Extras | The Magic System of CoM

Hi guys! 🙂

Still no story, but today I bring you a little extra for Champion of Moonlight. Now, a while back I did a little (well, compared to a novel it was little) post with some random facts about the story and in it I mentioned possibly condensing down my long, boring document about the magic system from the story. And that’s what this is!

Now, if you haven’t read all of the story – no worries. For once, my extra doesn’t actually have spoilers. This is very general about the magic system and how it works. So let’s hop right to it!

Energy Sources:

To perform magic you need magical energy and there are three types of energy:

• Life energy, which is inherent to everything living: humans, plants, algae, bacteria, and so on. It’s an energy of change, growth, movement, and feeling.
• Magical energy, which is unique to humans and required for casting spells. It’s a type of energy that can work with the others.
• Permanence energy, which is inherent to non-organic things such as rocks and gems. It’s an energy of stability, integrity, and solid shapes. It cannot be accessed by humans.

So to make it clear: You can use life energy for casting spells, but not without having magical energy. Most humans have magical energy though most people only use it for simple spells like lighting fires. About ten percent don’t have any magical energy and consequently they can’t use spells.

It’s theorised that everyone and everything have a little of all the types of energy, but for humans, animals, and plants, the amounts of permanence are so small that it cannot be accessed or used for anything.

Using Magic:

You can use energy either directly or indirectly.

• Direct magic: Means spells. Spells require exact movements using the human body.
• Indirect magic: Alchemy and other disciplines that use the inherent energy of plants, animals, and so on.

Direct Magic:

There are four types of spells:

• Transformation spells: Exactly what it says on the tin. Transform the energy of an object to change how it looks, works, and so on.
• Enchantments: More concisely referred to as infusions and extractions. You can infuse an object that doesn’t have any (like a rock or a statue) with energy (infusion) – that lets you for example transform it. It’s used for magical objects like flying brooms. Likewise you can take the energy from an object as well (extraction).
• Summoning spells: Spells of this type are used to summon things to you. To cast them, you need to know the location of the object and it can’t be too far away or the energy cost will be too great. They’re also instrumental in casting teleportation spells – you transform an object into an anchor and when you “summon” the anchor, because it’s stuck in place, you get teleported to it instead.
• Attack spells: Scholars prefer the term manifestations, but regular witches refer to them as attacks because it’s their most common use. We’re talking fireballs, electricity, winds, wards, and so on. They’re manifestation of magical energy and they’re mostly used in duels.

Indirect Magic:

Indirect magic are the kinds that rely on the energy of objects:

• Alchemy: The most common type of indirect magic. When you boil or burn alchemy ingredients containing energy, it creates different effects. There are two types of alchemy:
  • Simplistic alchemy: Drink a potion, get an effect. For example you can make a simplistic concoction that changes your hair colour. Usually made with few ingredients and in short time.
  • Alchemy displays: Displays chain together the effects of many items and they take a long time to brew. You need a potion base which is the most difficult and time-consuming part.
• Divining: Use objects with energy to tell the future. For example: tea leaves, animal entrails, and so on. Generally, the objects are burnt and you read the smoke. Divining is widely used, but scientifically discredited, especially because interpretation of ‘images’ in smoke vary greatly.

Archaic Traditions:

Certain aspects of witch tradition are outdated and disproven, yet remain popular within the community. These things include:

• Wands: Used for greater accuracy by young witches, mostly kids, learning to use their power. Some older witches still swear by them, if nothing else then because they look cool. But they’ve been proven to be ineffective or make a very small difference for a trained witch.
• Familiars: The tradition of having a familiar – generally a cat or other small pet like a raven – started because witches used to get extra energy for their spells from them via extractions. There was also a belief that having them around could improve abilities or give you more magical energy. These days, taking another creature’s life energy is frowned upon, and it turned out that they don’t really enhance magic. Witches still like having them around, though.
• Moonlight: One of the more important contests for witches, the Moonlight Tournament, was named for the fact that witches used to think that a full moon made them stronger. It doesn’t, but the tournament is still held during a full moon and there’s a strong tradition for names associated with the moon in witch circles.

So, I hope you enjoyed that and I hope it made sense 🙂 There’s more to the system – I did write five damn pages about it, after all – but this is the gist of how it works. Another time, I might do a little world building post; but for now, I leave you guys with this. Thanks for reading if you’ve made it this far and I’ll see you for the next post.

Cheers!
~Louise/NotJustaBook