Supernatural Power Data Files: Elemental Magic (excluding Necromancy)

Supernatural Power Data Files: Elemental Magic (excluding Necromancy)

Power Details: This document excludes details of necromancy – the results of which we encounter regularly – despite it originating from the same source. This choice has been made as necromancy’s differences to elemental magic and the far more reliable information we have provide more than enough material – and far more important information.

            Elemental magic, like necromancy, is channelled into this world from ‘somewhere else’ by practitioners (oft called mages or similar, for convenience). While being channelled, the magic takes the form of thin threads of colour (a small amount of light is emitted of the colour used, but any light hitting the thread will be reflected and converted to the appropriate colour) – these will usually originate from within the channeller, though experienced mages are said to be able to begin the strand outside their body.

            As the mage grows in ‘power’ (all recovered information indicates this is something that occurs over time as the mage utilises their power more) the amount they can channel slowly increases. Each element has a different channelling limit – a master channeller of one element may be completely incapable of using any another. After initially channelling enough magic for it to be visible as an almost imperceptible thread (something that may take more than a decade of training), over roughly twenty to thirty years the rate can increase up to perhaps the size of several solid sewing threads – still a tiny amount.

            The key to utilising this power lies in the ability of the mage to bind this magic into items, for them to trigger and use later. Though the threads, even from the most powerful mages, are tiny the amount of power a mage can charge into an item – often over several days – is huge. This can then be activated by the mage when desired to cause effects relating to that element – or even transferred, at some small loss.

            The four elements are as one would expect, given classical literature: earth, air, fire and water. Their colours are brown, white, red, and blue. Activated power of each creates the ‘element’ it is associated with – for example, earth magic will actually create stones or dust depending on the intent of the mage, air will create air, water will create water and fire will create energy in the correct manner to induce the appearance of fire. There are many nuances of this – for example, the resulting material can also be imbued with motion, so a mage is capable of generating and throwing stones at opponents; or again with earth magic of generating various types of soil.

            Where this matter or energy comes from is believed to be the ‘somewhere else’ – the visible, almost non-corporeal magic form is believed to be a type of ‘temporary storage’ for the material. As just noted, the magical threads are not entirely non-corporeal – they can be moved through solid objects, but seem to experience some (though little) effect when solid objects are moved through them.

            The full extent of the possibilities of elemental magics are detailed in supplementary and case files (as well as recovered tomes and documents). However, a general overview: fire can easily be used to create large explosions, bursts of flame, and with a little earth magic fireballs; earth can be used to hurl large rocks or sharp stones, and with experience and knowledge used to create ores rich in gold; water can be used to push people around or form ice and cold (far more dangerous than one would expect); wind can be used to push people around, to flood the air with toxic gases and to increase the pressure.

History and Theories: Various recovered sources indicate that elemental magic first became possible within our universe in the late third century. Whether this date is accurate is a matter of contention, however, the first ‘mage’ appeared around this time – passing his knowledge on to several apprentices (the contention originates from the issue of ‘how long was it possible before someone tried it enough to succeed’). Up until around the start of the twelfth century mages made slow progress, learning much but sharing little.

            From about that point onwards, mostly due to conflicts with necromancers, the number of mages has slowly decreased until the modern day: now, barely any survive. The works of many have fallen into our hands (via aristocrat vampires or other entities in most cases). It is from these that we’ve pieced together most of what we know about elemental magic, and also to an extent necromancy.

            Theories on the ‘somewhere else’ bear mentioning. The general consensus was that the magic is being pulled from another dimension of some kind that presses against our own – this was also used to explain changing ease of using magic (some data indicates it became easier for a period of several hundred years, but has not varied significantly since) and the nature of necromancy (see Supernatural Power Data Files: Necromancy for further details).