6a. The Fae and Magic, continued

[kajones_writing]

Magic’s third phase is when it is condensed from ambient magic into core magic. This happens in several ways, depending on the world, who lives there, and how much of an effect the world itself can have on the process. Unfortunately the fae’s old world wasn’t sentient enough to have any effect on the process, so it would have had to relied on evolution and there simply wasn’t enough time when it realised what was happening. Athare has more options. It can rely on evolution: in some cases a species of animal will evolve into a condenser, but this is relatively rare; normally it will be a plant species that evolves, often trees, due to their connection to both ambient and core magic; and occasionally a race of people will evolve. Normal weather cycles, not those affected by the fae, also help to condense ambient magic into core magic, especially when combined with a plant species (or several, depending on the area).

Many of the newly created worlds take the time to evolve races of people and species of plants for use as condensers, because the fae have no understanding of the way the phases of magic work. If they took the time it would have been easy enough to work out, because it was the loss of several species of plant that had a huge effect on how their old world condensed ambient magic into core magic. The races that evolve as condensers can be magical or non-magical, but they often don’t know how important they are to the ecosystem of the world they live on. Without someone studying magic many races also have no idea how important some of the species of plant are with keeping the amount of core magic at safe levels for the world.

Taithmarin, Aerith, and Kankirin all evolved differently, due to the way they felt about being a part of the world web. Aerith and Kankirin had no interest in being a part of the web in the same way as the other worlds, but didn’t go to the extreme that Taithmarin did in making sure that the fae left and never came back. They all share magic with Athare and sibling worlds if they need it, because the magic in the web needs to stay balanced in order for all the worlds to exist.

When the fae use the magic in such a way that it is poisoned there are also species of plants that deal with this. The core of Athare does its best to make sure that it doesn’t allow any poisoned magic in, because otherwise it will affect all the other worlds. If poisoned magic enters the core of any of the other planets via the world itself then they can isolate it until it’s cleansed, but the magic of Athare works slightly differently, as it was Athare’s magic that was used to create the other worlds and the world web, so it’s permanently moving around the web.

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

Comments

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

>>It can rely on evolution: in some cases a species of animal will evolve into a condenser, but this is relatively rare; normally it will be a plant species that evolves, often trees, due to their connection to both ambient and core magic; and occasionally a race of people will evolve.<<

The plants are probably catching ambient magic from the air, then transferring down to the world's core, like the reverse of how their roots draw water from the soil. I'd look at entheogens, world trees, and other sacred plants for inspiration.

Africa: African dream root (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silene_capensis), baobab (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adansonia), coffee (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffea), ebony (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebony), Iboga (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabernanthe_iboga), kola (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_nut)

Europe & North America: apple (http://www.sacredearth.com/ethnobotany/plantprofiles/apple.php), ash (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraxinus), cedar (http://huuayaht.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=9&id=21&Itemid=61), cottonwood (http://www.angelfire.com/co/MedicineWolf/lakota/sundance.html), mandrake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandrake_(plant)), morning glory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipomoea_tricolor), oak (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak), tobacco (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco)

South America: angel's trumpet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brugmansia), ceiba (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceiba), ayahuasca (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayahuasca), coca/cocaine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca), cocoa/chocolate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobroma_cacao), peyote (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peyote)

Australia: acacia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacia), eucalyptus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus), pitcheri (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duboisia_hopwoodii)

Widespread: gold caps (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybe_cubensis), phalaris grass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalaris_(grass))

We might also add honey, which is considered a magical substance across multiple traditions.

Animals are more likely to absorb magic but hold it, and release it into the world's core when they die. So there's a serious reason for people to kill magical animals: harvesting that energy. Blood magic is nasty, powerful stuff. A good example of a magic-gathering animal might be the witchetty grub (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchetty_grub).

Sentient species that have magic would tend to collect it in a personal reservoir. Some might condense it from ambient magic while others might draw it up from the core. It may even be possible for some to tap into the channels through which magic flows from one area or phase to another, or other natural pools and resources such as the magical geysers or volcanoes. The more sentient, magical species a world has, the more likely it is that they use different methods.

On Quiar, I suspect the more magically powerful birds -- like quetzals -- get theirs from the ambient magic in the air. The tigers may be tapping the world's core as the fae do; it's a richer power source. There's the chronological factor, too, with the time of day and time of month; the urns may be getting their magic in different ways.

A key factor with sentient species is that they tend to absorb energy from somewhere and hold it in a personal reservoir; not as many people can tap into a huge outside power source to work really epic magic. They're limited by a small or large personal stock, which lowers as they use it and rises as they rest. When they die, as with animals, the remainder probably goes into the world's core.

>> They all share magic <<

I think that Quiar would be inclined to share magic, but might cut off a world that took way more than it gave.