Magic and Taint

and what happens when you are careless.

Magic is a fundamental part of the world nowadays. It is used for many things, from utility, to combat, to powering entire mechanisms. However, magic is heavily unstable. Decayed magic, Taint, is a void black energy, which almost immediately dissolves into the air once outside. It is unusable, and doesn't want to listen to casters. It could seem as if it hates them, mutating and contorting every living being that comes in contact with it.

The Origin

Many have attempted to figure out where magic comes from. The most common theory is that it was the first thing to ever exist, a thing that could not have an actual beginning, nor an end. Some theorize that the magic is sentient. A piece of a god, or a whole different being, hence its power to create and destruct. A small number of people believe that Taint is magic's pain. Pain of being used and unable to communicate with us. It rebels, thus mutates.

Three Way Casting

Spellcasters have three sources to get magic from. The Earth, The Body, and The Soul. Each source, while being the same magic, has different spell effects. Spells arent necessarily restricted to using specific sources, but spellcasters have agreed on what are best sources for specific kinds of spells.

Earth

Earth magic is sourced from your surroundings and is usually tied to the four elements, being fire, water, earth, and air. Of course, theres more to earth magic, since even the time it has to take to travel to the caster matters. Theres even spellcasting styles taking advantage of that fact. Essentially, earth magic is anything outside of your own and other peoples bodies. Most combat magic falls into that category, with elemental projectiles and protective walls being most common. Other, more advanced kinds of earth magic are transmutation, illusion, and summoning. They require more skill to cast due to their forms having to be stable, rather than simply having a temporary shape to cause damage, like a fireball.

Body

Body magic, sometimes called mind magic as well, is magic that comes from your and other beings bodies. It is usually used to transform into other beings, retrieve pure magic to use as a weapon, or to self heal. Using your own magic is much easier in comparison to the magic of other people, due to the fact its already inside of you. In order to control someone elses magic, which means controlling their body, you must spend time getting it under your own control. Even if the person is not a spellcaster, it still has minor control over the magic within them, as it is almost like a body part.

Body magic, despite what non-spellcasters commonly believe, is not great for healing other people, because its more akin to a very painful skingraft than what most people think of when they hear about healing spells. A body healed by body magic would still need to take time to heal the “skingraft”, because body magic cannot create new cells, only move them. This of course means the body might reject the skingraft as well, like a transplant.

Mind

Mind magic is a subcategory of body magic, due to the fact both are fairly similar. The only difference is the fact mind magic comes specifically from its namesake. It is rarely used, because its mostly useful when used on other people, which is a difficult task, as written earlier. The only use it has on the caster is usually to forget things or remember them for longer. However, when done right, it can be a powerful tool, as it can be used to modify memories, emotions of people, and even their entire personalities. Psychomancers, people that specialize in mind magic, are a dangerous group, although rare enough that most commonfolk arent afraid of getting their memories shaped into something else. As long as they feel like there arent any nearby.

Soul

Soul magic is magic coming from one's soul. It is hard to control, due to the fact the soul exists in between realms, the material world and the immaterial world. Unlike other types of magic, the user can only source the magic from their own soul. It is used mainly for healing and necromancy, as the soul is what gives someone life, and lets them die not only in body but consciousness as well. To heal, a person needs energy, and the soul provides it. Meanwhile, in the case of necromancy, a soul can be used to provide temporary life to a corpse that has already lost connection with its original soul. Total revival of bringing a persons soul to truly make them alive again is considered very taboo and is near impossible to perform.

Focuses Catalysts and Enchants

Cycling magic through one's own body has proven itself to be a rather hard task. That's why casters have come up with many useful items to make it easier.

Focuses

A focus is any item a spellcaster feels a connection to. It's usually their special wands, amulets or staffs, but a focus can also be a childhood toy, or even a piece of clothing. Whenever a caster attempts to cast a spell or another incantation, the focus makes it easier to guide the magic through the caster's body to where they are aiming, since it's easier to point it at an item rather than a body part like a hand. It's mainly due to the fact one needs to have an incredible amount of knowledge of their own body to do such things. Because while the caster may know where their hand is, the magic does not differentiate between body parts, to it its all the same flesh and bone.

Catalysts

A catalyst is anything made to store magic within itself for a long time, rather than releasing it almost instantly like in the case of a focus. This form of spellcasting minimizes the potential of a mutation forming and makes casting a spell a matter of aiming and pulling the trigger, like a gun or lighter. However, due to being purely mechanical or programmed, a catalyst can only do whatever it was designed to do. catalysts are a popular choice among people that dont do spellcasting on their own, but need to use magic for any reason. A lot of spellcasters consider catalysts lazy and effortless, not wanting to accept their potential and risk free nature.

