Magic Lore

General lore for magic, industry and others in Drase.

What is Magic?

In the world of Drase, magic refers to any supernatural phenomenon that is inconsistent and impossible compared to the real world - superhuman strength, endurance, fireballs, healing, supernatural materials etc. In the world of Drase, all magic are fueled in some form by mana - active application or previous application thereof.

The Body-Soul Separation

Understanding the Body-Soul Separation is crucial to grasping the nature of magic in the world of Drase. The body refers to the physical manifestation of an individual, including the brain. The soul, on the other hand, is an immaterial entity that is attached to a body and represents the true essence of a person. It is believed to be immortal and must interact with the world through a body.

Soul & Imprinting

A soul contains inherent properties, including an imprint of a person's abilities at their peak and their Image – a representation of what the person truly desires to be. The stronger the person's will and soul, the more the soul influences the body to align with the Image. Conversely, individuals with weak wills or abilities may have their Image heavily influenced by their body.

In rare instances where a soul is transposed to another body, a strong soul causes the new body to rapidly acquire the former body's properties. The quickest adaptations occur in the body's Arcane Conduits, as magical abilities catch up to the soul's previous potential within months. Appearance, behaviors, and thoughts may take years to align and often remain incomplete unless transformation magic is used.

Rejection

If a body deviates significantly from a soul's expectations due to magical manipulation, a process called Rejection occurs. The ability of a body's Arcane Conduits to sustain the magic causing the deviation rapidly deteriorates until the magic is no longer maintained. Rejection only happens when the difference is caused by magic sustained by mana from the individual. Consequently, transformation magic that does not align with a person's self-image will result in rejection. This is the primary reason why transformation magic in the world of Drase cannot last long without interruption.

Reincarnation & Summoning

It remains unclear whether a soul loses its identity or abilities upon reincarnation. When a soul is reincarnated, its connection to the previous body is severed, and the soul's image is altered. Scholars argue that if this were not the case, even babies would become powerful mages over centuries of reincarnation.

Rejection is believed not to occur in mechanical constructs summoned by Vocators because they either draw from a pool of inherently mechanical souls or the summoning process alters the soul's image in a way that prevents Rejection.

Mana

Mana is a natural energy found throughout the world of Drase, responsible for powering extraordinary abilities and phenomena, such as superhuman strength, endurance, durability, and fireballs. Typically intangible, Mana becomes visible once someone opens their Magic sight, appearing as blue energy within the body. The individual's internal Arcane Conduits can also be seen as blue veins of varying thickness on and within the body.

Sources of Mana

Though Mana originates from souls, it is generally categorized into two sources:

Ensouled Beings - All beings with a soul produce Mana, with production levels directly correlated to the species' intelligence. The more intelligent a species, the more Mana they produce, with sapient races producing the most and animals producing relatively less. Creatures that learn through experience, demonstrate problem-solving skills, and exhibit social behaviors tend to have souls, like rabbits and humanoids.

Great Unconscious: This collective spiritual presence consists of the currently dead, not-yet-reincarnated, and all living beings in the world. Also known as the Great Arbitrage or the Spiritual Realm, the Great Unconscious generates a substantial amount of Mana, which is dispersed throughout the world as a sort of background radiation fueling magical phenomena. Influenced by the thoughts of all living beings, this realm adopts concepts commonly held by intelligent beings, resulting in concentrated background Mana. A large amount of background mana production is concentrated in places that cultures around the world universally associate with magic, in the form that we expect - Fireplaces produce Fire Gems. Individually, we cannot think that a beer is behind the fridge and make it manifest, but collectively since most people believe in some form of Aristotelian Elements - so it is the law of magic made manifest in the world.

Arcane Conduits

Arcane Conduits, the fat storage and muscles of magic, are responsible for storing and manipulating Mana. Inherent to soulful living beings, Arcane Conduits can be specialized for storage or manipulation once externalized.

Each soul carries an imprint of it, and when placed into a compatible body, the body is morphed to carry the conduits. Arcane Conduits, located as invisible physical parts of the body, determine the number, power, and type of spells one can cast, as well as the casting of Arcana magic. Internal Arcane Conduits store and produce Mana, which is then consumed for maintaining supernatural functions of the body or fueling magic. As a person becomes more proficient in magic, they inevitably become stronger, gaining supernatural strength. Internal Arcane Conduits can be trained and specialized in different magic, although each person can only hold a limited number of conduits trained for magic, restricting the number of spells one can know and cast properly.

Since Soul carries “memories” of Arcane Conduits, it is impossible to permanently lose Arcane Conduits from loss of limbs - the soul will eventually morph it back into regenerated limb or the rest of the body, though the magic user will still be greatly crippled in the meantime. Arcane Conduits also don’t require organic, living matter - with inorganic summons having proven ability to add Arcane Conduits to inorganic materials.

Once a soul leaves a body, Arcane Conduits tend to atrophy and decay in matter of days - around the same time it takes for a body to decompose, and for an inorganic body, it tends to fade away completely after a few months.

External Arcane Conduits offer a way to expand beyond the limitations of the body's internal conduits. Through specialized training, one can craft symbols and extend the body's Arcane Conduits into a suitable immaterial object, usually Arcane Gems or runes. These runes then gain the properties of storing, manipulating, or channeling Mana into a spell. However, the process is expensive, specialized, and more challenging than visualizing one's Arcane Conduits to cast magic.

