Arcana
Magic, known additionally as arcana or awakening, is the process of using psychological tricks and metaphysical loopholes to bring imagined effects in one's dreams into the waking, physical world. To understand arcane magic, one must understand where it comes from.
In the event of retaining awareness that one is asleep and dreaming - known as lucidity - any thinking being can use their consciousness to shape their dream, and thus their little corner of Io's Dream itself, to their will. However, when they do so, they're only exercising control over that other, non-physical world; if they imagine conjuring fire into their hands, it only happens in that mirror plane. For the non-magical mind, that is where any such connection ends. Their ideas, their imagined powers, have no effect in the concrete world of Iovir.
Foundations of Arcana
There is only one physical world. There is only one 'material' plane of existence. However, despite this, other planes do exist. They're formed not of solid, concrete, fully-defined matter like Iovir is. Instead, they're formed of thoughts. The largest of these planes, which encompasses and connects all the others, is known as Io's Dream. This 'Dream' is, in many ways, a near-mirror plane of our reality; it often resembles parts of the physical world, and is changed or morphed often to generally - but not entirely - replicate the physical world. It is no mere place, however. The Dream is a phenomenon layered over our every waking experienced. Like a doppelganger desperately trying to fit in, this 'Plane of Consciousness' constantly tries to reshape itself to be perfect. It aims to be the best possible copy of reality it can be - if the real world has buildings, it tries to have buildings. If the real world has flowers, it wants to have flowers. The Dream is constantly bending itself out of shape to conform to what one expects the world to look like. However, how does the Dream know what the real world looks or acts like? Simple. It has an army of (often unwitting) agents to show it just that - us. To call it 'Io's Dream' is perhaps a bit misleading, because it is more accurately our shared Dream World. Ever sapient mind in Iovir is connected to this Dream in their sleep. In fact, dragons, kith and other creatures capable of conscious thought all contribute to (and shape) the dream with their imaginations, ideas, hopes and nightmares. Few do so knowingly, or even understand that their dreams are anything more than sometimes confusing personal experiences. This isn't helped by the fact that the Dream World itself is so utterly colossal in scope; the odds of running into fellow dreaming minds there is miniscule in most cases.In the event of retaining awareness that one is asleep and dreaming - known as lucidity - any thinking being can use their consciousness to shape their dream, and thus their little corner of Io's Dream itself, to their will. However, when they do so, they're only exercising control over that other, non-physical world; if they imagine conjuring fire into their hands, it only happens in that mirror plane. For the non-magical mind, that is where any such connection ends. Their ideas, their imagined powers, have no effect in the concrete world of Iovir.
Manifesting Dreams
For beings with the correct physiology - typically the presence of trace amounts of minerals in the nervous system, especially moonstone - it is possible to learn techniques to 'forcefully drag' changes made in Io's Dream back into the real world with them. The process of manifesting an effect from your dream in the waking world is properly termed 'awakening', named after the process of awakening into the real world with the magic you want brought back with you. However, more common terms are 'conjuring', 'casting' or 'magicking'. This takes no shortage of mental conditioning, planning, preparation and mental gymnastics. Novice arcanists are taught to foster incredible feats of concentration before they can begin to manifest magical effects. Most famously, one must be able to 'play hide and seek' with oneself by splitting their consciousness into two halves that cannot share knowledge with the other - one who hides an object, then the other who must find it while being wholly, genuinely unaware of where it could be. Additionally, a learning arcanist must have the aforementioned formations of minerals in their nervous system. These minerals are stimulated by electrical impulses along nerve endings and create a retaliatory shock that can 'stun' the nervous system into a state of brief, instantly-dreaming sleep. This allows the user to essentially knock themselves out at-will for split-seconds at a time, and during those moments, instantly connect their minds to Io's Dream. Without these nodules, a mage cannot Awaken their intended effects, as they cannot 'pull' imagined effects in the Dream over to reality quickly enough before they dissipate. The process of putting oneself ever-so-briefly into Dream sleep like this is called Pulsing, so named after the process of sending a concentrated 'pulse' through one's body to trigger the mineral nodules. Some arcane-associated minerals are found in trace amounts throughout water, flora and fauna in Iovir, and as such, can accumulate to varying degrees in the body. A sufficient amount, distributed in a certain way (based often on sheer luck), is necessary for one to demonstrate a natural aptitude for the arcane. If one does not have the appropriate physiological state but still wishes to be an arcanist, their only option is Formation. This is an extremely dangerous (and often fatal) process in which a hopeful individual drinks solutions of the mineral mixed with liquid mercury. Survivors become capable of magic with the right training, but commonly suffer neurological damage in the process. The most common lifelong side effects are migraines, loss of smell and/or taste, seemingly random bursts of pain in a limb, and hallucinations. Even the most simple arcane tricks are extremely dangerous to an inexperienced or reckless user. Many beginner mages who successful survive and master all these pre-existing steps meet an early end at the hands of a poorly thought-out awakened effect. As such, pre-written and carefully tested 'spell formulas' are the norm for practising mages. Though still extremely difficult to master and not always safe, they are at least proven to be possible for mortals to cast correctly with the right techniques and focus.Sorcerers & Warlocks: Awakening Without Instruction
For an exceedingly rare few, the focus, talents and techniques of Pulsing and Awakening effects come naturally. Either supernaturally touched, carrying unusual blood or by sheer dumb luck, these individuals find it remarkably easy and intuitive to pull upon an effect at-will. They tend to develop a small amount of tricks they can reliably awaken without too much thought at short-notice. Even rarer still are those whose minds are directly touched by otherworldly insight and understanding; esoteric and unnatural ways to pull upon the threads of the Dream, fed to them piece-by-piece by stranger powers...Components: Why Am I Here Again?
However, magic is anything but easy. In fact, rather unfortunately, it's all to common to Pulse one's mind and connect to the Dream, only to completely forget what you were intending to do there. The waking mind and sleeping mind rarely share memories, after all; even if a caster intends to conjure a bolt of lightning mid-fight, they moment they enter the Dream, they can completely forget what they 'came in for'. As such, spell components exist as mnemonic aids. Incantations or physical objects (especially sensory ones such as incense or rough material) are usually used as focus aids to remind the caster which effect they are attempting to draw upon once they successfully connect their mind to the Dream. Many spells are learned through a simple association - if a caster enters the Dream with the feeling of mistletoe lingering on their thumbs, they know from their prior practice that they are here to conjure tiny healing fruits into their hands. Arcanists who favour 'preparing' spells in advance - especially Wizards - typically spend hours of meditation-like sleep in the Dream. There, they practising the effects they may wish to conjure throughout the day once they are awake again, forming the necessary mental associations between objects/incantations and procedures to perform in the Dream.Planar Travel
Planes such as the Feywild, Shadowfell and Elemental Domains are subdomains of Io's Dream. Elemental spells typically involve casting one's mind to specific Elemental Domains of the Dream, wherein it is easy to quickly 'grab' ideas of those elements and Awaken them back in the waking world. However, with sufficient preparation and power, it is possibly to actually physically travel to and visit the Dream and its subdomain Planes. Though doing so is highly hazardous given the ever-shifting nature of these cognitively-shaped worlds, the potential rewards and uses of such an opportunity are innumerable.
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