Describe Your Magic System in a Few Sentences

For Work A:

Magic is formed by the overlap of Seven worlds. This magic is naturally chaotic, manifesting itself in just about any way, especially if it is oddly convenient (ie, inanimate objects gaining sentience, a sword being imbued with just the right magic properties, etc.) There is no one way to tap into this magic, but there are several main ways, 3 that use props, 3 that you are born with/require a sacrifice, and 1 that doesn't follow any aforementioned rules and is the only illegal way.

• Sorcerers/sorceresses: Elemental magic through spells and such
• Enchanter/enchantress: Reality warping magic through spells/props
• Wizards/Witches: general magic through spells
• Mages: general magic without the use of spells, if it isn't inborn it requires years of practice
• Djinn: Reality bending magic that first requires a drastic change in appearance, and after that the user becomes less real at a rate proportional to using their powers (this fades)
• Elemin/Selemin: An in-born only trait, they can only control one element.

• Necromancy: Uses a clash between light and darkness that takes place within a necromancer to raise the dead to a state of half-life. Failure for the spell to work causes the necromancer to die in a large explosion.

edited 20th Jan '11 4:03:54 AM by namboto

Isn't realist just a word a cynic calls himself?

Still working on some of the details, but:

• Powered by life energy, which can be drawn from ambient surroundings at negligible cost to the nearby lifeforms or, with either the right tool or enough skill, forcibly drained from a particular target.
• Affects matter on a subatomic level in order to effect changes at a macro level.
• Something something quantum foam something matter something something alternate realities maybe something something. (I said I'm still working on some of it, and some of the things magic can do are pretty well not manageable by the above rule.)
• A ghost, by the way, is residual life energy with an imprint of the mind and memories of the person whose energy it was.
• Something about parallel worlds and energy flux and such to explain where the energy comes from since it's not recycled immediately, I guess.

But soft! What rock through yonder window breaks? It is a brick! And Juliet is out cold.

The Eyes and Teeth, named for the image the human mind projects of it rather than face its true form, is an unfathomable horror, a creature that has existed before time itself, a monstrosity which, for its own alien purposes, desires to tear asunder the very fabric of the universe — and in doing so, dooming every sentient creature that has ever existed to an eternity of agony.

But the incomprehensibility is a two-way street; it finds the physical world as alien as a human mind would find its home. Only by using sentient minds, willing or unwitting, can it hope to enact its dread schemes upon the cosmos. So it makes deals with mortals, and through these deals comes magic. As a result, magic is an invariably malign presence, which corrupts or destroys all who use it... but there are many eager fools willing to risk their souls, for the powers of magic are limited only by the mage's ability to pay the price of blood, agony, and mayhem that the Eyes and Teeth demand in exchange for its services.

Each magical spell is a distinct skill, as difficult in its own right as any given specialty in Law, History, Theology, or most sciences. When cast successfully, the mage is drained a large chunk of stamina and the spell's determined effects activate. Botching the ritual or words usually causes a minor problem, and drains only one thaum (the amount of energy a normal person would spend in the first ten seconds of combat; it's enough to temporarily make a dove or three billiard balls). Very badly botched spells drain the full cost of stamina, and still produce effects...but the wrong effects.

Long story short, it's the magic system from GURPS.

I must be cruel, but to be kind That bad may begin, and worse be left behind

Trying to adequately explain how magic works throughout my world-in-progress would require a lot of space, mainly because there are several contradictory schools in-universe, each with their own set of rules and pretensions, as well as serious rivalries. For example, the mere mention of fixed-application thaumaturgy to a hermetic sorcerer will most likely induce violent conniptions in said sorcerer, often in who-knows-what mystical language. This gets Played for Laughs here and there...

edited 24th Jan '11 8:52:21 PM by JHM

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

Only Fae can use it, and only 5 times a day.

Ironic, huh?

Well, in Boy Aurus the magic system is pretty simple.

Being able to cast magic is genetically linked, magic of the transmutation variety is the only kind available, wizards must draw symbols to cast spells, every symbol corresponds to a different spell, every spell only works on one particular object so the hard part of learning magic is getting a spell right on the first try (a combination of luck and mental concentration) or else you'll find you can only turn lead into turkey breast when you wanted to turn lead into gold, so every wizard has a different repertoire of spells. Another hard part is strategically deciding what spells you want to assign to easily available items. Some items turn more easily into others (it's easier if items are of the same sort), but wizards can turn anything inanimate into anything else inanimate, though creating life requires a particular sort of clay and even then it's pretty iffy.

