Theory of sorcery meta

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The theory of sorcery is a **Thousand crown project**'s magic system intended for in game and metagame uses.

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## Theory of Sorcery meta information :

This page refers directly to the Theory of sorcery. For more information on how the theory work, please click on the relevant article.

### Purpose of the Theory of sorcery :

The theory of sorcery is a project initiative made to ease the communication and understanding between members of the project. It centers on magical concepts and rules that help different nations and culture to have common grounds, limits and possibilities when it comes about the supernatural phenomenon in their worldbuilding.

The name "Theory of sorcery" can refer both to the meta part and the lore part, so please add precision where it is needed. Some nations can also have a theory of sorcery concept, to avoid confusion we will refer to those as [nation/culture]'s theory of sorcery, when relevant.

## Great principles :

### Consistency with the project.

The theory of sorcery follow the project magical setting (parallel dimensions of various magical strength)

### Voluntarily participation.

The theory is opt in and opt out at will, no member should use it against their will, it is merely a tool for better co-creation

### A shared tool for every member.

The theory is made to ease the common worldbuilding a maximum and should be left vague enough to welcome new member interpretations and variations. While someone is subscribing to the Theory of sorcery, it is normal to think their magic system and lorebuilding will follow it's principle. Creating a global understanding of magic in the thousand crowns. This could change and be reconned by any member later on.

### Internal consistency.

As a result the theory of magic is structured in three great parts each governing the lower part.

1. The meta principles are present on this page, they define how the theory works for the project and the basic outlines of the shared system.
2. The lore principles of common magic system are co-created by the participants, and will also server as basic definitions of what the magic is, they will be left loose enough for anyone to come with their own terminology or interpretation. In the end they are more fleshed out versions and precisions, on the meta principles.
3. The personnal magical systems are each member's own interpretation of the global theory, with their own ways of defining it in lore, and their observations. They could seem to contradict the general theory and have local ruling, but this would be flavor and potential misunderstanding of other principles, since they would answer to the common magic system in the end.

All in all the (1) are the frame, the (2) are HOW it objectively works and the (3) is how people understand this works "in universe".

## Core rules of magic in the theory of sorcery :

These are the theory of sorcery core principles, they are discussed and agreed upon by participants, some could be marginally changed with time. The wording used here is the "official" wording, but is open to interpretation in each culture/nation magical system or beliefs.

### Planes and Realms.

1. The thousand crow world is one plane of existence among innumerable others that are like layers over each others. Another name for planes is Dimension (literally parallel dimensions). The planes are separated by a "dimensional veil" which is not uniformly porous to immaterial energies (that property is called dimensional porosity)
2. Each plane has its own rules and magical qualities, higher planes have higher magical energy concentration, lower have less of it. (This implies the existence of a plane of absolute magic and a plane with no magic at all, the thousand crow world is supposedly a balanced plane.)
3. Planes are themselves subdivided into realm, each with their own characteristic.
4. The thousand crown plane is called the Mortal world, in which we have only two realms : the material realm (the physical reality where living organisms and mundane material exists), and the immaterial realm (where resides the soul of beings, and immaterial energy exist).
5. Magic happen either in the immaterial realm, or by using immaterial realm constituents to have an effect on the material realm
6. The planes and realms each have a certain porosity that defines how much energy can spill from neighboring planes and realms into it, this porosity can be locally uniform or not.
7. Existences from a plane can sometime act on other planes, if they are strong enough or the veil is weak enough. This allows the creature to exert influence on other planes, or sometime even to cross the veil between dimensions. Given, they should then be subject to the local workings of the plane, this would likely limit their potency and ability to keep their original form.

### (IM)Material Energy.

1. The theory of sorcery defines that Immaterial energies exist, they could be measurable
2. The current standard measurable unit of magic is called the thaum
3. There are 3 main magical energy types : Vital energy (Vitae), Magical energy/Mana (Idae), Necrotic/Void energy (Lacunae)
4. Vital energy is produced, consumed and can influence living beings, Magical energy comes from higher planes of magic and can influence the material world and Necrotic/void energy is caused by the degradation of the other two energies (when mana is used, or when vitae is used -to combat a disease or by aging for examples-).
5. Other secondary energy types could exist (see Qi , a coordinated form of vital energy, refined by a living creature, also sometime called Sophiae)
6. The material realm is permeable to immaterial energy like vital energy and mana, meaning the local mana can vary from place to place.
7. Semimaterial exists when a material element is exposed to a high concentration of immaterial energy which will anchor the high concentration of immaterial energy to the material realm, and/or when a material element is pushed in the immaterial realm.

