Magic is a function of bending the rules of reality or outright replacing it with one preferred by a magician. There are multiple ways of accomplishing this. Most creatures of Ys are capable of using magic on their own, due to their inherent nature as creatures less bound by the rules of reality. Humans, on the other hand, are ultimately locked tightly in the grasp of such rules. This has many ramifications for human magicians.

Humans can create natural magicians, but this is rare. There is no genetic indicator for magical ability, and even the most powerful of natural magicians pale in comparison to even the journeymen of Ys. More often, humans form Pacts with many of the higher powers of Ys and the Wildlands. Pacts are dictated almost entirely by the patron, with the expected limitations of such pacts. 

Pact magicians are the rule for most humans. This has advantages- in rarely needing to cultivate magicians- but also many drawbacks, that the magician is limited by the terms of their pact and the wishes of their patron. However, rarely do pact magicians engage in the more technical sides of magic.

Compared to many of the other denizens of Ys, with the exception of the slow-breeding Giants and enigmatic Dragons, humans are usually the most physically notable. There may be tougher Orcs, or quicker Elves, but there isn't an Orc that can keep pace or an Elf that can take a hit quite like a human. This makes them valuable as enforcers and mercenaries for the higher powers of Ys. 

While being bound up more in reality makes their usage of magic less refined, it also affords them great protection against more subtle magics. Humans burn up against fireballs, and are just as vulnerable to being shocked, or impaled, but it is exceptionally difficult to affect them with transmutation spells, or to mentally influence them.

Human magicians are generally looked down upon, due to their usage of pacts, and the limitations of pacts in how the human is bound to do the will of their master. However, they are not to be underestimated, as pact magic is just as capable as natural magic.

It is notable that humans seem to have more extreme natural affinities and quirks of their magic that develop even outside of a pact. Most magicians tend to be well rounded. Human magicians are notable in their unusually extreme specialties or notable deficiencies. Many magicians are familiar with elementalists: humans are the few to develop magicians who only use one type of elemental magic, to devastating effect.

In the example of Bobby, whose patron is a dragon, he is capable of using extremely powerful magic without the usual limitations of needing a catalyst or long words of power. The problem is that draconic magic is extremely potent, and it is tearing his body apart slowly but surely as he uses it. The most potent of magic will accelerate this, including light magic- useful for banishing demons or exorcising ghosts. 

Ys is legally governed by an elective council. However, the most powerful entities of Ys are the Colossi. Colossi are any entity of sufficient power that can grant others portions of that power at little cost to themselves. While any creature can form a pact, only colossi readily form pacts, plural. 

There are a number of notable Colossi: Behemot, Livyatan, and Ziz-Simurgh, alongside "The Light." The first three Colossi are some of the oldest known dragons, known as the Primordial Three- or, nowadays, just the Primordial Two. They only "recently" revealed themselves in the past two hundred years. 

Unlike other dragons, they have more transparent interests. Behemot is known for his interest in the lesser creatures of elves, orcs and trolls, while also getting (relatively) hands-on with the conduct of his businesses and pacts. He's known as Benjamin to those he employs. Livyatan has a maternalistic love of the city, viewing all Colossi- and dragons especially- in a motherly manner, as the verifiably eldest surviving female dragon. Her "Brood" affectionately call her Lua, as do the associates of her "brother."

Ziz-Simurgh, the third, however, is reviled. His name is not to be mentioned, for he betrayed the Colossi with a gross violation of their code. The nature of this violation is kept under wraps, but it lead to the destruction of vast swathes of Ys and the deaths of at least a hundred thousand souls in the blink of an eye. Perhaps a million deaths over the last century could be linked to Ziz in some way. Ziz-Simurgh was slain by Behemot and Livyatan with the assistance of the "Light," and then his memory was condemned. Behemot and Livyatan are putting in an exceptional amount of work to repair the damage Ziz did to the city of Ys only thirty years prior to the events of Red Clay.

