Let our powers combine!

Magic is commonplace in Pange, but I don’t want to give the false impression that people are going around throwing balls of fire at each other for fun and profit.  Try to think about Magic in Pange as technology.   To most, it is a convenience.   To the select few, it is a powerful and dangerous tool.

The story begins in the Kingdom of Geldbane.   Its people are blessed with the gift of fire and water.   Fundamentally Gelbans are able to have many creature comforts because of these gifts.   They will never be cold, and they can never die of thirst.  As far as convenience goes, Geldbane ranks pretty high on the list of practicality of their magic.

In urban areas houses have reservoirs that catch rain water run through cloth screens.   Gelbans can use their control over water to ‘pull’ water from the reservoirs for everyday use.  While anyone can produce water from moisture in the air, it can only be done in small doses as magic has a limitation.

The human body has two resources of energy in Pange and it is easily described by the sensations one feel when they are depleted; Mental Fatigue and Physical Fatigue.   Surely you have personally felt sleepy without feeling exhausted and conversely feeling exhausted while still feeling alert.   Physical tasks drain your body, but do nothing to your mental fatigue, unless of course the task requires a great deal of thought.   The reason why we fall asleep even without doing mind taxing tasks is because this resource naturally ‘leaks out’ over time.

Physically speaking, humans can restore this ‘resource’ by eating or simply relaxing.   Obviously sleeping restores both Mental and Physical.  In the Dimanagul Series, put simply, using magic makes a person sleepy.   Excessive use of it will cause drowsiness and eventually has the potential to make someone fall asleep outright.   Normal humans typically don’t have the capacity to use enough magic to pull that off though.

To complicate things slightly, there are witches and wizards in the world of Pange.   These people have forcibly broken the limitations of humanity.   They are able to use more potent magic as well as magic that would typically be unavailable to them (eg. Wind and Earth magic for a Gelban).  The cost is terrible though, as it causes the practitioner to tap into a third resource: Their life.  People that use this method do not live long, and will visibly age prematurely.  They can literally use up the last drops of their life span in the way and fall over dead.

They can still use their natural magic to the extent of a normal human though, and over time this magic will increase in potency.   It is a small consolation for those that live for a reasonable amount of time and show restraint.

Zammela Glam is a special case and is an important keystone in the world of Pange.   She is unable to tap the third resource, but the limitations of magic have been lifted.   She can use all four elements of magic with unlimited potential.   However she does not have a particularly large pool of resources to draw from.   The limitation is trying to manage how much mental fatigue she can endure.   Too much magic use can put her to sleep, simple as that.

She does have some exceptions though; Zammela is able to draw magic from outside sources.  These sources, or places of power, are infinite fountains of ‘fuel’ for her spells.  However, they are few and far between and difficult for her to use for reasons outside of her human limitations.

Mental fatigue can be countered to some degree in the same way sleepiness can be combated, but it is a losing battle if one tries to forgo the one and only means of restoring it; Sleep.

Basic Details regarding Magic:

Element:  Basic use, influence, defensive.

Fire:  Warmth, Strengthening existing fires, controlling/containing small fires, purification (Fire affiliated people get over illness faster than most.)

Water: Sustenance (drink), controlling/directing small amounts of water, filtration (Since water magic can only move water, impurities are left behind)

Wind: Communication, controlling/directing air (can be used to send messages longer distances), Filtration (Users can separate air from foreign material.)

Earth: Sustenance (Can eat almost anything), Controlling small bits of tangible natural material, Hardiness (can prevent foreign material from initial infection.)