Magic is everywhere: The magic and its forms in “Heart of Gaia”: An introduction
 
In this concept I will try to introduce the way magic is integrated into the world of “Heart of Gaia”. My idea was to make magic an integral part of the novel’s world, so it won’t feel forced onto the plot like in so many fantasy novels. So let’s start.
 First I want to talk about what magic is and what forms it can take. So magic, and all its forms, is essentially the life-force of the planet. This idea was heavily influenced by Final Fantasy’s “life stream”. But I tried to take this concept even further: magic and life-force are basically synonyms. The difference lies in their state of aggregation. The best way to describe it is to compare magic to water.
 
In its gaseous form magic is known as life-force. It’s the energy every living being produces and that fills the entire planet. This “gas” is subject to a current, much like winds carry air over the planet. This current also is the reason that “life-energy” is balanced and you have very few places where there’s absolutely no life-energy present. But more of that later.
The next form of magic would be its liquid form. This is the form that is usable by magic-affine beings. But this form isn’t truly “liquid” in a sense that it fills a place up like water, it’s more semi-stable taking the form of “strings of magic”. Another very important fact is that in this form magic as an elemental character, meaning that you have “water-strings”, “fire-strings”, “air-strings” and ”earth-strings” . Also this element corresponds to the elemental character of the terrain you’re in. This was partially influenced by “Magic: The gathering”. For instance a desert would have “fire-strings” and “earth-strings” available. Contrary to that a swamp would have “earth-strings” and “water-strings”. Get the idea? ;) Because it’s nearly impossible to transform one element into another no mage is able to conjure water in a dessert. But did I say no mage? Well not exactly.... But again, more of that later.  ;)
 
The third and last form of magic is its solid state. It’s at the same time the most rare and therefore potent form of magic. Just to give you an idea, density of condensed magic is about 100 to 1000 times greater than that of free magic. Because it takes millennia for free magic to condense, few naturally formed magic-condensates are known. Although rare, this form of magic takes a very important role in the novel’s plot, because the “foci” Damian and Sandoval are searching are nothing other than that. Also the “Heart of Gaia”, a mystical magic-condensate said to have density surpassing the factor 10000, plays a big role in the last part of the novel and also gave him its name.
 
So now that we know which forms magic, or “life-force”, can take, we will look upon how this energy is harnessed. There as many forms of using magic as there are sentient races on Thyrsis. Every race, be it through evolution or scientific advancement, has found their own way to take this energy and control it.
 
Elves are the most magic-affine beings on Thyrsis. They literally breathe magic. Without magic, they wither and die. Because they get much older than humans, and have used magic far longer, their understanding differs greatly from ours. For them magic is sacred, and when they cast a spell they hold more of a dialogue with nature than force their will upon it. That’s also the reason why elves never have developed a way to transform elements, because for them this would be an act against nature. But don’t be fooled, elves weren’t always this humble. There was a time, hundreds of years ago, when elves learned a way to transform magic directly into usable energy, much as the power of water is transformed into electricity. But this process used up magic (and therefore life-force) at such an alarming rate that within one hundred years the land their city was build upon was devoid of all life, rendering it uninhabitable for elves. That’s exactly the reason why elves are now this careful with magic-use.
 
Dwarfs on the other hand are completely different. For them magic also is very important, because their beard works similar to a cat’s whiskers, enabling them to feel and see magic like no other race. The only race that’s somewhat similar to dwarfs is a lemur-like species, living in the vast forests in the south of Thyrsis. These two species, dwarfs and lemur-like beings (haven’t found a name for them till now ;) ), are very similar in their magic-use. Through their natural understanding of magic, they are able to craft magic into things, like weapons or armour. Their craftsmanship surpasses that of all other races by far, and their works are sought after throughout Thyrsis. Also dwarfen master smiths are the only ones who posses knowledge how to forge “magic-blades”, magic-affine weapons used by human “blade mages”. But more of these guys later.  ;)
 
Kharr are a very special species that only life in the southern forests. They are four-legged big cat like beings that need magic to mature.  When growing up, magic enables them to gain intelligence similar to that of a human and also the ability to speak. They live in a somewhat symbiotic relationship with the lemur-like species mentioned above, granting them shelter and food in exchange for custom-made armours that are magically linked to individual Kharr, granting them unrivalled prowess in battle.
 
