Otjag

Take this little overview of my magic system (not Alyra's, will do that at another time). Since I was talking about it I thought, why not do it now, especially since I need it as much as you or I will contradict myself at one point (which is certainly possible with mana, but I don't wanna do it accidantally if you catch my drift)

Enjoy!

Mana

Mana is a free form of energy that represents potential. Essentially, mana is the potential for anything, so long as you can harness it everything is possible.

Mana is usually not present in the material dimensions and exists in a different state, separate from anything physical. Instead of direct interaction with the rest of the universe, mana does so through intent. 

Intent is like a complementary particle that is able to direct mana. It is also the force that separates mana from the material dimensions as without intent mana crystallizes fully entering the material and becomes unusable for general magic. (For more got to: Mana crystals)

But what is intent? Intent is everything, every thought, feeling or desire, every little reaction and every action, even something as simple as existing is intent. Such passive intents are only a fraction as powerful as active thinking however.

Once intent is created it does not vanish and slowly accumulates. If the intent is strong enough it binds to an amount of mana, preventing that amount of potential to be used for anything else. Binding intent and mana even further is possible and creates liquid mana.

When enough intent is accumulated, mana, provided there is enough of it, will act on this intent and both will be used up in the process. Examples could be stone-intent changing a patch of stone into a more magical stone that has different properties or a heat intent suddenly sparking a wildfire. During a failure of such a reaction it is possible for liquid mana to form naturally.

Should a reaction consume a disproportionate amount of intent, it is possible for mana crystals to form.

Liquid Mana

Liquid mana is created by combining intent and mana into one coherent thing. This makes both of them permanent and they can not be consumed unless outside forces unravel the liquid mana again.

Liquid mana is closer to the material dimensions than normal mana, but not fully corporal. This means it is more influenced by the physical and, while it can do so, usually doesn’t phase through solids for example and stays in place. 

Liquid mana can direct normal mana without the use of intent, though the effect is limited to the kind of intent bound to mana. A liquid fire mana lake may burn continuously with the use of normal mana for example, but will never create water. In fact, water intent may even unravel the liquid mana, though it is unlikely for those two to get close to each other.

Solid/ Crystallized Mana

Crystallized mana is mana that had its connection to intent completely cut. As mana is potential and intent the only way to use said potential, crystallized mana is essentially lost potential. It is possible to reconnect crystallized mana and intent again, but doing so is even more difficult than severing the two in the first place.

While mana crystals themselves are pretty useless for magic they interact in interesting ways with other forms of mana and thus provide an invaluable amount of utility. They are able to hold a lot more normal mana than anything of similar or slightly higher quality without adverse effects for example and serve as excellent mana batteries. Bringing them into contact with liquid mana on the other hand attunes them to that intent and they will only store mana with that intent afterwards.

The quality of mana crystals depends on the mana density they have been formed in.

Magic

Magic is the act of actively directing mana and instantly achieving some kind of reaction without having to wait potentially for years for enough intent to accumulate.

The intent created by active thoughts is qualitatively different from other intents in that it is a lot stronger. Because of that all beings capable of thought, but especially sapients can direct mana more actively to achieve their goals.

The simplest form of magic is simply willing something to happen. Due to the complexity of the mind however, this often leads to a lot of waste intent and is glaringly inefficient. Even if one were to manage without any waste, there would be no direction, no clear succession of tasks mana can go through and as such there will still be some amount of potential that remains unused.

The best way to do magic is to treat mana like an autistic person, meaning the clearer the task, the more eager the mana will move and the less potential will be wasted. This can be achieved in multiple ways, chanting, ritual dancing and using symbols, runes or writing being popular examples.

Cultivation

Cultivation is the act of infusing oneself with mana permanently and thus heightening one's potential.

Every living being has at least a part of its body in the same dimension as mana (the mana soul). By infusing that with more mana one is able to strengthen different parts of oneself and increase the overall capabilities of one’s being (stats).

Cultivating continuously without any qualitative change of one’s mana has dire consequences (level). 

In this case, the walls of the mana soul break open irreversibly and the mana soul starts to uncontrollably absorb more and more mana, getting stronger in the process. The more mana it absorbs the more it will start to crave yet more without rest until the being is nothing more than a monster single mindedly hungering for mana.

Every few levels a being has to evolve to accommodate the changes done to the mana soul. (Note that evolution is not necessarily a positive thing and can result in death) Not doing so will create more and more tension between body and mana soul until one of the two breaks. The former breaking leads to death, while the latter leads to monsterfication.

Beings of mana do not evolve, but go through a more difficult level up process every now and then. While less dangerous, this also means they miss out on the chance of getting massive benefits.