Magic

**Magic** is primordial supernatural force that can be harnessed by special beings and practitioners to enact change on fundamental levels. It is an ancient power as old as time itself, having resulted from the mingled blood of "nameless Titans of Creation", which coalesced into an infinite pool of potential that surrounded the fledgling multiverse as it continued to form through a domain that would eventually come to be known as the Sphere of the Gods. It is sometimes considered to be the 'afterbirth' of reality's violent birth, at which time magic was formless, chaotic, and highly destructive, but with the coming of the being called Hecate, order and structure was brought to magic's arcane cells via the creation of a metaphysical 'fabric' known as the Weave, which allowed future generations to call upon the power for the own uses.

## Overview

Magic encompasses many different activities including astral projection, telekinesis, telepathy, teleportation, elemental manipulation, spell casting, etc. It includes the practices of many cultures, nations, species, and religions, as well as many books and writings from ancient times and even parallel universes and alternate dimensions. The primary source of magic is the Weave, which individuals can access to achieve the desired effects but on different scales. Magic itself is subject to change, and manifests differently in every individual, some are so drastically different that they may as well be an entirely different race of being, while others possess differences so minuscule that you could spend an entire lifetime looking for the distinction.

A person who practices magic is called a Mage, of which there are various types. A Contract Mage is a magician who has borrowed their power from a higher being, often one of demonic or alien origin; a Student Mage is an individual who had learned to pull the threads of the Weave through years of tedious academic study; and finally there are the Cradle Mages, who are the most powerful of all magic practitioners, those born with their own innate source of magical power that allows them to cast greater spells and enact deeper rituals.

Magic of the Prime Multiverse comes in two spectrums: Additive and Subtractive. The Additive side of the Gift is known as the magic of life, while its Subtractive counterpart is believed to be that of death. When magic first came into existence, its original practitioners were often born with both sides of the Gift, but as the years passed and countless wars were fought in the name of power, future generations of mages were limited to but the Additive side of the Gift, therefore severely limiting the power a mage can bring to bare against his or her enemies. This was not always like this, as magic was once whole and pure until a single thread of the Shadow Weave became entangled with a thread of its positive counterpart, the result of an experiment by arrogant wizards eons ago.

## History

### Origin

As old as time itself, perhaps even older, magic has been an eternally existing force that flows through all of Creation via the Weave. Magic was created when the divine blood of various primordial beings known as the Elder Gods mingled together during the Dawn War, creating an incomprehensibly chaotic and violent force that surrounded the still forming multiverse. Eventually, a girl who would come to be known as Hecate arose from this energy, while her 'shadow', the Upside-Down Man, formed from magic's darker aspects, but unlike his sister, the Upside-Down Man was bound to the multiverse's own shadow, the Dark Multiverse, around which Hecate formed a barrier that would prevent her brother's influence from spilling into the 'true' multiverse, which she considered her domain. This barrier spread throughout all the multiverse, and would come to be known as Weave, which also had the added effect of providing structure to magic's chaotic eddies. The Weave was like a fabric, consisting of many threads, all woven together to create an intricate design. Spellcasting and the use of magic items pulled individual threads and reweaved them, creating new designs. Despite it being of primordial origins and design, the Weave was neither immutable nor indestructible, but was very malleable and fragile, thus requiring the existence of a sort of metaphysical 'linchpin' to maintain the Weave's design, which came in the form of a single drop of Hecate's crystallized blood that was hidden at the center of a newly formed world named Earth, the primitive inhabitants of which came to call this magnificent gem, the Seed of Wonder.

### The Conjunction Of The Spheres

An unknown catastrophe struck and an energy wave was released across the multiverse, transporting entire races to other worlds and dimensions. A side-effect of this event caused humanity to develop magic, which Hecate then taught them to use.

### Creation Of Gods

After establishing the Weave and placing the Seed in Earth's core, Hecate decided to remain on the planet, where she watched humanity grow. Hecate would teach some humans how to use magic in order for them to make the Earth a paradise, and eventually came to learn that humanity possessed a hidden power that no other species possessed, a power greater than even that of magic. As humanity's beliefs grew, they began to effect the Sphere of the Gods. From humanity's imagination, different pantheons were created, each with their own mysteries and power and gave her the name "Hecate", meaning far off in their primitive tongue. Each of these pantheons attempted to win her favor, believing her to be a subsidiary to their own history though Hecate allowed them to believe so due to being amused by such a fact. Because the rules of reality were becoming stricter, Hecate was transformed from the Maiden (an innocent and optimistic child) to the Mother (a more responsible version of the Maiden).

