Magic

## Basic Magical Theory

### Arctrons

Alongside the common three subatomic particles, there exists a fourth. This is known as an arctron. Arctrons carry the energy of the arcane, of magic, akin to how gravitons carry gravity and photons carry light. Unlike electrons, an arctron is attracted to high concentrations of arctrons, and will clump together, with those clumps being disrupted by other high energy particles or flows of other arctrons. The clumping of arctrons can be linearly associated to the crystallinity of a material and has a maximum ceiling related to the size of the material, as such perfect crystals exhibit the best clumping behavior with most fluids being poor carriers. Notably, arctrons stored within better carrying materials have a harder time being dislodged by arctron concentrations outside of those materials, even if they are at higher amounts.

### Mana

Noteably, large concentrations of arctrons are capable of influencing other particles and the laws of physics in ways that are impossible. These high concentrations, as they are what is most commonly utilized by Anagrianers, are referred to as mana. Mana itself exhibits other stranger properties. Firstly, mana exhibits 'polarities', with all the arctrons and such within the mana shifting to specific combinations and configurations to match each other. These polarities then also exhibit visible effects directly upon reality. For example, mana in the fire polarity can spontaneously ignite oxygen with no fuel source, or mana in the light polarity will emit light. Secondly, mana is able to auto-generate itself upon reaching large enough concentrations, where it will effectively become denser by producing mana out of nothing. Thirdly, and most notably, high concentrations of mana are capable of achieving effectively sentience, becoming a spirit. These spirits are found within all sentient beings across the universe and their emotions, thoughts, ideas, and beliefs all carry their own specific polarities, allowing them to influence the mana and arctron concentrations around them, as well as affect their polarities, allowing the spirits to bend reality to their will. This practice of polarity influence is known as magic.

### The Core and Channels

For purely magical beings, i.e. beings that are without physicals shells, e.g. ghosts, some elementals, the connection between spirit and mana usage is direct, with their spirit providing their own mana for magic. For beings that are not purely magical, the arctrons inhabiting the flesh stimy the polarity changes that can be produced by the spirit, limiting their ability to cast magic immensely. Furthermore, the interactions between the brain and spirit further hamper the amount of mana available for casting. For most beings, this is resolved through the evolution of a core and channels. A core is effectively a concentration of spirit within the body separate from the actual spirit that is used to increase the amount of mana the spirit can output by a massive amount. While this increases the effective amount of mana a being has, it does not resolve the issue of material blocking polarity influence. This is where the channels come in. Channels are extensions of the core that develop through a beings usage of magic, essentially pipes of arctrons that work to extend the mana's reach from within the core to outside of the core and allow it to influence the polarity of mana outside of the body. They also allow a mage to shift the polarity of arctrons within their own body as well as being able to detect the arctrons in their surroundings easier.

### Formation and Development of a Spirit

For organic beings, one gets their original core/channels/spirit from their parents, as some of their magic is based down to their child. This initial boost allows the young to them to attract more and more arctrons, forming mana and eventually a spirit. Through their life, the emotional impact of their surroundings will leave polarities within their spirit, which coupled with the mana stored within their body, will shape their personality into who they are. Upon their death, the many years of memories will remain with the spirit alongside the pre-existing polarities, allowing the individual to continue existing as a ghost.

## Basic Magical Separations

### The Two Primal Forces

All arctrons originally stem from the two primal limits, the Core of All Reality and the Outer Boundary. The Core is a mass concentration of arctrons, all with a polarity focused on gathering and becoming one. The Outer Boundary is a mass dispersion of arctrons that have become incredibly charged compared to normal, all with a polarity focused on separation and rejection in opposition to the usual arctron behavior. Their reach is incredibly powerful and all arctrons by default carry one of the two polarities. These polarities are known as Harmonious and Dissonant respectively and make up the two primal forces.

Notably, assuming no manipulation by outside forces, all harmonious aligned arctrons will be found within dimensions (as part of the force keeping them together) and all dissonant arctrons are within the Flow (as part of the force that causes it's constant churning motion). While arctrons can be affected out of these polarities, fundamentally they always remain polarized to one or the other and will shift back to that given enough time.

There exists a sub-force from the fusion of the two polarizations, mostly occurring from when dimensions fail and eject the arctrons into the flow, exposing the harmonious arctrons to the dissonant polarization, but due to their already coalesced and very close nature, being unable to fully shift the polarization away from harmonious. This fusion of forces is known as Eldritch. Eldritch is a polarization with the intent of bringing everything together to be it similar to the harmonious force, but keeping them as separate individuals, akin to the dissonant force.

While Dissonant's very nature prevents it from being able to coalesce into a spirit, the power within each arctron allows small concentrations of arctrons to be able to act as mana. Eldritch and Harmonious however are able to concentrate enough to form spirits.

