Magic Theory in: The Saga of Eruûne
This document is my personal opinion on what the definition of magic, different magic types and magic users is. Many people consider a 'wizard' something other than what I do, and I am not saying I am correct. Since wizards do not exist, there is no way to prove any theory 'correct', so to each his own, right? Please do not complain that you do not agree with what I consider a 'wizard' or 'black magic', because you can feel free to have your own definition for them. This is just what I use in The Saga of Eruûne, and other stories not posted yet on fanfiction.net that relate to the world.
That said… here is my Magic Theory:
Magic its self, is different in every story, myth, and religion (to name a few). In some, it is an intangible force, that only people taught to can call upon to perform a spell or whatever they want. In others, it is something that is everywhere where everyone can use it, see it, feel it… or where no one can except trained magic users. In some, even, it is a form of matter that always exists, and is re-used once a spell has been cast with it, for matter cannot go away.
But in The Saga of Eruûne, magic is sort of different. It is a force, an essence, which is often oriented with 'earth'. The Childlike Forest Spirit is a magic embodiment, made of 'earth' or magic, and is constantly making more and spewing it out around its self. It was sealed away into Seven Sacred Realms, (you should know from reading the long and boring tome of a prologue this story has) and only the Seventh of the Forest can use the original form of the Spirit, and emanate magic. However all of the other Sevenths can channel power from their Realm (e.g. the one in the Abyss can channel magic oriented around Ice or Water, etc. etc.) to the one in the Forest, so more than just Forest element magic comes out. Though, due to the Forest one being more powerful (because it was the Forest God, and it's in the Forest, get it? I think I explained this in the 'prologue' or 'preface' or whatever I called that), more Forest-element magic is in Shikaä. Seiriô (near the beginning) talks about it being easiest to use a Forest spell in Shikaä, and that up there is the full explanation.
Anyway, if it was in its original form (i.e. not separated into sevenths), it could spread its magic throughout the world. But since it's ensealment, it can only reach a circle of about a 2000 kilometer diameter around its Sacred Realm, the Heart of the Forests of Shikaä. That circle is the Forests of Shikaä, and why it is the way it is, is because the Great Spirit gives it magic all the time. That is why Shikaä has not deteriorated like all the rest of the world. Explanation for that is coming up! HOLD TIGHT, IT'S FREAKISHLY IMPORTANT, SO PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT LOOSE PATIENCE! READ THIS PLEASE!!!!!!
(Don't worry, I DO get to the Magic Theory REALLY soon in this document! Hold tight, this is important, and it's in the story, but not the version on ff.net, so I have to explain it here, okay?)
IMPORTANT!!!
This is a short bit of history not included (I repeat) in the version of this story on ff.net. It would be too much of a burden to upload the thing again, so I'm putting it here! Anyway, here it is:HISTORY: The world this story takes place in was once a barren wasteland, as the legends go. Three sister goddesses, Shikaä, Celéne, and Arafel, decided to make this their world, and so Shikaä, the oldest, gave it People (elves, faeries, spirits—here, spirits means not the things emanated from the Forest Spirit, but things more like will o' the wisps, or the things that the monks/non-elven priests in the Temples are). Celéne, the second oldest gave it Animals (birds, etc. you get what an animal is, I hope) and Plants (trees, bushes, etc.). And last, the youngest of them all, Arafel, gave the world Law (gravity, knowledge, etc. etc.).
The World, after this, was one big forest, called the Great Forest Lian (LEE-on). A God to rule the forest was created, that being the Childlike Forest Spirit, and other Gods unimportant to The Saga of Eruûne were created to rule other regions (e.g. desert, water etc. I won't get into them cause their superfluous in this story, okay? If you REALLY want to know, e-mail me and I'll rant about them. But it's POINTLESS for this story).
The elves and faeries both had a language together, called the Shikaän Rune System. It was a written language before spoken, and was very long and hard to learn, being there a rune for each thing. Like breeze wouldn't be a mixture of the runes 'small' and 'wind'. It would be an individual one. Unlike Chinese (and Japanese Kanji that came from it), these runes were not originally pictographs, but original characters someone created. Runes sometimes were taken from Greek and Chinese/Japanese Kanji, for other people in this galaxy have traveled to our planet before and learned those languages. 'Nuff said, that is not important.
Some runes, however, had multiple meanings that had to do with the religion. Like the rune that looked like 'K' (the Greek letter, Kappa) stood for 'Abyss', 'Patience' (what the Goddess of the Abyss stands for), 'Blue (her color), the Goddess's name, and the Serpent/Watcher, the Constellation for it, and the Beast God. This was originally clear to the ancient Lianae (citizen/s of Lian), but during the time of the story, isn't.
