A Guide To Mana
Mana
An invisible, non-physical substance that can be channelled, held, focussed and used to cast magic.
Holding Mana
Holding mana is the state of mana being present an object or someone's body.
Roaming Mana
Mana that is not being held by anything and simply moving through the world.
Focussing Mana
To “focus mana” is to manipulate the mana already held within your body to a particular point. One might focus mana into their hand with the intention of casting magic from it.
Channeling Mana
All living things and even inanimate objects have a certain capacity of how much mana they can hold and how quickly they can channel it. Mana will constantly “channel” itself into someone/something, providing that they have capacity to hold more mana within themselves. One can accelerate this process by consciously channeling mana, providing that you know how. It is possible to increase both your channeling speed and holding capacity. The dead do not channel mana. Mana is repelled by corpses.
Magic (Magically Charged Mana)
Magic is simply mana that has become functional beyond simply moving from one thing to the other. Magic is an abbreviation for “magically charged mana.” In most cases, the mana will eventually cease to be magical and become “dead mana.”
Dead Mana
Often, when mana is used to cast magic and that magical charge has ended, it becomes “dead” for a period of time, during which it can be focussed, but is not usable for casting magic. When this period of time is over, we refer to it once more as “mana.”
Casting Magic
To cast magic is to use magic in such a way that it is no-longer localised to your body.
Wielding Magic
To wield magic is to use magic in such a way that it remains within your body, ie. focussing mana to your feet and using its magic to make you jump higher.
Conscious Mana
All mana is conscious mana. The term “conscious mana” is intended to describe the fact that mana essentially carries memory of all of the magic it has been used to manifest. This theory is used to explain magical anomalies, which often occur seemingly in response to substantial magical events in the world. Furthermore, it is believed that these reactions are in many capacities both equal and opposite to their catalysts. I.E. “A necromancer resurrects a veteran's graveyard of dead adults as undead mind-slaves. Somewhere in the world, a magical anomaly occurs that causes babies to be born as undead skeletons and zombies with great leadership skills and above-average intelligence.”
In spite of this, our estimations of the equal opposite to a particular magical event is often quite different to the actual consequences, most likely because even the most learned races do not yet understand all of the intricacies of mana and its workings.