Behemot/Benjamin and Livyatan/Lua are known for their sponsorship of humans as the next race to be officially inducted into Ys from the Wildlands and Lower Kingdoms. While technically afforded the same rights as every other sapient being, humans' general lack of magic (unless they form a Pact) almost entirely precludes them from functioning in Ys. This hasn't stopped Benjamin and Lua from forming thousands of pacts with magicians over the years- despite how short-lived humans are compared to other members of Ys.

The "Light" is the newest Colossi, and the only one of verifiably mortal origin. The Light came into being curiously soon before the demise of Ziz-Simurgh. It has no material form, and no voice- but in the short span of time between its formation and Red Clay's events, it has gained close to a million followers. Most of The Light's followers are elves, orcs and humans dissatisfied with their treatment by the more supernatural denizens of Ys. It is no secret that justice can be applied unevenly, especially so with non-physical entities and the undead- and pactmakers, too. 

The Light grants access to the aptly named Light magic: a form of spellcasting seemingly designed to combat supernatural entities. Light magic is thoroughly poisonous to spirits, the fey, the dead, and those who have formed pacts. In the few times it has ever been attempted and used on them, it has even given pause to dragons, some of the most durable creatures on Ys. Almost any creature with a modicum of ability can use Light magic, and its destructive capabilities are quickly unleashed. Even pact magicians can use it- the risks involved are obvious, and self-destructive.

While nominally "stable" for most of its life, the death of a Colossi combined with the arrival of a new one is making it clear that the peace of Ys will not last. It may even spill out into the Wildlands- where the Colossi of other, smaller cities circle around it, waiting for weakness- or, more catastrophically, into the Lower Kingdoms.

Demonym: Yssian

An ancient city, founded many centuries ago. Ys is one of many bastions of order in the Wildlands- an entropic, chaotic parallel universe whose reality is... fickle. Among them, Ys is the largest, most sprawling, and developed. Fifty million souls (by the official count, anyways, the number is likely much higher) inhabit it, and for the past century Ys has been continually expanding. This expansion involves claiming areas of the Wildlands and anchoring them to Ys. Because of this, Ys has... complicated relations with Wildlanders.

Ys is massive. It sprawls out for miles, upwards, outwards and downwards. All sorts of creatures live there- As a city-state, it's roughly the size of Texas, but has multiple vertical layers. At the edges, these layers are thin, often only one or two deep. The Nexus, the core of Ys, spans fifty miles in diameter and stretches for hundreds of miles upwards and into the Wildlands. This is because not just humans live in Ys- creatures of colossal size also call it home, and the Nexus is where many dragons, titans, and demigods live. There are vast tracts of land in Ys allocated just to single dragons. The vast resources consumed by these entities (collectively, known as Colossi, or Patrons) means that Ys must constantly expand to feed its population.

Most of Ys has a pretty reasonable standard of living, albeit, maybe a few decades behind what would be considered "modern." There is plumbing, reasonable levels of infrastructure, and even a baseline of education, but the entire city is hobbled by the competing interests of its civilized peoples. Compound the problems between modern ethnic groups by ten- and it would barely hold a candle to Ys. Elves, dwarves, orcs, trolls, fey, the dead, and all sorts of even more exotic folks must cohabitate in Ys. Either they go to one of the other Beacon Cities, or face the hardships of the Wildlands. Ys has engineers, academics and intellectuals, but where most of the Lower Kingdom's feats (the Yssian term for Earth) were achieved through clever application of physics, most of Ys is maintained with magic. Not to say it is any less rigorous or well-studied, but that it involves the reality-bending of a magician to maintain the city.

A mass ceasefire established during the city's founding keeps the people of Ys from engaging in pogroms and- at least, begrudgingly- working together. The Concords are enforced by Colossi, their pacts, and their legions. While on the surface the Colossi have their own ceasefire, it's an open secret that even they compete against each other: it is the very nature of dragons to expand and assert dominance, the nature of titans to strive for greater achievements, and the function of demigods to become objects of worship. 

Ys also serves as the central nexus for the Gates, used for fast transportation in and around more civilized areas.