Conceptual Magics

REALIGNING REALITY
Conceptual Magic follows the idea that magic may operate under its own form of rules and laws, but that the connections between them are more in line with thematic association, rather than any sort of quantifiable scientific understanding or rational connection. While defying known physical laws is to be expected of a supernatural force, these forms of magic grant powers and abilities based on cultural connotations and superstitions relating to their theme.
 
Most Conceptual Magics are forged in relation to humanity, and thus are based around a human bias. Non-human creatures may possess the same category of magic, but understand it differently, and this may effect how they are able to use it. For most cases, however, the human method should be considered the default. While it is possible for a branch of Concept Magic to evolve over time, most retain their initial manifestation; once established, it will cement its own rules into place, by way of its use re-enforcing the Concept it is based on.
 
There are many different variations of Concept Magic, and each operates under their own unique systems. Concept Magics may exist on worlds right along other forms of magic that they resemble, and thus, can be easily confused with other types of mysticism. Categorizing such Magics mainly comes down to identifying certain key attributes.
 
 
CORRELATING CONCEPTS
Concept Magics are largely identified by two factors: energy mechanics and range of effects.
 
Firstly, a Concept Mage’s powers are fueled by the mere existence of a specific phenomenon, object, or entity being nearby, or by engaging in a specific activity. This creates for the Mage a type of Energy or Mana that can only be detected by other Mages of that type. No other form of detection, scientific or supernatural, can even tell the Energy is being generated, save for the Mage being able to use their powers. To put it one way, it is as though the Mage in question is being empowered by the very Concept of their power, to a degree that would almost seem to be a placebo effect, were it not for the observable limitations when the Energy source is taken away.
 
In this way, most Concept Magics operate under an “energy meter” limitation which requires the Mage to recharge themselves periodically, or operates under an “on/off switch” limitation, wherein their abilities won’t function unless their power source is present. In either case, however, this flagrantly breaks all known laws of thermodynamics, as the power source should in no way be capable of providing the energy necessary to fuel the effects of the magic. In most cases, there is no actual energy being produced at all, but Concept Magic operates as if there is. This likewise defies the laws of equivalent exchange or the need to draw on extra-dimensional resources or to make pacts with supernatural entities, like most other known forms of magic.
 
As in the examples listed below, these Energy sources pretty much always are, or are related to, the same thing the Magic is named after, and this as much as anything is what gives each branch of Concept Magic their names. Ice Magic requires Ice Mages to spend time in the cold or touching ice, Rat Mages must spend time with rats, Fire Mages must spend time near open flame, Gear Mages must spend time tinkering with machines, Solar Mages must spend time in sunlight, etc.
 
Secondly, because Concept Magics operate under their own unique system of “it just works because it does”, they are notoriously difficult to prevent from functioning. Normal methods of shutting down magic powers by cutting off natural flows of actual Mana, or blocking powers through technological inhibitors, or even using other types of supernatural power to block the abilities of others usually just don’t work, unless the methods are capable of a degree reality warping beyond that of Concept Magic itself. For example, magical seals that would stop a Medium or Necromancer from communing with spirits and ghosts would not stop a Ghost Mage from doing the same thing; in fact Ghost Mages can summon ghosts in worlds where ghosts don’t even exist! The only reliable way to stop a Concept Mage from using their powers is to deprive them of their power source.
 
Thirdly, as previously mentioned, the powers granted by Concept Magic are not always logically sound, even by the standards of other forms of magic. A Mage will gain powers relating directly to their Magic type as expected, but they may also have additional powers not immediately obvious, yet thematically related by connotation. For example, Ice Mages can extend their lifespans by undergoing periods of extended hibernation, “freezing” themselves in suspended animation. Rat Mages have an uncanny ability to quickly navigate mazes. Mirror Mages can “reflect” off their body any form of attack that has a light component to it, such as a fireball or lightning or the blade of a laser-sword.
 
Not every Concept Magic has this obvious tell, but most have something that just doesn’t fit compared to similar magics that operate under more grounded systems. A “normal” Ice Magician usually has to draw upon an Elemental Plane of Ice, or summon an Ice Spirit, or must freeze things by thermokinetically redirecting heat from the target onto something else, and even then, they can only freeze things; they may even be limited by how much ice they can create by way of the amount of water in an area. A Conceptual Ice Mage just needs to think “cold” at something and it will freeze, and they can do the hibernation trick, and just create ice from no where, and they may be able to just stop something from moving without even dropping its temperature.
 
 
OBFUSCATED ORIGINS
Every form of Concept Magic originates from some kind of exceptional supernatural accident. It is not easy to trace the origins; in fact, while there are many legends tying Concept Magic to the works of gods or folklore heroes or enlightened artists or intrepid explorers, none can actually be irrefutably linked to a specific inventor or incident of discovery. It is almost as if the earliest Mages simply woke up with the knowledge one day.
 
