Magic

Essence and Energy

To be used, magic must be powered by something called "essence". Essence is in everything, even that which is outside of the Wildes. It is the energy that runs through the world, but can be pulled out and redirected. This destroys the item usually, unless it is alive and able to recreate missing essence over time. Size, life, sentience, significance, and power all effect how much essence something has. Something like a pebble in the middle of a sea of rocks will not have much essence in it; it is small, dead, and insignificant. A tree will have more essence; it is much larger, has life running through it, and can be home to bugs and animals, giving it significance despite it having no magic power and no sentience. Something like a strong mage who is important to many people will have a massive amount of essence; though they aren't larger than a tree, they are alive, sentient, filled with magic, and have other people putting energy into thinking about them. Sentience, significance and power can also determine how fast someone can recharge their essence; only sentient beings can recharge their essence, and the more powerful and significant they are, the faster they can recharge.   Energy is something that all living things have. When drained of it, said things usually needs to sleep, but plants can produce continuous energy at a slow pace. Magic needs energy in order for the magic-user to channel it. Some magic types pull from the user's own energy, while other magic pulls from energy outside of the user.  

Forms of Magic

Magic has four different categorized forms, which is dictated by how the magic came to exist inside of a being.  

Mage Magic

Mage Magic is named as such because once a non-magical being is gifted magic, they are classified as a Mage. Also known as "given magic", Mage Magic is willingly given to a non-magical being by a magical object, place, or being. It is weak at first and must be practiced in order to grow stronger, and new ways to use Mage Magic must be studied to be learned. To be used, Mage Magic requires an outside essence; a sacrifice. This can be anything from as simple as a leaf of a tree to as horrific as the heart of the one you love. The more complex and powerful the magic, the more outside essence is needed. Mage Magic also draws from outer energy, allowing the user to keep their own energy supply untouched.  

Natural Magic

Natural Magic is magic that a creature is born with. This is rarely found outside of Wildes-born magical species. Also known as "born magic", Natural Magic begins at birth and starts out very weak, strengthening with the user's age. Though Natural Magic does not require outside essence in order to activate it, outside essence can be used to strengthen it. Natural Magic also makes use of the user's personal energy, which can limit how much magic a user can channel regardless of the strength of the magic. Natural Magic comes instinctively to users, meaning that new ways of magic are often just manifest without needing to study or be taught how to use them, though practice and study can refine the techniques.  

Stolen Magic

Like it's namesake, Stolen Magic is stolen from an item, location, or creature that has magic by an item, location or creature that does not have magic. This is usually done between creatures; stealing from an item is less common, and location is very rare. Locations or items stealing magic from creatures is very rare as well. Stolen magic become stagnant once it's stolen; it cannot grow more or less powerful, but it can stack and sometimes combine with other stolen magic. Like with Natural Magic, Stolen Magic uses inner energy and require's no outside sacrifice of essence. To learn new ways to channel Stolen Magic, it must be studied and practiced thoroughly; usually it is difficult to learn ways to channel Stolen Magic, as it does not belong to the user. Stolen Magic is considered a horrific practice, not only because the magic is stolen, but because stealing magic leads to Absence, which causes death and the destruction of one's mind and soul in worst-case scenarios.  

Grown Magic

Grown Magic is exclusive to humans who enter the Wildes and never experience the beginnings of an Echo shift. This magic develops in humans who have accepted the Wildes. It grows stronger over time, but must be studied in order to learn how to channel it in different ways. Grown Magic requires a sacrifice of outside essence, and uses inner energy to fuel it. Though Grown Magic is categorized differently than Mage Magic, it is technically also given, and thus the human becomes a Mage once it has developed. Often Grown Magic develops slowly without much sign before manifesting suddenly. It usually takes at least a month of being in the Wildes without beginning an Echo shift for Grown Magic to begin developing.  

Magic Types

There are six types of magic; shadow, light, moon, sun, stars, and wilde. Mage Magic and Grown Magic are entirely dictated by these magic types, while Natural Magic is based on species-specific magic. Species-specific magic will be described on their page.