Magecraft

**Magecraft** *(魔術, Majutsu*?), or Thaumaturgy, is the supernatural phenomena that cannot be explained or analyzed via any sort of scientific means and reasoning of general knowledge. It is the artificial reenactment of Mystery, which is ordinarily possible only by inhuman beings.

## History

Magecraft has existed since time in memorial. It is a phenomena that has been used by the people of ancient cultures, both on earth and on other worlds throughout the universe.

## Principles

Magecraft is the ability to bring about what is possible through science with supernatural means; although the process is considered a miracle, the result is not. The limits of Magecraft have changed with time, as science evolved and Magic from the past became possible through science.

There exists no impossibility for modern Magecraft within the rules of the universe and limits of human intellect; there are limitations, however, where it only appears that something is possible. Because Magecraft acts as the reenactment of preexisting phenomena, it is impossible to use it to create new Mysteries; even with an infinite amount of research, there exists a "wall" preventing human wisdom from doing so in the current era. The realm past this "wall" is known as Magic.

Modern Magecraft of Earth is inferior to that from the Era of Divinity in terms of magnitude because magi from that era had acquired their magical energy from the Root directly. The difference between modern and traditional Magecraft is explainable by the difference in civilizations - while the civilization of the Era of Divinity existed side-by-side with the truth, the civilization of the Era of Man exists in order to search for the truth.

In contrast to espers who have only one ability that is decided by birth,a Magus can create many supernatural phenomena without restrictions, but they have to take the time and effort. Thaumaturgy is the general term used to refer to the several modern schools of Magecraft such as Astrology, Kabbalah, Alchemy, and Shinsendou. Divergences can be found among different schools, but the fundamental basis is “to convert Magical Energy inside the user’s body to transform the external world”. The practitioner acts in accord with the system that each school operates under to execute a pre-built program. That “program” is a set of universal rules that interfere with nature once they are enforced. The power that enforces those rules is the magical energy of the magus and the command to do it is made through his Circuits. The greater the interference, the greater will be the amount of magical energy consumed.

Being originally magic, Thaumaturgy draws upon a predetermined power from the Root. However, because that amount of power is fixed, the more people draw from it at the same time, the more Magecraft’s capacities become mundane. In short, the greater is the collective number of magi, the weaker their individual power. Each school engraves their system of Thaumaturgical Theory into the world and uses the rules of that system to operate their spells. The efficiency of a system depends on how disseminated it is, as in the more people believe or use it. It is not uncommon for a system to not work properly when used outside its place of origin. In that regard, the teachings and holy words of the Church is the Thaumaturgical Theory with the greatest number of believers and effective area. Note that the case is different with magic foundations that are not academia or religions but rather are passed down through personal orally transmitted teachings, the limited inheritance in clans, etc. As long as the rules of those foundations are met, it is possible to exhibit the same basic effect no matter where one is in the world.

The main aim of the Magi’s academia is to make the impossible possible. If something cannot be achieved with modern Thaumaturgy, the magi research and develop their arts just for the sake of changing that. Powerful sorceries like High Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals are ultimately challenges in order to reach the goal called Magic. After a certain point of development, differences between power and even between Magic and Thaumaturgy start to lose their importance in practical terms. Battles between two great Magi will not be decided by their power, but by who possesses the system whose rules has the fewer tears. It is not the power behind them, but the concepts they work under.

The activation of magecraft from an established school requires following a strict set of protocol, one step of which is spellcasting. When compared to the application process of a document, the act of application, acceptance, review, and issuance, spellcasting is the application step of magecraft. It is mostly a convention when utilizing magecraft with a broad foundation, but it has potent self-suggestive powers for those who practice their own style of magecraft. As the Magic Circuits that shape magecraft already exist inside a magus' body, incantations are the "personal adage" that help the magi transform themselves, a method to efficiently activate and mobilize the Magic Circuits.

## Energy

The overall concept of magical energy is largely controversial to even magi themselves. Different denominations and schools of thought have their own theories on the idea of how magical energy precisely works in conjunction with a human's life force, namely the Soul.