Some believe that these Magics are drawn from a Universal Subconscious reacting to the forces of a pliable higher dimension, such as the Roil, the Ethereal World, or the Fae Realm, where the fabric of reality can be directly influenced by thought. In this way, the superstitions and cultural beliefs of a civilization may spontaneously generate new forms of Magic, which is then solidified and reinforced through its use among the populace.
 
Others believe the Magics are handcrafted by gods or fairies or other such beings already capable warping reality to their whims. They form new types of Magic as it suits their aesthetic tastes or whims, and then distribute it to an initial group of mortals believed to be worthy of the power.
 
Some Magics are clearly more recently formed than others; Gear Magic relies on modern concepts of machinery to function, and therefore could not have manifested prior to an Industrial Revolution, with the mass production of vehicles and gadgets. As culture evolves, so too do some Concept Magics appear to shift over the course of decades. Some point out that Smith Mages, blacksmiths with supernaturally enhanced craftsmanship, may have been an early manifestation of Gear Magic; certainly, with the mechanization of weapon crafting, Smith Magic seems to have been drastically reduced as Gear Magic has risen.
 
 
GAINING THE POWER
There are two ways by which Concept Magic can spread: one is by sheer freak accident, the other is by ritualistic passing. Some Magics can be spread through both methods, and in fact, there does seem to be a precedent that Magics in danger of fading away through lack of ritual passing may spontaneously generate in a new handful of random people throughout the world by seeming accident.
 
Accidental empowerment seems to be truly random, with no reliable connection between those who are empowered, and what they are empowered with. Most accidents come from Magics based around natural forces, and cannot be force-triggered by artificially replicating the conditions. Lightning Mages may emerge if a person is struck by lightning numerous times during a single storm. Dream Mages or Sleep Mages may awaken to their powers after experiencing near-fatal sleep deprivation, or from being in months-long comas, or from extreme reactions to hallucinatory drugs.
 
Ritual passing, involves an active Mage performing some action to spread a power to someone else. Fire Mages can awaken new magicians through ritual immolation, Sex Mages can spread their power through sexual rituals, Gear Mages can train others through joint construction projects. Dream Mages have also been able to imbue their powers onto others through Shared Dream connections, triggering new magicians who can master their powers in the dream.
 
Still other Concepts seem to simply emerge within a person for absolutely no reason. It may take some time to develop, but in such cases it seems that a person is simply born with a potential for Conceptual Magic, and only realizes they have a power through circumstances alerting them to it.
 
 
LIMITATIONS
As previously mentioned, the only reliable way to shut off a Concept Mage’s power is to deprive them of the source of their unique energy. Most Concept Mages rely on their Mana source to be either always present, or they must use it to charge their powers, at which point, they will drain their store of energy over time and/or through use of their Magic. Lock a Solar Mage in a place with no sun light, keep a Water Mage away from water, throw a Song Mage in a padded room with restrains so they can’t hear or produce any music, etc. Depending on the type of Magic involved, this can be easy or next to impossible. It is simple enough to deprive an Ice Mage of cold depending on the environment, but depriving an Air Mage of air without outright killing them from suffocation would require trapping them in a small bubble of air entombed inside solid rock, or deep underwater, or in a vacuum, which isn’t very easy to arrange.
 
The other primary limitation is that most individuals are unable to learn more than one kind of Concept Magic. There are several theories for this, but the most commonly accepted one is that once a person learns one type of Magic, something about their self-identity becomes intrinsically linked to it, and thus, they cannot perceive themselves as any other kind of Mage on some fundamental level. Even if they wish it were otherwise, a Fire Mage cannot truly acclimate to the idea of being a Shadow Mage or a Mirror Mage or a Bird Mage, because they are already a Fire Mage. This is not necessarily a conscious limitation, a given Magic itself just seems to not allow another type of Magic to co-exist in the same body. Thus, even for Magics that can be passed through ritual, the rituals won’t work for someone who already has an active Magic.
 
How much is this the subconscious mind influencing things versus how much is this a fundamental incompatibility of Mana types, and how much is this just the nature of Conceptual Magic limiting itself by way of some higher system mechanics at play is hard to tell, because, of course, there are exceptions to this rule. Multi Mages, Gestalt Mages, Switch Mages, Mimic Mages, and Omni Mages, while exceedingly rare, exist by way of their own Concept categories, enabling them to learn or replicate the effects of multiple types of Magic.
 
 
 
MAKING MAGIC
You can pretty much create any type of Concept Magic by taking any word and slapping “Magic” after it, and then start thinking of all the things that word might be associated with as the basis for what abilities the Magic would give you.
 
If a particularly creative person were so inclined, I’m sure they could fill an entire encyclopedia with different Magic categories just going down lists of words. You may get a lot of overlap, but you’d still get a countless variety of possible power sets.
 
Below are several samples of Concept Magics. Any given setting may have only a handful of expressions, with their own more definitive lore reasons for existing, or a world may possess myriad types at once from an endless variety or sources, and some worlds may even hold only one type of Magic for reasons unique to that setting.
 
