Magic
Magic in Light Scar originates from a special chemical known as “Mana.” It is an invisible and scentless gas that exists throughout the entirety of the Light Scar dimension. This chemical is unpredictable but highly reactive. While the practice of spellcasting is well known, a measurable catalyst has been difficult to find. Magic comes in many of its usual forms with some styles of magic being exclusive to the Light Scar setting. While magic is an extremely versatile tool in this world, one cannot expect to learn everything within their normal life span.
Special Biology of Magical Creatures
Some organisms have an innate ability to control magic. This is thanks to a unique organ system known as the Manatropic system. A collection of veins within their skin cells allow magic creatures to absorb mana through a process similar to photosynthesis. This mana is then converted into a mucus within the body and stored inside a specialized organ: the Vucote. This gives them an internal supply of mana that can be used to create magic. For some organisms, this system doubles as part of their life force.
Circle Magic
Circle Magic is a special variety of elemental magic that channels large amounts of mana to create spells with greater effects than normal elemental magic. This comes with the restriction of only using one element at a time. While circle magic uses raw natural elements, they can be combined through special training to create more unique mutated elements.
Soul Forging
Soul Forging is a special form of magic given to a select few people. Being the defining factor of an entire era, this power appeared at the start of Altevos’ Forging Era. Soul Forging allows the user to manipulate a specific concept of the world by manipulating its “soul.” This lets them bend it to their will, or even put literal souls into that concept, somehow.
Souls
The soul is a measurable energy in Light Scar often affected by spells and certain supernatural abilities. The energy of the soul congregates in three organs: the brain, eyes, and heart. This collection of organs is considered a pseudo-organ system named the “Anima Limbus.”
The combined factors of the soul inhabiting the eyes and the existence of Soul Shapes leads to the eyes being a literal window into the soul. Supernatural forces that bind to the soul can manipulate the appearance of a person’s eyes, leading to unique shapes and colors. If two souls inhabit a single host body, the eyes will attempt to remain separated in appearance. This leads to the eyes multiplying or containing multiple irises and pupils at once. The former often occurs if neither soul has power over the other, while the latter implies one soul is capable of containing and controlling the other.
Undead function through a corrupted form of the soul. Necrotic magic creates a simulated soul, allowing a body to operate as if it was alive again. Ghosts that return to the material world are a distortion of souls that escaped the afterlife.
Ki
Ki is a magic-like power that comes from the soul instead of mana. It allows the user to enhance their body and create magical attacks through sheer force of will. While it has a universal basic form, Ki will often shape itself into unique styles based on someone’s personality. When Ki is activated in a soul, its energy grows in density in order to fuel the techniques produced by Ki. Expending too much soul energy on ki can lead to accelerated soreness, signaling to the body that the soul is being strained.
Soul Shapes
Soul Shapes are the form someone’s soul takes on the visual spectrum. The true shape of a soul is not comprehensible to the physical eyes, so the brain attempts to approximate its shape based on what it knows. This leads to souls appearing as physical metaphors of an individual’s life experiences and personality. When communicating directly with someone’s soul, it can act with a personality distinct from the physical host.
Resurrection
As can be expected in any world with magic and a known afterlife, resurrection in Light Scar is possible. Unfortunately, the outcome is extremely unpredictable. the first steps involve gathering enough magical energy to connect with the afterlife and pull the correct soul back to the physical world. The mana needed is usually far beyond what a single well-trained magician can manage. Then, a preexisting host body is needed for the soul to inhabit. This can be a completed body or the trace organs and flesh required to make a whole body. Resurrecting with the trace components of a body requires even more magical energy, but allows the soul to take the shape it desires.
The real problem comes at the end of this process. Since the Forging Era ended, something about the afterlife has led most souls to fall into insurmountable madness. The revived individual will attempt to destroy everything around them, often leading to the death of others and then themselves if stopped. The ritual of resurrection becomes an extreme gamble, ironically more likely to end in a net loss of life. The only known factor that determines this is the time spent in the afterlife. Successful cases of resurrection in the modern day require a completed ritual within one day of the person’s death.
Light and Dark
The concept of Light and Dark as a natural balance is present throughout all of Light Scar. Light represents presence and certainty while Dark represents absence and uncertainty. A strong light attunement means something is unable to be changed from its existing form, while a strong dark attunement means something is extremely malleable and can be shaped by other forces. Most things have a combination of light and dark aspects, giving them balance. This makes it a supernatural rule of the physical world, encompassing all things surrounding magic and ki.
While most people are neutral on the light/dark spectrum, some can lean more towards one side. This can mean a lot of things, but it only becomes a problem if someone is exceedingly attuned to one side or the other. Even more rare is someone so far attuned to one end that it boomerangs back to becoming an agent of that force’s creation.
Awakening
Under extreme conditions, These supernatural forces can converge within the soul, manifesting an awakening. Awakenings are unique powers that elevate the wielder’s most prominent abilities. Every awakening is different, but some function as a category of awakening that can be used by many people. Some examples of known awakenings are shown below:
- Naju’s Mountain Carving Dragon Style: Naju can create explosions of blunt force by “charging” with a special breathing technique. The longer he charges this technique, the bigger the blast.
- Caul’s Perfect Diagnosis: Caul can discern ailments and injuries from any amount of medical analysis. This only allows them to find existing afflictions, not discern the cause or how to cause one in combat.
- Kaiju Control: Being common among animal races, the wielder’s natural functions are accelerated to that of a creature larger than them. The outcomes of their abilities are heightened, but so is their metabolism to refuel from this power. As the name implies, the user can obtain powers equivalent to a kaiju-like creature and eventually transform into one.
Trivia
- Souls and Soul Shapes are the natural counterpart to the Black Rain and Judgements.
- While Judgement reflects the negative aspects of a person’s life, the Soul Shape is a whole and proper reflection of a person. the soul shape becomes more absolute as a person ages, but their Judgement can always appear in new forms.