Astral Mages, Born or Created?

The answer to any question related to magic is rarely simple. The Wellfont Itself sees to that, slightly altering the fabric of the ethereal to suit the twisted views of sapient beings.

When one talks of an astral mage, they must know that they come in two forms. One borne from magic itself, and another that opens themselves up to the Astral. One is an innate talent passed through a sorcerous or spiritual bloodline while the other is an ability gained through practice and wizardry. Astralborne are more likely to present powers of matter manipulation whereas astral mages draw from stars or the void between them.

The difference can more aptly be seen as material and ethereal. Astral mages draw from celestial bodies. Astralborne draw from their innate primordial and primeval prowess.

The Path of the Astronaut, Wizarding Seafarers of the Astral Sea

Astronauts, or astral mages, are those that travel the stars both in the prime-material and the ethereal.

The Astral Sea connects to the prime-material through the stars. Mana channels through them, entering the world of matter through these celestial bodies. The Astral Void binds itself to physical reality through empty space, its void-energy saturating the world through the caustic darkness between the light. All things posses an anchor unto the ethereal, be they beings of flesh or of superheated plasma.

Astral mages can channel both light and dark energies, connecting to the primordial aspects of substance or non-existence. The Astral Void and the Void are two different planes of existence. One is the dimension of negative spirit energy while the other is the plane of celestial non-existence. One is the potential for matter to fill and the other the end of life and its subsequent rebirth.

All membranes of reality are but a slice of the whole. The Wyrden Wheel is the universe. It encompasses both the prime-material and the ethereal. Astral mages wield the power of the veil of stars and the dark firmament of the void, tapping into the primal sources of all.

Unlike astralborne, innate magicians of the Astral, astronauts are bound to their powers. They take from without and not within, and thus, their powers can be severed. As such, astronauts lose their power when travelling to distant stars far from their own. That is, if they are solar mages and not void mages that wield the very essence of nothingness. The void is everpresent, and its power may be drawn from anywhere.

The Astralborne, the Unbound Avatars of the Astral

Matter is simply permanently defined mana that is subjected to perform in a certain way. Matter cannot be easily swayed and controlled like mana that is found in one's body. It requires one's will to intercede and sway reality itself. There are those, such as the Detached, also known as the True Wizards, that can truly bend reality. For they are not matter, and not under the control of the Great Astral Beings. There are others, such as mages that are born with innate control over reality. These are the astralborne, beings that have the soul and spirit of an astral being.

Astralborne still use mana to alter reality. They create an obfuscating-field that lessens the control of an astral being over matter. This field is an aura of exotic mana that acts similar to Thanatium (meteorite silver). But instead of obfuscating a mortal mind's or a soul's perception, it obfuscates the perception of an astral being, unbinding their tethers over a body of matter. And imposes an astralborne's own perception and will upon matter.

An astralborne's innate magical qualities are due to both their unique spirit and soul. As such, many people may have one while not having the other. It draws people with different halves together. Either they fall deeply in love due to an otherworldly connection or they brutally murder each other. Usually a mixture of both. Astralborne with only an astral spirit are usually female, whereas astralborne with an astral soul are predominantly male. There are exceptions to this rule, but for the most part, this is the norm. True astralborne, those with both astral souls and spirits, can be any gender.

An astral soul is what gives an astralborne the ability to be able to handle full matter transmutation. An astral soul has an Astral Arcanum or Matter Manipulation Arcanum. An astral spirit is what allows for an astralborne to create an astral obfuscating-field, through the use of a special ethereal organ. This organ has several variations and is unique to almost all astralborne. Partial astralborne, those that have either only an astral spirit or soul, can still transmute matter to a partial degree if they practice enough through the use of arcanistry. Astral spirits can be harvested whereas astral souls cannot be as easily trapped due to the Soul Sanctity Principle. For a soul to be tampered by a foreign entity, it needs to allow it do so (the eternal soul that is. The mortal soul can be devoured or assimilated much more easily). Astralborne with astral spirits are hunted down, and their special ethereal organs are harvested. Those with an astral soul have a natural inclination to absorb another's astral spirit, but not the other way around.

Astralborne that fall in love function similar to if not entirely like a fully-functional astralborne. One generates the astral obfuscating-field and the other transmutes matter. The astral spirit is passed down through the mother, and the astral soul may reincarnate further down the familial line into a true astralborne.

