Mana Arts
The Mana Arts are a form of sorcery that generally involves manipulation of magical power without converting it or using it to manipulate another aspect of nature. It is a generally instinctual form of magic capable by even non intelligent creatures.
By forming magic power into a concentrated form one can bestow upon it the capability to produce an effect in the physical world. The most basic of these effects involve the creation of artificial lights.
The principles of manipulating raw magic power go beyond small flashlights. Instinctive defense mechanisms manifest mana arts in the forms of shots and bolts of force, as well as the formations of barriers to block such attacks. The difference lies in the simplicity of such manifestations; the manipulation of raw mana requires little knowledge pertaining to its interactions with natural forces and can be thus tapped nearly instinctively.
Effect
The techniques that are used in Mana Arts are, unsurprisingly called arts. Arts are categorized by their main function.
Attack
Attack Arts mainly deal damage to creatures and objects Shooting(Aimed): Projectile targeted before firing, or accelerated per-existing material
(Guided): Freely controlled projectiles during its course to target
Bombardment: Aimed attack firing a cone/bundled stream or multiple projectiles concentrated at a single target
Melee: User strikes either directly with magic construct or via physical enhancement.
Area of Effect: Hits multiple targets within a certain area
Defense
Defense Arts are intended to protect the user and possibly others Barrier: Erect defensive barriers usually in spherical or hemispherical shape. They can defend in all directions, but are not suited to repeated/combination attacks. They work by absorbing the power of an attack in order to reduce damage. Shield: This type describes spells that generate powerful shields. In contrast to barrier type skills, shield type spells can only guard in one direction, but are much more difficult to penetrate. Also unlike a barrier type defense, these skills defend by repelling the energy driven against them. Generate: Opposing energy is generated radially outwards from the user to a specific range.Capture
These Arts are intended to control or stop the movement of creatures and objects around the user. Caging: surrounding object with barriers or otherwise restrict their actions, so they can move inside but have no way getting out. Binding: surrounding object by robes/chains/lines that keep them confined so they can’t move at all, or at best wiggle slightly. Disabling: disabling the target by preventing their bodies/nerves from reacting. Anchoring: object is locked/immobilized on certain spot but can otherwise act.Support
Various arts that help user and their allies or hinder their foes Restorative: cleaning, recovery from fatigue, or enhancing effects of other magic Interference: weaken or canceling the effects of other magic Traversal: increase speed or range of movement Illusion: Altering the target’s sensory informationSide/Secondary Effects
Manaplasm Conjuration:
Typically manipulation raw magic power requires converting it into a form with mass and attack power for brief uses. However humans and their descendants have a special property that alters their use of mana arts. When humans draw mana into themselves and release it through an Art, it produces a magical substance known as manplasm.
Turns out when human species like Hauflin, Homin, or Amazon releases their magic power reserves directly as an art, their magic ionizes the air around to produce a room temperature plasma that they can further manipulate until it dissipates or is reabsorbed by the user. This includes creatures with significant recent human ancestry as well.
Manaplasm has properties of a shear thickening fluid, which basically means the more force applied to it, the thicker it gets. It also has the following other applications:
Reinforcement:
Manaplasm can cover things such as an object on one's one body, when struck it will harden forming a protective cover or strengthen one's strikes.
Constructs:
Large volumes of generated manaplasm can be shaped into tools, objects, weapons and other items, and/or create structures/buildings of varying permanence. Once a person has mastered the construction of a certain object, they can conjure it and dispel it in an instant, whenever they want. The skill of the wielder can determine how fast they can make the amount of manaplasm they have behave like other states of matter such as a liquid or a solid. The consistency of the object can be changed in different states, for example, it can be made into an amorphous glop that either hardens upon impact or absorbs the shock by staying soft, depending on the user’s skill. It can even be made to dissipate in explosion like shock-waves without producing shrapnel.
Sanitation:
Manaplasm can actually kill microorganisms like bacteria by damaging microbial DNA and surface structures without being harmful to multicellular tissues.
Transmutation:
An advanced sorcerer can change the properties of their manaplasma to mimic the physical properties of other substances. Transmutating manaplasm can also give it properties that don't necessarily mimic real things by combining the properties of other materials into something that might not naturally exist.
Channeling energy:
Manaplasm can be used as a medium to channel energy of various types such as mechanical, thermal, or electrical energy.
Manaplasm can even contain the magic power from ritual magic like spells or alchemical circles. Manaplasm used to channel or absorb power from these rites and adopt the properties of the magic until it is released.
Meta Magic:
If manaplasm is made to channel the energy used in a spell, alchemical circle, summoning circle, or artifice, the one who conjured it can produce meta-magic effects specifically on that ritual or tool. They can be made to last longer, shorten the duration of a harmful curse, negate a spell altogether, amplify a spell’s power or range, make one's skills more difficult for someone else to dispel.
Source
Mana, or magic power the immaterial substance that saturates the world.
Discovery
The term mana originates from cultures throughout Whenua as a word for the power of the elemental forces of nature, as embodied in an object or person. The term mana arts became a description for the ubiquitous use of this type of magic power by most creatures.
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