Sorcery

**Sorcery**is the word for the type of magic used primarily on the continent of Mythralis. Sorcerers draw power from the dominions naturally present within their body. This type of magic is also the type that is usually used by monsters, as well as elementals. Because sorcery draws on essence naturally within the body, using any sorcery will inhibit the natural processes within the body that uses that sorcerous type. The most common example of this is that fire sorcery costs body heat.
Sorcerous spells are not outright fueled by the essence found naturally within the body. Rather, the body uses the essence within it to pull more essence of the same type from its home dominion. For example, if a sorcerer uses a fire spell, the spell does not draw fire essence from the body. Rather, the body uses its fire essence to draw a larger amount from the dominion of fire, and uses that to fuel the spell.
As a sorcerer practices a sorcerous type, they will grow stronger in that type. However, overusing that type can cause permaneant damage. This is often compared to working a muscle. Using a sorcerous type will increase the strength of that sorcerer in that type, but overworking it can damage it.
Not every species has one dominion or another. For example, there are no known human users of void sorcery, and many monsters do not possess the dominion of protection.

## **Terminology**

A dominion refers both to a plane made up of a specific type of magic, as well as the type of magic that makes up that plane. Sorcerers typically refer to magical energy as essence, which is synonymous with mana. Accordingly, they refer to a type of mana as the dominion that makes up its representative plane.

For example, the dominion of fire is present within a fire sorcerer. This does not mean that the plane is within them, but rather that they have access to fire magic.

The opposite example is that a travel sorcerer could travel to the dominion of, say, water. This does not mean that the sorcerer is visiting some water essence, but rather that the sorcerer is traveling to the plane named the dominion of water.

For the sake of clarity, as well as convenience, these terms are going to be used on this page, even if they are not used on other pages in the universe.

In some cases, the term for a type of magic differs from the users of one style of magic, to another. For example, stone essence is known as earth mana on Kaldwyn. This is usually because of the different ways that the magic is used. For example, sorcerers use stability essence to make their spells longer lasting or more stable, but Kaldwynians call it enhancement mana and use it to increase their physical abilities and in some cases "upgrade" their spells.

Some of these terms are looser or more interchangable than others. For example, many sorcerers refer to essence from the Dominion of Flame more simply as fire essence, and call themselves fire sorcerers.

## **Calling and Shaping**

Calling is the practice of calling material from its respective plane. For example, a fire caller can create a ball of fire, and a metal caller can create metal.

Shaping is the practice of changing something already within the world using essence. For example, a fire shaper could disperse a ball of fire or change its color, temperature, or shape. A metal shaper could change the shape, color, weight, strength, and other properties of metal.

Most sorcerers are trained in both calling and shaping, but some sorcerers specialize more in one or the other. There are some cases in which a sorcerer is completely unable to shape or call a dominion.