I feel like I have something fairly different for Writing a Discordant History:

• Magic, in this universe, is channeled solely through arcane symbols; no human is inherently magical. The symbols represent gods with whom contact has been made and a method of channeling has been given.
• Everything has an aura and a "body" — that is, their aura is what they use to channel symbols, and the body is made up of symbolic energy that is inherent in a person simply for being made of certain god-blessed materials.
• In order to create magical effects, one must channel a specific number of godly symbols that they've prepared mentally, recalling them perfectly.
• Different gods can channel different spells, depending on what they're capable of; sometimes this might change. Thus, magic is ever-changing, much like any other science; one must be aware of many different symbols and be prepared to change in the event that a god changes its mind about something.
• Spells, after being cast, are imbued with an aura, no matter their effect; the greater the aura, the less "potent" one's spell is.
• Spell potency is important, at least for dealing with powerful spellcasters, because one can put up a defense within their own "body" via defensive symbols, making it too "dense" to be penetrated by an undiluted spell.
• One can "dilute" a spell by using as few symbols as possible, but newer spellcasters have to use a certain amount of symbols to even cast a spell, because they cannot channel as much energy from the gods.
• The gods are aware of every use of their symbols and can judge those who cast based on their usage of the magic; hence, some symbols are "good", and some are "evil". A god can completely cut off one's access to a symbol, or reduce it, or they can give considerably greater power to a caster. A god, though, will eventually disappear from giving its power to mortals, leaving a spellcaster needing to change their channels.
• The less symbols are channeled, the more "potent" a spell is, and potent spells are better able to cut through the defenses of more experienced spellcasters.

edited 2nd Feb '11 3:29:53 AM by Everest

Work out a line of code in your head, link it with a few other codes, to complete a spell code, or have one memorized. Focus your own magic forces through a <chaos gate> spellcode for your mana, or rely on an Ethernet connection and tap our local mana.

Chose a target, aim and...

"Execute:<Spell Name>"

[[User Banned]]_ My Pm box ix still open though, I think?

I Have not one, but TWO magic systems, but only the first one is likely to be used.

The first one is based around an biomechanical implant called the Superior Articfial energy transmission organ. Using this mysterious implant, a mage can not only move energy (such as transmissioning heat from the environment into a foe), but can also translate it (changing kinetic energy to electricity, for one,) and gather energy in order to power the body (allowing for conversation of energy and super-strength to coexist.) However, the method for the creation of a SAET organ is only known to a select few, so most people utilize the lesser version, which can only pull the lattermost trick.

The second one, drawing heavy inspiration from China Melville and his book Kraken, relies on glitches in the universe, careful study, and metaphors. A skilled utilizer of this sort of magic, for example, could draw a line straight though the middle of a broken arm, and though magic and the metaphor “two halves make a whole” have it knit back together. Basically, it’s troll science, only it’s magic.

I have two magic systems interacting (they were once at war, now they ignore each other for the most part):

The first are blood mages (based on Harry Potter's magic system): Magic is inherited and must be channeled through a wand or similar object. Magical energy comes entirely from the user, and most incantations are short one or two word spells.

The second are the common mages (based on Mahou Sensei Negima's magic system): Anyone can learn to use magic, but it must be drawn in from the outside world through a magic activation device (wand, staff, ring, etc.). All but the most simple spells require lengthy incantations, typically invoking various gods and spirits.

The two groups clashing ultimately led to the fall of Rome in my universe, at which point the masquerade began. Now you'd be hard pressed to find any evidence of common mages in a blood mage textbook (they feel superior because their magic comes from their genes). The common mages aren't so conceited. They just play live and let live with the world.

No one believes me when I say angels can turn their panties into guns.

Well, I'll try to summarize how my system from the book I'm working on works as efficiently as possible.