Arcanagraphy - Programming Magic

While most catalysts are mechanical instruments that are able to suck magic in and release it, people sometimes want a cheaper, single use object to do said thing, instead of an expensive item. Thus, people have created special runes that when put in the correct order, cause magic to perform a series of commands, creating a spell. The runes become inactive after a single use, but a skilled spellcaster can refill them with a bit of work. The most common way to use them is on spell scrolls, although sometimes they are used in entire books of single-use spells as well. They can be inscribed on weapons as well, usually to put a passive effect on them. Passive effect runes do not run out of magic quickly, however magic decay can still happen. Cheap magic items can still last up to a year, however the ones made by skilled arcanagraphers last up to centuries.

Enchanted items

Enchanted items can be anything, from clothing to weapons, imbued with magic to be better (or worse, in the case of curses). An enchanted item can take on one of two forms. The first one releases all magic from itself once or a few times upon being triggered by an outside force. The second form is a passive effect that usually does not run out very fast. Although passive magic can indeed decay over time, it doesn't happen very quickly, as long as the item is properly taken care of. On lower quality magic items, it may decay after a few years, but on higher quality, legendary items, it usually lasts for centuries. On very low end items, or ones that aren't taken care of, the magic may turn into Taint, becoming a curse that's usually the opposite of what the original one was, although the effects may be random. A magic item has to be kept out of both places infected with Taint and places where magic has no way to escape, such as very deep, narrow caves.

Enchanting an item is not an easy task. One way of creating them, through arcanagraphy, was already explained above, however theres an additional way. A spellcaster can ritual cast a spell on the item to make it enchanted, although it takes a long time. Spells like this command the magic to stay in between the things atoms and cells, keeping it in place. However, magic items made this way can decay faster than classic rune-made ones.

Spellcasting styles

Theres a few spellcasting styles in the world that all spellcasters can become masters at. They are independent of the kind of caster someone may be, be it a wizard or a druid, as they can be learned in many ways, but performed the same. They are even more specific than the spellcaster specializations, due to the fact they are specific down to the very way of casting, not just what the person is casting.

Blue Cosmos

A style of casting that was discovered in Mottenberg back in the year 1913. Its a kind of earth magic, but sourcing it directly from the cosmos. The distance it has to travel to the caster before usage makes it incredibly unstable, especially because of the sudden change in environment. Blue Cosmos is destructive in nature and usually deadly. However, it can also have a calming aura if used on a magic item. The style was banned in Mottenberg and many other places just a year after being discovered, in 1914, due to how destructive it can be. Many people still practice it in secret. Because of how mutagenic it is, a common way to perform Blue Cosmos is through catalysts, as they minimize the chances of a mishap. True Blue Cosmos casters are much more rare, because the consequences of a miscasted spell can be dire.

Magic In Culture And Beliefs

As with everything in the world, magic has its own culture and beliefs tied to it. Theres some places in the world where people absolutely despise spellcasters, while in others they are nearly praised.

Spellcasters are stereotypically depicted as very wise people who know much about every trade, while magic is usually the only thing they can do, sometimes alongside minor potion brewing knowledge or arcanagraphy. Despite what is commonly believed, while those things are often practiced by wizards, there is little correlation between them and spellcasting. This leads to people sometimes hiring spellcasters while what they really needed was an alchemist, potion brewer, or a magitechnician.

Geographically

Brydenn

On Brydenn, magic is very common, so common theres even special schools that teach magic of all kinds. If not from a school, a person may learn spellcasting from widely available books, joining a coven, or a clergy. Some people opt out to becoming spellcasters by making deals with evil demigods or similar beings, but obviously people dont condone this behavior, especially in heavily christian areas such as Laani. However, some places have banned the practice of magic due to safety reasons, most notably Mottenberg, which considers magic to be science defying, therefore not teaching it in any of their universities.

Western Continent

The western continent is much more hostile towards spellcasters, some countries, such as Nova Zemia, going as far as banning the practice of it. Witch hunts are still a thing there, and are a common way to make quick cash. Of course, people often frame innocents, mostly women, as spellcasters, getting money at the expense of someones death.