Casting Magic

In this world, magic takes three primary forms, which serve as the broad categories for classifying all types of magic:

Primeval Magic - Innate magic within the biological limits or nature of a creature, often referred to as Endomagic.

Arcane Magic - External magic manipulated by the caster for active effects, also known as Exomagic.

Enchantment - Magic used to permanently transform or transmute matter, typically without the need for continuous mana upkeep, also referred to as Magical Materials.

Primeval Magic

Primeval Magic, the first manifestation of magical expression, is typically unconscious and inherent. It functions similarly to how lifting weights strengthens muscles. Mana flows through the body along familiar pathways, guided by the soul's understanding of what is possible and expected. Early manifestations of magical power included supernatural strength, increased muscle mass, endurance, and gigantic size. To this day, this remains the most common form of magic, with the average farmer benefiting from unconscious magical assistance, making them healthier, stronger, and more enduring than their counterparts in our world.

Passive Primeval Magic

These abilities, known as Passive Primeval Magic, can also take more wondrous forms, such as Draconic creatures with fiery, elemental breaths. Scholars continue to debate whether these abilities truly belong to the Primeval Magic category or if they are a type of Arcane Magic.

Active Primeval Magic

Active Primeval Magic, on the other hand, requires deliberate channeling of mana into the body to enhance physical abilities. This proactive approach typically demands awareness of magical conduits and their purposeful use in physical activities. Active Primeval Magic is necessary for developing supernatural abilities in a relatively short amount of time (i.e., months or years) and activating temporary surges of strength or other abilities using the body's mana reserves.

Arcane Magic

The emergence of Arcane Magic, or Exomagic, is not well documented, but it is believed that the first Arcane spells were cast by Shamans who consumed hallucinogenic herbs with magical properties. The herbs allowed them to perceive a different spiritual realm and envision unconventional ways of manipulating mana. Upon awakening from their trances, they became the first Mages, capable of casting magic external to their bodies. By manipulating their magical conduits and combining them with the soul's understanding of magic, they could create physical phenomena with their powers.

Casting Arcana Magic

Casting Arcane Magic involves a series of fixed steps:

• Open the First Sight: Enter a state where the caster can perceive the arcane conduits within their body and the flow of mana, allowing them to manipulate it.
• Channel the Mana: Direct the mana into arcane conduits at a point of departure from the caster's body, typically the hands.
• Evoke the Concept: Connect the mana to a Concept, or Magical School, which exists in the Great Unconscious and serves as a fundamental force of magic.
• Release the Mana: In the process of casting a spell, the mana is either released from the body or manipulated internally. When released, the mana takes on a gaseous form, adopting the color associated with its respective magical school. If the mana is manipulated internally, the caster's body glows with the color of the mana being used.
• Manipulate the Mana: Once expelled or activated, the caster converts the mana into temporary magical matter or energy, shaping and controlling it to achieve the desired effect. This may involve transforming existing matter or creating new forms. Observers will see the mana appearing unstable as it coalesces into the shape of the desired spell, its energy fluctuating and dancing until it solidifies into the intended form.

These steps can be continuous for sustained spells. However, there are limitations to this process:

• No Remote Spells: Spells must originate from the Arcane Conduits and cannot be cast remotely.
• No Persistence: Temporary magical matter and energy created by magic eventually disappear unless sustained.

Visibility and Audibility of Spells

The process of expelling mana produces both visual and audible indicators when casting a spell. The intensity of the glow and sound corresponds to the mana or focus required to cast the spell.

Combat Spells:

• No Focus: A faint glimmer of light, similar to a firefly's glow, accompanied by a soft, nearly inaudible whoosh, like a gentle breeze.
• 1 Focus: A small burst of light, comparable to a bright flashlight, accompanied by a sharp, sudden whooshing sound, like a gust of wind.
• 2 Focus: A more intense flash of light, akin to a camera flash, accompanied by a powerful, resonating whoosh, like a sudden blast of wind.
• 3 Focus: An intense, blinding light similar to a flare, followed by a thunderous, booming whoosh, reminiscent of a strong gust of wind during a storm.

Utility Spells:

• Costless: A very faint, subtle glow, similar to the light from a distant star, accompanied by a barely perceptible whisper, like leaves rustling in a gentle breeze.
• 1 Mana: A soft, gentle glow, similar to a flickering candle, accompanied by a faint, soothing hum, like a light breeze rustling through leaves.
• 2 Mana: A more pronounced glow, comparable to a lantern's light, accompanied by a distinct, moderate hum, like the rustle of leaves in a steady wind.
• 3 Mana: A bright, steady glow, akin to a streetlamp, accompanied by a strong, resonant hum, like the rustle of leaves in a powerful wind.

These visual and audible indicators allow observers to gauge the intensity of a spell being cast. As the mana or focus required for the spell increases, so too does the brightness of the glow and the volume of the accompanying sound.

