Metamagic
Metamagic provides its users with an innate feeling of magic at work, and an uncanny understanding of how it operates within the fabrics of reality. While all Naturally Attuned and Naturally Unattuned creatures have a subconscious feeling of their connection to the magical fields, only those naturally attuned to metamagic can expand upon their magical senses, and only within the branch of metamagic to which they are attuned.
Metamagic is the magic of magic, in its truest form.
Utility
Metamagic allows its users a deeper understanding and sense of magic at work, allowing them to sense different aspects of magic itself. Those who practice metalmancy were born with a natural attunement to the art.
It is classified into three separate categories. Practicioners may learn to perfect their skills within their class of metamagic, but cannot learn skills from classifications where they were not gifted with attunement. It is rare for an individual to possess skills in even one of these categories. Possessing skill in multiple classifications is extremely unlikely.
Detect Magic
The detection of magic remains the most common of all metamagic abilities, allowing its users to feel local magic. Practice to strengthen these abilities allows the caster to expand their sphere of detection or even help them identify the source of magical power, whether it be a runed object or an actively casting mage. Expertise in this field will permits a master to identify the spell itself, or even the manner in which multiple intertwining active effects will resolve.Sense Magical Fields
Those gifted with the ability to sense the magical fields can feel their ebb and flow within a localized area. Practice and training can expand these senses and even allow the caster to essentially see the fields and their effects upon the world. Mastery will allow an expert to manipulate these fields to a limited degree, strengthening them in some areas while simultaneously weakening them in others.Feel Imperium
Those who can feel Imperium itself are the rarest of all metamagic practicioners. Casters gifted with perception of Imperium can feel the Imperium level within all living things, aside from those cursed with Unattunable Disorder. Practice expands the range of this sense and even allows the caster to slightly increase or decrease their own Imperium production. Experts in this classification can also alter the Imperium production of others in limited degrees.
Parent Technologies
Children Technologies
Metamagic Spells
Access & Availability
Metamagic is rare and only available to those born with an innate attunement to one of its sub-classifications. It is impossible to learn metamagics without an innate attunement to that skill, although individuals may learn to improve upon their existing metamagic skills.
Complexity
Practicioners of metamagic were born understanding the basics within their field, and as such many of the simple spells require nothing more than instinct to cast. As with most skills the more advanced spells of metamagic do require study and practice to perfect, with much of the most advanced spellwork requiring deep concentration or careful casting.
Related Items
I love this! its such a nice way of explaining some common abilities in magic, like detect magic, and gives it a place to live and breathe in the world. i noticed a little missed comma here between fields and only. "...to the magical fields only those naturally attuned to metamagic can expand upon their magical senses, and only within the branch of metamagic to which they are attuned." Id love to hear more about how this effects the community of practitioners. Are their rivalries between those who naturally understand and those who dont?
Thanks for the catch, and the comment! I did make some adjustments. Not really resentment, I think, as I imagine many would share their knowledge to help further the other fields of magic. Although there's always that one guy who wants to Lord their knowledge over everyone else... But there are so many specialties to pick. It's like a surgeon being upset about not being able to math like an astrophysicist.
Necromancy is a Wholesome Science.
Ooooo excellent response. well said, that makes alot of sense.
I like this, Angela. A lot. It points in a similar direction to a way Höbin tries to explain an aspect of magic in Wanted Hero: the intelligences. This is where your 'Feel Imperium' really interests me. Does this allow users to fine tune their own abilities, as in being able to gauge how their magic i affecting others--allowing them to develop better offensive/counter-offensive spells? It's like how Höbin describes Chuck. The old man is so adept at what he does, most mägo don't describe Chuck as doing magic--they say he IS magic. He just knows the flow of intelligences and can work with them in such a harmonious way--he seems to be vastly more powerful than others in his field. Great job. More, more, more!
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In a way, I suppose you could say that! It's not so much sensing exactly the physical or mental impact they are having on others (there are other magical practices that can help with this), but the impact your magic is having on their connection to magic. Imperium is an individual's magical reserves, essentially. Everyone has Imperium (unless they are suffering from one of the conditions that prevents them from metabolizing it) and someone who can feel Imperium feels this. So someone who has mastered the ability to feel Imperium can tell if a mage opponent is truly exhausting their reserves or merely pretending, for example. Or feel if a spell's power is being strengthened by others besides the caster, or find someone with a powerful innate magical ability before even that individual knows it. They can feel someone casting a spell even if they can't see them, and they can sense the many creatures of Fillimet that actually survive on magic instead of food. Someone who can feel Imperium can literally feel the ebb and flow of the levels of magic available in the creatures around them.
Necromancy is a Wholesome Science.