Hmm...

[Syril Ænari]

I wonder how magic works. Maybe a type of sub-atomic particle responsible for supernatural activity, and a special lobe of the human brain responsible for externalizing nerve signals in the form of electron patterns... of course, the mana particles would have to respond to the movement of electrons. That way, if you have a given number of particles within a human body, the brain will send a electric signal down though the nerves and out the nerve endings, carrying mana with it as it goes. The particles would then bond with some substance outside the body, but retain their reactive properties, so if a second signal was sent, the newly imbued object would react. Say, a chunk of earth or a stream of water. But that only deals with movement, what about causing chemical reactions like fire? Fire needs a reactant, so conjuring it out of thin air would be an impossibility... unless it isn't really fire. Yes, that's it; bonding of mana with the air followed by excitement of that mana will naturally cause the atoms to move more rapidly, generating heat--but the illusion of actual flames is caused by the high concentration of mana refracting light by attracting photons. Yes, of course it would have to attract photons, otherwise there would be no light manipulation. That explains why spells have light and color. Also, that can explain the phenomenon of auras; when a mage casts, not all the mana particles which are externalized will go into the spell, because humans are biological and inherently flawed. Instead, a little bit leaks into the atmosphere, and the photons bending toward that wasted mana cause an aura. Perfect. That whole heat generation idea can be reversed as well to generate cold too... how does a water elementalist conjure water or ice out of the air? Simple, they extract it from the vapor in the atmosphere, then control its temperature to alter its state of matter as they see fit. Air, earth and metal are easy, since they primarily involve movement, and fire I already explained. Wood... wood is difficult. One can't conjure plants any more than one can conjure fire... perhaps carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen in the soil can be recombined to form a living organism. That's getting pretty implausible, but I suppose it will have to do. That covers the elements, what about psychism? Why, the psychics get another cerebral gland; one responsible for picking up and deciphering the signals constantly and inadvertently being externalized by the aforementioned glands of other people. As for telekinesis, that's just like earth elementalism but with less control. Movement of objects with the mind. Ah, but then we get into summoning. And now I have to explain the existence of spirits. Hmm... well, due to the bonding qualities of mana particles, perhaps they can bond to themselves as well, and create a sort of pseudo-matter--a shadow of the physical--which can make up a sentient being. Oh, and then for human spirits, the particles present in the body can leave the body upon death, and bond together while retaining the shape of their previous container, thus creating a meta-physical copy of their human hosts! Perfect! And as for conjuring spirits, well, there would have to be some transversal of dimensions in there somewhere. I wonder if that's where wood elementalists get their plants? Nah, if they could summon objects via inter-dimensional travel, they wouldn't bother warping a mass of tissues if they wanted to wrap their opponent. They'd summon something a little more useful, like a steel cable. And that's a completely different type of magic. I digress, back to the spirit summoning. So, we have two options; one, the summoner forms mana particles already present in the surrounding area into a meta-physical entity, or two, they alter space-time through the influence of gravitons (if they can bond to photons and quarks, then sure, why not?) to transport that entity from another dimension. Hey, that dimensional transport thing can be used to explain teleportation and substitution as well, so sure, lets go with that one.

Strange things happen when I get to thinking.

[The Designer]

Damn.....

But Don't forget about Ritual Magic and Alchemy.... EXPLAIN THAT! lol...

You seem to belong in the Technocracy....

[Syril Ænari]

Ritual magic... the words are a verbal interpretation of the electron patterns required to form the desired effect, which assist in concentration. Other than that, it's just like regular magic--unless I've misunderstood what you mean by "ritual magic," in which case please feel free to correct me.

Alchemy is an easy one; you're moving the atoms around and recombining them to form different substances, or alter the construction of an existing substance. Once again, it all boils down to movement, but in this case it's on the molecular level.

Hey, here's another good one: necromancy. There have to be two types; in a recently deceased cadaver, or one that retains some semblance of physiology, you could move electrons to forcefully trigger synapses in the brain and cause them to fire, returning the creature to life for as long as the contact is maintained, and selectively omitting portions of the brain which control free thought, thus ensuring total control of the target. The other would be for long-dead corpse, I.E. skeleton, and would just be another form of animation; moving its limbs for it. For summoning undead, we again have dimensional transport via control of gravitons.

Technocracy... wouldn't that be a system of government ruled by technology? It's like robots taking over the world!