CLOUD MAGIC
POWERS and ABILITIES
Cloud Mages are one of many possible variations of Elemental Mage, with a bit more range of effects than more specific types like Ice or Fire. Cloud Mages possess abilities associated with clouds.
 
Firstly, they can create clouds, either high above an area, or directly around them, creating a dense, obfuscating mist. Any cloud they create can generate rain, hail, sleet, or snow, from light drizzles to torrential downpours, even from clouds far to small to contain that amount of rain. Their clouds can also fire bolts of lightning or generate booming thunder.
 
More advanced Cloud Mages are capable of transforming into clouds themselves to become effectively intangible and flow through spaces that are not air tight. They can also make themselves “light as a cloud” in order to float their bodies. In either case, though, they can be easily blown around by wind.
 
A Cloud Mage can dim the lighting of any overhead light without even needing to summon a cloud to do so, though most will normally create one anyway. They can also radically increase the humidity of an area, to the point of outright soaking an area in heavy dew. They have some minor ability to fluctuate the temperature of an area covered by their clouds, but not enough to make a substantial difference.
 
More esoteric abilities allow a Cloud Mage to temporarily “fog” the minds of a target, “putting the heads in the clouds” as it were, addling their senses and thoughts to make them ineffectual and confused. Cloud Mages are also capable of linking to existing clouds and seeing the landscape from a clouds-eye view, giving them a large mental map with which to orient themselves. This map cannot be zoomed in, however. Cloud Mages can also naturally sense shifts in weather patterns for dozens or even hundreds of miles around, and are capable of detecting natural clouds or mist at such ranges.
 
MANA RECOVERY
Cloud Mages have several methods of recovery, namely by standing in the shade of clouds, standing in various forms of precipitation, or standing in mist or fog. They can also gain some power by floating in the air through methods not directly under their control, such as hanging out on a hot-air balloon.
 
Cloud Mages can effectively recharge themselves by creating clouds and weather effects that can naturally perpetuate for a time. They can gather rain clouds that will take time to disperse, and then releasing control of said clouds to let the phenomenon continue naturally, enabling them to then absorb the Cloud Mana resulting from the natural consequences of the set-up.
 
EXTRA LIMITATIONS
Contrary to some expectations, Cloud Mages do not control wind. Strong gusts can easily send them flying off in unwanted directions while they are floating, and their clouds can be easily dispersed by sudden gusts if they are not actively trying to anchor their clouds in place.
 
Cloud Mages are not to be confused with Storm Mages, who can control the wind, but their powers revolve entirely around stormy weather conditions over which they have direct fine-tuned control. Cloud Mages, by contrast, do not have very fine control over the precipitation they create; rain and snow just falls below the clouds, and only by judging the wind, or its lack, can a Mage really direct the fall. If a Mage wishes to be particularly precise, they are better off making tiny clouds low to a target.
 
Even their lightning strikes are not precise, and it can be very dangerous for a Mage to unleash bolts from high overhead, as they have very little control over where they land, other than “the bolt will strike below the cloud.” For precision strikes, Mages are again better off making tiny clouds hovering directly over a target, though the smaller the cloud, the weaker the lightning. Thunder, likewise, cannot be directed like with a speaker, it is always an equally strong blast of sound in all directions.
 
Thankfully, Cloud Mages aren’t harmed by their own weather effects, with their own hail or lightning or thunder not having any deleterious effects on their person, to the point some Cloud Mages will carry lightning rods to direct lightning blast towards them to damage nearby targets. This does not protect other Cloud Mages or the people around them, however, and thus allies caught in a Mage’s wide-scale effects will be just as hindered as any opponent.
 
AWAKENING
Nearly all Cloud Mages are accidentally formed, through the simple act of taking an aircraft through a cloud, or being caught in very heavy mist or fog bank on land or water during an overcast day. The more exposed to the cloud one is, the better. This is one of the few Concept Magics where an “accidental” awakening can be artificially induced, with people taking open planes and balloons up to cloud level, or taking out boats during heavy fog, but the triggering is so rare and unreliable, that it’s as good as worthless to actually try and purposefully become one.
 
A few well-practiced Cloud Mages can induce their Magic in others, however, by transforming into a cloud and “soaking” another person in their cloud form while concentrating on imbuing that person with Mana; this is best done during an overcast day, where the Mage can continuously draw upon cloud-shade to power the infusion. The process can take hours, or multiple sessions, to set in, and still isn’t necessarily reliable.
 
 
RAT MAGIC
POWERS and ABILITIES
Rat Magic grants a wide variety of abilities all tied to concepts about rats. Initially, a Rat Mage can commune with and command swarms of rats. Soon, they will be able to transform into a rat themselves, either to scale with a normal rat, or a giant dog-sized rat. They can also take on a wererat hybrid form, combining a general human body shape with varying degrees of rat-like features. Some Rat Mages are even able to break apart their bodies into multiple normal-sized rats, or even small copies of their human form to become their own swarm.
 
