It is general practice for the people all over the world to study the art of Druidism, to study the plant and animal life. But only so much can be studied, for it is so dangerous beneath the leaves. Many new plants and animals are discovered every day.
Since they are so close to nature, the human races have some control over druidic magic, allowing plants to grow quicker, or lulling some hostile creatures, but few are overly adept at the skill. Magic in the elemental form is a rare 'gift', to humankind, some 1 per every 500 person may be born with it. But elemental magic is seen as a destructive force in the lands - after all, a single misguided fire spell could destroy their entire town! Thought of altering the natural balance of the world by using this magic makes people wary and distrustful of such power. It has also been rumoured that The fresh dead occasionally walk on the forest floors, but none have found the source of this foul, necromatic magic, and whether it is caused by some fell mist/cloud, or by a life-form living on the floor of the world.
Mainstream magic: Druids
The 'Druidic' arts in Mojena are known as "Yen Oneph'e Junea", meaning The essence of life. It is the belief of all the people that their skills and powers derive directly from the goddess of life, Junea, herself. Use of these powers usually require several things. The first is ingredients - all spells of 'Yen Oneph'e Junea' require specific herbs/leaves. They only ever require items from fauna. More complex spells often require more than one type of herb. Whilst the spells are bieng cast, the ingredients are usually crushed in the left hand, which rests by the side, and then sprinkled downwards. The second need for the casting of these spells involves the other hand - Specific hand-movements are required to cast spells. The simplest of spells require only basic movements. For example, the spell to clear someones blocked nose is the crushing of mint-leaves, and a simple flick of the wrist, followed by a clenching of the fist. More complex spells require much more detailed and precise hand movements, and some of the very powerful ones require a third thing to cast: Speech. Only the higher level spells need a voice accompanyment, and even then, the phrases are usually fairly small. For example, the spell for a basic high level spell - to create an adult tree from a seed or sapling - is the following: The crushing of the leaves of the Henpherimal tree, plus the dried roots of a yeun bulb. The hand movements as follows: Arm straight out, wrist one quarter twist to the right whilst extending index and pinky finger, followed rapidly by a wrist quarter twist to the left, and the retraction of the pinky, but not index. The wrist then must be tilted backwards to allow the index finger to point directly upwards, and from that, a flick of all fingers extending, pointed directly forward. With this final flick, the caster must utter the words "Dumanis Dumal".
Spellcasting requires much stamina - for an untrained to cast the above high level spell is very possible and easy, should he do it correctly, but as a result, he will probably be set in a coma for a good few months, or even years. For the average adult druid, however, casting of that spell will simply restrict him casting any more spells for several minutes, plus perhaps have the need to rest, or to travel slowly instead of at a fast pace. Because of this, it is recommended that people never cast spells when travelling alone - not only is travelling alone dangerous enough in itself, but if one were drained from spellcasting, it would be a death-trip
Failure to cast a spell, due to an incorrect movement, ingredient or word, often results in nothing but failure, though occasionally (And extremely rarely) A different spell may be cast. This is one source of finding new and undiscovered spells due to complete luck. Though this may seem like a good thing, in actuality it is extremely dangerous, as some have accidentally cast spells which were so powerful, it killed a full-fledged adult, plus caused effects which were none-too desirable, such as warping a large patch of trees, making them grow and distort. The tops of these trees, however, were occupied by a small community, all of which were crushed by the moving wood. It is advised that people practice spell-casting daily without the ingredients, to get used to the movements and keep in practice of them.
