dragon magic
Dragons (magic)
Contents:
Magic
Some dragons specialize not in elements, but magic. This can be by choice, or nature. Dragons weak in element may be strong in other magic. This is rated on a similar scale as elements. A dragon simply does not have enough time in their lifespan to be powerful in both element and magic.
Most dragons only know their element, not delving further into their magical abilities. Many dragons, especially dragons with high elemental mastery, are incapable of casting magic.
A dragon cannot cast non-elemental magic without first discovering their element.
Virtually, magic is limitless. Popularly, magic is used to enchant doors, making them open automatically and only for habitants or accepted individuals. Levitation magic can be used to lift heavy things or suspend something indefinitely. Many spells, if cast by someone sufficiently powerful, can last forever. Magic is used to heal when healing crystals are unavailable, insufficient, or ineffective. Magic can be used to create barriers for protection, or to trap someone in. It can be used to copy entire books, cloak one's appearance, align one's sex to one's gender, allow same-sex couples to genetically share a child, or change one's element (Corruption).
The colors of a dragon's magic are, like element, using a color present on the dragon's body, one that differs from the color of the element if possible. If a dragon is monochrome however, the magic may be any other color, even if those colors are not present on the dragon. Inexplicably, this can happen for non-monochrome dragons as well, albeit quite rarely. This can be hereditary.
Though magic can do many things, everything needs a specific spell, and creating spells can take years. Dragon Masters with a specialty in magic may go their entire career creating only a few spells. Spells don't exist for everything. Healers cannot save every casualty, or stop every disease, there's no spell to reverse a corrupted dragon, no spell to make a dragon fly without wings, or regrow a limb, or make an infertile dragon fertile.
Yet.
Magic Mastery
Magic mastery functions essentially the same as elemental mastery, although most dragons keep to their element instead, thus residing at 0 or 1. Mastering non-elemental magic requires about the same time and motivations as elemental magic. There is an added challenge of Magic being less innate than dragon elements, and significantly less common in the lower-middle class and nonexistent among the lower rungs of society.
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Class Zero (0) | None
70%
Dragon knows no non-elemental magic or is unable to do magic.
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Class One (1) | Basic
15%
Dragon knows one or two of the easy magics (spells).
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Class Two (2) | Starter
9%
Dragon knows a handful of easy magics and is able to do them reliably.
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Class Three (3) | Intermediate
3.5%
Dragon is able to do any simple magics reliably.
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Class Four (4) | Competent
2% (~40.000 individuals)
Dragon is able to do intermediate magics.
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Class Five (5) | Practiced
0.5% (~10.000 individuals)
Dragon is able to use more complicated magics reliably.
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Class Six (6) | Dexterous
0.1% (~2.000 individuals)
Dragon is able to cast simple, long-lasting spells.
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Class Seven (7) | Proficient
0.02% (~400 individuals)
Dragon is able to cast difficult magics and maintain easier magics for very long.
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Class Eight (8) | Expert
0.001% (~20 individuals)
Dragon is able to cast permanent simple and long-lasting intermediate magics.
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Class Nine (9) | Master
0.0005% (~10 individuals)
Dragon is able to cast permanent intermediate magic and capable of almost all known magics.
Dragon is able to create new magics.
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Class Ten (10) | Magical
0.0001% (~2 individuals)
Dragon is capable of casting any known magic, as well as permanent hard magics.
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When it comes to magic, a dragon attempting magics above their mastery will either fail or, very rarely, succeed but risk their health and/or life. More commonly, the caster will fail or, for more difficult spells, lose consciousness if they push themselves too far.
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Magics List
Dragons cast magic without words, only with gestures and intent. When cast, the glow of a dragon's magic will display any runes/words associated with it. The runes are unique and do not represent words.
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Healing
Basic+
Dragons able to do any magic is capable of healing spells. A Basic can heal a small cut/scratch at a time. In contrast, a Proficient is capable of bringing an injured dragon back from the brink of death.
