Convergence, The Linking of the spirit

The Linking of the spirit to the mind, also known as Convergence, is done by two main meditation types. Internal and external (Introspective and extrospective). These two types are usually done in conjunction with one another to Link the spirit to the mind. External meditation works by observing the flow of mana outside of one's body, and internal meditation is the observation of the internal flow of mana.

External meditation is the most accessible in nature to achieve Convergence. Being near magical Loci such as mana-rich environs aid extrospection. Internal meditation is the most accessible in civilization. Simply meditating and focusing on one's body can aid introspection. Being injected with foreign mana or being put under the will of another's spirit heavily benefits introspection. Introspection and extrospection are done in conjunction, but usually, one takes precedence over the other. Some species may have rituals where their offspring are subjected to foreign mana to either Link or Awaken. Others may randomly Link or Awaken due to chance.

Being subjected to foreign mana has the highest chance to unlock latent magic, causing the Linking of one's spirit or Awakening of one's soul. spirit Sense (AKA soul Sense) is inherent to all living beings to some rudimentary degree.

The factors of where and how meditation occurs influence the rate of Convergence and the very fabric of one's spirit. spirit Resonance is the spirit's ability to adapt to its environment. Like all life, the spirit adapts, but instead of this occurring between differing life-forms across millennia, it may happen in but one life. Those who meditate in the twilight dead of night where shadows crawl and light has yet to arrive, resonate with the nature of darkness. Their spirits become aspected with Shadow mana, embodying the Arcana of primordial dark.

Living in regions aspected with specific mana types leads to the spirit developing an affinity for those mana types. Soldiers turned spiritualists may find themselves bathed in the aspect of Vitality from all the blood that they have shed. Blacksmiths and coal burners may find their spirits tinged with flame. Farmers and herbalists have their spirits saturated in verdant waters. One's life leaves behind memories etched onto their spirit.

Concrescence & Percipience, The Augmenting of the spirit

After Linking with one's spirit, a spiritualist gains a lesser degree of conscious control over it. This control can be trained to become higher. The more one uses their spirit, the easier it becomes. The process is similar to figuring out how to move one's ears back and forth (for humans). To achieve such a thing, one needs to move the surrounding muscle groups to reverse the state of atrophy. Then one needs to consistently keep practicing, so the brain learns how to move it. It is a case of muscle memory and muscle mass. One is the abundance and density of muscle fibers, and the other is the neurological adaptation and building of pathways. Gaining better control over the spirit is the same. It needs to gain more magical density because of its naturally weak state, and the mind needs to learn how to move it.

The Linking of the spirit and the Awakening of the soul follow mostly the same rules and stages as all magical Awakenings. Perception comes before conscious control, and the outside manipulation and perception comes before the inside (though, one may Link to their spirit via introverted meditation, their most sensitive magical Senses will still be of the outside).

The unlocking and integration of Aura Senses is called Percipience, the ability to perceive mana.

The mage first gains the ability to sense mana through their Aura and then learns to sense their internal mana flow. The spiritualist first gains control over the surface of their spirit, the Aura, and then learns how to properly exert authority over their spirit.

Aura Senses come in various different types, with benefits and disadvantages. Sight-based Aura Senses are the most common, allowing a mage to "see" environmental mana as either an overlaying filter over their normal vision or as a more sensitive image when their eyes are closed. Sound and touch-based Aura Senses are always paired together. They allow a mage to sense both physical fluctuations in the air and mana flow in the Aether. mages with this set of Aura Senses can also touch an object to better feel its mana (they might feel heat when in contact with Fire Aspect mana or cold when in contact with Cold Aspect mana). There are many other types of Aura Senses which will not be addressed. For further reading, check the magical Awakenings section of Malphas Eventide's The Path of the soulcerer.

Aura Senses can be deliberately acquired and activated at will with enough practice. Unlocking and integrating multiple Aura Senses is exceptionally beneficial for harvesting highly specific mana types. Force mana can be gathered from Wind mana, and Sword mana can be harvested from Metal mana found on the edge of a blade. One only needs the ability to perceive the mana type to better harvest it (this is mostly due to efficiency and accuracy. One can sense almost all mana types with any Aura Sense, but it is much harder if the magical Exteroception is not compatible with the specific mana type). It is easier to unlock similar Aura Senses than those that are more distant. A mage may Link with multiple Aura Senses, but they are usually duller than usual to avoid over stimuli.

The amassing of foreign mana is called Concrescence, the Augmenting of the spirit. Most spiritualists are known as Augmenters due to their ability to augment their bodies by using their spirits.

The spirit absorbs foreign mana through three main ways. It has various different organs like the Corporeal body. It absorbs a small amount through the Aura, a medium amount through the Ethereal Stomach (assimilating mana found in food), and a large amount through the lungs. There is no specialized equivalent for lungs as an Ethereal Organ. The spirit itself functions as a respiratory system similar to how frogs and many amphibians absorb air through their skin. mana found in the air goes through the lungs, where the spirit interjects its will and assimilates it. The spirit is an amorphous lung-like organ in and of itself.

Assimilated foreign mana is stored in one of the various mana pools of the spirit. It can be in any of the minor pools along the spine, but it is most commonly stored in one of the three main reservoirs: the Ethereal Stomach, Heart, and Eye.

The amassed mana can then be diverted from any of the pools into the spirit to augment a specific part of it. There is less mana to be harvested from Mundane land; therefore, mages travel to more dangerous and mana-saturated land.

The Ethereal Muscles can be imbued with Fire mana to provide explosive bursts of strength. Ethereal Organs gain aspects of the mana that is infused into them. Fire-imbued Ethereal Muscles convert heat into kinetic energy, allowing a mage to exchange their very body heat into power. Ethereal Organs are not required to have only one mana type. Competing mana types can combine in different ratios to produce new ones, and the Ethereal Organ being imbued also influences the end mana type. Ethereal Muscles can also have regions with varying kinds of mana (Water mana for the legs and Fire mana for the arms, for example).

Entirely new mana Organs (Ethereal Organs) can be created by Concrescence. mana is a tapestry made of different threads called Arcana. Arcana is what determines how mana acts, being similar to genetic information. Manipulating the Arcane tapestry of mana is called Transmutation; it allows one to change mana from one type to another. spiritualists have a harder time in Transmutation. Their spirits don't have the complex machinery needed to properly Transmute distant mana types like a soulcerer can. A spiritualist cannot turn their Grey mana (mana found in the body) into Fire mana without a specific mana Organ acting as a Transmutation Medium.

spiritualists must start out with more elementary and impure mana types and then go from there. To acquire Heat mana, a spiritualist would need to hone their Percipience to be able to better see the Arcana contained in Fire mana and then remove the superfluous Arcana.

A spiritualist can sense and absorb Earth mana but would find it harder to absorb Metal mana. Their efficiency would be much harder, and they would inevitably come out with impure mana (the ratio being closer to muddled Earth mana than the more specific Metal mana). The spiritualist would then have to vent or assimilate the impurities. Venting is the easiest and most effective method in mana-rich regions. Assimilating the impurities transforms them into bodily mana. In conjunction with most of the spirit, the Ethereal Stomach allows one to Transmute almost any mana type into Grey mana. But, to Transmute Grey mana into another type, one requires a specialized mana Organ.