Stuff happened… and the language was decided to be turned into a spoken one so people could talk, not just write. The elves created an even more confusing spoken language for the runes, and the faeries disagreed (which is one reason why the races hate each other in Eruûne), coming up with a much simpler one. This new language was used, and the rune one dropped. That is why, if any of you noticed, Seiriô and Eruûne can communicate with Onyx Lilly, when I say (at some point that may not have come up yet) that she is not from Shikaä. Yes, she's been there long enough to learn their language, but still. They didn't have another language, so she didn't have to learn it. Confusing…. Ah well.
This is another reason why they can't find what the Prophecy means, and find different translations of it. Someone remarks, (and I think they're Onyx Lilly), in the newer version that ain't on ff.net, at some point and time that the Prophecy looks the same every time (because in the books they find it in, or on the walls or whatever, it's in the runes, with a 'common tongue' translation under the runes), but the translation's different. This is because the same rune means, Blue, Kappa, Watcher, Aqua-Ruûja, etc. So they are not sure what it means. Get it? *sigh*
ANYWAY, BACK TO THE HISTORY!!!
The Great Spirit was sealed by that High Mau (Mau is the term for the Lead Mage in the Dark Elf Mage Hierarchy, just so you know) guy… and since it couldn't sustain Lian with magic power, Lian began to deteriorate. There became deserts, and forests surrounded by once-forested mountain ranges. The Arafel, the faery's forest up north where Onyx Lilly came from, is where the faeries inhabited when Lian deteriorated. The Arafel is surrounded by ocean and mountains, and is sustained by a person of power. The faeries are leaving the Arafel, because that person of power is dead, and the Arafel is deteriorating like Lian.
Shikaä, however, is (besides the small portion of the Arafel that exists in Eruûne) the only 'ancient forest' (i.e. part of Lian) still living. That is because the Seventh of the Great Spirit that emanates the power can sustain just that much of the Forest, so it doesn't deteriorate. And since it only has power over that, it can only destroy that much of the world if it dies. That makes more sense now, right??? End of History.
The magic the Great Spirit produces is not an invisible force like wind. The Childlike Forest Spirit produces magic in 'spirits', things of any shape they will, that reside in the Forests. Spirits, in this context, are a conglomeration of magic under a certain element (e.g. Water or Ice, from the seventh in the Abyss, etc.). That is why you are a mage, or shamanist in Shikaä, because, as you will read below, a shamanist/mage is a person that uses a spirit for power in a spell. It would be pointless to be a sorcer/er/ess in Shikaä, because it is so easy to get to the spirits.
MAGIC THEORY (at last):
There are three classified types of magic: white (healing), gray (shamanist) and black (offensive), and many ways to use it.
Magic can be used through implements, such as staves, pendants, rings, wands, etc. This form of magic is called 'wizardry'. 'Wizards' are magicless people who perform spells written on magic implements to cast spells. Shamanist, or gray magic, can not be a form of wizardry, unless a spirit is locked in a certain implement by contract or a spell.
A magicless person who takes magic out of living or dead things, and uses it is called a 'witch' (female) or a 'warlock' (male). This magic is called 'witchcraft' or 'usurping magic'. A form of witchcraft is making a potion, where you take magic things and mix them together to form a potion with a certain power. In witchcraft, you can also activate potions or powder mixtures by saying a certain word combination or spell. However, a witch or warlock can not work without a set up spell, using potions, powders, etc., because that is where their power comes from. A witch or warlock can take the magic out of a being, and posses another being with it, like a broom, for flying. They can, however, just take the magic out of a being, like a spirit, and use that. Witchcraft can be white (healing) or black (offensive) magic, but not gray (shamanist), because they are not evoking the spirits.
'Necromancy' is the form of magic where you give collected life energy, souls, or your own life energy to dead bodies, and turn them into 'living dead' or 'zombies'. Necromancy can also be the art of magic where you call on the spirits of dead personages or animals to fight. The necromancer is in complete control of their subjects, unless another magic personage gives the zombies (etc.) more life energy. Necromancy can be considered wizardry or witchcraft, because the necromancer doesn't have to have magic to do it. They can use a magic implement to perform necromancy, but usually that is not the case. Necromancy is only black magic, because it neither evokes spirits or heals.
A 'magician' is a person who uses magic for entertainment reasons. Wizards and magicians are commonly referred to as the same thing, for most magicians do not have magic of their own. This is not always true, but commonly, a magician is a person who takes a magic implement, like a charm, and gets paid for entertaining people with the magic it gives them.
A 'sorceress' (female) or 'sorcerer' (male) is a person who is either trained to find their magic, or already has their magic. They can perform any type of magic, and can have a wide range of ways to do it. The most common way for a sorcerer to perform a spell is to read verses evoking a God or Avatar. Spells for sorcerers are written down in 'kaya' or literally, 'books of spells', and it takes a very learned and powerful sorcerer to create their own. Commonly, sorcerers might carry a magic implement to store power in, so the recitation of a whole spell wouldn't be necessary. For instance, if a sorcerer wanted to do a light spell, they might cast the spell on a magic or non-magic implement and create a sort of 'talisman' for that spell. They would seal the spell into the talisman by using a word, or phrase similar to the spell, so then they can quickly use a lighting spell without having to recite the whole verse.
