Novelas:Magic

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Contents 1 Magic 2 Spells 3 Spellcasters 4 Beings 5 Outside, Inside 6 Stars 7 Sentropy 8 Telmol 9 Deltamancy 10 Kinetomancy 11 Antimancy 12 Conjuramancy 13 Creomancy 14 Manos and Logos 15 Glyphs 16 Runes 17 Runic Scriptase 18 Heavenly Star 19 Eutris 20 Instantaniety 21 Infinite Possibilities 22 Target 23 Teleportation

Magic can be complicated indeed. Here's a beginner's guide to understanding its foundations and how it works.

By magic proper, we refer to a certain magic system that includes the various disparate types of magic available.

[edit] Magic

The need for a developed magic system can be quickly apparent. How do we know what magic is going to occur, what are the possibilities, and what must be done to cause a particular variety of magic to occur? Understanding how magic works is basic for all spellcasters.

First, we will discuss the four elementary spells so crucial to casting spells.

[edit] Spells

Each of the Four Spells is associated with its own Element. There are likewise Four Elements:

• Air, symbolizing vision and divine communication
• Earth, symbolizing matter, space, and time
• Fire, symbolizing creation and change
• Water, symbolizing logic and rationalization

Magic in Lorica depends on these four Elementary Spells, which can be altered and combined in various and disparate ways. Each of the Four Elements are associated with its own Spell, as thus:

• Air - Sight
• Earth - Telmol
• Fire - Manos
• Water - Logos

We will discuss these spells and their abilities later on. Note that not all magic is based on these four spells; there are other spells that are not considered magic proper.

[edit] Spellcasters

Spellcasters are beings that can cast spells. They generally require training in the ways of magic before they arrive at the level at which they can cast the spells that they wish. Being a spellcaster is a full-time occupation, in the same way that warriors, researchers, engineers, artists, and programmers have full-time jobs in the real world. Being a spellcaster also entails great responsibilities, as magic is very potent and can be very dangerous if used by an amateur.

[edit] Beings

The Two Universes - the Asset and Tessa (meaning to have and not to have) - are populated with beings. Now by beings we will need a particular definition:

"Beings are entities that contain matter, energy, or both."

For example, a wisp would be energy only and no matter, while an object would have both matter and energy, while adamantium would be matter only and no energy. Other examples of beings include the world as a whole, and Imagi (to be discussed later). There are many different kinds of beings, as such a cursory overview of their variety will quickly demonstrate.

Also note that the term Beings and the term Entities are not mutually interchangeable; an Entity is a complete something and hence is capable of performing actions, such as an individual, a deity, or a god. A Being, however, is any person, place, object, or piece thereof. Therefore, half a Being is still a Being, only it is of half the quantitative significance, and half of that is also still a Being, and so on, ad infinitum.

Why mention this point? Magic relates to the properties of these Beings, or else would have no relevance whatsover in the Two Universes.

[edit] Outside, Inside

There are, as we said, Two Universes: Asset and Tessa. The former is also known as Inside, because from our viewpoint we and everything else in this universe are Inside a particular bubble of cosmic proportions; the latter is known hence as the Outside, being diametrically opposed in its essences. The Inside can be influenced directly through physical means and indirectly by magical means, while the Outside can be influenced directly by magical means and indirectly by physical means. Magic, along with Physics, thus serves as a link between the two worlds.

Beings that are Outside are invisible to Beings that are Inside; likewise, Beings that are Inside are invisible to Beings that are Outside. You will soon see later on that this is not a major problem when we can transport between the two Universes. Additionally, Outside things are invisible and do not undergo reactions; that is, they do not experience time.

Now here is the point that has to be made perfectly clear:

"Through the use of spells, Beings can be moved Inside and Outside instantaneously."

Objects can also be moved Outside for a duration. Such a movement across the Two Universes is known as an Action.

[edit] Stars

As mentioned earlier, we can continually divide Beings into halves, and do so endlessly. What do we get when this process reaches its end? Is there a limit? It turns out that yes, there is a limit (but the proof for this is so difficult that it will not be presented here). All matter and energy in both the Inside and Outside are composed of miniscule packets of Being called Quanta. These Quanta are locked into matter and heat/energy. Such stored energy is also called Aiúas - hence, an Aiúa is a type of Quanta. These Aiúas cannot be directly tapped by magic in the Asset Universe.

