Magic appears to predate modern history. It may even predate the gate network itself, but I fear we will never know for sure. Indeed, there are many myths in the Commonwealth about what exactly happened to introduce magic into the world, but we'll likely never know the truth. Either way, it's brought us fantastic progress, working hand in hand with modern technology to help our states develop... but to every good thing, there exists a foul downside.— Chief Librarian Palladius
According to the historical logs, magic has only become universally available to the various communities of the cluster within the past few hundred years, with the refinement of knowledge on
Crysium Shards allowing the cluster's community to realise the potential of magic. Prior to that, only those with a magical bloodline - which was predisposed to manifest in certain races such as the Elves - could wield magic, and only whatever types of magic their bloodline concerned themselves with.
An Evolving Art
Before the Gates
The understanding as to what occurred regarding magic in the era before the gates is... complicated. Ancient texts from Earth's history make few mentions of anything magically-related, which has led many to believe that prior to the gate network, access to magic was an extremely regional affair;
Aether does little on its own and is harmless if not wielded magically, so it can be inferred that magic was at large only available to the magically-inclined races prior the gate network.
Indeed, this is backed up by a few sources; the ancient Hysilens who were said to have built the gate network according to recovered texts made extensive mentions of aether and magical studies, which would imply that magical prowess ran ripe in their racial bloodlines. The Elves, too, enjoy a less solidly documented but equally famed prowess for the arcane, with magical bloodlines being in elven society more often than any other race.
Magic in Aldrin
By contrast to the wider understanding of magic across the cluster, on the isolated world of Aldrin, the concepts of magic trace a more divine route; it has always been present on the planet, and it's believed that magic was a gift to the world - alongside the
Crysium Shards - by the astral gods.
Nobody can verify the veracity of this tale for certain, but even to this day it remains the most popular theory for the origins of magic on Aldrin, informed by their more primitive - relative to the cluster - viewpoint.
The Aura War
One of the most influential events on the topic of magic is the Aura War, waged by the so-called AURA, or the AGI Unified Reclamation Authority. These were AGI - artificial general intelligences - hellbent on the termination of Earth. AURA deployed significant weaponry throughout the Aura War, the most infamous of which was the so-called
Burn Coil, a weapon of mass destruction mounted upon a ship built to carry it, generally referred to in historical records as the 'AGI Mothership'.
The Burn Coil proved to be a devastating weapon, causing brutal devastation to both the physical environment and the aetheric disposition of the places it hit; it was through the use of this weapon that
Aether Corruption truly started to become worrisome, and in so doing the magical balance of the wider galaxy
itself was thrown into disarray. Even Aldrin notes changes to the world caused by this weapon, which directly weakened the anomalies around the Lantyr system to allow demons to begin incursions into it, prompting Aldrin's reviled Great Demonic War.
The Mothership would eventually be destroyed in a Terran trap, destroying Earth's gateway connection to the Elaienna Cluster in the process. Earth would not be reconnected until fairly recently, but the changes to magic caused by the Burn Coil combined with the aether-shock across all of the gate network from the actual
destruction of a jump gate began to cause significant changes to the very nature of the cluster; this event was known as the
Burn in most modern texts within the cluster.
The First Casters
The Burn had a lot of negative impacts upon the cluster, notably the aether shocks of the gates effectively rendered all technology obsolete and forced significant technological regressions in the cluster, but also precipitated the first appearance of magical abilities within the cluster's residents, namely several Elven bloodlines that became blessed with a variety of magic types.
Why the elves in particular became so magically imbued is one of the great mysteries, and one that remains a wonder for the cluster in the modern age; some think that the elven worlds were closest to gates when they overloaded, suffusing them the most, but the presence of a few other forms of magic bloodlines in other species make this theory something of a nonstarter in the modern view.
To many, the reasons for the first casters is one that cannot be adequately explained, but it remains that they came to be, but something far more important would become
so much more replete in the cluster between the technological devolution of the Elaiennans and the eventual return to the stars:
Crysium Shards.
