Magical Charge

Phrenion Configurations

The three styles of standard magic each access magic in a different way. Blue magic absorbs phrenions from the target of its magic, while red magic expels phrenions to the target. Rather than gaining or losing phrenions, green magic instead acts more similarly to red magic, but without causing any difference in charge. When interacting with an object, green magic atoms will push their phrenions to a lower energy level, causing the opposite to happening within the target of their spell.   Phrenions orbit these atoms in a very specific way, due to their strong association with the five main elements. Because each of the three atoms which are associated with standard magic are associated with three main elements each, the shell configuration is affected. Phrenions are spin in various ways to activate a specific element, and due to the associate with three elements, only two phrenions can occupy the first shell. The second shell is the main shell which magic users utilize to cast magic, and can contain five phrenions, each with a different spin. The third shell can contain eight, however, only the green atom can be stable with atoms in this shell.   Two main theories exist about the charge of specific elements. The Linear Elemental Charge Theory (LECT) suggests the following charges:

Lightning: -1

Water: 0

Air: 1

Fire: 4

Earth: 5

These charges would suggest that each style's main elemental values would sum together to result in the atom's base charge, but fails to corelate with the charge of the phrenion. Some suspect that this may suggest the existence of additional elements as well.   The second theory, Simple Base Charge Theory (SBCT), suggests the following Elemental Charge suggests the following values:

Water: -2

Fire: -1

Earth: -0.5

Lightning: 1

Air: 1.5

This theory lacks a correlation to total charge, however, the sum of a style's main elemental values relates to the direction of energy flow when casting, and the sum of all five equal the charge of the phrenion itself. In addition, interesting results occur when using these values in relation to a larger picture of each magic style. In particular, when considering the elemental affinity values given by access to every branch's ability tiers, each element is given 33 points. By gaining access to all ability tiers of a given style, each style provides a total of 55 elemental affinity values. Finally, although each styles provides greatly varying amounts of a given element's affinity, when each of the element's total affinity values within a single style are multiplied with their respective SBCT values, the sum of each of these values within a single style is zero, which is consistent across all styles.      

Overcharging and Exhausting

A magic user accumulates particles on their soul which allow them to cast. Each of these particles gives them five points toward unlocking new ability tiers within branch they're associated with, and these particles can be used to fuel magic from any branch within the same style. The reason each particle gives five points relates to the five elements, as well as the number of phrenions most easily accessible by the magic user.   While these five primary phrenions are easiest to use, the use additional phrenions is possible through extreme measures, which often leaves the caster exhausted or entirely unable to use those particles to cast again. With careful focus, however, one may overcharge or exhaust their magic past its limits.   The act of overcharging is done through careful meditation and focus to contain even more potential -- albeit unstable -- magic. Exhausting is done when a caster has reached their natural limits, and allows them to draw additional power from their source. While exhausting is much quicker, it is also more taxing on the body, and more dangerous if done recklessly.   Both of these processes can result in the decay of the atom being overcharged or exhausted, resulting in a small, painful magical explosion within the body as the particle fall apart into smaller particles. When this happens, this particle can never be reformed, or allow access to magic, meaning the caster become forever less capable with magic, until they retrain.   If this happens in a large enough scale, the results can be disastrous. On Inciparia in 732 AA, The Great Mage War broke out, and all participating states drafted their most capable casters. In a desperate attempt to avoid being overwhelmed, many of the casters exhausted their magic to land one final blow on their enemy, and many of the simultaneously detonated with a powerful magical blast, killing everyone on the field, and subsequently causing all casters in the area to detonate as their own hemitrons violently decayed. Such a blast ripped a hole in the field responsible for the transference of magic, creating a magical dead zone lasting for centuries after the incident.   (WORK IN PROGRESS) {overcharge available, base charge, exhaustible charge}  

Increasing Capacity and Unlearning

The process of increasing one's magical capacity is much like building muscle. The more one practices with magic, the more their capacity will increase. Reaching a certain point requires much more effort and knowledge to progress, and unlike with muscles, this capacity will not atrophy over time. Prolonged lack of use of magic, will, however, cause the caster to become slower to build up capacity with similar effort. One who practices and expends their power quickly and explosively may not gain the same results as one who carefully uses their magic in a deliberate and calculated way. Continuous constructive practice will allow a caster to build up their capacity more quickly, provided they are capable of increasing their capacity, and they will become quicker and more efficient with their methods, often allowing the caster to forego specific materials, anchors, signs, movements, or prolonged casting times.   Unlearning is much like learning, however, because magic does not naturally atrophy, the caster must deliberately find a method that works best for them to unbind the magical atoms to their cells. The quickest known method is to exhaust the atoms, as described above, however, this can often leave the user injured, permanently disabled, or dead. The slowest, safest, and easiest method known is to simply practice another style, however, this can be impractical, depending on how far along the caster has trained in their original style, as the unlearning process will be as slow to occur as it would be to continue increasing their existing style's capacity. The third method involves careful meditation, and is the most difficult, but is much faster then retraining, and much safer than exhausting. To achieve this, the caster learns to control the larger magical particles, hemitrons, rather than the typical phrenions that allow access to standard magic. Unlearning in this way is advantageous to those who wish to choose a different style, and aim high in that style, as this ability to manipulate hemitrons is necessary to control higher magic. Unlearning via meditation also allows one to maintain their momentum for increasing capacity, as well as keep their body safe.