Elements, Runes, and "Known Magic"

[B-rad]

--Overview of Elements and Runes--
In the Arcane Democracy, magic is divided into 6 different elements:  Light, Shadow, Flame, Water, Natural, and Atmospheric.

• Light Magic has to do with the concentration of light and life energy to preform destructive laser techniques or cause great damage against evil creatures.
  
• Shadow Magic draws it's power from unseen forces in the darkness.  Wielders of this magic can manipulate appearances and seemingly bend space to attack their foes.
  
• Flame Magic uses the principle of gathering or generating heat to cause spontaneous combustion.  Powerful flames and explosive forces can be created with this type of magic.
  
• Water Magic allows for the free movement of water.  It is said to be the easiest magic to learn, but the hardest to master.  Water Magic users have the ability to collect water from the air and even freeze it solid.
  
• Earth Magic allows the user to wield nature itself as a weapon.  Geomancy as it is properly named, allows the mage to pour his own life energy into nature to help it to grow at miraculous rates, or to cause trees and rocks animate and do his bidding.
  
• Sky Magic is the magic of storms.  Controlling the air pressure around themselves, "Storm Mages" have proven deadly in combat by creating cyclones to blow away their enemies or generating friction in the air to blast lightning at them.
  

Mastering the power of the elements proved difficult for most.  The Democracy, durring the invasion of the Rovan Empire quickly became short-handed on mages that were able to fight.  The battles grew more fierce, and magicians were being killed left and right, decreasing the amount of support for the war that the Democracy could muster even further.  Until, an elder magician by the name of William Marrius, said to have mastered the six elements in his lifetime, spoke to the Master Magician.  He claimed that through his studies of the arts, he found that as different as the elements may be, they are still only an extension of one's own will.

Over a course of a few months, with the help of the Magic Academy's top scholars, William created a a series of Runic Symbols which were endowed with the ability to help control the elements:

• Channeling:
  
•  Used to channel an element in the direction chosen by the user.  Gave use of projectile spells.
  
• Wavering:  
  
•  Used to dissipate an element and spread it's effect over a wider area.  Used mainly for shielding spells.
  
• Compressing:
  
•  Used to focus an element into a small space.  Used for piercing and exploding spells.
  
• Bursting:  
  
• Used to explode an element outward in a wide area.  Used for wide-area spells.
  
• Focusing:  
  
• Used to increase the amount of power a spell used.  Increased the power of spells at the expense of fatigue and loss of control.