A 'shaman/shamanist' or 'mage' is a magic user with their own magic that strictly uses the evocation of spirits to perform spells. Mages/shamans/shamanists have to be in an area where spirits are near, unless they are powerful enough to summon them from afar. Spells for mages and shamans/shamanists are written down in certain ways in the kaya, but it really doesn't matter how the spell it said, as long as you get the spirits evoked. Unlike 'summoners', mages/shamans/shamanists do not call the spirit and let it fight; they call the spirit and use its power to fight by their own means. For example, if a mage/shaman/shamanist wanted to do a fire spell, they would evoke a fire spirit to give them power, and then send that power in a flare or whatever they wanted instead of throwing the spirit at the enemy. Shamans/shamanists/mages use only gray magic, but that magic can heal or be offensive. It is gray, because it calls on the help of spirits, and can be both or either at one time.
'(Spirit) summoners' are a type of magic-user who use a spell to summon a spirit, God or power to do their bidding. A summoner doesn't have to have their own magic, because summoning spells can be written down in kaya, or locked in an item to make it a magic talisman. Therefore, a summoner can be considered a sorcerer, or a wizard. However, since summoning it different in most ways that wizardry or sorcery, it is considered an independent art. A summoner has to be powerful enough to control the being they summoned, or if, say, they summoned an ancient evil, and they weren't experienced or powerful enough to control it, they might accidentally let loose that evil unto the world. The difference between a summoner and a spirit summoner, is that spirit summoners summon a being and then fight with that, (e.g. making it shoot a ball of fire, or telling it to make a tsunami, etc.) while a summoner summons the thing into their body, and acts as a temporary avatar to that power. Summoning done wrong like that can accidentally kill the user if they don't know how much power there are summoning into their body. Another thing summoners and spirit summoners can do, is channel the power of the summoned thing into another item. An example of this is if a summoner called a spirit of plants into their body, they might be able to channel that power, and themselves, through a plant or such. A spirit summoner could channel the power of the summoned thing into an item, but not themselves. This 'channeling' power is another form of 'teleportation', but can only be used by (spirit) summoners. If a summoner only uses channeling as their means of magic, they would be called a 'medium', but that is a rarely used name, and very few mediums exists, because it is much handier to be a summoner, for you can do other things as well as channeling.
Black mages are a combination of sorcerers and mages. They are strictly dark-elves, and work on a system of ranking with the Shuûn at the bottom, and the High Mau at the top. There have only been two High Mau in all of time, for many die before reaching the 'enlightenment'. Black mages use mostly black magic (offensive magic), hence their name, but can also use gray (shamanist). Since the dark-elves only have one god, the Kyrach of Sand, their high spells are rare, and only call on its power. Those are the shamanist (gray magic) spells. Other than that, the black mages are just dark-elf sorcerers. In their kaya, few healing spells are written. The only white magic (healing) spells in their kaya call on the power of the Kyrach, and therefore are considered gray (shamanist). Black mages use talismans to perform quick spells, and also recite spells written down in the kaya, being the form of sorcerer they are.
That said, you might be wondering why Lotus is called a 'sorceress' sometimes in my story. That is purely a mistake, for she is a 'shamanist', or a 'mage'. Please excuse it from your minds that I ever called her a sorceress, and everything in this will make much more sense to you.
Another thing to note is that later on (much later on), in The Saga of Eruûne, Lotus uses a golden orb to illuminate vast areas. This is possible, because she sealed a high-power light spell into it, and then can use it a few times without wasting energy, or saying the whole spell. I never quite explained that, but this short Magic Theory will, hopefully, put that in your minds so when or if you ever get to that point in the story, it will not seem totally random and unexplained.
Thank you for your patience in reading this document. I hope that it makes sense, and I am sorry for not re-writing Eruûne and putting this all in the story so I didn't have to put it in a big dumb chunk like this. Please, forgive me and don't get scared of this story!! I don't use necromancers or anything. This was just so you KNOW what I think these things are, in case I put up a story that DOES have them in it (and then I will put in that story to check out this chapter so you don't have to remember). Oh god, don't get freaked out by this document, PLEASE!!!!!
Now, onto chapter 37 or whatever, okay? It's your reward, k? Eruûne gets beaten up, so let's all rejoice!!!!! Sorry, I hate my main character, and if you haven't already noticed, love to torture him in this story. Though, it all has a damned GOOD explanation. Byee! Sorry again for this horribly boring rant. FORGIVE ME!!!!!!! I just want my world to work!!!!!!!!!