Humans, at last, are very special. They are the only race that doesn’t need magic to exist. But because of their analytical nature, they have gained a somewhat jack-of-all-trades status when using magic as well as some abilities no other race has developed. Humans have two forms of magical usage: blade magic and woven magic. Let’s first talk about woven magic. Woven magic is exactly what the name implies – it’s woven. Here the magician takes the strings of magic and weaves them into form. As you may guess this is a process that takes centuries to master. So magical training starts out with learning to weave. Then, when the apprentice surpasses every worldly master in craftsmanship, their real training begins. Years of practice are needed to develop the senses and intuition needed to see and weave magic into form. But when mastered, there’s nearly no end to what a magician can do. Once the last test a magician in training had to take was to learn how to transform magical elements into one another. But this knowledge was lost nearly 200 years ago, when the “exodus of the magi” took place.
 
On the contrary, blade-magic is rather fast to learn, but hard to master. Blade-mages are highly specialised warriors trained in hunting and killing the most fearsome beings on Thyrsis. But their main assignment is to guard the “dark prison”, a huge magic-condensate where Deirdre’s highest subordinate is imprisoned whose power nearly rivalled that of Gaia. This prison is resealed every seven years by a priest of Gaia, but in between the blade-mages are responsible for the seal’s stability. For this they have magical amulets that, when applied directly after the seal begins to weaken, renew the seal’s power.
But how does blade-magic work? As the name suggests, every blade-mage carries magical blades forged by dwarfs out of the most precious materials and inlayed with runes out of magic-condensates. These runes are words of power that the blade-mage can combine for various effects. There exists a vast array of possible effects that are achievable by using these runes, but all of them are strictly combat-related like speeding up reflexes or engulfing the blade in flames.
Because of their battle might and the costly and arduous manufacture of magical blades, very few blade-mages exist, and they all live in a village known as “the hidden village” (yeah fancy name I know :P ) concealed in the woods covering the slopes of the dark mountain, within whom the “dark prison” lies.
Their training starts at the age of ten with regular combat training and theoretical education. At the age of 15 they start to learn how to use and combine the runes of a magical blade. At last, at the age of 20, they embark on a journey throughout Thyrsis for three years, battling the darkest and most fearsome of Deirdre’s spawns. Their education ends with a mystical ceremony deep in the dwarfen mountains when their magical blades are forged and bound to the owner.
 
So much for the usage of magic. But how did magic become a part of people’s daily life?
 
I will only bring some examples to show how magic is used on a daily basis, as possibilities are virtually endless. ;)
One interesting fact is that human mages where able to produce jewels that are loaded with one element. These stones exhibit a most peculiar property: magical magnetism. This means that, for instance, an air stone is attracted by any source bearing the air element. On the contrary it is repelled by sources bearing the earth element. This has lead to development of vessels that hover via stones charged with the air element (over land) or fire element (over water) and allow for quite an elegant way of travelling.  
 
By copying some of the dwarfen skills, human mages where able to produce artefacts that are powered via magic-condensates, being able to build machines for every thinkable use.  But because condensates are so rare, these machines, known sometimes as golems, are as rare as their power source.
 
There have been rumours that the empire situated somewhere beyond the grate lake of leviathan has found a way to accumulate magic and transform it into a usable form similar to what the elves discovered, but without draining the life-force of the land. How they achieved such a miracle remains a mystery....
 
As a conclusion, let me say that that’s just a fracture of what’s to say about magic in Thyrsis. What I omitted entirely is the magical flora and fauna native to all parts of Thyrsis, and their impact on sentient life. But, as the title says, this should only be an introduction, and more is sure to follow.