Magic

Explosions and Stuff
Ah yes, magic. Magic is the driving force behind pretty much everything that isn’t technology on Aneos, and even then there is still a good chance it is powered by magic. Ley lines, the ley crystal, and different types of magic have all been previously mentioned in the signup, and I’m sure a lot of the words were confusing. Here is where the magic system and all the different types of magic will be detailed in full!

The Ley Crystal, The Ley Shards, Juice and Ley Lines
The Ley Crystal has already been mentioned as the source for all magic on Aneos. But, what are the important details of the crystal? The gem is a sort of resistor that manages the magical energies transferred to Aneos from other planes of existence. When the magical energy came in bursts into Aneos, the Crystal would store excess energy inside of it so it could maintain a steady flow throughout the world. However, once the Crystal broke, waves of ley energy were able to come and go as they pleased.

This energy, commonly referred to as “Juice”, comes from Beyond, the plane that Djinnis call their minions from. In all technicalities, ley lines are cracks in Aneos that let atmosphere from Beyond leak in, which is why Juice has such high magical properties. Juice is like radioactive goop in that it begins to mutate just about anything it comes into contact with, not limited to humans, machinery, and flowers. Juice is what makes people magicians, and what makes regular machinery morph into Thaummatech.

Ley lines spread themselves all over the world, intertwining, going over each other, under each other, through each other, and all the other directions that have not been mentioned. Imagine a map of latitude and longitude, and that is what the web of ley lines looks like. While these magical lines are invisible, magicians will be able to feel the energy of the ley line they are near.

Ley lines are extremely important because many magicians are useless without one. There are some magicians who can work without ley lines, but the majority cannot. If a pure mage is fighting in an area with a low-power ley line, he is probably going to die. Why probably, you ask?

When the Ley Crystal shattered, it did not release all of the magical energy it had stored. Instead, it was distributed among each of the shards that made their way across the globe and stored inside of them for safekeeping. What does this mean? Ley shards are portable ley lines. They are always active, small, convenient, and can come in handy if one is in a pinch. This is another reason why the shards are so sought after by wizards.

A shard can be drained of its magical energy through extended use, so carrying one as your sole source of ley energy is risky. Of course, multiple shards could be carried, but finding them is a ***** and the more magical energy you carry on you, the more likely you will be hunted down my magic-hungry demons.

If you hold too many ley shards, there is a great possibility you will be hunted by hundreds of evil monsters that will tear out your innards and eat your face for breakfast. Monsters love Juice. Many feed off of it, others just like to hang out with ley energy. This is why places in the wild with highly concentrated ley lines will be homes to hideous monsters, and major cities need to prepare their defenses just in case of a monster attack.

Magicians
A magician is anyone who can utilize some form of magic. The vast majority of Aneos’s population is a magician of some sort, but there are also many others who choose not to adhere to magical principles. Magic is not something everyone can learn; some are born with the affinity, others pick it up sometime in their lives. The following is a list of the seven schools of magic.

Alchemy:
Alchemy is the science of taking ingredients, combining them through various methods, and making Alchemical Catalysts, which, to put it simply, is most often a spell in a bottle. Alchemy is the most versatile type of magic, and can replicate the powers of any of the other magic types. However, Alchemists often require very rare ingredients, their Alchemical Catalysts are under the risk or theft or destruction before use, and a decent Catalyst takes at least a few hours to make, while the more extraordinary stuff can take months or years to complete. Anyone can make use of Alchemical Catalysts, so even though it takes a specific skill, and a specific type of person to make them, almost anyone can use them. They are most often potions, but can be powders, weapons made from special alloys, machines, and many other things. These Catalysts don’t require Ley Lines to create or use.

Druids
A Druid is a Magician wielding the powers of nature and wildlife. No one is entirely sure how Druids come about, because they often are only present within Druid clans and tribes scattered throughout the world. They are easily the rarest of all Magician types, as they seldom choose to become members of societies other than their own. Druids also have one of the widest skillsets aside from Sorcerers – their powers include, but are not limited to, complete control of plantlife, communication with wildlife, and some healing capabilities. Druids are most famous for their ability to shapeshift into different forms of life. Young Druids can change into small animals such as cats, dogs, squirrels and sheep, while the most experienced of Druids can take on the full form of a dragon. It is theorized that a Druid learns to take on the shape of a beast once he has established a connection with that animal’s spirit, and is given permission to “borrow” its form; because of this, a Druid will change into an exact replica of the specific animal it was given permission from. Druids are few, but cherished in the military – their healing capabilities are greater than that of a sorcerer, and as such are highly desired medics if they can be convinced to abandon their druidic tribes.