Astralborne can manipulate matter like their own mana, but it requires a lot of concentration and even more mana. They still require mana to alter matter's meta-knowledge - and a lot of it. Mana that is used by mages is usually naturally malleable whereas matter has no innate magical plasticity. The best method is to transmute matter to its closest counterpart. I.E. by carrying along certain matter that closely resembles what they need. E.G. carrying a satchel of water whose hydrogen and oxygen can be separated and exploded into white hot flames. Or transmuting the carbon dioxide in the air into carbon monoxide - silently suffocating an unsuspecting victim from the inside. This type of astral magic that focuses on transmuting matter into slightly different matter is known as astral alchemy. It is not much different than alchemical or arcane transmutation. The difference lies in that the mage does not just change netheric mana. They change matter itself, allowing for a much greater and complete magical effect.

Arcane transmutation works by drawing on one's gathered arcana to change mana into another state. A nether of water could be separated into their flammable elementary particles and ignited. But, the problem lies in that it does not affect matter's arcana, only the nether essence that binds to it. Alchemic transmutation is the same, yet differs only in its approach.

Astral Magic

Astral magic that involves making mana into matter is called a multitude of names. Mythic magic, true thaumaturgy, creation magic and etc. Its costs are exponential due to the law of observance. Mana needs to be observed or else it turns it into undefined mana or (astral) void mana. Void mana is volatile. It's nothing, everything, cold and hot. Mana usually does not entirely undefine due to astral beings. Instead, it turns into void-space mana, or null-ethereal mana, that doesn't occupy physical space, but instead a void-space; pockets in the ethereal that contain dense amounts of mana. Think of them as soap bubbles in a tub of etheric water. The bubbles will slowly drain away into the surrounding Aether and Ether, but may also condense into the Nether, thus materializing in the physical world. Depending on what matter has been undefined, an elemental may be borne.

Technically, mages already turn mana into matter. Water mana is water ether made tangible, for example. The difference between what the common mage and an astralborne can do lies in two aspects. Forged mana-constructs are susceptible to thanatium and thus decay. And aeternium boosts a mage's ability to stabilize a mana construct due to it boosting an aura's perception via arcane conductivity. Thanatium and aeternium have no effect on an astralborne's pseudo-matter. Scholars believe what gives astralborne their unique ability to create matter from mana is that astral souls function on a different wavelength than normal souls. Though, this may or may not be entirely true. Elodin begs to differ, as the function may come instead from specialized soul-structures not unlike arcanums instead of universal field or planar interaction.

Astralborne pseudo-matter functions exactly like matter in that it's not affected by thanatium or any other magical metal that interacts with mana. The only difference between real matter and pseudo-matter created by an astralborne is that pseudo-matter needs to be observed by an astral soul. Mass, and distance to pseudo-matter increases mana cost exponentially (unless spatial magicks, soul-bounds, or aetheric links are established). Astralborne can infuse, or bind a minor inner gate to pseudo-matter to slightly mitigate distance-related mana costs, essentially creating a soul-bound familiar in the process. These objects are directly connected to an astralborne's soul and thus decay when the astralborne dies (unless they become part of a sorcerous legacy). Many powerful astralborne mages have been known for creating powerful weapons whose blades had edges as sharp as obsidian, but whose durability was like that of steel. These powerful artifacts could be taken away, manipulated, or tampered with, if said astralborne felt the need.

Such was the case with the War of Roses. A war where the astralborne artificer, Halgrave Mortimer, had enough with his nation's war crimes, created several powerful artifacts that were unrivaled in their strength and quality. By the end of the three day war, all of the artifacts had turned into roses.

An astralborne's weakness lies in that their ability requires a mana-field construct to function. And thus, thanatium, the godkiller suffices to end their tyrannical reign over matter. Thanatium silver does not disrupt a soul-bound matter construct, yet it stops an obfuscation-field from forming.

What differentiates an astralborne's control over reality and matter and a True Wizard's is simple. One is innate and the other is learned. The Detached become immortals with powers that could be seen as that of the Gods. The Detached still have a semblance of humanity or mortality left inside them. They have faults due to the nature of having experienced mortality of their individual species. Once they become beings of pure mana and not matter, they can better feel the world around them in a way they've never felt before. Whereas before, they were limited by how their mortal brains perceived reality, now they can shape their very perceptions and tune into frequencies never thought possible. Even among the Detached, only a small number of them are capable of true matter transmutation. And even then, their souls are simply not naturally designed for the manipulation of meta-knowledge associated with matter, requiring years of practice to fully transmute matter.

Astral Alchemy

Astral alchemy can be cast to a certain degree by even fledgling mages, through the use of runic magicks. Runic magic is performed by use of special commands given in the form of a runic language. Spirits or even souls may be conditioned to respond to runes and execute certain actions. Not all runic languages are born equal. Some require long chains of runes, but are specific and allow for complex casting. Some are short yet efficient and effective, allowing for fast combat magic.

