The Fundamentals of Magic

# The Fundamentals of Magic (as We Understand Them, And as They Relate to Its Use)

*By S.D. Bogden, PcM*

*Published 10th of Midyear, 1820*

## Introduction

Magic has, for all intents and purposes, shaped our world. *The Theory of Aethereal Beginning* (Gelrad, 1784) states that the first formations of matter in the cosmos were the result of spontaneous and massive eddies of magical energy crashing and swirling in just the right configuration so as to birth the first particles of material substance. Then, a brief 2.4 million years after these first spurts of existence, humanity discovered the flow of magic in the world around them. From there, as we can see from early paintings found in the western caves of Hundal, we began to attempt to harness this unseen power (Asakira, 1734). Since those times there have been numerous studies that aimed to elucidate the laws which govern magic and its use. While there are still many mysteries behind the function and true nature of magic, the fundamental guiding laws these studies searched for have been unearthed and passed into codified knowledge.

However, these laws have yet to be amassed into one simple source. Therefore, it is the purpose of this review to summarize what is known about the laws of magic and to function as an introductory guide to the topic.

## The Fundamentals

Our studies of magic have lead to the hypothesis that it is a fundamental building block of the universe, along with energy and matter (Bogden & Lorimar, 1812). It surrounds and weaves between all of existence but is intangible; an invisible thread which runs between and around all things, including (most importantly perhaps) ourselves. It is from this immaterial and ubiquitous state that it can be drawn and shaped in order to create, destroy, and alter the world around us. A simple yet flawed analogy would be that of electricity flowing through wires. There are similar things to consider, such as the current and natural properties of the conduit itself, but this is where the likeness begins to break down.

In order to use magic, one acts as both a conduit and a resistor to its flow. The method by which someone uses magic relies upon mentally concentrating on the desired effect, then, for lack of a better term, opening their mind to the magic between all things in order to shape it into a perceivable form. In this way, one’s mind and body act as a focusing device or a prism, through which magic passes in order to be made manifest. The details of this, as of much of the following sections and topics, are many, and further discussion of it is out-of-scope for this review of fundamental theory.

Magic is often also called “aether”, and the unit used to measure it is called the *Aether* (Æ). 1 Æ is the amount of magic required to lift a 1 kg object that is 0.5 meters away 0.5 meters into the air for a period of 1 second (Sprodmusk, 1780). When humans use magic, we call that “casting a spell”. The equation for the amount of aether required for casting a given spell is as follows:

> *Æ = m \* d*
>
>

*m* Is the total mass being affected in kilograms, *d* is the sum of the distance from the caster to the subject(s) and the distance the subject(s) move(s) during the spell in meters, and *Æ* is the aether requirement associated with the casting of this spell. Below is how aether and “intensity” (*I,* a unitless coefficient that will be discussed later) relate. This equation is known as *The Spell Equation*:

> *L = Æ \* I*
>
>

*L* is the “spell level”, a value that can be thought of as the objective difficulty of casting a spell before taking the spellcaster’s own ability into consideration.

While The Spell Equation addresses how much magic and focus is required by a spell, this is not all that a spellcaster must consider before they begin launching chairs through the air. When a spellcaster conducts magic through themself to affect a change in the world, the matter of which they are made inherently resists its flow.

Much like the aforementioned analogy to electricity in a wire, all matter resists the flow of magic through it and, thus, all matter has an “aethereal resistance” which varies between different substances and beings. The equation to determine the physical strain the casting of a spell will have on a person or object, because of their aethereal resistance, is called *The Spell Strain Equation*:

> *Sc = L \* R2*
>
>

*R* is the aetheral resistance of the casting conduit (often a person or embued vessel) expressed in a unit known as the Marden (Ma), which may not pass below a value of 1 Ma; and *Sc* is the “strain of casting” (Bogden & Lorimar, 1815). The lower the Sc the less physical damage will be incurred upon a conduit (human or otherwise) during the casting of a spell. Spell strain is often much better tolerated if incurred over a long period of time rather than all at once, so a more practical equation that represents the moment-to-moment strain of casting a spell is:

> *Ss = (L \* R2) / Δt*
>
>

Where *Δt* represents the duration of time in seconds over which the spell is cast, and *Ss* is the spell strain per second.

While the effects of spell strain on matter and the human body constitutes an entire field of study all its own, generally (*very* generally) adverse physical effects begin to be felt in a person at Sc values around 3,000. Bitemporal headache, fever, diaphoresis, and nausea are common early symptoms of acute spell strain injury (also known as “acute dysmagia”), with more severe degrees of acute injury causing visual field disturbances, disorientation and confusion, ataxia, seizure, and death. The long-term effects of spellcasting, or chronic dysmagia, have yet to be fully identified and studied.

