Magic

Magic is an invisible energy all around us, everywhere in the world, that only some people know about. It is called different things by different groups: magic, aether, spirit, root.

Description

There is no single school of thought about magic. Some think it's an element, others think it's a natural resource. The only universal truth about magic is who, or what, can access it and how. The dead have the most access, and supernatural creatures have the next closest connection. Meanwhile, the living must borrow, bargain for, or steal the ability to access and use this energy. One group called Rootcrafters believe in balance, that magic is not theirs to own, so they preach borrowing. Bloodcrafters binding magic to their bloodlines permanently and they usually access magic through theft.

Aether

The Order call magic aether. They believe it is an active, mutable, ambient element in the air. According to the texts of the Merlins, aether is at its core and in its very fundamentals, a type of physics. Earth, air, water, fire, aether, or medieval alchemists called it "quintessence." Aether cannot be created or destroyed, only infused into a body or manipulated into an object temporarily. William says "aether is everywhere, but it’s a bit like a cell signal, hard to get in a metal box." It can make Onceborns feel dizzy the first time they experience it.

Bloodcraft

Bloodcraft is binding magic to their bloodlines permanently. Bloodcraft creates an imbalance of energy, because power taken and not returned incurs a debt, and the universe and the dead will always come to collect, one way or another. Usually takes it by shortening a Bloodcrafter's lifespan considerably, the Legendborns called it Abatement.

Practitioners

• Legendborn
• Merlins
• Vera's daughters

Root

Rootcrafters call magic root. They borrow root temporarily because they believe that root is not for people to own. It is a balanced form of magic, unlike Bloodcraft. They make offerings to their ancestors so that they will share root with them for a time. Most often, Rootcraft is passed from mother to daughter. Rootcrafters have been hunted by the Order for decades.

Types of Rootcraft

• Wildcrafter: can manipulate the energy found in growing things like plants, herbs, and trees.
• Reader: can see people's auras, and thus their emotions, intentions, and abilities.
• Medium: can channel the dead.
• Memory Walker: can astrally project themselves into the memories of their ancestors, who they can interact with in a limited capacity.
• Healer: can heal others and themselves.
• Prophet: can use root to see the future.

Shadowborn Gates

Shadowborn Gates are portals that demons use to travel to the human world. Gates can only be closed or open with demon blood or half-demon blood. A Gate looks like a shining veil at least twenty feet across and is taller than a man. There’s a roaring sound and then a thick tearing sound when they open.

Ogof y ddraig, Cave of the dragon, under the Bell Tower they are tons of Gates. Merlins sealed them hundreds of years ago, but they can be reopened, like when Lord Davis and Isaac did it.

Dark Casting

Dark casting involves using demon blood including Cambions to create Shadow Gates.

Rogues

Rogues are people outside the Order that use magic. They have been hunted by the Order for decades. Being a rogue magic user is incredibly dangerous.

Practitioners

• Warlocks: Humans who bargain for their powers by making a deal with a demon. They sell a few years of their life, firstborn child, or their soul in exchange for gaining some of the demon's abilities.
• Sorcerers
• Witches
• Winos

Magical Artifacts

• Merlin Jackson's manacles (Salem, MA, 1692): Can be enchanted with aether to restrain people, especially aether users that are not a part of the Order. Allegedly only used by less powerful Merlins.
• Void Cuffs (cyffion gwacter): When enchanted by a sorcerer, they block the wearer's ability to sense or call aether or use it to shift forms.
• Excalibur (Caledfwlch): Arthur's magical sword that was created by Merlin. It's an aether weapon that's so strong it is permanently corporeal, and every time a Scion of Arthur wields the sword, its power magnifies exponentially.
• Serum: The Regents have created an inheritance-blocking serum to use on Scions and Squires to suppress their abilities. it's some sort of gene-blocking serum. It can be injected or put into food. However, if given too much, it could be fatal.

Facts

Quick Facts

• "Mage flame is the byproduct aether creates when it's called into a solid state. Legendborn cannot wield aether in its mage flame state.
• Awakened Scions and Merlins can call aether for various uses.
• Silver conducts aether best.
• Iron negates aether.
• It burns when there's too much of it too fast.
• Aether is richest closer to the earth.

Casting

Aether weapon

1. Calling aether from the air to mage flames.
2. Forge it is to cool the mage flame into solid.
3. Craft an image. “You must know the weapon to forge it.”
4. Aether collapsing, layering over itself until thin sheets of magic become a sharp-edged weapon.

Because Bree is the only who can feel aether, we can guess the Legendborn refer to aether changing its state of matter. Cooling mage flames is like cooling water creating ice; a solid. It burns when there's too much of it too fast. For William’s healing swyn it always feels cool to the touch; Bree thinks of it as a balm.

Limits

Aether is mutable ambient element manipulated by will, but that manipulation is somewhat defined by the user. Bree’s mage flame is something the Legendborn cannot do, because their limited by their knights inheritances. They can cast armor — not the exact sixth-century variety, no plates back then — but it most be a variation that works with their knights gifts. With Cambion demon heritage, they can cast anything they wish: a staff, a hound, a protective barrier.

Aether Rules

1. Aether cannot be created or destroyed, only infused into a body or manipulated into an object temporarily.
2. The dead have the most access, and supernatural creatures have the next closest connection. But the living must borrow, bargain for, or steal the ability to access and use this energy.

Bree defies this rules as she can generate aether from within because she is a bloodcrafter and rootcrafter and of the bloodmarked. Through a bargain, Vera was the one that bounded the Shadow King’s magic into their bloodline making it also a bloodcraft. Her bloodline are also rootcrafters having a strong access to aether. Bree can access her ancestors' abilities in a new, more powerful way.

Aether Color

• Blood Red - Bree’s Mage Flames
• Silver Blue - Legendborn and Merlins
• Green - Shadowborn dust
• Yellow - Rootcraft
• Gold - Ancestors (Volition)
• Silver Gold - Faye’s bracelet

Intention

The Oaths and rootcraft work with intention. Lucille says "intention is the bare bones of desire, but it requires fuel. That fuel is your will." (This might be related to soul magic.)

Oaths are made with intentions, and going against those intentions is breaking the oath.

Balance

One theory that is repeated in the Legendborn Cycle is the balance between the dead and the living. Read more below.

• Ancestral Magic
• Cambion