#### Prana

Prana (マナ, Prana?) is a form of energy that is produced by the World and the Universe. It acts as the life force of the planets and occupies the atmospheres and is predominant throughout the universe. Although it is said that Prana can be found in large quantities, it takes a fairly long time to fully replenish once it has been used up. Prana is the primary source of energy for Nature Spirits, and each of these spirits make use of the energy for a variety of reasons. It has been explicitly stated one method of creating Prana is by processing a person's inner life force.

Prana is incompatible with the ESP Fields that espers produce. As a result, whenever an esper performs Thaumaturgy, he/she becomes severely injured. This incompatibility largely results from a combination of the human body's inability to host two different power systems at the same time and the different methodology imposed.

Prana can be "inserted" into objects following complicated rituals, which can give birth to "Mystic Codes", weapons that possess magical properties on their own.

#### Telesma

Telesma is a distinct alternative form of magical energy that is the Elojim's equivalent of Prana. To most humans in general, it is extremely dangerous and volatile due to the sheer amount of power contained within and can yield large scale effects on the environment such as tsunamis. Additionally, there exists certain artifacts which carries large amounts of Telesma, such as the Eternity Shards. The Soul Shard had a suppressing shell built around it, to contain the Telesma at a manageable level, this creating the Gem of Sephira. Similarly, the Space Shard and Mind Shard also had their Telesma suppressed via the creation of the Tesseract and the Sceptor.

## Mechanisms

### Resistance

Resistance (抗魔力, Kōmaryoku?), a power inherent to anyone with Magic Circuits, the capacity to resist spells which aim to control the target by the spiritual medium (those among the lines of sleep, paralysis and coercion). By circulating magical energy inside his Circuits, one can reject outside magical energy that tries to invade his/her self. Therefore, it is possible to disrupt a spell before it can complete itself. A very efficient form of defense, it makes it difficult to affect even lesser magi. Also, those who are not Magi but still possess Magic Circuits may unconsciously protect themselves like this. Because of it, most magi use spells capable of physical interference rather than just spiritual ones.

## Elements

A magus normally has the capacity to manipulate at least one of them. However, there are cases of those who can manipulate Elements that are completely different from any of the ones specified above. Within the Mage’s Association, individuals like these tend to be from either very selective houses or not be part of the Association at all. Cases of magus who possesses more than one Elemental Affinity, and even the affinity to Compound Elements, are also known. Usually said individuals try to master spells that make use of more than one Element at the same time (ex: “liquid manipulation” through the use of Water and Wind Elements). Those capable of manipulating all five Elements receive the title of Average One and are highly valued by the Mage’s Association. Methods to change one’s Elemental Affinity exist, but they are very painful and dangerous.

The set of Elements that, according to the teachings of Magecraft schools, are the basic substances that shape the world: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind and Void (Ether) or Water, Fire, Earth, Wood and Metal. Fire is called normal and Wind is said to be noble.

## Thaumaturgical Names

Many Magi practice magecraft in order to achieve a specific goal in life. Accordingly, all magi possess a thaumaturgical name in order to set up a goal that they wish to set their desires around summed up as a Latin word (i.e. Fortis, Honos, Regnum, etc.). A magus will dedicate the rest of his or her life by whatever means to achieve those goals that have been carved into his or her soul. A thaumaturgical name then concludes with a three digit number so as to avoid identical names and is accompanied by a phrase often as a description of who they are and an elaboration of their disposition.

Thaumatergical names can also serve a second purpose. Due to tradition, Magi are never supposed divulge their real names. In practice, thaumaturgical names are used instead and they are only declared to other people as an official declaration of a duel to the death.

## Technocraft

Technocraft is a term given to the practice of combining magecraft with technology and performing similar phenomena through technological means. The primary practitioners of this method are the G.H.Q and the use of Realizers which their Knights and technology uses for their equipment, and the Endymion Bureau which uses a much more refined equivalent of Realizers via Magical Devices.