Spheres of Aetherology

The study of manipulation of Aether is called Aetherology. Branches encompass both psionic and magical study, though most of such studies are not understood to be the study of the same thing, as they are created through fundamentally different processes. The former is about manipulation of ones own energies into patterns to accomplish a goal while the latter manipulates ambient energies for the same purpose. As such they feel very different and are accomplished through different, though similar, means. For the purposes of this document, magic is interchangeable with psionics even though such acts would be performed differently in each case.

Law of Aether

In the study of Aether there are certain laws which cannot be broken, only bent or manipulated. These laws form the basic fabric of how Aether and thus magic and psionics work and are able to manipulate the world around them or within. The most basic and fundamental being the Law of Equivalent Exchanged.

Law of Equivalent Exchange

An equivalent energy must be spent to what is being accomplished. In more conventional terms, to do work with Aether one must spend and equivalent amount of Aether to the work being done. In terms of spell work it also means that to gain some substance, matter, or energy from Aether one must expend at least an equivalent amount of matter or energy. This forms the basis for how Aether flows into and out of the body.

Converting Energy

There are some kinds of energy which can be converted from one type to another, such as elemental energy which can be transmuted from one element to another easily. Other types of energy can only be converted one way, such as in Sanguimancy where life energy from blood can be converted to other kinds of energy but energy cannot be converted into life, this would violate the Law of Life. Similarly the soul or essence of a living being is unique and can be drained of power but cannot be destroyed or created only exchanged.

Proportion

This law also defines that the amount of energy one uses to pattern Aether in order to influence the world is always greater than the energy provided by that work.

Law of Life

Defines barriers between life and death. This law dictates that the living will eventually die and that the dead will not return to being living. Also included with this law is the cycle of life itself, a persons essence or soul moves from the plane it is in, into a living body in the prime material plane, and then leaves that plane. Meaning the Law of Life defines that one is born, lives for a time in the world, and then dies but only in that direction.

Essence of Life

This law also dictates that a persons unique life energy (Aether) is a special form of Aether. The essence / soul is not only itself made of a specific and ever changing / unique pattern of Aether but also contains another quality. It is cohesive and separate from yet also belongs to the Aether int he world around it and contains within it a finite well of life energy. It is the unique and ineffable quality of being a living being. Thus it is a special kind of energy that can only be exchanged for similar energy.

Law of Time

Defines the barrier between past, present, and future. The natural anchor all living things have that ties a life to an instant in time which they are in and the continuity which moves that consciousness in a direction from past to future. This law dictates that one cannot simply travel backward in time or forward in time at any increased rate. A persons place in time is fixed moving at a specific rate and in a singular direction.

Elemental Arts

For information of the elements of Aether see the page on the Five Elements. In theory all magic is tied into the 4 elements, for Aether is just a manifestation of all 4 elements.

Geomancy

The manipulation and control of the elemental force of earth.

Anemancy

The manipulation and control of the elemental force of air.

Wedomancy

The manipulation and control of the elemental force of water.

Pyromancy

The manipulation and control of the elemental force of fire.

Elemental Amalgamations

With each of the elemental forces it is possible to create an amalgamtion of those elemental forces.

Cryomancy

Pyromancy and Wedomancy combine into an art dealing with the absence of heat. Water quenches fire, but when mixed water and fire turn to ice. One can manipulate ice as an elemental force by understanding the intersection of water and fire.

Thurdomancy

Anemancy and Wedomnancy combine to create an art dealing with storms, particularly lightening and thunder. This powerful magical art deals with the mixing of air and water to create storms, rain, thunder, and lightening. Though when mixed with Cryomancy it can create devastatingly powerful ice storms.

Thadjomancy

Geomancy and Wedomancy combine into an art dealing with plants and wood. This art deals with growing plants and particularly focuses on trees and the wood which comes from them.

Iskiomancy

Geomancy and Anemancy combine into an art dealing with shadow, the absence of light. Much like it's close relative of Cryomancy, this art deals with the absence of light forming darkness and shadow.

Magnimancy

Geomancy and Pyromancy combine into an art dealing with sand, glass, and magnets. This art also focuses on the tempering of minerals from the Earth with the heat of fire into things like steel, brass, and even glass.

Ammomancy

When mixing Wedomancy and Pyromancy one gets an study of sand and glass. Sand and glass are powerful, but subtle, components of magic. Both can serve as both boundary (such a window or a paper wall) or record for Litaurmancy. Those of this art are particularly schooled in the arts of that which is real and unreal, illusion. Of particular interest here is also reflections. Reflections hold a special power, the opposite of our normal selves, often revealing more than we asked for. This can also be mixed with Taximancy. Mirrors can be portals, allowing one to pass from one realm into another easily, the study of this along with other schools can provide powerful adaptations of smells.

Eniguramancy

When Geomancy is combined with Pyromancy and Wedomancy one creates a special study of magical dealing with that of paper. Often mixed with Litaurmancy to create powerful spell effects. As its own substance paper is a powerful tool for spell craft. Those who study this sphere are particularly schooled in the passage of time, writing present events into history and recalling those events. Paper is at once a boundary, a tool of record keeping, a tool of study, and a component of most advanced shellwork. Those who study this sphere are rare but they are powerful.

Earth wind fire water, time space, wood, lightning, blood, shadows, magnets/sand, paper

Arts of Aether

These arts deal directly with Aether itself. The force of life in the universe naturally only occurs at 3 times; birth, life, and death. Thus all the arts which deal directly upon that force naturally deal with those being born, those who are alive, and those who have died. Life / death are powerful elements of magic, they are the only times when natural gateways to the other planes open up. Manipulation of the natural flow of life is never without cost, those who study it understand that each act one takes to interfere in the life force of another takes a tole. Using ones abilities for good, such as for healing, enhances ones own life force and imparts a piece of the life force of the one healed upon the healer. In contrast, to harm with such power takes a tole and expends ones own life force. Since sex is the gateway to the creation of life, magic using sex is also included here.

