Magic is a force that defies the default laws of nature in service of the caster's command or intention.

It is fueled and limited by [[Promise]] when it comes to the following factors: How fundamental the laws it breaks are, how far it reaches, how flawlessly it works, how intense the effect is.

For example, fire created by weak [[Promise]] may not only be only a very small flame, it can also burn less hot and bright than with much [[Promise]] behind it.

Elements of Magic

These are not necessarily literal elements, but rather refer to the things affected by Magic cast.

Materials

The easiest element to affect with Magic. The easiest are materials available almost anywhere, like air, water (humidity), earth and fire (heat). Fully assembled objects are also reasonably easy to manipulate depending on size, weight, volume and density. Most spells around this element are based on moving it around, for example concentrating the heat of a room into a single flame. With high [[Promise]], the caster may increasingly become capable of creating or destroying materials wholesale, with complex objects being especially difficult.

Organic Modification

This element includes healing, infecting with disease, growing plants and similar things. Unless positively affected by Affinity, this element demands more [[Promise]] than Materials on average. Weak Magic of this type can heal small cuts and bruises, cause superficial symptoms of illness, make plants grow slightly faster. Powerful Magic of this element can bring people to death's door or back from it, shield entire forests from disease, slow aging, make a tree go from acorn to massive oak in moments. Between the extremes lay things like paralyzing someone or making them sleep.

Information Manipulation

This element is on the same level as Organic Modification. It revolves about tapping into senses, thoughts, memories, or transferring any of those things. Lower end may involve brief, vague visions or the ability to weakly share emotions. High end may be powerful for mind control, telepathy across miles and miles, fully experiencing the current or past sensory input of another, creating massive Illusions - on the levels of [[Fae]] and [[Gods]] it could even create entire hiveminds. This element can surface passively in individuals, eluding control. If the caster has an Affinity for Causality, this element may manifest as Clairvoyance.

Causality

High [[Promise]] Magic of any type dips a little into this one by default. But this element is counted separately because it encompasses some special cases. Even low [[Promise]] Causality Magic tends to demand a higher minimum of [[Promise]] than the kinds above, as this is where Magic begins to very obviously strain against the laws of nature and defy logic. Typical forms of Causality Magic are things like Summoning, Teleportation, Construction, Animating the Lifeless. Powered by high [[Promise]], this element can tamper with the flow of time or defy death - however, this can typically only be achieved by boosting inherent [[Promise]] further through a powerful pact.

The Narrative

This element is unknown to most inhabitants of the world. It encompasses the limits set by the Fourth Wall and Prophecies, laws that overrule even other laws of nature. To manipulate this element, it takes either being an outsider to it or massive accumulation of power and willingness to make unfathomable sacrifices.

Types of Magic

The Type of Magic is almost a meta-concept of sorts. Every species' Magic is of a distinct Type. The only exception are [[Gods]], where each individual's Magic has its own type, and [[Servitors]] (aka [[Demons]] and [[Celestials]]) whose types are passed down from the [[Gods]] that created them.

Any combination of Type and Element is possible in Magic, but Types can change how the Magic fundamentally affects the target. This is why [[Demons]] and most [[Undead]] are more easily harmed by Divine Magic (aka Magic of the God of Light).

This nature of Types is not fully known in the world yet. People understand them less as fundamentally equal and more as different qualities that they also judge. So they consider Infernal Magic, for example, as darker and lower than Divine Magic.

Currently known/named Types

Divine - God of Light, Celestials, Clerics, Saintess

Infernal - God of Darkness, Demons, Pactbearers, Necromancers

Chaotic - Truthfully clerics and followers of different [[Gods]] that the main two, but hard to understand for most people

Glamourous - Fae and Witches

Spiritual - Spirits and their Conjurers, some places in nature and old temples

Elven - Elves

Undead - the Undead

Affinity

This is a natural resonance with specific elements, vectors and/or themes of Magic. It usually determines what kinds of Magic someone can use to the full potential of their [[Promise]], or even past that. Affinities often also bring out passive side effects corresponding to them. For example, an Affinity for Fire may cause heat resistance and/or a constantly but harmlessly raised body temperature. An Affinity for Organic Modification may cause organisms to perk up around the individual, or for their wounds to heal faster, or for poisons to fail affecting them. Affinity tends to be a smidge narrower than an entire element.

Artifacts

Magic can be sealed or imbued in objects or even organisms, making them Artifacts. If given a purpose, this is the kind of Magic the Artifact will have cast on it and the function it will fulfill. For example, an hammer may be enchanted to be easy to lift and that's what its Magic will fully be devoted to. However, Magic can also simply be stored in Artifacts to create a sort of "battery" to draw power for casting from. Artifacts adopt the type of the Enchanter's Magic, and the strength of [[Promise]] affects how long lived and powerful Enchantment will be. Artifacts are unaffected by the [[Promise]] of the caster once enchanted, and the only way they can lose their own artificial [[Promise]] is by being destroyed enough that no part of them can still fulfill their function.

It is possible to absorb the Magic of an Artifact with the right knowledge.

Pacts

Pacts or Deals can boost the [[Promise]] fueling Magic in general so long as they are upheld. They also frequently bind everyone who is part of the agreement together in some way. Most pacts take the form of actual contracts.

Oaths

Done by Clerics and Warlocks, oaths are technically a sort of pact with Fae, God or Spirit specifically. The person who takes the Oath usually swears to sacrifice or forgo something, or to stick to a set of strict rules, in order to request some [[Promise]] from the individual the Oath is made out to. If accepted, the one who took the Oath will have access to that amount of [[Promise]], (and therefore Magic of the corresponding type and, if applicable, element) for as long as they uphold their end. The amount of [[Promise]] gained this way is correlated closely with the weight of sacrifices made. This is how priests become conduits to divine power. The biggest distinction from a normal Pact is that the source of [[Promise]] doesn't have to work towards any goal in particular to uphold their end, the [[Promise]] is passively shared.

Pledges

A Pledge is almost the opposite of an Oath. It is one-sided, can be retracted at any time, but the individual who received the Pledge will instantly know about the retraction. Pledging oneself to someone else increases their [[Promise]] at no cost to one's own. However, breaking a Pledge without retracting it first can negatively affect the [[Promise]] of the Pledger.

Pledges are typically done as a payment, to reward someone, to prove loyalty/love, or to acknowledge hierarchy. They are the only thing that can negatively affect [[Humans]] on this level. [[Demons]], [[Celestials]]. [[Spirits]], [[Gods]] and [[Fae]] reap the biggest rewards from others pledging themselves to them.

Blessings

These are passive effects bestowed by a Magic user onto another individual or a place. Typically, they offer protection or resilience of some kind. Technically, even Curses are Blessings, just ones with negative effects. A Pledge can become a Blessing or Curse in some cases.

The Saintess

Every [[God|gods]] has a Saintess at almost all times. They are extreme outliers to some rules of Magic, as they do not typically possess any [[Promise]] of their own. However, once they learn how to use their [[God's|gods]] Magic, they can also learn how to freely syphon off and wield that Magic even against the [[Gods]]' Will. In essence, Saintesses actually have an extremely high Affinity to the element of Narrative, which allows them to defy even the laws of Gods. Normally, Saintesses pledge themselves to their [[Gods]] at some point in exchange for instant full access with ease to their power.