To progress through the ranks of any given Path, a magician must amass matter immaterial; mana.

Each Path or even subspecific Way does so differently. But, in an effort to understand the underlying principles and mechanics of ascending the ladder of a magicking Path, in this tome, we shall use the examples of the Nine Major Telothic and Nine Major Elemental Paths.

Part I: Thaumic Weight

Thaumic weight or gravitas is the ability of masses of mana to distort spiritual fabric and thus bring surrounding ambient mana under its sway. The more mana is a present in a single locus, the more thaumic weight it possesses.

As everything in the Living Universe, there is an equal and opposite force to thaumic weight: planar polarity. The polarity of a given plane of reality naturally resonates with any bodies of mana therein, slowly but inexorably changing them to its own natural principles. Thus, when a mage of a given power greater than their surroundings does not practice concrescence, they lose the thaumic weight.

Planar polarity and thaumic weight are but two sides of the same coin. Both are expressions of thaumic weight itself, planar polarity is simply the thaumic weight of an entire system of metaphysical tissues.

Part II: Amassing of Spirit

How a mage amasses greater and greater mana within their beings is as varied as the magicking Paths themselves. Some do so by congregating substance insubstantial within the Centers of their spirits, building worlds within flesh-distilled. Others do so by gathering morsels of the metaknowledge—the strands that make up the structure and form of mana itself—to form indexes within their souls called arkanums.

Part III: Basal Thaumic Weight Ratio

Each stage of a magician’s Path is like a ladder’s rungs that grow in distance to each other exponentially; more and more energy is required to climb higher.

A mage’s Basal Thaumic Weight Ratio or simply concrescence factor (x) is the base logarithimic scalar to their acquirement of greater quantities of mana (n).

n in this case is plotted through a graph as a curve with a horizontal asymptote, increasing in the y-axis by n elevated to the x power.

Each tier of influence a mage crosses, their thaumic weight increases exponentially while their concrescence factor decreases in kind. Though, this is not a chance in Basal Thaumic Weight Ratio, but instead the introduction of a scalar of lower potency. Thus, the difficulty of climbing higher upon a given magicking Path increases explosively by the crossing of tier threshold.

Part IV: Endonetheric Resonance

The concrescence factor of any given mage is not an abragent nor diffuse agglomeration of all types of mana, but instead context dependent.

Through a person’s life, they will acquire threads of causal nature; each action reaping of an effect to one’s spirit. A totality of these sympathetic strands are called spirit-roots. These spirit-roots are mostly derived of endonetheric or enetheric mana; matter immaterial belonging to a slice of the Subtle Plane between the Physical and the Spiritual proper.

As a surface effect to the exposure of aspected and affined mana, a person’s aura so too changes, the spirit being malleable and plastique as it is. This is a consequence of planar polarity and, in general, thaumic weight. Like attracts like through the bending of universal fabric; the spheres fall to the lowest recess, following the Principle of Equilibrium.

The Living Universe, as any living, breathing being, tends towards a state of the least possible energy; equilibrium. The process of trascending to this state is called entropy.

Any given person’s affinity towards an aspect of magick or a singular element thereof is derived from their spirit-roots, and concrescence factor as a whole. A bit circular in logic, but as this phenomenon is a basal force of the universe this is to be expected.

Why does any closed system tend towards equilibrium? Because it does.