These transformations are temporary, and eventually, the Mage will be forced to transform back to normal after several hours of sustained transformation burns through their energy reserves. However, very minor transformations, such as giving oneself rat ears and a tail while otherwise human, can be sustained almost indefinitely if no other powers are active. Mages can always feel their limit approaching, and thus are able to make sure they have enough time to spare and are in a safe condition to change back.
 
While in their bestial forms, they can still talk, and possess the enhanced senses of a rat. While in their normal form, they can also tap into these senses, gaining enhanced smell, hearing, and tremorsense. Most Rat Mages are unusually agile and flexible for their build, able to leap and climb and land on their feet better than a human should, with even portly Mages being able to squeeze through tighter spaces than they seemingly should with ease.
 
More experienced Mages also gain a “whisker aura”, which lets them sense the general shape and movements of things within a couple feet of their body, giving them an impression of everything that’s immediately around them. This can be used to slowly navigate through even pitch-black spaces, or warn them of something about to touch them.
 
Rat Mages also have a supernatural gift for survivability. They gain incredibly high resilience to environmental hazards, up to and including levels of radiation that would be dangerous to humans, although even then, radiation that would flat out kill a person is still a threat to them. Mages can also survive off spoiled food if necessary, are resistant to disease and infection, and have a knack for foraging that lets them intuit the location of edible food nearby.
 
Rat Mages that stretch the connotations of their powers can tap into even more esoteric powers. By playing a flute, a Mage can put others into a hypnotic trance, people and animals alike. They can also inflict disease-like symptoms on others, either through bites or by summoning ghostly little fleas that will jump onto and bite a target; these do not inject actual viruses or poisons, but force the body of the victim to temporarily experience various ailment effects, such as nausea, aches, dizziness, vertigo, fever, and/or muted senses.
 
Rat Mages can naturally navigate mazes with stunningly accurate intuition. This extends to labyrinths or any location with confusing, twisting passages. They can also naturally intuit the location of any form of cheese within a dozen to a hundred miles; this particular power is especially useful for not only finding food generally, but also the location of civilization if they are ever lost in the wilderness.
 
LIMITATIONS
Rumors have it that Rat Mages have incredibly shortened life-spans, incredibly heightened libidos, cannibalistic tendencies, and/or are natural carriers of actual plagues. These are not true, or at least, any given Rat Mage with these negative qualities has them unrelated to the Magic.
 
However, this negative reputation does Rat Mages no favors; outside of a few high-class practitioners who go out of their way to present themselves as clean and proper, accompanied by well-behaved fancy rats, most people find these Mages suspicious at best until they get to know them. The fact that Rat Mages do generally seem to prefer the company of their rats to most people, and many willingly live as vagrants or wild folk doesn’t help matters.
 
Despite a natural resistance to disease and infection, Rat Mages are not resistant to poisons or venoms.
 
Newly awakened Mages may have some difficulty fully controlling their swarm under duress, especially in the presence of a rat’s natural predators. Cats in particular are naturally capable of disrupting the connection between an untrained Mage and their companion swarm; while one cat isn’t much of a problem, a pack of them can easily panic and scatter the swarm, cutting of a Rat Mage from actively recharging their powers, until the cats are dealt with. More experienced Mages, however, can better maintain their connection and control under such conditions.
 
 
MANA RECOVERY
Rat Mages recharge their powers simply by hanging out with rats. The bigger the swarm, the faster they recharge. In the absence of rats, mice will also do; technically speaking, Mouse Mages are a separate, but overlapping type of Mage, but they are so similar, and rats are by far the more numerous of the two, that Mouse Mages are effectively just a sub-variant of Rat Mage. There has also been at least one known Hamster Mage variant, and a few Rat Mages have managed to make due with a hamster swarm in a pinch. However, this seems to be the limit, as no other rodent species will do, and using a rodent one is not primarily aligned to is always less effective. If neither mice nor rats nor hamsters are present, eating cheese can also restore a bit of Mana.
 
 
AWAKENING
A Rat Mage gains their powers by forging a relationship with a rat that has already spent substantial time in the presence of an existing Rat Mage. Such rats (or mice) will naturally absorb some of the magical essence of their master, and can transfer it by instinct to a person whom they have come to trust. The process is accelerated if the person in question gains the trust of a whole swarm. However, such a connection is not fully formed unless the rat or rat swarm is cut loose from their original master. In this event, there is still a chance the unaffiliated rat will lose that essence if they go too long without encountering another human to bond to. Swarms are more likely to actively seek a new master in the event their first master dies, but they may still run out the clock on the essence if they take too long. Such rats that lose that essence no longer feel a need to bond with a human, and the possibility of connection is usually lost.
 
