Magic

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Magic is the act of imposing force of will on reality to change it to suit the whims of the spellcaster.

There are many notable traditions for magic. In Haiti, houngan and mambos act as liasions between the mortal realm and the spirits of the loa. Japanese magicians use the practice of kotodama ('word-naming') to define reality aorund them. The Japanese tradition of Onymodo allows diviners to seek out hidden knowledge and predict the future. Among the American Shoshone tribes, their shamans are known as boha gande. Dances and chants are used to call rains and heal the sick. Taoist fangshi prepare their magic with elabourately written scrolls and alchemic philters.

All mortal disciplines of magic are biased by the limits of the human understanding, and shaped according to the rules of someone's accepted metaphor. Emotions, colors, elements, aspects of nature; all internally valid, but all incomplete parts of a greater whole.

The advantage of magic is that it is not limited by processes, like physics. A cryomancer does not need to worry about thermal transfer or temperature equilibrium. The know how to conjure vast icebergs on command. Oneiromancers don't need to be telepaths to walk in someone's dream; the magic does it for them. Unlike physics, magic is not a scientific pursuit.

Magicians and wizards have attempted this approach over the centuries, but since the Fall of Atlantis, scientific methodologies have been lost. Only a handful of spell-users in all the world can operate in multiple systems and metaphors. Magic users have dedicated their lives (sometimes their souls) to acquiring a single new spell or ritual. It is more a process of imagination rather than deduction, and risky in the extreme. The concept of touching the pure source of magic directly without being buffered by metaphor is hypothetical (or philosophical) for most; and theoretical for only a very, very select number. Even ancient Atlantis was unsure whether they were creating a better tool for channeling magic, or a better understanding of the language of magic itself.



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'Making Magic'

There are five broad means by which a person might create a magical effect. The common element for all of these elements is that magic will not work without a mortal soul providing a conduit for the energies being summoned. Only ideologues and New Gods following their own harmony are capable of channeling the deeper forces of the universe unaided.

Rituals:

Ritualists are by far the most common magic workers. They form the tropes of the classic magus; arcane implements, forgotten languages, strange spell components and complex gestures. These techniques are means for enhancing their mental focus and use energy as safely and efficiently as possible with very narrow, very specific intentions. Ritual magic is a limited framework crudely echoes the purer concept of Enochian. The closest analogue would be hacking a video game; Evokers can access the source code directly to create new spells and effects on the fly, but ritualists backflip at walls and break buffers in innovative ways-- with sometimes dangerously unpredictable results. Known, 'safe' rituals and magical spells are the ultimate commodity, jealously protected by those who possess them.

Advanced ritual magic grows exponentially more complex and intricate, and the risks go up commensurately. Skilled ritualists may make risky use of their personal magics to augment and improve ritual designs, allowing them to take shortcuts that would be otherwise too dangerous or time-consuming to compose on the fly. The longest-lived ritualists are the ones smart enough to not try and channel power beyond their limits.

Invocation:

The magus draws on the energies of an entity or demesne, allowing them to work within the interests of whatever harmony they serve. This may bear superficial resemblance to Rituals or Evocation, but is limited sharply by the scope of power their patron affords them and their harmony with that patron's goals. A cultist of Chthon is unlikely to be able to petition his master for the power to heal someone's wounds, for instance. Efforts further away from their patron's harmony are less effective and more likely to fail.

Conjuration:

Summoners do not use magic personally. Instead they summon entities to serve their will-- often nature spirits that cling to the edge of the Astral plane, though demons, the undead, Fae, and sometimes even demigods answer their call.

Mechanics:

Mechanics are entirely dependent on the use of magical paraphernalia. They rely on trinkets to accomplish specific and often very limited magical effects without understanding the underlying forces at work. These trinkets and talismans often require spiritual energy and mental focus to function.

Chi (xi, qi):

Chi is superficially similar to Evocation, but it is powered by internal spiritual energies rather than the raw Power Cosmic. Qi users channel their spiritual energy or the residual flows of energy around them. The influence of animals, elements, even songs and sigils help them frame and direct their energy with better focus. Learning new qi techniques is developed over time by study under masters and doing relentless training to try and reach apotheosis, a perfect balance of body and spirit. The greatest qi masters are powerful enough to take their internal energies and push them outwards to affect the world, rather than be limited to internal self-regulation. Shang-Chi and Iron Fist are two better-known examples.


Evocation:

The sorcerer channels the necessary energies from their own spirit or the Power Cosmic to impose their will on reality around them. This is considered the 'purest' form of using magical energies, but requires an deep, natural affinity for the mystic arts, limited to a handful of people. Instinctual use of the Power Cosmic is like attaching a hurricane to a fire hose. Even some very powerful Evokers prefer to use rituals as a safer alternative to gambling their life force against the fire at the heart of Creation.

The most potent of ideologues know a smattering of the Words of Power that define and reinforce reality. Very, very few mortals in all the universe, in all of history, have come close to touching this pure expression of magic without the power tearing them apart, and the very concept of Enochian is known to a scarce handful of truly committed scholars (and a handful of lunatics). Only the very highest-level mortal intellects can truly grasp this concept in any comprehendable way.

Notably, the magic of 'true faith' falls under this category; rather than stemming from an outside force, Faith magic derives from a mortal's ever-changing perception of how the universe *should* work. This is one form of magic that is wholly unique to mortals, and beyond the reach of even ideologues and cosmic entities alike. Mortals, unlike any other sentient force, are able to change and redefine the very nature of a thing over time simply by *willing* it to change. Even potent ideologues like Dream are shaped by mortal influences of sufficient power and density. Some immortals have suggested that the limitless potential of the mortal race is expressed best in this notion of 'belief'.