How it works:

• Magic is possible due to a bunch of Eldrich Abominations holding a competition to see which of the Seven Eight Deadly Sins is the most dangerous
• There are eight elements, and people born with mastery over an element are Most Triumphant Examples of one of the Sins:
  • Fire -> Sloth
  • Nature -> Envy
  • Water -> Lust
  • Mineral -> Wrath
  • Wind -> Greed
  • Electricity -> Pride
  • Darkness -> Gluttony
  • Holy -> Ignorance
• There is a direct relation between the maximum power one has over an element and a spellcaster's sanity; that is, they're at their strongest when they're most likely to use magic to ruin lives. And none of the eight masters are ever going to be completely sane...
• After a millenium, the element/sin combo that's caused the most damage will be deemed the winner of the Abomination's game. And then...well, it's best not to think about what'll happen.

How to get magic:

• Birth: People that are born with the ability to use magic have complete dominance over it, but will be prone to bouts of insanity. At a time, only eight living people have their powers earned this way. Should one of these eight masters die, somewhere in the world, a baby will be given that person's mastery.
• Murder: Should a person intentionally cause the death of one of the eight masters, they will be 'blessed' with the powers of the victim without the drawbacks to their sanity. However, there will be unalterable side effects, such as an eternally flaming head or a body that can literally melt into the shadows.
• Cloning: If science is used to clone one of the eight masters, the clone will have almost all the powers of the original, but will age rapidly. If a clone's DNA is spliced with a species that can live for a very long time, this may avert the flaw, but could have unforseen consequences.

My magic system is based on a constant flow of—energy—for want of a better word, from another realm. This energy is known as Essence, and is used to cast basically any magicks you can think of. There certain distinct spells, but most magick is something of an ad-hoc manipulation of Essence into whatever form is needed, be it fire, earth, illusion, or even being locked in a physical object by invoking a rune while drawing Essence.

The various 'schools' of magic are known as canticles, and cover the basic forms of manipulating Essence.

• Elementalists are those who weave Essence into elemental attacks, defence, and can also perform geomancy (terraforming via magic) when powerful enough mages combine their powers.
• Chaosigans study disorder, signs, and anything that might explode at a moments notice. Speels tend to be highly destructive. Use with care.
• Shamans are more in touch with their base instincts, and are incredibly capable demagogues, able to create a mob in seconds, or commune with the spirits of beasts and other, more dangerous entities.
• Seers tend to be very rare, and are simply born with the Gift or the Sight.
  • Those with the Gift can never be fooled, and have perfect clairvoyance. Ask them anything, and the answer you get will 100% accurate, and completely incomprehensible—most simply Go Mad from the Revelation
  • Those with the Sight, on the other hand, simply get 'flashes' of the most likely future to occur. Problems begin to occur when their own choices become involved in said future, often leading to them unknowingly nudging fate towards or away from that future.
• Illusion is the canticle of everything to do with hiding, disappearing, party tricks, and subtle mind manipulation. There is no mind control, but a powerful illusion mage who can put a word in your ear could make a person do almost anything. (Sanity and self-preservation cannot be overridden though).
• Runesmiths are masters of drawing Essence from wherever it flows, and forging it into the runes that give certain items special properties. Runes leach Essence over time, unless invoked flawlessly. The number of runesmiths with that level of skill can be counted on one hand, and tend to be quite old.
  • Blacksmiths have a magick based process similar to invoking runes for creating superior alloys and compounds, known as enmeshing. As most blacksmiths have no magickal talent, this is more akin to alchemy than true magick.

On the note of magickal creatures, pretty much none exist, barring Demons, and possibly Eldritch Abominations.

edited 14th Feb '11 5:36:46 AM by Ravager

What you say no to will always define you.

Simply:

Magic uses Oz (or Life Energy) to work. The more you use it, the more powerful your Oz becomes. Magic uses Art (to define the element), Music (to define the kind), and Language (to specify what it will do)

I wonder what a strip tease from a creature made of souls would be like?

Magic is another form of a radiation. A particle inside all of matter, that in its pure form, like light, is practically harmless. Its highly reactive to matter around it though, changing its properties based on where its located and how much of it is present. 'Mages' cast 'spells' by using their own radiation in their bodies to interact with it and makes stuff happen. The 'spells' are within laws of physics, only breaking them through sheer energy or through side effects of the magic radiation being present. All living creatures that can produce a thought can interact with magic because thoughts express their own radiation in an intricate manner based on the emotion or specification of the thought. So being a mage require quite the sound mind, though it isn't easy to impose on magic usually.

