Magic

Magic is a thing which allows its users to temporarily *bend* or outright *break* the laws of physics. All Space creatures and dragons have magic, and some humans and woodpeople have magic, too, though this is rare. Theoretically, any living thing can learn to use magic, though this is extremely hard and has only happened a few times in recorded history.

## Orders of Magic

In magicology (the study of magic), there are many, many, many types of magic, each of which affects the universe in different ways and derives its power from different sources. To better understand and classify these types of magic, magicologists created five orders of magic: categories of magic into which every other type of magic could fit into.

### Natural Magic

Natural magic derives its energy from its magician, the user who is casting the spell. Natural magic breaks and bends the laws of physics in ways we can *understand*. This is the crucial thing about natural magic: sure, it breaks the laws of physics to teleport, but at least you understand *how* it broke the laws of physics. The magic just went faster than light and transported you to the target location, so fast as to be practically instantaneous.

### Unnatural Magic

Unnatural magic does not derive its energy from the magician: instead, it derives its energy from people's *souls*. Since a magician's energy is replenishable but souls are not, most unnatural magic users take their energy from *other* people's souls, which is a very rude thing indeed. For this reason, unnatural magic is frequently called dark magic, though unnatural magic does not necessarily have to be dark. Also like natural magic, unnatural magic breaks/bends the laws of physics in ways we can understand, though it is *less* understandable than natural magic because a disturbingly large amount of unnatural magic spells deal with souls and minds and consciousness, which nobody fully understands yet.

### Paradox Magic

Paradox magic derives its energy from a variety of sources. What distinguishes paradox magic from other orders of magic, though, is that it breaks the laws of physics in ways we *don't* understand. Take, for example, time traveling. It is possible, using chrono magic, which is a type of paradox magic. But time traveling has all sorts of nasty paradoxes that break the universe in ways we don't fully understand, so of course, it's paradox magic. Most types of paradox magic are banned all throughout the universe.

### Spirit Magic

Spirit magic is a notoriously unreliable order of magic. Spirit magic derives its magical energy from a variety of sources, in an attempt to summon and use spirits. However, what a spirit *is* is not really well understood, and thus spirit magic frequently fails because its magician frankly doesn't know what they're doing. Spirit magic, when it is successful, can result in very angry ghosts hurling insults at you. Which most people do not like, so, spirit magic is almost never taught in school, although it is not actually banned anywhere.

### Alchemical Magic

Alchemical magic derives its energy from potions. All magic potions belong to the order of alchemical magic: they use the magic from various ingredients to make potions which will *do* things when you drink them. Alchemical magic is mildly disliked by most people because of the hassle of carrying hundreds of magic potions around. Because of this alchemical magic is unpopular, as people prefer to do spells instead of drinking or, *gasp*, making potions. However, it is important to note that alchemical magic can, in some cases, be more useful than natural magic since natural magic spells require a constant stream of magic whereas alchemical magic just needs a few magic ingredients and then it lasts for hours, so it's more energy efficient.

## Difficulty of Magic

How hard a particular magic spell is to cast depends on two things: one, the amount of raw power the spell takes (how much magic energy it consumes), and two, how complex the spell is (how much skill it requires).

The easiest spells are thus the ones that take the least amount of power and are very simple. Take, for example, the oxygen bubble. A relatively simple spell, since all the magician is doing is creating some oxygen atoms around them (and stopping the atoms from floating away), but it takes a surprising amount of energy because, well, the magician is *creating matter*. Something which shouldn't be possible, but is, with magic.

The hardest spells, then, are the ones that take a lot of energy and a lot of skill. Take teleportation (not to be confused with translocation). Teleportation is a very complex spell, because the magician needs to know the precise location of where they want to go and the patterns of their atoms. If they do *not* know one or more of these things, bad things happen. If you don't know the location of where you want to go and try to teleport, you will end up stuck somewhere, like the molten core of a planet, the terrifying abyss of interstellar space, or simply someone's freezer (which is also bad, but not as bad, except for the person who owns the freezer). The harder part is if you don't know the patterns of your atoms and try to teleport: then the spell doesn't know how to put you back together, so your limbs may simply be abandoned or fused together in an extremely wrong way. Getting *this* part of the teleportation spell wrong is a very good way to get yourself Mega Killed or even Perma Killed (see Space creature life cycle).