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Magic

The Outside is steeped in magic, it permeates every corner of the known world, gathering in some places in far greater densities (see: the Yonderlands). the Pale Sun that hangs in the sky is theorized to be almost pure magic, radiating it down onto the surface, which then prompted the counter-ritual that blanketed the world in a layer of dense clouds filled with swirling magic to (mostly) block out the detrimental effects of the sun. You could say that the Outsiders are no stranger to magic, but at the same time they know next to nothing about the origin nor the workings of the stuff. It's theorized that , in the distant past, magic and the ability to wield it in the form of scholopendragyns was imparted unto the visari by the faereys, a race of strange beings that show up in magesleep and potentially the inhabitants of the world from which magic flows. The ability to interact with magical energy seems to stem from a small, parasitic centipede known as a scholopendragyn. The centipedes can come in varying shapes and sizes, and can take up residence in different parts of the body.

The History of Magic
Magesleep
Anthromagical Equipment and Mechanics
Casting Pellets
Meddz
Charms
Arcane Delirium
Magical Artifacts/Touched Objects

Magic have been used by the visari for millennia. The majority of visari are infected with the scholopendragyn, as it is considered customary to get one (barring certain exceptions.) Visari initially wielded this power to provide boons to their colonies, however they eventually started using it for more nefarious purposes, such as putting curses on rival colonies and blighting swathes of wildlife to gain strategic advantages against their enemies. Primarily controlled through complex rituals and ceremonies, the visaris' use of magic is manipulated through tradition, dogma, and faith. Later, the visari began to discover smaller rituals with more subdued effects that they could carry out in their daily lives. The effects of these spells could be good luck and health blessings, mental and physical enhancements, and other boons or they could be far more nefarious, such as various curses and hexes. Some time after before the Rite of the Pale Sun, after the visari discovered the ability to infect humans and daemyr with scholopendragyns (more on that in a second), the act of performing rituals bled over into human and daemyr cultures, and now they too utilize rituals of varying effectiveness throughout their daily lives. After the Rite of the Pale Sun, when literacy and intellectualism became far less abundant, the line between what is a genuine magic ritual and what isn't has become severely blurred, especially among laypeople.

Within the last millennium, the visari found a method by which they can allow other sentient species such as humans, daemyr, and orcks to become infected with the scholopendragyns in order to harness magic. After the Ritual of the Pale Sun blanketed the planet in swirling clouds of stray magical energy, some of those infected with scholopendragyns began to experience strange, uncontrollable bouts of ssubconsciousness (later known as magesleep) in which they would have vivid, cryptic dreams seemingly displaying new, unconventional magical techniques never before seen by mages. This was the advent of anthromagic. Anthromagic commonly only requires one caster and their arcane equipment, such as their catalyst (also known as a changeling), casting pellets, and potentially charms. The mage must have already gone into magesleep to learn the desired spell or else they cannot cast it. The effects of anthromagic are also more immediate and localized, thus being typically more suited to active combat.

Visari can learn and use anthromagic, though it would take much adapting, especially if the individual is more experienced in traditional visari rituals. The channels through which magic flows in one’s body are carved over time by repeated interaction with magical energy. Anthromagic inherently has a different flow than visari magic, meaning a visari that has partaken in many visari rituals will struggle to cast anthromagical spells until they can successfully redirect the flow of magic within them. This, along with the fact that the use of anthromagic by visari is taboo within most colonies, means it is highly unusual to find a visari anthromagic user that is not excommunicated by their colony. In the same vein, humans and daemyr can learn visari rituals, however it is far less common than the use of anthromagic among them.

To learn an anthromagic spell, the user must enter a subconscious state known as 'magesleep'. In magesleep, the mage has peculiar, vivid dreams. Within these dreams, arcane knowledge empowering the mage to wield new spells may be imparted, though it is not guaranteed. As with normal dreams, the visions that appear in magesleep are highly unpredictable. The clarity of the mage's dream, the duration of the magesleep, and the prominence of the spellcasting method being "taught" within the dream are also variable. When the mage awakens, they must parse the dream and memorize the relevant information, generally with the use of a dream journal. There are some recurring themes within arcane dreams. These themes can be shared by multiple mages or confined to one individual. Such occurrences include the appearance of faereys, chitinous organisms, strangely placed eyes, and massive spires. The sounds of innumerable deafening whispers, mumbling, chanting, rumbling horns, skittering legs, and whirring, thumping machinery are also often reported. As are the smells of raw meat-either fresh or decaying,- soil, harsh chemicals, ozone, smoke, blood, honey, and something sickly sweet. A notorious but exceedingly rare recurring manifestation is the appearance of an enormous, tangled centipede weaving through the sky above. Those who have seen the centipede have only seen its body, and it is unknown if the centipede possesses a head or tail end. On even rarer occasions, it is known to speak to the mage in a whispering voice of shifting chitin. This being, known as the Eternal Centipede, has a large religious following; especially among mages.