One only needs an appropiate spirit-structure to create an obfuscating-field and an arcanum of the appropriate matter being astrally transmuted. Arcane transmutation deals with splitting and manipulating electrical bonds between matter, whereas astral transmutation changes the arcana of matter directly. Instead of a voidstone, one might also turn to wizardry and draw upon the Wellfont to perform material transmutation. It is the easiest to perform, yet least powerful.

Astral Alchemy is most usually done by aid of an astral spirit. Said spirit is bound to a voidstone, a black stone that has a high abyssal steel content. Voidstones are aptly named for being dark stones that are naturally polished-looking and spherical. They are found in certain areas of high density Void either inside the Shadow Plane Itself or in an area with a Void-gate, Convergence or Tear. Abyssal steel can be found as a stone or a metal, but in actuality, it is neither. It's netheric bindings are made of highly dense carbon, making it as hard and durable as diamonds. As such, it is named blacken diamantite.

The core is made of compressed negative spirit energy. It is, in itself, alive. Tortured spirits of the void congregate to one another, forming a substance similar to plaque. It roots itself in the membrane between realities to stave off the Pull of the Pale. Voidstones burn when in contact with the Aether. In such a case, they form a sort of dense mana Shell similar to a soul. These allow them to survive the burn of the Aether, but they still need an energy source. They are sentient and form contracts and symbiotic relationships with mages or even simple mortals for their needed substenance. As such, they are named black or death djinn as they grant their wielders immense power dependent on the contract.

When an astral Spirit or any unbound spirit is in contact with a voidstone, it's sucked into it and incorporated into its void-mass. The void-mass is alive and sentient. Though the degree of which is dependent on individual cases. The Aura of a voidstone is actually similar to an astral-obfuscation field. It functions by making mana decay in its vicinity and then feeds off of the void mana produced by it. Voidstones, like all spirits, habit in void-spaces; bubbles inside the porous membrane between realities. The Aura of living beings is an extension of the physical membrane of a void-space bound to wind, water, and life ether.

Voidstones house their arcanums inside their void-spaces. Voidstones are also called dark philosopher's stones or fell stones. They can transmute physical nether or matter as long as their isn't a strong enough spirit to resist. Dead matter is easier to transmute than matter that is alive. Magic circles and rune magic is used in place of an astral soul. Detailed descriptions and commands are written on magic circles with the use of runes, symbols, and glyphs. Voidstones are conditioned to read runic languages and execute the specific magicks written upon a magic circle. Voidstones may also have built in magical commands with execute phrases called spells. Spells are highly convenient for commonplace magic that isn't complicated. Mages like their conveniences. They are only known for liking complexity when it makes commoners think of them as wizard-lords sequestered in isolated towers filled with a horde of gold and women. Only one of those are true.

Mages tend to be isolated, that is, introverted pricks high on glimmerdust and doomlust extract.

Astral Mages, Born or Created?

The answer to any question related to magic is rarely simple. The Wellfont Itself sees to that, slightly altering the fabric of the ethereal to suit the twisted views of sapient beings.

When one talks of an astral mage, they must know that they come in two forms. One borne from magic itself, and another that opens themselves up to the Astral. One is an innate talent passed through a sorcerous or spiritual bloodline while the other is an ability gained through practice and wizardry. Astralborne are more likely to present powers of matter manipulation whereas astral mages draw from stars or the void between them.

The difference can more aptly be seen as material and ethereal. Astral mages draw from celestial bodies. Astralborne draw from their innate primordial and primeval prowess.

The Path of the Astronaut, Wizarding Seafarers of the Astral Sea

Astronauts, or astral mages, are those that travel the stars both in the prime-material and the ethereal.

The Astral Sea connects to the prime-material through the stars. Mana channels through them, entering the world of matter through these celestial bodies. The Astral Void binds itself to physical reality through empty space, its void-energy saturating the world through the caustic darkness between the light. All things posses an anchor unto the ethereal, be they beings of flesh or of superheated plasma.

Astral mages can channel both light and dark energies, connecting to the primordial aspects of substance or non-existence. The Astral Void and the Void are two different planes of existence. One is the dimension of negative spirit energy while the other is the plane of celestial non-existence. One is the potential for matter to fill and the other the end of life and its subsequent rebirth.

