Magic

Magic, also known as Sorcery or Spellweaving, is the process of manipulating ambient Aether into spells. Only those born with an affinity towards Aether have the ability to manipulate it. Without training the most one could ever hope to do is discharge unaspected Aether in a weak physical wave from themselves. Crude and mostly harmless. But with training, those who can manipulate Aether can weave it into an infinite number of possibilities.

There exist many schools of thought on how to go about manipulating Aether. The three primary methods are Rituals, Incantations, and Enchantment. Though even these three primary schools branch out with different cultures having their own unique twists on how they go about performing spells. When broken down to it's base component, magic is simply the means of taking Aether and programing it to do specific functions. Chain these functions in sequence and you can gain more elaborate and intricate spells. It is for this reason that one requires training and that without knowing the proper sequences, the spell will fail.

Aetherical academics are an important aspect of life on Taira with various institutes and scholars being the ones who pave the way forward. Though research into Aether poses it's own risks with spells going awry and causing damage and harm to others. Most nations put heavy restrictions on what spells can be taught and who is allowed to research Magic. But as one can expect with any restrictions, this has paved the way for a black market. Criminal organizations buying and selling the knowledge to use spells allowing those with the proper amount of money to obtain forbidden magic.

Aether is in seemingly infinite abundance with Mages merely altering the Aether before throwing it back out into the world. It is never consumed, simply displaced. This means there is no risk for a Mage to ever run out of Aether. That is not to say they can cast spells indefinitely for the concentration and physical stress the body endures while manipulating Aether can be quite taxing. The user's own body is their limiting factor requiring training of both the mental and physical aspects to ensure they do not harm themselves when wielding their spells.

Mages can share the burden with one another to allow themselves to perform longer than normal, or to cast much more powerful or potent spells. It is not uncommon to see multiple mages assemble to perform large and elaborate spells, though this is usually only seen during wartime as such spells serve little purpose otherwise. This burden can not be shared with those who cannot use magic, however, limiting it even further.

## Early history

No one knows who first discovered Magic. It is a secret lost to time. What modern scholars do know is that Aether has been around since the beginning of the world, though they still have yet to figure out what causes it's existence. The ability to utilize Aether was recognized thousands of years ago with those holding the ability quickly rising to power among their peers. Usually such individuals would be leaders of their people and with little in the way that could oppose magic, beyond another who could wield it, much of Taira's history is shaped by these individuals.

## Schools of Magic

### Rituals

One of the three schools of Magic, Rituals are more ornate applications of Aether. While the details and requirements can vary, in common practice a Ritual is an elaborate ceremony that weaves Aether over time to perform the desired effect. This can range from something small and simple, such as drawing a simple sigil and marking it with a few gems to bring about an effect, to much larger ceremonies that involve many mages and can go on for days that can have an earth-shattering, city-level effect.

Rituals do not have to be done all at once. A mage can set up what is needed over a period of time and then, once everything is in order, weave the Aether through it to activate the spell. Because of this it is common for mages to set up rituals in advance as, once everything is in place, they typically do not take long to achieve their desired effect.

### Incantations

Another of the three schools of Magic, Incantations are the most common of the three due to their ease of use and versatility. Incantations are all about stringing together a preset series of words that help the user channel the Aether and program it in the way they need. This can be something as simple as 'Fireball' to launch a ball of flame, to much more long-winded and elaborate incantations to achieve much more grandiose spells. The more complex the spell the more verses the incantation will require to fulfill it. The words themselves used in an incantation are up to the individual mage as it is more about ascribing specific words with specific changes applied to the Aether. While common incantations exist for ease of use, those who invent their own spells or simply find it easier will often make up their own incantations to use.

The incantation does not need to be spoken verbally. Indeed it is the mark of a novice to verbally speak to weave their spell. Those proficient in the art can simply say it within their mind to achieve the effect they desire. However, this is not an immutable rule as some spells do require a verbal component to their use, though that is less to do with the incantation itself and more the requirements of that specific spell.

