Magic

How does it work?

Magic in the Soulblaze universe is relatively simple. Souls are filled with a nearly limitless amount of energy that can be released into many different forms. There isn't a great way to mechanically explain how it happens; when someone concentrates enough, this energy is released.

Due to the nature of the sinful human soul, humans will create a toxic byproduct called Crucimen when casting magic. This byproduct by itself is nothing of note, simply being a sludgeous, translucent fluid that the body naturally filters and expels. However, magic casted during an emotionally-charged state will inflect the emotion into the Crucimen. For more information, click here.

Most Elutherians are at least apprentice practitioners of magic, knowing most basic spells required to function in its magic-dependent society. Conversely, however, this means Elutheria is subject to a high density of underground Crucimen, leaving it highly infested by Crucimolds that rise from the ground to remind humanity of its sins.

Some objects (especially things containing crystals) are capable of channeling and storing magical energy. These allow magic to be used not only in a safe manner, but also by people incapable of casting magic, such as constructs or someone Crucimen-locked. The drawback is magical energy is very diminished in strength when casted this way, and stored magic energy is limited in quantity.

Magic is extremely volatile. Most common spells are either harmless or at least well-practiced enough to mitigate the dangers, but often spells can have catastrophic, even fatal consequences should a spell not be casted correctly. For example, if one manages to perform a spell that creates an ice bolt wrong, instead of casting a bolt of ice, they will completely freeze their hand. For most schools of magic, this is relatively easy to avoid just by practicing smaller, more harmless spells first, letting you get a feel for it. Psionic and fire magic are considered two of the most dangerous schools of magic.

Psionic magic is the most dangerous simply because it's the least understood. It's one of the few schools that almost requires a object to channel them with, but nobody has found an object capable of doing so effectively. Without channeling Psionic energy, the caster must have almost complete focus, lest they lose control of their own mind or become overwhelmed by it. Even when casted properly, since Psionic energy also requires the user to possess the Psionic Gift, very few people are capable of casting it without suffering detrimental side effects.

Fire magic is the exact opposite; it's extremely well understood. Instead, its issue is that it requires extremely effective control of one's soul. Fire magic is almost a direct conversion of the energy of a soul to heat, and given just how much energy is present in a soul, a mage casting fire spells must have very tight control of how much energy is used. As an example, Imagine trying to start a small campfire with a gallon's worth of extremely flammable fuel.