But, through centuries of research and experimentation, it has been found that we humans are unique among the creatures of the world in that we are able to actually *lower* our aethereal resistance with practice and repetition. The physiologic mechanism of this is still not known, but typically an untrained person has a resistance around 20 Ma, and after several years of dedicated training can often halve their natural resistance. A “master of magic” is commonly defined as someone who has lowered their resistance to 3 Ma, and the lowest recorded resistance was 1.1 Ma in that of Porian Kalabar (*The Annals of Kalabar University, 13th Edition*, 1812).

In summation, a magic user must harness their will and concentration in order to summon forth magic and convert it to matter or energy in the physical world, with their body and mind acting as the portal through which it passes and is focused. All matter is able to have magic conducted through it and act as a focus, but there is an inherent amount of resistance to that conduction. Generally, if a conduit or caster’s resistance remains constant, then as a spell’s aether requirement increases, the higher the Sc will be, and the more physical damage will be incurred upon the conduit (Bogden & Lorimar, 1815).

Before moving on, three things should be noted: First, practicing magic with the intent of lowering one’s aethereal resistance is a timely, costly, and dangerous endeavor. It takes years of mental and physical training, and if one is so inclined to try (as I hope all who read this are!) then the most productive and safe method of doing so is by earning a Practitioner of Magic degree (PcM) from a major academy or university.

Second, only sentient beings can initiate spellcasting. There are many animals in whom magic has produced marvelous biological phenomena, but it is only through the command of one’s own mind that the many possibilities of magic may be explored.

And, finally, despite what has been previously claimed in eccentric theories and by poorly conducted research, the physiological process that occurs in a spellcaster when they draw magic into our reality is not yet understood. Claims of the action of a soul (Lorimar, 1820) have not been able to be supported, and it is the opinion of this reviewer that one should not hang their hopes on such metaphysical explanations.

## The Divisions of Magic

Magic, as utilized by humans, is divided into four large groups, or “spell divisions”, each encompassing a general wheelhouse of spells and effects that it can be converted into. Each division has specific subdivisions within it that are more defined and granular, and which have their own associated “intensities”. Intensity (I) is a unitless coefficient that is separate from aether and resistance, and is directly related to the form/effect that a spell produces.

The four spell divisions are: Emanation, Enthrallment, Extantiation, and Embuement.

### Emanation

The use of magic to manipulate/produce/remove energy. This is the rawest and least concentrated form of magic use, as it is the simple channeling and expulsion of magic through one’s body. The subdivisions of emanation are based on the form the released energy takes. In ascending order of their intensities, the subdivisions are: simple waves of invisible force (I = 1); fire/heat (I = 2.3); electricity (I = 3.1); and ice/cold (I = 3.5) (Bogden & Lorimar, 1816).

### Enthrallment

The manipulation of the minds of others, whether it be causing sensory illusions, implanting memories, or altering their mood or personality. This division is more involved than emanation as it requires not only conducting an amount of aether through oneself, but also manipulating it to cause a desired effect in the minds of other beings. Many of these spells do physically change pathways or chemical interactions in the mind and sensory receptors, but the changes they confer do not seem to be large enough to warrant the larger intensities of the extantiation division. As such, when calculating aether requirements for enthrallment spells, the mass term is removed from The Spell Equation, leaving only distance (d).

The manipulation of others’ minds does *not* require conducting magical energy through that individual in the same way a caster does through themself. The magic of enthrallment spells passes through the caster and then acts *upon* the mind of the subject, never interacting with the aethereal resistance of the subject (Bogden & Lorimar, 1816).

There are three main subdivisions of enthrallment spells: those that aim to create a sensory illusion; those that alter, erase, or implant a memory, idea, or piece of knowledge; and those that actively control or interact with the mind. Creating a single sensory perception for someone (i.e. only a smell, sight, etc.), or altering how an aspect of an already existing object/entity is perceived by a person has an associated Intensity of 5.6. Creating multiple sensory stimuli or altering how multiple aspects of an object are perceived by someone adds 0.5 to the spell’s Intensity for every additional sense involved.

Using magic to change another’s opinions, beliefs, or attitude has an Intensity of 6.3, and while the change may linger temporarily after ceasing casting, the subject will eventually revert to their previous opinion or state of mind. The amount of time before reversion is directly correlated to the time spent under the effects of the spell (Kilncraker, 1814). Using magic to cause another person to carry out a task has an intensity of 7.5 and must be cast for the desired duration of the subject’s action.

Altering a memory has an intensity of 6.5, while that of completely erasing a memory is 8.2, and creating an entirely new memory has an Intensity of 8.7 (Bogden & Sprodmusk, 1816).