Major Magical Advances
Crysium Shards
Casters were not the only thing to be far more proliferated in the wake of the Burn.
Crysium Shards had been known about by the Terrans before now, but they were stupendously rare - with a couple of sources discovered in the entire cluster during the Terran's initial mapping. By the time of the return to space for most of the cluster, however, Shards had gotten a lot more common - they still weren't frequent sights, but reconnaissance determined a small handful of major sites where they can be harvested now.
The location of the Shards was - and still is - in many ways an important clue into ongoing research on the nature of the Burn and the Aura War, as the flow of
Aether around the locations of the
Crysium Shard asteroid fields was known to be far higher than normal, and planets where it began to occur naturally had aether levels notably higher than the cluster's normal levels - this is, indeed, true for Aldrin too.
At some point after their discovery, it was found out that the various colours of Shard could enhance magical powers, and in so doing serve as magical foci for spellcasters - staves, rifles, and so on - across the sector, while also allowing for more advanced forms of magic as their properties became more and more well understood.
Crysium Casters
The uses of crysium shards appeared to stagnate for a time, as those with the shards sought primarily to solidify their positions in society and were less concerned with expanding the knowledge of the crystals, but eventually advances were made, one of which would give way to a brand new era of spellcasting.
The
Shard Ritual had been discovered, - or developed, nobody actually knows for sure - through which magical talent could be given to those without it naturally, and the existing magical specialities of those from magical bloodlines could be expanded to encompass new types of magic, dependant on the nature of the Shard being infused.
This marked the beginning of the current age of spellcasting, enabling a new way for accessing spellcasting for those species that are not so magically inclined. Becoming a well-rounded caster in this manner still required a large number of crysium shards to be infused, and several forms of magic were bloodline-specific and unavailable this way, but for those who could afford the shards - no mean feat, to be sure - it was well worth it. Most new casters as a result, are from wealthier families, but even getting a hold of a single crysium shard can be a great boon, as it allows one to become a specialised magic user, such as a
Pyromancer.
Multidisciplined Casters
Even a spellcaster with a magical affinity from birth can benefit from
Crysium Shards; most magical bloodlines - with only a few exceptions - only pass along a single type of magic to their blood members.
As such, in order to expand one's horizons and go from something like a
Pyromancer to a full-fledged
Sorcerer, the
Shard Ritual is required to allow them to infuse different kinds of Shard.
This, indeed, has allowed the richer individuals in the cluster to become true masters of magic, and this is a famous status symbol on Aldrin, too.
The Limitations of Magic
While magic is an exceptionally powerful force within the cosmos, and can do things that truly are wondrous, it is not without drawbacks; the cosmos itself seems to have placed unbreakable limitations upon the powers of magic, which are as follows.
- Magical abilities are a conscious choice between three factors: range, power and cost. The abilities of a spellcaster can be tailored to increase one of these factors greatly at the cost of the other two, or it can balance all three evenly, or it can more generally focus on two of the factors at the heavy detriment of the third factor.
This generally means that contact abilities with a high Aether cost will generally have the most raw power behind them, while weaker abilities with high Aether costs will have exceptional range. Spells like the ever-famous Fireball focus on power and range for example, with a heavy increase in Aether cost to cast.
- Spells cannot be formed within the body of another being, living or otherwise. A Pyromancer can fling a fireball from their palm, but a Hydromancer cannot generate a magical bubble of water within the lungs of another person, even in close contact. Notably, this gets easier if someone's Aetheric Warding is heavily compromised, but it still remains difficult enough that it is not a valid combat strategy.
- Lifting objects with magic is relatively trivial, but items imbued with magic in any way become exponentially more difficult to lift; Aether has an arcane 'weight' to its presence that enables Aetheric Warding to work, but it also makes lifting arcane items harder.