All membranes of reality are but a slice of the whole. The Wyrden Wheel is the universe. It encompasses both the prime-material and the ethereal. Astral mages wield the power of the veil of stars and the dark firmament of the void, tapping into the primal sources of all.

Unlike astralborne, innate magicians of the Astral, astronauts are bound to their powers. They take from without and not within, and thus, their powers can be severed. As such, astronauts lose their power when travelling to distant stars far from their own. That is, if they are solar mages and not void mages that wield the very essence of nothingness. The void is everpresent, and its power may be drawn from anywhere.

The Astralborne, the Unbound Avatars of the Astral

Matter is simply permanently defined mana that is subjected to perform in a certain way. Matter cannot be easily swayed and controlled like mana that is found in one's body. It requires one's will to intercede and sway reality itself. There are those, such as the Detached, also known as the True Wizards, that can truly bend reality. For they are not matter, and not under the control of the Great Astral Beings. There are others, such as mages that are born with innate control over reality. These are the astralborne, beings that have the soul and spirit of an astral being.

Astralborne still use mana to alter reality. They create an obfuscating-field that lessens the control of an astral being over matter. This field is an aura of exotic mana that acts similar to Thanatium (meteorite silver). But instead of obfuscating a mortal mind's or a soul's perception, it obfuscates the perception of an astral being, unbinding their tethers over a body of matter. And imposes an astralborne's own perception and will upon matter.

An astralborne's innate magical qualities are due to both their unique spirit and soul. As such, many people may have one while not having the other. It draws people with different halves together. Either they fall deeply in love due to an otherworldly connection or they brutally murder each other. Usually a mixture of both. Astralborne with only an astral spirit are usually female, whereas astralborne with an astral soul are predominantly male. There are exceptions to this rule, but for the most part, this is the norm. True astralborne, those with both astral souls and spirits, can be any gender.

An astral soul is what gives an astralborne the ability to be able to handle full matter transmutation. An astral soul has an Astral Arcanum or Matter Manipulation Arcanum. An astral spirit is what allows for an astralborne to create an astral obfuscating-field, through the use of a special ethereal organ. This organ has several variations and is unique to almost all astralborne. Partial astralborne, those that have either only an astral spirit or soul, can still transmute matter to a partial degree if they practice enough through the use of arcanistry. Astral spirits can be harvested whereas astral souls cannot be as easily trapped due to the Soul Sanctity Principle. For a soul to be tampered by a foreign entity, it needs to allow it do so (the eternal soul that is. The mortal soul can be devoured or assimilated much more easily). Astralborne with astral spirits are hunted down, and their special ethereal organs are harvested. Those with an astral soul have a natural inclination to absorb another's astral spirit, but not the other way around.

Astralborne that fall in love function similar to if not entirely like a fully-functional astralborne. One generates the astral obfuscating-field and the other transmutes matter. The astral spirit is passed down through the mother, and the astral soul may reincarnate further down the familial line into a true astralborne.

Astralborne can manipulate matter like their own mana, but it requires a lot of concentration and even more mana. They still require mana to alter matter's meta-knowledge - and a lot of it. Mana that is used by mages is usually naturally malleable whereas matter has no innate magical plasticity. The best method is to transmute matter to its closest counterpart. I.E. by carrying along certain matter that closely resembles what they need. E.G. carrying a satchel of water whose hydrogen and oxygen can be separated and exploded into white hot flames. Or transmuting the carbon dioxide in the air into carbon monoxide - silently suffocating an unsuspecting victim from the inside. This type of astral magic that focuses on transmuting matter into slightly different matter is known as astral alchemy. It is not much different than alchemical or arcane transmutation. The difference lies in that the mage does not just change netheric mana. They change matter itself, allowing for a much greater and complete magical effect.

Arcane transmutation works by drawing on one's gathered arcana to change mana into another state. A nether of water could be separated into their flammable elementary particles and ignited. But, the problem lies in that it does not affect matter's arcana, only the nether essence that binds to it. Alchemic transmutation is the same, yet differs only in its approach.

Astral Magic

Astral magic that involves making mana into matter is called a multitude of names. Mythic magic, true thaumaturgy, creation magic and etc. Its costs are exponential due to the law of observance. Mana needs to be observed or else it turns it into undefined mana or (astral) void mana. Void mana is volatile. It's nothing, everything, cold and hot. Mana usually does not entirely undefine due to astral beings. Instead, it turns into void-space mana, or null-ethereal mana, that doesn't occupy physical space, but instead a void-space; pockets in the ethereal that contain dense amounts of mana. Think of them as soap bubbles in a tub of etheric water. The bubbles will slowly drain away into the surrounding Aether and Ether, but may also condense into the Nether, thus materializing in the physical world. Depending on what matter has been undefined, an elemental may be borne.

