What is mana ?

[Jilerel]

When Jilerel was studying magic for advanced uses, I realized I didn't know what mana was. So I asked in gossip, and it happens that it's not fully defined. So here are the questions that came into my head :

- What is "mana" ?
    - Is it an IC concept ?
    - How casting spells work then ?
        - Why can some race cast spells without glyphs and others can't ?
    - Is it a ressource, like blood for the physical part ?
    - How can someone gather/regenerate it ?
         - From where can someone gather it ?

Anyway, I hope this will help defining better the notion of magic into PS !

[Rigwyn]

I don't think mana is defined in the settings. It probably started out more as a resource/stat like hp and str.

Personally, I think it would be good if there were more formal definitions or agreed upon observations for things like mana. Such definitions and agreed upon observations could then be used as building blocks when role playing and writing serttings material.

If you have an idea of what mana *should be* then maybe it would be a good idea to write about it and post that into its own thread so that it can be vetted and debated and finally proposed.

More...

Based on past discussions on magic with Venalan, I think we agreed that magic was more akin to energy than anything else and is not alive ( as life is ). I think it would be reasonable then to assume that mana is more akin to stored or accumulated energy which is used to perform magic. We talk in the settings about crystals being able to store energy, so this explanation would fit in well with that. We also say that mana is a resource that can be depleted as one casts.

If I was to write or roleplay about experimentation and discovery of finer details about magic and mana, I would probably do so but leave some room for my character to be wrong so that in the event that future settings info is released, I would have a way to make my story consistent once again.

So how does mana get into crystals and mages?
Is it in the air too? In the rocks and water?
Do certain shapes and arrangements cause that mana to be expressed and converted into magic?
Can mana spoil or sour?
Are there diffferent kinds of mana?
Does it have a smell or taste?
Can it be converted to matter?
Can it be used as a cooking ingredient?
Does it cause gas and bloating? 


Regarding the use of raw magic, read The History of Magic and the Diaboli race history.

[sgtkwol]

Most logical seems like it would be energy from the crystal, almost like photosynthesis, but more complicated.

[Roled]

Roled has written a book of observations, called Natural Magicks, which includes some discussion of mana, crystal energies, and other glyphless magicks, with some postulations about origins and evolution of these many forms.  If I see you ig I would love to have a discussion ic with those who might be interested and perhaps even barter you for the book.
RR

[Candy]

We have potions named 'Mana Potions' in-game - NPCs would likely call it that, and I don't know if it can be crafted or not, but I assume the crafting books would call it that as well. I take that as pretty solid evidence that yes, mana is an IC thing. I'll often use 'magical energy' as an alternate term when roleplaying magic use since "/me runs out of mana" sounds kind of OOC, however. It could easily be a somewhat warped nickname for 'magical energy', the way many of us use 'wibble' instead of 'welcome back' OOC.

[Volki]

It could easily be a somewhat warped nickname for 'magical energy'

I like this. I've seen people use 'energy' IC but not 'mana.' The difference between mana and magical energy is that mana can be described as a pool of that same energy, whereas magical energy is the most basic form.

the way many of us use 'wibble' instead of 'welcome back' OOC.

What a disgusting word.

[Rigwyn]

the way many of us use 'wibble' instead of 'welcome back' OOC.

What a disgusting word.

LOL!

[Can-ned Food]

A polynesian word for a concept regarded as a pervasive essence, more like animus than élan vital.  As I understand, it later was adopted to describe the magical motive force in neo-paganism.  Then, of course, it became a staple for fantasy works and RPGs in the 20th century.

So, will PS use it as such, or are we simply applying the word for familiarity?

[LigH]

Roled, I wonder if you found any similar results to my early works...

[MishkaL1138]

As taken from Wikipedia, the lazy, pedantic man's go-to encyclopædia:

n Dungeons & Dragons, a dweomer is an aura of magic; especially that which enchanted items radiate. According to Wizards of the Coast, the word is pronounced /dwɛ.mə/, /dwɪ.mə/, or /dwi.mə/.[7]

Gary Gygax encountered the Middle English word dweomercræft in Susan Kelz Sperling's book Poplollies & Bellibones: A Celebration of Lost Words (1977), where it is defined as "the art of magic or juggling." Gygax invented such derivations as dweomered, dweomercræfter, and dweomercræfting.

Praised be Gygax. Also the magic inherent to dwarves in Nørse mythology was called dweomœr

[Can-ned Food]

Mishka brought it up and I couldn't help myself.
The word was also used to derive several others mentioned in the Red Book of Westmarch.  Tolkien was a philologist, you know.  Taken from my trusty appendices:
Dwimmerlaik - n., in Rohan, necromancy or spectre; cf. ‘dwimmer-crafty’
Dwimorberg - place, Haunted Mountain
Dwimordene - place, Vale of Illusion, name in Rohan for Lórien

Anyway, more to the topic, I would love to see this word used in PS.  Let's rehash the nature of mana.
In the basic GURPS ruleset, mana is also seen as something which is present in the environment, not something made or merely as a measure of magical strength.  That's what has always made sense to me:  the mage has some internal store of the stuff, which they draw from their surroundings, and when that is depleted it must be replenished.  They only manipulate what they've accumulated.
Dwimmercraft (dweomercræft), then, would be the art of focusing, concentrating, and directing mana.

The words ‘magic’ or ‘mage’ originated with ancient arabic and persian thinking IIRC, and were used to simply describe practitioners in esoteric or occulted arts.  The connotation of the supernatural or supra-physical came about during the Renaissance, perhaps?

Anyway, as to this Catyliasis stuff.
Midichlorians (mitochondria), anyone?
Perhaps mana exists in separate dimensions, and catyliasis — sorry but I must say that this word looks like straight gibberish — extends through both the dimensions of mana and the dimensions of Yliakum, and thus facilitates interaction.  Only, that makes nonliving things invulnerable to mana.  It makes more sense if catyliasis is what enables living things to focus and direct mana.

However, going back to dweomÅ“r, it seems that glyphs and imbued nonliving things can indeed collect and accumulate mana:  They can hold a charge, or act like capacitors for the stuff, or even channel it in the way that glyphs do, but they lack the energies necessary to do anything more.

[Eonwind]

That's what has always made sense to me:  the mage has some internal store of the stuff, which they draw from their surroundings, and when that is depleted it must be replenished.  They only manipulate what they've accumulated.

I really much like the definition of mana as a pool of magical energy the mage can tap from to harness the power (of the glyphs). Once depleted the mage would be too tired to harness these powers and require some time and rest to replenish this pool naturally (collecting the external magical energies), of course unless something accelerate the process (potions, restoration magic like sleep etc.).
Magic items would then be enchanted with a magical focus (the crystal set on them or eventually the glyph in contact with them) that act as a catalyst of the raw external magical energies (with no need create a mana pool as only creatures would be so able to "create" such mana pool).