The spells that mages acquire through magesleep can be influenced through small rituals and other preparations, but are never definitive. Some mages may only gain spells from within a specific field of magic, while others might gather a wide array of vastly different spells. Some spells are more common than others. There are very common, basic spells including lighting small flames, enhancing senses, emitting small jolts of electricity, telekinetically interacting with small objects, and more. Meanwhile, there are other spells with increasing rarity. Allegedly, some are so rare that only one person alive can cast them. Others yet have only been possessed by a handful or even a single person in history. Spells vary widely in their uses and capabilities. Different spells can influence and even control one's mental faculties, or cause massive destruction in a wide area, or conjure objects and beings, or send people to pocket dimensions. However, spells seem to have limits, as there are no currently known spells that allow for rapid healing or regeneration of living organic tissue. Generally, as the rarity of a spell increases, so does its complexity. Rarer spells can be far more demanding than more common spells in multiple ways. Rarer spells are harder to control, while requiring more magic and generally the consumption of greater quantities of casting pellets. More rare spells may have stipulations, such as the mage must sacrifice something each time they cast the spell, or the spell can only be cast after a certain amount of time or after certain conditions are met.

Magesleep is not without its hazards, however. As with all interaction with magical energy, over time, repeated magesleep can erode one's sanity. This may lead to arcane delirium, a condition in which a mage begins to experience hallucinations and delusions and eventually loses all touch with reality, casting random spells and "leaking" magic uncontrollably. A mage in magesleep also has a rare chance to remain asleep indefinitely, considered by others to have been claimed by the Eternal Centipede. There has only been one recorded instance of someone being awakened from this state, though he perished soon after.

There is also the possibility that a mage may learn no new spells from magesleep. It is possible to engage in magesleep multiple times without learning new spells. There are even cases of mages who only learned one or a handful of spells their entire lives, though the spells they learned were generally considered to be exceedingly rare an powerful.

Spellcasting methods vary depending on the location of the scholopendragyns. When the centipede is in the brain, the caster must conjure a vivid mental image of the sigil that corresponds to the spell they are trying to cast. A centipede burrowed in a mage's eye requires them to look at a depiction of the relevant sigil.When it has replaced the host's tongue, the caster must repeat a string of words to cast their desired spell, and a mage with a centipede wrapped around their heart must do full-body gestures. Spells also often require a specific requisite in order to be cast.

Each sigil is different, with the shapes and lines making up the sigil corresponding to specific effects and coming together to create a specific spell. Mages generally carry a blank book in which they record sigils or gestures and other magical equipment in order to memorize them. To cast a desired spell, all a mage needs to do is ingest enough casting pellets, cradle their changeling, "use" the corresponding magical item (also known as a charm), and do whatever action is required depending on the location of the scholopendragyn in their body.

The process by which a changeling is made is somewhat macabre, as it requires a complicated ritual resulting in the abortion and extraction of a late-term human or daemyr fetus. The fetus then undergoes multiple more rituals that result in it eventually being mummified and wrapped in strands of yarn which contains wooden, stone, bone, and glass beads of varying shapes and sizes. The location of the strands and the beads is important in the conduction of magic through the changeling

Practicing spellcasting is risky business. Over-consumption of casting pellets, which are required to cast spells, can have multiple adverse effects on a mage, both short and long-term. Using magic far too often can also increase one's descent towards arcane delirium.

Casting pellets are small, spherical, reddish-brown pellets made of various substances, most of which come from drying and processing the yonderwort, a plant endemic to the yonderlands. These pellets are sold and produced in many places, as they are necessary for casting anthromagic. Mages will consume multiple at a time in order to grant them temporary spellcasting power. More exotic and powerful spells require more pellets. If a mage takes more pellets than necessary, they can cast spells for longer and the first spell cast after consumption may have increased effect. There are risks to taking too many casting pellets in a short time, however. A mage using the pellets in excess may experience searing pains, muscle cramps, vomiting, uncontrollable magic, and temporary hallucinations and delusions. This condition is commonly known as 'thaumic stroke'. Repeated thaumic strokes (and repeated magic use in general) can gradually lead the mage to fall into arcane delirium. Fortunately, there is a way to combat thaumic stroke and–allegedly– stave off arcane delirium with the use of a certain medication called Meddz.

