Mana

Mana Theory, or less commonly Manalogy, is the official study pertaining to the properties, phenomena, behavior and function of Mana. Modern Mana Theory recognizes the practical application of Mana, or Magiology, as its only direct descendant, from which numerous branches and subdisciplines stem from, such as Alchemy, Symbology and Ritualistics, just to name a few.

Definition

Mana is the name given to the Primordial Energy of the highest order in the Manaverse. Although this is a fact in reality, current Mana Theory only theoretically predicts that the expansive and cyclical behavior of Mana can be attributed to the vaguest semblance of sentience. Mana, in the loosest sense of the word, is a quasi-sentient organism that solely exists to propagate through the Manaverse and condition either itself or its surroundings to achieve an ideal level of symbiosis between both. Since these behaviors quality as nothing more than instinct, it is relatively accurate to compare it to a microorganism in the way both operate.

Mana will, by nature, establish cyclical behaviors when appropriately synchronized with its environment. The scope of these self-sustaining cycles are greatly variable--there is very little functional difference in human beings naturally replenishing Mana by drawing it from their surroundings, and a planet's core acting as a central node of ingoing and outgoing Mana.

Possible States

Mana, like most energies, occurs naturally as an aether, a purely intangible state without material presence whatsoever. Nullshifted (or Elementally-Neutral) Mana in its primary state is indefinitely stable by principle, though it is able to condense and physically manifest in certain circumstances with varying levels of stability: while Mana triggered as plasma is extremely common in nature and in magical processes, it tends to immediately decay without an external system to maintain its energetic equilibrium. Likewise, gaseous and liquid instances of Mana can only be produced in specialized, isolated environments to prevent it from decaying or elementalizing with the medium.

Curiously, Mana can naturally manifest as crystalline solid. Crystallized Mana is highly stable and is only subject to decaying or breaking down by external factors such as the environment, rather than by instability. Crystallized Mana occurs when Mana harmonizes with crystalline structures of any kind, and outputs a predetermined arrangement of particles while cannibalizing most of the original material's composition: this causes most instances to be identical, even if transmuted from different compounds. Furthermore, the energetic component of the resulting crystal is then plasmatized, which results in characteristic luminescence refracted from inside the crystal; this also allows for Mana to be easily assimilated into Crystallized Mana.

Elemental Mana

Mana has a perfect resonance with the Elemental Spectrum, accepting all elemental wavelengths and even extraspectral ones. Mana can and will Elementalize in the medium, provided it is exposed to a sufficiently strong stimulus. Elementalization of Mana is denominated "hueshifting" due to the color-coded organization of the Elemental Spectrum; this process is denoted with the affix "-shifting" along with the Element it is changing into (i.e Fireshifting, Watershifting, Thundershifting, etc).

Structure

In an atomic scale, the basic and essential unit that comprises the concept of Mana called a potent, consisting of powerful particles that chaotically orbit a dense and volatile nucleus located at the center of a spherical region. Potents are substanceless by nature in order for Mana to maintain an aetheric state, lacking mass or charge. Due to their deep involvement in Magiological processes, however, this behavior is bound to change in practically any describable way; for example, simulating combustion, assuming the exact properties of light or matter, becoming freebound energy used to fuel a different system, etc.

Potents are delimited by a spherically-symmetrical boundary surrounding the nucleus called the resonant. This region restricts the reality alteration microevents that are caused by the decay of the nucleus when triggered in a Magiological Activation Formula (hereafter, Activation Formula and other derived terms). Their name is derived from their primary function: they transmit and reciprocate commands to adjacent resonants, replicating conditions and parameters in an instantaneous chain reaction to ensure the stability of the purpose given by the Defined Will. Within a resonant, there are two coparticles which interact profoundly with the Activation Formula in tandem.