What spellcasters can tap into are another form of Quanta, one that is not locked into other Beings. These present themselves as the "Vital Force" that drives living beings, and these are called Stars. Why is this important? Stars are needed in order for Actions to occur. Without them, there would be no magic to speak of, none of this which follow. Hence, in the world of magic, living Beings present a particular and crucial resource for the spell caster.

In the last section we discussed how living Beings hold Vital Forces. We now expand this concept further: Stars show an affinity for Vital Force and thus reside inside living objects, an attraction that varies inversely with the distance from the living object. Hence, Stars closer to a living object will be more forcefully attracted to them, and so forth.

Stars can be shaken from their residence objects (Beings) through Vital Actions. In the classical sense, these would include rites, cants (chants), etcetera. This process will be explored later.

When attaching Action potential to a Being, some living object--that is, containing Vital Force--must also be attached. Thus, when a Vital Force is extinguished (such as through death), Stars flee from the object and may therefore immediately be tapped for powerful use. It should be obvious by now that magic and the potential to wield it does not come for free.

[edit] Sentropy

Beings transfer across the Two Universes involves both the Inside and Outside gaining as much Quanta as is lost so that the total Quanta in both Worlds remains the same. Remember that the two types of Quanta are Aiúas and Stars. We now introduce the First Law of Sentropy:

"Actions result in a reduced amount of order in the sum of both Universes, thereby increasing a quality known as Sentropy."

Hence, there is a definite interchange of Quanta in every Action performed. Do you see how there are two kinds of "actions", one being physical and one being magical? These two are fundamentally different, yet similar. Both reduce the amount of order in the Universes. Likewise, both require something to get started. This concept leads us to the Second Law of Sentropy:

"All Actions, no matter how much Sentropy involved, have an Activation Quanta before they can occur."

An Activation Quanta is the force necessary to drive an Action into commencing. This required Activation Quanta is fulfilled by Stars, and Stars only; it cannot be satisfied using Aiúas.

From this law, we can deduce that, in any action, Sentropy always increases. There is, however, a pattern to be seen. But this applies to the sum of both Universes. There is however another term for the energy and disorder of each individual world: Entropy. Actually, this term came first, but when we add the two values, we obtain the Sum-of-the-entropies, simplified into S-entropy and thus into Sentropy. This fits into what is known as the Corollary to the First Law of Sentropy:

"Actions involving bringing a more ordered Being Inside result in reduced entropy Inside and greater entropy Outside. Actions involving bringing a less ordered Being Inside result in greater entropy Inside and reduced entropy Outside."

Note that this corollary does not state, in either circumstance, which predominates: the gain or the loss; and to which extent one predominates over the other. While the first law already answers the first question, the second has no specific answer, and depends primarily on the efficiency of the magic. This corollary actually has two parts. Note that the first type of Action expends more Stars and generates fewer Stars, and thus require a continuous input of Stars to work, while the second type of Action expends fewer Stars and generates more (in reference to the Asset Universe). The latter type also thus expends only the Stars needed to fulfill the Activation Quanta described in the Second Law. Also note that the Inside begets more Stars at a cost: by increasing its own entropy.

[edit] Telmol

The first Spell to be tackled by Spellcasters is Telmol (also called Telemol and Intermol). Telmol means etymologically "distant" and "matter", or bringing matter across the two physically distant Universes, while Intermol means "across" and 'matter". Telmol causes the Action of Being (Quanta) transfer from Outside to Inside, or vice versa: from Inside to Outside. It thus is the key concept to understanding magic, as well as its various effects, many of which include distortion, creation, and deletion. As with the other three main Spells, Telmol can be used in an infinite variety of ways to create effects of profound complexity; only by your exploration into this astounding world can you comprehend the greatness of this Spell.

Telmol is easily the most simple Spell to cast; even so, the complexity that the spell allows means that such casts can still become extremely complicated. Hence, it is oftentimes better to refer to spells by their intended effects rather than their component variations of the Spells, in the same way that calling an object "apple" is superior to calling it "bright red (fruit) from tall (plant)...". The former method is also more understandable, although with the vast possibilities that the four Elementary Spells can provide, this can quickly become daunting. (You haven't been formally introduced to such complex spells yet; the time for that will soon come.)

