The King Of The Moon 5116 Share Posted December 22, 2022 FOREWORD This piece is explicitly intended to serve as an objective, infallible and exhaustive record of the nine root power sources for magic in Lord of the Craft: the Canon Energies. An OOC resource. Primarily it is a spoiler heavy, pseudo-scientific and ultimately demystifying resource intended to inform players (not, by any stretch of the imagination, characters) of the building blocks of magic in our universe without esoteric fluff, that must be consistently referenced and drawn from in the submission of new magics, and when rewriting of old pieces. I would advise players with no interest in submitting magic lore of their own to avoid this piece. Especially those whose sense immersion hinges on a blur between their characters' and their personal, mystified understandings of the world. The last thing I want is to deprive anyone of their sense of whimsy, curiosity and - above all else fun - when it comes to roleplay involving the weird and wonderful magics of LoTC. In the same vein, I cannot stress enough that no character should hold a comprehensive understanding of what is written below. Whilst there are certainly aspects of the unerring explanations given below that many characters can and in some cases should have deep understands of (e.g. a necromancer understanding the nature of lifeforce), to artificially inject anything close to a complete explanation of this catalogue into roleplay would be tasteless, unrealistic and above all else metagaming. Secondarily this piece is also meant as a reference guide for Story Team members themselves, intended to supersede any conflicting opinions/ headcanon of individual team members to form a cohesive, infallible shared understanding of how magic works in our shared narrative. I highlight this so that it is understood for future submissions to our wealth of magic and world lore we might strive to curate and maintain a consistent logic to this ever expanding roleplay universe. Anima Otherwise known as ‘soul essence’, anima is the raw, unfiltered energy of the soul when separated from its host consciousness. Whilst on its own an unthinking and unfeeling form of energy, anima can be enchanted in abundant quantities to be given a new mind (or one composed of its former hosts’ memories). This never occurs without a magical prompt. Spoiler The main ‘purpose’ of anima in mortals and deities is to facilitate mana production. There is a direct correlation between how much anima a soul has and its magical potency. Mortal souls are ‘born’ with a set amount of anima that can never be expanded beyond its predetermined threshold without fraying its boundaries in undeath or outright evolving into a deific soul. Anima continually replenishes in life if ever stripped, though once dead and disembodied a mortal loses the ability to recover lost anima. ‘Greater souls’ as those found in descendants are as such due to higher quantities of anima. ‘Lesser souls’ as those found in the likes of wonks on musin are as such due to lower quantities of anima. Anima is not found in soulless creatures like voidal horrors or animii. Deific souls are able to harvest anima to supplement their own by adding dead and disembodied souls to their respective plane. This allows deities that gather large quantities to gradually become stronger. When one deity consumes another their anima may be inherited by the host. Custody of each new soul, regardless of how it is treated, always equates to a modicum more power added to a deity’s own swathes of Anima. Such collection does not necessarily equal absorption, merely ownership; a clay put to different uses by different divines. Iblees, for instance, has in the past tainted the souls of his servants (and their victims) to be hoarded in his Nexus. The Aspects enact similar marking on their followers, but by contrast allow the souls they gather to maintain their autonomy and freely roam the Fae Realm. In living worlds, anima has no physical manifestations unless coaxed out with magic. In the soulstream and deific worlds, anima flows as freely as the deity commanding said plane wishes. There is a finite amount of anima in the Veil, though it exists in such abundance between spread across the soulstream and various planes of existence that its supply is effectively endless. More anima cannot be created, nor can it easily be destroyed outside of being ejected into the Void itself. Such is only transferred between hosts, either naturally via the soulstream or at accelerated rates from direct influence. Examples of contemporary uses for anima: Sorvians are given life by enchanting a clay form with anima. Mystics are able to gather and apply anima in lesser measures called ‘soul fragments’. Soulbound golems’ runes are fueled by anima. Draconic beings are capable of utilising their anima in the production of dragonsflame, in the place of mana in the cases of nephilim and drakes whilst alongside mana in the cases of dragaar and