Most new Rat Mages are indoctrinated by existing ones, however, most Rat Mages are not eager to take on apprentices, so they remain rare. There have been a few times in history where Rat Mages have seemingly gone extinct. When this happens, however, several essence-imbued rat swarms emerged from seemingly no where to empower a new Mage, indicating there is a greater will behind the force of Rat Magic, and possibly other Beast Magics as well.
 
It is rumored that Rat Mages may spontaneously be created when a person consumes a piece of cheese that a rat has nibbled on. Presumably, this would have to be a rat that has some Rat Magic essence they pass into the cheese, and the person who eats it just lucks out in being able to absorb and adapt to the Magic. There is no actual confirmed case of this happening, but a few Rat Mages claim this is how it happened to them. Interestingly, the one known case of a Hamster Mage said this is how she got her powers, except that it was a pack of sunflower seeds she ate that her hamster had gotten into.
 
 
 
GEAR MAGIC
POWERS and ABILITIES
Gear Mages are able to create machines that operate under a sort of cartoon logic of how machines are supposed to operate. They can likewise enhance existing machines by attaching parts intended to operate similarly. Gear Magic devices can be crudely constructed, as long as they are sturdy enough to take the punishment necessary to work. In fact, in some cases, the less mechanically sensible the device is, the better it may operate, as the person using Gear Magic can focus on the effect they are trying to achieve without being distracted by knowing how impractical it is. Because of this, somewhat ironically, actual mechanics and engineers can make for poor Gear Mages if they cannot get out of the headspace of realistic construction restrictions.
 
The simplest way to describe how Gear Magic works is to consider a child’s or cartoon’s logic of how machines operate. A good example is “helicopters can fly, because they have a propeller. Ergo, anything with a propeller on top can fly if the propeller can spin.” Using this logic, a Gear Mage can turn a car into an ad hoc helicopter, by bolting a few propellers onto the top and using some mechanism to spin them. The lack of aerodynamics, proper frame support, or necessary thrust doesn’t matter, if the propellers spin quickly, car will rise into the air.
 
Similarly, a part of robotic arms can be constructed from random junk parts, and so long as it has hinges for identifiable joints and some obvious means by which to move them (such as a simple pulley system and wires), the arms will be able to move. Said arms usually won’t even need a power source to operate, especially not if the builder is using them. The arms will be far more functional as an extra set of limbs than they reasonably should be, given the materials.
 
All of a Gear Mage’s devices will work automatically for themselves, or for other Gear Mages that understand the basic concept behind the device. Gear Mages can also make devices, or enhancements, that others can operate, as long as they rig some kind of understandable control mechanism. Wiring a flight stick into the car with propellers will help a person drive the “helicar” the Gear Mage constructed.
 
What is actually happening when a Gear Mage makes a device is that they are enchanting the objects they are working on to operate the way they wish. The act of construction is itself the ritual that seals the magic. Most Gear devices can function indefinitely in the hands of their creator, and not at all in other people’s hands. Those devices that can be used by others will need to be recharged through some mechanism the Gear Mage likewise enchants. This can be anything that makes sense as “fuel”, even if it would not actually be sufficient to power a real device. In the “helicar” example, the Gear Mage might attach a solar panel to the car to recharge it with light, or a battery holder, and the batteries will need to be swapped out periodically to keep the device running.
 
LIMITATIONS
Gear Mages are, of course, limited by the materials at hand. If they can’t find or make a propeller, they can’t make anything that requires a propeller to function. There are cases as well where, due to sheer scale, even attempting to build or enhance a machine just won’t work if the Gear Mage doesn’t have enough material to “sensibly” craft the device. Putting a small rocket on a tank isn’t going to let it move any faster, if the rocket is tiny, and even by the logic of Gear Magic, wouldn’t be capable of moving such a heavy machine on it’s own, much less enhance it’s speed.
 
In this way, Gear Magic can actually be rather tricky, as a Mage must balance their desired effects with a seemingly nebulous matrix of associated concepts that have to still make sense to them when constructing or enhancing a device.
 
Moreover, Gear Magic devices depend on their completed form to function, and for the Mage in question to be the one to work on it. Bending, breaking, or otherwise sabotaging a device such that its form is compromised is enough to halt the Magic completely, and the device will need to be repaired by the original creator, assuming the damage isn’t irreversible. Even if a non-Mage borrowing the device knows exactly how to fix the problem, and repairing it themselves will not restore the magic to make it function.
 
For example, a set of robotic arms that uses wires to help the user puppet the arms will quit working if a main support wire is cut; nevermind that the wire shouldn’t have worked in the first place, the damage symbolically disables the device by disrupting its form. Fixing the wire won’t restore function unless the original Gear Mage does it.
 
It is possible for highly experienced Gear Mages to “tap into” the magic of another Mage’s device and possibly repair it themselves, but this is a lot easier if said Mage has worked with the devices creator previously. In most cases, it is more effective for another Gear Mage to just build a new device from scratch, even if they copy the previous model to do so.
 
