Magic and what you should know about it.

by **Brianna Silverweb** Sat Jul 04, 2015 2:49 am

Magic can not change the laws of nature without grave consequences. Magic requires a balance of energy - The pure lines have some inherent to them, but learned magic requires an equal balance in active magic. As do rituals and spells that call additional power. Something has to be given to receive power - a sacrifice, equal to the power being drawn. Specifically, equal in balance. That balance in energy can be measured in subjective ways, though. For instance - In a harvest ritual, you might sacrifice to Freyr. You could sacrifice a goat and sow the magic of it's offering on the ground with the seed - but the magic is more potent if it's a prized goat, either one that people have grown attached to, or perhaps one from a shy breeding season where the missing milk will make an impact. Sacrificing does not always mean killing though. Another example could be melting down a favorite locket in the spell, painstakingly collecting herbs or ingredients in a prescribed and ritualistic way, and/or carving symbols craftly into a spell board. Anything that requires a sacrifice of work, time, energy, effort can be done in the spirit of the spell and applied to the magical balance as the sacrifice needed. There is always a price. If power is gained through magic without the price paid then the balance is thrown off and there are consequences. Neopagans call this a threefold rule. The Gothi have a little more latitude with this. They've gone through pain rites - which is like a sacrifice investment plan.

The ability to use magic can be shorted out or lost indefinitely for all sorts of reasons when the root cause is that the balance of the exchange in energy is tipped. If the balance was tipped too far, it could potentially not be able to be reset. Magic is essentially a type of energy. It needs a conduit and fuel to be used and if used improperly it can cause significant damage to the source. Like other energies, it constantly seeks to right itself so it can act in ways that are unpredictable if you are asking it to do things when you don't fully understand it's needs or how it will react with variables. But, also like energy, Magic doesn't have a will of it's own other than to seek balance and exchange. So the same energy can do very different things when reflecting different motivations and perspectives. This is why it's so important for the Tribunal and the Great Coven to guard the power of this land - and magic in general.

Magical lineage is not necessary to have powers, but to be born a witch outside of the pure lines is uncommon, and usually exhibits considerably less natural power than tribunal families. It'd be a very recessive trait in non magic lineage and wouldn't have much to provide a foundation for it. It'd be unpredictable without that grounding aspect, and would usually either go unnoticed without training or become erratic and dangerous. Thus - It'd be a responsibility of the magical families, watching for those rare mutations so that they do not risk exposure or being tracked by hunters. Then to foster the power it comes down to balance. A way to do that is by joining the lieges of the elemental's house and studying with them. But without, A. the weighted balance that comes from being part of an elemental household and B. the training to know how to balance the power - it will essentially take it's own toll in sacrifice from the user - i.e. health issues, unexplainable misfortunes around them, etc. Learning how to use magic as a craft does not take natural ability, but that does make it slower and harder. They'd have to train and study in association with a coven or sanctioned witch. Or risk being policed by the houses or murdered by hunters.

Magic is an entity of energy. If someone learns how to call it and balance it's purposes they can have a relationship with it. The benefits of being part of a magical lineage is the preexisting relationship. This preexisting relationship is also found in magical creatures, things like primals, shifters, fae, etc. So it's be slow and hard as hell, and they may not unlock access to certain types of magic within their life time, but they can learn the craft. It'd be the difference between an analog and digital world - with magic. A preexisting relationship with magical energy would be a highly dormant recessive trait - but if there is magic somewhere in their blood, whether a magical creature or a witch in their lineage somewhere - they might have an easier time moving from analog to digital in their craft - so to speak, but it would depend on how they foster that relationship with the magical energy. Bottom line, the magic is always going to seek balance. The benefit of having magical blood, aside from the magical relationship, is that it weights the balance in the users favor. The stronger the lineage, the more substantial the weight. Magic doesn't care who or what uses it, as long as there is balance. Supernatural beings may have more stamina to expend into doing magic and balancing it, than the average human or descendant coming into it.

All beings have the capacity to have a well of magic, but magical creatures and witches have an existing reservoir that they can draw from within themselves, that with training, can amplify their aptitude to utilize magical energy as a force. Mortal beings do not start with an existing internal reservoir of magical energy, but with the right attention to study and practice, can build one as they build a relationship with magic. Magic may never come as "naturally" to them as mystical beings, but it can be a learned skill that mortals can utilize. They do have to be very careful, though, because of how quickly magic can use up mortal energy in attempts to balance itself, so it needs an external source.

Types of magic are as follows: Ceremonial or High magic, Wardic, Elemental, Sinews, Divining and Psionic.
These are further broken down into specialties for each bloodline. The specialties are as follows:
Earth- Flora, Fauna, Terramancer , Crystals, Metal, Shamanism, and Druidism
Air- Aeromancer, Smoke, Storm, Sound, Flight, Mentalist, and Bard
Water- Hydromancer, Healing, Aquatic life, Visionary, and Channeler
Fire- Pyromancer, Heart (Passion, Emotions, Desires), Light, Heat, and Pyrotechnics
Spirit- Spirit, Life, Balance, Dreams, Druid, Seer, Necromancer, Shadows, Invoker, Arcane, Premonitions, and Siedr

Items can store magic in a couple of different ways. Like a battery - that delivered ongoing effects of magic or a spell - but once the power has drained out, it'd have to be refueled or recharged somehow if it was designed to do that - or was in something that could continue to hold more of that concentrated energy. If it's magic being stored in something it'd be like storing electricity - It'd need the right things to balance and stabilize the energy, otherwise it could be very volatile and dangerous. There are some things that have magic that naturally occurs in it, too - like Luna Mountain.

Attaching spells or enchantments to living, non-magical/mundane people or creatures permanently is possible but very situational and rare. The rule of something needing to be given to receive power - a sacrifice, equal to the power being drawn still holds weight. Anything placed on or in someone would either A. feed off of the person it is attached to, likely killing them quicker than natural. B. need to be recharged somehow, making it more temporary than permanent. C. need a sacrifice would need to be given as the power is placed on them that is pretty much equal to the span of the power. In this case it would need to be a "life worthy" sacrifice.

Limitations within magic come alongside the balance of things. If they can balance the magic, the energy continues. That being said, magic takes a lot of sacrifice to balance it. So they'd have to expend the energy or spend the escrow for the power. Unless they have something outside of themselves to create the balance, the magic turns inward and extracts the cede from them internally - their body, their spirit, etc.

Combating magic if you are non-magical/mundane can be done, but can be tricky at times. It comes down to the fundamentals of magic. Force of energy. Requires balance. The way to combat that is to try to thwart their ability to use the magic by affecting whatever they're using to maintain balance, or what is taking sacrifice for the magic to work. Or find a way to redirect the energy.