I have a Pokemon fanfiction, and after reading a ton of Limyaael, I've basically reimagined Pokemon's seventeen-element system into a broader eight-element system that's basically a magic system in all but name. As for how seventeen elements came out, it has to do with how the Pokemon uses their energy.

So energy is everywhere. It's the stuff that the gods used to craft the universe with, and what souls are made of. Darkness energy came first, and then when light came into being, six other energies came along that could either be classified as light or darkness-based. Fire, water, and plant energies are light-based; earth, ice, and lightning are darkness-based. There is no inherent morality attached to using light- or darkness-based energy.

Whether if you can use the energy or not depends on how often a certain chromosome appears in your cells, a number called the Concateno ratio. You need at least a ratio of 15 to have the energy help you complete household chores. Most humans have a ratio less than 5. But when you start going into the 50s and all the way up to almost 100, you start getting to the point where using that much energy can drive you loony.

edited 16th Feb '11 2:12:14 PM by CrystalGlacia

"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."

Magic is powered by a part of the soul, called the "pranic soul". Any animal has the potential to use magic, but only the intelligent races are smart enough to actually do so. Magic (or "pranic science", as it is called) is a major topic in schools, as everybody can use it. Magic is used to directly affect the world in various ways (create a fire, make protective barriers, etc...). This is possible because the entire universe is exactly the same as the soul, just in a different form. Magic can be used in various ways, like healing, communication, transportation, or warfare.

In the pranic soul, people have a concentrated form of prana, something that pervades the entire universe. Using magic uses up the pranic reserves, which refills after resting between spells. If a person were to lose all their prana, they would die.

My magic system is based heavily on Hindu beliefs, as you could probably tell.

"What's out there? What's waiting for me?"

Under Functional Magic, you'll find both Alchemy and Device Magic, two of the three pillars of my magic system, the third being Eye of Newt. In layman's terms: break stuff down into fundamental essences, them combine them with each other to produce a spell charge, or combine the essences with another object to alter it's properties.

The three levels of magic, from easiest to hardest, are: Enchantments: Target's properties are altered though constant application of a magical effect. Easiest to prepare beforehand and use on the fly, but the effects only last until the spell wears off or is removed.

Alterations: Using magic to permanently alter the fundamental makeup of the Target. Requires more prep time and has to be done over a period of time that can't be interrupted, the result needs no constant magical charge to work, because the change is to the properties of the subject, rather than an applied effect.

Transmutation: The changing of one essence into another. VERY HARD TO PULL OFF WITHOUT TURNING INTO A SMOKING CRATER.

edited 16th Feb '11 6:08:02 PM by Gralien

Desperate for feedback, please visit Troper Page for links!

Interesting thread. 8D Here's mine. It's still a bit fuzzy, might be debunked sooner or later, and is ridiculously long, but ah well~

For all the worlds I have, there's one system that encompasses them all. Magic A is...I dunno if it's really magic, but basically it's the power of 'Possibility'. It's the raw force that created worlds, and the reason why worlds are so diverse. However, when Possibility becomes Reality (ie, a consistent world or anything belonging to a consistent world), it loses its 'anything can happen' property. Attaining raw Possibility is generally impossible and is strictly prohibited by interdimensional guardians. But it can be attained. The results can be ugly though.

For the current world I'm working on... Magic B is more or less like summoning or forming pacts with divine/unholy creatures. It can be inherited. Intricately tied to religion. Downside is that lifespans are shortened and body-jacking by eldritch abominations becomes possible.

Magic C is using the bending the world's energy to one's will. Dependence on genetics still debatable, but not everyone can have it. Run of the mill elemental magics go here. Rather volatile in terms of 'internal consistency', as it is influenced both by current beliefs, location and memories of the dead. Downside is that users' memories become muddled and possible insanity.

Magic D is the 'universal' magic ie everyone can learn it. Goes hand in hand with technology. Uses the soul/life energy/mana/whathaveyou as source of power and lets technology hone it to something. Actually uses the inherent connection of the soul to the afterlife in order to draw power. Actual soul material possess fragments of 'Possibility', but this tendency hasn't been discovered/utilized. Downside is possible possession of various souls from the afterlife. Technological short-outs are not unheard of, not to mention ethical considerations.

