Magic in the Realm

WHAT IS MAGIC?

Magic is a skill like singing or acrobatics or sculpting - technically anyone can do it if you know how, but you need some sort of natural ability, as well as lots of practice and/or training to do it well.

WHERE DOES MAGIC COME FROM?

The source of magic in the Realm is from whence the world came, the starstuff and energy of the cosmos that makes the this world and all the others. All the beings in the Realm are made of it, and one can tap into and focus that energy if one knows the ways. It is not a singular energy, but many, of the elements, life and death, and time itself, but individual species usually have a stronger tie to a single energy than others.
Each being has what is known as a Wellspring, the depth of their reservoir of energies they can draw upon. Immortals have the deepest wells, a product of their lifespans, followed by the Mortal Elves, with rather shallow wells in the Mortals, especially Humans. There's only so deep you can get in 80 years.
Those of magically-inclined bloodlines, as well as those with the Blood of the Firsts, and especially those who fit both of those criteria have deeper wells and more natural magical ability than those of their race without those traits.
That being said, in the first thousand-ish years of recorded history, magic was rather common in the Realm, but that began to change. After this point in history the mortals began to lose much of their conscious magic, and generations of newer immortals showed fewer god-like powers than the oldest ones, especially those created in the beginning, but more ingenuity and forward thinking.

HOW DOES ONE WIELD MAGIC?

Just as horses can walk the minute they are born, and humans can take years to do it, not all beings know how to use magic instinctually, and while all can technically tap into their Wellsprings to use it, over the millennia the Mortals especially have lost their natural abilities with it outside of certain closely kept magical circles.
Each of the nine species created by Êl and Angolon was granted an element under their control. Every being of that species has an innate ability with their own element, and each has an affinity for a particular school of magic, as well.
So while a Night Elf can draw on their Wellspring alone to perform necromancy, if you did not have Night Elf blood, you would need something to focus your Wellspring's energy to the proper wavelength. This could be anything from a spell to a ritual to a magical item, but to use that spell or ritual or magical item for necromancy, only a Night Elf or one of that lineage could have created that magical shortcut.
It doesn't take overt magic to create one of these spells or rituals or magical items either, by nature of the myriad Human lucky items and superstitious rituals that have been known to be used by even the Immortals.

WHO HAS WHAT MAGIC?

The Gods

Element: Ether (Time Travel)
School of Magic: Abjuration
It's easy to take a casual approach to life when you are immortal, can travel about in time, and are top of the Realm in healing and protection spells. Time travel is, however, limited, in that they can only travel within their own lifespans, and traveling backward is heavily verboten.

Fire Elementals

Element: Fire
School of Magic: Evocation
Both Fire and Water Elementals are in complete control of their elemental magic, as they are pretty much made of the stuff.

Water Elementals

Element: Water
School of Magic: Evocation

The Vanir

Element: Eternity (Time Continuum)
School of Magic: Divination & Illusion
The Vanir use a combination of deep reality and illusion in their everyday lives, from the ability to see their own timelines as a continuum, (as well as those of others with whom they are in contact, if they look deeply) to rarely wearing clothing other than illusion unless the weather is inclement. Just as often they take on other than humanoid forms, either in disguise, or just because they feel more themselves that way. Like their northern brethren living near The Gaw, some Vanir have access to powers a bit outside of their normal wheelhouse.

The Day Elves

Element: Creation
School of Magic: Conjuration
The Day Elves are the bringers of the dawn, of the spring, makers and growers of many things, and usher a great many beginnings into the world. All Day Elves have a talent with matters of life and creation, but as they are long lived but not immortal, fewer of them can create new things and life out of whole cloth. They work in collaboration with the Night Elves, and despite their diametrically opposed natures, they have a deep kinship and respect for each other, if next to nothing to talk about.

The Night Elves

Element: Destruction
School of Magic: Necromancy
The Night Elves are the bringers of the dusk, of the autumn and the bounty it provides as the plants live their final days, and of death itself, a natural part of life as the creation of it. All Night Elves have a talent with matters of darkness and death, but they live in harmony of those elements rather than have detailed control of them. They work together with the Day Elves, and like them fine, even if they are entirely too talkative and peppy. They do good work. Like the Vanir, whom they respect and are in some awe of, they draw a few alternate powers from the Gaw.

The Giants

Element: Air
School of Magic: Transmutation
Giants, being Mortals, no longer wield overt magic like conjuring thunderstorms and wind walls, those arts have for the most part been lost among their kind. They have, however, retained keen abilities in reading weather, able to predict it so well it almost seems as if they made it so. With an unimpeded line of sight, they can see further and more clearly than other Mortals, and hear more clearly over longer distances. Of course, being near the Gaw, and with longer lifespans than other Mortals, there are some Giants, especially of certain bloodlines, that wield actual magic.

The Dwarves

Element: Earth
School of Magic: Transmutation
Dwarves say they have no magic. They are superb diggers, workers of ore, and finders of the riches of the underearth, and certainly have earth deep in their bones. Is it magic? Technically yes, but Dwarves will strongly dismiss that idea in favor of their gifts being borne of their ancient bloodlines and personal prowess. In the more remote regions, you can find Dwarven factions that still work overt Earth magic and transmutation.

The Humans

Element: Spirit (Luck)
School of Magic: Enchantment
Humans are funny little creatures. Short of life, big of spirit, they live all the faster for their short time on the planet. In living life relatively hard and fast, Humans tend to end up in scrapes and situations frequently, and just as frequently make their ways out of ones they probably shouldn't have through sheer luck. Being a social and exploratory race, and not having what would be considered innate magical powers, however, Humans sure seek out spells and magic items an awful lot.