### The Two Divine Forces

Second to the primal forces, the second most powerful polarities are those of the Twins. Their creation from a battle between the harmonious spirit Gaea and the Eldritch spirit Kochain cause a mass interaction between dissonant arctrons and harmonious arctrons, which created two new polarizations. These polarizations coalesced into two new incredibly powerful spirits: Amun and Kuk'sar. The polarizations that composed each exhibited the eldritch forces polarization to convert and turn arctrons to itself, but while the polarization that formed Amun carried the harmonious direction of unifying, the polarization that formed Kuk'sar carried the dissonant urge to separate and keep everyone distinct. These polarizations became known as Sacred and Profane respectively.

The sheer amount of mana concentrated within the Twins allowed them to greatly auto-generate their own mana and extend their polarization to far greater amounts, to the point that arctrons in their surroundings naturally shifted to their polarizations without the application of mana. As such, they are the cause of Sacred and Profane's perforation of most of the Firmament surrounding Anagrian, and this massive influence labeled their polarizations as the Two Divine Forces.

## Types of Casters

There exists three main definitions of caster, primarily reliant on how they utilize their magics. They are: innate, learned, and borrowed. One can be multiple.

### Innate

Nearly all casters are innate casters. An innate caster directly affects the polarization of the mana without knowing specifically what that polarization is, simply through intention. These casters are commonly referred to as Sorcerers. While this is simple and quick, it does have several drawbacks. Firstly, innate caster's control of their magic is considerably more volatile. Since their casting is done through intention, distractions, emotional states, and other such things can heavily interrupt their ability to control their magic. Secondly, on average, innate casting consumes considerably more mana than alternatives. This is primarily due to inefficiencies within the polarization process when it is done via intention. Instead of polarizing in an efficient, but slower, way, innate casting will often polarize quicker by forcibly pushing the polarization, which often takes it through unfavorable polarities and causes a greater amount of resistance to the polarization. This means that for smaller and simpler spells, innate casting will often suffice, on more complex and mana-heavy spells that involve numerous complex polarizations, innate casting gets massively diminished returns.

### Learned

A learned caster is one that has knowledge of the more efficient pathways to polarization for specific spells, whether through vigorous memorization, a spellbook, or personal experimentation. The advantage of this is in direct opposition to the weakness of innate casting, as by knowing the most efficient polarization pathways, one can polarize at considerably more mana effective rates. The drawbacks here are also in opposition of the strengths of innate casting. Learned casting is complex, requiring fundamental understanding of magic for even the most basic applications, and the polarization pathways often taken longer than the innate casting alternative. While learned casting is infinitely superior to innate casting on larger and complex spells, the time cost for smaller and quicker spells are often not worth using learned over innate. Those that are primarily focused on learned casting or that create the pathways and spells are often known as Wizards, but effectively all learned casters are also capable of innate casting.

### Borrowed

A borrowed caster is, as the name implies, one that borrows magic. Many argue that borrowed casters are not real casters as they utilize mana borrowed from some other source. This often comes in three different forms.

Firstly, it comes from a pact with some other more magically powerful being that allows them to control it's mana for their own polarizations. These borrowers are often known as Warlocks. The advantages of this is that the Patron being is often considerably powerful (Tier 5) and as such the mana afforded by it is beyond what the warlock would be able to affect on their own, allowing for considerably more powerful spells. The disadvantage of course is the reliance on the pact as well as a lack of versatility in the polarizations afforded by the Patron as they often are intrinsically tied to a specific set of polarizations (if your patron is a demon, basically all the spells you will be able to utilize with their mana are polarized to Profane.)

The second variety is an expansion on the pact, which is one that is borrowed through worship of a god. As one worships, with enough faith, a link between the worshipper and the god can be created with part of the divine's power becoming your own. These borrowers are often known as Priests, Cultists, or Clerics, and they suffer some of the same drawbacks that Warlocks do, in that the polarizations of their god will limit what spells they can cast with that mana. Furthermore, they often have access to a lower total level of mana than the warlock due to being constrained by their faith.

The third form of borrowing is from the collective magic of the group. When enough members of a group firmly believe in a cause and willingly create a shared pool of mana, their collective belief of the cause actually augments the mana pool quite heavily, with groups that achieve this being known as Covens, Circles, or Colleges. These borrowers are known as Constituents. Unlike Priests and Warlocks, Constituents do not suffer limitations on what spells they can cast with their borrowed mana, however the polarizations they can produce with this mana are considerably weaker. In certain cases, individuals will develop powerful enough beliefs in their own cause to create a similar effect that Covens/Circles/Colleges do upon a mana pool unto their own spirit. These individuals are known as Paladins.

## Read Also

Common Magic Types

Anti-Magic

Magical Beings