This time around, let’s take a look at how spells and spellcraft work within the Mage Wars Universe. Some parts of this have been covered in other posts, but I wanted to post a thread that encapsulated the full scope of magic to be more comprehensive and searchable.
In the Mage Wars universe, magic power derives from the Realm of Voltari.
The Realm of Voltari exists around all other realms (planes of existence). To visualize, imagine all the universe as a kind of magic sponge — that’s the Realm of Voltari. The holes in the sponge are places where physical realms exist. (Etheria is one such place, as is Infernia).
Spell Power: Mana and V’Tar
Magic in Etheria taps into the sponge of Voltari -- the essence of magic is drawn in and distilled it into what the Schools of Magic call mana. In layman's terms, mana is "diluted Voltari”, meaning its safe enough to be channeled, stored, and reshaped into spells or items.
Although it is rarely done now in the Modern Age, it is possible to draw pure Voltari essence, called V’Tar, which is far more powerful and not distilled. Ancient artifacts, like the V'Tar Orbs or the V'Torrak were created using this kind of power to form and fasten their magical workings.
The Law of Magic
The Laws of Magic refer to understanding the workings of Voltari essence. Much like the physical laws that govern the physical world, the Laws of Magic govern the nature and manipulation of Voltari.
These laws were discovered (or at least passed down) to the mortals of Etheria, first by the Elemental Lords to their chosen, and then by the New Gods to their adherents, worshippers and followers. It should be noted that the Elemental Lords worked primarily with V’Tar, and passed that knowledge along to their creations (such as the dragons). The New Gods established a system of distilled magic, using spells that were fueled by mana. This system, and its more stable, organized hierarchy, is still widely used across all the nations (ie. the Six Major Schools of Magic).
The Magical Matrix of Voltari
All spells start with a magical matrix, a framework around which the Voltari essence builds. This Matrix can be disrupted, and if it is, the spell itself is negated. Once the Matrix is fully formed, depending on what type of spell the Mage is casting, it will swell with an influx of mana (or V’Tar), and fashion itself into a spell type — a creature, a conjuration, an incantation, etc.
This is especially true of Enchantments, since the matrix forms around the object it is targeting. Unlike the matrixes of Summoning or Conjuration spells, the Enchantment matrix can remain hidden and dormant, until the Mage who casts it determines it should have its effect.
Summoning
One of the most pronounced differences between the Laws of Magic and the laws that govern physical reality is the ability to Summon a creature.
When a Summoning spell is cast, the Voltari essence involved creates a magical construct of a creature that exists. It is entirely a real creature, with its own mind, life essence, knowledge, etc.
For example, if a Mage summoned a Timber Wolf, that Mage is creating a magical copy of a Timber Wolf. This construct is every bit as powerful and vulnerable as a real wolf, and it behaves and acts like a real wolf. (The wolf is not “picked up and teleported out of some nearby wilderness.”)
These constructs are not clones of some “perfect” specimen of Timber Wolf. Rather, each summoned Timber Wolf exhibits slight variations from summoning Mage to summoning Mage: they may have distinctively colored hair, eyes, fur patterns, etc. The basic species is being replicated, but not in specific detail.
However, there are some real and significant differences.
First, the magical construct’s mind is attuned to obey the commands of whomever summons it.
Second, it has a temporary existence, and will dissipate back into magical energy after a given time, particularly when the Mage mentally “lets go” of the link on the construct’s minds. (This usually happens at the end of an arena combat for example).
Third, if it dies during combat or while still attuned to the summoning Mage, its corpse will remain for awhile before dissipating later. (Allowing necromancers to make use of these clone corpses during the course of a battle.)
A Mage can easily learn creature spells from another Mage, during their time at an Academy or Spell School, and without having ever seen that particular creature before.
Summoning Legendary Creatures
Summoning creatures (whether they are common or rare) is a replication process. Summoning legendary creatures (meaning a specific creature) is something a little different, and draws upon other Laws of Magic.
When a Mage summons a legendary creature, he is creating an actual clone construct of a particular, singular creature. For example, he is not creating a generic Timber Wolf, he is creating an exact duplicate of Redclaw, Alpha Male.
To do this, a Mage uses the power of Voltari to borrow from the essence of a real creature, a process which de facto creates an attuned connection between the Mage and the summoned Legendary creature.
Because of this, two Mages in proximity to each other cannot cast the same specific creature spell at exactly the same time. Their mental attunements interfere with each other, disrupting the magical balance that summoning and controlling a creature requires. (This is why only one copy of a Legendary creature can be summoned at a time.)
It is theorized that Mages separated by great distances can summon the same legendary creature at the same time, possibly because the mental attunement at such lengths does not interfere.
In any event, the summoned clone has no connection to the actual creature, in that if it is harmed, or dies, or gains some powers in the arena, its real-life counterpart is unaffected. Conversely, if the actual unique creature that the spell is based upon dies, the copy is not affected, and even more bizarrely, the spell can continue to be cast.
These strange improbabilities and paradoxes have made “The Ethics of Legendary Summoning” a hotly debated topic among Wizards of Sortilege, as well as many followers of the Holy Gods, particularly Bim-Shalla.
Conventional Magecraft teaches that in order to learn Legendary creature spells, a Mage needs to have actually met and bonded with that creature at some point. Sistarran Professors point out that a Priestess might do this with volunteer subjects, whereas a Warlock might capture a victim to create his spell.
This is an over-simplification; the truth is that some Mage at some point had to have met the subject of the spell, and to have found a way to bind his/her/its essence to a summoning matrix. However, once crafted, the spell can be passed down, with the newcomer Mage ever having met the original subject of the Summoning. Because of this, it is theorized that Legendary creatures and heroes from earlier ages are possible to summon, although they are long since dead.
It should also be noted that very powerful beings from outside the Etherian Realm (like Adremelech, Lord of Fire) are not summoned in the fullness of their power, but are summoned as a “shadow” or “aspect” of their true self. Summoning beings of this magnitude requires very high levels of spellcraft, and often, a combination of mana/V’Tar.