Elementals
Sometimes when a woman is pregnant, and she is near a Ley Line, she might draw the attention of an Elemental Spirit from the Beyond, and that spirit might decide to bind itself to the life of the unborn child, and cause it to be born an Elemental. These spirits can’t ever invade somebody already born, because their body and mind are already too formed to become a suitable host for the spirit, and will reject it. Once an Elemental is born, they are physically indistinguishable from other infants of their species, but have a Spirit from the Beyond in their mind, communicating with them, influencing their growth. It takes until about mid to late childhood for an Elemental to be physically developed enough to use their powers. They channel the Juice provided by the spirit inside them to cast Elemental spells, limited to one of the five elements; fire, water, wind, earth, or lightning.

As an Elemental uses their powers, it grows, but the spirit inside gains more influence over them, and might be able to eventually take full control, either briefly, or for quite some time. However, there are clear signs, both mentally and physically, of a spirit gaining greater control over their host. For example, a Fire Elemental’s hair might change from pitch black, to fiery red, and their eyes might turn from brown, to bright yellow or orange. For a few brief minutes, they might even transform more drastically, with their hair not only looking like fire, but being fire, along with other changes which will temporarily increase their power. While Elementals can cast outside of Ley Lines, they might exhaust their spirit so much that it dies from the strain. If this happens, an Elemental just becomes a regular person. A spirit needs to rest inside of a Ley Line to recover from casting spells.

Illusionists:
Illusionists acquire the skill of learning how to manipulate Juice into simulating light, sounds, smells, and to subtly twist, or completely break, a target’s perception of reality. Illusionists require access to a Ley Line. The most basic of an Illusionist’s abilities work by imagining an image, noise, or odor, and then expelling it out of their mind, and into the Ley Line. The Juice forms around the thought, giving it the appearance of being real. More experienced practitioners can craft spells that alter the sensations and perceptions of those who come into contact with them. This means they can make a fake fire that will force a burning sensation on anyone who comes into contact with it, or create a fake person who feels real to the touch, and subtly alters the perception of the one touching it, so they don’t see their hand going through air. Illusions are unable to do real damage though, besides maybe causing a heart attack in those prone to that sort of thing.

If not being constantly maintained by the caster, their Illusions deteriorate over time, though the rate depends on the skill of the Illusionist, and how much effort they put into it, and whether they made any serious mistakes. Obviously flawed, unrealistic illusions fall apart much faster than those that closely mirror reality, but it takes a lot of talent and skill to cast one that lasts more than a few minutes. If an Illusionist has physical contact with a person’s head, they can perform their most impressive feats, by messing with the target’s brain, nerves, and sensory organs. They can read their thoughts, inflict unrelenting agony, or pleasure, put them to sleep and give them dreams of their choosing, things like that. Elementals, with the aid of their spirit, can see through illusions, and resist most mental tampering. Sorcerers can disrupt illusions merely by channeling a lot of Juice nearby.

Lichs:
A Lich is arguably the most mutated “mortal” being on the planet. They come into existence when a potential future Sorcerer, still in the womb, is dying. It could be for any reason, but all that matters is their life is ending, and some manage to instinctively draw Juice from a Ley Line into their bodies, and they consume it, turning this otherworldly force of change, mutation, into life itself. They survive, sort of, and are born normally, though they might be horribly disfigured, might not even breath or have a heartbeat.

Death Magic is the ability to completely, and perfectly fuse Juice with the life-force of the caster, and that is what makes a Lich, sustains a Lich, and gives a Lich power over life and death. Using Death Magic, a Lich can put a little of themselves, their life-force, into any corpse, and reanimate it. They have complete control over the undead they raise, though micromanaging dozens of bodies is too much for most minds to handle, so they often put enough of themselves into their creations to give them a sort of freewill. Even the greatest of these creatures is never more than an inferior mental clone of the Lich, in a different body, without the power to cast Death Magic.

Keeping corpses walking, and even talking, is high maintenance, so a Lich will need to constantly be on the search for energy to power their Death Magic. A common source Liches use is Ley Lines, where there’s an all you can eat buffet of raw Juice to feed to themselves and their creations, but that’s not the only energy they are capable of devouring. A Lich can steal the life force of any mortal creature, and take it for their own, obviously killing them if they drain enough of it. Usually this is accomplished by touching the victim, but life draining tendrils of Death Magic can be used as well.

Killing a Lich is a difficult thing. They can use Death Magic to sustain themselves through even the most fatal of wounds, and while complete destruction of the body can work, it’s not always enough. See, the Lich can hop around bodies, and even infuse their life-force into an inanimate object, called a phylactery, where they can safely hide, and still command their undead hordes.

