An Overview of Magic

The Study of Magic: A General Overview

Magic is really the center of NSA, and the source of its life and vitality, as well as the evil that crawls from its depths. All of the most powerful artifacts of the NaAT, the Math Stick, Strength stick, Cecilia’s Notebook (the source of much of the information in this short overview of magic), even the diamonds themselves, are at their core, magical. The same can be said of evil artifacts and creatures as well, Zer0 himself thrives on the magic of null (nothingness, see below). The point of this, however, is to show that Magic is the core of everything, be it evil or good, magic is indifferent, it is simply a force. One of the laws of the universe, just like gravity and physics. It is not supernatural, good or bad, it just is. The danger of magic however, is the power it offers. As the old saying goes, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Magic is no exception. Every mage walks a fine line between using their powers for good and serving others or using it to take what they wish, indulge their desires, and gain more power.

Therefore, to any who are considering walking the path of the Magi: You are taking a very great risk. It is all too easy to fall to Zer0 in an attempt to further yourself, or to harm yourself by attempting to use more magic than you can, or to fall victim to any of the many other dangers magic creates. Make sure you are strong-willed, with good friends and allies who will help you along your way. But if you can use the magic you wield justly, the good you will be able to accomplish will be great. Now that you have been fairly warned, let us begin.

The Types of Magic:

There are several different types of magic, each focusing on a particular area, such as healing, mind, and elements. Certain people will be more inclined and better at using spells of a particular type, some individuals will be well-rounded, while some may be able to cast spells only of a certain type, but with extreme potency. This all depends on the person’s aura, a topic we will delve into later.

Elemental Magic

The most common kind of magic, and the easiest to use, is elemental magic. There are several sub-types of elemental magic, but they all have one thing in common: They all represent an aspect of the earth. Here are the 4 most common elemental magics (there are other, more rare, elemental magics, but they are momentarily irrelevant):

Pyromancy

Fire magic, the summoning and manipulation of fire and heat.

Aquamancy

Water magic, the summoning and manipulation of water.

Terramancy

Nature magic, manipulation and empathy of plants and animals.

Aeromancy

Air Magic, the manipulation of air.

Life Magic

This branch of magic is mostly concerned with healing spells, but it also has more, less obvious, affinities. Life magic means not only having an understanding of life, but also of death, as the goal of a Life Mage is to prevent others from meeting their maker prematurely. This means a Life mage is able to sense the presence of life, and also the absence of life. Life Magic is also closely tied with Terramancy, and a student of either type will most likely have considerable knowledge of the other.

Mind Magic

Arguably the most difficult kind of magic to master, and certainly one of the most dangerous. Mind magic is used to affect the minds of others and the self. This could be by, say, reading minds, removing a traumatizing memory, giving another the knowledge of a certain event or piece of information, and even controlling minds. Mind magic is highly risky, and can have very dangerous results if used by someone without a sense of morality, or even if someone well-meaning slips up. It is also one of the most dangerous for the caster, as they can often be affected by the mind of the person they’re “in,” and if the person they’re attempting to affect is also a Mage, well…it may not end well for the invader. It should be stressed that mind magic should only be used if absolutely necessary. Also, controlling minds is extremely unethical, and should only be used in the most dire of circumstances.

Combat Magic

This is the magic of both Defensive and Offensive use of magic in combat. This could be used to create a magical shield or barrier, enhance one’s senses, make one temporarily more effective with a blade, make a weapon temporarily more dangerous, and so on so forth.

Creation Magic

As one might expect, this is the magic of creating things and modifying existing things. For example, if you wanted to summon sword to use in combat, you would cast a spell of this type to summon it. The diversity of Creation Magic is astounding, as one can create nearly anything, provided they have enough magical energy and skill. Creation magic is actually, in one sense, summoning magic, as you aren’t truly creating many things, but causing them to come to you, or making one thing become another. One can truly create items and such, but this is highly difficult, and the object, most likely, will eventually fade way. As a whole though, any magic which involves creation, or summoning, is considered of this type.

Transportation Magic

This is the magic of creating portals, controlling speed of objects (to an extent) and such other related magical powers.

Null

This is the magic of nothingness. It represents the void, the absence of space, time, and existence. One could consider null an elemental magic, as it is often seen as an element itself, even though it represents the lack of all elements. This magic is one of the most powerful, and most destructive. It is almost exclusively related to evil magic, though there are records of good void-wielders as null mages are called. It is heavily associated with Zer0, naturally, since he is the embodiment of the concept of “Zero,” literal nothingness. There are stories told of mages using null magic and attracting the unwanted attentions of Zer0, who will either pull them to evil or do away with them when they prove unshakable. Null magic is extremely powerful and dangerous, as it literally removes from existence (or at least this dimension) the object in question. The Unspoken curse, the killing spell, is the most direct way of seeing how the magic of null works: it removes the life of the individual who is the target, makes it nothing. This, the power and terrifying simplicity of Null, is why it is often sworn off by good mages, as it’s risk, even for magic, is too great.