Law of Conservation of Energy is in effect for all systems. Magic B users are automatically unable to use Magic C and vice versa. Magic D is compatible with B but less so with C. All systems (save for A) uses the same rune system, but I have to figure that one out yet. 8D

World-class worrywart.

A system I've been thinking about basically involves magic as the ability to talk to Nature Spirits. Everything has a "soul" or "essense" that drives it, and if you know how to talk to them, then you can ask them to do things for you. You can't ask them to do things against their nature, but you can ask them to do things that would normally be impossible (eg, you can't ask fire to not burn, but you can ask it to burn without fuel). There's an inverse relationship between power and complexity — something like "fire" is very simple but very powerful, while animals are very complex and thus correspodingly less responsive to magic, and humans can't be magic'd at all. However, spirits get both more powerful and more complex as they get older. A sapling isn't much good for anything, but a 100-year-old oak would have a spirit nearly as intelligent as a human.

The fun part is figuring out what you can do with this. How could random everyday items help you out if you could talk to them?

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

1. Draw power from something: This is the tricky part. Few people can actually pull it off. Power can be drawn through ritual (the normal way, nobody knows why it works but it DOES work), mostly involving sacrifice, or by sheer force of will, which is almost impossible to do and draining on the magic user. 2. Transform that magical power into a magical effect. Effects that are well known are easier to produce, but a strong will and a powerful mind can draw any kind of energy and transform it into any kind of magic. Rare, though. 3. Unleash it on your target, which is quite easy and only takes some focus.

Overall, Magic Ais Magic A, but it's not Vancian Magic. Magic is typically formal, ritualized and limited, with a lot of hocus pocus that nobody knows why exactly is there thrown in because "that's the way you do that." Some magic users do things outside the box, but it's very rare.

Everyone IS CAPABLE OF DOING magic, assuming they've got the will and the capacity to focus it, but not everybody KNOWS magic. Without knowing magic, you can't do it. If they learnt magic, they could, but there's prejudice against magic users and lotsa mistrust, so most folks never try to learn magic. Magic users are roughly 2% of the population.

edited 9th Mar '11 7:37:33 AM by SavageHeathen

You exist because we allow it and you will end because we demand it.

I have a elemental magic system. Magic refers to both the actions and substance. Most species sythesize a type of magic as part of their natural biology, and it stays in/flows through their bodies until it's used. Elves have Fire magic, Dwarves have Earth, Orcs have Plant, and humans don't synthesize any magic. Magic lays dormant until activated, at which time it does something like create a fireball or construct a stone age mech-suit. It can also be imbued into objects that act as intermediary devices that allow people to use magic, this is how humans use it.

Magic is divided into several categories: Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Plant, Lightning, Light, and Dark  ^*

. Each category is subdivided into parts. For example, Earth is subdivided into rock, soil, and metal, and Lightning is subdivided into electricity and magnetism. At the point of creation and for the first age of the world the parts weren't distinguished from each other or thier parent category, but a world changing cataclysm and divine intervention at the end of the first age caused the subdivision within the categories.

Species can use a type of magic that they don't naturally make, but they must have some of the substance first. It can be obtained from a "well" of magic, there are several located across the world, or it can be obtained from another species that has the type of magic you're looking for. For example, you could eat a fish to get Water magic.

This is still a work in progress, I'm still working on the specifics and how many categories and what the subdivisions are.

My magic system has magic itself act much like light to the point where plants photosynthesize it and objects that are the same color as the magic will absorb less of it. The actual use of it resembles elemental Ki Attacks, but the elements are a bit different. The elements and the colors their energy show up as are basically slow/blue, fast/red, positive/white, and negative/black. The slow and fast elements can affect temperature of objects by affecting the speed of the particles in the object, causing them to double as ice and fire elements. The positive and negative elements create magnetic monopoles in a world where gravity has been replaced with a magnetism-like force, allowing for one to use one of the two for magnetic levitation (usually the positive one since most of the stories will take place on the positive/south side of the world), and for the most part, the two elements can double as earth and air. The fast and slow elements can combine to create purple wind as a reaction. The positive and negative elements combine to create yellow electricity as a reaction.

Thinking of ideas to use with a literary work that is meant to be WikiWalked through.

I don't know what it says about me that the only magic system I've created, for a present-day Urban Fantasy sort of setting (which I always imagine as an anime) with emphasis on Rule of Cool above all else...isn't nearly as well developed as most of these. But I'll give it a shot anyway...I should have showed up in this subforum a lot sooner!

