Alesseia

Universal Laws

Magic System

Magic in the world of Alesseia is defined as the unique power, energy, and essence of a living organism. Everything alive contains magic, whether large or small. There are several different types of magic, from life magic that sustains bodies to electrical magic that powers machines.

While magic may be present in every organism, the amount of magic within each organism is variable. The power and strength of an organism's magic may vary from individual to individual. Those with similar types of magic may have wildly differing limits: a person who can manipulate water may only be able to control a gallon of water while another could create storms and tidal waves. Overexertion often leads to exhaustion, permanent damage, and death. There is no scientific basis for what causes these disparities, but some religions provide explanations for this.

The Psyche: The Spirit and the Soul

Everything alive has a psyche, the entire being of a living individual. This refers to everything that happens within an organism — the body, the magic, the vitality, the mental capacity in sentient species. There is no living individual that does not have a psyche. Psyche magic is also known as life magic as it is connected to healing and other factors of life.

To have a psyche, one must have the spirit — the physical essence. The spirit is the body, the heart pumping and the nervous system sending out commands. It is the tangible part of the psyche, being both the body and magic of a living individual. It dictates the appearance of the living organism. Modifying the spirit using magic can be done to change one's appearance or bodily processes. However, it takes a great amount of power and skill in magic. Careless modifications can easily lead to irreversible damage and death.

Psyche magic can be used to determine the aura of a spirit. The aura is the emanation of magic from an individual. It can be used to sense life, perceive spiritual characteristics, and diagnose diseases. This aura will be of one specific color, the designated color of the individual. An aura's color can be modified by strong magic. However, it is considered unacceptable for that to happen save for certain circumstances.

There is a second half of the psyche in sentient species — the soul. The soul is the conscience, the ability to form an identity and decide what's right or wrong. It is only present in sentient species, although most researchers debate about which species may contain souls. Some argue that only humanoid species contain souls, as only their souls can be found in the Realm of Lost Souls. However, there are non-humanoid organisms that are seemingly sentient, capable of thought and conscience.

In sentient beings, the spirit and the soul make up the psyche. They cannot be separated from one another once created for separation equals death.

What happens when someone dies?

For death to happen, the spirit of one's psyche must be damaged to the point of no repair. Once that happens, the next question is if the organism has a soul. If it doesn't have a soul, then nothing else happens. If the life form has a soul, however, then it is likely that it will move onto the Realm of Lost Souls.

The Realm of Lost Souls, also called the Realm or the Median, is a resting place for dead souls. The endless expanse is molded into form by the memories of the dead; a dead soul will only feel and see the places important to them. Souls that formed connections will be able to see each other in the realm. Two souls that are strangers or acquaintances will never be able to interact with each other in the realm. Instead, they will be completely senseless to and pass through their souls as if they were nothing to each other. Also, there is no record of non-humanoid souls being found in the Realm.

Science has proven that souls in the Realm aren't unreachable; with sufficiently powerful magic, a soul from the living realm may be able to temporarily summon and commune with one of these souls. It necessitates care and precision, as a miscalculation may permanently send the summoner to the Realm instead. However, a soul cannot return to the living realm without a full psyche. All living things require a spirit in order to stay in this realm. Any attempts to bring back dead souls have only ended in more death. Thus, they are fated to stay out of the living realm for all of eternity.

As soon as a soul enters the Realm of Lost Souls, they are presented with an eternally open choice: they can choose to either continue living in the Realm of Lost Souls, or they may truly pass on.

The Realm of Lost Souls is also known as the Median due to truly passing on being a completely different phenomenon. Truly passing on means the dead soul would leave the Realm of Lost Souls and move onto the Afterlife. No soul, living or dead, has been able to communicate with those who have truly passed on. Thus, it is completely unknown what goes on in the Afterlife, if there even is one.

Transforming into a different species

Transforming from one species to another (ex. human to Soren, human to dragon, etc) is possible through manipulation of the spirit. However, this type of spirit manipulation takes a great level of power and caution. Most transformations are done using magical artifacts such as amulets and similarly empowered jewelry. Transforming into a different species is normally frowned upon.

It is possible to transform using potions and similar magical substances. However, it requires a constant intake of the magical substance to stay in the form and commonly leads to imperfections in the transformation, which include discolored blood and fur/hair. The magical substances also normally require illegal alchemy ingredients. Due to the aforementioned reasons, transformation via potion is generally discouraged and sometimes banned.

Once one has transformed into an alternate form of their psyche for the first time, whatever form they take will be the permanent form they take in every transformation from then on. To illustrate it, a human who has transformed into a Soren form for the first time and received the appearance of a teal-skinned and purple-haired Soren will take on that appearance every time they transform into a Soren form.

Spirit stains and motleys

A spirit stain is an illegal magical substance that modifies the spirit. Consumption may be done by inhalation, injection, or ingestion. Spirit stains, once consumed in a regular manner, cause the spirit to become addicted to the substance.

A spirit stain will discolor the spirit's aura; it modifies the aura of the spirit to match the stain. Several things will be modified: the hair and/or fur color, the color of the blood, and the color of the sclera. The sclera is the last part of the spirit to be colored by a spirit stain and is also the defining feature that marks a stained organism. Due to the unnatural coloring, people who are stained are also known as motleys.

Eyes, the window to the soul

Out of all possible spirit modifications, eyes take the greatest amount of magic to modify. Even temporary modifications use up a greater amount of magic than usual. Scientists have not been able to determine why this is so. Most religions believe that eyes are the window to the soul and hold more religious meaning than any other body part.

Caste 0 family bloodlines are marked by their unique iris colors. The rare iris coloration is said to be caused by the abundance of magic within them. All those born in the Cyrus dynasty have gold eyes. The extinct Cepheus line, meanwhile, had pink eyes.

It is illegal to disguise eye color in Alesseia. Penalties for disguising eye color are fines: 2,000 crowns for the first offense, 3,000 crowns for the second offense, and 10,000 crowns for every subsequent offense.