Healing magic has similar limitations as red gems. After too much time has passed, natural healing processes prevent healing magic from working. Neither red gems nor healing magic can regrow missing limbs, missing organs, or fully repair certain damage (brain damage, damage to eyes, damage to reproductive organs, damage to non-living tissue like horns and plates).
While red gems will heal broken bones and and all trauma-induced wounds, red gems do not heal diseases - but in many cases, healing magic can.
Healing magic can also technically do damage, by something known as reverse healing. Reverse healing is used when natural healing processes have healed incorrectly or left scars. This natural healing is undone, then redone with magic to remove the body's mistakes or scars. This is an excruciating process.
Healing magic has had the most focus among magic scholars, and as such it's become almost separate from non-healing magic. There are a myriad of different healing spells for different ailments, different wounds, different tissue - a healer will learn these and generally won't take the time to learn non-healing spells.
It's difficult for a healer to learn and cast non-healing magic aligned to their current mastery, and vice versa. A Master of Magic may be Proficient, but their healing abilities could be as low as Intermediate.
Basic - can heal fresh scratches/cuts and light bruises, a few before depleting magic.
Starter - can heal recent scratches/cuts/light bruises, several before depleting magic.
Intermediate - can heal a flesh wound before depleting magic.
Competent - can heal several flesh wounds or a severe wound before depleting magic.
Practiced - can heal several severe, but not immediately lethal wounds before depleting magic. Can reverse heal.
Dexterous - can heal a near-lethal wound before depleting magic.
Proficient - if immediately reaching a dragon fatally wounded, who would die within seconds, a Proficient can halt their immediate death and potentially save their life, though not always. Proficient career healers are awarded the title Master of Healing by the Warfang Council.
Expert - higher likelihood of saving a life on the brink.
Master - very high likelihood of saving a life on the brink.
Magical - can, potentially, revive a dragon from death (within a few to several minutes after their death), which would instantly deplete their magic and risk their own life.
As a dragon rises in mastery, they can do more of the lesser mastery abilities before depleting their magic. For example, a Competent can heal many, many scratches before depleting their magic. A Magical could, in theory, heal all the scratches in the world before depleting their magic. Most often a healer of high mastery will use a little extra magic to instead heal easier wounds faster.
Healing magic is done through direct touch or near-touch - a healer will place their paws near an injury, or hover their paw directly above a wound, when healing. Healing magic will glow from their paws, and can at times be seen flowing through the injured dragon's veins. Healing magic is always red, regardless of the dragon's magic color.
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Levitation
Basic+
Levitation is another popular magic that can be done to different degrees by all levels of magic mastery. The heavier an object (or the combined weight of several target objects) is, the higher mastery is needed to levitate them. With higher mastery, permanent levitation is possible.
Basic - can levitate very lightweight objects for a small period of time, such as a small pebbles, for a few seconds.
Starter - can levitate lightweight things for a minute or two.
Intermediate - can levitate heavier but small objects, such as books.
Competent - can levitate heavier objects for longer and with less effort.
Practiced - can levitate larger, heavier objects, such as furniture for a several minutes.
Dexterous - can levitate very heavy, large objects for tens of minutes.
Proficient - can levitate a small building for up to an hour.
Expert - can levitate objects weighing ~50 tons for hours. Can cast permanent levitation on Dexterous-level objects.
Master - can levitate objects weighing a several hundred tons for up to an hour before depleting magic. Can cast permanent levitation on Expert-level objects.
Magical - a Magical can permanently levitate massive objects. The floating islands of the Zephyr Kingdom is the life's work of an ancient Magical.
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Access Magic
Competent+
Access Magic is the magic commonly used to keep one's household safe. This is also used in Temples and other establishments. Access Magic enchants doors to open only for residents, and/or with a required phrase - a password, if you will.
To cast basic access magic on a door, one's mastery needs to be at least Competent (Class Four). This enchantment is near permanent, but is useless if the door is destroyed, or another, un-enchanted access point is used. This enchantment can only be undone by a magic caster whose mastery was equal or greater than the original caster, up to Proficient (Class Seven) level. This is to say a Proficient can undo any Access Magic.
