Universal Prime

You can feel it in the air...

Those who practice magic do not have an inherent sense of it nor do they have some automated process that allows magic to simply happen when called upon or desired. There are many examples of magic in fiction that discuss the general idea of how one practices magic, but rarely go into detail on how the practitioner feels when they practice Magic. What are the sensations involved and the physical reactions to it? What about the psychological?

We are talking about the physical manifestation of something that defies and completely disregards the laws of the universe here in the real world. Regardless of how magic is performed or what details are present in that process, they are going to be physical sensations that come from it. Expedition Demeter holds true to that idea and it all centers around Arcane Priming.
There are biological responses that one can experience when they use or are exposed to Arcane energy, no matter how big or small that amount of energy is. Any environment that has Arcane energy within it is considered primed. Priming is the only way one can learn to harness and manipulate Arcane Energy for the purpose of achieving magical effects.

Priming and magic

A reasonable argument could be made regarding priming and the use of magic. Magic would be considerably more difficult if not completely impossible to perform without it. Depending on the kind of magic user you are, priming is the only way you can sense and use the Arcane Energies required.

Druids would be particularly helpless without it, as they literally pull the energy from the world around them to cast their spells. When practitioners learn how to perform Magic, they first have to learn the correct stage of priming to do so. (stage 3 - see below)

Once they learn this stage they begin to practice Attunement which allows them to connect to that energy, stabilizing it, and then priming the energy for use. It is the priming of the energy that led to the naming of the condition. Arcane energy cannot simply be taken and used. It must be anchored and grounded to the physical plane in order to manifest.

Depending on the nature of the magic one is using this can come in the form of a hot or cold flash throughout the entire body as the energy moves through it. This will also see the hairs standing on end and goosebumps appearing all over the body, along with a tingling sensation in the legs and arms.

When grounded the energy is stable and only then can it actually be used which is why you don't have a lot of catastrophic failure when casting spells. In fact, once a spell reaches the point where the energy has been grounded the spell is guaranteed to be successfully cast. There is a minimal risk of catastrophic failure and there is nothing that guarantees the spell is going to hit the target.

History

The concept of priming first appeared during the height of the Alfen Empire. They noticed that when metaphysical energies were present, it caused a reaction within their physical bodies. They continued to study the phenomenon but it wouldn't be until millennia after the empire fell that any true progress would be made.

Arcanists in Estoya discovered that there were ways to develop a more acute sensitivity to these Energies, and as a result, a more acute reaction to those Energies. These developments were made possible by the Universal Maladies that plague the world. Since then the study of The Arcane has advanced in leaps and bounds at an alarming rate. It is the secret of priming that allowed Estoya to become the most advanced nation when it comes to the practice and study of magic and science.

Due to the advancements made, curiosity within potential investors as well as the common people grew, incentivising funding to further grow this understanding, as well as to further profit from that understanding through the various products that can be created as a result.