Southern Continent

Magic in the southern continent is much more primitive than in the east, but it also has no regulations at all. People are free to practice whatever they want, be it casual spellcasting, or necromancy. However, the sources to learn from are much more sparse, hence the primitive nature. Most spellcasters that are native to the southern continent were taught by their elders or joined a coven or druid circle of sorts. A lot of spellcasters from Brydenn have come here to practice their dark arts in semi-peace. Because while they no longer have to deal with the government, there's a bigger threat waiting to take them down. [insert a link to Lalim Lupa here once i do it]

By Type

Earth

Most people think of earth magic when they think of spellcasters. Its the most common kind of magic, so of course commonfolk usually expect it from casters. Stereotypically, those that cast earth magic are usually thought of as wise and old, although it's usually the other way around. Because of how common and relatively easy it is, its often younger, way more rowdy casters that use it.

In the south, especially in Lalim Lupa, Earth magic is considered divine. Mostly due to the fact a lot of people there worship Mother Earth or Rod, who are patrons of earth and life.

Body

In most parts of the world, theres a general stigma against those that excel in body magic. Its seen as strange and often disgusting. Its mostly because when they think of body magic, they think of the art of regrowing limbs and shapeshifting yourself into a werewolf, which is caused by lycanthropy, not just body magic. People of Brydenn often think that those who mainly practice body magic are always druids, or even witch doctors, while its far from the truth. Using body magic can also mean someone is a simple wizard, or even a sorcerer.

In the south, where people are very welcome to casters, theres a different view on it. While not considered as divine as earth magic is, body magic is just as important. The body is what lets us interact with this world, after all. Body magic, instead of being seen as disgusting, is seen as beautiful, even when it comes to the more painful transformation spells.

Mind

Most people that are aware of the danger that is mind magic are terrified of it. In all parts of the world it is treated basically the same, people are horrified by the idea of having their thoughts modified by someone else. Except, they dont think it could actually happen to them, fearing just the idea of it. Maybe their thoughts were modified already to think that.

Soul

Both spellcasters and non-spellcasters have a love-hate relationship with soul magic. While it is used to heal grievous wounds and help people, it can also be used to perform necromancy and other blasphemous acts. Despite that, any caster that can perform soul magic is usually very respected by people, no matter the part of the world you are in. The only places where they are despised are places where magic in general is a hated thing.

Necromancy and The Total Revival

While necromancy on its own is already a taboo practice, putting a soul back in someones body to truly revive them is considered blasphemous. Theres very few people in the world that know how to perform the ritual. The reason why its such a rare spell is because after death, a soul leaves the material world completely. To bring it back to the body, it has to be stolen from the Gods. It angers them. And if the Gods are angry, terrible things happen.

Soulseeing

While people despise revivals, they are often really eager to talk to people that have already died. Be it to learn a family secret, or to apologize to the deceased. Soulseeing is a practice of temporarily summoning a soul into the material world to talk to them. The soul physically never enters the realm, it speaks from the other plane of existence. A session of Soulseeing usually lasts just a few minutes, because its very tasking on the caster. The masters of Soulseeing are priestesses of Zhiva. Despite the name, the soul is usually never visible to the user, unless they are put in a trance to meet in their dreamscape.

Taint and Black Magic

Taint is a corrupted, unstable form of magic. Whenever a spell goes wrong, the magic that was inside of you might spontaneously turn into Taint. It also happens, whenever magic gets closed off, decaying over time. Its a slow process, with the inbetween state of it being referred to as black magic.

Taint

Its void black in color, visible only for a few seconds before dissolving back into the air. Nobody knows whether the Taint turns back into magic or not whenever that happens. Taint may also appear in blue crystal clusters with black, swirly veins all over them, which upon breaking reveal themselves to be actually transparent and containing trapped Taint inside. Taint crystals produce a low bass sound when you are in close proximity to them, some magitechnicians have used this fact to create instruments.

Touching pure Taint upon its release feels ice cold and scorching hot to the touch at the same time, feeling like time has stopped and accelerated beyond understanding simultaneously, like if you were just born and have died at the same moment. A person that has survived might feel like they are snapping in and out of reality for a few days, as well as having warped time perception and visions. Most of the time they just die immediately, in a very painful way. If you are subjected to a very large amount of Taint and survive it, you will most likely mutate. Mutations range from many things, from additional limbs, to actually useful perks, to turning into horrible monsters that dont even resemble what you once were. A lot of people end up removing their mutations to not be perceived as disgusting, however they often may grow back, or be too much of a risk to remove in the first place. The mutations vary depending on the source of Taint, sometimes appearing more bloody and monstrous, sometimes more alien. The rules on how that happens are not clear to anyone.

