[✓] The Aura of Mana

[Sybbyl0127 618]

"Female Wizard" By TikTikAwalCreative

 

     While many magics known to mortal-kind possess their own curious effects, between the tells of a cast and the aura of the magic which dwells within, the aura of mana is present but less-so seen. In recent decades, with the discovery of magics enacted only through the natural manipulation of mana has brought with it the auras of mana into a more prominent light.

 

     With this, there was more to see and study. Unique to every mage, an aura which they themselves could not choose but rather buds from their very soul blueprint, this tell of casting is like a signifier. A symbol of the person, which they would come to know on their own with time.

 

     An aura of mana is the unique tell of any mage who casts using their own mana, even with magics that create their own auras with their abilities, the aura of mana is the basis upon which they may build, as long as mana is used. Each person's aura is almost never like another. The aura can extend from the mage's body in an almost limitless amount of ways, but there are some constants that studious individuals have been able to identify among them. The aura will always be shown, regardless of what the mage may be wearing, as it seems impervious to layers of cloth, leather or metal alike. The aura displays only vague shapes, geometric in design, or a simplistic take on some sort of image. Alongside this, the aura can be a shape in and of itself as it reveals itself from the body during casting. 

 

     Auras can be multiples of color, or shifting shades of that same color, but even through extensive surveying it seems that no mage has ever been found to possess an aura which shifts between more than two to three completely different colors. While an aura can be a signifier of the mage's very personage, it does not always seem to be so visually. There have been accounts of mages whose personality did not at all coincide with the visage that their aura gave off, in the eyes of society. Though it is theorized by scholars that the aura does still stem from some form of personality brought up from the soul blueprint, as there have been isolated cases of mages whose aura changed after undergoing extreme lifechanging events.

 

     These mages who at some point in their lives, had in fact witnessed their aura change in shape, color or form after these events. The one constant was that they had all undergone something so emotionally intense or bizarre that their very personality or even morals had shifted. An absolute life changing event, that led them down a completely new path, which they would have never crossed beforehand on their own. Even then, the changes weren't terribly drastic. Many believe this phenomena seems to be connected to deeply rooted, fresh traumas, tragedies or arcs of redemption. It is these cases that have led those who study auras to believe that it is somehow connected to ones personality, even if the aura itself does not appear to match the mage's outward personality.

 

"Archmage Ultimate" by Benjamin Goutte

     

Redlines

- Auras remain as simply an aesthetic, and cannot be used to aid in either combat or rescue in any capacity.

- While auras can appear to give off light, they do not give off enough light to see your surroundings in even pitch black darkness. You can just barely see the aura itself in total darkness, but that light will touch nothing else.

- An aura can showcase an almost limitless array of simple shapes and designs within its form, however, there are some limitations. The aura cannot form fully complex shapes, but rather simplified versions. No patronus auras, which means no depictions of animals or creatues, and no dynamic movement of those shapes such as shadowy dancing figures or flowers that wiggle.

- Auras can showcase up to a limit of 3 different colors. Meaning, a mage's aura could shift between colors such as red, yellow and orange, or white gold and blue. Shifting between multiple shades of the same color [like pinks & reds, or dark forest green & mint] is generally considered 1 color.

- No rainbow auras

- A mage's aura can only change in small ways if the character goes through an extreme, personality or moral shifting happening. Think of it like a change of alignment in D&D. Going from their aura showcasing a crown of flowers around their head and wrists, to what looks like thorny vines instead. Or perhaps an aura which appears as dripping water to frozen mists.

- Auras can come from the entire body or specific parts, but it must always be something that is easily visible, and cannot be able to be hidden underneath clothing, armor, or any sort of covering. Auras can't be flat against the skin, as this would be coverable, and would require change in order to be visible when wearing clothing, it must be able to be seen at any time, covered or not.

- While auras do correlate with the characters personality, there is no rhyme or reason to what is actually displayed. Your average evil human overlord bent on destruction could still have an aura of flower petals and pink glitter, for instance, but if he undergoes a great change in his life the aura will change as his personality does.

