Magic in Legendary

[Enigma]

Magic is everywhere in the world, inside of everyone and everything but as a weak force. The more complex or 'advanced' the life form, the more magic they can draw from their surroundings - but it takes someone with the "gift" to tap into their powers to use this force.

On one person in a thousand has this gift. This gift can pass to children but can also skip generations.

But to do anything more than simple witch tricks takes several years of dedicated training, practice and study. For every twenty witches (or 20,000 people), there is perhaps one wizard.

Schools of wizardry are almost non-existent - in most areas there aren't enough people with the gift to run one. Most who have the gift and want to learn how to use it seek out a wizard to apprentice to.

As the few magic lines that exist are passed through families, those families have spell books and techniques often unique to that line. Knowing the family the wizard apprenticed under can often tell you what sort of magic they can do.

However, the more powerful the spell, the more it depletes the caster - and the longer it takes to restore this power. A truly powerful spell can completely wipe out the caster, leaving him defenseless.

Training and practice allows a caster to learn how to control their output of magic and to pull more from their surroundings.

[Enigma]

Magic, as has already been said, is a weak force in Legendary. Deities can draw onto the magic potential of their worshipers and use that force.

However, it takes time to restore that used power. If a deity tries to draw too much, they can use up their worshiper's store of magic and find themselves powerless, reduced in size - and easily imprisoned.

Also, while a deity can call on its worshiper's powers while within its boarders, while traveling it has to depend on what it has stored and the worshipers it surrounds itself with.

An invading deity battling on foreign shores can quickly use up its store of energy in five minutes using destructive magics and protecting itself from the local deities. A sizable army can buy it up to five more minutes.

Destructive magics can have their affect, creating a "dead zone" where the magic in an area has been depleted, taking centuries to recover. A deity in a dead zone cannot draw on any power.

[Enigma]

In the casting of a spell, the caster is trying to influence the magic contained in another person or object to their will. A barrier spell works by repelling the magic contained in an object, such as an arrow, causing it to be deflected.

Destructive magics forces the release of an item's magic. Depleted items therefore are not affected by magic. A barrier spell therefore will not block an arrowhead made from metal that has been depleted. Depending on the intensity of the destructive magic, an item could be powerless for a substantial length of time.