Dominant in Aether Magic is the idea of equivalent exchange. A life for a life. There are nothing free when dealing at this level.

Coituimancy

The magical art of using sex as a basis for drawing, using, or manipulating magical energy, specifically drawing magical energy and using sex as a component in casting magical spells. Usually deals with using sex and orgasm as a sealing trigger to complete magical spells, or pulling energy away from a living being through their orgasm. Also deals with sex and orgasm as a way to manipulate the life force of a living being.

The act of sex and orgasm is one of exchange of life force, the spark of life which can be created using said exchange can be repurposed and utilized for the casting and sealing of patterns of aether. It is a particularly powerful kind of casting, psionics are especially good at this form of casting. At the moment of climax, specially joint climax, the energies of both parties are linked and exchanged. Thus that intense flow of energy can be exploited and used to cast and seal spells. Particularly good at sealing intricate magical patterns, especially when linked with Litaurmancy, to create an incredibly potent final piece of casting. This form of casting also is especially powerful to use in wards and summoning.

Necromancy

The magical art of manipulation of the dead. While it does deal with the reanimation of corpses, it also deals with the manipulation of energies at death. Death is a powerful thing as are the _previously alive_ as components in casting. This art focuses on not only imposing ones own will onto the previously alive but also manipulation of the release of energies at death. Death, in and of itself, sees the release of the naturally animating life force of a being. Sentient beings provide the most powerful energy release at death. This art also deals with a study of the _soul_ as a usable and manipulatable energy. In this necromancy can be used for both good (as in keeping the soul of a person from escaping for the purposes of healing) and for evil (as in trapping the essence of the fallen to be used in casting). Most often associated with evil because its spells can be used to reanimate the dead into mindless automatons.

The law of equivalent exchange applies in a particular way here, a life cannot be restored unless a life is spent. There is a finite window at the moment of death for the life force to be captured / returned to the body before a life must be exchanged for that restoration. At the time of death, for an instant, the doorway between realms is open and thus death can be a powerful component for some of the most potent magic.

This differs from Sanguimancy in that it deals explicitly with the events of death and not with the living. Though the two arts can work in tandem, they are specialized spheres of study.

Ortuimancy

Similar to necromancy but deals with the imparting of a life at the point of birth. A particular quality of life energy (aether) occurs at the time of birth. This is a rarely learned sphere of study as it requires extensive knowledge of birth and experience in birthing. At its most evil the life of a newborn can be stolen, resulting in a stillborn baby, and used by Ortuimancy similar to how Necromancy uses the energy released at death. At its most good, the art can be used to protect life at the moment of birth to use a portion of that energy to heal the mother, child, or both.

Life Necromancy, the doorway between life and death is open for an instant at the moment of birth. As a component of magic, that momentary opening can be an incredibly powerful element, even if one does not harm the child being born. It is likely, however, that any infusion of casting into the birthing process will result in a child born with unique and special qualities.

Sanguimancy

The magical art of using blood as a basis for drawing, using, or manipulating magical energy, specifically drawing on blood as a source of magical power and using blood in ritual to cast / consecrate the use of powerful spells. Also deals with using blood to draw magic from the life force of another person. Similar to Necromancy but focuses on living beings rather than the dead.

Blood magic is especially dangerous as it allows the practitioner to draw the life force out of blood and use / manipulate it. This can easily cause death but also takes a tole on the caster. Nothing is given without risk, the target of such casting is momentarily connected to the life force of the caster, as it is impossible to cast blood magic without using some of ones own blood. This school is especially difficult for psionics to accomplish, due to the nature of their abilities.

Utility

There are some spheres of study which are simply utilitarian and used to study and / or manipulate other areas.

Litaurmancy

The magical art of using letters in magic, mostly runes, but also can be any written or carved letter. These letters become the basis for written spells. While ancient runes are most powerful, especially when carved into a surface such as stone, wood, or even skin, any letters (including those of a book) can be used to cast magic. Litaurmancy deals mostly with making spells more permanent, it is one of the most ancient spheres. Litaurmancy can be used in the practice of any other sphere. This art is more commonly called Rune Magic.

Taximancy

The magical art dealing with travel and boundaries. Travel is in every day life, leaving one place and being in another. Existing in a place gives that place an after-image or imprint of ones own self. While the most prominent utility of such arts is the casting of teleportation or portal spells, this art also deals with the after-image a person leaves when they depart one place and go to another. In Taximancy a space gains an ineffable quality once it is inhabited by a living being, it becomes a place. The art of Taximancy at its core deals with the presence left behind or imprinted upon an empty space by life. This leads to the development of ways to travel, and cross boundaries.

Used often as a supporting sphere of study with Necromancy, the study of boundaries is especially useful when creating wards and piercing wards between places. This also includes the natural boundaries between life, death, dreams, and homes.

Chronomancy

The time one is in has its own special boundaries. These important boundaries between what was, what is, and what will be. The boundaries between periods of time are firmer set and require a special set of rules and laws. The most notable law of Chronomancy is the Law of Time. This barrier and travel across it are the focus of Chronomancy. Also studied is the controlling the rate at which time flows, a necessary precursor to understanding how to manipulate the flow of time.

Sepitimancy

Ones home is a special domain, it is where their afterimage is the strongest and lasts the longest. As such the boundary for what is home is a powerful one, strengthened by either spells or simply years of exposure. Ones home affords them special projections, such as a Vampire being unable to enter the home without an invitation.