 

Some examples of Auras and their accompanying text descriptions:

Spoiler

 

[] An aura that forms over the casting hand[s] palm. A dynamic flow of glittering gold flakes that behave like a very fine dust, flying away at slight movements.

The Mage lifts their hand, their aura of glittering gold flakes spilling upward from their palm and flowing through their fingers like a fine dust. As they cast, as though a breeze shifted the flakes which caught the light, they shifted upwards and briefly encircled the mage before fading away when the spell was finished.

 

[] An aura which forms over the casting hand[s] and weaves a crown around the head made out of glowing pink flowers which twist and rotate gently, fading in and out as each lasted only a few seconds alone, constantly being replaced anew by another.

The Mage focused for a few short moments, as they did so, pink light began to encircle the crown of their head. Weaving outward from the light were a multitude of ethereal petals which danced lightly in small rotating movements as they came together to form many flowers. The flowers encircled the mage's head like a flower crown, short lived individually, as they faded away one by one but were replaced by a new weaving set of petals which formed the crown. When the mage finished casting their spell, the petals drifted off as though gently blown away by a spot of wind.

 

[] The aura forms above the shoulders like a set of pauldrons, as well as the casting hand[s] if needed. Around the shoulders, bubbles slowly form out of the skin of the caster before detaching and floating upwards. The bubbles float upwards about a foot or so before popping, forming a blueish mist like aura that drifts and hangs in the air around the caster's shoulders.

The mage rolled their shoulders, as their mana collected together while they began to chant a light spell to cast. In this preparation, thin and opaque bubbles began to squeeze out of the mage's shoulders. They jiggled gently as they detached, floating upwards as their color slowly shifted from bright aqua blue to a dark sea blue. They floated upward for a mere few seconds, before they would pop, leaving a drifting mist which would hang lazily in the air around the mage's shoulders for a moment before slowly dissipating. When the spell was complete, all of the bubbles suddenly popped, with no new ones forming, and the hazy mist briefly covered the mage's shoulders before slowly fading away.

 

[] This aura forms from the biceps to the shoulder and around the back of the mage, creating a sort of collar or shoulder-mane of seafoam green misty flame. The flame shifts between sea green and bright blues as it moves in slow motion flickers, lapping at the air almost tiredly. It can also form in the caster's hand.

The mage lifts a hand towards an object across the room, gathering their mana as they did so. As the mana gathered and converted to active mana, small tongues of seafoam green flame began to form from their shoulders. After only a short moment, the small piece spread from the mage's right bicep up towards the shoulder, growing in size as it then reached across the mage's back and onto the other arm, forming an almost cape-like shape of the slow moving, licking flames. The same heatless flame formed in the palm of their hand, reaching upward between their fingers. It lapped at the air lazily, and as the mage's spell was complete, the flame slowly died out as though suffocated or deprived of fuel.

 

     As you can see, you can get quite creative with the style of your aura, even within the listed restrictions in the redlines.

 

 

 

 

 

"Wizard" by Quberon

 

Credits:
[ TaiwanNotChina for the original page ]

[ OhDeerLord & Sora for aura ideas ]

[JustMeMorgan 1000]

Something else to improve magic, I instantly give my support and I really do like the aesthetic elements given.

+1

[NLThomas 1066]

[Aelesh 319]

 

How does this rewrite expand upon what has already been accepted? So far as I can tell, all this does is fail to mention the time-worn "aura is mana-smoke" analogy, only talking about an "aura of mana" which is much less clear than the section in "States of Mana".

Edited March 15, 2021 by Hindsightmancy

[Sybbyl0127 618]

53 minutes ago, Hindsightmancy said:

 

How does this rewrite expand upon what has already been accepted? So far as I can tell, all this does is fail to mention the time-worn "aura is mana-smoke" analogy, only talking about an "aura of mana" which is much less clear than the section in "States of Mana".

