SUNLIT MAGE – the magic systemI. MAGICAL ABILITYPeople known as mages have an additional sense

SUNLIT MAGE– the magic system

I. MAGICAL ABILITY

People known as mages have an additional sense, similar to how some animals can sense the Earth’s magnetic field. They can “see” magic as moving threads in different colors and shape them with their minds and gestures—“see” in quotation marks because it’s a synesthetic experience, and they feel the color more than anything. Magic itself is raw emotional energy drawn from the thoughts and feelings of the surrounding people; positive emotions produce Light Magic, negative ones Dark Magic, and emotions in between fall on the Twilit spectrum. A neutral form can also be artificially generated; this type is easier to control, but less powerful and often used by Light Mages for emergencies where they can’t rely on positive emotions being present. Magical abitily is genetic and usually inherited from a mage parent, but can sometimes occur in non-mage families through mutation.

II. TYPES OF MAGIC

There are different types of magic, and most mages can only use one of them. None of them are inherently good or evil; the only thing that sets them apart are the emotions from which they are derived.

1. Light Magic

Light Magic is magic derived from positive emotions, such as happiness, joy and love. Traditionally it’s considered the weaker of the “binary” magic types, as it relies on people being happy and is less effective in times of crisis or danger. However, it’s also seen as the more morally pure, largely through propaganda by the Light Mages themselves. To compensate for their weaknesses, Light Mages have done extensive research, which they guard jealously, and are the most magically advanced of all the magic types. Users perceive it as shining threads of light.

2. Dark Magic

Dark Magic is derived from negative emotions: anger, fear, hatred or sadness. As such, it tends to thrive in times of war and crisis, which has led to accusations of Dark Mages leeching off of other people’s suffering and even intentionally creating it to make themselves stronger. This, in turn, has led to centuries of witch hunts and persecution and now strict exclusion from Light Mage spaces and knowledge. The Dark Mages have built their own communities and conducted their own research, but are still far behind Light Mage knowledge. It’s perceived as black threads like spilled ink in water.

3. Twilit Magic

Twilit Magic is derived from emotions that are neither positive nor negative, such as doubt, surprise and confusion. Too dark for Light Mages, too light for Dark Mages, its existence has always been hushed up, especially since Twilit Mages can only come from a mixed Light-Dark couple or parents who are Twilit themselves. Since Light and Dark Mages rarely produce children together, Twilit Mages are very rare and don’t have their own community, although they’ve recently been allowed into Dark circles. Twilit Magic is perceived as gray threads that can range from silver to almost black.

4. Spectral Magic

Spectral Magic is the rarest kind and virtually unknown. While normal mages are limited to just one magic type, Spectral Mages can access Light, Dark and Twilit Magic selectively, only being able to use certain types for certain spells. Unlike Twilit Magic, Spectral Magic is not a result of mixed ancestry but a mutation that can occur among any type of mages; whether it can be inherited is unclear. There are, however, theories that every mage is Spectral to some degree and can sometimes access forms of magic other than their default one, e.g. under extreme duress.