### Enchantments

The second most popular of the three schools, Enchantments work by imbuing a spell's effects into some kind of catalyst. This school of Magic is most popular with those who can't use magic at all as, unlike the other two schools, even a magicless individual can utilized an Enchanted item. The basic principles are similar to that of Rituals or Incantations, the user must weave the Aether into the proper structure but where it differs is that it will not enact the spell but rather store it in the chosen item. Most any item can be used as a catalyst, but the item chosen dictates the strength of the spell imbued within it. The more powerful the spell, the more powerful the item that houses it. So while you might imbue a simple wind-gust spell into a rock, to weave a more powerful spell such as a large explosion would require a more durable item such as a steel orb.

Once an item is Enchanted it emits a low pulse of Aether, those scanning for disturbances can easily detected when an item is Enchanted and with a bit more focus discern what the enchantment is so long as they themselves recognize the spell. It would require layered enchantments to mask this pulse to hide it from detection and with each additional enchantment you greatly increase the need for a more durable catalyst. It is extremely uncommon for an item to possess more than three enchantments at any time with even two enchantments requiring a skilled mage and a strong catalyst.

Due to the fact that only a Mage can detect and discern an Enchantment this can make it somewhat risky for non-mages to make use of them as they have no way of knowing what enchantment is placed upon the item. It is not uncommon for illegally obtained Enchantments to be faulty, misleading, and outright dangerous thus rendering this School of magic the most heavily regulated of the three.

## Magical Arts

While magic is broken down into the three primary schools of casting, it is further broken down into the Magical Arts. Specific traits of how aether is woven cause spells to share similarities, and it is these similarities that group them together. An example of this is Fire magic, from casting a fireball to launch at an enemy to simply raising the ambient temperature, the actions needed stem from the same core which causes both spells to be in the same Art. With magic being fluid and new spells always being invented, the Arts are ever changing, though some of the more common ones remain steadfast.

### Elemental

The mainstay of magical arts is elemental magic. This is even further broken down into Fire, Wind, Earth, Water, Electricity, Light, and Dark. While it is common for mages to have an affinity for a specific element, it is more often than not a case that a mage can make use of all the elements. Weaving elemental magic together can bring about a variety of effects, such as adding some wind to water to create ice, or fire to earth to create lava. Being the most fundamental and common form of magic it is the single most widely known Art.

### Summoning

Summoning is another common Art in which a mage weaves aether into forming a vessel for them to either puppet directly, or give simple programming to function autonomously. The greater the spell's complexity, the more impressive an entity can be summoned. These summons typically come in one of three classifications. Fiends, Saints, or Planeborn. What is summoned is based on the process in which the summoning takes place. If the user infuses their anger, hatred, or other negative emotions into their spellcraft they can conjure up a demonic-looking Fiend. Opposing that is when the mage infuses love, compassion, or other positive emotions they will be able to conjure forth an angelic-looking Saint. The last category is when emotions are absent, when strictly the process of weaving aether is utilized. This is the most common form of summoning, examples are things such as animal or monster summons, or conjuring forth a golem.

### Divination

The Art of discerning hidden truths and knowledge, Divination is the catch-all for any spell that involves intelligence-gathering. From a scrying spell meant to locate an individual to a simple search spell to discern your surroundings. It is one of the most common Arts with almost every mage learning at least a basic search spell. More devoted mages have been known to come up with vastly more potent spells with some even being said to be able to glimpse the future or the past. Due to their need for Aether to link the user and whatever it is they are searching for it is possible to hide from such spells by obfuscating the aether around yourself, or to be in a location where there is no aether at all. Though such options are hardly readily available.

## Outlawed Magic

While magic can facilitate countless miracles, in the wrong hands it can be devastating beyond belief. Because of this societies have always had to find ways to regulate and control what kind of magic is out there and used, for the safety of everyone. Through mutual treaties and pacts there exists an almost universally banned list of spells and magic. Given the nature of magic this usually manifests in the form of restricting knowledge, preventing people from learning what the spell is, what it does, or how to enact it. Those who are caught utilizing illegal magic are subject to having their memories wiped as that, or killing them, is the only way to expunge the knowledge they've acquired.