Magic in Atronach

Magical Potential and the Individual

Magical potential is the innate measure of someone's connection with the Arcane Weave and their ability to generate a Magical Aura with which they can accumulate ambient Mana in the environment into a Mana Pool, which is finally used to cast spells and use abilities. While everyone - bar an exceptionally unlucky few - is born with some modicum of magical potential, this is typically only sufficient to learn very basic magic such as the Light spell or extremely weak object levitation spells.
  To progress beyond this level can require a wide variety of different methods, depending on the style of magic one seeks to practice, but these methods are 'collated' into a phenomenon known as Magical Potential. Magical potential is relatively easy for accomplished magic users to detect with perfect accuracy, as those with higher magical potential generate naturally stronger magical auras than those with lower magical potential, though it is seen as very rude to view someone's aura in this way. This is, in many ways, both a good and a bad thing; it makes it easy for a potential magic user to be found by a magical tutor even in public areas, as their magical aura effectively acts as a beacon for a trained magic user's senses, but that ease also makes it easy for less... favourable individuals to find a person with potential as well.
  This is generally only pertinent in locations that outlaw magic beyond the very basic levels, as without initial training these young magic users cannot hide their Magical Auras from detection, which makes it easy for the outlawing powers to track them down and deal with them as their regime sees fit. As far as has been determined, magical potential has loose genetic connections, but 'mutations' to magical potential have been known to happen; the child of two magically powerful parents is likely to be about as magically potent as their parents, but could be more or a lot less potent, or even the standard level of potency across the globe.
  Additionally, it is very realistic for magical potential to be improved through enlightenment journeys generally known collectively as the Philosophy of Cultivation, and this is one of many reasons why regional distinctions in magic exist.

Magical Education

In spite of all of the dangers of high Magical Potential, the benefits are generally quite stark; anyone with above average magical potential, no matter their social standing in society, is typically afforded magical training. This is generally of high quality, and there are many distinct, culturally separate methods through which magic is taught to an aspiring magic user, from a variety of magical academies of their choosing - provided they meet the other entry requirements - to personal tutelage and the journeys of cultivation.
  For many poorer families on Pearalos, these opportunities represents one of the only possible ways to advance in societal structures, as these educations generally result in well learned and magically powerful people at the end of them, many of whom find employment in powerful noble courts, magical orders and so on.
  Of course, these aren't the only manner in which magical education is administered; religious orders on Pearalos famously also train their adherents magically if appropriate, and cultivation is a very famous practice in the lands of the southern realms. Despite this, however, magical academies and personal tutelage remain among the most famous and sought after options for study, because they're perceived as the most prestigious option, and are exceptionally exclusive institutions.
  The most exclusive magical academies on Pearalos are the set of four Realm Academies - magical institutions that locate their campuses in a pocket realm that only their staff and students can access. These academies are physically on Pearalos still, but the realms effectively overlap the world itself. These academies, in no particular order, are known as: Torana, the Grand Wizardry Academy, the Hexenzel School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the Entori Spellcasting Academy, and the Shi-Ji-Zhong Temple.
  Each of these institutions are exceedingly exclusive, but are responsible for some of the most powerful magic users on Pearalos.

Leylines

As previously mentioned, Leylines were in many ways the missing link to understanding core parts of how magic circulates the globe - and indeed, the cosmos - and how it is accumulated and spent. The Leyline Network is a globe-spanning one that criss-crosses the planet like a web, with the numerous focal points of these paths being known as the Leylines themselves. Leylines serve to accumulate ambient Mana that passes through the network, both distributing it across the local region and sending it further to more Leylines.
  Leylines are not themselves physical objects, though many have physical manifestations, but can be detected using the same magical techniques used to detect the Magical Potential intrinsic to an individual's Magical Aura - indeed, these techniques are one of the first taught to new magic users in education nowadays. Understanding the Leylines has proven vital to advancing magical knowledge such a large amount in such a short span of time, as techniques have been developed to probe them, ascertain their power, and even strengthen (or weaken) them.
  Leylines additionally serve to power many modern magitek and other innovations, with recent discoveries uncovering how to extract an almost... liquified version of mana from them to fuel wondrous technology far beyond the norm for the world.

The Mana Weave

The Mana Weave is one of the most important natural laws of the cosmos, and it, in many ways, defines how magical energy is utilised and how it reacts to a given activity. The weave is the most foundational connection an individual has to magic, and through it the foundational laws of magic are codified and enforced.
  The weave itself is a very complicated and multi-faceted law in reality, and is split into several major doctrines, three of which are the Arcane Weave, which governs most forms of magic, the Fae Cycle, which governs magic that derives its power from the faerie realm of Nyssara, and the Divine Mantle, which governs all religious forms of magic such as those granted by faith in gods or concepts.
  The Mana Weave itself binds these doctrinal variants together, and defines their overarching laws that cannot be bent or broken by the doctrines, but each doctrine further defines rules specific to itself and lays out the overarching identity of the magic that doctrine governs.