- Matter can be created through magic, but it's never as stable as regular magic; it's easily broken, decays faster, and when it is broken or decays it just dissolves back into Aether. Additionally, it's very easy to identify magically-conjured items, and most communities regard them as fakes or phonies.
- The manipulation of time with Time Magic is by far the single most complex form of magic; it's possible to do, such as by sending memories of your future self back to your past self as a form of precognition, but physical time travel is an established scientific and arcane near-impossibility. Precognition is possible, but never fully accurate.
The Mechanics of Magic
Magic in the Elaienna Cluster is a system that requires some base form of talent in spellcraft, be that from a natural source such as a bloodline, or from a
Crysium Shard that provides the caster with a form of magic talent, but beyond that latent restriction, by its very design magic in the cluster is fairly broad.
Magic traditions shown further below contain pertinent uses, but these don't really tell the full story of spellcasting in the cluster; the reality is that the pertinent uses are just the most famous things a given form of magic can do. The truth of the situation is that the magic of the cluster works in a way that forces spell knowledge to succeed.
Spells in the cluster are formulaic codifications of magic that all casters can learn; even those said to be restricted to a single form of magic are not
truly restricted; instead, they're incredibly naturally predisposed to spells of that type and have great difficulty learning magic of other traditions - indeed, for the most exclusive bloodlines such as
Void Magic, it can be near-impossible (but not fully impossible) to learn magical spells of other traditions - while the truly generalist spellcasters have little difficulty learning spells from all of the magical traditions that they have a talent in.
Crysium Shards come into this by defining the spell schools that people can actually learn; spells from a magical tradition without a corresponding shard cannot actually be learned by those not born with a natural capability for that tradition of magic, and in this way there's quite a few specialist casters, such as
Void Mages,
Technomancers and
Bards, which focus primarily on their bespoke form of magic, but - with incredible difficulty - can learn other forms of magic.
Magical spells are an ever-growing form of innovation in the cluster and on Aldrin, just like technology is; magi across the setting work to scribe new magical spells to test, and this is generally how magical innovation takes its form; two mages that know the same spells will perform the same in battle - not accounting for variance in their actual skill in spellcasting and stylistic distinctions in combat - but a mage who has the latest in magical spells will - naturally - perform better if those spells excel in combat.
In this way, the yardstick for a mage's power is not
just their raw talent and magical skill, though that does play a big part, but it's also how good their roster of readied spells suit their intended combat style.
Types of Spellcaster
Casters across the cluster generally fall into two distinct classifications; those that are descendants of a magical bloodline with a natural capability for magical talent, and those that can only wield magic after absorbing a
Crysium Shard with the
Shard Ritual. Despite how it may seem, spellcasters are an exclusive class of society, and the vast majority are in the former category - it should not be understated how prohibitively expensive crysium shards truly are, especially for the larger ones needed for true mastery of a magic type.
Bloodline Spellcasters
Individuals who are descendants of a magical bloodline possess a natural affinity for magic and can wield it inherently as a result. Many of these bloodlines can be found amongst the elven races, but the dragonkin are known for them too - albeit at a much rarer frequency - along with a few other races.
Most born with bloodline magical capabilities become specialised casters such as
Pyromancers due to the nature of bloodlines only granting access to a single form of magic in almost all cases, but those who undertake the
Shard Ritual to gain extra magical types can become
Sorcerers with a more diverse portfolio of spells. Besides elemental magic, bloodlines are also famous for
Druids and
Summoners.
While these casters will generally focus greatly upon their main bloodline, it's not at all uncommon for them to branch out to pick up spells that complement their intended form of magic, and while they will never be as powerful with these spells as a learned spellcaster, their skill can certainly be plenty sufficient for most purposes.
The biggest drawback of a bloodline spellcaster is their reliance on an
Arcane Focus to commit their intended spells for the day; this is much unlike the spell books of a
Wizard which have a far greater storage capacity for magical spells.