[edit] Deltamancy

Deltamancy translates as the Magic of Change. As this is fundamental to practically all magic, many philosophers have debated whether or not this term should be discarded with altogether and simply replaced with the word magic. However, it is useful to introduce this term here to refer to just the spells involving Telmol.

There are four varieties of Deltamancy that have been introduced so far:

• Kinetomancy - The Magic of Kinetics
• Antimancy - The Magic of Negation
• Conjuramancy - The Magic of Conjuring
• Creomancy - The Magic of Believing

[edit] Kinetomancy

The first discipline that we will introduce in magic is Kinetomancy, meaning the "magic of energy and movement". This is because the most basic Telmol Spell works with only energy while ignoring matter. Kinetomancy, in its general sense, involves heating or cooling an object and thus involves Energy Telmol only. Other situations would include electricity, magnetism, forces, the electromagnetic spectrum, and waves. Advanced examples of Kinetomancy can sometimes be pretty sights. Note, however, that spells working with only energy are very limited in scope and variety.

Examples:

• ^[1] You could bring heat energy Inside toward a particular target object, making it hot...then hotter, and hotter....
• ^[2] ...Or you could do the reverse, and bring heat energy from a particular target object Outside, making it cold...then colder, and colder.
• ^[3] You could bring electromagnetic energy Inside toward a particular target object. If your ability to charge an object becomes powerful enough, you could cause a bolt of lightning to emanate from it.
• ^[4] You could provide magnetic attraction energy Inside toward a particular target object, so that it becomes attracted to and attracts a magnet; or you could do the opposite to certain metallic objects like iron for the reverse effect.
• ^[5] You could provide raw kinetic energy to a particular falling target so that upon impact it strikes with much more force than its speed would have made others think.
• ^[6] You could create an instance of a "bump" of water-making the water level temporarily rise and fall at a particular point-to disrupt standing water. Once you have learned Logos and Manos, you can set a Charm to cast this "wave" repeatedly to create actual waves. You could then also apply kinetomancy to create sound waves and thus noise (or if you are really skilled, music).
• ^[7] You could send a seismic shockwave into the ground.
• ^[8] You could heat an object so forcefully that it glows.
• ^[9] You could also make an object glow by constantly bringing light Inside at the site of a particular object to give the illusion that the object is glowing. Once you have learned Logos and Manos, you can set a Charm that will enable the light to be actually attached to the object so that it is actually the object that glows, not its vicinity.

[edit] Antimancy

The next discipline of magic that we will consider is Antimancy, literally "magic of negation". This is not to be confused with reversing the effects of another spell; instead, this has to do with deleting matter from the Inside and effectively banishing it into the Outside. Unlike Kinetomancy, which involves only energy, Antimancy also involves matter transitions (Actions). Spells of this variety as well as of some others are known as Matter and Energy Telmol (MET) and can be considered a grouping of various types of Earth magic, all of which involve casting the same spell (Telmol).

In effect, Antimancy involves reducing the degree of orderliness (increasing entropy) Inside and increasing the degree of orderliness (decreasing entropy) Outside.

• Whenever a solid or liquid is turned into a gas or vacuum, the gas will be heavily concentrated at the target location, and therefore will nearly explode to fill the vicinity, as all air strives to fill up all space equally. Within seconds, the excess air will have dissipated. These explosions could potentially cause a sonic boom, and also serve to mildly repel everything around the target.
• Whenever a gas or vacuum turns into a solid or liquid, the disappearance of the gas causes gases elsewhere to be sucked in, resulting in an attractive effect as well as a "whoosh" sound.

[edit] Conjuramancy

The art of conjuring, Conjuramancy or alternatively Conjurmancy, is the second subdivision of Deltamancy which we will cover, after Antimancy. It involves the change of matter and energy's properties or qualities. Its effects are generally superficial, and therefore these spells require far fewer Stars and cause less actual Being change.

Examples:

• You could create a fragrance/smell at a particular target object/location.
• You could create an infinitesimally thin panel of stone or any other opaque material, that uses up almost no Stars and which can shatter at a single light touch but which can give the illusion of a wall where there is actually a concealed door.
• You could, once you are rather skilled, conjure an image of a ghost or other object. Note that this is also possible with Kinetomancy's light variety, but this differs in that it is not based on producing light but on creating an object that reflects it.

