Dead Zones

As macabre as the title may suggest, dead zones are fundamentally mundane. In fact, you are most likely in one right now! A dead zone is simply one with either no/undetectable Octarchic energy or a place where two or more energies overlap and cancel each other out. The dead zones are surprisingly frequent, and there are three major types:

Type One: Isolation Zones

These are areas too far away from a magical epicentre to have any real magical presence. These tend to be the peaks of mountains or far out to sea, though the whole of Southern Vi'Dan is one giant isolation zone due to the Trans-Vi'Dan Mountain Range.

Type Two: Overlap Zones

These are areas where two neutral energy types, (e.g. Phytomancy and Electromancy) overlap, hence the name. These overlap zones are where magical sensitivity is distorted and users of one of the types of energy will find their abilities fluctuating up and down, becoming more and less powerful, in the undulating eddies and waves brought on by the two overlapping sources of energy.

Type Three: Destructive Zones

Due to the polarizing nature of the Octarchy, when two conflicting energy types (e.g. Phytomancy and Animomancy) interact they annhilate each other, in a broad plain a good few leagues across where neither sensitivity will find any strength at all to their abilities. Magical energy overall is supressed here, though 3rd party energy can still be used to some degree.

Other occasions

There are also what are called Relative Dead Zones. These are areas without a strong presence of a particular magic strength, due to the superiority of a different one. For instance, where there is a nearby epicentre of a different magical energy. A special case of this is the Relative Supressive Zone, where, due to an overwhelming presence of a conflicting energy, the skills and abilities of a mage are completely deadened, and often their own physical health begins to decline. Items embued with the unwelcome energy will begin to deteriorate and the conflicting essence will eventually become permanently inert.
Dead Zones are not completely stationary, and will shift over time due to the fluctuating epicentres of Octarchic energy. Shifting dead zones further and further into enemy territory is a skill avaliable only to the most powerful battlemages and has, for instnace, allowed the Phytomages of the Kingdom of Sen to force both its political and magical border very close to Imogen Canyon, the epicentre of Electromancy.