This generally means that a caster reliant upon an Arcane Focus has to be a lot more picky and choosy with their magical spells than a learned caster would be; they can certainly reach the same dizzying levels of breadth, but require truly expensive Arcane Foci to reach that point, as their spells are committed to the focus itself mystically.
To many bloodline casters, however, that restriction is worth it, as their power in their bloodline tradition is second to none.
Learned Spellcasters
Those who lack the gift of magic from a bloodline are paradoxically generally set-up to be the grander spellcasters, and have to go through the
Shard Ritual in order to gain magic. In the ritual, all of the desired Shards are placed around the recipient, and over a short period of time - often under an hour - the energies from the Shards are absorbed by the new caster. Empty shards are left behind, and the initial power of the caster in a given magic type is generally coupled to the purity of the Shard of that type.
There exists limits however, that define how powerful a learned spellcaster can start off - which is generally no better than a journeyman spellcaster - which forces further development to be undertaken via training, irrespective of how pure a Shard may be.
Most that go through the ritual are relatively wealthy or have sponsors, and tend to take up many types of magic from Shards. As a result, they're often the studious sort and become
Wizards, though in many ecclesiarchal societies, Divine Shards can frequently be absorbed to become a
Cleric instead.
Generally speaking, a learned spellcaster will have a large collection of spells with a high degree of skill in all of them, making them exceptional broad spellcasters, capable of bringing the right spell for any given task, especially when utilising the ubiquitously-available
Utility Magic to bring a truly dizzying array of niche options to field.
Indeed, many
Wizards in particular benefit from their spell books, which far exceed an
Arcane Focus of a bloodline spellcaster in the ever-important area of spell recollection and storage, generally meaning wizards have a nigh-infinite number of potential options for spells, should they reach that level of development.
The Fractured Curse
While there exists the
Shard Ritual to grant magic to people, many societies also developed one to seal it permanently. Not occurring naturally in any populations, the Fractured Curse is a magical procedure that completely severs the afflicted from magic, and does so permanently.
Types of Magic
There are many types of magic within the Elaiennan cluster. Some are more common than others, but almost all of them can be gained through the medium of
Crysium Shards.
Air Magic
Elemental
Air Magic is represented by Anemo
Shards. This magic's powers range from controlling the wind to creating lightning or thunder. Skilled casters are even able to fly or create vast wind barriers as an extremely potent defensive tool.
Air Magic is typically used by dedicated
Anemancers, generalist
Wizards and elemental
Sorcerers
Divine Magic
Divine Magic is represented by Holy
Shards . This magic's powers primarily concern healing, though some offensive abilities are granted too, which rely heavily on light-based effects. Skilled casters are even able to use the magic to resurrect the dead, albeit with difficulty.
Divine Magic is mainly used by
Clerics,
Paladins and
Druids.
Fire Magic
Elemental
Fire Magic is represented by Pyro
Shards. This magic's powers can be used for magical purposes ranging from smoke creation to fiery effects and damaging spells. Skilled spellcasters can even resist fire-based attacks.
Fire Magic is mainly used by dedicated
Pyromancers, generalist
Wizards and elemental
Sorcerers
Psionic Magic
Psionic Magic is represented by Psionic
Shards. This magic's powers can be used for illusionary and control magic. They can be used to manipulate the unwitting, but are also capable of damaging the brain with some finesse. Skilled spellcasters can even use this magic silently kill others.
Psionic Magic is mainly used by dedicated
Psions, generalist
Wizards and more broad
Sorcerers.
Water Magic
Elemental
Water Magic is represented by Hydro
Shards. This magic's powers can be used for the control of water flows, rain, water purification and ice-based magic for offensive purposes. Skilled spellcasters can even breath underwater indefinitely, and grant the ability to others.
Water Magic is mainly used by dedicated
Hydromancers, generalist
Wizards and elemental
Sorcerers.