The first coparticle is the magitron ("Magic Particle"), which is solely responsible for the absolute potential of Mana. Magitrons follow a strictly established, bizarre orbit with degrees of variation in their length or width, with a level of displacement in their spatial axis--they are not truly orbiting the nucleus, but an invisible point a certain distance away instead. While these orbits will be always larger than the diameter of the resonant, magitrons exhibit a remarkable behavior upon attempting to cross the resonant: they will loop to the logical opposite boundary as they cross the threshold, effectively causing the particles to reach minimum nucleus distance twice per orbit.

The nucleus of a potent is the second coparticle, or psion ("Thought Particle"). Upon being given a purpose by the Defined Will, psions decay into unstable regions that unhinge and detach the fabric of reality within the potent itself, but ultimately delimited by their resonants. These localized and infinitesimal areas are immensely prone to reality modification, which is achieved by the interaction of magitrons in order to fulfill the task designated by the Defined Will via reality alteration, a process which transfers their energy to the affected threads of reality and reduces them to an extremely low-level energy state.

Once a potent's psion is fully annihilated in a magical process, its own resonant will disintegrate, unbinding them from the potent and allowing them to float freely as a residuum. This also destabilizes the alteration-sensitive areas, causing them to expand and break out of their local scope, thus fundamentally allowing for magic to produce meaningful effects upon reality.

Function

Main Article: Magiology

In natura, the universal purpose of Mana is to establish harmonic, non-intrusive cycles with the medium. Arguably the most essential of these is the relationship between Mana and the Soul, as the latter requires the former as a fuel for its continued function. However, the most prominent and widely-used function of Mana lies in its inherent property to affect the world--the purview of magic.

Universal Laws

The Mana Cycle

All Mana is absolutely and unconditionally subject to a transdimensional phenomenon known as the Mana Cycle. Mana itself does not cease to exist after being given a purpose--it is not "consumed" or "depleted" from the casting medium, but rather instantly transmuted into a practically undetectable residuum that Mana Theory distinguishes as Ley. Ley is widely considered to be effectively nonexistent in practical reality, as apart from being nigh-imperceptible and untappable, it is also exempt from primary temporal-spatial laws that govern the Manaverse (e.g. it is not affected by the concept of time, nor it is possible to dimensionally displace it unlike Mana). Nothing, even in principle, is capable of interacting with Ley.

Like Mana, Ley can be considered an aether, but it follows a much more straightforward behavior: instead of propagating, it establishes itself to flow into a complex network of streams known as Ley Lines. Though Ley as a fundamental energy possesses an abysmally low potential, Ley Lines can be predicted and mapped based on larger-scale analysis--they are extremely vital to some branches of Magiology by merely existing, despite not being a direct source of power.

Since Ley Lines are not affected by even the most encompassing concepts of the Manaverse, they essentially flow through the fabric of reality the longer they span: Ley Lines will effectively disappear and reappear at completely random intervals as they constantly escape and reenter perceivable reality throughout different planes. Ley Lines will ultimately converge into an isolated reality, where Ley begins to condense into material form. This creates an exotic element known as Manacium, composed entirely of metalloid Mana. These localized Manacium instances will eventually decay into Pure Mana and flow back into the Manaverse to complete the Mana Cycle.

Principle of Equivalence

No matter the type of process Mana is involved in, the absolute potential of the system will be directly proportional to the amount of Mana used as a fuel. Therefore, it is correct to assert that Mana's potential as a source of aetheric energy is a universal constant.

Quantification

Mana is a quantifiable, infinitely self-renewable resource that is possible to measure with great accuracy. The official unit of Mana quantity is the syel, a Phantasian term derived from the Xharic word "sëlxen", for "essence". Due to the Principle of Equivalence in Mana, this unit serves a dual purpose as it can also be used to effectively measure the potential aetheric energy derived from magecraft. While a single syel represents the absolutely minimum amount of Mana that a magical process can involve, the exact value of a potent of Mana is estimated to be approximately 2.3 attosyels (2.3 * 10^-18 syels).