Do I have the magic in me?
Sentient beings have a greater capacity for magic, mainly due to “higher” order functioning such as thought, reasoning, and abstraction having a greater effect on the flow of mana and more dramatic effects. In fact magic is believed to be creation’s gift to sentience in many of Kaf’s cultures.
Another unique feature of Kaf is the different types of sentient beings, giving researchers clear examples of how magic manifests between them. For example, they have established 3 forms of magic that differ in how magic manifests and broad capabilities based purely on the type of being an individual is.
Ordered Spellcraft or Arcane Magic is the type of magic that can be performed by supernatural and preternatural creatures, namely the majority of spirits, faery, and magical beasts.
Manifestation
Ordered spell craft is called so because raw mana has to be converted or ordered with the user’s intent and will before it can do a specific action.
Spells are basically ritual formulas that aim to give a intention or order to a collection of magic power and have it do something. This can be done with various actions such as Sign (tracing a symbol in the air), Gesture (Specific or precise movements and stances), Ward (geometric mandalas sketched on to surfaces), Incantation (specific words and phrases), Component (spell specific ingredients), Focus (magic assisting device).
Species that can perform arcane magic also have inherent abilities that resulted from magoi being naturalized into the genetics and biochemistry of their ancestors. That is to say there are magic-like but natural actions they can do without actual spells. This is often called Innate Magic to make them distinct from actual spells.
The appearance of spells can be observed in any number of ways such as puffs of smoke, bolts resembling lighting, energy rays, glittery sparkles, or things spontaneously happening.
Natural beings (like humans) are incapable of directly ordering mana to manifest as spells and effecting the physical world and its laws. They can however make use of materials and devices (like a wand) that can pull of the indirect manipulations possible with spell-craft.
Applications
By being able to converse with and give mana special orders, it allows them to reproduce natural phenomena or create those that manipulate or run counter to everyday occurrences. It affects the caster’s world mainly by bending the current physical laws like the traditional idea of magic. The major limit is that Users are limited to defying the laws of physics, and cannot rewrite or manipulate universes themselves, save for artificially created pocket dimensions. (Gravity still pulls down, even if it takes a really long time to do so. Unless gravity in a confined area is reversed, then vice-versa.) Arcane Magic can often disregard certain observed scientific laws such as thermodynamics and energy conservation based on the users intent, but only as long as the spell is in effect or the source of it is supplying. Raw Sorcery, Primordial Magic, or Natural Magic is the type of magic capable by all creatures, though typically its greatest potential is with sentient natural creatures like humanoids.
Manifestation
In this type of magic, the magic user taps into and resonates with the vibrations and wavelengths of the magical forces. During the process, the practitioner becomes a conduit to the rush of magical energy flowing within their general area, instantaneously. The influx of raw mana energy ionizes the air at a rate that generates a room-temperature ionized gas (35-40 C) called mana plasma. The mana plasma when first produced is light and airy like a multicolored flame, and is mold-able by a person’s movements and internal flow.
Creatures that are supernatural (like spirits) or preternatural (like faye or magical beasts) only have a very limited use of raw mana. They can only simply concentrate and firing it as relatively weak bullets or spheres of energy doing minor to moderate concussive force. As such they much prefer to transmute the mana into a physical phenomenon a la ordered spellcraft.
Natural humanoids, on the other hand, have much more control and potential with directly manipulating mana in its raw and purest form. As such, for raw sorcery they are referred to as skills as opposed to spells. Below in applications, are a list of what natural sentient beings can do with mana plasma and raw sorcery.
Applications
Although most of the natural properties of this cool plasma are bound to the laws of physics, mana plasma does have a few properties outside the norm.
Reinforcement: involve enhancing the force and speed behind movements of an object or one’s own body.
Constructs:Users can turn generated mana plasma into tools, objects, weapons and other items, and/or create structures/buildings of varying permanence. Once a person has mastered the construction of a certain object, they can conjure it and dispel it in an instant, whenever they want. The skill of the wielder can determine how fast they can make the amount of mana plasma they have behave like other states of matter such as a liquid or a solid. The consistency of the object can be changed in different states, for example, it can be made into an amorphous glop that either hardens upon impact or absorbs the shock by staying soft, depending on the user’s skill. It can even be made to dissipate in explosion-like shockwaves without producing shrapnel.
Sanitation: Mana plasma can actually kill microorganisms like bacteria by damaging microbial DNA and surface structures without being harmful to human tissues.
Transmutation: A person can change the properties of their mana plasma to mimic copy the properties of real things. . Transmutating mana plasma can also give it properties that don’t necessarily mimic real things by combining the properties of other substances.
Channeling energy: Mana plasma can be used as a medium to channel the kinetic energy of various types such as mechanical, thermal, even the magical energy of active spells. In certain cases, natural magic can be used to direct the flow of internal energies like a person’s bio-electric field.
Meta Magic: Although not exclusive to Raw Sorcery, channeling magical energy can produce meta-magical effects; being able to directly alter the effect of skills or even spells and bend it to your will. They can be made to last longer, shorten the duration of a harmful curse, negate a spell altogether, amplify a spell’s power or range, make one’s skills more difficult for someone else to dispel,
Mana Manipulation: Directly controlling mana allow the user to manipulate the latent mana within non-living things in a certain way, generally by moving them around akin to telekinesis.
It is generally believed that this kind of magic evolved as an extension of martial arts, particularly breath work called qigong. In fact it seems that the best way to develop this trait is with qigong training, sensible since both rely on their inner willpower.
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