"Magic"

The previous commissioner once moved on a house in the lower levels after learning it's owner was involved in the local...trades. Nearly crushed by the floors above it even more than those around it. when they entered into it, barely able to get the door open, we found a opulent space that couldn't have possibly fit inside those coffin sized houses. It also couldn't have been known to the neighbors either, otherwise there would have been a swarm of robbers and burglars there at all hours.

The whole 'manor' was covered in lavish silks and fabrics, intricate woodwork, and silk curtains on windows that looked out onto a vast grassplane. Most of the boys had never seen a home or a landscape like this and that. I know I hadn't. Haven't ever again, actually. When we entered what looked to be a main hall, they were finally greeted by a human presence.

She was wearing a dress that practically glowed in the candle light, so woven through with crystal it was. She addressed us with a refined wave and a bow, smiling as radiantly as her dress... Then, with a flick of her hand, it was like a hammer made of gravity itself slammed into the officer in the lead, and transformed him into a rose-pale substance with the consistency of melted wax. The way it splattered...

Officers all reached for their guns, myself included, and the next one of us was hit with whatever force was at the woman's command. He was flattened, in that same wax material, like a nail-head struck with a hammer. We returned fire, but I never saw a single bullet even come close to her. Half our shots seemed to disappear into thin air, while the others cut chunks out of the decor around her like we were on a weekend cartoon. Only for a time, however. I saw the walls spit squashed bullets out onto the floor as plaster and wood closed up, like watching a wound heal in real time.

My fear was alleviated when I saw our own shamans rush in, having arrived later but much more suited to traverse the anomalous space that was rapidly becoming our tomb. Some fired handguns in one hand and pulled lightning bolts from the air with the other. Another, the leader of our squad of Shaman's, fanned a seemingly endless deck of cards around herself; creating a streamer with no beginning or end in the air. It seemed like she could simply concentrate and a salvo of those cards shot off like missiles. I had heard her scores at the academy was rather impressive, and she evened the playing field just with her presence... Seems that was her greatest mistake.

The fact she wasn't falling immediately seemed to pique the curiosity of the woman in the crystal dress. By virtue of taking on all of her concentration, our shaman had saved the rest of us it seemed. I suppose we still couldn't hit her with bullets, so it's not like she was paying much attention to us in the first place.

Their duel, intricate as dance, lasted for only a moment before a hole in the floor, impossibly smooth around the edges, opened up beneath them both. It was like the house itself has opened it's mouth, and down they went. Two insects caught in the crossfire. Just like that, the threat to us was gone. Sudden, like a bullet to the brain.

We searched that place top to bottom and found nothing at all. No trace of either of them. We gathered what evidence we could and peeled out of there with a quickness...

I've never told anyone this, but I swear I sae that woman at one of the galas for whatever cause the home office deemed important to the public. She didn't look at methe whole time, not noticing my inevitable stare... Even as I stared at her, laughing amongst the guests, I'm pretty sure she was wearing that same dress. There wa sanother woman with her, always at her side, though I could never see her face. I shudder to think that was our shaman...

— Memoirs of a Hive City Officer

While referred to by many names, "magic" carries the evocative nature, I believe, that is key to having a broad understanding of the many different varieties of anomalous practices that can fall under such a title.

From the shamans of more traditional societies to the finely crafted, yet still just as anomalous, tool sets used by the magicians of more industrial societies, the bottom line is that effects that are not of the laws of physics can be produced through many different means. It's a fool's errand to try to narrow them all down. At least in classification, that is. No model will fit everything in a satisfying and clean way.

Practitioners often have their own way to access their 'magic', even when they are taught by a direct teacher, resulting in little variations that, when given time, can lead to substantial variations.

For example, a card shark who finds himself anomalous might use his deck of cards to produce anomalous effects through the act of drawing a card. He relies on luck and random chance, while the effects he produces are induced by the mental association he has