Hiya again. Another thread, another load of drivel!
I will start the discussion on magic by posting a few documents on it, then there is PLENTY to tell about how magic will affect the game, for sure, indeedy!
OLLLD DOCUMENT ON MAGIC
THERE ARE MANY TYPES OF MAGIUC....I'm draining the older documnets that were written 9-10 yearsago, and finding some gems, albeit they have maybe evolved since then. Treeat this as about 60% gospel
WEIRDING
Weirding is the process of warping energy from the Ley lines through the body to achieve a ‘magical’ effect. The Weirder gathers the energy and formulates the way of dispersal in his mind, then unleashes it as he wishes. Unfortunately, the more energy he taps, the higher the chance is that he will be overcome by it himself.
The actuality of Ley use is that the mage siphons off Ley from his surroundings for one or any number of turns, stores the power, builds it up, then unleashes it into a matrix of thought that directs the power. He has to be able to see his target, as magic is a direct form of Ley manipulation. However, Ley is insubstantial and can cover distance like light, so he doesn’t have to be able to touch any target.
Tactically, a mage, or unit of mages, can be used like artillery or other support, but often can fight well themselves. An ability to manipulate Ley power doesn’t need vast training, although high Vividity levels show that a mage has pursued the art further than a mage who is ‘average’ but can fight well. The Moonchilde Ildiri can fight well, and have limited use of magic, but an Ildiri Masque is likely to have studied more, although they do reasonably well in combat.
Usually, individual mages do not have a great deal of power. They often gather in numbers to warp the Ley through their bodies, as this lesser concentration, strengthened by the group, lends itself to safer, more powerful displays of magic.
As with all Ley usage, the amount of power depends upon the actual area the Weirder is in. The categories are listed in the centre of the book – the pull-out chart section.
With the Ley, there are several areas of study, and not all races lend themselves towards more than a couple of schools. They tend to abhor certain usage, due to it’s nature and implementation. Some magic is of questionable merit, and the Samhain is ‘barred’ from any field of modern study. The mass of Smahaini were destroyed many moons ago, yet some Druids do still exist.
The Federation have a total ban on Magic, and most who show aptitude are found in the Penal Battalions after being incarcerated at a young age.
Of course, there are more forms than you will find here, but generally, they will reveal themselves if it’s deemed necessary in following rules publications.
VIVIDITY
Vividity is the measure of power a Weirder can contain. Should he come near or breach this level, he must take a test to see if the Ley destroys him, possibly affecting those around him. Losing sides in battles have been known to have individual fanatics commit suicide just to cause that extra bit of damage, or to cover a general retreat. Sadly, the mage(s) involved perish, but there are those that say ‘one life for many’.
Thus, a mage with High Vividity is able to contain the transition of more Ley. This does not necessarily reflect knowledge, but does limit power. Weirders who study longer do develop higher levels of Vividity, but it often does not preclude them training in other skills – they still have limited dissemination of knowledge.
Often the Weirder will stick with one form of Magic, but you do find masters of several schools.
NATURE OF MAGIC AND COLOURS MAGIC is built around colours, the twelve that course through the spectrum of the thirteenth colour - pure Ley....a grey pulsing thing, alive and destructive at one turn, creative at another - all things are absorbed into one, which is wild and virtually uncontrollable. It can BE commanded as such, but by avatars that are there from the birthing by the Mother Dragon before she becomes a Sun. Those ancient and massive creatures are mostly silent, but not very often does an entire mountain range move, and when it does, it's blindness causes massive destruction through no cognizant thought pattern - so vast are they that they can annihilate entire cities before they realize what they've done. Luckily, they sleep most of the time.
The Others can also use raw ley. These are the Avatars that exist in the Farstream, GODS to those who see themselves as mortal.
THE COLOURS OF LEY ARE EIGHTFOLD AND CONTAIN ALL WITHIN THEIR SINGULAR BOUNDS. READ AWAY....
Each Colour has a directive, a way, a living pulse. These have an antitheses, a colour that meets and involves mutual annihilation...or simply a soundless collapse of both forces.
WHITE (Negator BLACK)
White is the drive of life, of healing, or peace and tranquility. It can bring the dead back from the embrace of death, and it a feeling; a feeling of utter peace.
BLACK (Negator WHITE)
Black is death, entropy, the negator of any thing,living or not. It is used to take the dead and in some ways it can give life or at least peace to the dead.
COPPER (Negator PURPLE)
The bones of the Dragon, infused within the veins of metal, negator of magic, channeler of it path, the power to strengthen reality; in some ways it is the strongest of all against Abyss
BROWN (Negator GREEN)
Stasis, solidity, the skin and scales of the dragon, protector of it, slow, lumbering yet awesome in it's potential. It does not allow for growth, just the maintenance of what lies already.
YELLOW (Negator SILVER)
Yellow is Light, the substance of life, alongside the more base colours; all thing need light to thrive, but it has it's boundaries. It is one of the main attacking ley colours, as it generates much, thrives on the erosion of that which is dark.
ORANGE (Negator BLUE)
Orange is heat, fire, the energy of rebirth, of rampant destruction, of two sides contained by one, vital for the devastation of the old, and the path to rebirth of the devastated.
RED (Negator is MERCURY)
Red is the province of emotion, it both forms, treading a fine line between negative emotion and positive emotion. In it's strength it lies a weakness, for it is a major gateway to the Abyss.
PURPLE (Negator COPPER)
Purple is the colour of magic; it is the colour that channels and warps reality. Never a colour elves use, it has a vital undoing; the power to negate reality, it has ties to the abyss. It is the main colour used by Warpers and Abyssal powers.