Technically, mages already turn mana into matter. Water mana is water ether made tangible, for example. The difference between what the common mage and an astralborne can do lies in two aspects. Forged mana-constructs are susceptible to thanatium and thus decay. And aeternium boosts a mage's ability to stabilize a mana construct due to it boosting an aura's perception via arcane conductivity. Thanatium and aeternium have no effect on an astralborne's pseudo-matter. Scholars believe what gives astralborne their unique ability to create matter from mana is that astral souls function on a different wavelength than normal souls. Though, this may or may not be entirely true. Elodin begs to differ, as the function may come instead from specialized soul-structures not unlike arcanums instead of universal field or planar interaction.

Astralborne pseudo-matter functions exactly like matter in that it's not affected by thanatium or any other magical metal that interacts with mana. The only difference between real matter and pseudo-matter created by an astralborne is that pseudo-matter needs to be observed by an astral soul. Mass, and distance to pseudo-matter increases mana cost exponentially (unless spatial magicks, soul-bounds, or aetheric links are established). Astralborne can infuse, or bind a minor inner gate to pseudo-matter to slightly mitigate distance-related mana costs, essentially creating a soul-bound familiar in the process. These objects are directly connected to an astralborne's soul and thus decay when the astralborne dies (unless they become part of a sorcerous legacy). Many powerful astralborne mages have been known for creating powerful weapons whose blades had edges as sharp as obsidian, but whose durability was like that of steel. These powerful artifacts could be taken away, manipulated, or tampered with, if said astralborne felt the need.

Such was the case with the War of Roses. A war where the astralborne artificer, Halgrave Mortimer, had enough with his nation's war crimes, created several powerful artifacts that were unrivaled in their strength and quality. By the end of the three day war, all of the artifacts had turned into roses.

An astralborne's weakness lies in that their ability requires a mana-field construct to function. And thus, thanatium, the godkiller suffices to end their tyrannical reign over matter. Thanatium silver does not disrupt a soul-bound matter construct, yet it stops an obfuscation-field from forming.

What differentiates an astralborne's control over reality and matter and a True Wizard's is simple. One is innate and the other is learned. The Detached become immortals with powers that could be seen as that of the Gods. The Detached still have a semblance of humanity or mortality left inside them. They have faults due to the nature of having experienced mortality of their individual species. Once they become beings of pure mana and not matter, they can better feel the world around them in a way they've never felt before. Whereas before, they were limited by how their mortal brains perceived reality, now they can shape their very perceptions and tune into frequencies never thought possible. Even among the Detached, only a small number of them are capable of true matter transmutation. And even then, their souls are simply not naturally designed for the manipulation of meta-knowledge associated with matter, requiring years of practice to fully transmute matter.

Astral Alchemy

Astral alchemy can be cast to a certain degree by even fledgling mages, through the use of runic magicks. Runic magic is performed by use of special commands given in the form of a runic language. Spirits or even souls may be conditioned to respond to runes and execute certain actions. Not all runic languages are born equal. Some require long chains of runes, but are specific and allow for complex casting. Some are short yet efficient and effective, allowing for fast combat magic.

One only needs an appropiate spirit-structure to create an obfuscating-field and an arcanum of the appropriate matter being astrally transmuted. Arcane transmutation deals with splitting and manipulating electrical bonds between matter, whereas astral transmutation changes the arcana of matter directly. Instead of a voidstone, one might also turn to wizardry and draw upon the Wellfont to perform material transmutation. It is the easiest to perform, yet least powerful.

Astral Alchemy is most usually done by aid of an astral spirit. Said spirit is bound to a voidstone, a black stone that has a high abyssal steel content. Voidstones are aptly named for being dark stones that are naturally polished-looking and spherical. They are found in certain areas of high density Void either inside the Shadow Plane Itself or in an area with a Void-gate, Convergence or Tear. Abyssal steel can be found as a stone or a metal, but in actuality, it is neither. It's netheric bindings are made of highly dense carbon, making it as hard and durable as diamonds. As such, it is named blacken diamantite.

The core is made of compressed negative spirit energy. It is, in itself, alive. Tortured spirits of the void congregate to one another, forming a substance similar to plaque. It roots itself in the membrane between realities to stave off the Pull of the Pale. Voidstones burn when in contact with the Aether. In such a case, they form a sort of dense mana Shell similar to a soul. These allow them to survive the burn of the Aether, but they still need an energy source. They are sentient and form contracts and symbiotic relationships with mages or even simple mortals for their needed substenance. As such, they are named black or death djinn as they grant their wielders immense power dependent on the contract.

