A Definition of Magic
Magic… what is magic?
Magic is the universe's energies being focused for a specific result. This can be accomplished in a number of ways. The basic ways are spoken spells/enchantments, written spells/enchantments, symbols, or a use of an item containing a focal point. Not all beings can do all of these and thus there are many ways. Some Beings simply can not use magic while others can't access the energies themselves. The latter group can solve its problems by the use of magic items; for example, pre-written spells, or enchanted weaponry.
Magic works in three basic steps, gathering the energy, changing/focusing the energy, and distributing the changed energy. Thus a few basic things you need:
1) Gathering the Energy:
You need enough energy. This should be logical, you can draw the energy from almost anything, though most draw mainly from themselves and stored energy. So if you draw too much energy you will not have enough energy to live and will thus stop living. Experienced and advanced magic users can draw energy from things around them, but life is what holds most usable magic, and more specifically intelligent life. Thus giving magic the name of Soul. One would think that you could thus easily gather energy from your enemy and kill them while casting your own spell, this is not necessarily true. I will further explain why later.
2) Changing or Focusing the Energy
You must have a clear goal. If you do not have a clear goal of what you are trying to do either you will not be able to gather the energy, or you will surely bring disaster. This is where objects of focus will help. An object of focus, be it word, symbol, or thing, helps to gather energy and direct it toward a certain type of distributable energy. So a fire staff merely takes energy and makes fire as you will it to, little to no effort is required with a finer staff or focusing object, though they limit use of magic to whatever specific spell they are made for.
Though in theory you can make a fire staff cast a healing spell, this is extremely difficult because you must be able to fight the energy and the staff, which is practically impossible for all magicians. Technically, you can have a low quality staff that is based so low in something the staff barely changes it, thus allowing you to do what you will and all the staff does is help pull energy to one place. (This means you may have, for instance, a fire staff and has been designed with a huge emphasis on gathering energy, and very little emphasis on focusing it toward fire- so the staff mainly helps gather energy and you can focus that energy where ever you want to, though it would be easiest to focus it toward fire. (This would also mean that it wasn't REALLY much of a fire staff at all.)) If you use spoken spells as a focusing object you have a much higher selection of types of spells that are easily carried. But you must still gather all the energy yourself and focus it toward the specific spell.
Mostly words are used along with another object that has no specific spell. The more specific what you say is the more specific the spell will be, thus saying “ice” may throw ice, but saying “Freeze the hair of that cat” will only freeze the cat’s hair. The only problem with using words is that magic takes much less energy when the language of ancients is used. The language, which we have lost most of, would probably say “Freeze, cat, hair” instead of “freeze the hair of that cat.” Using common tongue to cast a spell is something that should only be used in emergency, as it is like telling a man in a foreign country you want something without making hand motions. You have no idea how much it will cost or what you will get.
As for symbols they work well, but you store energy to make them, and then use a reduced amount to use them. They are fairly simple, although the common tongue versus dead language thing still holds true. Oh my, I went off on quite a side path there...
3) Distributing the Energy:
You need a point of distribution. Without this the magic will sit there and slowly disperse leaving you with wasted energy and time. For your focal point I suggest the use an object, if you use a body part you will most likely feel some of the magic yourself. An expert caster can make sure none bounces back, but inexperienced or low level casters may have trouble with this. Use of a staff or wand is highly accepted. These can also be turned into focusing objects as well.
Types of magic:
There are two basic types of magic, what is called white magic and black magic. To be put simply, white magic is what you use on yourself or allies, healing spells and such, and black magic is what you use to attack. Although there is also grey magic. Spells such as Leach or Pass use both white and black magic. Leach gathers your enemy’s energy and gives it to you generally in a healing spell, while Pass takes poison or curses and gives them to your enemy. You must train yourself to be able to use each of these types of magic. Most magicians choose one and learn very little of another, usually black and white. But some try to learn grey or all three.
Another choice you must make is the element you will base your magic in, you must train for each element you use. The element you choose mainly matters for black magic, as most elements use the exact same spell with the exact same effect in white magic. Though a fire healing spell and a conflicting healing spell will collide and can cause some side effects, such as stomach ache or even death. The elements go in a wheel. The basic elements are Fire, Earth, Water, and Air. Fire beats Earth, Earth beats Water, Water beats Air, Air beats Fire. Fire and Water are even as are Earth and Air.
There are other elements but they follow no particular pattern.
