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[✓] The States of Mana


Mephistophelian
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The States of Mana

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Passive:

This is found everywhere, in everything. Souls produce passive mana, too (every sort of soul, including those of dogs, liches and every other soul-holder). Souls can only directly manipulate passive mana produced by themselves. If passive mana is produced by a soul, that soul can convert it into active mana. Thusly, a ‘mana pool’ is how much passive mana a soul has produced. Typically, a soul never uses its passive mana pool, and the excess passive mana seeps away as aura. Passive mana is not found on one’s physical person, and is instead found around their soul. When passive mana is produced by a soul, it is specific to that soul, and thus when it seeps to become aura or is converted to active mana and burned, it has a specific aura colour. All soul-bearing individuals require passive mana to survive, and thus converting all of one’s passive mana into active mana results in death (the death occurs due to being unable to do anything, be it breath, think or move). Passive mana is capable of being manipulated or changed, though this is an ability that only magics can do. Shade magic, for example, may convert passive mana into Amber, whilst alteration may manipulate passive mana and alter the properties of objects.

 

Active:

This is passive mana that has been given a task, and is thus active. All magics use active mana, and active mana is used to fuel all sorts of magical actions. Thanhium produces active mana when converting heat into mana, explaining why it is so useful. Active mana may not be reverted to passive mana, and burns away (instead of seeping away, like passive mana does) into aura when used or when in excess. Active mana may be stored in gems, which prevent it from burning away as quickly, effectively powering enchantments. Active mana gems, however, may run out, though this would take many centuries to occur. Anti-magic works by tearing active mana away from spells and other forms of magic and disposing it into the void, effectively nullifying the spells. Wards work and abjurations in a similar way, though one must understand exactly how the active mana is applied in order to ward a spell. The active mana is then redirected away from the purpose of fueling the spell, thus causing the spell to vanish.

 

Aura:

The ‘smoke’ of mana. Passive mana slowly degrades to become aura if it is in excess (such as when it is in a soul that produces lots of passive mana, such as a mage’s soul). Active mana, when used to perform actions, is spent and burned, becoming aura. This is why a mage’s aura is most visible when they perform magic, yet this does not mean it is always visible or that is must be visible when magic is cast. In fact, it is usually invisible, but the use of magic makes it more likely to be in large enough quantities to be visible. Aura can be considered the ‘smoke’ if mana being used is the ‘fire’. If aura forms in vast quantities, the colour it takes is entirely dependent on the Mage producing it, which is dependent on the active mana and thus dependent on the passive mana and finally the soul. This means that the aura colour of an individual is a good representation of their base character. Aura colour does not change under typical circumstances, however, and is a constant throughout one's life unless great change happens to them or their soul (such as becoming a Shade or binding one's soul to a soul tree). The colour of aura can mean many things, where blue could mean anything from a cool, analytical mind to a cruel, heartless one, or red meaning bravery or wrath. It is usually very difficult to be sure of a person's nature solely by their aura. Auras are typically monotone, though magical alterations to one's soul may cause unique effects to appear. This only occurs when a soul has been warped to such a level that it can no longer be considered a descendant soul.

 

Genus:

Genus is a form of dormant, powerful mana that is found in the blood of all creatures capable of magic. Through forbidden, ancient techniques, Blood Mages have found a way to manipulate this form of mana and use it to empower their magics. When manipulated, it may be used in a similar way to active mana, albeit it is far more powerful. Because it is not naturally under the domain of the Blood Mage’s soul, it is far more difficult to control or manipulate. Genus does not count as active mana; it is merely Genus. Genus does require active mana to manipulate, however.

 

Amber:

A corrupted form of passive mana that has become an entirely new state of its own, this is produced by the Shade Gem and Daeva and used by Shades to create a great manner of things. It is incredibly versatile, capable of changing temperature, density, state and many other physical and chemical properties whilst still remaining the same substance. Only those with a corrupted, Shade-imbued soul may manipulate it, but even then the process requires active mana. Amber naturally deteriorates into a flaking, black aura, though this can take anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours.

