Magic is the act of taking energy from the universe and using one's own consciousness and body as a conduit to return it in a different form.

All beings are born with ties to the universe, however certain individuals can harness the power to warp reality and change it. Strength differs from person to person, but the power can grow with practice, age and external objects and experimentation, and can be focused to different channels of reality.

• Taking mana from the universe and paying it back through themselves, using their spirit and body as a conduit to return the energy in a different form (elements/telekinesis, etc.)
• More experienced magic users can make the most of whatever energy they consume, allowing it to be longer lasting and more powerful than novice users could
• Antimagic is a type of magic in of itself, however it is used to interrupt another stream of magic and return the energy to the universe prematurely.
• Extra conduits can be used (such as pendants) to create stronger magic. They can be made using: mana shards, demon souls, everglow objects, etc.

Regular magic users make up only around 5% of the total population of Crecia. Less than 1% of the population has a working knowledge of the Continuation.

Mechanics

Magic is the act of taking energy from the universe and using one's own consciousness and body as a conduit to return it in a different form (eg: telekinesis). More experienced magic users can make the most of whatever energy they consume, allowing it to be longer lasting and more powerful than novice users could.

Mortals cannot naturally access magic without experiencing an awakening, an empowering first contact with magic that jumpstarts their own abilities. The effectiveness of an awakening varies, but forceful, sometimes life-threatening, contacts seem to have the most potency. Younger mortals that experience an awakening are more likely to develop abilities than their older counterparts who are more likely to succumb to the effects of said awakening. No one is “created” as magic sensitive, however it is possible for an awakening to occur in the womb.

Magic is power, and as such it corrupts, requiring users to be able to control their mind and body and control their increased power and its need for more. Many responsible users have outlets such as meditation to keep their mind and spirit whole and centered. Magic use can splinter the mind and overload it, causing personality changes, violent outburts, and total destruction.

Ichor

Magic is manifested as ichor, a glowing golden substance. No one knows where it came from or what it is composed of, some believe it to be the blood of fallen gods, or perhaps the direct result of the creation of the universe itself. The form of ichor does not follow the same laws of the Overworld, able to exist in different states, and occasionally in different times.

On Crecia ichor is found mostly in mountains or deep underground, but it exists throughout the multiverse. Most notably is its abundance in the Everglow, an ever-changing alternate dimension of chaos where magic reigns supreme. It is home to the demons, who can travel between worlds, and whose blood is ichor.

Ichor itself can be used to cause an awakening, although it is not the only method. Contact with powerful magic abilities, demons, or magical objects can cause it as well, assuming it doesn’t kill first.

Conduits can be used (such as pendants and totems) to create stronger sources of magic than one can typically hold within themselves. They can be made using ichor shards, demon souls, Everglow fragments, etc.

Ichor can only be safely handled by magic sensitive people; direct contact with it by a non-magic user can lead to ichor poisoning and death.

Ichor Poisoning

Ichor is toxic to non-magic users. Naturally, this makes mining and handling it particularly difficult, only safely able to be done by a very small number of people, or used in specially designed containers. Ichor poisoning is not unlike radiation poisoning, dealing with cellular degradation, nausea, vomiting, falling blood counts, predisposition to infection, and a number of neurological effects such as seizures, tremors, and rapid death. Upon excessive contact with ichor, it can consume organic matter, and convert it into more ichor. While very dangerous, ichor poisoning is not necessarily fatal, depending significantly on how much contact is made and for how long. And several cures, both natural and magical are rumored to work.

Forced ichor contact upon non-magical people is widely known throughout the history of Crecia. Most common is having slaves used to mine ichor, resulting in countless deaths. Blood ichor is when someone is forcibly converted into ichor using ichor poisoning. This generally happens with slaves, prisoners of war, victims of trafficking or kidnappings. Blood ichor is generally the same as normal ichor, however has been known to be more potent and volatile depending on the individual. Many city states and nations have outlawed blood ichor over the years, and it is said to only be used in dealings with blood magic and necromancy.

Unity / The Method

Magic exists on a spectrum, and can be used an infinite amount of ways by different minds. As such, different cultures and magic schools have different ways of learning and teaching Mysticism, organizing and controlling it in ways that makes sense to them, and allows them to use it in their own way.

The concept of Unity is a popular one when explaining and organizing magic into a teachable form. While magic itself exists as a free flowing concept of what the mind can imagine, the Unity organizes it into three main tenants: Manipulation, Perception, and Continuation. Forms of magic exist on a spectrum between any of the three tenants.

As magic is a spectrum, many spells combine tenants together into harmony.

Manipulation + Perception = omnipathy (communication with anything)

Telepathy, hypnosis, mind control, dream manipulation, altering, mending

Perception + Continuation = omnilock (exist outside everything)

Precognition, retrocognition, augury

Continuation + Manipulation = omnificience (create anything without limit)

Destruction, reanimation, time travel, rending, envisage

True Unity

Upon complete mastery of all tenants, it is said that one would become omnipotent, all powerful with every aspect of the universe at their will. According to legend only one being had ever reached unity, and it was the creator of the universe, Iorbic. It is said that he only existed for less than a second before he destroyed himself outright, realizing that no power such as his should ever exist. However in the brief moment of his omnipotence he had managed to create the universe.

