Flow
What is Flow?
Flow is what the magic wielding folk of Aellorah call the energy that is scattered into the planet's atmosphere by the Wellsprings. It is similar to a gas, filling the planet, penetrating some, but not all materials. Flow is the resource by which mortals are able to use magic. When a magic user casts a spell, they begin to "direct" the Flow, which requires that they move their hands and bodies about to gather it, and then they charge the Flow to act as the resource they use to make contact with The Aura to produce a magical effect. However, mortals cannot do this as often as they want -- they are limited by a mechanism known as a Flow Lock, put in place by Aellor, which limits how much Flow they are able to charge each day.
States of Flow
Flow takes four forms in Aellorah: Static, Charged, Animate, and Spectral. The first two states, static and charged, are what spellcasters interact with to produce spells. The second two are related to the essence that makes up mortal life, and the essence that makes up spirits.
Static Flow
Static Flow is the form of Flow that is emitted by the Wellsprings. Without intervention from a spellcaster or a Wellspring Anomaly, static Flow does nothing. It simply suffuses the atmosphere. It can penetrate many materials, though denser materials give some small amount of resistance. Thus, caves and underground places tend to have less Flow present than the surface.
However, there are materials that interact with static Flow in unexpected ways, such as Eskite, Shadesteel, and Zegrumite. There are other magical metals and materials which have odd behavior when they interact with static Flow, but these are the most notable examples.
Additionally, in areas where magic doesn't see as much use, such as the Rathmore Empire of Myr, static Flow can eventually become saturated to the point where charging that Flow can produce unintended, chaotic side effects. This is similar to what would happen if you were to cast a spell within the Fringe of a Wellspring, as the Flow saturation there is so incredibly volatile, that even the most basic of spells can cause a Wellspring surge, which is like a Wellspring eruption, but much smaller scale.
Charged Flow
Charged Flow is the state of Flow when a spellcaster or anomaly "activates" the Flow, allowing The Aura to respond to the commands of a spellcaster or anomaly to produce an effect. The Aura itself does not need Flow of any kind to produce magic -- it was a mechanism created by Aellor to give mortals limitations on their usage of magic to prevent abuse.
Charged Flow can be dangerous because not only does it manifest magical effects, but it can trigger a Flow Cascade. A Flow Cascade is when Flow becomes supercharged to the point of instability, at which point it causes a chain reaction that briefly charges all Flow around the area the spell was manifested, spreading outward like a shockwave. Sometimes, this can be harmless -- however, the danger lies when a Flow Cascade spreads far enough to reach the Maelstrom of a Wellspring. When this happens, it causes a Wellspring eruption. This phenomenon was discovered by the Sorcerer's Cabal at the end of the Reckoning period when researchers discovered a correlation between the dates of major battles between the Sorcerer's Cabal and the Obsidian Cloister, and Wellspring eruptions which happened either the same day or within a day or two later. The more saturated Flow is when you charge it, the further it will spread if a Flow Cascade occurs. Saturated static Flow will also require much less power to become supercharged and produce a Flow Cascade.
Charged Flow also has a number of special interactions with certain magical materials, most notably, Eskite.
Animate Flow
Animate Flow is the Flow that resides within the bodies of mortals and acts as their life essence. However, not all mortals are made equal in this regard. The amount of animate Flow in a mortal's body is directly tied to their lifespan, which is why the Elves have the highest amount of animate Flow within them. This makes them a prime target for creatures that feed on animate Flow, such as vampires. This is why vampires are so much more common in Arak.Creatures who feed on this animate Flow deplete the reserve within a mortal's body, which causes the mortal to rapidly age, among other ill side effects.
There are only a handful of materials known to interact with animate Flow, the most obvious one being Akronite, which feeds on animate Flow of nearby creatures not unlike a vampire.
Spectral Flow
The final state of Flow, spectral Flow, is what composes the essence of spirits that reside in the Ethereal plane. When a mortal dies, what remains of their animate Flow is converted to spectral Flow. In most cases, this would never be noticed, as most end up moving on to the afterlife. However, there are occasionally those who choose to remain behind. The conversion of animate to spectral Flow is a one-way conversion, as resurrection is not possible in Aellorah. It is also a safeguard mechanism, as only spectral Flow can manifest in the planes in which the afterlife exists, preventing the living from traveling there.
There are some creatures that are capable of feeding on spectral Flow. There are also mortals capable of interacting with spectral Flow, such as the Soulbinder, who is able to capture spectral Flow within a Soulstone, allowing them to imprison and command spirits.
Spirits were not meant to exist on the material plane, and unfortunately, if a spirit remains behind on Aellorah for too long, they eventually become corrupted, and some become hostile towards mortals. This is a side effect of the way spectral Flow interacts with charged Flow. As a spirit wanders Aellorah, they come into contact with charged Flow from Wellspring anomalies, among other things. When this happens, it has an unintended side effect of damaging the consciousness and "essence" of who the person was once. Over time, this can cause the spirit to forget much of who it was, and eventually become a being of pure instinct. This is why those who encounter spirits report that the spirits often do not recognize them, even if they were close in life. Once nothing remains of the person's consciousness and "essence", it begins to inflict madness, which causes the spirits to lash out against mortals.
Flow Saturation
As mentioned above, when Flow goes unused, and a particular region has already filled with Flow, it begins to become more saturated, or more dense. The more Flow there is in a particular region, the more unstable it becomes when charged by a magic user. This can make the results of casting a spell in some areas unpredictable.
The Dwarves, being masters of magic, discovered this long ago, and with the advent of Runetech, inventions like the Flow Condenser and eventually the Flow Generator made it possible to mitigate the problems of Flow saturation. It also made it possible to prevent Flow Cascades entirely, as if there is no Flow for a Flow Cascade to propagate to, it can never reach a Wellspring to cause an eruption. However, the Dwarves have been resolute in their belief that Runetech should never leave Reshyk. Due to these devices, the level of static Flow present in Reshyk is practically nothing. Because of this, Reshyk has not seen a Wellspring eruption in nearly 1,000 years.
Arak has what could be considered a "normal" saturation of Flow, as there is no shortage of spellcasters there who regularly consume it, and adhere to the cautions of the Sorcerer's Cabal following the Flow Accords at the end of the Reckoning period, which sought to mitigate the frequency of Wellspring eruptions by reducing how often powerful magics are utilized so that Flow does not become charged enough to create a Flow Cascade. It is highly unlikely for a spellcaster to produce a Wellspring surge in Arak unless they are within the Fringe of a Wellspring.
Gothir also has a somewhat normal level of Flow, as even though there has been a mass exodus of the native Ettinor following the Spellscar anomaly, the Spellscar Crusade has to make frequent usage of magic to combat the ruthless Fel Orcs.
The highest levels of Flow can be found in Myr, specifically towards the northern half of the continent, as the Rathmore Empire's policy of criminalizing magic usage has resulted in very little magic being used there. As a result, northern Myr can have unpredictable Wellspring surges when using even very simple spells.
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