Magic

OVERVIEW

All magic is divine in nature. No human can cast a spell without the help of the gods. Even the mages of the sky city borrow from the heavens’ power, though most don't acknowledge it.

There are two main branches of magic, each stemming from a pair of primordial gods. Draconic magic comes from the Earth, Sky, and Dragons, and is focused on the manipulation of the physical world. Celestial magic comes from the Sun, Moon, and Stars. The Sun and Moon, having helped create the world, also grant magic that affects the physical world. The Stars, on the other hand, are rulers of emotion and thought.

CELESTIAL MAGIC 

Solar & Lunar Magic

All humans are children of the Sun and Moon, and thus, anyone can become a Lunar or Solar mage. Anyone who stands in the light of the heavens is granted a small amount of magic– the gods’ gift to humanity, that all might share in their divinity. All it takes is consistent exposure to sunlight or moonlight. Just about everyone ends up with a small amount of magic just from being outside, though for most, that power is limited to lighting a fire the size of a candle flame or freezing a drop of water. Anyone who spends enough time in the light of the gods will find themselves filled with power, but the process is slow, and humans crave power. Many aspiring mages attempt to speed up the infusion of magic into their blood with Sundew or frost, the liquid forms of sunlight and moonlight. These substances are highly concentrated and full of magic, but also extremely dangerous. Too much at once will destroy a person, and even small amounts are painful, so they have to be very careful to pace themselves. It's a process that requires great patience and restraint, but it's still much faster than the natural way. Powerful Solar mages can create light and fire, while Lunar mages can bend moonlight and control water. Those who consume the most light gain monumental power, with the ability to create fire storms or reverse the tides.

Stellar Magic

Stellar mages are direct descendants of the Stars. Many Stars had children during their time on earth, and those bloodlines are still around. Children of these bloodlines are born with a deeper understanding of their ancestor’s domain than most, and the more they study and deepen that knowledge, the more powerful their magic becomes. Stellar mages are more philosophers than anything, as their magic is deeply rooted in understanding the intricacies of human life.

Many Stellar mages end up studying the domains of other stars as well. At the very least, nearly every Stellar mage studies both sides of whatever binary they are descended from, even when they are only directly related to one. Studying only the negative side of a binary is taboo– A mage of the Star of Death would not be very well-liked, though a mage of both Life and Death would be accepted. The Stars themselves, having the deepest understanding of their own domain, often become very powerful mages during their time on earth. 

Stellar magic is heavily rooted in emotion, in the sense that strong feelings fuel their spells directly. A mage of the Star of Love needs to feel love to power their spells, for example. They can also draw from the emotions of those around them, and directly acting on these emotions strengthens their power even further. This is why studying a negative domain is taboo, because the mage has to constantly be feeling those negative emotions, and often enacting them on others. Something like death, while not truly an emotion, still applies– a death mage wouldn't have to die themselves, but they have to be around a lot of death, which, if they're really set on being powerful, might mean murder.

What Stellar magic actually does is still being figured out. All of the elemental stuff is covered by the other gods, as they’re the ones who created the physical world. Since stars are gods of emotion instead, I want their magic to reflect that. Their job is to teach humanity, not control them, so any psychic/mind-controlling stuff is off the table. Maybe it’s about enhancing the body instead: granting themselves and others temporary boosts to strength, speed, vitality, etc. Maybe they do have some mind-control stuff too, they’re just forbidden from using it. That could be juicy.

DRACONIC MAGIC

Earth and Sky Magic

I just recently decided that this is a thing, so the overarching branch still needs a new name other than Draconic, something that just means physical or tangible.

The Earth and Sky don’t really like humans much, so what reason would they have to give humans more power? They probably wouldn’t. Is there any way for humans to take this power by force? Not by eating dirt and air, that’s for sure, nor by ancestry. 

If the sky city is anti-god, where are they getting their magic from? Spells that can lift large chunks of earth out of the ground and suspend it in the sky surrounded by a dome full of artificial oxygen sounds like Earth and Sky magic, so I gotta develop it in such a way that the mages can get their power without directly interacting with the gods, and can feel like that power is entirely their own, even if it really isn’t.