Spell Creation

In the world of Drase, the number of available spells is limited due to the finite number of powerful and prevalent Concepts that can be evoked from the Great Unconscious. Furthermore, inventing new spells is exceedingly difficult, and most useful spells have already been discovered and refined

Enchantment

This process shares similarities with both Primeval Magic and Arcane Magic. It involves the continuous infusion of mana to alter and imbue materials, often metals, with enhanced properties. Scholars debate whether it is a form of Primeval Magic applied to inorganic matter or an application of Arcane Magic to materials.

What sets Enchantment apart from Primeval Magic is the lack of reliance on organic processes, while its distinction from Arcane Magic lies in the absence of a need for a continuous mana supply. The controlled application of mana appears to permanently alter materials, granting them supernatural properties or seemingly violating the thermodynamics of our world.

Learning Magic

There are three stages of learning Magic: First Sight, Concept and Effects.

First Sight

First Sight is the initial step in learning and controlling magic for any sapient being. It refers to the ability to perceive one's own Arcane Conduits and control their mana flow. This skill is essential for Arcane Magic and Enchantment, and is a prerequisite for Active Primeval Magic.

First Sight is regarded as the most challenging and time-consuming part of learning magic. Once it is achieved, mastering the remaining aspects becomes relatively easier.

Concept

The second step is Concept. This stage can be skipped for Primeval Magic since one is already familiar with their own body. The individual must learn to visualize concepts in the Great Unconscious or Spiritual Realm, such as imagining mana turning into fire to connect with the fire school. This visualization process enables the person to understand how mana can transform into fire.

Effects

The third step is Effects, which involves learning to manipulate and shape the Arcane Conduits within one's body to cast spells quickly. This is typically achieved by practicing weak, incomplete versions of spells until the Conduit aligns with the desired effect, and learning how to use and manipulate mana safely to achieve the intended outcome.

A person's capacity to learn and remember spells is limited by the inherent number of Arcane Conduits in their body. However, once a person has mastered the art of learning magic, they can erase or overwrite Arcane Conduits designed for obsolete spells in favor of new ones within a matter of days.

Learning Methods

Observation & Imitation

The most conventional method to gain magic is through observing it in action. This exposure seems to trigger something within a person, making them more likely to master the connection between the soul and body and perceive their own Arcane Conduits. Gaining First Sight in this way can be slow and unreliable, so guidance from an experienced mage is often necessary.

Grafting

Grafting is a brutally effective method for acquiring First Sight. It involves a skilled mage creating an externalized magical conduit on a rune and inserting it into the person's body, typically by stabbing it. The painful process often results in a rapid gain of First Sight and some understanding of Concept and Effects. Grafting has its drawbacks, including pain, cost, and the need for monitoring by medical experts - the violent grafting of a magical circuit to a person results in rejection by the body - ruining the Arcane Conduits in the rune stabbed into the body - requiring a new one to be repaired or forged before the ritual can be done again.

Consumption

Consuming flesh or plant matter containing Arcane Conduits can accelerate or sometimes trigger First Sight. Powerful magical creatures or plants are highly valued as food sources. Eating the flesh of a fire-breathing draconic beast, for example, can bring one closer to understanding Fire Concept and fire spells.

However, it has been observed that consuming flesh from creatures that are still alive does not yield the desired effects. This could be because the Arcane Conduits in a living body are still connected to the creature's soul, and the body is merely an expression of this connection. As a result, consuming flesh from a living creature cannot effectively transfer the magical properties to the person attempting to acquire them.

Some cultures practice ritual cannibalism to pass on magical powers, but this is generally frowned upon due to the availability of Grafting as a more civilized method.

Hallucination

The final method of acquiring magic, and likely the first method used in the world, is hallucination. Consuming hallucinogenic plants with magical properties can sometimes lead to experiences of crossing into the Great Unconscious, revealing strange Concepts and Effects. This is believed to be the origin of the discovery of First Sight, Concept, and Effects. Although many magical students still engage in ritualistic hallucinogenic practices to help discover magic, this method is often frowned upon in some cultures.

The Thermodynamics of Magic

1. The Law of Effects: Effects = Mana Expended * Efficiency - It generally holds true that the amount of effects generated is proportional to the mana expended - a gigantic fireball covering a room take a large amount of mana from a mage, and is considered one of the limit of human magical power - and magic is treated like a scalpel by mage (A very powerful scalpel) - Magic cannot move mountains, period.
2. The Law of Cost: It is cheap to manipulate, and impossible to create. In a way similar to how it is much easier to manipulate something than to create something out of nowhere. But there is a way around this - temporary, magical matter that dissipates in matter of minutes or seconds are valued several orders of magnitudes less than permanent matter - hence human abilities to create temporary firepower and water walls on the battlefield.
3. The Law of Matters: There are two types of matters in the world: Permanent Matter - matter as we know it, and Magical Matters - matter that decay and disappear into mana rapidly in matter of minutes or seconds. The latter is inexpensive.
4. The Law of Intention: A spell can only be intended to create, alter or manipulate permanent matters, or do the same for magical matters.
5. The Law of Reaction: If a spell creates temporary matter, and it reacts chemically (or through other forms) with permanent matter, it will become permanent matter.
6. The Law Of Conversion: If magic is used to create permanent matter, matters of equivalent value must be sacrificed. The value is determined by the Great Unconscious, based on a simple law of supply and demand - If people want a lot of something, and there is very little of it, then it will cost a lot. While things that are plentiful and have a low demand are low in worth. Precious metals and gems are the most often used material, and must be on and in contact with the caster’s body to be used as a prize. The convenience of having something transformed into another form is a value in itself, according to the World, and thus charges a premium. For temporary matters - this is reflected in the cost of mana, while for permanent matters, the conversion process is often less efficient.
7. The Law of Backlash: If, a caster’s spells create permanent matter without paying the proper price whether incidentally or accidentally - namely, by having temporary matter react with permanent matter, the difference in value between the price paid and the permanent matter will be charged to the caster immediately - in the form of precious metals if they have any on them. If not, their life force will be charged - and the caster will instantly feel it - in the form of aging and fatigue.. The Law of Backlash only cares about direct creation of “value” as seen with the direct reaction. For example, a magical fireball reacts to create a bunch of carbon dioxide, ash, and fire, which is of trivial value. If said fireball causes an entire forest to burn down by derivative, but material fire, it doesn’t cause a backlash against the caster. It only cares what the fireball reacts with.

