Magic

Magic is the use of mana or aether to manifest phenomena that exist outside the physical possibility of the world.

History
The earliest recorded practice of magic was in the 13th to 12th century BC, in Egyptian records. In there, a person named Moses was recorded to have parted an entire sea in order to have a path for his men to cross to the other side. Much focus was placed on his chanting in an undecipherable language before the performance of the act, a language that "boomed and sounded as if spoken from the heavens". Modern thaumaturgical studies indicate that this might have been the only historically recorded example of Divine Magic, an art that uses the language of the gods as a substitute for long, unwieldy magical incantations.

The reason for the lack of records with respect to magic is that magic was an underground subject from its earliest times, due to the negative reaction of common man toward anything that they find extraordinary. Only in the 17th to 18th century, when the IEU had been established, was the existence of magic announced to the world by the foremost researcher of magic in the world at the time, Erutaretil's Gwendelyn Fromovetta, then-Head Librarian of the Grand Central Library. The implications of this revelation could have been devastating, but much was averted by means of the Head Librarian's releasing of thousands of years' worth of magical research material, making magic seem much more of a science than an arcane subject. In the modern day, magic is treated as barely more than something that exists somewhere in the world and that people with talent practice, similar to pianists or martial artists.

Alternate developments have also taken place in the 18th century with the rise of The Quintessence in today's isolated region of Hephaestus' Fall, where the development of magical research on the properties of Propella have led to rapid advancements in magical mastery that the world had previously not seen. More importantly, the creation of Homunculi; artificial human beings, has also taken place.

Impact on Modern History
Magic's revelation in the 17th century led to several changes in the global power landscape.

One of the most notorious dictators in modern history, Adolf Hitler, was posthumously discovered to have been the last descendant in a long line of mages. His family line specialised in mental manipulation through their own Crested Magic, Portentia. This ability was said to be one of the highest level thaumaturgies in the nonphysical magic field, able to generate fields over thousands of kilometres wide, influencing the thoughts of every intelligent individual within without a decent level of magic resistance, with its power increasing relative to the number of people affected by it. Throughout World War II, Hitler used this to his advantage, inspiring almost fanatical devotion within his people.

Classification
Magic is split into three types: Additionally, there may be other combined types of Magic, using the above three or subsets part thereof to build a unique casting method.
 * Innate (people who are born with their powers),
 * Crested (people who inherit their powers),
 * and Spellbook (people who learn their powers).

Common Traits
All forms of Magic require an activation code. The activation code consists of two parts: The first activates the magi's Magic Circuits, allowing for the processing of mana in the atmosphere; the second is a required sequence to reprogram the Magic Circuits to process mana in a certain manner. While the first has only to be spoken at the start of the magic usage phase and at the end to deactivate the Magic Circuits, the second has to be said for every type of magic used, and if it is used again.
 * 1) The magi's own unique verbal code, and
 * 2) the Magic type's unique verbal code.

Innate Magic
Innate Magic is the type of magic most similar to ESP. Users of this type of magic do not need to use activation words or phrases, or only have to use single-syllable activation words to unlock their powers.

Innate Magic is the fastest of the three types of magic, and is also usually one of the most powerful, depending on the magi's innate power. However, the repertoire of this type of magic is easily the most limited of the three.

In comparison to computer systems, Innate Magic would be like running specialised programs built by external vendors; the user does not need to know how to code, and already has access to extremely powerful processing software, but it cannot do anything besides what it was designed to do.

Users of Innate Magic
Antares Schulz - Animated Personalities

Kuroi Tsuki - Mental Break / Marble Phantasm

Li-Kwon Eun - Red Lightning

Lucetia Bleufeuille - Unified Language

Moridin - Undoing

Sierra Nark - Full Water Control (Spirit) 

Vedeloitte P. Katyushka - Replication

Venser Savoir - Eye of the Mind (True)

Crested Magic
Crested Magic is the most common type of magic, and forms a balance between the forms of Innate Magic and Spellbook Magic. Users of this type of magic typically use one-sentence or one-phrase activation codes to unlock their powers.

Crested Magic can be used as frontline battle magic if the magi possessing it has other skills to allow his or herself time to finish the activation code.

Many forms of Crested Magic were formally Spellbook Magic, created and passed down by ancestors. Over time, the familiarity with the Magic allowed the users of it to employ High-Speed Spellcasting, shortening the activation codes with time. As a result, many old families have Crested Magic with activation codes under five words in length.

Crested Magic needs significant startup time to reach the power of Innate Magic. However, the repertoire of Crested Magic is a lot larger compared to Innate Magic.

In comparison to computer systems, Crested Magic would be like an all-in-one program built by multiple users in Linux; the user can change the code if he wishes to, and add new functions, but its functions are more convoluted and harder to use than a specialised program.

Users of Crested Magic
Lucetia Bleufeuille - Red Magic

Madeleine Dawson - Serration Lattice

Nakara Kamin - Heaven Requiem

Sergei Levensky - Blood Troika

Sierra Nark - Spirit Calling

Sol C. Raxius - Glade of Creation

Tatsuyama Miyo - Physisthurgy

Spellbook Magic
Spellbook Magic is the second most common type of magic, and is often used by mages with no innate ability and no family history.

There are three sub-categories of Spellbook Magic: Rapid, Traditional and Pre-Inundated.

