Mages

### Description

Mortal humans capable of manipulating magic after having undergone an Awakening.

Mages are mortal human beings capable of bending reality to their will via the power of magic. Mages, unlike a majority of supernatural beings, are not themselves comprised of magic, nor do they generate magic of their own. Instead, they act as focuses for magic around them, bending it to their will.

## Gnosis Ranks

Main Article: Gnosis

Gnosis, also known as Ka, Mana, or Atman, is a measure of the strength of the Flame of Divinity with a mage. The more powerful a mage's Gnosis, the greater mastery they can potentially achieve over the Arcane Purviews, allowing the magical effects they conjure to become more powerful and less constrained. There are six Gnosis ranks, and they are as follows, from unable to use magic at all to possessed of tremendous magical potency: Dormant, Awoken, Attuned, Resonant, Enlightened, and Transcendent.

## Physiology

### Creation (Awakening)

All humans have the innate potential to become a mage and perform magic. The process by which they gain access to this potential is known as an Awakening. Generally, Awakenings occur slowly, with magical occurrences manifesting around the mage which they have little control over, before the full Awakening occurs, and they become able to actively sense and manipulate magic. There are three different ways that an Awakening may occur.

* **Cultivated Awakening:** The most common form of Awakening, Cultivated Awakenings occur when one has been continually exposed to the magic of an Awakened mage over long periods of time. This process gradually builds their magical strength, allowing them to gradually manifest stronger and stronger magical abilities, until they eventually achieve a full Awakening.
* **Evoked Awakening:** Certain powerful beings are able to immediately induce an Awakening. This is a traumatic and violent process to whoever undergoes it, as all the buildup of magical power that would normally have occurred over a long period of time happens instantly. This results in the mage automatically drawing all nearby ambient magic into their body and expelling it violently, causing a random and potent magical effect.
* **Innate Awakening:** A rare form of Awakening, this occurs for individuals who are naturally powerful magical conduits, as a result of being descended from mage ancestors, or being exposed to some sort of magical anomaly during their childhood. Innate Awakenings are slow and gradual, with magical powers steadily manifesting as the mage to be grows, typically during moments of extreme emotional duress.

## Powers and Abilities

Through the use of magic, a mage can do practically anything. However, most of the more advanced and complicated magical powers do require practice to employ. That said, there are certain abilities even the most untrained mage has at their disposal.

* **Magic Perception:** Mages are able to extrasensorally detect magic in all its forms, allowing them to locate magical hotspots, and sense when a fellow mage, or another supernatural being, has used their magical powers.
* **Precognition:** Mages are able to sense the tides of magic flowing through the universe, which enables them to gain brief, short glimpses into the future. These precognitive powers typically manifest when they are about to be under threat, which is crucial for fighting supernaturals who possess superior physical speed.
* **Telepathic Resistance:**
	+ **Possession Resistance:**

### Raw Magic

Raw magic is a term for the wild and unpredictable magical powers that most untrained mages wield. Raw magic is manifested by extreme emotion, and is almost completely uncontrolled, usually only given the barest focus by the desires of the mage who let it loose. As such, an untrained mage is extremely dangerous to their surroundings, as without the discipline and will to control their power, they can wreak untold havoc. Any sort of strong emotion by an untrained mage can lead to a manifestation of raw magic. Being in a good mood might cause wilted flowers to bloom, or a warm breeze to fill the air. An angry mage might cause the temperatures in the room to plummet or skyrocket, and one who is truly enraged by someone might cause them to spontaneously combust, or their head to explode in a bloody mess.

Even well trained mages, skilled in directing their magical power, do occasionally manifest raw magic in moments of extreme emotional turmoil. In the case of such a trained mage, the raw magic manifestation will often come in the form of something related to their primary magical focus. A mage focused on controlling spirits, for instance, might cause the Veil to thin, summoning nearby spirits to their side if extremely agitated. Another focused on manipulating physical matter might unwittingly transmute the soft sand beneath the feet of someone who has angered them into jagged glass.

In the case of both trained and untrained mages, raw magic manifestations are more drastic the more powerful the mage in question is. An average mage standing in a forest clearing might cause the grass surrounding their feet to wither when angry. Were that same mage more potent, they might cause every tree, bush, and blade of grass in the clearing to shrivel to dust when infuriated.

### Spells

Spells are rituals of varying complexity that serve to help a mage focus their raw magical power through thought and will. Typically, the more complex or potent the magical effect a mage is trying to create, the more components a spell will require, lest the unfocused magical power cause disastrous effects. Mages with greater magical talent are able to successfully perform spells with greater ease, though even a weak mage can usually elicit a spell's desired effect to some degree when first attempting it. Any mage can devise a spell, though doing so usually requires tremendous skill and magical power, as the process involves asserting the spell's components so that when anyone combines them with magical power, they will achieve the effect their creator designed for them.

As mages grow in power, and achieves greater Gnosis and mastery over the Arcane Purviews, spells become revealed as the crutches that they truly are. Great Gnosis means that the Flame of Divinity burns bright within a mage, illuminating to them the mysteries of Creation, and allowing them to bend it to their will. More powerful and experienced mages are able to conjure magical effects that they have repeatedly performed without the need for a spell, as the mage has become so practiced at wielding the magic in such a manner that they no longer require the focus and concentration a spell provides to bring the effect forth.

### Arcane Purviews

The Arcane Purviews are the eight divisions of magical influence that mages throughout the ages have discovered through trial and experimentation. Wielding magic to manipulate fire is similar to using it to manipulate lightning, reading someone's thoughts not so different from projecting an illusion into their minds. As such, millennia worth of Awakened have classified the various ways in which they can wield magic into the Arcane Purviews. From the moment they Awaken, every mage has some basic ability in all of the Arcane Purviews, and as they continue to practice their magic and grow their power, they have the potential to increase their mastery of them.

#### Primal (Magic)

Main Article: Primal Purview

The Primal Purview enables those who master it to command the powers of magic itself, and through it, manipulate the most intrinsic aspects of Creation.

#### Dynamic (Forces)

Main Article: Dynamic Purview

The Dynamic Purview grants its wielders mastery over the forces and energies that pervade Creation, gifting them command over heat, light, and storms.

#### Immaterial (Thought)

Main Article: Immaterial Purview

The Immaterial Purview allows for mages to master the facets of the mind, enabling them to manipulate thought, emotion, and memory.

#### Quiescent (Matter)

Main Article: Quiescent Purview

The Quiescent Purview gifts the mages who use it with power over physical matter, be it water, stones or toxic gas.

#### Astral (Space)

Main Article: Astral Purview

The Astral Purview governs one of the most important facets of Creation: Space. Wielding it allows for space to be shifted and bent, at the need of the user.

#### Temporal (Time)

Main Article: Temporal Purview

The Temporal Purview is the most rarely studied or wielded by mages. Use of it enables mages to manipulate time to their will.

#### Vital (Life)

Main Article: Vital Purview

The Vital Purview holds sway over all living substance, in plant, animal, or any other form of life.

#### Etheric (Spirits)

Main Article: Etheric Purview

The Etheric Purview allows for the spiritual entities of the world to be bent to a mage's will.

## Weaknesses

**Mortality:** Despite the tremendous power at their disposal, mages are just as mortal and vulnerable as any ordinary person (unless of course they take magical countermeasures). Wounds inflicted by weapons, poison, suffocation, and old age are all capable of felling a mage just as they would an ordinary person.