Conjuramancy is generally a weaker version of Creomancy that uses far less energy and therefore is far more suited to teaching the beginning spellcaster.

it is generally considered that Conjuramancy leads almost directly to Creomancy, which we will discuss next...

[edit] Creomancy

Creomancy translates as the Magic of Believing, and harks back to the old concept that the truth is what you believe in. Alternatively, the erroneous translation of the word describes it as the Magic of Creating. In effect, Creomancy is the spell that allows spellcasters to create things, and generally applies to those kinds of Telmol that result in both energy and matter change. It is another subdivision of Deltamancy.

Creomancy involves increasing the degree of orderliness (reducing entropy) Inside and accomplishes this by consuming excess Stars. Therefore, in order to cast this spell repetitively, one must be ready to sacrifice much (now, whether the sacrifices are one's own are debatable, and very likely they are someone else's losses that are involved). Quite a portion of magic and improvisation is to reduce the energetic waste of such spells as much as possible, which can in some times be an open-ended search.

Creomancy is practically the opposite of Antimancy. When a spellcaster uses Creomancy, a significant amount of air is transported via Telmol to the Outside and a small volume of solid/liquid is introduced. Hence, we have the whooshing sound and the attractive force mentioned earlier for Antimancy.

Examples:

• You could create a hammer from thin air.
• You could use Creomancy to create a powerful attraction. This would be useful to drag a fleeing Being toward you without having to reach out, and thus acts as a suction.
• You could later "Teleport", that is, use Antimancy and Creomancy almost simultaneously to place the target into the Outside and then retrieve it immediately somewhere else.
• You could create a nail inside some object.
• You could create a burst of pressured air. If this is done correctly inside a lock, the pressured air could turn the tumblers and unlock the door.
• You could create a staff from still water.
• You could mutate a being into a different being.
• You could grow a sixth finger on your hand. Note that this requires significant knowledge of the human body.
• You could replicate yourself so that there are two of you. Note that this requires extensive knowledge of the human body.
• You could act as if you were stabbing someone, then as soon as any part of the blade goes into a person, you could Antimancy it out and then Creomancy it back in on the other side to give the illusion that you've penetrated your victim.
• You could use Creomancy to bring back what someone else banished Outside using Antimancy.
• You could also do the opposite, using Antimancy to bring out what someone created using Creomancy.
• You could use Creomancy to generate land from the open sea. Note that this requires you generate all the land that would be created underwater.
• This list goes on and on...

[edit] Manos and Logos

Manos and Logos can be seen as two sides of the same coin. The former, meaning "manipulation", refers to the doing part of any charm spell, while the latter, meaning "logic", refers to the logical cycles that determine what to do. Both must be present to some degree and fulfill some purpose in any workable charm spell.

The Manos and Logos components of the spell must be arranged in a generally precise manner. As the glyphics-converting charm, Runic Charmase, only works in one way, these must be posited so, but there are often different ways of "wording" the spells to achieve nearly the same results.

The two are basically differentiated by what function they serve in the glyphical system. Manos does things, such as obtaining certain data, locating a target, and casting a particular spell. Logos runs the logic behind the charm, such as if-then-else structures, loop-endloop structures, and mathematical operators.

It is generally believed that for a spellcaster to understand how charms work, they must first comprehend the runes' meanings, as each rune corresponds to a facet of Manos or Logos.

[edit] Glyphs

A glyph is any image that belongs to a set of similar images that together can be used to create statements. There are various types of glyphic languages:

• The phonetic/glyphic language developed a long time ago by the Language tribe, which is now totally out of date, an example of which would be found in the Codex Repme.
• The phonetic/glyphic language developed later on by the Third Empire, which has remained in common usage to this day, which is spoken by the masses.
• The phonetic/glyphic language developed during the golden age of Arkanros, which is the mainstay of the priestly and bureaucratic languages.
• The constructed language involving the 24 runes, used in charm creation through reading by the runic coding converter Runic Charmase.