The completeness and convincing nature of the altered/added/erased perception or memory is heavily dependent on the amount of detail and thought put into the crafting of the illusion. As The Brazen Carpenter’s driftwood mannequin obviously stood out among the Painted Sentinels of Vorina, so too does a poorly constructed enthrallment in the mind of the subject. Skilled enthrallers spend years studying the multitude aspects of the brain, from its psychology to its fundamental anatomy, in order to more specifically and convincingly alter and shape the perceptions and beliefs of their subjects.

### Extantiation

The next division of magic is by far the most challenging of the four. Extantiation spells deal with the creation, alteration and destruction of physical objects. They can range from something as seemingly simple as the creation of a small nugget of gold, to the conjuring of a carriage fit for a transcontinental trek, to making a person disappear into thin air, forever removing them from existence. The possibilities of extantiation magic are only limited by the edges of the spellcaster’s imagination and dedication.

There are many forms that extantiation magic can take, and as such it’s more difficult to pin down its specific intensity gradations than for the other divisions. Generally, there are three things one can do with extantiation spells: destroy, create and modify (Vymd, 1781). Destruction is the simplest of the three to commit, with modification next and creation following close behind. Modification and creation are functionally very similar forms of magic, with modification magic essentially being the application of creation spells to already-existing matter. The main difference between the two is that creation spells use magic to create entirely new materials, and modification spells change the elemental properties of extant matter. While both require a large amount of knowledge and familiarity with the fields of chemistry and physics to successfully and effectively cast, creation spells have much higher intensity values than do modification spells, simply because springing something into existence requires much more intensive focusing of aether than does shifting around pre-existing elements.

In summation: destruction spells have intensities that range from 10.4 to 11.5, modification spells’ intensities range from 11.3 to 12.6, and creation spells’ intensities range from 14.7 to 16.2 (Bogden & Sprodmusk, 1816).

A word of caution should be expressed while discussing extantiation magic: while using modification and creation spells to help heal a living being is common, the attempted creation of an entire living creature is a highly challenging and dangerous feat. The complete anatomy and processes for the generation of thought and homeostasis are not known, so, when these manufactured beings do rarely manage to survive creation, they have significantly substandard intelligence and faculties when compared to the other members of their species. However, the creation of life through magic is still an endeavor which this author believes is worth developing.

Many assert that this form of extantiation magic is fundamentally unethical and immoral, going so far as to bestow upon it macabre and melodramatic names like “Black Magic” or “The Forsaken Craft”. But, this author would argue that the creation of animals and people using magic is an obviously invaluable tool with countless benevolent applications. To *not* further these techniques and thus our understanding of life itself would be the truly immoral or unethical act.

### Embuement

The casting of a spell which partially converts aether into a physical form, tying it to the matter of an existing object or being. This partially manifested aether may then be withdrawn at a later time from the embued vessel. The withdrawing of stored magic from the embued vessel in order to cast a spell is significantly easier on the spellcaster than regular casting, as no aether actually passes through their body in the process. The aether required is drawn from the pool of partially-converted aether attached to the vessel, which in turn incurs all the associated spell strain. For this reason, there are many goods and products embued with small amounts of aether for use by the general public.

While withdrawing the stored Aether from a vessel utilizes the vessel’s aethereal resistance, the initial embuing of it into the vessel is done by casting a spell just like in any other division, incurring spell strain on the caster. The intensity of casting an embuement spell is 3.4, and the aether requirement used for The Spell Strain Equation for a given embuement casting is the amount of aether that is to be stored in the vessel.

Taking all of this into consideration, it stands to reason that when picking a vessel to embue, choosing a material with a low aethereal resistance would be important. But, there is another factor as well: its “aethereal dissipation half-life”, or ADHL.

A material’s aethereal dissipation half-life is the amount of time it takes for half of the magic embued within that vessel to convert back into aether and dissipate back into the environment. As with all things, embuement does not last forever, and embued magic will eventually escape from the vessel it is bound to. Often, metals have the longest aethereal dissipation half-lives, with the best being that of beryllium, a rare metal that does not readily oxidize at normal temperatures and is often included in alloys with iron and copper, or in precious forms such as emerald and aquamarine. The dissipation half-life for beryllium is 1026 years, and the shortest dissipation half-life of the elements found in solid or liquid form at room temperature is that of Kaladite at 0.06 seconds. Below is a table of some substances, their aethereal resistances, and their aethereal dissipation half-lives:

**Table 1** – Materials, Their Aethereal Resistances, and Their Aethereal Dissipation Half-Lives

## Conclusion

The history and story of magic is long, and it is as integral a part of our world as energy and matter. Without it there is no us and there is no existence. Through the study of this mysterious substance we not only learn about its nature, but we also learn about ourselves and, to a larger extent, life itself. There are three basic equations which have been defined that act as a framework for its behavior, and there are four main divisions of the effects that can have on the world around us. All this aside, there are still aspects of magic which require further study. It is the hope of this author that that research happens sooner rather than later, and that this review may, in some small way, act as inspiration for a new generation of magical thinkers.