The law above is added by a supplement - generally speaking, you cannot cast a spell that you do not have the materials for, which seems to be an inherent safeguard against a mage instantly killing themselves with a spell.

The Concepts

The Concepts are the prevalent notions in the Great Unconscious that hold enough power to be evoked for drawing magic. Magical Schools emerge from these concepts and are further divided into different areas of spells for convenience and focused study. The Concepts are categorized into four main types, each complementing the others in a comprehensive system of magic:

• Metaphysical: This category encompasses the more abstract and intangible aspects of magic, dealing with the very essence of magical energy and the spiritual world.
  • Arcana: The raw manipulation of mana and the fundamental principles of magic.
  • Spiritual: The foundation of summoning magic, which deals with interactions with the spiritual world, free souls, and placing them into physical forms.
• Physical: This category focuses on the manipulation and transformation of living bodies and their abilities, providing a tangible counterpart to the Metaphysical category.
  • Augmentation: Enhancing and fine-tuning the existing powers and abilities of the body, sometimes producing magical effects contrary to normal physics.
  • Healing: The restoration of the body to its original functions or abilities.
  • Transformation: Morphing the body to achieve a desired state or form.
• Elemental: This category covers the classical division of the world into the four primary elements and their associated magical properties, representing the basic building blocks of the physical world.
  • Air: Manipulation of air and wind.
  • Flux (Including Fire): Control of energy, fire, and light.
    • Illusion is considered a part of the Flux school, able to create sound and light. But this creates a unique limitation - illusion magic simply cannot create smell.
  • Earth: Mastery over earth and stone.
  • Water: Command of water and ice.
• Conceptual: This category deals with the less tangible aspects of life and the power of belief to influence the magical world, serving as a bridge between the Elemental and Metaphysical categories.
  • Death: Magic associated with death, decay, and the transition between life and the afterlife.
  • Faith: Religion-based magic, drawing upon the power of faith to heal and protect.
  • Nature: Magic rooted in the forces of nature and the balance of the natural world.

Arcane Gems & Economy

Arcane Gems are the heart and soul of the magical economy in Drase - they are the only way outside of a living creature’s body to store, manipulate and cast mana.

Types

Only the material and the conceptual schools have associated gems. In addition to that, there’s the pure, normal arcane gems - which are the most abundant and most well used gem.

Arcane Gems, even if cut well, with very few exceptions, are considered much less refractive and beautiful than a normal gem, but are still considered beautiful for decoration - traditional precious gemstones are considered more valuable due to rarity and clarity.

The density of a normal arcane gem is around 1.6 g / cm3, with some exceptions for some subtypes. Normal arcane gems share the properties of opal - and are similarly hard and easy to shatter.

Types of Arcane Gems:

• Pure:
  • Property: Like diamond, almost transparent but with much more visible impurity and imperfect light refraction, have a very very light blue taint, but nothing like that of aqua crystal.
  • Occurrence: In what is known as a “mana seam”, in place where the world’s shifting lines coincide and mana leak out. Said place also must have a relatively low concentration of living beings who could absorb the energy (Some of the gems are formed inside those creatures, most of the mana are absorbed and indirectly affect them). As a result, they are often found underneath deserts or in mountains after tectonic shifts.
• Pyro:
  • Property: Bright red color, like ruby. Feels warm to the touch, though it becomes cold if separated from its source or living being.
  • Occurrence: Found in place with active, previously active volcanism or associated with fire.
• Aqua:
  • Property: Cyan color. Feels slightly chilling to the touch, but becomes inactive if separated from its source or living being.
  • Occurrence: Found in large quantities within the Arcane Sea, most likely occur deep in the ocean but most are lost - within large aquatic creatures that dive deep - especially whales, and occasionally washed up on beaches and shores.
• Geo:
  • Property: Twice as heavy as others, the geo gem is gray in color - making it easy to lose amongst ordinary rock, and absorb most light.
  • Occurrence: Found deep underground, usually below 200 meters of depth from surface level and in relative abundance in the cavern dimension.
• Aero:
  • Property: White, crystal clear, like quartz. And half as heavy as others, able to float in water. (0.8 g / cm3)
  • Occurrence: Very rare, occurs above the cloud-forming layers (2000 meters) on mountains - making them hard to retrieve.
• Faith
  • Property: A lavender crystal that constantly emits a miniscule amount of light, and ease pain if held or worn for long
  • Occurrence: In sacred places that humans are allowed to visit, in famous places of pilgrimage - the more important it is to the person of that faith, the more crystal will be generated. Often a special altar would be made with pure arcane crystals and sunlight beamed into it to generate them.
• Necromancy
  • Property: A gray crystal that seems to absorb light, and if held for too long, makes one feel weak.
  • Occurrence: In places of historically important and known battles, in known mass graveyards or sites of atrocities. For necromancy crystals to be generated, the place must be known and in memory of currently living beings.
• Nature
  • Property: A light or deep green crystal that, if pressed for long, is capable of deforming before springing back to its original shape.
  • Occurrence: Deep in the most untouched, unvisited part of forest or primitive jungle, within powerful magical creatures in jungle. Most nature crystals are extracted from magical creatures.
• Astral
  • Property: A black crystal that seems to show a black and moving constellation inside - with the number of stars depending on its grade.
  • Occurrence: Rare, found in the middle of meteorites and relatively abundant in rocks of foreign origins.