There have been attempts to harness Taint to cast spells, however all of them have been unsuccessful. Everyone who has attempted to do that is dead now.

Black Magic

Black magic is magic that is in the process of turning into Taint. Its almost nonexistent on the surface, because the only way to get it is to close magic off and let it pickle inside a place it cannot get out of, like musty air. However, its incredibly common in very deep caves and basements, hence why magic tends to be more unstable there. Unlike Taint, black magic can be harnessed, with most skilled of black magic spellcasters coming from Arcanarot.

Magical Areas

In some places, magic is more noticeable than in others. Those places are normally referred to as Magical Areas or Places of Magic. In those places, magic tends to be much stronger than usual, but is not more mutagenic, as long as the caster can withstand this amount of magic.

Places that are magical often slightly change the look of things, while not mutating them. The most common change is things turning their color to a slight shade of blue. The hair of people living in those areas often turns a blueish white. Sometimes even the skin can be affected, but its more noticeable on people that were already of fair skin. Darker skinned people may notice a shift in the hue of their skin, but wont turn a completely white color, unless a mutation occurs. Another common effect they cause is magical particles being actually visible in the air, and a slight warping of perception in general, such as changing the hue of things, even if they themselves werent actually changed by the magic. More serious distortions such as depth perception warping or a general twisting of vision are also common, but those usually occur when a person enters an area of black magic.

Anti-magic Areas

Theres also anti-magic areas, which are the opposite. They are abnormalities that cause magic to just stop working. All of it simply lingers there until it gets a chance to immediately do what it was supposed to do. Casting spells in those areas is very dangerous due to the fact that once the caster leaves the place, magic will perform its commands all at once. This makes the chance of mutations higher. Another reason why anti-magic areas are so dangerous is because magic can still turn into Taint there. This can make the area into a place of spontaneous mutations. If theres not enough space for magic left in the area, it can simply get pushed out of it, becoming violent for a while before dissolving into the air.

How magic interacts with the world

Magic can change its behavior when in contact with certain materials. When it comes to biomass, it usually just means mutations, however, things that are not alive arent at risk of that. Therefore, magic may show different behavior when in contact with them, which can be useful knowledge when crafting certain items.

Aluminum

Aluminum is known as a magic repellant, causing it to essentially bounce off of it. It is a common addition to armor to make it better against magic. However, this comes with downsides, because if a caster was to cast a spell while wearing aluminum coated armor, the magic could have a harder time escaping their body, therefore making the chances of mutation greater.

Bismuth

Bismuth is conductive to magic. Stronger catalysts often utilize bismuth to point it towards the muzzle of the weapon, or whatever would be the equivalent. Bismuth was also historically used to create the Star Piercer Lance, the weapon Varenmere used to slay Mar'Na'Sif

Brass

Brass behaves similarly to bismuth, however with a twist. Instead of just directing magic, it can also absorb it. Brass is sometimes used as an armor coating like aluminum, except instead of deflecting it, it absorbs it into itself to release the magic over time. Its a better choice for magic armor since it means a spellcaster wouldnt be at risk when wearing it, however brass is a much more expensive material, meaning brass coated or fully brass armor would be much more expensive. Its sometimes used as wiring as well, being a cheaper alternative to bismuth.

People who practice magic

There are naturally many different kinds of spellcasters in the world. They all perform the same actions of casting magic, but the way they learned it and cast it is what classifies them as one type or another. All people who use magic can be called spellcasters. casters or magic users.

Arcanagraphers

They are people who practice arcanagraphy. like magitechnicians, they arent traditional casters, but are indeed recognized as magic users. They tend to know more magic than magitechnicians, mostly because they have to be able to put the magic into their runes. They often know how to enchant things with ritual cast spells as well.

Clerics

They are religious spellcasters that usually practice soul magic. They often gain support from their deities to make their spells easier and safer to cast. Normally they are simply healers, however some excel in battle.

Druids

Druids are people who learn magic from elders after joining druid circles. They are similar to clerics, except they excel in body or earth magic. A druid, once joining a circle, cannot leave it. They are bound to worship the earth until the day they die, while guarding the secrets of their magic from outsiders.