• It's not clear where magic comes from. As in, I haven't thought up an explanation yet, and in universe this basically comes out as the protagonist, a very powerful mage and very public figure, basically trolling everyone. He'll tell the deeply religious that it's a divine gift that's not to be questioned and the deeply scientific that it's just an unexplained phenomenon that he's trying to find the causes behind. When confronted about these inconsistencies, he just refuses to say any more. So yeah, I don't know.

• What is clear is that a mage draws their power from what I call (at least for now) an Aura Soul, which is basically a potentially infinite energy source that resides within a person's mind and body simeltaneously. And their soul...or rather, it is their soul. It is essentially another sentient persona that grows and changes with the mage. Woe bedtide those who can't get along with their aura souls, because it's not like you can just get rid of it...

• The visible signs of magic and auras are always colored. The different types are referred to as classes.
  • Standard classes: Red, blue, green, orange, purple
  • "Metallic" classes: Gold and silver
  • And the comparatively rare but very powerful Multichroma class, which I suppose I could elaborate further on elsewhere in this post.

• Every mage is born with their aura soul dormant, and it's so far never consistent when it will become active or, in universe terminology, manifest. Manifestation usually occurs during adolescence or early adulthood, though, and is often brought on by traumatic events. Sometimes small signs of magical ability will appear before manifestation, but never anything major.

• Manifestation often results in an uncontrolled and dangerous outburst of magical energy, and is best followed up with proper training. Mages with no formal training sometimes manage to discipline themselves, but often they just go down the risky path of letting raw emotion control their powers.

• Magic can basically be put to use at will, but of course focus is required to make it work. How much magical energy a mage can draw on is limited by their ability to access and focus it, so naturally new mages won't be as powerful and more experienced ones will be.

• As the above post might suggest, no specific incantations or anything like that are required to use magic, but spells are usually best stabilized through the use of magic circles. These usually develop on the ground independently as the mage focuses their power, and vary in type depending on what's being done. More powerful mages stop needing them for small things, while multichromas, despite their greater potential power, are forced to rely on circles no matter what the task.

• What can be done with magic? Basically anything, but mages who train officially with the government (and that's the focus of these stories) are expected to be proficient in environmental scanning and analysis, telekinesis, shielding, basic energy attacks, enhanced movement, magical enhancement of mundane weaponry, and the creation and use of pocket storage dimensions. There's also all sorts of convenience stuff that mostly has to do with Rule of Cool costume-wise, like the ability to easily warp between outfits and control personal area temperature. And there is reading and manipulating minds, too. Which has to be done through eye contact, by the way.

• So far, there's no such thing as a mage who can do magic without visual signs of it, in their aura color of course. When magic kicks on, the user's eyes turn their aura color, so mages are always going to be pretty conspicuous. But that's sort of the point in this setting: they're meant to be very powerful and very public.

• ALSO, I forgot to note that it's worth mentioning that individual mages essentially develop areas of particular skill and hone them for all it's worth. For example...among the characters in a recent spinoff set at the government's new mage academy (essentially somewhat like the Xavier School, I'm not ashamed to admit), there's three protagonists. One is an orange-class with a knack for forming weapons out of magical energy, another is a blue-class who's gotten quite good at ranged attacks by way of typical "magic missiles", and a green-class who's really good at shielding but pretty weak at everything else. The main overall protagonist of the series, who was America's first publicly-known mage, founder of the government mage agency, and one of the world's most powerful mages overall is notable precisely because he's attained a level of mastery where's he's basically good at everything.

That's about all that's pertinent, I'd say...if you want to know more, please PM me, I'd love to talk about it, and I'll even have a character photo of one of my main protagonists sometime in the next few weeks!

edited 9th Mar '11 9:16:10 PM by frog753

Flora Segunda | World Made By Hand | Monster Blood Tattoo ^You should read these series.

My setting has five elements: water, earth, fire, air, and aether. Aether is found in almost all materials. A sufficient amount of compressed aether becomes a soul. So, the way magic works is that you have to learn to control the aether in your soul, and sort of "reach out" to what you want to control. So, say, if you want a rock to levitate, you need to "convince" it to do so. Some materials do not contain aether. These are used to lock up dangerous mages. (I'm still working out some of this.)