Eventually, she would accept a place within the Gods of Olympus and took the hand of Greek god, Hades, who fathered on her a pair of Nameless Twins, whose powers were so great that they were then imprisoned within an alternate dimension. For her sacrifice, she was accepted into the Olympian's belief system and while Zeus recognized her as a superior, he along with the rest of the pantheon expected her to adhere to their vision. However, there were some men and women who recognized Hecate's greater power and sought to supplant themselves as beings capable of enforce their own version of order. Mimicking the incantations witnessed from her visits, they managed to summon and bound her. Torturing her with their demands, Hecate hoped that her adopted pantheon would come to rescue her. Ultimately, she was betrayed when Hades came to give a simple message: he had found a new bride in the form of Persephone and that the Gods of Olympus no longer recognized her as one of their own.

Angered at such betrayal, she felt the very presence of the Upside-Down Man for the first time in an eternity. With all her might and fury, she reached through the veil of the Multiverse and into the Dark Multiverse, pulling a piece of that form of magic and bestowed that onto those whom subjugated them. Although she fulfilled their wishes, she had given them magic from a darker source that would corrode and destroy them from the inside. Those beings would become the Lords of Order, while the magic that Hecate had summoned from the Dark Multiverse caused their darkest urges and impulses to take on their own physical forms, giving birth to the Lords of Chaos. Her betrayal would also cause her to take on a new aspect of herself, the Crone (her hatred incarnate) and unleashed this form of magic to mankind when the goddess's broken, bloody form was discovered by a pair of humans, Lilith and Arcadius, both of whom took advantage of the opportunity and bathed in the primordial's blood, causing their very souls and DNA to be ingrained with magic, becoming the very first human Witches.

## Magical Energy

Magical energy, also known as Magicka, was the potent force that was channeled and manipulated for magical purposes, and often manifested during these moments as colorful plasma-like matter. This energy — when being extracted or absorbed — usually resembled bright electrical discharges, though its appearance varied between different spells.

Magical energy was a key component in performing magic as this energy fueled the applications magic allowed and using too much magic at any given time would make the user lose that energy thereafter and thus limit their capacity to perform magic for a period of time, potentially requiring the user days to weeks or even months to fully recuperate.

Almost any being was capable of harnessing this power. This includes humans, demons, angels, hybrids, vampires, werewolves, aliens, and even cyborgs. It is, however, unknown if ghosts or fully robotic lifeforms can use magic or not. While the vary majority of life in the multiverse was capable of wielding magic to a certain degree, there was a certain number of beings who are completely immune to the Power, individuals who are known as Pristinely Ungifted, due to the fact that they are not only immune to spellcraft, but are also totally incapable of practicing magic. It is also impossible for an individual whose soul has been either destroyed or stolen to practice magic, but those who have willingly parted with their spiritual essence may continue to channel the craft.

### Sourcing Energy

In order for magic use to be accomplished, the user had to channel that energy from a source and exert it through themselves. While more experienced magic users could use the magical energy inside of them, magical energy usually needed to be drawn from external sources. These sources ranged from special artifacts (like the Scythe of Anubis), other dimensions (like Atlantis or Gemworld), to higher beings (like Hecate) which granted this power or even drawn from the surrounding environment.

Because the Earth acted as a conduit for magic, a person could draw this power anywhere on the planet as every being and every object was connected to the Earth, meaning that every person had at least a small sum of innate mystical energy. Wanda was able to utilize this to quickly heal her wounds by simply mediating in her bedroom. A more brutal instance occurred when Wanda performed a portal spell using the combined life force of her brother Quicksilver and her lover Warren Worthington by forcibly pulling it from them.

### Transferring Energy

One way of gaining magical energy was through transferring it with other beings. It could be shared among other users, or forcibly taken. This usually required physical contact, but an exceptionally powerful practitioner could drain that energy without any contact and not only drain the energy without the other person knowing, but also decode it to manipulate as they wished. Draining too much energy from one user could kill or at least weaken them as it also drained their life force. Alternatively, one can drain another's magic in order to naturalize them. The majority of mages are opposed to this and many consider it to be a form of magical mutilation.

Magic users could also likewise give some of their own magical energy to others, shown when Zatanna transferred a portion of her energy to Willow via a spell. Absorbing unexpected bursts of magical energy can have unwanted effects, such as vomiting, one's eye color changing and unintentionally magically-affecting one's surroundings.

## Usage And Execution

While in essence, the rudimentary process for using magic was simply drawing mystical energies and manipulating it for a desired effect, there were many factors involved that determined how successfully this energy can used and what it can be used for. Successful magic involved a combination of knowledge, power, resources and experience. Possessing an intricate mastery of these aspects could reduce the need for complex preparation and strengthen the individual's ability to preform powerful magicks without using as much time or effort but will and power alone.