Nature Magic
Nature Magic is represented by Nature
Shards. This magic's powers can range from influencing plant growth to communication with animals and plant life. Skilled spellcasters can even control entire forests of wildly varying sizes.
Nature Magic is mainly used by specialist and generalist
Druids, generalist
Wizards and more broad
Sorcerers
Earth Magic
Elemental
Earth Magic is represented by Geo
Shards. This magic's powers can be used for the manipulation of the earth around them to attack or restrain their foes, or even to protect them and their allies. Skilled casters can even create tremors around themselves, even excluding them and their allies from the tremors.
Earth Magic is mainly used by dedicated
Geomancers, generalist
Wizards and elemental
Sorcerers.
Necrotic Magic
Necrotic Magic is represented by Necrotic
Shards. This magic's powers can be used for the draining of life force, raising the dead, communing with spirits and more. This is a relatively shunned magic form due to its ability to create the undead. Skilled spellcasters can even create multiple undead at once.
Necrotic Magic is mainly used by dedicated
Necromancers, generalist
Wizards and more broad
Sorcerers.
Dimension Magic
Dimension Magic is represented by Dimension
Shards. This magic is known to be very rare and dangerous, allowing for the local alteration of gravity and the creation of kinetic blasts. Skilled spellcasters can even use this magic for teleportation over large distances, although it cannot replace the jump gate network.
Dimension Magic is mainly used by dedicated
Spatial Mages, as well as generalist
Wizards.
Shielding Magic
Shielding Magic is represented by Pure
Shards. This magic's power is used to ward allies from harm from a variety of effect types based on the potency. Skilled spellcasters can even attempt to cancel magic entirely in a wide area and prevent other casters from using magic.
Shielding Magic is mainly used by dedicated
Metamages, most-all
Wizards and more broad
Sorcerers.
Summoning Magic
Summoning Magic is represented by Memoria
Shards. This magic's power is used for summoning and conjuration magic, to bring forth beings from other realities. Skilled spellcasters can even bring forth incredible familiars or summons, and sustain many of them at once.
Summoning Magic is mainly used by dedicated
Summoners and a rare few
Wizards.
Time Magic
Time Magic is represented by Temporal
Shards. This magic is very rare, somewhat limited and temperamental. Its power can be used to slow or speed up time - but never stop it. Skilled spellcasters can even use the magic on large numbers of targets at a time.
Time Magic is mainly used by dedicated
Chronomancers, generalist
Wizards and more broad
Sorcerers.
Types of Elaiennan Magic
These magical types are exclusive to the Elaiennan Cluster, meaning that the isolated planet of Aldrin has no access to them and people from it cannot learn them. The Shards for these types of magic don't exist and they're bloodline-only, making them extremely rare and exclusive forms of magic.
Technological Magic
Technological Magic is a very rare form of magic exclusive to bloodline spellcasters, not having any
Shards to learn it for those not of a technological magic bloodline. This magic's powers concern the manipulation of technology, both for hacking, remote control and much more.
Technological Magic is exclusively used by dedicated
Technomancers and the lucky
Sorcerers who have a bloodline for it.
Void Magic
Void Magic is the rarest form of magic, exclusive to single bloodline spellcasters, not having any
Shards to learn it for those not of a void magic bloodline. This magic's powers are the most dangerous in the cluster, allowing for the manipulation of the void and generally being very prone to disaster if mishandled.
Void Magic is exclusively used by dedicated
Void Mages, as any other form of spellcaster cannot safely learn it.
Aldrin Magic
Aldrin stands out within the Elaienna Cluster for... not being in the Elaienna cluster, funnily enough. The planet is located within the isolated Lantyr system, with a jump gate that has never once shown any signs of activity in the tens of thousands of years life has lived on the world below.