True Draconic Magic

The Earth and Sky did not contribute to the creation of humans, so Draconic magic is not tied to ancestry as Stellar magic is, nor does consuming plants or animals grant any magic, as the Earth and Sky are far less willing than their sisters to share their divinity with humans. If Celestial magic is like cleric or sorcerer magic, then Draconic magic is more like warlock magic. The Dragons are very protective of the natural world, so every aspiring Draconic mage must prove to the Dragons that they are dedicated to serving nature before they are granted their magic. This is why Draconic magic is so common in the Forest Nation, where protecting the environment is a core value. After a pact has been formed, a mage’s power grows simply through practice. Draconic magic is like a muscle– it needs to be exercised in order to grow stronger.

Dragons are intelligent, law-abiding creatures, and take these contracts very seriously. If a mage starts using their magic to destroy rather than protect, their patron will not hesitate to revoke their power. This could be a fun way for an antagonist to unexpectedly lose when it looks like all hope is lost, if they're misusing their Draconic magic to cause mass destruction and then suddenly get their powers yoinked.

Dragons are social creatures. Each one lives in a protected grove where nature is not to be disturbed, but humans are still welcome inside to visit. Dragons are always willing to chat with the locals.

In order to form a pact with a Dragon, one must first enter its glade. One might think that they should bring flowers, but no, nature plucked from the earth is the last thing they want. Bring seeds. Plant them in the grove, and come back regularly to water them. Nurture them to maturity, and if you are able to properly show that you are a dedicated protector of nature, a Dragon might see fit to grant you limited control over its domain. Plant Dragons have very specific domains, however, each ruling over only a single species of plant. Unless a pact is formed with the Dragon’s parent, which rules over the entire genus, or even its grandparent, which controls the entire family of plants. These older dragons, however, are much more reclusive, so most Draconic mages stick with the smaller pacts. It doesn't take long to grow a few flowers, so most make pacts with multiple dragons to widen their variety of powers. The most dedicated of Draconic mages will spend years or even decades nurturing a single, much larger plant to maturity, such as a tree. The payoff is worth all that time and more, as they say, as having full control over the shape and growth of trees, even a single species, is invaluable in Forest culture. These mages are the ones who shape their cities out of trees, creating beautiful structures of still-living wood. No tree is ever cut down in the Forest Nation. No, they are simply grown into a shape with a livable space inside, remaining firmly rooted in the earth all the while.

The process for forming a pact with a Dragon of an animal or fungus is quite similar, consisting of either growing a mushroom or raising an animal to adulthood. The pacts formed with Animal Dragons are different, however, in that they do not grant the ability to manipulate the creature directly. Instead, these mages gain the ability to take on aspects of their chosen animal, or even transform completely.

IDEAS FOR SPECIFIC SPELLS/ABILITIES

Earth spells

• Basically just earthbending– control over rock, dirt, gems, and metals.

Sky spells

• Literally just airbending

Draconic spells

• Plant Dragon pacts:
• Can physically control the chosen plant– manipulate its shape, accelerate its growth, etc.
• More powerful mages can cause the chosen plant to grow from nothing, without needing an existing plant or seed
• Manipulating larger plants is more difficult; someone trying to change the shape of a tree might only be able to bend the branches if they are not strong enough
• Animal Dragon pacts:
• Can take on aspects of their chosen animal– eagle eyes, gills, claws, etc.
• More powerful mages can transform completely, and hold their transformations longer

Solar spells

• Control over fire and sunlight; more powerful mages can produce larger amounts of fire, or illuminate a larger space

Lunar spells

• Control over water and moonlight; they can do basically anything that a waterbender can do– move water around, shape it, freeze it, etc.
• Like waterbenders again, more powerful mages can manipulate larger amounts of water, pull water out of plants or the air, but probably no bloodbending, I can’t rip off avatar completely
• Like the actual Sun and Moon, Solar magic creates light, and Lunar magic reflects it; talented Lunar mages can bend and refract light, creating rainbows, concentrated beams of burning light, or even bending the light around themselves to make themselves invisible; however, they cannot create light from nothing as Solar mages can, only bend what’s already there
• Lunar mages can manipulate both sunlight and moonlight, since they’re technically the same thing, but they have an easier time reflecting light that the Moon has reflected first

