Spirits & Magic

Spirits

The world is occupied by a plethora of spirits that can live in plants, objects, and even possess vulnerable or willing creatures. These fey entities range from weak auras of emotion to powerful beings that are capable of developing a personality and temporarily manifesting a physical form.
The power of a spirit is determined by the care, recognition, worship, or misdeeds caused by the living beings around it. Typically, they are genderless and bear no name other than the object they inhabit (Old Oak, Little Pebble). They are fascinated by the living and seek interaction with them, either to reward their respectful caretakers or to punish those who visited harm upon them, either as an object or in a past life.
Aypavoc and its waterways spiral in towards the center, Irev's Fall. The spirits of those departed use these waterways as a method of travel, polluting them with the sins of their lives as they go. In the center, Irev guards these souls on their journey to rebirth; a great maelstrom tears their energy asunder, and the spirits leave behind their foulness to gather among the clouds as rain and return to the earth once more, in a plethora of new forms. Over time, however, the waters have grown fouler and fouler with the departed impurities, and the cycle has come to face corruption.

Magic

Before Ammayn's arrival, there was little magic in Aypavoc; only the koranite of the great aemir trees, which held the Skyrealm aloft. However, after she came and irradiated the lands with divine blood, the affected Ildsif possessed an innate magic unique to each individual.
Jealous of their power, the kingdom of Nvaon which had been denied the goddess's gifts developed their own form of magic by utilizing traces of divine blood through the research of the War-Scholars.
The secrets of magic were forgotten by nearly all long ago when it was outlawed by the Six due to the devastation it wrought upon the world, but select few elites have passed their knowledge down from generation to generation in fear that a new age of magic will some day rise again, and they will need some measure of control to fight back. These people know that magic, at its fundamentals, is the manipulation of spirit energy.

Catalyst + Will + Crucible = Magic

It is an act of creation, and can be described as a drawing with spirit as the ink, will as the shapes, and the crucible as the paper.
A catalyst can be acquired innately or ambiently. Innate magic calls upon one's own spiritual energy, and relies upon blood, sweat, or tears for its runes to display a sacrifice of effort or suffering to achieve the desired result. Ambient magic calls upon the spiritual energy of external objects or surroundings that are infused with spirits who are either willing or forced to cooperate with the casting, the latter of which results in some pretty spectacular grudges and misfortune for the mage greedy enough to bend the spirit world to his will.
Speaking of will, this refers to the desire of the caster. This requires a calm mind and unnatural focus to summon correctly, which demands practice to reproduce in chaotic situations. Careless spellcasting can cause unforeseen consequences.
Crucibles are vessels created to refine spiritual energy and can take the form of weapons, orbs, rings, or other such objects. They can be identified by their carefully carved runes (meant to aid in the Will portion of certain spells) and their material, which must be a spiritual conduit; bonemetal, skysteel, and mooncrystal are the most prevalent, though all are rare. Highly Conflicted creatures, like the ancient Ildsif, can use their own bodies as crucibles to cast spontaneously, and will often have little to no control over their destructive magic because of their heightened emotions.
In ancient times, the three major schools of magic were dubbed restoration (healing and empowerment), divination (use of magic to aid the senses), and invocation (conjuring of an element).