Essence

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The magic system is called **conceptry** because the magic deals with concepts - called **Essences** - which are aspects or fragments of the world that are fonts and sources of magical power and effects. Essences usually take the form of winged creatures, usually glowing with manalight. There are a great many different kinds of Essences. Each kind of Essence has a very narrow range of ability; for most kinds of Essences, each is associated with a single spell.

Essences are ethereal (immaterial) and are not readily destroyed.

Like spells, essences are ranked on a Tier 1 - 9 scale.

## Spellcasting

Essences are not required for casting spells - Mages can cast spells using evocations because mages' souls are essentially essences, and alternatively, mages can use spell gems, spell cards, or magic items with spell charges. However, when using evocation, mages can only maintain one spell's evocation at a time, meaning it might take them a while to cast a spell, during which they're vulnerable; and spell gems, spell cards, or magic items with spell charges all have limited charges.

Essences allow mages to cast multiple spells at the same time. For example, if a mage activates a Luck Ess and uses evocation to cast Fire Bolt, they can use both at the same time. Having multiple Essences allows the mage to activate multiple Essences at the same time, though mages may be limited in how many Essences they can effectively use simultaneously.

Essences at Tier 2 and above also make it easier and cheaper to cast their associated spells, to an extent; this is called freecasting. Such Essences have a limited charge capacity (number of times they can allow a mage to freecast a spell) and they replenish charges at a certain rate (depending on the tier of the essence and its spell). This means that every once in a while a mage with such an Essence can cast spells very quickly and for no cost, but then they'll run out of charges and if they want to continue casting those spells, it'll take longer and cost the full resource and mana requirement of those spells.

A mage can have any number of essences bound to them at the same time. These can appear and disappear at the mages' command, and also become visible while activated.

## Powers

A number of essences (usually at Tiers 5 and 6) bond to a person and grant them powers, usually without any mana or resource cost and oftentimes without any practical limit. The ones with such essences don't even need to have sufficient path or Tier qualifications that normal essences (for spellcasting) would have.

Tier 5 essences are called Exalted essences.

Tier 6 essences are called Divine essences, and are powerful enough that those who have them can claim to be divine or a god in their own right (though if they're not really a god, they're just a pretender god).

## Magical Beings

Essences can bond with humans, but they can also bond with beasts, granting the beasts the Essences' power (such as a wolf becoming stronger by being bonded with Strength Ess), thus giving rise to magical creatures; this includes mythical creatures like phoenixes, dragons, basilisks, etc.

If a magical being is slain, the Essence will become unbonded, and there is the possibility that the Essence will be amenable to bonding with another human (such as one member of the party involved in making the kill).

For a list, see Category:Beast Essences.

## Transcendent Essences

The Tiers 7, 8, and 9 Essences are also called Transcendent Essences. These are mythical, unique, very powerful Essences with will of their own and usually independently, fragment off pieces of themselves throughout the world, *are* aspects of the world itself. Although usually they are present as innumerable slivers (fragments) of themselves throughout the world, a number of these can manifest as avatars - singular concentrations of themselves with great power at a specific location - from which they can work their magic indiscriminately to devastating effect. Because of their ethereal nature and their high Tier, the avatars of such Essences can be very difficult to deal with, and usually banishment is the only feasible option (if even that).

Other: Earth Gate, Attainment, Heaven's Will, Free Will, Humanity