MANA RECOVERY
Gear Mages recharge their powers by being near objects of artifice, be they machines of any sort, but preferably mechanically complicated devices. They can recharge much faster and more efficiently by fiddling or tinkering with said devices, especially performing acts of construction, repair, or dismantling, without using their magic to do so. Such objects can even include things like toys and puzzles, if they are mechanically- or construction-oriented.
 
AWAKENING
A Gear Mage gains their power by being mentored and guided by an existing Gear Mage. The master must guide the apprentice through several construction projects of increasing complexity, with the master easing off their guidance as it goes on. Eventually, something “clicks” in the apprentices’ mind, and they manage to create a device that operates under Gear Magic principles all on their own.
 
 
 
STRING MAGIC
POWERS and ABILITIES
String Mages are able to telekinetically control any sort of “string” with fine-tuned precision, imbue incredible durability and strength to the material, and even extend it to tremendous lengths. From sewing thread to twine to yarn to spider-silk to metal wires to dental floss to hairs, as long as the material is long, extremely thin, and flexible enough that it normally can’t hold itself up under its own weight, they can manipulate it.
 
String Mages are limited primarily in the use of available materials, and the fact that they must use their hands to perform their actions. In the case of non-human Mages, they must have some means of fine-tune manipulation of string without relying on the Magic to do all of it. A Mages strings, while actively under their power, are either looped around, or the end is stuck to, their fingertips; they can have multiple strings attached to one finger, but every string attached to that finger follows its general motions as a unit, unless a Mage has trained to increase the range of diverse actions myriad strings can perform off one digit. Exceptional Mages may be able to additionally manipulate strings with their toes, or lips and tongue, if necessary.
 
String Magic has a variety of uses, mainly utilitarian in nature. It can be used to rapidly create or repair clothing, including temporarily imbuing the threads of the material with enhanced durability without compromising flexibility. This enhancement can affect any textile they are wearing or have directly touched, and is one of the only times they don’t need their hands to be constantly touching the material; they can enhance another person’s clothing for several minutes by charging it with a touch. Similarly, a String Mage can also tear apart a person’s textile clothing or items (including the stitching that holds together pieces of armor), with a touch by commanding the strings to fray apart all at once.
 
String Magic can also be used to create or destroy other constructs, such as wire structures, snares, webs, musical chords, cutting lines, braided whips, various tapestries, etc. Combining their enhancing effect with telekinetic control, a Mage can also use even single strings as grapple lines and bridges for quick travel over terrain. These various constructs can be telekinetically manipulated as easily as the strings they are composed of, including being temporarily frozen into various shapes. A short whip can become a long lance in the Mage’s hand.
 
Strings can also be magically augmented for carrying sound, enabling a Mage to create ad hoc phone lines by doing the “two cans connected by a string” trick. When the Mages makes one, however, their version will possess exceptional sound clarity like a real phone. Similarly, a Mage can set up arrays of threads along the ground or over a structure to read vibrations with incredible accuracy, or put out strings as feelers to sense an area around them. Likewise, a Mage can create temporary string instruments by making a set of strings arrange themselves as if they are attached to a guitar, violin, or other such instrument, and create the proper sounds when strummed, even if they are not made of the proper materials.
 
String Mages have exceptional balance and seem to partly defy gravity when walking along their own string bridges, able to casually stand on them without fear of falling off, or snapping the string with their weight. This likewise extends to thicker, but narrower “loose bridges” like cables suspended in the air. This does not extend to balancing on “hard” narrow bridges like rails, however.
 
The strings can likewise be enhanced not just for durability, but for mechanical strength as well, and each string becomes a super-strong tendril that can lift and move objects far heavier than the Mage can lift themselves. Moreover, a Mage seems to similarly partly defy gravity when lifting themselves with their own strings, moving freely through the air on their string-grapples.
 
As part of their ability to manipulate many strings at once, String Mages are naturally gifted with exceptional multitasking capability, and can perform multiple actions at once with their strings without losing track. This can extend to other tasks as well, though not usually to the degree they can perform their Magic. Notably, String Mages are innately ambidextrous, and can perform a different task with each hand, while paying nearly full attention to a third activity at the same time without stumbling.
 
Exceptional String Mages can also unlock and master the technique of Puppetry. By attaching their strings to a person or animal, they are able to seize control of their body, manipulating their nervous system through mystical impulses sent through the strings. This takes more concentrated control than even using strings to work machinery, and a String Mage usually needs to dedicate at least one whole hand to the act of controlling someone, and they usually need both to start with. A person cannot simply willpower their way out of this control, but the more they physically try to resist, the clumsier the Mage’s control will be, to the point that one can make the effort almost worthless, though the sheer muscular strain necessary can be dangerous. Cutting the strings, even just a few of them, is enough to break the control. If a person is fully armored, the strings can be used to control the armor, but the person inside may have a chance to break out of it before the strings touch their skin.
 
