Magic

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Magic (Also known as the Arcane) is the use of the Runic language to control that which makes up existence, Ether, to warp and twist reality in differing ways, conjuring and manipulating matter around the spellcaster. The first magic users are the Dragons who were granted access to the Arcane by the Gods via the Cosmic Lexicon, allowing them access to the five primal Elements of the world to create new and astonishing things... or to weaponize them. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, the Dragons kept this knowledge secret from them, believing that allowing the mortals to wield such potent energies would result in the end of Auria.

In the year 1000, Deldarach Hawktalon, one of the Asvars, discovered that the Dragons had access to a "tool" which granted them otherworldly powers and he wished to claim it for himself, leading a small band of Asvars and Urson into the Dragon Vaults to steal the Cosmic Lexicon and bring it to Imperia to allow the Asvars to fight back against Human oppression. Soon the entire world knew how to wield Ether to some degree though it takes a lot of dedicated studying to properly handle the Arcane.

As more mortals began to gain access to the knowledge of magic and its uses, the world would also begin to shape more into weaving it into every day lives. The first of such changes came in the year 1020 when the Fenik began to fuel their Skyships with magic which allowed them to be safer and more efficient. It also was noticed that some of the children of these first magic users were born with magic already part of their being which allowed many future generations to skip the process of unlocking magic all together.

When Magic was weaved into each culture, different styles or schools of magic also began to shape around these cultures that acted as guidelines for how to properly use magic in an acceptable way. The limit of one's use of the Ether is based on their knowledge, willpower, spirit and creativity.

Divine

Believing themselves as the race closest to the gods, the Humans of the Church of Divinity took their prayers to the gods to the next level when they too gained access to the Arcane after spies were sent to infiltrate the school of spellcraft and learn it from the Asvars. When the arts of the Arcane became apparent to Humanity, they begun to use it to show greater faith to the gods, now able to make spiritual bonds with those gods and to ask them for power, which they were given in a divine form. Soon after, the Humans begun to spread their own school of magic across Auria alongside their radical faith, teaching Divine magic to the Senkh in the process who used it against them years later. Divine magic manifests itself in different colours based on what god or gods the power is drawn from, but it always does so as beams of light with elemental influences. Greater acts of divine magic allows one to cast upon shields of faith that protect allies from harm and in very extreme cases even bring them back from the brink of death.

Dreamweave

The Art of Dreamweaving is mainly known by the Dryads and it draws energy from the Dream. It is a potent school of magic that invokes tiredness and slumber upon those that the Dryad wants to put to sleep. It can also influence the dream of a person itself, sending them drifting deeper into it or to torment them with nightmares, a sinister side of the Dream that the Dryads rarely resort to. It also grants the wielder the ability to feel a lifeform's essence and to speak to them telepathically, whispering calmly in their mind with words of power that can influence them.

Druidism

Also based off of Spirit, Druidism is the art of wielding the wrath of nature in the palm of your hand. Though Mantra and Druidism are often mistaken as one and the same, Druidism focuses more on Nature itself and the spirits they draw power from instead comes from their environment and as such Druidism allows for better control over the region around the spellcaster though a strong spirit is still required to effectively use such powers. Druidism was first discovered and perfected by a Elf scholar named Hathirus Thornspeaker, who's fondness for the nature around him led him to try and commune with it deeper, although the first real practitioners of Druidism would be the Dryads, after who the school is named after. What he discovered was that through enough meditation and training in the wilds, one can bond with the spirits of nature that surround them and achieve a sort of kinship with them. Druidism manifests in an assortment of ways, with some unique skills being shapeshifting into Animal forms and calling forth active plant life that may uproot to strike down one's enemies. Druidism has become a key cultural aspect for the Elves.

Mantra

Based off of Spirit, Mantra is a school of magic first perfected by the Naga who used it to achieve perfect balance with the universe, this style of magic drawing power from one's own inner spirit. Eventually they taught this style to the Sacred Order who used it to better weaponize their warriors. Mantra materializes in an assortment of different colours though it always looks cloudy or wispy when called forth. Though Mantra draws its powers from the element of Spirit, many Mantra users have begun to mix small portions of a secondary Element into their fighting style, like the Naga Blademasters using the Wind to swiftly rush down their opponents and cut through them like sharp gusts of air. Mantra is also used to heal people by intensifying their regeneration while boosting their soul.

Off-shoot from Mantra, some people discovered that one does not simply have to stay immobile and cast their spiritual magic through their hands and feet. Instead, the dancers and bards of the world have discovered a magical element in the very songs they play or the moves they make. As such, many have thought of a unique way to express Mantra in the form of dancing, singing or playing songs that are able to invoke different positive and negative aspects in people and the world around them.