Mana

Mana is the most core component of magic itself, as it is the energy resource that fuels magical abilities. Mana is split into four different varieties, Arcane Mana (which is the one described here, and is generally just referred to as Mana), Divine Mana, Fae Mana, and Pure Mana, the latter of which is best covered in its own article.
  Mana's origins aren't known, but it is well known that it is found everywhere, and is cycled on such large scales that the use of it by magic users does not appreciably impact the total volume of Mana in the cosmos. Mana in the wild is imperceptible to all but magic users with the spells required to perceive it, and even to these people it is impossible to directly interact with it, as the natural wards of the mortal body rejects wild mana, which is what stratifies magical society due to the requirement to acclimate and process mana before it can be used.
  Arcane Mana naturally aspects itself towards elemental identities as it flows across the cosmos, and itself begins as - and can revert to - pure mana when travelling across the Leyline Network. This is part of why mana is difficult to deal with, as pyro mana exposed to water will aspect into hydro mana - it's effectively the path of least resistance ratcheted up to eleven.
  Mana expended as part of using magical abilities and spells is not destroyed, but is instead converted into the energy required for that spell or ability to function; in such a way does the universe continue to adhere to the conservation of energy, though it has eternally raised the question of where Mana even comes from if it can do these things.
  One of the most famous recently discovered use cases for mana is the powering of modern machinery on Pearalos; artifice has existed for a while on Pearalos, and has always used mana as part of its foundational components, but only to augment its capabilities, never as a power source. Magitek is a very recent form of innovation that has seen Liquified Mana - mana that has been somehow harvested into a liquid form to be used as a fuel - fuel extremely capable machines, and its adoption has spread like wildfire in the years since its discovery, paving the way to many ground-breaking discoveries...

Divine Mana

Divine Mana is notably different to other forms of magic, as it does not naturally occur in the cosmos. It comes in three distinct variants, Holy Mana, Shadow Mana and Unaspected Mana, and each originates from divine sources aligned with that type of mana; holy mana comes from holy gods, shadow mana comes from unholy gods, and unaspected mana comes from gods that are neither holy or unholy.
  Divine Mana is unique in that those who use it can wield this mana nearly on demand, needing only a few moments to draw it from their divine font of power, but this also means that their font of power can dictate access, which is frequently used by gods to keep their followers in line. Divine Mana doesn't fully bypass the need for Arcane Mana in magic use, but it can substitute between 40 and 80 percent of the mana cost of a spell or ability, depending on the spell or ability in question (with unaspected mana famously being able to substitute 60% of any spell or ability's mana requirements).

Fae Mana

Fae Mana is the most... curious of the mana types. Inherently unpredictable and wild like Nyssara itself, Fae Mana is drawn from the faerie realm and is uniquely coupled to the very nature of Nyssara, ebbing and flowing with the seasons as the faerie realm itself does. Fae Mana can be used for a wide variety of magical powers, with fae versions of elemental magic being available to it as a major example, but its main domain is natural magic and other traditions of magic that deal with nature itself.
  Fae Mana is unique in that it's a full substitute to Arcane Mana; unlike Divine Mana that can only substitute at most 80% of the mana costs of a spell - and is often lower than that - fae mana is the sole resource used by natural magic and those who specialise in nature magic find themselves with completely reliable access to fae mana whenever they need it, though of course, the inherent unpredictability and wildness of the mana is a force to be reckoned with as well...

Magical Auras

Magical Auras are a core part of an individual's ability to wield magic, and they effectively serve to both protect the user from offensive magic - effectively acting as a natural shield against magic that can be later bolstered by magical training and spells - and allow them to process ambient mana into a form usable by their Mana Pool. Magical auras are a distinctly personal phenomenon, with each person's aura being unique to them and independently identifiable, but they are completely invisible to anyone not skilled in the magical abilities required to perceive magic auras.
  Beyond this, they are also the lynchpin of Chi manipulation, which plays a crucial role in the practice of Cultivation and magic in general in the regions where cultivation has a firm foothold. To those who can see them, magical auras are a fool proof means to identify a person's magical potential, and are a vital part of training to become a magic user, as a weak magical aura makes it profoundly easy for a fellow magic user to nullify you in combat - or worse.

Mana Pools

While a person's Magical Aura serves to draw in Mana and process it into a form usable by that individual, the Mana Pool of an individual is where that processed mana actually ends up. It's a vessel for a person's ability to turn magical energy into reality, and serves as a core component of magical expression in Atronach; all spells and magical abilities draw upon a person's mana pool by a certain amount to cast, and if the mana remaining in their pool isn't sufficient to fuel that spell or ability, then the person cannot use it.
  The maximum size of a person's mana pool is a factor of the individual's personal development and skill in spellcasting, and the pool itself is capable of naturally replenishing over time as the magical aura of a person draws in more mana to utilise, though this does have limits and the rate of mana intake depends on the level of magic in the ambient area, which means it can fluctuate by quite a wide margin indeed.