This is the second installment of the Worldbuilding chapters, covering Mana and Spellcraft. Due to me obviously using terms without properly explaining them first, I've decided to do this one next.
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When the Gods Puhta and Newh began to fight each other, they both decided to create new races in hopes that a being would eventually reach Godhood and aid them in their fight.
In the ideas of the gods, humanoids would ascend to Godhood only if they became able to both shed their humanoid form and freely control aspects of the world using æther. These aren't qualifications that a human being, or a creature of any other race, can realistically qualify for on their own, and so the Gods each try to give their own blessings to the mortals.
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[Mana and Æther]
Mana is the source of life in creatures, and as such, any being without mana is considered to be non-living. Despite it being omnipresent in the current day, mana did not exist in the age of the Progenitor God, and it is believed that the Gods sustained themselves using an existence known as æther, rather than mana.
In the doctrines handed down by both of the Gods, it is said that in order to create æther one must be able to compress mana into one hundred thousandth of its original size, allowing it to become a pure enough form of energy to fuel such overwhelming beings. Gods are supposedly capable of compressing mana into æther, and decompressing æther into mana seemingly at will.
Despite all living things possessing mana, most sentient creatures are at best able to use it for daily occurrences, and even those are about a 1/100 chance gift to have. Humans (which are used as the average for all physical and magical means due to having no weak or strong points in their abilities) that are able to use mana to craft actual spells are extremely rare.
Low class Demonoids and creatures that only rely on instinct usually have a higher percentage that can use spells, due to them being ingrained in their knowledge from birth. These spells, however, usually lack diversity and very rarely leave contact with the creature's body. Only High Rank Demonoids, higher ranked beasts, and beasts that have gained sentience are able to use stronger and more diverse spells.
In the case of most Humanoids (excluding Heroes) and High Ranked Demonoids, a person must first come to understand mana in order to utilize it. In order to form a simple spell safely, a person has to learn how to expel the mana within them, as well as take more mana into their body.
In the average Humanoid body, mana exists in every cell of the body, strengthening the muscles that exist there. Although it is possible to collect and expel mana through every cell in the body, it is more efficient to only use the veins and blood cells to do so, as they can hold extremely high amounts of mana compared to any other cells. If a Humanoid tries to expel mana from their other cells, the function of the body can significantly decrease. In a similar fashion, if a humanoid depletes all of the mana in their blood cells, they will begin to asphyxiate.
On the other side of the spectrum, if a Humanoid overloads their cells with mana they can temporarily gain physical strength far outstretching their usual, however the damage done to their muscle fibers and other ligaments can be nothing to scoff at.
In the case of Demonoids, this is a bit more vague. Due to Newh being inexperienced in the art of creating life, some of the more specific organs and the like have been replaced to run on mana. Because of this, most Demonoids are more adept at utilizing the mana within their bodies, and many of the drawbacks that come with overloading mana are lessened. As a counter to this, if a Demonoid uses too large an amount of their mana, they have a high chance of dying very rapidly.
Spellcraft is split into 7 main categories, with several smaller categories and 2 hidden types. The 7 main categories are: Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Light, Dark, and Body. Some smaller categories include Ice, Lightning, Magma, Nature, Poison, Shadow, Evil, Holy And other different abilities. The final and most powerful 2 are those of Spatial and Temporal categories, however there are almost no mortal creatures capable of using these spell systems, due to them being difficult to understand and master.
In order to utilize a spell of a certain category/system, you must first either: Understand the existence of what you are trying to utilize, (Ex: Fire, it burns, why does it burn? What can it burn? What is heat? Why is fire hot?, and other similar questions. If a person had knowledge of modern science, magic would probably be a lot stronger.) or have a strong temperament that resembles that existence. (Ex: Fire- anger, Water- serenity, Wind- disorder or foolhardy, Earth- strong will or stubbornness, Light- [for humanoids] Strong faith or [for demonoids] extremely weak faith, Dark- [For Humanoids] extremely weak faith [For Demonoids] Strong Faith.)
Smaller categories and Spatial and Temporal magic are not capable of being used through raw emotion, as they require a deeper understanding of the element and it's uses. Mana itself usually has no element, and is thus able to be absorbed by any living thing, but when a Humanoid or Demonoid takes in mana, that mana is given an attribute based on mainly the emotions in their body. Using a system of Spellcraft outside of that emotional expertise takes careful concentration to convert the mana's element. Once the element is converted to a different one, it will not change elements unless made to do so, and it is able to be used at any time.
Because it takes significantly longer to collect mana of a type you are not efficient with, (due to what's said above) most people only use magic that they share an emotional wavelength with, and rarely use mana of other elements.
Rare cases of Humanoids have shown people with multiple elements within their body, however it is usually due to mental instability or other internal issues, and is usually not healthy.
Due to the stupid and wrathful nature of Demonoids, most Low Rank Demons can only use Fire magic, and are incapable of changing that element. Middle Demons are in general able to utilize any type of mana, however most exceed at using Fire and Dark mana. High Ranking Demons and above utilize mana similarly to Humanoids.
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To summarize the mana transformation explanation (since I made it a bit convoluted) I'll put it into steps.
Step 1: take in unattributed mana.
Step 2: mana is given an attribute by the emotions of the user.
Step 3: mana is either left alone or forcefully changed into another element by having an understanding of that element, and having careful concentration.
Step 4: by understanding said element, how it is formed, and how to properly form magic, a spell can be released into the world. All steps before this (except step 1) and this step, can be skipped if the user of a spell has strong enough emotions.