Due to its isolated nature, Aldrin lacks the technological advances of the cluster at large - the cluster itself could be called a highly advanced, modern scientific community with a strong sub-emphasis on magic, while Aldrin's peoples are a medieval society with exceptionally advanced magical talent and emphasis, and a strong technological heritage, which at best approximates certain facets of modern technology but in a magical-technological way.
These unique circumstances have made Aldrin unique, with it having several potent and unique forms of magical traditions on it; its magi are generally more powerful than cluster spellcasters are as a baseline due to the incredible focus on magic by Aldriners, and the magical types exclusive to Aldrin's unique situation and environment cannot appear in the wider Elaiennan Cluster, due to the cluster lacking the same qualities that allows Aldrin to feature these magical types.
Talecraft Magic cannot be acquired through the
Shard Ritual due to not having a Shard, but the Rune Shard that is unique to Aldrin allows for Rune Magic to be learned through the ritual for the inhabitants of Aldrin.
Talecraft Magic
Talecraft Magic is the rarest form of magic on Aldrin, exclusive to bloodline spellcasters, not having any
Shards to learn it for those not of a talecraft magic bloodline. This magic's powers concern the weaving of tales of myth into truth to impart effects, both to the battlefield and to the caster.
Talecraft Magic is exclusively used by dedicated
Bards and the lucky
Sorcerers who have a bloodline for it.
Rune Magic
Rune Magic is represented by the Aldrin-exclusive Rune
Shards. This magic's powers are fairly nonstandard, allowing a caster to scribe magical effects onto physical mediums, either to cast later or imbue onto an item. This also extends to various forms of mystical enchantment runes cover.
Rune Magic is mainly used by dedicated
Runesmith as well as more specialist-leaning
Wizards.
Advanced Magic
Magical communities in the cluster and on Aldrin have been working on advanced forms of magic for centuries, and while there are subtle variations between the forms of magic, they have both arrived at very similar results with regards to the options for the various advanced forms of magic, though Aldrin has a couple of exclusive ones, noted where appropriate.
Alchemy
Developed exclusively on Aldrin due to it lacking the traditional modern amenities and chemistry of the cluster, Alchemy is a highly advanced and generally dangerous form of indirect magic that focuses on using aether to twist the meaning of ingredients into reality, fusing various items together to create potent concoctions capable of myriad different things, from healing to bolstering physique, making one's bow hand supernaturally steady and much more.
At its highest end, Alchemy legends on Aldrin are known to be able to expertly transmute items using their alchemical equipment, turning lead into gold, and transmuting all sorts of potent alchemical legends.
Crystal Aspecting
There are many things which could be called revolutionary in the development of the cluster - and Aldrin, - from the first jump drives to the development of modern spaceflight safety and weaponry technologies, but
Crystal Aspecting is easily one of the most impactful revolutions in the magical field, bar none.
There's a limit to the prowess any person can reach in the magical arts; many of these limits can be pushed through with training, but access to the most rare, difficult and
powerful forms of a magical tradition would require centuries of training, which places long-lived races like the Elves at a stupendous advantage. Crystal Aspecting in many ways is the silver bullet solution to this problem, creating unique armours and magical 'overalls' that can incorporate
Crysium Shards within them directly.
These shards allow the wearer to achieve magical feats far grander than their natural capabilities; these wearers still need
some modicum of magical ability, but the very appearance of these potent forms of magical armour have served to even the playing field between the elves and other long-lived races, and the less fortunate species.
Wyldewood Magic
Exclusive to the elven communities of Aldrin,
Wyldewood Magic is a utility magic that focuses on shaping artificial trees into supremely efficient - if slow - producers of unique materials, known as Wyldewood Metals. A famous example of this on Aldrin is
Silverel, which is famous for possessing the qualities of
Mithril while having exceptionally potent
Aether conductivity.
While the materials are the main use of the magic, the
Wyldewood itself is extremely valuable to the elves as well, and the magic is used to create it just as much as the metals. It's one of the only magical types on Aldrin to lack intrinsic offensive capabilities.
