A/N: Alright several people asked for a description on how magic works in my Universe, and rather than tack it on to the beginning of the next chapter I'm making it its own, to get it out quicker and allow for it to be easily updated with any questions people may have.
So if you read this and still have questions, shoot me a PM.
And I got a beta reader, which is totally frikin sweet, less grammar and spelling issues.
Anonymous Reviews!
Guest: Very great job my friend I have never read a raven and jinx story like this
and it has me extremely interested to say the least can't wait for more
Glad you like it!
TUYET PHAM: nice story, keep it up. I like the idea and the plot you've put
together so far, it's nice to see new stories about Raven/Jinx that aren't
plotless or are really short. I really liked it.
Thanks! I'm glad that the story I've put forward is unique enough to stand apart from other fics.
I hope this doesn't get too technical for anyone, if anyone needs clarification PM me I'm always up for a chat.
A description of Magic
Mana
First off the basics, Mana is energy; it exists everywhere and affects everything in some way. However conventional technology has yet to be able to even detect its existence. Some places attract more mana than others, some attract less but there is always some. Mana is an energy of life, when a new life is created, whether the seeds of a plant or the baby of a creature, when they are first considered new life, mana coalesces into its life force. Mana is the raw energy used to cast a spell, when a mage casts a spell they are using concentration to change mana into another form of energy.
The Ability
The ability to use magic is based on an individual's ability to absorb and store mana, and then project it in another form of energy, something that one can only be born with. The ability to use magic varies from species to species, all Demon can inherently use magic, but most humans do not have the ability, ect… It is theorized that a race's magical ability is inversely proportionate to its capacity for science. Humans who are technologically advanced, have a small chance to be able to use magic, Demons which can use magic indefinitely, are only at a very basic level of advancement. There are however a few exceptions some race's use an advanced technology powered by magic.
Casting Magic requires the caster to draw from the mana their body has naturally absorbed from the world around it, the amount of mana any one person can store is highly dependent on many factors, race, training, mental capacity, ect… The speed at which someone absorbs mana varies less but an experienced caster can focus on absorbing mana faster to resupply reserves, but only a slight increase can be accomplished. Drawing mana from the body is similar to running on your endurance, you can run for so long until you get tired then in a dire situation you can force yourself to go a little farther at the cost of some pain. Similarly with mana you can draw on it until you run out, then in a dire situation the body's energy can be used at the cost of exhaustion. Using all or most of your mana will also cause physical fatigue, less than running or other physical exertion, but more than can be expected if mana had not been used. In addition the high mental strain from the concentration needed to cast magic often leads to mental fatigue although with experience this is often reduced.
The Spell
A spell is the act of channeling mana stored in the casters body into another form of energy to perform an action. No magic words are spoken, no wand is waved, the ability to cast a spell relies on the casters ability to concentrate on the transfer of energy, and their knowledge of it. Elemental magic for example is often the easiest, most people are very familiar with the elements and how they work so it is very easy to concentrate on how and why things burn for a fire spell, combined with a focus point such as a the hands, feet, or a weapon, makes it easier still.
The schools
Magic is divided into two broad categories, First and largest is The Schools of Magic. This contains several more specific categories of magic, Elemental, Mental, Dark, Light, and The Fade Magics.
These categories are further broken down into specific areas of study, for example The Fade Magics cover Astral Manipulation, Inter-dimensional Travel, Possession, and Time. While Mental Magics cover, Illusion, Psychic manipulation, telekinesis, and so forth.
The primary factor that attributes a type of Magic to one of the schools is whether or not it can be learned by any magic user, if it cannot it is attributed to the second large area of magic.
Unique Magic
Unique Magic is any type of magic that cannot be learned or taught. For example, Jinx's Hex energy, no other magic user has the ability to create and use Hex energy, it is Unique to Jinx.
This category is more specific to individual cases and is only broken down under one of the five major schools. Jinx's Hex energy is a unique Fade Magic, while a Dragon's breath is usually a unique Elemental magic. This is the primary area of Unique Magics. All Dragons have a breath magic, but it is still a Unique magic because true Dragon breath cannot be learned or taught.
Raven
Raven is central to this story so this part is more in depth specifically on her talents, as they are currently in the story.
Raven's primary weapon is her soulself, the black shadow that she controls. The soulself represents the demon half of her, as one of the inherent powers that the type of demon she is, the abilities of Astral manipulation. Moving objects, empathy, possession, and creating portals, these are the primary powers granted to her by her demonic heritage. Any other magic she learns is through her natural ability to use magic and is not attributed to her demonic nature. She has an affinity for Dark magic but is not so engulfed by it that Light magic is excessively effective against her, and in fact she can use some light magic.
Raven's most prominent ability is her Empathy, it is how she controls her soulself and can be used to "taste" the emotions of people around her.
Jinx
Jinx is an excessively strange case, she is a meta human and a mage. Her ability to cast magic is not linked to her meta genes, it is in fact unclear why Jinx can use magic, or where her cat-like appearance and agility come from as it does not appear to be linked to her meta genes completely, as for her magic it is generally believed she was just lucky enough to receive the ability from birth. The mutation of her genes to make her a meta human gives her many differences over normal humans, but the most prominent is her body's ability to create Hex energy, essentially probability in energy form. It is not clear how or why her body produces it but she is capable of using it as if it were mana to power a spell. The strange nature of the Hex energy changes how the spell works in strange ways, a telekinetic blast becomes a bolt of chaotic probability that can cause things to fail spectacularly on impact, fire begins to burn things that shouldn't, and many more she has yet to discover. She typically changes the name of whatever spell she is using by affixing hex- to it, to differentiate it from normal magic, there is a large difference between a telekinetic bolt, and a hexbolt so it is important to differentiate.
However since her body is constantly storing hex energy she cannot store normal mana, and indeed cannot use it as hex energy permeates her being making it impossible to completely remove it from any spell she wants to cast, this will default most of her magic to a highly aggressive role as it is exceptionally good at destruction.
A/N: Ok so a brief explanation of magic that I will use across my stories, Jinx and Raven's specific use of this magic may change story to story but this is my system.
Now I REALLY mean it when I say if anything is unclear or you want to know something that isn't listed, TELL ME. It is important to understand this for the story and I genuinely enjoy talking to you guys. And if your confusion is valid I will add too this so that more people aren't confused.
Now the next chapter will be on the way I don't pretend to know when it will be done but I shouldn't expect it to be an exceptionally large amount of time.
Jknight
