Magic and its origins

So far we have just been throwing spells out, and to most characters (those without an extensive knowledge of magic. This goes for even most magic users) magic is just something that is conjured up and spat out by one's will.

This is true. A person's will is what allows them to focus on the magical energies of the world and harness it and project it out in all sorts of ways.

Despite this there is a much deeper understanding to where it comes from and how it works, characters like Esker who have extensively studied magic will be able to recognize the deeper aspects of magical origin.

When on uses a spell, no matter how subtle or how epic, they conjure mana, the mana comes from the world itself, from its land. Each type of land is formed based on its magical origin. There are six kinds of magic, best described by color based on what type of land the origin is.

White magic - much of the arkose kingdom is covered by plains, rolling hills, farmland and large cities. This type of land gives off white mana. White mana is connected with characters who have a strong sense of morale, compassion, kindness, justice, and even vengeance. Think of it as a characters with a good alignment will associate with magic from a white origin.
Examples of white spells would be Ryde's healing abilities. Notice how he often casts the healing spell before he takes the damage, this is a very strong characteristic of white magic. It is white mana's way to try to prevent harm to its users and protect their allies. It also can be used to boost morale and unify people to a cause. An example would be how Ryde's battle shouts and commands inspire his allies to fight on harder or to rally them to a rightous cause. Also i could see Colin using white spells to perhaps inspire people with his songs, giving them a boost to their over battle prowess or just to make them feel good and give him money (though that is a close aspect of blue magic). Also white magic can be used as "rightous fury" and can be manifested to smite enemies with searing flames or holy lights.
So when you find yourself determining the magical origin of a spell, and you think it is white, remember: healing, prevention, protection, unity, inspiration and rightous fury.

Blue magic - Blue magic is most closely associated with islands, lakes, rivers and generally anything to do with water. Elementally it harbors ice, water and wind, being the magical origin of most stroms. Magic wielders who focus on conjuring storms and tidal waves cannot function without blue mana.
Blue is much more than just water, ice and wind, it is also the color of intelligence and deceipt. It can be used to fool enemies, to trick them into seeing something that is not their or to even invade their mind to get information from people. A great example of blue magic at its finest is Brynn's ability to mimic the appearence of other people. It is meant to decieve and confuse, to keep her identity a secret. Blue thrives on being able to have some sort of intellectual advantage over other people of the world, like how Colin uses many of his songs to mesmerize people into giving more money and get the attention of beautiful women. Characters with a blue origin are prone to be very secretive and can be very repressive, almost always having alterior motives to their actions and words.
When looking at a spell that may be blue think: deceptive, water, wind, illusions, mind control or memory loss, making something fall asleep, or even messing with time.

Black magic - Esker's forte, black magic comes from swamps and types of places that may be thriving on necrotic energy, like a sewer or a bog. Black mana is very stubborn. Thsi is because it is a true darwinist. The strong survive by praying on the weak. Black is not always associated as evil, but it does use tactics that would weaken, even cripple its targets. It also like to manipulate its targets, a good example of this would be when Esker used his blood to way down Lion's armor so he was rendered useless. Black mana is famous for necromancy and the ability to decay living things and even bring the dead back to life as mindless zombies. Characters with a black origin are not evil, but are very ambitious in how they persue their goals, not being afraid to kill or make people suffer in order to get what they want. In extremes they could even try to use their allies to gain some advantege in battle or in some kind of situation to the point where it may harm the ally.
When thinking a spell is of a black origin think: Necromancy, decay, making an enemies body fatigued, blood manipulation, life drain, parasites and sacrificial rituals

Red magic - red magic comes mostly from mountains, and any kind of unstable, maybe volcanic, habitats. Elementally it is associated with fire, earth and lightning. This type of magic is just as essential to magic wielders who create storms. Red magic is a very wild and unpredictable type of magic, thriving on freedom and bliss. It is rage and it is love. Red man is associated with all those emotion that cause us to heat up inside. A few good examples of red magic would be Lion's hammer pain and how it gets stronger the more enraged Lion becomes. Characters with a red origin will be typically unstable in their emotions and will be very wild and unpredictable. This unpredictability is how they gain advantage in battle. Another good example of red magic would be Esker and Daeden's ability to supress their pain so they can continue fighting, despite their blood loss or wounds.
When casting a spell or analyzing one and you think its red think: Fire, Lightning, Magma, berserking, pain suppression, wild bursts of strength and even uncontrollable rage that would drive the user to mindlessly attack anything around them.

Green magic - stregth, honor and pride. The best ways to describe green. Green magic is very harmonious with nature, it strongly promotes growth and healing. This would imply that it has a lot of pride in the things that it does. Green mages would be known for making thorns or vines grow all over something or causing the muscles in someone's body to get significantly stronger. Characters with a green origin would be very calm and collected, they would be able keep their emotions controlled and be very content, as well as knowing how to unleash their inner strength when the situation permits. A good example of green magic would be how Lysander sometimes uses magic to enhance his phisical strength and speed making him a very agile fighter, relying on his inner willpower rather than pure rage. Green can also heal by enhacning how fast something grows, such as causing a wound to heal signifanctly faster. Green respects honor and pride, and is not one to be open to alternative means to achieve its goals (like black).
When deciding if the spell or ability is green think: Strength, inner spirit, growth, regeneration, plants, discapline and harmony.

Colorless magic - yess ther is a colorless categorie, though it is not nearly as complex as the other types of magic. Colorless is almost always associated with artificial things, such as machina or golems. The best example of this is Tekk's constructs. They may have properties of other magical origins, but when you get down to their core they are emotionless creatures that feel no pain or remorse. Many times you will see artifact that are used to enhance other types of magic or anchor it in some way.


Now it may seem like abilities, people, spells or whatever must be defined by a single color, but this is far from the truth. Many spells will use multiple sources of mana, and a person could easily have a multi colored origin. And it is entirely possible for someone to use spells and abilities from multiple pools of magic.
An example would be Lysander. I personally would associate him with green mostly, but he has aspects of red and white. He also uses fire magic (red) and ice magic (blue). so despite the fact that he most strongly aligns with green he can still us an ice bolt, which would have a blue origin.

so try and think about spells, personalities, abilities that might align with certain colors and try to figure out which magical origin your character might be aligned with.

Also make note that it wouold take a very heightened sense of magical origin for a character to identify the origins of mana and the spells that are harnessed from it. I can't directly say that none of our party members are incapable of this, but using magic, and knowing its origin are two different things. Like Ryde knows that he uses white mana for many of his spells, but he may not be able to tell "oh that Esker kid is definately of black origin."
He may be able to recognize the different types of spells and compare them to the colors of magic. Esker, however, is very proficiant in this skill, sionce Zealots are trained to seek out other being os black origin as potential recruits (he does have to focus on you, and you do have to use a spell for him to identify ones origin and he is not always right).