 

I only intended for the time being to rewrite the page "Expanding Auras"

But I could merge the two and write out the states of mana as well, in theory.

I just think the States of Mana page has aged rather well all considering and it's quite easy to understand, so it doesnt super need one really.

 

The page on Auras was quite alright for the time it was written, matched with other stuff at that time, but now its rather vague in comparison to the amount of information we usually get on these things. As an ST I got a loooot of questions about auras, now that housemagery is very popular and thats the aura housemages use. So I wrote this page up to make a bunch of clarifications and expanding on some of the explanations, without actually changing how the Auras work

[Aelesh 319]

2 minutes ago, Sybbyl0127 said:

 

I only intended for the time being to rewrite the page "Expanding Auras"

But I could merge the two and write out the states of mana as well, in theory.

I just think the States of Mana page has aged rather well all considering and it's quite easy to understand, so it doesnt super need one really.

 

The page on Auras was quite alright for the time it was written, matched with other stuff at that time, but now its rather vague in comparison to the amount of information we usually get on these things. As an ST I got a loooot of questions about auras, now that housemagery is very popular and thats the aura housemages use. So I wrote this page up to make a bunch of clarifications and expanding on some of the explanations, without actually changing how the Auras work

 

I agree that the "States of Mana" page has aged well, yet, you have rewritten the section in it on auras. I think you may have missed the section on auras in the "States of Mana" page. Between the aura expansion and the original description in "States of Mana", everything you have written in your post is covered and accepted.

[IsaaKc 1225]

I think it's a good clarification piece, and it definitely informs people that their Aura doesn't have to be confined to their eyes glowing.

 

That being said, and this is moreso a suggestion if anything, I think it oughta be wise to add this bit in:

 

Blue: Calculatedness and logicality (Sometimes emotional coldness)

Purple: Mysteriousness

White: Benevolence, order and innocence.

Brown: Nurturing and caring

Yellow: Greed (Sometimes optimism)

Red: Dominance, power and control (Sometimes tyrannical natures)

Green: Harmony and balance (Sometimes vanity).

Black: Chaos and malevolence.

 

Although these were only canon at one point, it is pretty much the general consensus that people follow in RP. Of course, characters are allowed to deviate from this and create their own theses on Aura, but I do believe that inserting this bit as the most popular interpretation of Auras would be helpful to new and old Mages.

[Sybbyl0127 618]

3 minutes ago, Hindsightmancy said:

 

I agree that the "States of Mana" page has aged well, yet, you have rewritten the section in it on auras. I think you may have missed the section on auras in the "States of Mana" page. Between the aura expansion and the original description in "States of Mana", everything you have written in your post is covered and accepted.

 

1 minute ago, Isaacc said:

I think it's a good clarification piece, and it definitely informs people that their Aura doesn't have to be confined to their eyes glowing.

 

That being said, and this is moreso a suggestion if anything, I think it oughta be wise to add this bit in:

 

Blue: Calculatedness and logicality (Sometimes emotional coldness)

Purple: Mysteriousness

White: Benevolence, order and innocence.

Brown: Nurturing and caring

Yellow: Greed (Sometimes optimism)

Red: Dominance, power and control (Sometimes tyrannical natures)

Green: Harmony and balance (Sometimes vanity).

Black: Chaos and malevolence.

 

Although these were only canon at one point, it is pretty much the general consensus that people follow in RP. Of course, characters are allowed to deviate from this and create their own theses on Aura, but I do believe that inserting this bit as the most popular interpretation of Auras would be helpful to new and old Mages.

 

You guys make good points, I'll look over the States of Mana page and see if I need to make any clarifications or changes : )
If the two pages are really that connected, I might just do a clarification rewrite on the states of mana page too.