### Methodology

Practitioners of magic, commonly known as witches, warlocks, wizards, mystics, alchemists and shamans, employed a number of ways to perform magic.

#### Spells

The most common form of performing magic was by the casting of **spells**; the recitation of text which summoned a particular force: demons, spirits or deities, in order to affect reality in a determined way. It was the most common way of employing magic.
Many spells simply involved just exclaiming an incantation for it to work, but some others could have additional requirements. Some spells came in the form of **rituals**: a combination of physical actions, spell recitation and use of talismans, potions and other ingredients to manipulate reality, and may even require specific times and locations. Despite this, the amount of effort put into a spell could simply depend on the individual's level of power and experience. For instance, the ritual to summon Osiris in order to resurrect an individual was a strenuous affair that couldn't be completed without Osiris' urn, yet Zatanna, an immeasurably powerful witch, was able to summon Osiris simply by calling his name and then dispelling him with an agony-filled sonic scream.

All spells left a trace signature after they were cast which weren't perceptible to the human eye, but beings with a Sixth Sense such as psychics, vampires, etc, were able to detect an imbalance of mystical forces in an area.

#### Certain objects possessed magical properties, and thus can form the catalyst/s for magic use. For all intents and purposes, magical practitioners may use various tools to perform magic, such as candles, colored sand, crystals, wands, staves, charms etc.

* **Talisman:** Physical objects imbued with mystical power.
* **Cauldrons:** A container used to mix ingredients in.
* **Potions:** Mystical substances created from the mixing of certain ingredients which resulted in a concoction with magical properties.
* **Crystal Balls, Tarot Cards, and Casting Bones:** Items used for divination.

## Additive Magic

Additive Magic is the magic to create, taking what already exists and adding to it, or changing it. Additive Magic was the power to add to something that is there, multiply it or turn it into something new. When the Wizards of old altered reality, they used their Additive powers to add to or change traits that were required for the task that the being or object was to be transformed to perform.

## Subtractive Magic

Subtractive Magic is the opposite of Additive Magic. Unlike its positive counterpart, Subtractive magic is believed to be the power of death and void. While Additive Magic alters physical reality by adding magic to it, Subtractive magic removes elements of physical reality, making the elements disappear and transporting them to the Dark Multiverse where they are recycled in the Forge of Worlds.

## Shadow Weave

The Shadow Weave was a source of magic, alternate to the Weave, that in a way, occupied its negative space. It was created by the Upside-Down Man in response to Hecate's creation of the Weave, and finds its origin in the Dark Multiverse, where magic is a purely corrupting and corroding force of chaos and evil. The Shadow Weave is the source of Shadow Magic, an extremely powerful and rare form of magical power that does not only enable one to manipulate shadows and darkness, but also time and parallel universes. Mages native to the Dark Multiverse are incapable of wielding shadow magic, which is but the rarest of the many mystical arts that hail from the Negative Weave, the rotten threads of which can only be pulled to inflict harm and never to heal. Unlike its positive twin, the Shadow Weave does not factor into its threads the force of Karma, which is practically non-existent in the Dark Multiverse.

### Shadow Magic

Shadow Magic is an ancient form of deadly magic that originates from the Dark Multiverse, but can only be used on Keystone Prime, also known as Earth Prime. Practitioners of this art can not only manipulate shadows and darkness, but also influence time itself as well as parallel dimensions, which are in fact shadows of the original Keystone Earth, on which all alternate Earths hang precariously on a proverbial trans-dimensional tree. Shadow Magic can be used to drain both the life and soul of another living being, including entire worlds, mold actual shadows into solid objects, travel through darkness to other realities, and even enable the most powerful Shadowmage to develop the ability of parallel hyper-telepathy, which would, in theory, allow an individual to access the minds and bodies of their own alternate reality counterparts. Shadow Magic is not affected by anti-magic, which was created to act as a safety measure against the original Weave.

## Psionics

Magic does not only allow an individual to perform extraordinary feats by pulling on the threads of the Weave, but also opens a person's eyes to the wider universe and their position within it, thus expanding their horizons. Those few who do not go mad can often develop psionic abilities independent of their mystical powers. It is a trait that can be passed down familial bloodlines, whether or not an individual's magical potential is passed down, as the two are unrelated the same way as a key in unrelated to what lies behind the door it opens. These individuals are known as Psykers, whose abilities originate from a realm known as the Warp. Psionic powers do not come from a higher power but from a life-form's own inner strength of will, which is forced to either break or evolve when confronted with the chaotic energy of the Immaterium.