When an astral Spirit or any unbound spirit is in contact with a voidstone, it's sucked into it and incorporated into its void-mass. The void-mass is alive and sentient. Though the degree of which is dependent on individual cases. The Aura of a voidstone is actually similar to an astral-obfuscation field. It functions by making mana decay in its vicinity and then feeds off of the void mana produced by it. Voidstones, like all spirits, habit in void-spaces; bubbles inside the porous membrane between realities. The Aura of living beings is an extension of the physical membrane of a void-space bound to wind, water, and life ether.

Voidstones house their arcanums inside their void-spaces. Voidstones are also called dark philosopher's stones or fell stones. They can transmute physical nether or matter as long as their isn't a strong enough spirit to resist. Dead matter is easier to transmute than matter that is alive. Magic circles and rune magic is used in place of an astral soul. Detailed descriptions and commands are written on magic circles with the use of runes, symbols, and glyphs. Voidstones are conditioned to read runic languages and execute the specific magicks written upon a magic circle. Voidstones may also have built in magical commands with execute phrases called spells. Spells are highly convenient for commonplace magic that isn't complicated. Mages like their conveniences. They are only known for liking complexity when it makes commoners think of them as wizard-lords sequestered in isolated towers filled with a horde of gold and women. Only one of those are true.

Mages tend to be isolated, that is, introverted pricks high on glimmerdust and doomlust extract.

Astral Mages, Born or Created?

The answer to any question related to magic is rarely simple. The Wellfont Itself sees to that, slightly altering the fabric of the ethereal to suit the twisted views of sapient beings.

When one talks of an astral mage, they must know that they come in two forms. One borne from magic itself, and another that opens themselves up to the Astral. One is an innate talent passed through a sorcerous or spiritual bloodline while the other is an ability gained through practice and wizardry. Astralborne are more likely to present powers of matter manipulation whereas astral mages draw from stars or the void between them.

The difference can more aptly be seen as material and ethereal. Astral mages draw from celestial bodies. Astralborne draw from their innate primordial and primeval prowess.

The Path of the Astronaut, Wizarding Seafarers of the Astral Sea

Astronauts, or astral mages, are those that travel the stars both in the prime-material and the ethereal.

The Astral Sea connects to the prime-material through the stars. Mana channels through them, entering the world of matter through these celestial bodies. The Astral Void binds itself to physical reality through empty space, its void-energy saturating the world through the caustic darkness between the light. All things posses an anchor unto the ethereal, be they beings of flesh or of superheated plasma.

Astral mages can channel both light and dark energies, connecting to the primordial aspects of substance or non-existence. The Astral Void and the Void are two different planes of existence. One is the dimension of negative spirit energy while the other is the plane of celestial non-existence. One is the potential for matter to fill and the other the end of life and its subsequent rebirth.

All membranes of reality are but a slice of the whole. The Wyrden Wheel is the universe. It encompasses both the prime-material and the ethereal. Astral mages wield the power of the veil of stars and the dark firmament of the void, tapping into the primal sources of all.

Unlike astralborne, innate magicians of the Astral, astronauts are bound to their powers. They take from without and not within, and thus, their powers can be severed. As such, astronauts lose their power when travelling to distant stars far from their own. That is, if they are solar mages and not void mages that wield the very essence of nothingness. The void is everpresent, and its power may be drawn from anywhere.

The Astralborne, the Unbound Avatars of the Astral

Matter is simply permanently defined mana that is subjected to perform in a certain way. Matter cannot be easily swayed and controlled like mana that is found in one's body. It requires one's will to intercede and sway reality itself. There are those, such as the Detached, also known as the True Wizards, that can truly bend reality. For they are not matter, and not under the control of the Great Astral Beings. There are others, such as mages that are born with innate control over reality. These are the astralborne, beings that have the soul and spirit of an astral being.

Astralborne still use mana to alter reality. They create an obfuscating-field that lessens the control of an astral being over matter. This field is an aura of exotic mana that acts similar to Thanatium (meteorite silver). But instead of obfuscating a mortal mind's or a soul's perception, it obfuscates the perception of an astral being, unbinding their tethers over a body of matter. And imposes an astralborne's own perception and will upon matter.

An astralborne's innate magical qualities are due to both their unique spirit and soul. As such, many people may have one while not having the other. It draws people with different halves together. Either they fall deeply in love due to an otherworldly connection or they brutally murder each other. Usually a mixture of both. Astralborne with only an astral spirit are usually female, whereas astralborne with an astral soul are predominantly male. There are exceptions to this rule, but for the most part, this is the norm. True astralborne, those with both astral souls and spirits, can be any gender.