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Portal Magic
Dexterous+
Portal Magic is a recent type of magic, but groundbreaking. Portals allow a dragon to immediately step from one location to another - on the other side of the world if needed, so long as there is a portal in both locations.
The ground work to create a portal is a Dexterous (Class Six) level skill. Certain steps are required:
There needs to be a portal set up in both locations. For the portal to work, it needs a sizeable crystal to contain the magic - the crystal acts as the 'power source' of the portal. The crystal itself needs to be split in two - one for each portal. The crystal HAS to be from the same piece, and the magic has to be cast into them before they become split. This way, the crystals stay connected.
The portal itself can be any size, from a standard doorway to a gate-sized doorway, however, the larger a portal will be the larger the crystal has to be, and the more magic needs to be used on it.
Inscriptions are etched into the doorways - these will be different depending on location and destination, but two connected portals will have the same inscriptions. The connected portals also have to be the same size, almost exactly.
Once the doorways are set up, the crystals will be imbedded at the top, and they will be activated. Once activated, the portal becomes accessible. Once this is done, the crystals cannot be moved. If a crystal is moved from one portal and put into another, it will not work - both crystals are now useless, and the portal is permanently deactivated.
Despite the incredible utility of portals, they are illegal for citizens to create. Portals can only be created by the governing body, to protect against misuse and criminal activity. The magics to create portals is not publicly disclosed, but there have been leaks.
Warfang maintains several portals.
No portals exist within Warfang City - this is to protect the city against invaders. Instead, a 'world hub' is located within the tallest mountain north of the city, in War's Peak. From this world hub, there are portals leading to: Titan Fields, Concurrent Skies, Agni Flats, Lunar Sea, Shrouded Reach (below the Eternal Hurricane/Zephyr Kingdom). These locations may have additional portals to specific locations within the continent (such as the main portal in Barren Fields (Concurrent Skies) to the Crystal Archipelago.)
Warfang maintains an additional set of portals to the Shattered Vale. As the Shattered Vale is a warzone, this portal is not located within the world hub. The portals are used to transport the Army to and from the battlefields, across the sea, and these portals are often deactivated and reconstructed in new locations. Warfang does not maintain portals to Cheetah Tribe territory - another warzone, nor does it currently maintain one in the Dark Lands, as these are often quickly destroyed by enemy dark dragons. Instead, a portal is kept in Paradise Bay.
The world hub exists within the mountain for a reason. In case of dire emergency, such as an invasion, the mountain can be sent crumbling on top of the portals, destroying them all as well as the invaders.
Portals are heavily guarded at all times by the Warfang Guard. Travelers are documented, and can and will be barred from using portals if their identity or intentions are suspicious. A fee is taken for the upkeep and protection of the portals. The portals in the Lunar Sea and Shrouded Reach are also guarded by the Ocean Domain and Zephyr Kingdom respectively.
Portals cannot be momentarily deactivated. In an event that doesn't quite warrant sending the mountain down on all the portals, a Guard can knock down a portal's crystal to permanently deactivate it and stop someone from going through (most often they will simply chase someone passing through without permission - the portal can be deactivated in instances where too big a group are trying to access a specific portal). Back-up crystals which are already enchanted are kept safely to restore portals in an event such as this.
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Strike Magic
Competent+
A magic similar to levitation, strike magic asserts force upon objects (including living beings) without direct touch.
For example, a dragon thrusts their paw towards an opponent, sending a blast of magic into them and the opponent is launched back. Strike magic is a common alternative to elemental magic for soldiers and guards. It can be used to keep enemies from physically reaching the caster, throw them into walls, off heights, or against sharp objects. At most levels of mastery, this is a quick push - the higher the mastery, the harder the push.
Especially high levels of mastery brings additional abilities however, similar to direct, drawn out contact. At these levels, a dragon can use strike magic as more of a 'squeeze', allowing them to strangle opponents, break their bones, squeeze organs to cause pain, bleeds, etc. The ability to utilize Strike magic this way requires a mastery of at least Proficient (Class Seven).
