Principles of Arcane Mechanics
The world of Legere was full of magic. Magic was not something only heard of in the mystical legends of old. It was a tangible practice which most of the population used, whether it was in the form of magical items or not.
Magic was a potent gift given to the mortals of Legere by The Creator. It was a minute sliver of true divine power, given with the purpose of allowing mortals to experiment and build together. Each arcane path was a different, miniscule facet of the endless abilities of the King of Angels.
Archons #
Magic in Legere was all done through the manipulation of a subatomic particle called an archon. These archons could emulate other types of subatomic elementary particles to create certain effects. Most of the people on Legere could influence these particles through thought. However, certain people were born with a predisposed affinity for certain arcane paths. Other people (or even families) lacked the ability to use magic (although total magical impotence was quite rare).
Various forms of wildlife could also influence the arcane through their own unique ways.
The exact workings behind thoughts' influence over archons was complex to the point of being beyond the ability of human comprehension, but mages have devoted entire lifetimes to trial-and-erroring their way through the system to find out what was possible.
Energy derived through the influence of archons was called arcane energy.
Flavours #
Much like regular subatomic particles, archons had their own flavours (or species). While there was a finite set of flavours, the pool was so big that Legere was always discovering the presence of new ones. The discovery of new flavours was challenging, typically arising through accident or happenstance.
Not all flavours were created equal. Some of the most powerful arcane paths' archons could only be influenced by a small pool of genetically compatible individuals, making such magic purely hereditary. Each archon had different ways one had to think and actions one needed to perform in order to harness their power. Sometimes skill with one flavour could translate to a small amount of aptitude for another.
Fundamentals of Magic #
At its core, arcane power across Legere followed these standard rules. ==Note that this did not include holy or demonic (Evil) power, as those transcended all laws of physics through a type of power often simplified to the supernatural.==
- All magic is produced by converting archons into some form of matter or energy.
- Archons are primarily converted using the power of thought.
- There is a very expansive, but ultimately finite number of ways to manipulate each flavour of archon. Legere will never reach a point where its discovered them all though.
- Aptitude for controlling archons, much like most other skills, can be hereditary.
Manifestation #
Archons were found everywhere in nature, much like other elementary particles, so arcane power could be used pretty much anytime. That accessibility combined with most people's ability to think--and thereby interact with archons--allowed up the wielding of magic to be extremely widespread across Legere. The learning curve could be steep, but with enough time and dedication, anyone could become a mage.
Arcane Paths #
An arcane path was the study of a specific flavour of archon. If there was a flavour of archon holding unique interactions with one or more flavours, they were all grouped under one path and divided into sub-paths. This was mostly just technical jargon used to more accurately discuss arcane principles.
Interaction Limitations between Arcane Paths #
While archons gave way to many possibilities of magic, there was a clear line that determined the extent unrelated archons could influence each other.
Arcane Detection #
After training, most arcane casters developed the ability to sense the presence of all other archons. More dedication was required to learn how to distinguish between flavours of archons, but it was possible too. Depending on the path, archons might've only existed in certain areas, or they might've existed everywhere all the time and been freely plucked like strings.
If one couldn't distinguish between archon flavours, detecting archons could reveal a chaotic mesh of energy, making it impossible to tell if someone was casting magic or not. This was a strenuous process and required a ton of concentration, so it was very hard to utilize while doing much else.
Learning Multiple Paths #
It was possible and even common to learn more than one path at a time, although if the paths held similar ways of drawing power it was an exceedingly rare possibility to use both at the same time. Regardless, there were plenty of mages who dabbled in other paths at some point in their lives.
Arcane Interference #
There was no way for anything naturally occurring on Legere to steal or nullify control over a magical effect someone else was controlling if it was using a different archon.
Classifications of Arcane Practitioners #
Anyone who could cast magic was considered a caster. However, there was an extensive list of classifications that separated casual casters from veterans or professionals. Keep in mind that most paths held a combination of different types of magic, so casters were classified not by what they could do but what their training specialized them in. Identifying as a hybrid specialization was not uncommon. This was just jargon and often argued as semantics between different schools of thought, cultures, and regions.
Mage #
A mage was any caster that had honed his or her art to a high level, where their powers could influence the world around them in very significant ways. These were generally the people seen either graduating from an educational institute or training program, or those spent a lot of time cracking the secrets of arcane power on their own.
Wizard #
These were the doctorate graduates of mages. This title was for mages who exhibited a very deep knowledge of the arcane. They were typically much more powerful than normal mages, but what really mattered was the intellect and experience.