This post will begin the task of explaining how magic works in Delgar. This is not a discussion of game mechanics or rules, but one of concepts and story.
Magic is most often thought of in a cause-and-effect manner. Magic is thought of as a characterization of instances wherein spells of its nature provoke changes in the natural state. This is exceedingly myopic. To say that the average person in Delgar is ignorant of the way magic works is, to be sure, a grave understatement in the least. Even those who practice it rarely truly understand it.
But let’s not trouble ourselves with what magic is not when we are endeavoring to ascertain what it is.
The first step in understanding the magic of Delgar is to understand that it is not, strictly speaking, a force. It is a living, palpable thing that can be somewhere or not. The magic of Delgar is native to Delgar, and it does not extend far beyond the world itself. Just as water flows to fill its basin, so does magic flow over the land, growing weak at times and strong at others.
This flowing magical energy is called Aether. It is the living, breathing incarnation of chaos, foaming on the banks of the material world, rushing around some places and pooling in others, a wind of energy drawn to places where its influence is most appreciated, and circumnavigating those places where it is rarely drawn. The flows of Aether form a network of magical energy buzzing along invisible currents, carrying the wills of magi in its wake.
Where these flows join, the greatest magi are born. One such place is an otherwise desolate crag on the north coast of Narthrall where the Obsidian Tower claws at the harsh, dark sky. Here, the Void stream joins the Trans-Garadic Shade flow, creating one of the most dangerous persistent Aether storms in the world. It was in this place that Demiar Ebonblade was born, raised, and taught the depths of the dark magics the draphen covet.
Araxian magic theory represents the most complete understanding of the workings of this mysterious energy. It works by building up from simple atomic concepts rather than the traditional approach of dividing spells into schools. In this, it hits much nearer the mark of understanding just what is going on when a magus bends the Aether flows to her whim.
The theory consists of the so-called Aspects, Axioms, and Axes. (The fact that these three words all begin with “A” is incidental – bear in mind that these are the English words for them, and no one on Delgar speaks English.) An Aspect is a form which a spell takes. For instance, the Guardian’s Aspect is defensive, while the Archer’s Aspect is offensive. The two Axioms are Order and Chaos. The Axes are Energy, Luminescence, and Substance. The combination of an Axiom and an Axis produces a foundational element – Earth, Air, Fire, Ice, Light, or Shadow.
The type of spellcaster a person is is related to what components they invoke in spell creation. A person who binds all three – an Aspect, and Axiom, and an Axis – together to form a specific spell is galled a magus, plural magi, or similarly mage, magicker, etc. A caster who manipulates elements directly, whose spells have no Aspect, is called an elementalist, a shaman, or a feral. Ferals are widely feared, because their magic is thought to be uncontrolled and changes shape fluidly during channeling. Specialists are casters whose magics lack an Axiom, being bound to Balance, between the two extremes of Order and Chaos. Healers, druids, and enchanters are all specialists. Many more exist.
The last, and most extraordinary caster type is the almost-mythical savant. A savant, also called a conduit or a channeler, is exceedingly dangerous, as typically they are utterly overwhelmed by their powers and have incredible capacity for destruction. Savants channel an Axiom directly, having neither Aspect nor Axis to their invocations. A channeler is said to be as likely to turn a drought into a flood as they are to turn a village into a crater. Most savants unintentionally self-immolate at some point, typically the instant the floodgates of their power are opened. The last savant in memory who was able to control her powers was known simply as The Nameless Girl. She was responsible for returning Chaos magic to Delgar after the Great Imbalance caused by the Rule of Order, enforced by Eversummer Tower for centuries. She single-handedly leveled the Tower and its armies and exposed the dangers of imbalance caused by the Rule.
Balance is a central concept to Delgar magic. All invocations must ultimately be balanced, and when significant imbalances arise, savants are born. A magus must balance his or her own spells, as their lack of axiomatic and axial affinity means that they will suffer ill opposite effects otherwise. For instance, a magus who casts an unbalanced fireball might suffer hypothermia or frostbite. They trade an increased risk of personal harm and a decreased overall ability to invoke magic for increased flexibility. An elementalist does not balance his or her own magic – instead, an elementalist’s magic is balanced by other elementalists of opposing affinity.
When the overall balance of magic gets pushed too far in one direction or the other, it creates great potential energy in the opposite direction and decreases the potential in its own. When Chaos mages were hunted to extinction in AY 700-1200, the powers of Order magic, as they were used without balance, waned to the point that the powers of magi from centuries prior began to pass into the realm of mythology. New students at the Eversummer Tower could scarcely conjure a light to read by. Dependence on ancient magical artifacts became widespread. Just as a bowstring becomes harder and harder to stretch as it is stretched to its limit, so does magic of one axiom wane as it strays from balance.
As the overall power of one axiom wanes, the other builds proportionally. Those who feared Chaos magic so were, in effect, directly empowering it. Their actions, superficially in opposition to Chaos magic, were fueling the fire that would eventually consume them. When the Nameless Girl managed to survive to rein her powers, she inherited half a millennium of stored Chaos energies. Stopping her was a task all the world was not capable of. She did more than destroy Eversummer Tower, though. She created Towers all over the world to train local casters in the arcane arts. Today, the world of Delgar is again in a state of relative balance, and few savants are born.
In most of the world, Shadow magic is not known. Narthrall is one of few places where Shadow magic is practiced openly, and the draphen are often seen as evil as a result. The draphen rely on Shadow magic to defend themselves against the monsters that inhabit Narthrall. Because its opposite, Light, is practiced freely in most of the world, the draphen gain a considerable advantage in power due to the imbalance. In addition, Narthrall is bathed in the Trans-Garadic Shade flow, which is the strongest Shadow-aligned Aether stream in the world. In the rest of the world, so-called shadecasters are the closest thing to a savant most people will ever meet. Most are thieves or assassins, operating on a bare understanding of the craft due to its obscurity and prohibition.
In Ao Gin, the desert city where the luminants practice their art and light-weaving is as common as basket-weaving, the Ao Delta spreads over the parched landscape. These streams of Light Aether empower Ao Gin’s world-renown healers to perform their amazing feats of restoration. The light and fire shows put on at night by the luminants of the Incandescent Tower draw travelers from all over Garad and beyond.
This post is still pretty raw, but I’ve been cooking it so long that I figure I should get it out there anyway. I’ll leave it where it is now and work on expanding these ideas in subsequent posts.