[edit] Runes

These are the 24 runes of the Elder Futhark. The runes have two uses:

• As an antique phonetical system used by the Language tribe and its progeny (such as the Union of Five and the first few Empires).
• As part of the glyphic system of Manos and Logos, they play a major role in charm creation.

1. First Aett
   1. Fehu - "True", corresponds to something being what you want it to be.
   2. Uruz - "False", corresponds to something not being what you want it to be.
   3. Thurisaz - Tells Runic Charmase to perform an action B if a condition A yields Fehu.
   4. Ansuz - Tells Runic Charmase to obtain a certain value or data from a particular bindrune.
   5. Raido - Tells Runic Charmase to skip other runes and go directly to a particular bindrune marked with the rune Kenaz.
   6. Kenaz - Tells Runic Charmase that the following bindrune is the correct place to continue reading after its Raido.
   7. Gebo - Tells Runic Charmase to give the variable named by the following bindrune A a particular value B.
   8. Wunjo - Tells Runic Charmase that the runic coding has come to an end.
2. Second Aett
   1. Hagalaz - Tells Runic Charmase to restore the value of a particular variable named by the following bindrune A to null.
   2. Nauthiz - Tells Runic Charmase to set a timer and pause operations until that time.
   3. Isa - Tells Runic Charmase to end the most recent Thurisaz logical structure.
   4. Jera - Tells Runic Charmase to combine the first variable bindrune A and third variable bindrune B in a particular mathematical operation signified by the second bindrune.
   5. Eihwaz - Tells Runic Charmase to perform a particular action as specified by the following sequence of runic coding.
   6. Perthro - Tells Runic Charmase to create a new variable named by the following bindrune and give it a null value.
   7. Algiz - Tells Runic Charmase what to do if it encounters an error (this should be placed early on in the runic coding).
   8. Sowulo - Tells Runic Charmase that what is to follow is commenting for the spellcaster and not to be interpreted as part of the runic coding.
3. Third Aett
   1. Teiwaz - Tells Runic Charmase to discard a particular portion of the runic coding.
   2. Berkana - Tells Runic Charmase to create anew a particular portion of the runic coding.
   3. Ehwaz - Tells Runic Charmase that a portion of the runic code has come to an end, and to return to where it left off before the last Raido.
   4. Mannaz - Tells Runic Charmase that what is to follow is a block of runic coding that must be interpreted together rather than sequentially.
   5. Laguz - Tells Runic Charmase to accept any of a set of values as an argument that results in "true".
   6. Inguz - Tells Runic Charmase where to begin reading the runic coding.
   7. Dagaz - Tells Runic Charmase to repeat reading a particular portion of the runic coding consisting of the following bindrune and concluding with the first Othalas it encounters.
   8. Othalas - Tells Runic Charmase where the end of the repeat structure is, so that Charmase may proceed to reading the loops.

[edit] Runic Scriptase

Runic Scriptase is an important charm in the field of arcanery.

A long time ago, as you should already know, casting magic was particularly difficult. Many tedious steps were involved, and therefore magic could not be used for immediate effects--which were often far more important than the long-term effects. For example, a short-term spell could save a person's life in wartime, whereas a long-term spell could heal an injured person. Only after complicated Heavenly Stars were made ("raised") could Runic Charmase interpret the runic coding into meaningful charms.

Runic Scriptase changed all that. Instead of letting magic be tediously drawn into the ground, Runic Scriptase automatically converted actions and words that people made into the glyphs, thus saving the most time-consuming stage in the arcane process.

This step alone wasn't enough, as there was no simple way of knowing what corresponded to what. In other words, what actions that people performed, what chants that they utterred, would yield which particular effect? Only through a considerable amount of toil could spellcasters work things out properly. Each common form of magic had first to be made into a Heavenly Star and applied by Runic Charmase into a meaningful instance of Runic Scriptase. These accrued instances of Runic Scriptase would then reside in the Outside, waiting until a certain action Inside activated them. Each Runic Scriptase had to be made separately, and the requirements were considerably complex, with the result that long periods of time were needed by any spellcaster wishing to tap into Runic Scriptase with any more than a stiff amount of flexibility in the type of magic. Each instance of Runic Scriptase was known by another name: EUTRIS, for Elementary Universal Translational Runic Instancing Scriptase.