Meddz is an anti-delirient in the form of a faintly glowing pink and white capsule about half as long as a human thumb. Meddz contains a highly guarded secret recipe that alleviates symptoms of magic overuse by flushing magic out of the mage’s pores as an inert vapor. The vapor may be several different colors and has been often described as giving off a distinct, earthy odor which can linger in the air for up to two weeks in a location where magic was used. Generally only one to three pills are needed to effectively remedy thaumic stroke, though recreational users may exceed that. Meddz is used recreationally for the euphoric, dizzying physical and mental relaxation it provides at high doses. Recreational Meddz use is risky for non-magic users as the lack of magic within their bodies may result in the medication interacting with the body itself, leading to side-effects such as itchiness, physical pain, seizures, catatonia, coma, and nerve and tissue damage. A Meddz overdose can happen to anyone, but non-magic users are far more vulnerable.

Many spells require magical items or other requisites, called charms, in order to be cast. Charms may be objects used, actions performed, or even more metaphysical sacrifices. Item charms can be one of many things to be held, thrown, tossed, worn, or used in some way in order to cast a spell. Common item charms may include precious stones, articles of clothing, weapons, and more. Item charms may be used up during the casting of the spell, or they may remain for multiple uses. Some charms can only be used a limited number of times, while others can be used repeatedly. Some spells may require the use of a specific weapon to harm the caster or another person or living thing to cast the spell. There are also spells that require actions to be performed. Commonly, these involve reciting something vocally, performing a gesture, or even sacrificing an animal or person. Occasionally, spells will require something less tangible of the caster. Some examples are spells that would require portions of time off of the caster's lifespan, memories, health, the ability to feel certain emotions or use certain senses, or even some of their intellect. There are even spells that will condemn the caster to bad luck, with more powerful spells generally causing worse luck. Other spells yet will require certain environmental conditions to be met, such as the caster being close to death, or the location of the caster to be somewhere specific, or the presence of a certain number of adversaries, and so on. Spells generally require one of a number of different charms depending on the person, with one person, say, potentially having to throw a stone to cast a certain spell, while another person needing to wear a stone mask to cast that same spell. Each spell has a certain number of different charms one can expect to be required in order to cast it, and rarely do the spells deviate from the pool of recorded charms. Often, the charms are not equal in severity, with one caster's charm for a certain spell potentially being far more demanding than another caster's. It is important to note that there are, however, many spells that do not rely on charms, and many spells that require certain people to use charms but not others.

Arcane Delirium is a fate that awaits all mages-granted they don't die of anything else first. It is a state in which a mage gradually loses touch with reality and suffers hallucinations and delusions with increasing strength and frequency over time. The main cause of arcane delirium is repeated use of magic, but on rare days when the clouds part, those outside under direct sunlight for long enough have a chance of being afflicted as well. A mage who frequently pushes themself to over-use magic will suffer more thaumic strokes and reach full arcane delirium much faster than a more conservative mage. One who abstains from magic at all is at the least risk, though it has been known to happen.

Arcane delirium starts out with minor, occasional confusion and hallucinations. Sufferers (referred to as sun-touched) may commonly see ominous shapes at the corners of their vision, smell a distinctive, harsh scent, feel like they are being physically touched or watched from a distance, suddenly become forgetful and mildly confused, and other distressing symptoms. As arcane delirium gets worse, so do the symptoms. One will start to experience persistent hallucinations and increased confusion, as well as being able to execute more potent, but more volatile spells. Sun-touched eventually lose all sanity and the ability to control their spellcasting. They are completely unpredictable and cannot be effectively communicated with. They are also usually surrounded by raw magic, which distorts and alters everything in their vicinity. A more powerful mage will result in a more dangerous sun-touched, and the longer a sun-touched stays alive, the more dangerous they get. There have been instances in which mages who lived far from other people became sun-touched, wandering the countryside for multiple months before roaming into a town and leveling most of it. Eventually, if the sun-touched isn't put down by a competent foe, they die of hunger, thirst, or exposure. After this, their body can remain magically active for a very long time as the magic itself slowly disperses. This makes the body highly dangerous. Depending on where the sun-touched dies, they will lie there indefinitely or be moved to somewhere where the magical aura can't harm anyone. After a sun-touched corpse is moved, a ring of smooth, ritually imbued stones with holes through them and beaded ropes through those holes linking them together will be placed in a ring around the sun-touched. Many outsiders believe this to be an effective measure of containing the magical aura emanating from the corpse. It is uncertain if this method is effective, but at least it may provide peace of mind for some people.

Objects can be imbued with magical energy, providing a wide range of effects. This can either be done through rituals or the item can be left in the yonderlands for an extended period of time. The latter method takes varying amounts of time and is completely unreliable regarding the effects the item is imbued with. These artifacts, known as being 'touched' are highly sought after by many outsiders. Touched objects can be used even by those who lack a scholopendragyn (and are therefore unable to manipulate magic). The effects of an artifact can vary widely and be good, bad, or neutral.

Visari are the primary producers of touched objects, given their knowledge of ritual magic, but other races have been known to produce them as well. There are a handful of merchants that buy and sell touched objects, such as Chubidor Feech and Yudukupuru.