drakaar. Maleus Magic spawned from Daemon of Ruin’s runaway realm - Moz Strimoza - is capable of irreparably corrupting anima into maleus. These feral powers run wild beyond even Iblees’ direct control, serving to warp greater mortal souls into an odd lesser mimicry of deific souls: Inferi, or 'demons'. These are detached from the soulstream to instead cycle through an apparatus known as ‘the Infernal Climb’. Spoiler In the High Hells large quantities of maleus take thinking, feeling fleshy physical forms known as inferi. Such transformation can be prompted in other realms by the magics of Moz Strimoza. Maleus is consumed by inferi either via physically eating other inferi or beings with greater souls, or by scorching other inferi or beings with greater souls with their malflame. Maleus can only be harvested from beings with anima. Inferi are capable of replenishing lost maleus akin to living mortals replenishing lost anima. When an inferi loses all of their anima (at the hands of a naztherak or another inferi) they are undone, redistributed through the Infernal Climb. As a variant form of anima, there is a finite amount of maleus which can never truly be destroyed, though more can be ‘made’ by perverting anima into the infernal climb. Examples of contemporary uses for maleus: Rakir is maleus coagulated into liquid form, which has alchemic applications as well as serving as a spellcasting tool for non-inferi wanting to mimic infernal magic (naztherak). Rakir is in many ways the demonic equivalent to mortal blood and can alternatively be processed for its value in genus rather than maleus. Maleus is consumed by inferi to aid in their evolution up the infernal climb. At the top of this ladder sits the Red Prince, a being in possession of vast measures of maleus rivalling the abundant anima many deities are composed of. Mana The root source of all magic, deific or mortal, mana is the fuel that underpins all forms of spellcasting. All living beings with sufficient anima or maleus possess mana, though the amounts vary depending on the nature of said being as well as how honed their mana pool is. That is to say, living beings are capable of exercising their mana akin to a muscle, allowing it to expand. Spoiler In descendants, the production of mana is facilitated by the anima in their souls. However, such is not a universal requirement for mana production. Voidal horrors for instance are known to possess vast quantities of mana without the need for a soul, due to their abundant supply of voidal energy. The same may also be said of atronachs. Dead and disembodied souls usually lose their mana pools or at least have them heavily diminished by the hammer of death, rendering magic out of the reach of most in the soulstream and many other afterlives. Typically some sort of substitute or reinvigorating force is required to attain magical potency again, such as a wealth of ectoplasm or the support of divine energies (as is the case for wizardly demons in Moz Strimoza). This often lingers amongst souls that have been resurrected without sufficient anima or souls that have had their anima repurposed. It is for this reason magic is seldom practised in the afterlife. The mana of mortals alone is seldom potent enough to achieve much in the way of spellcasting, and typically serves more as a tool with which to manipulate other energy sources rather than as the sole resource behind spellcasting. Where one’s hands might operate tools and tire from their labour, one’s mana is capable of purposing the canon energies to create magic. Mana is by nature entropic, and will destroy itself - dissipating into the air - if not presently held within a manapool or attached to some form of spell or enchantment. In theory there is an eventual threshold of how much mana can at once exist within the Veil, though no single being since the Creator has had sufficient anima to put such to the test. Examples of contemporary uses for mana: Without the aid of other energy sources, mana’s raw applications are found in the miscellaneous arts such as Housemagery and Bardmancy. Mana can be congealed into a liquid form, which can fuel spells alongside other alchemic applications. Deific Mana As a gaudy, emboldened variant of the same core force, the applications of mortal mana typically pale in comparison to that of the Veil’s gods. Due to their vastly superior reserves of anima, the mana of deities is far more potent and capable of enacting great feats without the aid of another resource. Such is why many lend their power to mortals, who in turn need only spend their own mana in anchoring their deity’s magic and channelling such through themselves in the form of spells. Spoiler The mana pool of a deity is intrinsically linked to the wealth of anima in their plane. Some deities are on their own stronger than others, though through the harvesting of additional anima (as explained earlier) a deity’s mana pool can be bloated, in realistic terms, indefinitely. When lent to their followers a