Casting magic is not invisible, so this can't be done without anyone seeing that magic is being cast. The standard 'push' version of strike magic is cast either by the user 'throwing' a blast of magic at their opponent, or through a harsh movement of their heads, paws, tail, wings. The 'squeeze' version leaves a visible glow of magic around the area that's being squeezed for the entire duration.
Strike magic can also be used outside of combat, such as to open or close doors (or break them), nudge heavy objects, etc.
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Restraining Magic
Competent+
Restraining magic essentially creates magic ropes to bind someone. These binds cannot be cut, bit, or forced apart. The only way to free yourself or another from magic binds, besides undoing them with superior magic, is to use elemental magic to destroy them.
Restraining magic can be cast at the Competent level, however the strength and resilience of the binds increases with mastery. While a Competent can slowly undo the binds made by a Practiced caster, they cannot undo the binds created by a Proficient caster.
Similarly, a Skilled element user cannot destroy binds created by a Proficient caster, but an Adept can.
Restraining magic and the binds they create takes after the caster's magic color.
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Depletion Magic
Competent+
With Depletion Magic, a caster forcibly drains another dragon of their own magic.
While a Competent caster can drain another Competent or a Skilled dragon (roughly, they will have the same amount of magic), they could not drain a Practiced or Experienced dragon fully, as their own magic will deplete before their target is empty.
From Competent to Dexterous, magic will be drained from a target and be lost. The magic is not transferred.
From Proficient and up, the magic can be transferred from one target to another.
While the magic from the caster will bear their magic color initially, it will bleed into and become the green hue associated with green magic gems, much like healing magic.
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Barrier Magic
Competent+
Competent and above casters can create a magic wall around or covering an area which prevents things from passing through the barrier.
Competent - can cast 'weather barriers', very simple barriers for windows and passageways that stop wind, rain, snow, hail, dust, and small insects from passing through. Everything else can pass through these barriers. Duration depends on the caster's mastery, from a year long duration to that of centuries.
Dexterous - can cast a temporary, defensive barrier around an area that stops anything from crossing it. This can remain for a year if left alone, but can be destroyed by a barrage of elemental or weapon attacks within hours to minutes.
Expert - can cast a long-lived defensive barrier around a massive area that remains dormant/invisible until a threat emerges, and the barrier activates. If this barrier never activates, it can linger for millennia. The barrier has to be manually deactivated by the original caster or by an individual who was assigned this power when the magic was originally cast.
Barriers are static and cannot be moved-
Size/radius, duration, and resilience increase with higher mastery.
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Light Magic
Basic+
Simple magic that summons a bit of light, in the color of the dragon's magic.
Can be done by any level above None.
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Spirit-Body Alignment Magic
Practiced+
Dragons believe in perfect spirits and imperfect bodies. Sometimes the physical body develops in a direction that is misaligned with the spirit, a 'defect'. Gender incongruence is viewed as an issue with the body not reflecting the spirit. In pre-Unification times, before the development of non-elemental magic, this was handled with social transition, then hormonal transition through the frequent use of special herbs.
Early after the development of non-elemental magic (post-Unification), a dragon very powerful in magic successfully created a spell to permanently change their body into a reflection of their spirit. This magic could then be cast by dragons Practiced and above in mastery onto themselves or others.
The alignment spell changes all the parts of a dragon's body into the desired gender expression. If a dragon experiences incongruence only over their voice and only want that changed, only the voice will be changed. Organs may change, leaving hormones as they are, or vice versa.
The dragon does not pick and choose, they may see changes they weren't expecting but subconsciously wanted. If the dragon does not consciously want to go through with the alignment or aren't ready for it, the magic will not work. If the dragon experiences no genuine desire to change their body, it will not work, as such it cannot be used by same-sex couples to reproduce. The spell also does not fix infertility.
When the magic is successfully cast onto a dragon, they will go into a long sleep. They will sleep for two to five days (depending on the amount of changes) while their body transforms. Bigger changes like a drastic change in height or musculature will happen more slowly over the next few moons, though the sleep will still show a slight change in these areas if desired.
Not all changes will necessarily look perfect to the dragon, as the changes reflect what they would have looked like if born that way. It is based off genetics. The alignment spell can be used many times (in cases of regret or gender fluidity) without consequences to health.