Grade

Arcane Gems are divided into five grades based on their quality and the suitability of their usage. Grading is usually done by a mana-shiner, a device artificer injects a small amount of mana into, and then attempts to pass it through a crystal - the amount that passes through successfully determines its grade.

Prices listed are for raw, unprocessed crystal of the pure type. Quality gemcrafter are needed to process those gems. In general, gems associated with an elemental school are more expensive.

Decor Grade

Price: Around 5 silver per kilogram.

The most common grade of Arcane Gems. Around 90% of Arcane Gem Crystal are made out of decor grade. The Decor Grade crystal has similar quality to quartz, but inevitably does not reflect light very well even when cut. Often bought and used as glass or as decoration, these are discarded and barely hunted for byproducts. Visually, they make up most of the visually protruding crystals in gems or caves.

Mana can barely pass through a decor grade crystal.

Vitae Grade

Price: Around 100 silver per kilogram.

The most common grade of all arcane gems. The vast majority of all usable arcane gems are of this grade - around 10% of them. The vitae grade has visible imperfection and impurity and is colored in a way different from what a “normal” gem would look like. These vitae grade arcane gems are the backbone of the alchemical industry, as they are infused with mana, and then crushed into powder before being purified to form part of the base solution for alchemical potion.

Outside of being used for potion, the vitae grade is considered too impure and thus dangerous to be used for spellcasting or any other purposes that an Arcane Gem has.

Most non-pure arcane gems are purer and of higher grade.

Around a fifth of mana pass through a vitae grade crystal when intact.

Runic Grade

Price: Around 500 silver per kilogram.

Runic Grade Arcane Gems are the raw ingredients with which runes are forged. Compared to the normal grade, those arcane gems are often very small - around 10 - 20 grams each, not enough to store a significant amount of mana nor use for spells. However, they usually do not have any imperfection that can be viewed without 2x magnification.

Runic grade crystals are crushed into fine powder and then engraved into weapons carefully in a multiple day process to create runes.

Around 80% of mana can pass through a runic grade crystal.

Gem Grade

Price: Around 1000 silver per kilogram.

Gem Grade crystals are the first grade of crystal that can be used to store and cast mana spells. They are of the same quality as Runic Grade, but are much larger, starting at least at 100 grams, which allows them to store a significant amount of mana and be used as a focus for spell after being properly cut.

Gem Grade crystals are also used for creating organs for constructs.

Around 80% of mana can pass through a gem grade crystal.

Soul Grade

Price: Around 5000 silver per kilogram.

Soul Grade crystals are completely flawless - at least by diamond standard. It is completely pure, like high-grade diamond, and does not have any inclusion or imperfection that can be seen in the crystal.

Soul Grade crystal is used, as its name implies, housing a soul. After being perfectly cut and prepared for magical circuits, the soul gem serves as the core of a construct, housing its soul. It can be smaller than a gem-grade - what is necessary to house a soul is not necessarily what is necessary to house mana - surprisingly, gems as small as ten carats (2 grams) can house some of the least powerful permanent summons, with the soul taking on the main duty of housing mana.

All permanent constructs use soul grade gems and actually deplete them slowly over time - over the course of ten years a permanent construct generally needs to ingest a well-cut soul grade gem in order to replenish the soul.

Around 100% of mana can pass through a soul grade crystal.

Material Property & Manipulation

Arcane Gems have similar material properties to quartz except of different color. It is generally considered fragile and brittle just like quartz. To allow it to be used for battlefield purposes or for construction without shattering, processing gem is necessary and it is a labor intensive process that is often done by specialized non-mage.

Hardening

Gem Hardening is a magical process meant to harden a gem so that it reaches properties similar to that of iron, and become flexible instead of fragile - this allows it to be used in battle hardened weapons instead of shattering on rough treatment and impact. The process is generally done by heating a high quality gem in a vitae gem solution - which is made by alchemy. The gem is quenched, cooled at increasingly high temperature multiple times over the course of a day, while the vitae solution is replenished - as the arcane gems within are generally depleted and polluted while the main crystal is hardened. Mana is also passed through the vessel through a thermally isolated magical conduit.

