Geos:Game Universe:Magic

Magic

What magic is, and what qualifies as magic and what doesn't, are questions that have not been satisfactorily answered, despite millenia of trying. Many different traditions (methods of practicing) of magic exist, each with one or more theories purporting to explain it in whole or in part. Important human traditions include the Imperial/Doi, Druidic (actually a family of related traditions), and the the Wazari/Achaeman tradition.

Since the former Imperial provinces dominate Domiterrus, the setting for the current Geos campaign, and the other traditions remain nigh-unknown to non-Imperials, these rules will primarily deal with the Imperial tradition of magic.

The Imperial Tradition of Magic

There are many theories about magic's role in metaphysics. Arcane fundamentalists believe that all matter is merely magic, baked like clay into a permanent form. Arcane dualists believe, conversely, that matter is natural, but all form and meaning are themselves magic to some extent. Whatever the truth is, it is generally agreed that magic is left over from the creation of the universe, echoes of echoes of the first Word, and that is is in decline.

Raw magical potential is called thauma, a Doi word simply meaning 'magic'. There are two sorts of thauma usable by wizards – ambient thauma (which ebbs and flows throughout the world), and static thauma (pockets of raw magical potential trapped in physical objects.) There is also living thauma, a kind of static thauma which fixes the soul or spirit in the body; unlike regular static thauma, though, it is constantly expended and replenished.

A spell is simply an incantation that manipulates thauma and uses it to alter the physical world. It is an attempt by the magician to alter the grand design of the universe, albeit ever so slightly. If the spell is cast with static thauma, it may alter the universe permanently (or at least long enough that the point is moot.) This is usually called an enchantment, an attempt to permanently alter the nature of a subject from mundane to magical.

Casting a spell or enchantment requires the creation of meaning, usually through words and gestures. Creatures with inherently magical natures, like elves or dragons, can just channel their own reserves of living thauma to create specific effects, but for humans, casting a spell always requires a physical expression.

The usual first step is to use a very little bit of the caster's living thauma to make a machina, a spell-within-a-spell that exists to power another spell with ambient thauma. The machina, powered by living thauma, penetrates the barrier between reality and possibility to allow the flow of ambient thauma. Some of this ambient thauma is then directed to powering the machina itself, the remainder being used to power whatever spell is desired. Poorly cast machina usually result in the spell ending too quickly, as too much thauma flows though and destabilizes it, or insufficient thauma is tapped to maintain the spell.

Since spells are just expressed information, technically, anyone could cast a spell. Making the spell work is another matter – using ambient thauma to reliably power a spell is the skill that separates a magician from an apprentice. Context is everything: a magician must take into account such things as the environment, the local ambient thauma climate, the phase of the moon, and the situation. Furthermore, the magician must compensate for flaws and mistakes on the fly, as the spell is cast. A spell text, then, isn't really a spell; it's a guide to creating the proper incantation for the circumstances.

A miscast or underpowered spell can go drastically wrong. The worst way a spell can go wrong is a feedback, where a miscast machina draws more and more power without immediately collapsing, to the point where it exhausts the source. Usually, in the case of living thauma, the caster realizes what is happening and shuts off the supply before she is seriously injured, and static thauma is limited by definition. But an ambient thuama feedback could completely drain the area of magic, drawing everything nearby into the ethereal world or chaos itself – that which existed before the Word. Reality can be literally unwritten, and neighboring areas are warped to fit.

Casting an unknown spell from a text, then, is a risky venture, though less so if the text has been infused with static thauma to power it. This simplifies the task of the caster enormously, since she doesn't have to worry about creating a machina and the myriad complexities that go with it.