Magitechnicians

Also known as mechromancers by some, the magitechnicians arent spellcasters per se. They are those who build catalysts and use them instead of traditional spellcasting. Despite that, they usually know minor spellcasting, even if just to fix their magic-fueled machinery. Some of the more well known magitechnicians include Evelynn Wolper

Sorcerers

Sorcerers are people who were born with magic abilities already in them. They usually find out about them during puberty, however some do it way earlier, or way later. Some dont find out about their abilities at all. Sorcerers have actual physical changes in their body, usually being born with magic-filled tumors in them. Due to the fact they have a much greater connection with their magic, they learn to cast it faster, however they rarely become as stable as a wizard would, risking heavy mutations every time they cast a spell. Sorcerers are the rarest kind of spellcaster around.

The tumors they are filled with, like actual tumors, can be malignant or benign. Malignant sorcerers have more magic in them, which spreads through their body over time, thus having a greater immunity to it, however that makes them much more reckless, and due to the nature of their tumors, once they do get overloaded with Taint, their mutations become much more severe. Benign sorcerers usually only get to control body magic, but their magic is more stable. Sorcerers have an ability to release Taint outside of their bodies before they mutate, sometimes mutating everything around them instead of themselves. Of course, that is not always the case, as they can still mutate if they get too much Taint in their system.

Witches

Witches are a mix of what wizards and druids do. They join covens to learn from each other, however instead of all of them worshipping the earth itself, they at most worship personal deities, usually minor ones. They normally excel in hexes, ritual casts, and enchants, as well as other things generally associated with witchcraft, minor potion brewing or even medicine.

Wizards

Wizards are the most common kind of spellcaster, taking time to learn magic from books and schools. Any person can become a wizard, hence why they are not as rare as other kinds of spellcasters. Due to their extensive research, wizards are usually much more knowledgeable on magic than just knowing how to channel it. They know how it works, and how to recognize the effects of a spell before it is even cast.

Different kinds of ‘mancers

There are also many subtypes of spellcasters. Like styles of spellcasting, there are also specializations. One wizard may be a master of illusions, while another might enjoy reviving the dead and committing atrocities. While there are many specializations, some of them dont have special terms, especially the very specific ones. Sometimes casters come up with their own terms to describe themselves too.

Aeromancers – Controlling the air.

Chemomancers – Controlling blood.

Chronomancy – Controlling time.

Cryomancers – Controlling ice and the cold.

Geomancers – Controlling the earth and soil.

Hydromancers – Controlling water.

Illusionists – Casting illusions.

Necromancers – Controlling the dead.

Psychomancers – Controlling the mind.

Pyromancers – Controlling fire.

Spell types

Spells can take on many forms, which changes the terms used to refer to them. The terminology depends on the way of casting as well as the severity of the spell. Spellcasters use the word incantation to refer to spells in general, but simply calling them spells is acceptable.

Rituals

Rituals are spells that need to be cast for over a minute, sometimes taking hours or even days to complete. They always require materials in order to work and the casters full attention. Usually, a ritual requires some sort of sigil to be drawn on the ground, although theres many rituals out there that do not need them.

Passive spells

Benedictions

The opposite of curses, benedictions are all spells that are supposed to shield people or regenerate them over time. They are sometimes referred to as blessings, but thats only the case when they are cast by a cleric or through other religious people. They can be either cantrips or spells.

Hexes

Hexes are quick curses that can be cast like cantrips. They usually last only up to a minute, but its usually enough to change the course of a battle. Hexes can slow an enemy down, or just make them feel very weak for just a few seconds.

Charms

Charms behave similarly to hexes, however they only modify the persons mind and can last for longer times.

Curses

Curses are only able to be ritual cast, and are harmful in nature. They are harder to get rid of than hexes and can last up to centuries. Weaker curses, while lasting for equally long times, are much easier to dispel, and most spellcasters would be able to do it.

Active spells

Cantrips

Cantrips are quick spells that require only a simple action to be performed in order to be cast. They are usually not very powerful, but have a very low magic usage, thus being the optimal solution when someone has to for example fight for a longer time.

Spells

While people refer to all incantations as spells, in the spellcasting world, spells are incantations that are more complex to cast than cantrips, but not complex enough to require a ritual. A spell can range from needing 6 seconds to be cast, to needing a minute, but never exceeding that. A spell can be cast by just one person, while rituals may need two and to be performed while stationary or moving only in a specific area.

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They are spells that need over a minute to be cast, but cannot be classified as rituals, due to the fact they are cast exactly like normal spells and do not need additional materials. This is how people refer to spells that are incredibly powerful and mutagenic, making the caster to be able to cast only one per day or even week. Casting them more can end with dire consequences.