Discussions on Magic

The following is a collection of [essays] I’ve written in a short-sighted attempt to record my observations of the world around us. Each of my essays have been published after consultation with several to dozens of experts in their craft. The experts encompass a variety of classes, span dozens of species, and I’ve accounts from sentients thousands of years old to one particular pixie at only three.

I have labeled the collection as ‘Magic Theory’, which is admittedly grossly misleading. I seek to provide answers for the mundane. In fully explaining what we already know, a greater question is begotten: How can we change? How can we, as learned scholars and heroes of our own stories, improve? How can we challenge the status quo?

In order to take the greatest advantage of our knowledge, what experiments must we dare?

In the future, there may be young mage students finding my name attached to these texts, thinking that they must be a shortcut to learning magic. Unfortunately for you, dear student, I do not seek to detail the intricacies of casting spells, the compression of mana, and the fine tuning minutiae of magecraft. My advice to you is to practice diligently, record and review your mistakes, and (most importantly) enjoy the learning process. Talented or not, great achievements are the result of diligence and hard work.

-Tyrael Chalcedon; 6 Erastus 4720 AR

The Nature of Magic and Altering Our World
All worlds are similar. Spellcasting in each of them follow these rules with minor differences-- sometimes only the underlying beliefs being different. Power comes from a source. A negotiation or a harnessing of power is involved. Boom, magic. Thanks for commenting, noble Shadow Warrior.

...Maybe Warlock rituals are different from other casters'"well that makes sense since Warlocks are pulling from a vast energy source beyond their limits and what occurs with them is only a fraction of the tapped resource in comparison to accidentally over using a source like a battery with a limited charge or a Max rating of current it can handle before breaking..... so the argument is why don't other ritual casters aim for limited Mana supplies instead of the untapped, limitless known potential of the veil?" Long answer: There are 4 ways, I suppose, that spells are cast. The primary 3 are... Arcane, Divine, and Primal. Arcane spells draw mana from the environment, often amplified by a caster's affinity. Divine spells draw mana through faith and prayer. Primal spells draw from life and nature, similar to Arcane. ...Then there's Warlocks and Wild Mages, who draw from other less reliable sources: vestiges of dead gods and from entire alternate planes, like a hell, the plane of shadow, the fae wyld, or the limitless Void.

There are 3 reasons Warlocks and Wild Mages DO draw from these sources and non-Warlocks do NOT.


 * 1) First, they can't. Most humans can't bite through their own finger or tongue. There exists a natural limiter in their brain that halts them from too-destructive measures. Warlocks and Wild Mages do not have this self-preservation sense, concerning mana or otherwise learn to overcome it.
 * 2) Second is that the Price is too steep. All Warlock patrons have a cost. And if their patron doesn't require sacrifice, the cost is likely their sanity.
 * 3) Third is risk. Wild Mages have a high probability of exploding. Warlocks die in a blaze of glory, empowering their dark gods, and often also explode. Tarquin Wroe is a hero. I'll say 2 out of 3 Warlocks explode before they make it to his level.

What is a life?
In order to properly address Magic Theory, I feel it necessary to first discuss transmigration and the living of several lives.

It is probable that, like myself, those with access to these texts can be labeled as a “Transmigrator,” a sentient with previous experiences living in a world different from your current one. We are fortunate enough to have some experiences through the eyes of essentially another person, different names, different lives, different personalities.

Often enough, those other personae are transmigrators and reincarnators, as well. Some live in medieval worlds with spell and sorcery or cultivation and martial arts. Some where technology is so advanced VRMMO’s are in style.

I know of one transmigrator who experienced reincarnating into a stick.

Regardless of your own experience with transmigration as a whole, each and every sentient reading this will be cognizant of the concept of “lifetimes.”

Philosopher Zachary A. Weinersmith summarized this concept with, “...a [human] takes seven years to master something.” Such a period may be defined as ‘a lifetime.’ In only seven years, a finite and measured amount of time, a human’s perceptions change drastically. By then, it is not uncommon to have a different expertise, a different sense of social understanding. Certainly, seven years of experience in a craft is respectable, especially considering attaining an amateur level of mastery in a mundane craft only requires several hours.

That stated, even mundane mortals are capable of learning lessons, even though these texts address transmigrators.

Do not underestimate mortals. Do not underestimate yourselves. Learn from the experience of those who came before, whether they’re your lives or the lives of others.

Bloodline Memories
Bloodline memories. Of course. Concerning mundane creatures, a snake is born knowing how to hunt. They are born understanding they must seek shelter from the cold and to fear predators like hawks and owls. Humans have an instinctual fear of heights and a love of clear, reflective surfaces that resemble clean drinking water.

For magical beasts like flood dragons, medusae, nymphs, unicorns, the knowledge is greater. A nymph is born understanding she will die if she leaves her tree. Without trial-and-error, a unicorn understands how to utilize their innate magic to impart healing miracles upon their allies. Medusae and elves can speak in their bloodline tongues without needing to be taught... as well as sharing an inexplicable hatred for creatures resembling dragons.

Affinity and Elemental Spell Learning
For Athena, her Frost-Mana Soul makes her affinity for fire-type spells very poor. Due to its opposite nature, I liken it to learning how to ride a bicycle with the left-right controls reversed. I watched a YouTube study on it, and it took so many hours to do so, essentially un-learning how to ride a normal bicycle. After mounting a normal-control bicycle, the rider took another hour of practice to re-learn to do so.

The difficulty concept here is... if you routinely ride a bicycle at 18+mph (~30kph), is it worth it risk learning to also ride with controls reversed? When the human mind is dealing with a Third-Circle spell, capable of killing dozens and/or wounding hundreds, a calculation error would result in a deadly and devastating mana overload.

In the same vein, there are people who speed-type with multiple keyboard layouts (QWERTY, Dvorak, Colemak, etc.) To get to that point, they practice while transitioning between the several layouts. Casters like this exist, practicing multiple types of spells instead of focusing on one.

With the keyboard example, some casters like using multiple layouts. Some casters are dual-type (I’m thinking like... Korean or Japanese keyboards, where [Function Key + Key X] generates a character in a different alphabet.) However, if the goal is to write coherent sentences (ie. defeat the opponent,) a typist only needs to learn one layout to do so.