GREEN (Negator BROWN)
Green is evolution, of adaptive change and the harnessing of nature and it's forceful nature in manipulation. It is growth and change.
BLUE (Negator Orange)
It is the power of waters, of Liquidity, of alteration and of peace. It has massive power over the Abyss, which it holds in status.
SILVER (Negator YELLOW)
Silver is the Colour of the Air, of deep magic, of the realm of the Ildiri - vital to all life, yet it resists and dampens the colour Yellow; light cannot pass through cloud, and it cannot give life through the ash of Orange - it's lesser antithesis.
MERCURY (negator RED)
Mercury is the application of movement, yet a movement that is indefinite, colour of those who hold no emotion; of many Avatars and it works in tandem with blue and Silver. Often known as Quicksilver, it governs movement AND resistance in any emotive way.
I HOPE THIS MAKES SENSE.
NOTE: will read through and expand this quite a bit later
WAYS TO MANIPULATE LEY
There are four types of Magic use; four ways to use magic.
Magic taps into the Ley; basically, the dragon has nerve centres, where ley crystals are the nerves, and the Dragon's Serotonin causes impulses from the brain (the brain is under the north polar ice cap - when they melt, he awakes and flies away). These impulses carry Ley across the whole planet, and can be tapped into by those who are aware of how to do so.
The Dwarves actually mine the Ley crystals, so cause nerve damage to areas of the Dragon's body, which is why the Elves went to war with them.
CHANNELING - This is the use of Ley the elves posses knowledge of. Ley is gathered into the bopdy, flows through it, is expelled in a 'spell', which causes whatever effect they wish, then is slowly borken down, gently released back into the Ley Stream. Thus, no damage is done to the Dragon, and the elves have a very powerful magic use, and a conscientious one. Elves have at least 3 colours available to them.
WEIRDING - The use of magic by humans in the main. Weirding allows the body to store up ley (known as vividity), then expel it as they wish or are able to, BUT the magic is not returned to the Dragon. It swirls within the body, unleashed and then unravels, with only aa small percentage returned; most is lost in the body and in the effect of the spell. More violent than Chenneling, it often has purely damaging colour use, as this is what the humans wish and study for. SHould too much Ley be absorbed, there is wracking - a flood of power beyond the mage's control, which can, at best, obliterate the mage, and, at worst, it can smash uncontrollably from the mage, to savavgely tear at those in 'range'
WARPING - Warping is the use of Weirding in a more crude an rapacious way, blended with AByssal power, which consumes and destroys the ley it is interwoven with. None of the ley is returned. The Warper is not left unscathed; much damage is done to them, physically and certainly spiritually. Blood Magic is interwoven with AByssal magic, and certainly falls under the remit of Warping, albeit a rather singualr, unique use of it.
Lastly, there is the WEAVING. Weaving magic is simple; it is the alteration of ley, reloaction of lay into areas that are in need of the power sent into them to bolster and repair damage done by others. The Ley is so closely interwoven with the passge of nearby nLey that no shortfall occurs. New crystals can be made, the power of avatars augmented and many forms of healing and cleansing of anything or anyone on the Dragon's body. It is rarely violent; the only damaging use lies in the weaving of this magic into magic used by weirders and warpers...their spells can be unravelled, so that the beneficial Ley is returned to the Dragon, and the flow of Weirding anmd Warping magic is sent back into the caster, normally (in Weirding) causing a torpor in the mage, or even destroying him should the spell be a powerful of violent one. With Warpers, the magic returns onto them and they are normally consumed by it, utterly destroyed by it. Only the Rhysthari are masters of Weaving, but there are others that use it, albeit not knowingly doing so. The Lily Temple Guards of CHo Tetsu, for example, use Ley this way, as do some amongst the elves. The City of Solace was created this way and is strongly woven with wards and defensive spells.
it kind of doesn't fit in here, but does, as it's mentioned above...
THE CITY OF SOLACE
APOLOGIES for typos
The City of Solace is a unique place in the vastness of the Dragon, and the reality beyond.
SOlace was made at the dawn of life on the Dragon. Many say the Rhysthari made it, or the Celestial Elves; others say it is simply something that escaped from the Moon, the Dragon's SOul and the land of the dead.
WHichever is true, if any theories are, the City draws people to it, leaving their lives of pain and despair behind. It appears in different places, moving even when it has dwellers within it's walls. It may be that those who suffer harshly are taken here to escape the states of mind and body that draw the CThonaes' attention and a possible breach, and it may be that the pain of many draw it to them as a more healthy and benelovent dimension. AGin, those are drawn there that seem to have a need the most, and they live there far beyond their lifespan would normally be.
There are simple facts..the city grows food within it's walls, enough to fdeed the entire populace, water is drawn from a waterfall that has never been climbed, there is no crime, no violence and people dwell there in a stasis of peace and tranquility. It has been besieged before now - several times by the Ghaurchlai, but has never fallen - it's walls are unbreachable, and those within are often gifted warriors, who withdraw from a life of violence.
Solace currently resides within the lands of the Bandit Kings. Itweaves a mist around itself that only those that have a need see through, unless magic is used to unveil it. In the Ghaurchlai wars, it have a pivotal role, as the dwellers protected the Void Knight Aden, supporting and protecting him, despite the horrors and deaths that they were consumed by.
WHy it has reappearsed within the lands of the Bandit Kings is unclear, but it seems that most within the Kingdom can see it - it just depends on who, and how many people decide to fade into it's walls and streets. The inhabitants will defend those that are suffering in the city's chosen realm,a nd it may be that there is some unknown role to play in the near future.