Psionic Schools

Altering (Manipulation)

• Overpowering the universe’s force on an object with your own
• Using your force on the universe to break the bonds than hold an object together
• Manipulate the bonds of an object and warp it to your will

Mending (Manipulation)

• Healing
• Mending is not a passive act; like other magic styles it depends on your will over the universe. Therefore, while moving and destroying objects can be relatively simple, to properly mend an object requires you to manually put it back together in order for it to work properly. This means that healers must have extensive knowledge of the body of whatever they are healing in order to mend it back to normal.

Patching (Manipulation + Perception)

• A more complex form of healing that involves reading the dna and code that composes the body that is being healed, to see the intended design, giving a guide in mending.
• While useful for minor to moderate injuries, patching is ineffective against magical injuries and mutations as they can disrupt the biological design.

Fetching (Manipulation + Perception + Continuation)

Restore / revivify / rekindle

• An elevated form of healing that few possess an ability to do. Fetching involves restoring the body (or animal/object/etc) to an earlier state. While mending fixes an injury, fetching undoes the injury.
• While a complex form of manipulation, its components of continuation are relatively simple; the difficulty comes in placing ones spirit in a continuation mindset and using the two tenants together.
• Fetchers are highly valued in the world

Envisage (Manipulation + Continuation)

• Creation from nothing. Extremely difficult magic, able to create matter from nothing rather than manipulating existing matter

Rending (Manipulation + Continuation)

• Destroying something past the ability to be mended (in most cases), extreme manipulation of the matter to make it inconceivable from what it once was

True Rending (Manipulation + Continuation)

• Erasing something from existence and destroying the matter completely, opposite of envisage.
• Rending can bring about an unbalance to the universe when used, causing instability of magic and natural senses. It is believed that extreme uses of rending in one area can create singularities.
• Renders: powerful bounty hunters/hitmen. They are relentless fighters that aim to kill or destroy with no intent on showing mercy on their targets or those who get in their way.
  • While menders (healers) must have knowledge of what they mend to do it properly, renders have no such problem. They can simply destroy.
  • True renders do not even “destroy” things, they remove them from existence leaving no evidence of the rend.
  • Rending has been outlawed by the Oracle’s Guild in Dagon. Captured renders are branded, and sometimes executed depending on their crimes.

Divination (Perception + Continuation)

• Looking into the past, and seeing the many paths that can shape the future.

Evocation (Continuation + Manipulation)

• Calling upon demons through midworlds, welcoming their spirits into the Overworld

Antimagic

• Antimagic is in of itself a type of magic, used to counteract whatever changes are made by another individual/thing, returning the energy to the void
• Antimagic was not a common practice in the 10th Age. Magic itself is very uncommon, and among many cultures it is viewed with suspicion. Magic users tended to rule and conquer with an iron fist, devote their lives to education and discovery, sell their skills, or overthrown in bloody conflicts. Besides a revolution with armies, the only way to defeat a powerful mage is with a more powerful mage.
• Antimagic as a formal art was brought over with the arrival of Humans, suggesting that magic was far more common in the old world of Humans. Most likely developed by Simanei in their deep knowledge of magics, or as a technique to combat them.
• The originating schools of Antimagic are most well known and thought to have been formally born in the monasteries of Tridesta, Mosel Argin, and Artsakirch.
  • Tridesta is the only monastery that lasted until the end of the 11th Age, and became widely known as the home of antimagic. Most of the spread of antimagic teachings originated from Tridesta.
  • The monastery of Mosel Argin fell with the Fall of Isfala. Many of its teachings were lost, along with its masters and students. Rumors mostly fuel the remaining knowledge of the city, however some brave and foolish mercenaries have ventured into the ruins to gain knowledge, to varying degrees of success.
  • Artsakirch was well hidden by the Yellow Marsh, which was a key factor in its survival for so long. However, over time due to political pressure and geological complications of the marsh itself, the city was abandoned. Most of its teachings had already spread to other cities at the time of abandonment.

While Starfall abilities are mostly elemental and come from within, Magic itself is a warping of reality. It can include: telekinesis, telepathy, teleportation, healing, alchemy, clairvoyance, precognition

The Starfall is a comet of pure magic that passes over Crecia once every 4000 years, during which the world is forever changed, inevitably resulting in the complete collapse of every civilization, eventually erasing knowledge, history, and faith. While the universe continues, to the inhabitants of Crecia the Starfall essentially acts as a hard reset over the course of a couple centuries.

• The most recent Starfall began the 11th Age, and altered the genes of random mortals, granting them immense power. Unlike the Universe magic it is hereditary and originates not from the powers of the universe but instead from within the individual.
• The powers are rarely exhibited before puberty, but as the body changes the powers develop
• The powers come from the self, meaning they cannot alter the laws of the universe the same way Universe magic can. Some powers include: pyromancy, cryomancy, electrokinesis, mimicry, terrakinesis, hydrokinesis, invisibility, shapeshifting, immortality, super strength, biological manipulation, dermal armor, body shedding, camouflage, hibernation, poison manipulation,
• Individuals who can possess both Starfall Magic and Quantum Magic can be exceptional mages, able to use both types in tandem.