High Magic

Magic in its most undiluted and most powerful form. High magic does not really have a certain effect, like the other types do; something is High Magic based on the source of the spell. High Magic should be used by only the most skilled mages, it can easily harm an unwary mage who attempts to harness its power. Even used by only the best mages, it can be quite dangerous. The benefits, however, if it works, are extraordinary. All of the most powerful spells are High Magic, and especially complex and power-requiring spells of all types can be, and probably are, High Magic. The most notable thing about High Magic is that there always has to be an outside source providing the power for it to be used. A human mage cannot, under any circumstances, have enough innate power to cast High Magic, at least not without risking severe bodily injury. The most common sources (though they are certainly not very common), are dragons (who have an enormous supply of magic), magical artifacts (such as spellbooks or the diamonds), and certain magical places spread and hidden throughout the world.

Artificery

This is the study of Magical Artifacts. While not really a true type, it is very important, and it is a very different kind of magic. Artificers are those who analyze and create magical items. They can be enchanters, alchemists, smiths, Lore Masters, charm-makers, and so on. Really, anyone who works and deals with magical items is an artificer. Artificers may or may not actually have any magical abilities themselves, but are always very knowledgeable of how magic functions and how it can be used effectively, even by those who have no knowledge of magic at all. Many mages can be seen as artificers, but artificers are not always mages, and there are many who have magical ability but don’t refer to themselves as mages, but as artificers first and foremost.

Auras: The Basis of all Spell-Casting

Auras are the key to spell-casting as a whole. One’s aura controls two things: What kind of spells one can/should cast, and whether or not they are able to cast spells at all. While all have a magical aura that can be used to influence their environment, only some have an aura strong enough to channel the magic necessary to cast actual spells. The way one discerns another’s aura is simple: A mage can cast a simple incantation to view another person with their aura. There are two components to an Aura:

Components of an Aura

The Brightness

This controls how potent the owner of this aura is magically. Those with dimmer auras will have less (inherent) magical abilities, but those with particularly bright auras will be able to cast spells with less dependence on spell books and outside sources of magic.

The Color

The color of an aura determines what kind of magic one would be good at casting, what kind of magic one should avoid casting, and any mixture thereof. Here is a list of most of the colors of auras (all auras are unique, but this applies to the general color), and the effect they have on the owner. Note that most auras are a mixture of these colors, with some exceptions:

Orange:

People with an Aura of this color will be inclined heavily towards pyromancy, and will be terrible at aquamancy and terramancy. Other types neither suffer nor benefit.

Green:

People with an aura of this color will be more inclined to terramancy or Life Magic, and will be generally unsuccessful if trying to use Null or Pyromancy.

Ice Blue:

Those with this aura will have an inclination to aquamancy and an aversion to pyromancy.

Sky Blue:

Naturally, someone with this aura color will have a gift for Aeromancy, with an aversion to Terramancy.

Dark Blue:

This color will often mean an affinity for mind magic and artificery, and a person with an aura of purely this color will most likely be unable to effectively cast anything but the most basic of spells of other types, but will be wonderfully adept at mind magic and the study of magical items.

Blue-Orange:

Blue-Orange auras represent Transportation Magic.

Black:

A person with this kind of Aura has an affinity for Null. A person with an aura consisting mostly of this color will be most likely unable to use Life Magic.

Yellow:

This person will have an affinity for Life Magic, but will be highly unsuccessful if attempting to use Null.

White:

Another rare aura, someone with white in their aura will not be particularly good or bad at any type, but will have a knack for High Magic. It is still difficult for them, but they more easily deal with intensely magical artifacts and powerful spells, and can often times channel more power than would normally be safe.

Silver:

A person with this Aura will be excellent with creation magic, but unable to use Null. (Creating objects, does not include magical ones)

Topaz:

This person will be naturally gifted in Artificery - especially language, history, and lore.

Bronze:

This person will have a knack for Alchemy and Potion-Making.

Purple:

People with this aura connect easily to magical creatures, especially dragons. (Speaking to, some telepathy at advanced levels, alongside knowledge of riding, connections to magical creatures are less mentally straining).

Gray:

Gray represents a lack of magic.

Red:

Someone with this aura will be gifted in relation to combat magic, particularly with Offensive spells.

Aquamarine (NANC and FFAE Lore):

(FFAE) This aura is so rare that only the mystical Historian has it. It can only be explained as a combination of Topaz, Dark Blue, Red, and White.

(NANC)Those with the Aquamarine aura have a connection to magical artifacts (Magical artifacts become more potent when used, more powerful artifacts can be used more frequently and more magical artifacts can be held/used at one time).

There are more colors, but these are most important and most relevant, perhaps the other colors will be a topic explored in the future.

In FFAE and its universe of role plays, magic was different. Most spells are made up by the players themselves. But the FC magic pretty much fell out of use. Soon after the switch to Teams the NSA diamonds were found to be in the possession of the Communist Revolution chat. Documents were also found or declassified about the testing of the diamonds under scientific means. Most concluded that a lag machine could be made from them, but the jewels would be corrupted. Soon after the diamonds passed away into dust by some unknown force. It seems that all the diamonds disappeared at the same time. People have theorized that this meant the end of Zer0. Magic was revamped by NANC, which changed some aruas and added others.