The Magic Essentials
What are the essentials?
The magic of Midbaar has two explicit rules that must be followed at all times. Failure to follow these rules is failure to grasp the elementary basics of Midbaar's lore.The two rules are: Mana, and Mana Waste. Please continue reading to learn what these are.
Mana
What is Mana?
Mana is a resource that exists all over Midbaar. It is the catalyst to activating magic, powers, abilities, etc.
Every single being has a resevoir within them that holds up to a certain amount of mana. (We call this a Mana Pool). You can expend the mana currently in your mana pool to do the magic stuff.
Worry not, your mana pool will replenish over time. Fret less too, if you have an excess capacity overfilling your pool, it will simply expel itself from you until you've reached an equilibrium. No exploding corpses here!
Mana Waste
What is Mana Waste?
When you use mana, you are also turning it into a wasteful negative energy. Very bad stuff.
Mana waste will cause a variety of terrible ailments if left untreated. The buildup of mana waste is often referred to as mana-burn, and too much of it will cause a condition known as Tarnishing.
Do not fret. While mana waste is dangerous and unwanted, there is a way to deal with it. We will discuss this later in the document.
Great, So we now know what these two absolute rules are. Anything else?
Much to your joy, yes. There are a few more things to know.
What is Mana?
Mana is a resource that exists all over Midbaar. It is the catalyst to activating magic, powers, abilities, etc.Every single being has a resevoir within them that holds up to a certain amount of mana. (We call this a Mana Pool). You can expend the mana currently in your mana pool to do the magic stuff.
Worry not, your mana pool will replenish over time. Fret less too, if you have an excess capacity overfilling your pool, it will simply expel itself from you until you've reached an equilibrium. No exploding corpses here!
What is Mana Waste?
When you use mana, you are also turning it into a wasteful negative energy. Very bad stuff.Mana waste will cause a variety of terrible ailments if left untreated. The buildup of mana waste is often referred to as mana-burn, and too much of it will cause a condition known as Tarnishing.
Do not fret. While mana waste is dangerous and unwanted, there is a way to deal with it. We will discuss this later in the document.
What else then?
Now that you know about Mana and Mana Waste. It is time to learn about Mana Colors, and Pips. These are things that you will apply to the main two rules.
Mana Colors
What are Mana Colors?
Mana colors are magical personalities or alignments. It comes in a total of five colors, and each one has a different personality to match.
The descriptions below are not absolute to the color, but they are a relative example to help you get a better idea of how each one operates.
Black - Ambitious, Self-Serving
Blue - Logical, Calculating
Green - Natural, Cultivating
Red - Impulsive, Passionate
White - Protective, Altruistic
"So what does this have to do with my character?" Well, just match your character's personality with the mana colors available. You can use more than one at once at the same time too.
Still unsure of how these work? Just treat it as an advanced alignments chart.
Pips
What are Pips?
This is the easiest one to answer.
You know how we like to measure liquid in Liters, or Fluid ounces? And just like we have physical weight measurements like Pounds and Kilograms?
Great! Well, to measure magic stuff, we use a measurement called Pips. Don't ask how much is in a pip. I won't tell you. Just believe me when I say that One pip is worth exactly that much.
Mana Pool and Threshold
What are these about?
There has to be a way to understand how much of something, someone has.
How many Pips of Mana can fit into a Mana-Pool? Or how many Pips of Mana-Waste can a person endure, before they tarnish?
Well, conveniently. We have numbers for that.
The average Mana-Pool size is roughly 100 Pips large. Most Pools never exceed 200. And the absolute limit is 300 Pips.
As for thresholds. It is safe to say, that the mana threshold is always 2.5x larger than the mana pool, Or 150 Pips of Mana-Waste. Whichever is greater.
What are Mana Colors?
Mana colors are magical personalities or alignments. It comes in a total of five colors, and each one has a different personality to match.The descriptions below are not absolute to the color, but they are a relative example to help you get a better idea of how each one operates.
Black - Ambitious, Self-Serving
Blue - Logical, Calculating
Green - Natural, Cultivating
Red - Impulsive, Passionate
White - Protective, Altruistic
"So what does this have to do with my character?" Well, just match your character's personality with the mana colors available. You can use more than one at once at the same time too.
Still unsure of how these work? Just treat it as an advanced alignments chart.
What are Pips?
This is the easiest one to answer. You know how we like to measure liquid in Liters, or Fluid ounces? And just like we have physical weight measurements like Pounds and Kilograms?Great! Well, to measure magic stuff, we use a measurement called Pips. Don't ask how much is in a pip. I won't tell you. Just believe me when I say that One pip is worth exactly that much.
What are these about?
There has to be a way to understand how much of something, someone has. How many Pips of Mana can fit into a Mana-Pool? Or how many Pips of Mana-Waste can a person endure, before they tarnish?
Well, conveniently. We have numbers for that.
The average Mana-Pool size is roughly 100 Pips large. Most Pools never exceed 200. And the absolute limit is 300 Pips.
As for thresholds. It is safe to say, that the mana threshold is always 2.5x larger than the mana pool, Or 150 Pips of Mana-Waste. Whichever is greater.
WAIT! Before you go!
Theres just one more thing for you to know about. Yes, it is essential and mandatory to know about this.We must talk about the Money of Midbaar. Here, open up this next thing to learn about it.
Open me!
Thanks! So what's the money?
Great! Now that you're here, I can tell you about Foils. These things are like marbles, though they only come in five solid colors. The same ones as the mana colors.
They are the cores of Slime creatures. Meaning that you can kill the slime and take its core. That is your foil.
What do these foils do? Well... do you remember one of the first rules of magic?
I sure hope you do, because foils can absorb Mana-Waste and/or clear away mana-burn, safely turning it into heat that remains trapped within the foil.
So... heres a table that contains the value of Foils, as well as how many Pips of mana-waste they can hold.
Important Notes:
- The comparison of values to DND currency is only for comparative value. The DND currencies are not canonically used in lore.
- Temperatures that are not hot or cold become difficult to gauge. So the value often varies between 2-5 pieces in a warm foil, and 6-9 pieces in a cool foil.
- A cracked foil is a worthless foil. Once cracked, it can no longer hold mana waste and therefore loses it's value.
- The max capacity acts as a state of lowest value before the foil cracks. For instance: A white foil at 10 pips and beyond will be worth it's minimum value. ETC.
Thanks! So what's the money?
Great! Now that you're here, I can tell you about Foils. These things are like marbles, though they only come in five solid colors. The same ones as the mana colors.They are the cores of Slime creatures. Meaning that you can kill the slime and take its core. That is your foil.
What do these foils do? Well... do you remember one of the first rules of magic?
I sure hope you do, because foils can absorb Mana-Waste and/or clear away mana-burn, safely turning it into heat that remains trapped within the foil. So... heres a table that contains the value of Foils, as well as how many Pips of mana-waste they can hold. Important Notes:
- The comparison of values to DND currency is only for comparative value. The DND currencies are not canonically used in lore.
- Temperatures that are not hot or cold become difficult to gauge. So the value often varies between 2-5 pieces in a warm foil, and 6-9 pieces in a cool foil.
- A cracked foil is a worthless foil. Once cracked, it can no longer hold mana waste and therefore loses it's value.
- The max capacity acts as a state of lowest value before the foil cracks. For instance: A white foil at 10 pips and beyond will be worth it's minimum value. ETC.
Next stop? How to make the magic happen!
This is a stub!
This article is still under construction!
Rules to go by
The rules that are stated in this document are absolute. Do not attempt to alter, change, or deviate from these essential rules when partaking in the magic system.
Type
Metaphysical, Arcane
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