LIMITATIONS
As previously mentioned, to qualify as a “string”, the material must be thin, long, and dangle loosely under gravity with total flexibility. If it lacks any of these of these traits, it does not qualify. Ergo, a String Mage cannot just bend a paper clip into a straight rod, because even though it is a narrow, long piece of material, it is rigid enough to hold its form on its own. Likewise, flexible materials that may bend under their own weight but are still not fully loose, such as straw or brush fibers, are disqualified for use. A living string-like entity such as a horsehair worm or tape worm, is likewise disqualified, as is any fibrous material inside a living body.
 
Likewise, there is a somewhat nebulous threshold at which a material becomes too thick to qualify as a string. Yarn still counts, very thin cables can still count, but anything thick enough to be considered a cord or rope tends to be unusable if it was not constructed by the String Mage herself by linking her strings together.
 
String Mages can use their own hairs as strings, but cannot do so directly from the surface of their skin. They must still touch their hair with their fingers to manipulate it, and being rooted to their body limits how much fine tune control can be performed if they don’t just pluck the hairs.
 
As mentioned, String Mages must connect their strings to their fingers, or if they are capable, their toes or tongue and lips to be able to manipulate them. If they lack any means of fine-tuned manipulation, such as their hands being shackled in fully-encased restraints, or getting their hands cut off, they are effectively powerless. Even Mages who can manipulate objects with their feet won’t be able to do much if their toes are encased in shoes, and thus such Mages tend to wear open sandals or go barefoot, unless circumstances force them to do otherwise.
 
The enhanced durability granted to their strings only qualifies for resisting physical force, such as snapping, cutting, fraying, or crushing. This does not resist burning or chemical corrosion, and in the case of metal wires, hinder conductivity.
 
The ability to lengthen strings is not indefinite; although a String Mage seems able to ad copious amounts of extra mass to any given string, Mages can only extend any given thread outward so far. The longest any Mage has managed is about a thousand feet, projecting a string outward. By contrast, however, a String Mage is able to tie a string to something, and then continuously length it, but extending the end they are holding. This method enables them to create miles-long strings they can trace the full length of, though their control ability still only seems to extend to a thousand feet at most.
 
Ultimately, though, added mass to any given string will eventually fade away, as the magic imbued into the material is used up. As such, String Mages always make sure that they have access to a fair amount of material to begin with.
 
MANA RECOVERY
String Mages passively absorb Mana simply through wearing sewn clothing. The more actual handcrafting was put into creating the outfit, the more Mana they collect, and in fact, they can suffuse such clothes with extra stores of Mana, giving them a lot of power to draw from when necessary.
 
They can charge their powers much faster by doing manual sewing, knitting, and weaving themselves. Many String Mages have sewing kits or looms for random crafting projects. Any accessories they make themselves can hold even more Mana than normal textiles.
 
Some Mages have been known to recharge small bits of Mana by being around web-weaving spiders, letting them crawl over them, lightly touching their webs, or watching as the spider constructs their web.
 
AWAKENING
String Mages train apprentices in much the same way Gear Mages do, working on crafting projects that involve sewing, weaving, or knitting. Over time, the apprentice will do more and more of the work, while the String Mage suffuses the threads with their Magic. At something, something will click with the apprentice, and they will gain access to the power.
 
 
 
JUSTICE MAGIC
POWERS and ABILITIES
A Justice Mage is literal living force for justice, but like many socially-based Magic types, the manifestation is not always consistent. Moreso than most, Justice is exceptionally context-dependant, and the powers enabled will often reflect the situation being addressed.
 
By default, a Justice Mage obtains superhuman strength, durability, speed, reflexes, and stamina to variable degrees, often scaling up to match a threat, though it will not necessarily be enough to overcome it. Regenerative powers, ignoring pain, enhanced senses, flight, and not needing to breathe are not guaranteed, but are quite common additional powers. A Mage can also manifest weaponry from thin air for combat or execution purposes, and these can sometimes take on exotic manifestations. A flaming sword is a common weapon wielded by Mages.
 
A Justice Mage can also innately tell when a person is lying, and have a preternatural intuition of who is in the wrong or the right in a given conflict. For example, if they witness a person striking someone, they will know if that person was provoked into it, or if they were the initial aggressor. It is hence not possible to trick a Justice Mage into acting unjustly. Likewise, a Justice Mage will be able to determine the “right” course of action to correct an injustice, although some may find the result untenable.
 
A Justice Mage’s powers are not always active, but while they are host to the Magic, it will help keep them alive, even when taking damage at unawares. It is still possible to kill an unguarded Mage with instantly-lethal attacks, but they can survive and continue to act despite taking what should be fatal blows. Even with their powers initially at rest, they will begin regenerating if they take damage. Poisons and disease are essentially useless, as they will be burned out of a Mage’s system before they can inflict the desired effect.
 