mortal’s mana is spent not only in forming an anchor for it to breach their plane (in a much simpler fashion to voidal mages drawing from the arcana of the Void) but from the shear strain of wielding but a morsel of deific mana in spells. Examples of contemporary uses for deific mana: Druids, Templars and Paladins all source their spells from the deific mana pools of their respective Aenguls. The likes of Seers of Vaasek wield many of their spells through an intermediary entity known as an observer, which acts as a vessel for deific mana on their Daemon’s behalf. Arcana Otherwise known as voidal energy, arcana is a potent and malleable form of energy, and the only resource found beyond the boundaries of the Veil. Whilst it is an incredibly common misnomer for arcana to be mislabelled as “mana” by characters, factually speaking it is a distinct and separate force in the universe. Spoiler Filling all corners of the endless Void, voidal energy is a shapeless and immeasurable clay that can be evoked to mimic matter or intangibly purposed as forces in the hands of mages. Whilst arcana is for all intents and purposes infinite, the act of inviting it into the Veil is strenuous and requires a consistent anchor of mana to keep stable. Such is the usual defined limit of spellcasting; where there is no more mana to maintain the bridge between the site of a spell and the Void, arcana will diminish and spells will end. The sole exception to the above is found in breaches between the borders of the Veil and the Void where voidal energy can spill into a plane and become self-sustaining, and oft runs the risk of spreading exponentially. As the antithesis of Creation itself (the ‘nothing’ from which came the ‘something’), arcana is inherently corrosive and in abundance can warp forces and matter in a disorderly, often explosive fashion. Due to its ‘otherworldly’ nature, voidal energy is ever fleeting if not maintained by a mana anchor or ‘set loose’ in chaotic abundance. There are endless reserves of such beyond the Veil, though due to the aforementioned such is out of reach to most. Examples of contemporary uses for arcana: Arcana is a fundamental necessity for all voidal magic. In sites where the boundaries between Veil and Void have thinned, such as Voidal Tears, arcana becomes unstable and runs the risk of obliterating parts of Creation. Genus A volatile, formidable form of mana. Genus is the bloodborne energy found in the veins of beings with greater mortal and deific souls as well as fleshy beings of supernatural power (such as Voidal Horrors). Its red nature is that of volatility, wrath and above all else power. Like mana and many other energies it is sympathetic and can join with others to augment and/or warp them. Predominantly this is done with divine energies to create unique spells, usually shifting the emotional intent of a patron’s power to create enraged mimicries in the hands of crimson sorcerers. Spoiler Genus is invisible and esoteric to most, including the vast majority of deities. A hidden aspect of Creation that requires one to be ‘enlightened’ to its presence through a ritual process known as Awakening. When used by an awakened individual to scrawl the Material Alphabet in blood, sufficient quantities of genus have the potency to fold and reshape Creation itself. Such has the potential to form bridges between planes, sculpt the tangible and metaphysical to suit a sorcerer’s whims or even preserve one’s anima and physique perpetually. Genus is only found in the blood of the living or freshly dead, and corrodes steadily from the moment it is removed from these conditions. As a rule, genus is solely present in beings with mana and flesh, and varies in quantity depending on the magical potency of the individual. Examples of contemporary uses for genus:All applications of blood magic hinge on the expenditure of genus. In order to maintain themselves, vampiric creatures like siliti and corcitori are reliant on the consumption of genus-rich blood. Lifeforce Made manifest in organic material or unfurled as dense black smoke, lifeforce is the raw power underpinning the cycles of life and death amongst all fauna and flora within the Veil. Constantly rotating unseen through food chains and reproductive processes, lifeforce is typically locked inside of biomass. Its black nature is that of entropy, stagnation and depression when forced out of its host matter and made a vulnerable, festering vapour. Spoiler Like electricity to metal, aurum is conductive of lifeforce and disrupts its flow when pulled from its natural rhythms. Such is why golden weaponry is capable of harming all undead creatures, despite their usual lack of other sensations. When left to stagnate outside of natural processes, lifeforce typically spreads thin enough to remain unseen. When found in excess, though, such as in the Abyss - what was once the continent of Aegis before flooded by the abundant lifeforce unlocked from deep within the world by Iblees and Aeriel’s