This spell is intensive to the caster, whose magic will be entirely depleted by the end if only Practiced. Due to this, it is a rather expensive magic to seek.
The spell does have a few limitations. It cannot remove sex organs entirely or make a dragon previously able to have children, unable to have children. While this ability was attempted to introduce into the spell, it was at the time heavily opposed on religious grounds. It is a prevalent belief among dragons that having descendants is a spiritual necessity, a core part of becoming an Ancestor after death. While this strides with the general acceptance of dragons seeking to align their body and spirit, the ability to have children is weighed with higher importance.
After the creation of the dark elements, the alignment magic came under some fire for its similarities to elemental corruption, however, it was agreed to not be the same. The alignment spell changes the body to a reflection of the spirit, whereas corruption is a perversion of it, changing not only body but also twisting the holy, ancestral spirit. It is notable that while corruption can be forced on the unwilling, the alignment magic cannot.
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Petrification
Practiced+
Petrification is a 'suicide attack' magic that turns the caster and up to three targets into igneous rock, crystal, permanent ice, or stone, depending on the caster's element (fire, electricity (wind), ice (water), earth). One needs to be at least Practiced to cast this magic. It only works if the caster is in direct physical contact with at least one other individual - the petrification affects every individual in contact with the caster. It fails if the caster does not touch another.
As a tragic result, dragons simply seeking to take their own lives in this way will take another with them to make it happen, although due to the high mastery requirement of this magic, and this magic being withheld from the general public, it rarely ever happens.
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Heritage Substitution Magic
Practiced+
This magic is created to allow same-sex couples, or more than two parents to genetically share a child.
A pregnancy has to occur naturally first, with one male and one female parent. Once a pregnancy is confirmed (usually 2-3 weeks in), this magic can be cast. The caster will put one paw on the intended new parent, and on the belly of the gravid dragon, and they will 'transfer' genes from the new parent to the fertilized egg(s). This can replace anywhere from 5 to 95% of the genes of the offspring. A slight bit of the original parents' genes will still remain, as this spell is difficult to do accurately. The longer the pregnancy has been ongoing, the harder it will be to replace as much of the original genome as possible as there are far more cells to overwrite.
The caster has no control over which genes they are replacing, and the distribution of genes may be inequal between parents, especially where there's more that 4 parents.
If a dragon is infertile/unable to have children, the caster will be unable to transfer their genetics as the spell uses the genes in their gametes, their reproductive cells. If the dragon has no gametes, or too few of them, the spell will fail. Attempts have been made to amend this part of the spell to allow infertile dragons to have children.
While this allows same-sex dragons to reproduce, this spell is extremely unpopular among clans. In reproduction and unity contracts this spell is almost unheard of, as it requires the participation and genes of a third party. This means not only having to pay double the usual payment, but unnecessarily making an entire bloodline unavailable for further descendants - i.e. the third party could have been used in the future when the child would be ready to have offspring of its own. The substitution spell, even when done as completely as possible, makes this a risk clans do not want to take as inbreeding weakens magic ability (and prolonged inbreeding causes magicless children who die when they're supposed to discover their element).
This spell is mainly used for queer romantic unions and non-clan dragons simply seeking genetic children.
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Corruption
Proficient+
Corruption is the process of turning a dragon of natural element into one of the dark elements. This magic can be cast on oneself, or on another. When a Proficient casts the Corruption spell, their magic is depleted entirely. Casting the spell is relatively quick and is finished before the corruption process actually starts. The corruption itself is 'self sufficient' and requires no further magical input, which allows self-corruption.
The actual corruption can take up to one or two excruciating hours, in which the dragon is physically deformed and undergoing rapid, painful growth. There is no control over this transformation, which can cause undesirable results that may cost the dragon their life.
The Corruption magic is strictly forbidden magic, and kept far out of reach from the public. Keeping any instructions on Corruption without permission from the governing body is considered treason and punishable by execution. Planning, attempting, or performing the Corruption is also punishable exclusively with execution.