Magic

Magic is an ability possessed by some individuals allowing for manipulation of ambient powers to achieve feats otherwise impossible for mortals. Distinction is commonly made between four major types of magic: Divine, High Arcane, Low Arcane, and Primal.

Divine Magic
Divine magic is power given directly by the gods or by divine servants of the gods, usually to a priest or other sort of devoted worshiper. These gifts of power are almost always dependent on some sort of service to the god granting them, and are generally retracted if the servant deviates from whatever conditions were in place. The conditions for divine power may range from simple prayer to more complicated dogma.

The sort of magic bestowed depends primarily on the god, and secondarily on the sort of worship performed by the divine magic user. In general, the powers potentially granted by a god are identified by his or her Domains: specifically, what natural laws or aspects he or she governs.

High Arcane Magic
High arcane magic, usually just called High Magic, is the shaping of power drawn directly from the planes themselves. It is powerful but dangerous and often erratic, and many consider it to be thieving power that is normally reserved for the divine. In this way, some consider High Magic to be indistinct from divine magic, or in some cases just a perversion of it.

There are a few known distinctions of High Magic, which function in different ways.

Elementalism
Sometimes called "channeling," elementalism is the oldest form of High Magic, derived from the magic gifted to the Immortals by the gods. Unlike divine magic, however, it was not granted directly by the gods. Instead, Immortals were born with the ability to tap into the planes that were the source of their magic, and draw out power. As a result, elementalism tends to be highly focused -- most channelers will have one or two planes to draw power from, and nearly all of their magic comes from their plane(s) of practice. They can dabble in magic from planes other than their focus, but doing so tends to be limited in power and normally ends up diluting their control. An elementalist's magic is powerful, but highly volatile and dangerous.

It was the intent of the gods that the Immortals give their magic to the chosen of their race, but very few Immortals were known to have actually done this and instead guarded their knowledge jealously. After the Tear in the Plexus, however, mages of this type began appearing among mortals.

Weaving
Often called "wizardry" in the modern era. During the Tear in the Plexus, mortals began acquiring High Magic naturally. The first to do so was Caius Mastis of Korbath. Rather than drawing magic directly from planes, wizards create temporary rifts in the Plexus and draw magic from the plexic weave. The result is a much wider range of arcane powers not limited by focusing on one plane or another, but the drawback versus elementalist magic is that it is virtually impossible for a wizard to achieve the same amount of power in one particular area (e.g. fire magic) that a focused elementalist mage can gain.

Due to the inherently chaotic nature of the power that flows through the plexus, mages of this sort use spell foci to give form and control to their power. Each school of magic carries a different foci with different traditions of magic.

Wild Magic
A far less common type of High Magic is called wild magic. Compared to elementalists (who draw power from the planes) and wizards (who draw power from the Plexus), wild mages draw power from Chaos, the unpredictable, endlessly raging storm of power outside the sphere of the universe. In general, wild mages can assert only limited control over their spells, but their power is virtually unlimited and often outside the bounds of worldly limitations. The cost of this power, however, is that it is highly destructive, even more so than the other forms of High Magic.

Low Arcane Magic
Low magic is distinguished from High Magic in that it does not "create" magical power or introduce it from somewhere outside the material plane. Instead, low magic manipulates arcane energy in sources found in the material plane. As a result, low magic is more accessible than High Magic, but tends to come at a higher cost, often to the user or some sort of sacrifice. Also, it tends to be less powerful on the whole because it is more tightly bound to natural laws.

Primal Magic
Sometimes called "druid magic," primal magic is the communion with the spirits and flow of the natural world to command nature. It is the oldest form of magic to have been mastered by mortals.