cataclysmic battle - lifeforce will remain as a thick mist that tries to penetrate any organic material it comes across. Most potent in flesh, this can cause cancerous growths in living creatures if allowed to seep unchecked, whilst corpses will find themselves re-animated irrespective of their will, pulling back to live as corporeal undead creatures. Lifeforce is only found in the material plane, where it exists in abundance; there is more lifeforce than there is flesh or plant matter capable of hosting it, initially stored in underground pockets called ‘the Banks’ that have since spilled out to flood the Nether and what remains of Aegis. Only works of organic flora and fauna native to the living world have lifeforce. Flesh is more abundant than plant matter, and where there is abundant anima, mana and sentience, there tends to then be more lifeforce in a host. That is to say a descendant’s lifeforce would immeasurably exceed that of a tree. Such is essential for their continued existence, unless otherwise preserved by another energy source which removes them from the natural cycles. It is not found in deities, nor in any other plane within the Veil. Lifeforce is also not inherently tied to souls, though can trigger a soul to return to its body if raised from the dead. Whilst abundant, there is still a finite amount of lifeforce, however. Lifeforce cannot be destroyed or created, merely moved around through natural cycles or magic. Examples of contemporary uses for lifeforce:Necromancy allows for the forceful extraction of lifeforce from fauna and flora, as well as the revival of dead bodies that would have otherwise lacked sufficient lifeforce to animate themselves. Druids are the inverse of necromancers and use their patrons' divine energy to manipulate mana / "passive soul essence" present instead of lifeforce. Lifeforce is usually reset to a natural balance or indirectly bolstered by their magic but it does not actually use it as an energy. Ectoplasm Lifeforce and mana in equal parts which have been enchanted to linger outside of a host body, forming a sludgy plasma that is typically ethereal though through magic can be made tangible. Ectoplasm is contingent on death, oftentimes spawned by wild magic where anima is unfurled at the end of a mortal life. Its pale nature is that of grief, sorrow, defeat and inevitable numbness commonly affiliated with water, and conducted by mundane rock into which it usually settles. Spoiler Ectoplasm can only be produced by disembodied dead souls, typically in the form of phantoms. As a resource, it is best utilised as a material that mimics the capabilities of flesh along with solids and liquids and commonly serves to anchor souls. No living mortal or deity is capable of producing ectoplasm in hand; such always a requires soul that has been abruptly halted or returned to the Elysian Wastes - a veil between the living world and the soulstream - to naturally and instinctively form a ‘body’ for a soul without one. When manifested in abundance ectoplasm can instead cling to material, thinning the boundaries between it and the soulstream as it becomes ‘hindered’. In such places the line separating ‘living’ and ‘dead’ is blurred, and disembodied souls are given tangibility. Reliant on pre-existing lifeforce and mana to produce, ectoplasm is a finite resource. The union between these energies is easily unfurled by lifeforce or mana disrupting materials like aurum or thanhium. Examples of contemporary uses for ectoplasm: The bodies of phantoms are naturally formed of ectoplasm, which can in turn sink into other materials to puppeteer them.By hosting geists within their still living bodies, mystics are capable of producing ectoplasm by proxy to then apply though a myriad of spells. Resonance Not inherently an ‘energy’ in its own right, resonance is a name given to unseen oscillations caused by the use of other energies in the material plane. Like ripples on a pond where a stone has been cast, resonance is the byproduct of magical and mundane forces. Spoiler Quantified as oscillations which radiate from the aforementioned energies, resonance can be recycled into mana or redirected through metaphysics into actions of equal or lesser force. Examples of contemporary uses for resonance:Practitioners of kani are capable of sensing and redirecting resonance through physical feats. Mana-sensitive materials like thanhium are often made volatile by abundant resonance, causing it to heat up or even explode. 22 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
squakhawk 7298 Share Posted December 22, 2022 This Lore has been accepted. Moved to Implemented Lore, it will be sorted to it's appropriate category soon. Please note that if this is playable lore, such as a magic or CA, you will need to write a guide for this piece. You will be contacted regarding the guide (or implementation if it isn’t needed) shortly. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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