 

Ectoplasm:

A mixture of lifeforce and active mana, this substance glows an eerie, deathly colour and is found in all types of ghosts and spectral beings. It is typically manipulated by Mystics and Wights to perform their magic of mysticism. Mixed and made by the unnatural souls of ghosts and the spectral dead, this form of mana is the only one which blends with lifeforce, and thus its presence is largely unnatural and it is almost never found in ordinary life forms. The binding of lifeforce and active mana makes both useless to use, where the lifeforce cannot be manipulated by necromancer  sand the active mana may not be used for magic. It is for this reason that, to manipulate ectoplasm, queerly enough, one requires active mana.

 

Credits:

- Mephistophelian: Writing
- Bokratz/Phil: Feedback

- Swgrclan: Feedback

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Just now, The Pink Lion said:

Er, is this not already accepted? 

 

It's commonly accepted but there is no lore for it so most people make up their own explanations for it. This is something everyone can refer to. And you'd be surprised how much debating went on with some people before we all agreed on one form of applying this.

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Just now, Mephistophelian said:

 

It's commonly accepted but there is no lore for it so most people make up their own explanations for it. This is something everyone can refer to. And you'd be surprised how much debating went on with some people before we all agreed on one form of applying this.

Oh, huh. I could have sworn one of Kala's old lore pieces described all of this (aside from Genus). That aside, if that piece is no longer around then this is a fine alternative.

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I don't really know why this needs to be defined that closely. Also, I think your description of how active mana works contradicts the way Thanhium works. And the way you've described aura seems to suggest there are many situations where one's aura is visible, which is almost never true, even when casting magic unless you're real close to the person.

 

In the end, I feel like this definition will just lead to a lot of contradictions over time (like the one I thought up above) and will cause more problems than benefits.

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And yet another beautiful piece written by Meph. Looks good, will be great to have things clarified for people, in my opinion. 

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You seem to have forgotten that lifeforce is mana, Hugo. 

All jokes aside, I believe it's long overdue that we have a permanent reference to something already practically in use. +1

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6 minutes ago, ski_king3 said:

I don't really know why this needs to be defined that closely. Also, I think your description of how active mana works contradicts the way Thanhium works. And the way you've described aura seems to suggest there are many situations where one's aura is visible, which is almost never true, even when casting magic unless you're real close to the person.

 

In the end, I feel like this definition will just lead to a lot of contradictions over time (like the one I thought up above) and will cause more problems than benefits.

 

You're out to get me, Ski!1!!

First off, how does this contradict how Thanhium works? I wrote the latest lore for the way thanhium works (and that involves a lot of mana-related stuff) and it functions perfectly. Unless I don't understand my own lore or you are referring to the other thanhium lore (which doesn't explain mana-interaction as much as my lore does)?

Second, I realise I did not mention that aura isn't always visible. Thanks for pointing that out :)

Finally, what other contradictions are you thinking up?

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7 minutes ago, Anawkin said:

You seem to have forgotten that lifeforce is mana, Hugo. 

All jokes aside, I believe it's long overdue that we have a permanent reference to something already practically in use. +1

 

maxresdefault.jpg

 

This is one of the things that pops up on Google images if you search up 'lifeforce is mana'.

His face is pretty similar to mine when I read the phrase 'lifeforce is mana' so there's that.

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Did Thanhium go through a rewrite or something? Regardless, doesn't Thanhium store mana inside of it? Cuz that's how the Thanhium bombs that were used in the past functioned. I feel like that's a bit messy with the passive and active mana bits. But maybe that was changed, or maybe I'm crazy.

 

And I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but after being an LM for a year I've found that most attempts to either define something or redo it leads to lots of contradictions that come forth periodically over the course of many months, particularly fairly innocuous things that don't need a lot of definition.