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Rumoured magic: Necromancy
This is a magic that perhaps three hundred Mojenian treetop people know about in the entire world, and even they cannot cast it. Necromatic magic, or "Yen Oneph'e Ophreal" - The essence of Death - is nothing but a rumour or fairy tale to the treetops. 'Yen Oneph'e Ophreal' is thought to be the antithesis of Yen Oneph'e Junea. Just as Druidic magic focuses on manipulating and altering life and bieng detrimental to health (eg, heal, cure poison), Necromatic magic focuses on manipulating and altering death and bieng detrimental to life (eg, make wounds, blind). Some spells of necromancy require a touch by the caster to activate or complete it. 'Yen Oneph'e Ophreal' also requires several steps for the casting of any of its spells. The first is once again, ingredients. But instead of herbs, leaves and the like, Necromancy required bone, blood, flesh and fur. It requires items from Fauna, animal life. These items are crushed together in the casters right hand. The next requirement is speech, not hand movements. Speech is a major factor for these spells. Simple spells only require a word or two, for example, the spell to cause someone a minor, itching rash is the crushing of Pharapher scales, plus the uttering of "Dèruge Genagem".
--This particular spell is known as an 'Idle' spell. Once it has been cast, the caster has the spell reserved in his body, and once he lays his left hand on a life form, the spell will be transported to that life form, releasing the energy and completing the spell, to give that creature an itching rash. if the spell remains dormant within the caster for more than an approximate hour, it fades, and will have to be recast.--
More powerful spells of necromatic nature often require hand movements to accompany the phrases of the spell. These hand movements usually arent overly complex, though they should be done with care, as a mistake can cause volatile results. For example, the spell to wither and kill all plant-life in a 50 foot radius, one must rub the blood of a shadow wolf and the fur of an adult recept together in their right hand whilst uttering the following phrase: "Ul'giminar deru quellis Phereu nasgull perenel' ophreal ingrine shanau golieth Be'denegoles te' pherilia". whilst this is bieng said, the caster must hold his/her arm horizontally in front of him, with fist clenched barring the first two fingers, which perform a circular motion.
As with Druidic magic, necromatic magic will also fail if done incorrectly - if the words of the spell are said even slightly incorrectly, with the wrong accentuation of the words or a vowel faltered upon, the spell will not work. The difference with necromatic magic, is that the caster will still be drained an amount, whether or NOT the spell succeeds. Of course, if it fails, the caster would not be drained as much, but there is still the slight sense of exhaustion. New spells are difficult to stumble on, but they could be found with much persistence.
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Deviant magic: Elementalists
Elementalism, while not unheard of, is generally quite rare in Mojena. Some 1 in 1500 people aquire it through birth, and their gift grows as they age. Unlike the other gifts of magic, most people believe there is no god which holds sway over this domain. But some believe there is. Those who believe it is, and have acknowledged this as a whole school of magic, call this school "Yen Oneph'e Dominicus" - The essence of creation.
It is believed that the world was created using the four elements, (More of this can be read in the Religion section), and due to this, it is general belief that any alteration to this creation by using the gift of Elemetalist magic is upsetting the balance made by the twin gods. Not to mention it is generally dangerous - a single fire spell could easily take down a town before the leaves of the mojenlar tree burst at the heat and fully quench the flames. So while not openly rebuked, Elementalist magic is seen as a separate entity to life, and most do not tinker with it. Some still do, however, and due to these few, the following is an explanation of the requirements of casting it. Unlike Magic of life and death, Elementalist magic requires no ingredient, but one constant, and that is having ones mind set firmly on the school of magic - Fire, Wind, Water, Earth - that they are going to cast from. Both hands are required to perform specific movements - even for basic spells. Though the simple spells merely require one hand to copy the other - For example, the spell for reimbersing a segment of Phorus moss with energy equivalent to the sun, is the mindset bieng cast onto fire, and both hands to twist wrists quarter turns inward towards each other whilst shifting fingers from pointed outwards, to a clenched fist. Speech is not a requirement for casting spells, but high-level spells require hand-movements to be different per hand, and thus far more difficult. For example, to cast a spell which removes all moisture from a creature, dehydrating and ultimately killing it painfully, one must have their mindset focussed on water, And whilst their left hand performs the following: arm straight out, wrist twists a half-turn anti-clockwise whilst the fingers extend upwards, then the ring and middle fingers must be drawn to rest the tips squarely in the palm, then the wrist must be pushed downwards so the fingers then point forewards, The Right hand must do this: Arm rested straight down beside the body, whilst the index finger curls and uncurls three times; whilst the finger uncurls the third time, the arm must be lifted to a 90 degree bent angle at the elbow, and to finish, the ring and middle finger must be drawn back to rest firmly against the palm, like the other hand.
