical fuel is usually purified into a liquid or gaseous form and but into a tightly sealed container which can then be sold.

### Mana Residue:

It is possible to perceive mana residue, which is left over after someone uses magic. The less skilled a magic user is, the more mana residue will be left over after performing magic. The mana residue is a fine mist / dust that is not visible to the naked eye normally. The way to perceive this left over residue is either through rare talent, or learned magical spells. The way it is actually perceived is like a slight glowing dust that is either in the air or covering objects. This mana residue is actually very similar to the magical essence that is given off passively as an aura. The only real difference between these two materials is that the magical essence is given off at all times, while the mana residue is only released during or directly after the use of magic to cast a spell.