### Being & Vessels (soul, corpus and will).

1. A being is a creature of any form (humanoid, spirit, ghost, undead, demons, gods) it is characterized by an existence able to exist and experiment at least part of the world. It requires at least two of the three following component : a corpus (physical body), an anima and a will.
2. Each living being must have and produce vital energy.
3. Undead and magical creature can bypass this by being sustained by other forms of energy.
4. A will is a coherent force driving a being, it's a necessary component of sapience (the ability to have constructed thought) and can exist without a material body.
5. An anima (also called soul) is a coherent system existing in the immaterial realm and allowing a being to act on the immaterial world and it's energies. (Not all being exists with an anima by default). The anima is required for sentience (the ability to feel emotions) but an anima does not equal to having emotion, by itself.
6. A corpus is a coherent system existing in the material realm and allowing a being to act on the material world. (Not all being exists with a body by default)
7. No one knows if the will, anima and body form from manipulating energies or if it's the opposite way, that question will ever remain philosophical.

## Glossary :

**Anima**: The immaterial principle; the part of every sentient being that allows them to interface with the **immaterial** **realm**.

**Corpus**: The material principle; the part of every being that allows them to interface with the **material** **realm**.

**Dimension**: A measurable extent of a particular kind. In regard to sorcery, we recognize the usual three dimensions (x,y,z), as well as a dimension of time (t) and a fifth, discontinuous dimension (w). The w dimension is acausal and immeasurable according to traditional systems of measurement, but central to understanding parallel planes of existence. (Also called **Plane**).

**Dimensional porosity** : The property relative to **Dimensional** **veil** to allow the passage of energy and matter between different **planes**. It might not be uniform along the whole veil and could therefore present different level of porosity depending on local position in space and time.

**Dimensional veil** : The interface between two adjacent dimensions on the W axis.

**Energy**: Catch-all term for the various kinds of charged networks that pervade a plane. Manipulation of these energies is the foundation of all sorcery.

**Lacunae**: A form of energy, short-lived and volatile. Is created when other forms of energy degrade. It reacts destructively when in contact with vitae, and is generally inert toward Idae. (Also called **Void** energy and **Necrotic** energy).

**Mana**: A form of energy that filters into our plane from higher-magic planes and tends to gather in material objects. (Also known as **Idae**)

**Plane**: One of the many acausal, superpositioned levels of reality. (See **Dimension**).

**Realm**: One of the multiple co-existing aspects of a single **plane** of existence. Each having their own internaly consistent rules.

**Realm** **porosity** : akin to **dimensional** **porosity**, it is the property of a **realm** **veil** to let energy and matter pass from a realm to another.

**Realm** **veil** : the interface between **realms** in the same **plane**, it has a level of **porosity** variable depending on it's position in space and time.

**Sapient** **being** : a being able to construct tought, reasoning and self reflexion.

**Sentient** **being** : a being able to feel complex emotions rather than pure physical stimulus.

**Sophiae**: A form of refined vital energy filtered through the nexus between corpus and anima, might react explosively with Idae. (Also named Qi in some cultures)

**Thaum**: The hitherto smallest measurable unit of energy, named after Thaum N'Jeremiah.

**Vitae**: A form of energy, and the most abundant. It pervades and sustains all life. Existing at the same time in the material and the immaterial realm. (Also named **Vital** **Energy**).

**Will**: A name for the fundamental spark of all sapient beings, be their material or immaterial.

## Current participants  :

(Anachronistic) Listing of the nations and cultures participating and subscribing to the global theory of sorcery research by a meta point of view. Their lore and contribution to the lore part may vary, this list is only made as a way to know which magical system should follow the same general principles and workings.