An astral soul is what gives an astralborne the ability to be able to handle full matter transmutation. An astral soul has an Astral Arcanum or Matter Manipulation Arcanum. An astral spirit is what allows for an astralborne to create an astral obfuscating-field, through the use of a special ethereal organ. This organ has several variations and is unique to almost all astralborne. Partial astralborne, those that have either only an astral spirit or soul, can still transmute matter to a partial degree if they practice enough through the use of arcanistry. Astral spirits can be harvested whereas astral souls cannot be as easily trapped due to the Soul Sanctity Principle. For a soul to be tampered by a foreign entity, it needs to allow it do so (the eternal soul that is. The mortal soul can be devoured or assimilated much more easily). Astralborne with astral spirits are hunted down, and their special ethereal organs are harvested. Those with an astral soul have a natural inclination to absorb another's astral spirit, but not the other way around.

Astralborne that fall in love function similar to if not entirely like a fully-functional astralborne. One generates the astral obfuscating-field and the other transmutes matter. The astral spirit is passed down through the mother, and the astral soul may reincarnate further down the familial line into a true astralborne.

Astralborne can manipulate matter like their own mana, but it requires a lot of concentration and even more mana. They still require mana to alter matter's meta-knowledge - and a lot of it. Mana that is used by mages is usually naturally malleable whereas matter has no innate magical plasticity. The best method is to transmute matter to its closest counterpart. I.E. by carrying along certain matter that closely resembles what they need. E.G. carrying a satchel of water whose hydrogen and oxygen can be separated and exploded into white hot flames. Or transmuting the carbon dioxide in the air into carbon monoxide - silently suffocating an unsuspecting victim from the inside. This type of astral magic that focuses on transmuting matter into slightly different matter is known as astral alchemy. It is not much different than alchemical or arcane transmutation. The difference lies in that the mage does not just change netheric mana. They change matter itself, allowing for a much greater and complete magical effect.

Arcane transmutation works by drawing on one's gathered arcana to change mana into another state. A nether of water could be separated into their flammable elementary particles and ignited. But, the problem lies in that it does not affect matter's arcana, only the nether essence that binds to it. Alchemic transmutation is the same, yet differs only in its approach.

Astral Magic

Astral magic that involves making mana into matter is called a multitude of names. Mythic magic, true thaumaturgy, creation magic and etc. Its costs are exponential due to the law of observance. Mana needs to be observed or else it turns it into undefined mana or (astral) void mana. Void mana is volatile. It's nothing, everything, cold and hot. Mana usually does not entirely undefine due to astral beings. Instead, it turns into void-space mana, or null-ethereal mana, that doesn't occupy physical space, but instead a void-space; pockets in the ethereal that contain dense amounts of mana. Think of them as soap bubbles in a tub of etheric water. The bubbles will slowly drain away into the surrounding Aether and Ether, but may also condense into the Nether, thus materializing in the physical world. Depending on what matter has been undefined, an elemental may be borne.

Technically, mages already turn mana into matter. Water mana is water ether made tangible, for example. The difference between what the common mage and an astralborne can do lies in two aspects. Forged mana-constructs are susceptible to thanatium and thus decay. And aeternium boosts a mage's ability to stabilize a mana construct due to it boosting an aura's perception via arcane conductivity. Thanatium and aeternium have no effect on an astralborne's pseudo-matter. Scholars believe what gives astralborne their unique ability to create matter from mana is that astral souls function on a different wavelength than normal souls. Though, this may or may not be entirely true. Elodin begs to differ, as the function may come instead from specialized soul-structures not unlike arcanums instead of universal field or planar interaction.

Astralborne pseudo-matter functions exactly like matter in that it's not affected by thanatium or any other magical metal that interacts with mana. The only difference between real matter and pseudo-matter created by an astralborne is that pseudo-matter needs to be observed by an astral soul. Mass, and distance to pseudo-matter increases mana cost exponentially (unless spatial magicks, soul-bounds, or aetheric links are established). Astralborne can infuse, or bind a minor inner gate to pseudo-matter to slightly mitigate distance-related mana costs, essentially creating a soul-bound familiar in the process. These objects are directly connected to an astralborne's soul and thus decay when the astralborne dies (unless they become part of a sorcerous legacy). Many powerful astralborne mages have been known for creating powerful weapons whose blades had edges as sharp as obsidian, but whose durability was like that of steel. These powerful artifacts could be taken away, manipulated, or tampered with, if said astralborne felt the need.