The process is generally done by a trained artificer alongside a blacksmith who is similar with the property - mismanaging the heat and cooling sequence can lead to thermal shock and destroy the crystal. Silnarian regulations mandate all militarily used crystals to be “twenty-quenched”, which means undergoing the process twenty time. The resulting crystals are considered nearly impervious to chipping, bending or destruction, with property like steel - though not good for a weapon due to expenses.

A hardened crystal sells for around 2 - 3 times its worth, and is considered the bare minimum to be used in any weapons except runes.

Purifying

Purifying is the process to create Arcane Gems of higher grade when one does not have one of good enough grade. Decor Grade and Vitae Solution are the feeders used for this process.

An alchemical solution of acid with dissolved decor grade and vitae grade arcane gem is produced, and a mage constantly courses through mana with a small amount of lower grade crystal - often of vitae grade but decor grade may be used when supply is constrained. The mana would remove the impurity slowly from the main crystal - purifying often takes a mage’s entire day of mana supply for multiple weeks just to produce one artificially improved crystal.

The vitae solution and feeder solution need to be discarded regularly as constant coursing reduces its ability to conduct mana, further adding to the cost of the process. They are often disposed of in landfill or in the middle of rivers, though reports of strange creatures emerging with magical property have often led to regulations against random disposal of used arcane solution.

Cutting

Cutting is the only part of Arcane Gem processing that is often done by people without any magical proficiency - though some specialized gem crafters also learn artificing magic to make the job considerably easier. Arcane Gems of the Gem and Soul grade needs to be cut from its unprocessed state. The shapes cut into are generally one of the conventional gem grades - opal, emerald, diamond etc. - all of them need to have an attractive ability to reflect and let light through and not be opaque in order to be of any use. Cutting the gems takes a lot of effort and skills - with the average most skilled cutter taking 50 - 200 hours per stone, because gem and soul grade stone are much larger than your average gemstone and attempting to cut it like a small gemstone takes specialized skills, especially if scratching were to be avoided.

As a result, labor cost is actually equal to material cost for most gem processing.

Powdering

Powdering is the requisite for creating runic enchantments. Powdering is a simple process - runic grade crystals are graded and judged, and then crushed into very pure powder - usually on the spot before rune is made as it is an irreversible process, and then directly used for rune-making.

Production

The production of Arcane Gems is dispersed throughout the world - most countries near mountains produce a significant amount of pure arcane gems. Elemental Arcane Gems are produced in much smaller numbers - but have very high demands as they are necessary to craft spells.

Of the known Arcane Gem producers, Irunia and its mines account for roughly half of the known world production of pure arcane gems and known gems of the highest grade by value, with the other countries of the world taking up the remaining half of the balance.

Uses

Arcane Gems have multiple uses.

Alchemical Potion

Vitae Grade and occasionally improved decor-grade Arcane Gems are crushed and dissolved to create alchemical potion - it is a necessary ingredient in order to carry the magical power of a potion into the human body.

Construct Soul Housing

Gems of a soul grade can be used to house a soul of a construct - however, in spite of all attempts to do otherwise, it is actually impossible to pull someone’s soul from a living body into a gem - only summon a spirit into a body centered around the gem. Once the construct is summoned, the soul inhabits the entire body instead of just the gem - however, destruction of the gem (Which is quite difficult as it is tougher than a human heart and often hardened) leads to the construct’s death.

A permanent construct requires maintenance cost - they need to ingest gems of the same type as the one that were used to summon them, usually on a semi-regular basis, else their soul’s connection deteriorates and over the course of years their ability to work and think is greatly reduced, until they pass away. In general, the maintenance cost of a summon is paid once per year in the form of a gem - and ranges from between 2 - 50 silver a day in terms of the value of the gem when spread out over a year.

Mana Storage

Arcane Gems of the Gem grade and above can be used for storing mana, which can then be extracted by a rune or a mana focus and used to cast a spell. Mana stored in an Arcane Gem cannot be extracted by a living being - unless crushed and infused into a potion - which is generally an extremely inefficient usage of gem-grade Arcane Gem.

Mana Storage achieved by gem are quite small - around a kilogram heavy gem would be able to store the equivalence of roughly 20 mana, using the best, perfect cut one can produce and the best technology artificer have achieved to, nothing in comparison to the inherent amount of mana in a normal being or mage.

Generally speaking, roughly 4 mana can be stored for each 200 grams of an Arcane Gem of gem-grade, with the maximum achievable being a one kilogram crystal storing 1 kilogram of usable mana.

Mana Focus

Arcane Gems of the gem grade are used for mana focus - used as a way to cast or assist in spell casting, making them more accurate and faster - without improving the power output of the spell. Using mana focus is similar to hand-casting, except slightly improved, but is still quite inefficient - estimate says that mana casting is roughly 10 - 20% efficient.

Mana Focus can be used in two ways - first, by simply using a pure crystal to help focus a hand-cast spell better, and second, using an elemental or pure gem to cast specific spells using mana coursing through from the user. Usage of such a gem allows for fine tuning of power and even some properties of the spells - so although the amount of spells that can be used is greatly narrowed down, they can be tuned to be more efficient than a human cast spell.

Rune

Runes are necessary for runic casting, and powdered elemental arcane gems are mixed with other materials to produce runes. Runes are considered much more efficient and cast specialized spells - spells that are of sub-level 0 level and designed to be used over the long term.