Even so, Runic Scriptase's greatest weakness, and greatest strength, remains its specificity. Two spells that differ by even the slightest amount required the spellcaster to first create two separate Runic Scriptases. Even with hundreds or thousands of Scriptases accrued through the work of thousands of spellcasters over the centuries, the variety of spells that Runic Scriptase could work with were still extremely limited... which is why every beginning spellcaster still has to learn the tedious steps of casting magic.

[edit] Heavenly Star

A Heavenly Star or alternatively a Magic Circle is a round glyphic design that generally involves the use of [Magic#Runes|Runes]]. Through different arrangements of such runes, different charms can be created.

A Heavenly Star looks like a circle at its barest. At one point in the Heavenly Star's main circle, the spellcaster draws the rune Inguz; this acts as the starting point for Runic Charmase. The runic coding reader then goes counterclockwise along the circle, reading any runes and bindrunes placed on it. There are basically three types of runes/bindrunes:

1. Manos runes, which tell Runic Charmase exactly what to do;
2. Logos runes, which tell Runic Charmase what logic to follow in making those decisions;
3. Bind-runes, which tell Runic Charmase what Beings to do actions with.

Thus, as Runic Charmase proceeds along the circle, it acts according to the rules set by these runes.

Note that with structure runes, such as that for the repeat (loop) structures, the logic (if...then...) structures, and standard aggregation (grouping) structures, additional circles may be laid on an arc of the main circle, each of which would then represent that structure. These in turn could have circles on them as well, which may or may not be larger than the main circle, depending on the size of code that needs to be fitted in. When reaching such secondary circles, Runic Charmase has two choices: "True" (Fehu) meaning that it take the outer course and "False" (Uruz) meaning that it take the inner course which extends within the primary circle. A repeat structure would send Runic Charmase going around the secondary circles, well, in circles. As you can see, complicated Heavenly Stars don't look round at all.

The center of the circle is a place where the magic of that particular magic circle cannot take place, hence leading to the rise of the phrase "Eye of the Charm", a phrase which sounds close to but has very little to do with "Eye of the Storm".

Heavenly Stars for elementary (basic) spells were later replaced with EUTRIS charms.

[edit] Eutris

EUTRIS stands for Elementary Universal Translational Runic Instancing Scriptase. It's useful for when you want to get fast results. As the saying goes, you can't get quick results quickly. You have to get ready for them, and in the case of magic that involves creating your own Eutris for every slightly different version of something. Thus, Eutris is good for particular, standardized results, but not for specific results (for which you are better off creating a Heavenly Star directly). Eutris is the direct scion of the concept of the Runic Scriptase.

Over the centuries, spellcasters have created ever more and more specific versions of Eutris. Some of the most basic are as follows:

• Runic Scriptase itself
• Runic Transcriptase
• Runic Replicase
• Runic Ligase
• Runic Dictationase
• Various types of "Combat Scriptases"

There are literally thousands of even the elementary Eutrises... And even so, very often the charm you want isn't one of them... What a shame...

[edit] Instantaniety

Instantaniety is a concept referring to the tendency of magic, especially of magic involving movement across the two Universes, to be immediate: any spells which are cast act spontaneously. This is one of the best characteristics of magic: It is fast, and it is effective. Thus the situations in which it can be used are greatly flexible.

[edit] Infinite Possibilities

A central tenet to this magic system is the fact that the system allows for an infinite variety and flexibility of spells. The imagination and the time that spellcasters have is the limit. This is due to the fact that the various Spells can be permutated and combined in various ways, and that these ways involve different variables, values, and methods, all of which can be chosen from a set of options that the spellcaster has access to. Therefore, the possibilities are effectively endless.

[edit] Target

A target is the being to which a spell is directed at, directly or indirectly; it is whatever is related to that spell in some way. Either the spell cannot be cast without the target being present in some way, or otherwise the target is whatever being that the spellcaster has determined the spell to involve in some way.

[edit] Teleportation

Standard method for casting this spell is as follows:

1. Declare the target (need to know the location)
2. Bring the target Outside
3. Find the destination target and declare it
4. Bring the target Inside to the destination target

Note that this spell won't be allowed to be cast on other individuals very often, especially if they're spellcasters as well, because the first half of the spell can be lethal.

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