Such was the case with the War of Roses. A war where the astralborne artificer, Halgrave Mortimer, had enough with his nation's war crimes, created several powerful artifacts that were unrivaled in their strength and quality. By the end of the three day war, all of the artifacts had turned into roses.

An astralborne's weakness lies in that their ability requires a mana-field construct to function. And thus, thanatium, the godkiller suffices to end their tyrannical reign over matter. Thanatium silver does not disrupt a soul-bound matter construct, yet it stops an obfuscation-field from forming.

What differentiates an astralborne's control over reality and matter and a True Wizard's is simple. One is innate and the other is learned. The Detached become immortals with powers that could be seen as that of the Gods. The Detached still have a semblance of humanity or mortality left inside them. They have faults due to the nature of having experienced mortality of their individual species. Once they become beings of pure mana and not matter, they can better feel the world around them in a way they've never felt before. Whereas before, they were limited by how their mortal brains perceived reality, now they can shape their very perceptions and tune into frequencies never thought possible. Even among the Detached, only a small number of them are capable of true matter transmutation. And even then, their souls are simply not naturally designed for the manipulation of meta-knowledge associated with matter, requiring years of practice to fully transmute matter.

Astral Alchemy

Astral alchemy can be cast to a certain degree by even fledgling mages, through the use of runic magicks. Runic magic is performed by use of special commands given in the form of a runic language. Spirits or even souls may be conditioned to respond to runes and execute certain actions. Not all runic languages are born equal. Some require long chains of runes, but are specific and allow for complex casting. Some are short yet efficient and effective, allowing for fast combat magic.

One only needs an appropiate spirit-structure to create an obfuscating-field and an arcanum of the appropriate matter being astrally transmuted. Arcane transmutation deals with splitting and manipulating electrical bonds between matter, whereas astral transmutation changes the arcana of matter directly. Instead of a voidstone, one might also turn to wizardry and draw upon the Wellfont to perform material transmutation. It is the easiest to perform, yet least powerful.

Astral Alchemy is most usually done by aid of an astral spirit. Said spirit is bound to a voidstone, a black stone that has a high abyssal steel content. Voidstones are aptly named for being dark stones that are naturally polished-looking and spherical. They are found in certain areas of high density Void either inside the Shadow Plane Itself or in an area with a Void-gate, Convergence or Tear. Abyssal steel can be found as a stone or a metal, but in actuality, it is neither. It's netheric bindings are made of highly dense carbon, making it as hard and durable as diamonds. As such, it is named blacken diamantite.

The core is made of compressed negative spirit energy. It is, in itself, alive. Tortured spirits of the void congregate to one another, forming a substance similar to plaque. It roots itself in the membrane between realities to stave off the Pull of the Pale. Voidstones burn when in contact with the Aether. In such a case, they form a sort of dense mana Shell similar to a soul. These allow them to survive the burn of the Aether, but they still need an energy source. They are sentient and form contracts and symbiotic relationships with mages or even simple mortals for their needed substenance. As such, they are named black or death djinn as they grant their wielders immense power dependent on the contract.

When an astral Spirit or any unbound spirit is in contact with a voidstone, it's sucked into it and incorporated into its void-mass. The void-mass is alive and sentient. Though the degree of which is dependent on individual cases. The Aura of a voidstone is actually similar to an astral-obfuscation field. It functions by making mana decay in its vicinity and then feeds off of the void mana produced by it. Voidstones, like all spirits, habit in void-spaces; bubbles inside the porous membrane between realities. The Aura of living beings is an extension of the physical membrane of a void-space bound to wind, water, and life ether.

Voidstones house their arcanums inside their void-spaces. Voidstones are also called dark philosopher's stones or fell stones. They can transmute physical nether or matter as long as their isn't a strong enough spirit to resist. Dead matter is easier to transmute than matter that is alive. Magic circles and rune magic is used in place of an astral soul. Detailed descriptions and commands are written on magic circles with the use of runes, symbols, and glyphs. Voidstones are conditioned to read runic languages and execute the specific magicks written upon a magic circle. Voidstones may also have built in magical commands with execute phrases called spells. Spells are highly convenient for commonplace magic that isn't complicated. Mages like their conveniences. They are only known for liking complexity when it makes commoners think of them as wizard-lords sequestered in isolated towers filled with a horde of gold and women. Only one of those are true.

Mages tend to be isolated, that is, introverted pricks high on glimmerdust and doomlust extract.