Magic and Magical Users

Ch. 2: Starting off with Elemental Magic

    Alright so another major umbrella in magic is the elements, the elements can fall under both passive and active magic. For passive magic that involves magic is a pretty easy explanation, if you have an elemental affinity and we're talking about passive magic then your character has been granted the ability to have perfect immunity to the chosen element and/or the ability to bend the element to their will with out expending any form of MP. If your a writer or gamer if you don't the internet can explain MP better than I can. That is the basis of passive magic not using any form of MP or medium to power and use a type of magic. For active magic you have use a type of MP, mana, life force, or medium to use magic.

    Okay on to elemental magic to use or cast most forms of magic you have to use the corresponding type of element (primeval forces of natural energy). Most stories have everyone tied to or connected to someone else who is tied to a certain element. Specifically if someone is tied to a specific element the expand less mana to use that element, lets say that someone is born with the fire element and they need to use water magic they will probably will use more than two times more mana to be able to use water magic. Now this is not an absolute but it is a good rule to follow if your using elemental magic in a novel.

    Let's move on to the terms and ranks to mages or stories that center on elemental mages. These terms you do not have to use in your stories but in the many books and media that I have seen that involve elemental magic these terms keep cropping up some I am going to talk about them so even if you do not use them you have a good idea on the basics and general terms.

    So a user of the elements in most Fantasy and Science Fiction stories are known as Magicians or Witches. In Sub-genres (there are too many sub-genres to name them all) element users are generally called Elementals or the less used term Benders. Bet you can guess where "Benders" comes from, if not here's a guess "Water, Earth, Fire, and Air, Long ago the four nations ...". The Elements can be classified in to three general categories, the first is the Basic (Primal) category in which this magic uses an element at it's most primal state. The other two general element categories are Light (Divine) and Dark (Demonic) elements, these two categories are being explained because I've read more than one author use Fire or Earth in a story that has been blessed by gods or goddesses to upgrade a basic flame to a holy version that is used best against evil forces. I have also seen authors use a type of corrupted flame magic to kill a god. Both examples take a basic or primal Element and upgrade it to a Divine and holy element, or a Demonic and corrupted element.

    So the next chapter I will be listing the countless types of elements that can be used in magic for now I will be giving some examples and names of users of elemental magic. You do not have to use these examples in your writing but at least knowing these will give you the ability to name you magicians or character classes and jobs better, at least if your in a tough spot. So a specific title I've come across multiple times besides the generic title of a magician is a Spellweaver. A Spellweaver is split into two sub-categories of an Apprentice and a Master. A Apprentice Spellweaver is a inexperienced  elemental user who use large amounts of mana and long chants to use simple spells. On the other hand a Master Spellweaver is a highly experienced elemental user that uses short chants or waves of their hands to use extremely strong and complicated elemental magic.

    The reason that I used the word "Spellweaver" is because even though I've only seen it once (cause I made it up like four years ago) is because that word can be swapped out for anything. You can replace it with the word elemental, magician, witch, user, mage, or something new that you created. Also the titles Apprentice and Master can be swapped out to other words or have more ranks in between them such as Adpet, Journeyman, Grand Master, etc. You could even add the specific element in between the two words such as Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Space, Time, etc. I'm not not trying to create a new universal system that writers should use in their writing. What I am trying to do is get you to think and help you have the freedom to create new titles for your specific magicians. I in my own writing have had issues in naming things, I am trying to help others have an easier time with writing