 

And yah I'm out to get you because I hate you #sorrynotsorry

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Can we further elaborate on the science of Genus? Namely its nature of being what's essentially a covalent bond between life-force and mana particles? 

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No. I like you, but magic has already been ruined by the nature of explanation as it is. Every single quirk that goes into 'magic' does not need concrete lore behind it, lest we lose the definition of 'magic' and replace it with streamline science.

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Hugo did you look into Moots previous lore/guide on 'mana-anchors' and how this may affect it? I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on this. 

bae1dd6a9111eafbfe672a792d7689a1.png

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6 hours ago, ski_king3 said:

Did Thanhium go through a rewrite or something? Regardless, doesn't Thanhium store mana inside of it? Cuz that's how the Thanhium bombs that were used in the past functioned. I feel like that's a bit messy with the passive and active mana bits. But maybe that was changed, or maybe I'm crazy.

 

And I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but after being an LM for a year I've found that most attempts to either define something or redo it leads to lots of contradictions that come forth periodically over the course of many months, particularly fairly innocuous things that don't need a lot of definition.

 

And yah I'm out to get you because I hate you #sorrynotsorry

 

Thanhium produces active mana at a constant rate. That has always been the case.

Besides, this is a broad enough definition that it merely helps others build lore on top of it. I've thought it through a lot and I can't find problems. If you can, I'd be pretty surprised!

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6 hours ago, Aerial said:

Can we further elaborate on the science of Genus? Namely its nature of being what's essentially a covalent bond between life-force and mana particles? 

 

I talked to Swgr about this, actually. We agreed it is better not to go too in depth and explain it to that level. Besides, blood no longer moderates how lifeforce is spread through a body - the yoresigil does.

 

4 hours ago, Creeperhelix1337 said:

No. I like you, but magic has already been ruined by the nature of explanation as it is. Every single quirk that goes into 'magic' does not need concrete lore behind it, lest we lose the definition of 'magic' and replace it with streamline science.

 

I politely disagree. I find that defining this (though it is so loose I hesitate to call it 'defining') will only help with clarifying future lore. What if you want to make a lore that is an anti-magic (I'll use an already existing example)? Well, most people said that anti-magic affects active mana. Neat, so what is active mana? Here is where people got confused. Some people believed active mana was produced by souls and simply lay there, burning away, until it was used. Other people thought spells were fuelled wth passive mana and it only became active mana after the spell was fuelled (a bit like how active mana burns to become aura). That would make active-mana affecting anti-magic pretty useless, eh? But that's the problem! Whilst not everyone was that off, some people thought different things and would thus be deviating from what is actually accepted.

 

What I'm doing is putting accepted, commonly referred to lore into words. Whilst you may dislike this, this is what everyone is already RPing (as Katari/PinkLion said), and if they aren't RPijg it they are often breaking a few redlined of their magic. Wouldn't you rather I write down what is typically accepted so people can refer to it without making mistakes than leaving it unwritten and letting lore writers and mages alike get frustrated over the lack of definition? Previously, people who would want to submit lore involving the origin of creation wouldn't be able to because Mathic was hidden. They'd stumble around in the dark constantly getting their lore denied. I had the same thought about mana. What if someone wants to submit a magic lore that goes against how mana is commonly accepted to work? Do we accept it even though it is completely outlandish?

 

1 hour ago, Wendigo said:

Hugo did you look into Moots previous lore/guide on 'mana-anchors' and how this may affect it? I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on this. 

bae1dd6a9111eafbfe672a792d7689a1.png

From Moot's old lore, he explained mana anchors as the point where you focus your mana to provide for a spell. In this case, none of that has changed. You are still providing your mana, and the wards simply stop this mana from reaching the point you are providing it at (I.e. It sends the active mana someplace else). The ''mana-anchor" is just a nice way to describe this, really.

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