On the Powers that Be

[JustMeMorgan 2066]

 

On the Powers that Be

A scientific paper describing the process of producing magic by taking one through the layered understandings of the Material and Voidal planes as well as the veil and the stages in producing Arcane Magic.

 

Saneral / Cerulia Library / 266SA.

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Definitions

 

Spoiler

The Void - An immaterial space that obliterates or otherwise taints anything it comes across.

 

The Material - Our mortal plane of existence

 

The Veil - A barrier that separates ourself from the Void.

 

Mana Pool - innate magical surplus within sentient beings

 

Active Mana - applied mana no longer bound inside of something such as a pool or passively within a surface: this type of mana will quickly dissipate into nothingness.

 

Voidal Mana - magical power pulled from the Void into the material. This type of mana will quickly obliterate should it be disconnected from a facet back to the void.

 

Arcane Magic - Voidal Mana moulded through force of will into a desired shape or characteristic.

 

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It is the common understanding of magus that the Void is a plane beyond our own that is by definition incomprehensible, the most common phrase is that it is ‘everything and nothing at the same time.’ Paradoxical as it is, it is often proven true: for the Void is a plane of empty vistas brimming with potential of things that could be, it is in this anarchic realm that mages and more potent entities draw power from as to produce what we on the material realm see as magic. I should also shed some light onto those described as ‘Voidal Horrors’, reckless creations that somehow exist in the paradoxical realm. I believe them to be sputtering anomalies of the Void: where the powers within shift and wrangle into a shape considered ‘sentient’ or perhaps an extension of the Void’s desire to obliterate and only given shape and ‘realisation’ when they close towards the Veil or in the unfortunate case, into the material plane.

 

The Veil itself is something worth mentioning: the timely ward, the barrier from oblivion. I believe the Veil to be this invisible layer. Unfortunately there is no diagram that may express such an idea, so I shall describe it thus: the Material Plane and Void are not separate entities in different sections of space, but rather an overlapping set of dimensions: it is why a mage can place an anchor anywhere, it does not allow one to draw from some far off plane, but rather open a pinhole between the spaces. The veil is this dimensional barrier between these two layers of the same existence: it is why we do not see Voidal rifts in the stars above, but rather somewhere in the ground or material space around us: Voidal Horrors do not fall from the sky.

 

To open the discussion of mages, it is then in that essence that we should describe the Mana Pool. Mana itself has always been a deeply discussed topic, it is my understanding that sentient creatures all hold some sort of pool, furthermore in various texts I am led to believe that what separates us from the aenguldaemonic is simply the capacity of our mana pool, though what these are governed by is not particularly understood, I would suggest the size of an individual or perhaps the Golden Pools as the Mali’aheral had bathed in may lay an effect although I may be wrong in this regard. Nevertheless to avoid digression, the Mana Pool is the innate storage of surplus mana that with practice and training, like any limb may be exercised and used, typically through one’s mind.

 

It is therefore we move to active mana, that is, mana no longer bound within the safe confines of a receptacle but being exercised by an individual or entity for some use: housemagery, deific magics and perhaps druidism too all use it, the more renowned use of Active Mana is that of Arcane Magic, typically denoted as ‘Voidal Magic.’

Arcane Magic utilises active mana by establishing a mana anchor in material space: for example a mage may establish one in front of an outstretched palm. Typically when teaching my students I tell them to feel themself reaching ‘into’ the void, to pull something out: I suppose in this analogy then, what I am asking them to do is use this mana anchor to ‘punch’ a tiny pinhole between Material and Voidal space, and draw a desired object out. This therefore leads us to Voidal Mana.

 

Voidal Mana then is the raw unmoulded form of whatever potential resides within the Void, in regards to Arcane Magic this is seen by producing a desired form of spell, or causing a specific reconfiguration or imbuement into objects such as in transfigurationists (perhaps by obliterating or warping existing structures using the anarchic effects of the Void). In a much more ravaging form, this can be seen in Voidal Taint: such seen by the Chromaweave’s location, or much more distantly in lands ravaged by the Horror described as the ‘Mother.’ Unmoulded Voidal Mana is much more vicious to the Material plane, and may outright obliterate what it comes across, or warp it to something unrecognisable, it is in that thankfulness that most mages are incapable of bringing forth this rampant mana in common magic, as such an anarchic energy is so incomprehensible that one cannot ‘will’ it through into existence - Voidal Mana in its more destructive state can only be found in breaches, mages have to ‘mould’ it into something to be capable of summoning it.

 

As one may see there are still many questions left unanswered: what discerns the size of a Mana pool? Is it possible to enhance one’s Mana pool? Is the Void occupying the same space or somewhere visible? Where do aenguldaemonic planes truly reside? Is it possible for a mage to spew uncontrolled Voidal Mana? What is the veil made of?

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Authored for the Library of Cerulia, by Saneral

 

[Venomous_Pup 2978]

A Chaos Witch looked over the paper provided to her with a dulled stare. "They lack the wondrous imagination you possess, don't they?" she spoke after some minutes as if to another, if their words would've been heard, as a finger trails over the mention of a lacking diagram. "But do they deserve to know?" she questions, as she rummages through her things, looking for a book she had once written on Aevos, clutched firmly in her hands.