Stellar spells

• Spells revolve around enhancing the human body: granting temporary boosts to speed, strength, etc., to either themselves or others. There are also some additional star-specific spells.
• General stellar spells:
• Speed enhancements
• Strength enhancements
• Energy enhancements
• Telepathy
• Magical armor/shields/protection
• Dispel magic/counterspells
• Star-specific spells:
• Life- life, healing, medicine, growth, beginnings
• Must be around life to use their power, the more life the better; doesn't draw the life out and kill people or anything, just feeds off of it; surroundings are unaffected
• Healing abilities
• Innate knowledge of medicine and which plants have medicinal properties
• Death- death, sickness, decay, ends 
• Must be around death or sickness to use their power
• Can sense when death is near
• Can detect illnesses and diseases
• Love- love, friendship, marriage, family, fertility
• Must be feeling love or be around people feeling love to use their power; an outward act of love strengthens their power even more
• Can easily tell when someone is in love, and accurately assess what kind of love it is
• Grief- solitude, grief, sadness
• Must be sad or be around people who are sad to use their power
• Can easily detect sadness in other people, even when they are hiding it well
• Youth (no direct descendents)- youth, energy
• Power wanes the older they get; can also fuel their spells through the youth of others, so being around children helps, or just feeling youthful and energized
• Aging- aging, lethargy
• Power gets stronger the older they get; being around other elderly people also helps, or just feeling old or lethargic
• Creation- creation, craftsmanship, music, art, poetry
• Must be feeling creative to use their power, or ideally, actively create something (so basically they're bards)
• Destruction- destruction, rage
• Must be feeling angry or destructive to use their power, and actually destroying things increases their strength; can also feed off of the rage and destruction around them
• Truth- truth, promises, reality
• Must be truthful and open to use their power
• Can detect lies
• Lies- lies, illusion, dreams
• Must be deceitful to use their power, or feed off of the lies of those around them
• Can detect lies, including when people are lying to themselves
• Can see through illusions
• Order- law, order, routine, calm
• Must follow a specific set of laws or rules to use their power, or be in an orderly and calm environment 
• Chaos- chaos, disorder, spontaneity
• Must act in a chaotic and spontaneous manner to use their power, or be in a chaotic environment 
• Change- change, transformation, fluidity
• Must be in a constant state of change to use their power, or be around those who are going through a change
• Can always tell when someone is in a period of change, or when they need to be, and knows what kind of change a person needs
• Stability- stability, settlement, sameness, rigidity
• Must be in a stable and unchanging state to use their power, or be around people who are unchanging
• Peace- peace, pacifism, mediation
• Must be at peace with themselves and others to use their power, or be around those who are at peace, or be in a peaceful environment 
• War- war, violence, aggression
• Must be feeling aggressive or violent to use their power, or be around violent people, or be in the midst of a war; acting on this aggression strengthens their power
• Knowledge- knowledge, perception, sight, hearing
• Must be acutely aware of their surroundings and have a lot of knowledge to use their power; the more knowledge they have, the more powerful they become; actively learning something new also strengthens their power for a time
• Learn at an accelerated rate
• Ignorance- ignorance, blindness, deafness
• Must be blind to their surroundings to use their power, ignorant of the world around them; some mages will literally blind themselves to strengthen their magic
• Fate- fate, prophecy
• Must be feeling a sense of fatefulness to use their power, or be around those who feel this way
• Can see the future to a certain extent; only able to foresee things that are inevitable
• Chance- freedom, choices, luck, chance
• Must be feeling free, lucky, or unbound by fate to use their power, or be around people who feel this way
• Can see the future to a certain extent; nothing they see is set in stone, they can only see some of the possible outcomes
• Mercy- redemption, forgiveness, mercy
• Must be feeling merciful and forgiving to use their power, or be around people who feel this way
• Vengeance- justice, vengeance 
• Must be feeling vengeful or craving justice to use their power; actively taking revenge strengthens their power for a time
• Selflessness- selflessness, generosity, gift-giving
• Selfishness- selfishness, greed, thievery
• Pride- pride, hubris, self-love
• Humility- humility, self-deprecation
• Masculinity- masculinity, fatherhood, brotherhood
• Femininity- femininity, motherhood, sisterhood
• Nova- [REDACTED]