Necromancy

The act of raising the dead and manipulating life in dark ways, Necromancy is a school of art that is both feared and sought by many. Some fall to the desires of necromancy simply out of desperation, wishing to bring back their loved ones from the afterlives while others seek it out for the sake of greater power. It is unknown where the practice of Necromancy first started though many point towards the Nubin of Livanin Desert as they directly wield it to do the bidding of the Gods. Necromancy allows one to do all sorts of shadowy magic that related to one's soul and life, allowing the wielder to siphon life from their victims or raising the undead or even inflicting lifeforms with deadly illnesses.

Nightmare

Those that surrender themselves to the madness of Z'thulun are corrupted with the powers of the Nightmare. Similarly to Dreamweaving, Nightmare magic focuses on targeting the victim's mind only this time it is with horrific visions and mind melting pain. Nightmare magic can also be used to temporarily summon Z'thulun's minions into the real world as well as condensing the magic into direct attacks like beams or blasts though the damage will always be mental, not physical.

Nightmare magic also grants skillful users the ability to take over the mind of an individual, controlling them as if they were your own body. The duration of the mind control and the effectiveness of it are drawn from how weak and exhausted the victim is as well as the overall experience of the caster in using the Nightmare.

Reverism

A school of magic developed by Reverie Cleansers. It taps into two clashing types of magic, between the more tranquil and nature-oriented of Dreamweaving and Druidism, and the one of Nightmare and Vampirism. It taps into one's potential to draw from multiple contrasting sources to create devastating or defensive spells. The user draws from these sources and uses their soul and body as a conduit for their spell, therefore exposing them to both types of magic. Practitioners of Reverism are well aware of the danger it brings, therefore they know the need to balance the act of magic to neutralize the influence on their soul and therefore their combat ability. With each spell their souls builds up reservoirs of both magics (Druidism and Dreamweaving commonly being called "Blue", and Nightmare with Vampirism being called "Red") that they can expel for much more powerful versions of previously cast spells.

The user of such magic is well aware of balancing as tipping the scales too much in favor of the other will lead the caster to having issues with building reservoir of the lacking resource, therefore locking them into one type of spells. They can expel the overwhelming type of red or blue resource so they can build anew from the beginning. Advanced practitioners of Reverism are capable of not having their mind altered by corrupting Nightmare and Vampirism magic, or by body-changing Druidism and Dreamweaving as constant overwhelming of one type may attune their body too much towards the red or blue category, making them unable to pick up Reverism ever again as they would be inflicting significant pain unto themselves should they draw upon contrasting magic.

Shamanism

Shamanism is a primalistic practice of magic that draws from dark spirit energy. With it, the wielder may inflict enemies with curses that hinder them in some way or use shadowy, twisted elemental magic to torment their victims including poisoning them, setting them ablaze or piercing them with icicles. Though this is all possible with other schools of magic, Shamanism is renowned for being pushed onto tribalistic races like Gnolls and Sark by the God of Trickery, Hallawa.

Sorcery

When Deldarach Hawktalon returned to Luxfordia with his newfound knowledge of the Arcane and the Cosmos, he founded an academy where his fellow Asvars could also learn magic under the noses of their Human oppressors. He would invite many notable Asvars at that time to teach them the arts of manipulating space and the Elements to their full potential. He called this style "Sorcery" and it makes use of all five Elements though Fire and Water are found to be the most commonly used. Master Sorcerers have figured out that combining all five Elements in a very specific way creates a pure energy of matter that glows deep purple and is incredibly powerful but also incredibly hard to conjure and handle. Sorcery has many different sub-schools under it that tackle different things like short-distance teleportation, telepathy, abjuration, enchanting, transmutation, conjuration and illusions. Sorcerers with enough skill are also able to activate ancient leygates that are found all across the Aurian galaxy, though there exists only one per planet. These Leygates take an incredible amount of energy to activate but if successful one can travel between planets instantaneously.

Vampirism

Inspired by their god and creator Nytheran, the God of Blood, the Veryn begun to practice a dark form of magic that employed the dark half of Spirit. Calling it Vampirism, this style of magic would become integral to their society as they used it to attack beings of the Cosmos directly by lashing at the cores of their very being and leech the cosmic energies that hold their bodies together causing exhaustion and weakness to afflict the victim while also empowering the caster with stolen Ether.

Vampirism is continued to be practiced to this day and has spread to other societies as well, though often viewed in a negative light due to the torment and pain it can cause to living beings. Vampirism has evolved to not only attack the target's incorporeal Ether directly but also their corporeal Ether in the form of one's blood, manipulating and draining it from their bodies to feed the caster and empower their own bodies. Excessive amounts of drained Ether, both corporeal and incorporeal, is used to cast other forms of spells most notably conjuration of blood-made minions and even healing. Those that practice Vampirism are called Blood Mages due to the way the magic is expressed visually.