Energy Magic

To truly appreciate energy magic, which is the easiest to learn and master, it's important to understand what is meant by “Energy.” Energy and Life force are very similar in concept but in fact exist on two different planes, which is why we recommend that apprentice magicians NEVER perform magic on a living thing. It's too frequent that the magician confuses the life force of a creature with the energy used in the spell, and thus can alter a creature’s life span, or even cause it instantaneous death.

There are at present two known types of energy; the first is residual, and the second is motion. When a user draws the energy required to satisfy the laws of equivalent exchange, that energy must come from somewhere. Residual describes energy that is welled, stored, and NOT in motion. We do not expend energy when we sleep but should an enemy come on us in the night we spring to our feet and are ready to fight ferociously.

The motion energy must be considered as a stream of water. Imagine you hold in your hands a pitcher, and pour the water out. Using energy magic you can redirect that water into another vessel, change its form, its speed, its function. Whenever you are working with moving energy, it must be treated as always in motion, for should the user stop the flow of energy before dispelling it as intended, then the spell dies in the user’s hands. When chaining motion energy with other forms of magic, this particular action can be disastrous.

We have placed heat AND cold in the same magic type, and there is a reason for this. To make something cold, you must take the heat out of it; to make it hot, you must put heat into it. To light a fire you need enough energy to spark a flame, and to freeze an object you must suck all of its heat energy out. Generally heat magic requires time, as flesh is not designed to handle extreme amounts of heat energy and one can easily burn themselves.

Advanced energy users can eventually get into transfiguration and mutation, as this involves the physical restructuring of an item starting at its core principles using various forms of energy. For example, to turn coal into clay, a reagent must be introduced and then fused under extreme heat. It's a complicated process that generally expels tremendous amounts of energy with little to show. (For the sake of reality, it is easier to conjure gold from a parallel arcanum.) However, transfiguration has its purposes; repairing or hardening the edge of a blade, for instance, getting a perfect cutting edge, or pulling dirt up to trap someone’s shoes are all forms of spells that start with energy manipulation.