Exactly where a Justice Mage’s sense of justice, and when the power chooses to act, seems to be a combination of general broad notions of what is determined to be right or wrong within the society they are within, their own sense of right and wrong, and at times a little understand “higher” notion of the greater good. For the most part, the Justice Mage can act with their own sense of justice, as long as it does not overtly conflict with the other two notions.
 
There are times, however, when Justice Magic may enable a Mage to defy laws that clearly violate or inhibit the principles of a greater good. Justice Magic will not condone prejudicial violence or enslavement, even if such actions are sanctioned by the law.
 
LIMITATIONS
A Justice Mage’s powers are only active while they are in pursuit of justice. Under any other conditions, their powers don’t normally work. They can fly to chase after a criminal, but if they walk into a bar and pick a fight for a no reason, the power will fail them. The power will act to help them survive and recover at high speed, as being alive is rather necessary for the Mage to enact their mission, but otherwise will not protect them from damage or pain they unjustly bring upon themselves.
 
Likewise, a Justice Mage’s powers will not assist them in pursuing revenge, meaning many are not able to properly use their powers against a criminal that has directly wronged them, unless they are able to retain total stoicism about their situation, and act as they would against any other criminal.
 
Justice is a very context-dependant situation, and thus, their powers may not act in accordance to their desires, only in accordance to who has been wronged and who has not been wronged. A Mage’s ability to intuit context means that they can sense the nuances of a conflict beyond the immediate circumstances, as long as it involves those in direct conflict. For example, Person A and Person B get into a fight. Person A appears to have started it, and the Justice Mage may actively hate Person A. However, if it turns out Person B has been harassing Person A until Person A finally snapped, and there were no other mitigating factors contributing to the conflict, the Justice Mage can’t ignore that fact, and must put their feelings towards Person A aside to act on their behalf, or their powers will refuse to assist them in the matter.
 
A Justice Mage is most effective when acting against a single wrongdoer, or small group of wrongdoers, rather than tackling large scale problems that effect the whole of society. A lot of what is perceived as evil in the world is not actually done through direct evil intent, but the banality of social and corporate systems being indifferent to the plight of those left behind. However, attempting to tear down those very systems would do more damage to society as a whole, and thus a Justice Mage cannot simply turn their power against the rulers of society in the hopes to cause a large-scale revolution within their country. Because there are so many factors at play, a Justice Mage’s power cannot see the true path of justice to follow, and attempting to tackle problems on such a scale just causes their powers to effectively short circuit. Only when such figures of authority are themselves criminals that act with direct malice against the people can a Justice Mage reliably use their powers against them.
 
It is worth noting, however, that Justice Magic does not prevent a Mage from doing unjust acts or tackling much larger issues of wide scale reform, just that they cannot use their powers in those contexts.
 
Because the context of justice can be different in different cultures, even though a Justice Mage’s powers are largely influenced by their own sense of right and wrong, the greater notions of societal law and the greater good may interfere with the effectiveness of their powers. A Justice Mage may not like that fact that in some countries, a woman is required to wear a full-body covering in public, but if that is the law of the land, and the woman is not being otherwise forced into compliance through threats and bodily harm, Justice Magic is not going to help it’s user act to free said woman of the dress standard.
 
Justice Magic also does not concern itself with wrongdoings that are essentially just petty slights or inconveniences. It won’t activate in a circumstance where one child is angry that their sibling got an extra cookie and they didn’t.
 
Justice Magic is also not reliable for engaging in war. Unlike War Mages, whose powers operate simply through battling and staying loyal to their chosen side, a Justice Mage senses the atrocity occurring on all sides. There powers are unlikely to operate in such conditions unless they can undergo a mission with a clear objective to bring an end to the clearest evils being committed.
 
With all this in mind, Justice Mages are at their best when dealing with more immediate crimes, or pursuing a specific criminal that has escaped the law.
 
MANA RECOVERY
A Justice Mages powers are constantly active when in pursuit of a just cause, be it in direct action, or when performing tasks that will better facilitate that goal. There is no need for a Justice Mage to charge their abilities, though depending on the threat scale, their powers may increase beyond their normal limits during great threats.
 
AWAKENING
All Justice Mages are awakened by the Call, in which they experience a vision of a nearly angelic being bestowing them with the power. There is no consistent description of this being other than its shining presence. The Call will usually come to those who are already in some line of protective duty, usually a soldier or police officer, but fire men and doctors have been selected as well. A few judges and lawyers have also been picked, and in rare cases, a regular civilian with a strong sense of justice may be selected.
 
There are rumors that the first Justice Mage was actually a man wrongly convicted and imprisoned, manifesting his powers in his anguish, and breaking free to ensure the innocent would be protected. It is said that upon his eventual death, he sent forth his spirit to select others to carry on his mission. There does seem to be some precedent for this one, as the first recorded Justice Mage was indeed an ex-convict proven to have been innocent, but whether his spirit is responsible for the subsequent Mages is not determinable.