Faith
Faith is the divine approach to magic. It is mainly used by immortals and is the source of their longevity. Very few mortals know of its existence but it is very compatible with other types of magic. It is mainly used in an instinctive way but can have ritualistic traits as it is connected to religions. It also means that deities also have a godhood and a domain they reign over.
However, not all immortals are deities: only
titans, natural gods, spiritual gods, demons and elevated deities are considered deities while dragons, elementals and angels are only considered immortals.
Origine
It is one of the natural aspects of magic of the purest form, which was available since the dawn of times. As immortals were born, the weaker ones began worshipping the stronger ones who gained more power and immortality through faith. Once they got enough Faith, they formed a godhood and claimed a domain. Only gods and most demons were born with their godhood already formed and their domain already claimed, transmitted to them by their parents, mainly titans.
Faith is also an aspect of magic that needs to be used to exist. This can be reflected by the power of a deity being dependent on the intensity of the prayers of his worshippers. It means always keeping the magic moving so that it doesn't disappear, like when someone stir a pond to bring up the mud. As soon as they stop stirring, the mud falls back down.
Source
When praying, a tiny part of the mortal's soul is converted into Faith through their devotion. This means the more people worship a being, the more this being becomes powerful. This worship can be either positive (prayers, rituals, acts in the deity's name, offerings, etc...) or negative (fear, sacrifices, sins, blasphemy, etc...). It all works the same as long as it is connected to belief. Someone can also devote their own soul to their god or sacrifice someone else's, which provides a lot more energy to the deity. The soul is collected at the mortal's death but some of the magic is provided from the moment of the offering, which makes the farming of souls very beneficial for deities.
As a consequence, if enough worship is given to a mortal, they end up becoming an elevated deity. On the contrary, if no one worships an immortal anymore, they will become mortal. It means followers are an external and dynamic source of magic, the same way electrical battery produce current after a chemical reaction. It is a powerful source containing a lot of magic that immortals can use at will, infinitely and without other condition than being worshipped by enough followers.
Connections
Between beings, Faith mainly uses contact
connections meaning it is the spiritual contact between immortal and follower which creates a link. The deity can then use this follower as a source of Faith and act on them. Locations and objects are a bit different: the connection is considered sympathetic. It means the immortal is connected to the place or object by common points, membership to a whole or a symbolic link.
These sympathetic links can be used as analogical symbols during rituals or spell casting in other kind of magic (Magic approach) to symbolize the deity or their attributes. For example, a ritual to kill someone could be performed in a temple dedicated to the goddess of death.
Planes of existence
Faith is a very powerful magic which is why the terrestrial plane is not strong enough to withstand most deities. To be able to stay on Earth, they would need to not have too much followers and thus be quite weak and almost mortal. When becoming an elevated deity, one might need to travel to either the celestial or infernal plane.
Immortals are different because most of them don't possess a godhood. However, there can't be too much of them on Earth. The older and more powerful ones still changed their plane of existence.
Talent
The magic talent to use Faith is innate or acquired according to the species of the immortal. Titans, gods, demons, angels, dragons and elementals have an innate talent while elevated deities have an acquired one. It is mainly because elevated deities were first a mortal who then obtained this skill, while other immortals were born with it. It means this talent is hereditary but it is also possible to obtain it through studying other aspects of magic, inheriting it from another immortal and getting others to become worshippers. They can also strengthen it by studying, practicing, stealing someone's godhood, etc...
As Faith is mainly used instinctively, most immortals born with it already know what it is and that they have this talent. As for knowing how to use it, it depends on the species, the other type(s) of magic known, how they got the talent, etc... However, the skill itself cannot be lost, only the power and immortality can. For example, if a deity has their godhood stolen, they become weak and mortal but they still know how to use Faith and can get back their power through becoming an elevated deity, which will be easier if it's the second time. This means a deity can also obtain multiple godhoods. In this case, they will become more powerful and reign over multiple domains, such as fire, wind, death, love, war, etc...
User types
Immortals are the main users of Faith but they aren't all equals in terms of Faith. As said earlier, dragons and elementals are immortals who have immortality but usually aren't strong enough to be actual deities, although there exist a few of them who can be considered as such. Most of them don't have a godhood or a domain. Angels are also immortals but they are half-deities from birth which let them very easily become a deity. In that case, they can either become a god or a demon. On the contrary, gods and most demons are deities from birth. They are the most powerful immortals. As for elevated deities and titans, they obtained their godhood and their domain through various means.
As said before, Faith can be used both in an intinctive or ritualistic way and it has an external source, which means immortals can be considered both as intermediate and instinctive users. As intermediate, they have the mostly innate talent to use an external source and their power depends on the strengh of this source and the link between them while, as instinctive user, they use their talent through instinct and feelings and it can be used at will without rituals.
Awakening
Here, most immortals don't have any
magic awakening as they know from birth about their talent, even if they don't already have their godhood formed.
Elevated deities are the exception though. Their awakening happens gradually through studying, practicing, gaining worshippers, inheriting someone's talent, etc... and it is completed when the godhood is formed and the domain claimed. It is mainly a conscious process which can sometimes become painful according to situations.
Apprenticeship
Most deities and titans are self-taught as they have an instinctive, innate awareness of their power and are thus able to master their talent on their own. Their learning of magic is done through practice and personal experimentation while being very attentive to their feelings and their perceptions of sensations and environment. Sometimes, there are a few teacher-student pairs, which allow the apprentice to learn faster. Dragons and elementals can also learn through clan and family systems while angels attend a special academy where the best of them are trained by a mentor.
Families and disciplines
All magic families and all magic disciplines are available to Faith users.Components
Components are the elements that magic users need to practice it. In Faith's case, the mental and spiritual components are the most important. They gather all the psychological, cognitive and emotional skills necessary to successfully use magic. However, some spells and rituals require gestural, vocal and material components.
Products
Generally, a deity only has powers relating to the domain they claimed which means that, for example, the goddess of death only have spells related to death and can't create fire. However, Faith is compatible with other forms of magic so any deity can cast these additional spells but they won't be directly using Faith as energy. Still, they can use themselves to convert it into any other form of magic. The spells will thus be weaker but they can be cast endlessly as long as they have magic. In the same way, other immortals are usually specialized in a domain but they can change their specialization over time.
While keeping this in mind, they can use Faith to create anything they want: divine artifacts, egregores, living beings, sigils, magic circles, spells, potions, create or destroy connections, etc...
Limits
Faith is very rare in the sense that not a lot of people have access to it, whether they have the talent to use it or not. It is also difficult to use and control because of its sheer power, its learning complexity and lack of access to material components. Moreover, the price to use it is high: it requires a lot of energy, experience, mental skills and control and it can have dangerous consequences such as madness, addiction, causing a disaster, destroying planes of existence, loosing parts of themselves, etc...
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