Magic

Magic in Irëduin works in a variety of ways. There are three systems with defined rules, and there are three levels of Natural Magic that exist throughout the world.

Natural Magic

Magic is present throughout the world, although it is concentrated in certain places, called skeins, similar to blood vessels in a body. Drawing from these skeins is what allows mages to use their magic, although this sapping doesn't affect the level of magic in a cerain area.

Wild Magic

Regions of Wild Magic are formed when the skeins are overloaded with power, resulting in volatile and unstable concentrations of magic. The results of this are unpredictable, and vary from location to location, and indeed from time to time. No two areas of Wild Magic are the same, and a single area shifts and changes rapidly.
Sometimes Wild Magic enhances the use of magic in the area, allowing mages to perform unnatural acts of power. Other times, the use of magic in such an area causes a psychic or physical explosion, scarring anyone nearby and causing their bodies to deteriorate. In some examples, the skeins of magic become visible as undulating collections of a blue dust-like substance, although they are still insubstantial.

Dead Magic

Areas of Dead Magic are places where the skeins of magic are absent or significantly weakened, forming an unnatural void. Because of this absence, magic is unable to be used, and living creatures who remain in the area for prolonged periods of time slowly waste away in body and mind, eventually becoming incorporeal wraiths with no sense of identity or purpose.

Magic Systems

There are three ways to draw upon the skeins of magic, and each have different effects. However, all of these are blocked by Dead Magic and dimlight lanterns. In addition, each system is associated with a fundamental force of reality, which dictates their the abilities. Each system has three distinct abilities, which are each referred to by a specific name, known as an ability code.

Lexomancy

Associated Force: Law
Common Name: Mattersmithing
Lexomancers are capable of creating powerful wards and transmuting one material into another. In ancient days, lexomancers were also capable of creating magic items by consolidating wild skeins of magic into an object. However, this ability has been lost. Their ability codes are Transmute, Abjure, and Imbue.
Most people focus on the warding power of lexomancy, forgetting that it can also be used in many unique ways using transmutation. The most straightforward of these uses is creating whirling cones of fire to scourge enemies, although it can also be used to transmute air into earth, creating walls, bridges, and shelters. However, a lexomancer's power must originate from them, meaning they must be touching the material they wish to transmute.
Many different types of lexomantic wards have been discovered, although the most common blocks physical attack while still allowing air to pass through. Others only block specific attacks, such as those moving at high speed. Another common use of these wards is creating narrow, keen-edged barriers, which can be used as weapons that can cut through almost anything.
The rarest lexomantic ability is that of creating magic items. The knowledge of how to use this ability was lost after the Mage's Exile, and most magic items were destroyed in the Resurgence.

Agimachy

Associated Force: Change
Common Name: Bladesinging
Agimachs empower their physical body, enabling them to push the limits of what is considered humanly possible. Their performance in combat is enhanced by telekinetic blasts and bolts of lightning. Their ability codes are Scourge, Manipulate, and Enhance.
More skilled agimachs can use their telekinesis to fly in a limited manner, although they need to remain within range of a fixed object that they can use as an anchor.
Agimachs are often employed in armies as blasters and shock troops, although this slacked off after the Mage's Exile, when many mages broke ties with government structures, fearing a fate similar to that of the Arcallish mages.

Animancy

Associated Force: Death
Common Name: Soulweaving
Animancers can speak with the spirits of the dead, assume their appearance, and draw from their power to heal others. Their ability codes are Commune, Impersonate, and Renew.
The most notable of animantic abilities to many is the capability to communicate with the dead. However, animancers can only speak with spirits who linger in the Material Plane, not those who have moved on to inhabit the Border. Additionally, spirits are the same people they were in life. They may lie blatantly, wrap the truth in layers of riddles, or outright refuse to talk.
Perhaps the most ignored magical ability is that of the animancer to assume a spirit's appearance. Because of its restrictions, many people disregard it in favour of more easily applicable powers such as an agimach's Scourge ability. Such limitations include the fact that the animancer must be familiar with the spirit's appearance, as well as the inability to Impersonate a live creature.
Animancers can draw life energy from the spirits inhabiting the Border, transferring it to themselves or another creature they are touching. However, this energy cannot be used to resurrect a dead creature. Many animancers are more physically resilient than regular humans, as their magic constantly draws life from the Border to sustain them.

Fundamental Forces

The three Fundamental Forces each correspond to a system of magic, and interact with Magic itself in different ways. Although defined as forces, each is sentient after a fashion. They are foreign to human perspective, and thus seem unpredictable in their behaviour. Occasionally a Force chooses to manifest physically, although they can veil themselves from detection whilst doing so. Death is the most prone to physical manifestation, as it often chooses to greet those about to die.

Dimlight

Soon before the Mage's Exile, King Norvost's researchers made a discovery that would irreparably change the course of history. They discovered that areas of Dead Magic could yield a specific type of crystal that, when extracted and refined, blocked magic. This resulted in the creation of the dimlight lantern. Norvost, already planning a revolution against the mages, ordered the creation of thousands of these, and covertly installed them across the kingdom. This rendered the mages helpless for Norvost's attack.
In the centuries following the Mage's Exile, during the period known widely as the Era of Swords, the dimlight lanterns remained to prevent the return of mages. However, as the Resurgence approached, more powerful mages were able to use fractions of their power as the dimlight faded in strength.

The Resurgence

Soon before the Mage's Exile, the Arcallish nobility ordered the installation of a network of dimlight lanterns that spanned the entire kingdom. This blocked the use of magic, although there were gaps in the network, located mostly in the wilderness. In the early years of the Era of Swords, this network was monitored by special officials, who checked for sabotage to ensure that the lanterns remained. However, approaching the Resurgence, this protocol was slackened, and the lanterns remained unwatched.
This left open the way for Elothar Stormwind, who began a quest to destroy all of the dimlight. Using his Emagaron, he first destroyed the lanterns in Ternford, causing kingdom-wide panic. Soon after this, he travelled to Greywater and destroyed the lanterns there in the Battle of Rippling Lightning. The Resurgence had begun.
Over the period of a few months, Elothar destroyed the majority of the dimlight lanterns in Arcallon. Upon the destruction of the final lantern, a massive wave of power was released from the skeins, temporarily rendering magic useless across the world, and destroying most common magic items. The few that survived included most of the Emagaron, as well as the most powerful of artifacts.

Type

Metaphysical, Arcane