Magical Materials

A non-exhaustive list of known magical materials in Drase, defined as materials of significant use within the world of Drase. Unless referred elsewhere in official canon, this list of materials alongside any others are the only existing canon magical materials in Drase.

Structural Materials

Manawood

Manawood is the most common type of mana used for construction of focus staffs and many other magical tools - they consist of various normal tree species, but are harvested from trees that are inhabited by spirits or in places that are magically sensitive.

However, a lot of manawood are generated by an artificial method (Specifically because going into magically sensitive forest with spirits tends to be extremely dangerous) - by burying a dead cremated mage and then growing a tree on top of them and harvesting it later. For those that are less inclined for this slightly morbid or highly efficient (depending on your view) method - magical animals can also be buried for the same effect, though the manawood proportion of the tree is often lower.

It is common for manawood grower - which are often licensed arborists, to sign an agreement to purchase the dead body of mage after their death to be buried underneath a tree in exchange for a sum, often covering the funeral fees. Some cultures see no problem with this method at all as one is born from the earth and returns to the earth. Others think people who do this are crazy.

Icewood

Icewood is a type of wood that is found underground within the Lower Cavern - the upper cavern, the place that is civilized has no icewood. They are found in clusters near water sources and the wood is extremely light, being of a density around 0.3 - 0.4 g / cm3. The icewood seems to be naturally cold and conduct heat extremely poorly - and the strongest icewood near the core is extracted to be used for making temperature-controlled magical appliances - as using a poor insulating material would result in massive mana expenditure. Their insulating effect is similar to vacuum flask - and layered thick enough, can serve as a container for chilled or frozen goods.

Icewood takes a while to grow - around 5 - 10 years to mature and only yields around 10 - 30 kilograms of usable wood per tree. The inaccessibility of their growing environment is the main reason they are expensive and not widely used.

Fabric

Manaweave

Manaweave is a material created from silk weaved together with mana applied at an artificer’s weave, making it much harder to cut and pierce compared to normal silk. It has a bright blue luster to it, but may be dyed. Often used as prestige clothing and as protection.

Ironweave

Ironweave is a derivative of Manaweave and incorporates steel that is alchemically modified and then weaved together with the silk to create a strong yet flexible armor that also allows spells to be cast through.  

Adamantium Strands

Adamantium Strands are specifically separated adamantium with magic that is spun into a flexible form that hardens on impact and disperse strikes coming toward the wearers. They are combined together with strong giant cave spider silk. It is expensive due to the labor efforts that are needed to spin the adamantium and the rarity of adamantium itself.

Great Spider Silk

Great Spider Silk is a type of silk extracted from underground adult giant spiders - the process to extract it is dangerous, though the Loras of Prasia has mastered the act of baiting a spider to fire its web and fatality is nearly unheard of. Only the highest quality non-sticky webs are harvested and prepared to be sold - and they are known for their general comfort, breathability and durability. Often used as a substitute for mana weave or as a base for more powerful light armor.

Tool Metal

Starsteel

Starsteel are made from meteorite steel or steel from a particular deposit known for their extraordinary durability. They are created by applying mana into a specifically made forge that is superior to a lot of modern tool steel in quality.

Orichalum

Orichalum is a brass-like, yellow material that originates from undersea deposits within the Arcane Seas, though some have managed to find deposits of it in the main world. The material is hard to mine, retrieve and refine, but it is greatly valued for its durability, ability to maintain an edge, and its bright, gold-like luster. It is considered superior to steel and starsteel. Mining operation consists of water dwelling races chipping away at the rock until they find orichalum - thermal cracking of rocks is difficult underwater.

Mythril

Mythril is a light bluish material known for its excellent strength and relatively light weight. It is used exclusively for armor or for decoration - as the material cannot keep an edge well nor is it dense enough - however, it is very flexible and is thus used for bow limbs of high quality crossbow.

Adamantium

A rare, deep-blue material that is also extremely hard, and never seems to dull or rust at all. Usually found deep underground within the Lower Caverns - but also in deep places in conventional mines in the main material realm Adamantium is used to make the highest quality plate and armor one could find. Against adamantium, sword breaks, picks are deflected and hammers blunted.

Magical Economy

Appliances

Aqua Fridge & Freezer

Aqua fridge and freezer are made from icewood, runic magic or focus crystal that repeatedly cast a freezing or chilling spell on its content, while extracting mana from a user. Usually, those appliances are equipped with an Arcane Gem that stores mana - another smaller one whose sole purpose is to glow and show how much mana is left - to remind the user to charge it, and a rune into which the inherent mana of a user is extracted. They are usually made in the form of a chest or a box - upright fridge is not a conceptual thing that exists yet (Plus, they are inefficient). Those freezer or fridge are opened for a short time and contents moved in and or out quickly to avoid heating up.

The standard aqua fridge or freezer is around 50 liters (1.76 Cu Ft.) and can be powered by one person’s inherent mana for around 7 days - provided it is not opened more than once a day for less than a minute.

Industry

Magical spells and technology have spawned multiple different industries in the world that can only be done with magic. Here are some select, non-exhaustive examples.

