Magic

The process of manipulating or 'shaping' mana to achieve a desired result.

Mana comes in two forms. Mana that is created by living beings, their own personal 'well'. Ambient mana that spews forth from the Dungeon, otherwise known as Mana Wells. Use of ambient mana can be poisonous to the body and mind if used more quickly than it can be assimilated by the body.

There are two forms of controlling mana. Unstructured and Structured magic. Unstructured magic generally takes the form of shaping exercises, where mages shape mana without the assistance of a spell boundary to improve their shaping skills. Structured magic involves spell boundaries that set hard limits for spells. It disallows the mana within from being freely and flexibly controlled as with Unstructured magic, but allows for extreme complexity in the spell created.

Magic is divided in fifteen major disciplines, and two 'support' fields.

## Major Disciplines

Projection: Spells that produce light, sound, heat, physical force, electricity and other forms of energy.

Negation: Spells that dispel, disrupt or negate other spells. A must have discipline for every mage.

Animation: Spells that infuse a portion of the caster's mind into the target, allowing effects with a measure of autonomy and independence from the caster.

Divination: Spells that gather and organize information based on the caster's query.

Alteration: Spells that restructuring existing matter into other configurations.

Wards: Spells that protect a person, item or area from various threats.

Dimensionalism: Spells that manipulate space and time.

Conjuration: Spells that create ectoplasmic constructs and animate them for some purpose. Conjured items and creatures aren't real and will evaporate into nothing upon destruction. Severed parts will likewise evaporate once separated from the core of the conjuration.

Transformation: Spells that transform the target into something else, in whole or in part.

Summoning: Spells that contact a spiritual plane and allow a spirit to possess a prepared vessel – usually an ectoplasmic shell, a willing host, a corpse or an artificial body of some sort.

Illusionism: A multi-disciplinary magical discipline that deals with creation of highly realistic magical constructs, in order to deceive, distract or entertain the target. Most illusions are intangible ghosts made out light and sound, but skilled illusionists can weave additional energies into the image in order to fool various exotic senses or employ conjuration in order to make their illusions tangible. Some illusions employ mental compulsions to better fool the target.

Medical magic: Another multi-disciplinary field, one that deals with diagnosing illnesses via divination and then using a form of alteration to heal wounds, cure diseases and otherwise help the patient. Medical magic requires a great deal of knowledge about human anatomy and various biological processes in order to be effective, so most medical mages tend to be fairly specialized in the field.

Combat magic: Probably the most well-known and popular field of study that draws upon multiple magical disciplines. Conjuring defensive force fields, throwing around fireballs, telekinetically hurling objects at opponents and disintegrating obstacles are all examples of combat magic. Although virtually all magic has some sort of possible combat application, the term ‘combat magic’ normally refers to spells that focus on fast casting time, overcoming the opponent’s defences and which require little preparation to be made effective.

Mind magic: Spells that target the mind.

Soul magic: Spells that affect the soul. This includes binding them (used to contain unruly spirits or animate the dead), modifying them (various transformation and enhancement rituals), enforcing effects on them (curses, oaths, geas), connecting them to other souls, and even damaging them in various ways (souls are indestructible and cannot be truly destroyed, but they can be damaged and twisted in various ways). Spells that target others require soul sight.

There are several innate magical abilities that aid these magics- empathy aids mind magic, soul sight aids soul magic, earth control aids projection. shifter abilities aids transformation into an animal via soul magic.

## Support Fields

Spell formula: Used in creation of permanent wards and magical items. High knowledge of mathematics and geometry required for proper use, though simply copying existing schematics is easier and used extensively by most mages.

Alchemy: One of the few magical disciplines that does not require any sort of shaping skills to use, alchemy is basically magical chemistry - gather proper ingredients and follow the recipe (or make your own).

## Banned Disciplines

Blood magic: A discipline involving using people's life force.

Life force is an exotic form of mana. It is not included in a mage's mana pool. It is used by the body to keep itself living and resist foreign magics. It is more potent than normal mana. Its quantities rarely vary from one human to another. However, using it or tampering with it has terrible effects on the body.

Blood magic was banned due to the mages' habit of using other people's life force instead of their own, effectively using them as sacrifices. Furthermore, it is rumored that it can be used to steal bloodlines and abilities, hence the Noble Houses supporting the ban.

Information on this discipline is suppressed by the Mage Guild.