Magic

Magic is to exert one's will on the world through the expenditure of energy in a mystical way. The core component of magic is that one must have a strong will, for to change the world around yourself you cannot be doing so on a whim, but by using your will to exert the change. Additionally, magic is manipulating the aspects of the world around you and does not simply create elements out of thin air. One casts magic by converting their energy into the means of manipulation, much like digging a hole or farming a field, casting magic will exert oneself, and doing so too much will leave tired. Using magic to complete a task will more than likely expend the same or more energy than if one did it manually.

## The Soul

The soul is your ethereal consciousness, the very essence of one’s being. It is home to the mind, the source of all energy and magic, and the existence of oneself is tied to the soul. A body without a soul will still biologically exist but will go comatose and perish soon thereafter.

## Use of Magic

### Spellcasting

Spellcasting is the most common type of magic one will typically encounter. It is the use of magic to manipulate the elements of the world around you actively. Each spell will utilize one or more elements and is a specific form and application of the element. Wights usually take to insanity in a way that conforms to their element or elements and will do whatever they can to spread it across the world. A spellcaster is known as a Magus, or a Magae, sometimes simply a mage.

In addition to spellcasting as it is described, there will be other ways a player can cast spells. These are not revealed right now, for we wish for players to be creative and attempt different ways to cast spells and be unique in their magic.

#### Types of Magic:

* Animation
* Air
* Blood
* Corruption
* Dark
* Earth
* Fire
* Life
* Light
* Metal
* Mind
* Nature
* Shapeshifting
* Teleportation
* Water

#### Dangerous Ways of Casting:

Desperation Casting

Desperation casting is when a mage is exhausted and nearly out of energy but proceeds to attempt to use magic anyway. At best the spell will go off as intended, but knock out the magic user in the process. At worst, it will backfire fabulously, and accelerate the growth of the mage’s tattoo to cover a larger portion of the body, shortening their remaining time before they become a wight. The result all depends on the specific casting attempted and the energy required.

Will Casting

One usually uses their will to exert their magic when casting. Will casting is one that leaves a lingering presence of the user’s will in the process, forcing it to manifest along with the magic. This can lead to powerful and primordial casting, especially when warding or enchanting, but it is a defiance of nature, which can lead to sentient or disastrous side effects.

### Enchanting

Magic users can enchant objects. To enchant an object, they extend their energy and will into the object, imbuing it with either straight energy or with energy and an element of that user’s choosing. The object will then take on attributes that are willed into it. Eventually, the energy will fade, meaning all enchantments are temporary, even if designed to be long-lived. This can be applied to living objects as well, though the effects will wear off much more quickly and require more energy to do so. Each enchantment requires various weaves to make the enchantment stay, making it a form of spellcrafting in a way. One who enchants is known as an Enchanter or Enchantress.

### Summoning

Summoning is the use of magic in complex rituals to summon devils from across the world and tied in dimensions to bend to their will and do their bidding. Each requires a circle filled with magically imbued inscriptions and restrictions placed on the summoning to prevent the user from harm. General orders and restrictions for the devil to be bound are included in these circles as well. A circle for the summoner may also be imbued and is required for protection from and binding of more powerful devils, as one can then actively imbue energy into the summoning circle rather than inlay a set amount. Incense and various fragrances may serve to sooth or cow the summoned devil, with the optional addition of various alchemical brews that can be used to fortify circles. It is as much a science as alchemy or spellcasting, but the will is the most necessary thing for summoning magic. The name of the devil is also required, or at least the type of devil, in which case the closest available will be summoned. The specific runs, fragrances, and such can be found in books or through experimentation. A summoner is known as a Sorcerer or Sorceress.

### Warding

Warding is similar to summoning and enchanting, as it involves imbuing will and magic into objects or words. However, its purpose is to imbue the energy toward a certain specific effect, with the effect being activated upon a condition being met. In essence, warding is the setting of self-automated magic that activates when its conditions are met. Warding magic will wear away like anything else imbued, but due to its usually large reserve of energy and simplicity in creation, the energy will last a lot longer. Those who use warding magic is known as a Thaumaturge.

### On Tattoos

When a mage first attunes at a shrine, they gain their magical tattoo as a point of origin at a spot of their choosing. From it, the tattoo will branch out in a consistent pattern as the mage ages and uses their magical abilities. No two patterns are the same, but they are always geometric or flowing in shape and unable to form images of complex structures such as cultural or religious symbols, animals, plants, people, or buildings. They can however assimilate such structures if an ink tattoo is present on the mage’s body. Instead of growing over the ink tattoo, the magical tattoo follows the exact shape of the ink below the skin.

This process continues until the pattern covers one’s entire body. Once this occurs, the lines of the pattern will start to thicken, filling the space in between. Eventually, this leads to any patterns disappearing into a solid color covering the entire surface of the skin. Each element a mage attunes to adds a different color the tattoo’s new branches may become. This can be any color bar black, grey, or white. These colors start off vibrant, but gradually fade as the tattoo grows in size. Growth results in specific bands of color that only show variation during a gradient connection to another band. The tattoo glows lightly as a whole, though clothing or blood can cover this up.