Sorcerers:
Sorcerers are born when a fetus is exposed to so much Juice that it is mutated into a suitable conduit for it. They are the only Juice-powered casters that can channel raw Juice into themselves, and form that Juice into almost any spell they can think of. While an Illusionists pushes their thoughts into a Ley Line, giving them the illusion of reality, a Sorcerer pulls the Ley Line into their thoughts, giving it reality. This is not without consequences, however. When they open themselves to the Ley Line around them, Juice rushes in, with all of the force and energy of lightning striking a metal rod. It’s impossible to draw just a little, and trying to draw too much can be fatal, or at the very least, severely damage the life-force of the Sorcerer.

The first thing a Sorcerer needs to learn is how to tap into enough energy, without taking far too much, and the second is how to safely form that energy into a coherent spell. Both the process of channeling Juice into their thoughts, and the strenuous activity of using those thoughts to give it a solid shape, are very straining on the life-force of a Sorcerer. Over time, their body and mind will deteriorate. Even the most cautious and precise Sorcerers will notice their vitality quickly slipping away, if they continue to cast regularly throughout their lives, and a Sorcerer who recklessly uses his or her power will often find themselves feeble, frail, and senile before they turn twenty, if they even survive that long.

A Sorcerer also has the power to channel Juice through an object and make it stay there, a process colloquially referred to as “enchanting”. This is what produces the swords that shoot lightning, bows that require no arrows, or hats that can speak in fluent English.

Djinnis:
call on magical beings from the Beyond. Learning to summon the various entities from the Beyond is much different than many other magical skills, because the proper knowledge isn’t enough. In fact, it’s only the first step. Real Djinnis use Summoning circles, rituals and chants to open gateways to the Beyond, and call forth angels, demons, and many other Immortal entities. Using similar methods, they can also banish such beings from Aneos, back to the Beyond, and control them, bargain with them, contain them, and defend themselves against them. However, knowing how to make a proper Summoning circle, the right ritual, the correct chants, and the real names of demons and angels doesn’t make someone a Djinni. They need a source of power first, or it will all be useless.

The only possible source of power is a Life Contract. It’s a tricky thing to establish for a person seeking to become a Djinni, because they must meet with a creature from the Beyond, face to face, survive that meeting, and negotiate what amounts to a suicide pact with it, and while that would be trivial thing for a real Djinni to arrange, it’s quite the task for somebody who isn’t one yet. The terms of the contract bind the life-forces of both the mortal and immortal together, giving both of them power, and making them somewhat equal partners, though at the risk that if one is killed, the other will follow, and this is the only way for the contract to end. However, I must add that “killing” an angel, demon, or whatever eldritch horror oozes from the Beyond, doesn’t destroy it for good, and it is instead banished to the Beyond, until it can recover, and reform, which can take years, but will happen.

With the combined life-force of a mortal being of Aneos, and the Juice of an immortal being of the Beyond, Summoning circles, rituals, and chants performed by the Djinni have the proper power to fulfill their purpose. The immortal, due the link with its mortal partner, is able to freely roam the world with him or her, rather than be confined to Ley Lines, and exposed to the weakness, vulnerability, and discomfort that an Immortal being typically experiences when they exist in Aneos without the support of a Djinni.

Djinnis must summon at Ley Lines, but can use all their other powers anywhere in the world. Their willpower, and discipline, combined with the Juice of their Life Contract partner, and its own willpower, determines how effective any attempted spell will be.

Mancy:
The newest form of magic, Mancy, is a bit of an oddity. Mancy is the broadest form of magic there is, and rumored to be a man-made discovery. Individuals who are determined to have magical affinity but no real inclination toward any school of magic are directed towards the Mancer's College in Victorix. Here, ordinary individuals are instructed in any school of magic of their choosing, and become adept at the unique and bizzare - papermancy, cardmancy, woodmancy, waxmancy, and the like.

What a Mancer lacks in raw power when compared to a Sorcerer or Elemental they make up for in versatility. A Mancer's powers are limited to what their imagination can conjure up - with the college being centuries old, it is near impossible to find a school of magic that has not been studied by somebody prior. Classes and instructions in Mancy last anywhere from two to twenty years; graduation is not necessarily achieved after time, but after adequate performance in the school of magic has been shown. Those who do not have an affinity for their chosen school may switch to one they feel is more fitting. Some Mancers even choose to "double major", mastering two unique schools of magic in their time of enrollment.

Mancers, after graduation, travel the world and are tasked with writing a book on their school of magic and techniques developed within it. This book is then donated to the Mancer College's library, and used to instruct students of the future. These senior thesis trips are how somebody can be a Mancer without enrolling in the college - Mancers, while traveling, can pick up disciples and teach them the ways of their school without the person in question necessarily being an enrolled student.

Mancers can choose to be pyromancers, geomancers, mindmancers, potionmancers, and other schools encompassed by other disciplines of magic, but their magic will never be as strong as a true Elemental or a true Illusionist.

Next:
Factions