In comparison to computer systems, Spellbook Magic would be like coding a computer in UNIX.

Rapid
The casting of time-worked spells, condensed to their most minimal form, through the use of magic catalysts (often, but not always, taking the form of wands). The repertoire of such a mage is limited to only a minimal number of general spells that exist in common knowledge, but a mage talented in both the Rapid and Traditional forms may create his own unique brand of Rapid magic. Rapid spells typically comprise one- or two-word incantations.

Traditional
The shaping and formation of magical incantations through bodily gestures and words. A mage using this form of magic must understand the importance and significance of the words he uses and the movements he makes. Traditional Spellbook Magic users have the greatest repertoire of magical abilities, and access to the latest in magical technology as well. However, Spellbook Magic takes a much longer time than the other two forms of Magic to reach any significant level of power.

Users of this type of Spellbook magic have to use full-length activation codes to unlock their powers.

Traditional Spellbook Magic's primary use is as artillery or support in a battle owing to the multiple-sentence length of the activation code.

Pre-Inundated
Magic cast via the Traditional method on a holding medium prepared with the appropriate catalyst. Applying the brew on its intended target or otherwise as indicated by the spell used will activate the stored magic. This is the most covert form of magic, and is commonly known by the term 'Potion'.

Users of Spellbook Magic
Vedeloitte P. Katyushka - Replication (base)

Venser Savoir - Illusion (base)

The above two examples, owing to several conditions under which the powers were obtained, are not textbook Spellbook Magic examples.

Tatsuyama Miyo - Ofuda

Special Magic
Magic cast via the combination of any of the above three Magic types, or part thereof. This is usually extremely hard to accomplish, as it requires long periods of research achieved by the wielder himself or passed down as a Magic Crest. As Innate Magics are usually not inherited, and combining Magic types usually does nothing but weaken the original power of both types of Magic due to inefficiences in the combination process, this is extremely rare.

One of the only examples is possessed by Ophelia Garande, the Head Librarian of the Grand Central Library in Erutaretil, with Divine Incantation, the only person known to be able to utilise the language of the gods for spellcasting since ancient times.

Magic Catalysts
Magic catalysts come in many forms, with different types of catalysts suited for different types of magic. Catalysts are typically used to enhance the power of magic spells created through incantations, and is especially important in Rapid Spellbook Magic owing to the weak nature of single- and double-word incantations.

Inorganic
Inorganic catalysts are items that were derived from non-living objects, e.g. precious metals or gemstones. Generally, the rarer the material and the more flawless, the greater its magical capacity. The size of the objects used also determines the magical capacity. Inorganic catalysts excel at direct magic such as attack or defence magic, and are also efficient at the generation of structures.

Examples (in increasing order of power):
 * Bronze (the weakest form of catalyst)
 * Silver
 * Gold
 * Platinum
 * Topaz
 * Ruby
 * Diamond
 * Philosopher's Stone (the greatest inorganic catalyst available)

Organic
Organic catalysts are objects obtained from rare living creatures such as phoenixes and unicorns. The more core an object to the creature's existence (e.g. a unicorn's tailhair vs. its horn), the rarer the creature, the greater the magic capacity of the catalyst. Size is usually a negligible factor in determining the capacity of an organic catalyst. Organic catalysts excel at indirect magic such as summoning, transfiguration and healing.

Examples (in increasing order of power): Different types of catalysts can be mixed in specific amounts in the same object to change its magical affinity, i.e. creating a wand equally skilled in summoning and structure-building. Generally, the greater the number of catalysts, the more efficient the object gets in handling multiple magical tasks.
 * Dragon scale
 * Phoenix tailfeather
 * Unicorn tailhair
 * Dragon heartstring
 * Unicorn horn
 * Phoenix heart
 * Branch of the Propella tree (the requirements for using this as a core are extremely stringent; so far, there has only been one case of success in the creation of the Iglesschtr, held by Friedlich ou Iglesacht).

Sources (Quantum Theory)
The Fitzpatrick Quantum Theory states that magic is derived from a type of fundamental particle: the magitron, which serves as the base energy quanta of magic.

Magitron
The magitron is a particle that occurs naturally within the orbitals of an atom (1 in 8000). Magic is derived from the harnessing and condensing of the energy within these naturally occurring particles, and the resultant explosive conversion and emission. Propella is a very rich source of magitrons (1 in 10), and is thus functionally a limitless source of magical energy.

Functional Details
Magitrons give rise to magic through the conversion of the energy within the magitrons in the atmosphere. This is done by running the equivalent of a current - a magic torqla - through a series of magitrons via the use of a magic circuit (Innate Magic), a magic circle (Crested Magic) or a spell (Spellbook Magic). These are, however, the base forms of magic casting - any combination of the three in different amounts may give rise to magic.

Indicators of Magic Use
Whenever magicians utilise magic, the harnessing of magitrons within the atmosphere gives rise to a natural luminescence depending on the method of creation of the magic torqla. It takes the form of a natural glow around the magician for users of Innate Magic, the glow of the magic circle for users of Crested Magic, and a glow surrounding the spellbook or casting medium for users of Spellbook Magic.

This glow, a visible indication of Winfrecht-Lossfried Radiation, takes on a colour that differs from magician to magician, as the style of magitron conversion varies with each user. Different users of the same Crested Magic generally use the same style of magitron conversion, and thus normally possess similar colours.