Selective Breeding

Selective Breeding is actually one of the most common uses of magic. It is generally done by using transformation magic to improve the health of animals or plants that are known to have desirable traits and accelerate their growth - transformation magic cannot modify what the offspring of a creature generally inherit. It is expensive to use permanent transformation magic in this way - and as a result, individual farmers practically never experiment with magical selective breeding - instead, those are often sponsored by rich merchants, states, or nobles that wish to see increased agricultural productivity.

As a result, in the world of drase, through thousands of years of magical tinkering, a lot of animals are considerably bigger than medieval age equivalence and close to that of the modern age in terms of efficiency - however, the main blocker - agricultural efficiency, is still a big issue that the world of Drase has to conquer.

It has led to creation of multiple different and divergent types of magical species or semi-magical species of domestic animals such as horses.

Ruttenia is a known center of selective breeding in magic - Naktu Empire is known, alongside Parania, to have some of the most extensive aquaculture tradition - with mages using expensive magic to create fatter, faster growing fish, which often end up released into the wild by accident and creating ecological disaster. Luckily, understanding of the ecosystem is poor and therefore as far as they are concerned, they just created a better food source.

Food Preservation

Magical food processing in Drase is largely based on two processes - that of freezing food, and of direct alchemical or magical modification of food to increase its keeping quality. At a lower, non-industrial scale, food is also directly processed with magic by the most skilled mage to improve their quality.

Freezing / Chilling

Freezing and Chilling of food are usually done by icewood chests and a aqua mage manually freezing or chilling the food and often packing it together with ice - or by specialized artificer made Aqua Fridge and Aqua Freezer. Fridge and Freezer are expensive and only rich households may have one in house. In general, they are used to preserve high value fresh food that can be sold for a lot - in short, probably not salmon, unless you are attempting to sell salmon to the inner Hombaxian Kingdom. Inland nobles often value the ability to taste fresh seafood.

Magical Preservation

There are ways to alchemically preserve food. However, most of them result in a somewhat high quality loss. This will be expanded on later on.

One of the most ubiquitous processes for food preservation is known as “cubing” - which is a magical version of canning, except better and also worse. It is like pemmican making, and it consists of processing a bunch of fatty and lean meat mixed together, powdering and rendering them into a liquid form by alchemy before solidifying them and casting a preservation spell - the result can be kept for years - allegedly centuries, and is consumed by boiling in water to make a hearty stew.

The flavor tends to be somewhat poor, but meat cubes tend to be sold for only two silver a pound and are made from organs and cheap meat that are often not processed, making it a very handy and nutritious food for soldiers on the march. They tend to be issued as a ration of second resort - as they are considered worse than salted meat.

Cooking

Magic is often used by skilled mages and alchemists to enhance their cooking with flavor and morph food. The most famous spell is probably the Perpetual Stew spell, which, in modified form, is used to increase the speed and quality of cooking, and make food easy to digest. While some use it to serve nobles or rich clientele, some alchemist societies also earn good flavor with the local population by serving up a perpetual stew that consists of whatever leftovers or grain or meat can be thrown together nutritionally, or even plain beans-based stew that are then enhanced.

The amount of energy needed to cook food is generally too high to be supplied by mana alone - instead, modified “mana stove” are instead magical filtering machines that remove the smoke from cooking and allow cooking to be done indoors safely.

Trinkets & Tools

There are several magical trinkets that are commonly made to aid survival, adventuring, or even fieldworks. Examples includes:

Survival

• Firebox: In common parlance - a lighter, a small handheld device consisting of a copper or bronze cube, onto which a pyro rune is grafted. The rune absorbs a miniscule amount of mana and then spit out a high temperature flame extending forward for around a few inches, used to start a fire. The device takes around ten seconds to recharge. The device is a bit expensive, but is highly common amongst adventurers and soldiers as it can start fire reliably under any condition in a short time. One firebox is often issued per 10 - 20 men in common military usage. (100 s)

Court

• Poison Detector: A device consisting of a needle with a small focus gem on the top - often extended to be as long as a hand if not longer, and mounted to a handle. The poison detector is calibrated by an alchemist to detect all poison and harmful that can be detected by spell (So basically all of them) and glows if they are detected in food - it can also detect rotten or spoiled food. They cost quite a bit - around 500 silver, but are reliable and used in court by non-magic wielding rulers or nobles to test for poison. A poison detector - before being handed off to a noble, is often tested on the spot by being dipped into poison and non-poisoned substances. Swapping poison detector or using a defective one has been key to plot of numerous assassination in history - though a lot of the time the poison is used to weaken the victim instead of outright kill them as many of them have supernatural endurance.

Trinkets

• Music Box: A non-mechanical music box that attempts to replay music based on set frequency. A music box must be set in an intricate way by a artificer who tune the rune to create certain sounds in certain sequences, and once supplied a trivial amount of mana, it would start playing the song in question - it cannot imitate vocals but can imitate a lot of instruments with surprising fidelity and decent gentle volume - around 70 db maximum. The only problem with artificer music box - once you wound it up, it won’t shut up unless broken or it depletes all its mana. So far, the longest song contained in a music box created in this world has been 30 minutes. A standard music box costs around 1000 silver for a 5 minutes song, and 6000 silver for a 30 minutes song, and is hand forged basic on sheet music by an artificer that (hopefully) understands music theory.