The true power of elementalism
There is a third AND fourth stage of elementalism, both in difficulty and in power, and it requires an intense amount of thought and imagination.
The theory behind Elemental magic is as follows: The hand movements describe how the magic acts, and the mind-set confirms which school to use it in.
The third stage of Elementalism is the use of alternate schools used for the same movements. For example, the typical fireball is the mindset on fire, whilst the handmovements depict a dumbfire ball which explodes on impact. Have an out of control fire? Get a skilled elementalist to cast a Water-ball or Earth-ball onto it. Or to scatter a group of enemies, throw an air-ball in the middle, using the power of air to push them back.
The final stage of Elementalism is EXTREMELY difficult, and few are able to perform it perfectly. This involves handmovements, and the mindset of MORE than one element. Using the same example of the fireball - how about a fireball which deals damage, then instantly puts out the fire it caused with water? It is not simple additions which judge the difficulty of this (ie. it is not twice as hard to cast with 2 elements), It is approximately four times as difficult PER ELEMENT. This means that a simple thing such as creating a heavy gust of wind is fine, but creating a hot gust of wind? it suddenly becomes a fairly high spell. No mage yet has been able to cast even the simplest of spells, using all four elements, and live.
As with the other two magic sects, Elementalism drains the user of stamina.
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Tricks of the arts
Linking
The concept of linking was devised so more powerful spells could be cast with the drain bieng divided, so nobody was left completely defenseless. First discovered by the Druid, Fenfelimar, when he wanted to create a glade of flowers and trees in honor of his wife, who had passed away. The skill to raise over 500 flowers and bushes from mere seeds was beyond his power, so he studied how he could do it. Half a week after his studying, he put his discoveries into test with the aid of fifteen of his friends and aides. All the druids positioned themselves either to the left or right of Fenfelimar, in a line, and grasped each others hands, connecting themselves to each other, apart from Fenfelimar. The druids next to Fenfelimar placed their hands on his shoulders, whilst the man kept both hands free. Once the druids opened their links to the man, Fenfelimar crushed the required ingredients whilst drawing the pattern required for the spell and uttering the needed words.
The flowers grew, and they grew beautifully, creating one of the most revered glades in all the lands. And with a spell that might have killed a single man, all the druids walked away tiredly, but alive.
This skill is also known as Chaining, or Roping, and there are several different manners in which it can be done, but all must be physically connected to each other.
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Idling
Idle spells are spells which, once cast, reside, dormant within the caster for a period of time - an average spell can be idle for several hours, though some more powerful people can idle some spells for up to days. An idle spell remains within the body until the caster lays their casting hand (left for necromancer, right for druid, or either for an elementalist) onto a life form. The spell is then transferred to that life form, and automatically triggered to cause the action the spell should take, onto the section of the person that the caster touched.
For example, if someone cast the idle elemental spell, "Blood Ignition", then lays their hand on a foes right arm, the victims blood will raise to boiling temperatures, and the effect will radiate from the arm, out, extending to fingertips and heading to the main body. The spell will continue to spread out until the touch is released.
Idle-snaring
This is a skill which only elementalists can perform. Why, exactly, is unknown, but it certainly is a useful skill. If an elementalist is aware that someone is about to inflict an idle spell upon them (They MUST be aware of it before-hand, idle-snaring cannot be done on the spot.), they are able to open their magical reserves, and snare the idle spell as it is passed to them, still transferring it, but not triggering it. As a result, it is just as though they cast the spell, and it is now idle in their bodies! This is certainly a surprise to the offending caster, as they may find their own idle spell bieng used against them.