 

Rewrites don't have to actually change things, its only happening here because these pages are so old their writers are no longer here. If for instance the writer of the pages were around, I'd probably just ask them if we can chat and have them edit in the clarifications x3

 

But thank you for bringing this stuff up o/ I only kept the Expanding on Auras page up while I wrote this, I'll side by side them here in a bit to see if I can make it work out better ^_^

[Aelesh 319]

3 minutes ago, Sybbyl0127 said:

 

 

You guys make good points, I'll look over the States of Mana page and see if I need to make any clarifications or changes : )
If the two pages are really that connected, I might just do a clarification rewrite on the states of mana page too.

 

Rewrites don't have to actually change things, its only happening here because these pages are so old their writers are no longer here. If for instance the writer of the pages were around, I'd probably just ask them if we can chat and have them edit in the clarifications x3

 

But thank you for bringing this stuff up o/ I only kept the Expanding on Auras page up while I wrote this, I'll side by side them here in a bit to see if I can make it work out better ^_^

 

It might be easier to work out what clarifications you'd like to make, if any, run them by the ST, and then just reply to the original post with those clarifications (which I believe you can do as an ST). I remember some posts having clarifications edited in after they were posted, by ST responding with those clarifications in the thread.

[Sybbyl0127 618]

5 minutes ago, Hindsightmancy said:

 

It might be easier to work out what clarifications you'd like to make, if any, run them by the ST, and then just reply to the original post with those clarifications (which I believe you can do as an ST). I remember some posts having clarifications edited in after they were posted, by ST responding with those clarifications in the thread.

 

Aye that's what I was thinking about doing just now, I found the lines that conflict with one another.

The "expanding on auras" page did away with a small portion of the Aura section under the states of mana page, but back then forum lore wasn't super strictly maintained, so I imagine it just wasnt edited out.

 

These lines haven't been accurate since Expanding on Auras was accepted:
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.

 

So I can just run it by managers and see if I can repair it without needing to submit a full rewrite, after my post goes through a mag

 

In terms of the part about specific colors meaning specific things, that's totally fine to be kept as an in character idea, but it doesn't need to be on the post, since its not particularly accurate, but is entirely fine as a head canon concept.

[Nozgoth 2897]

On 3/15/2021 at 11:58 AM, Isaacc said:

I think it's a good clarification piece, and it definitely informs people that their Aura doesn't have to be confined to their eyes glowing.

 

That being said, and this is moreso a suggestion if anything, I think it oughta be wise to add this bit in:

 

Blue: Calculatedness and logicality (Sometimes emotional coldness)

Purple: Mysteriousness

White: Benevolence, order and innocence.

Brown: Nurturing and caring

Yellow: Greed (Sometimes optimism)

Red: Dominance, power and control (Sometimes tyrannical natures)

Green: Harmony and balance (Sometimes vanity).

Black: Chaos and malevolence.

 

Although these were only canon at one point, it is pretty much the general consensus that people follow in RP. Of course, characters are allowed to deviate from this and create their own theses on Aura, but I do believe that inserting this bit as the most popular interpretation of Auras would be helpful to new and old Mages.

 

no this should be strictly cultural, not concrete in my opinion.

[Glade 521]

22 minutes ago, Nozoa said:

 

no this should be strictly cultural, not concrete in my opinion.

 

Agreed, same crap as horoscopes

[Liv 484]

2 hours ago, Nozoa said:

 

no this should be strictly cultural, not concrete in my opinion.

 

It's always been cultured based on some random ass assigned mood things mages thought was 'cute', never confirmed lore

[Slorbin 1771]

I’m not a big fan of having auras be assigned to personalities, but I do like the concept of auras in general. They make for interesting and complex descriptions beyond casting fireball.

[Sybbyl0127 618]

On 3/23/2021 at 4:07 PM, Slorbin said:

I’m not a big fan of having auras be assigned to personalities, but I do like the concept of auras in general. They make for interesting and complex descriptions beyond casting fireball.

 

Yup, and that's fine ^_^ All that stuff about it being based on personalities is currently not canon, even before my expansion on it here. all my write does is clarify a lot of things that were left very vague, and adds a little freedom of creativity : )