This page is an excerpt from a guide I am preparing that describes the Magic system for the universe of both my Sumarian themed Sword and Sorcery works and the Science Fiction universe of Project Gilgamesh and Project Iliad.

In the Steam Punk universe, they call it "Tegic". Technical Magic.

Objective Reality

The first concept that all students of Tegic must understand is that what we see as Ob-jective Reality is really an interference pattern between three different realms. (Figure 1)

The laws of how each realm works are a subject for deep contemplation. Assuming a complete telling is even possible in human terms, the content would fill a library of books. The best we can do is give you a “dip in your toes” depth overview.

Your body, your soul, and your imagination are all a “you” shaped bubble that stretches into each of these three realms simultaneous-ly. Every living thing is a similar bubble liv-ing on the surface of Objective Reality. We call these bubbles “Agents.” All of the agents working together are considered Life.

The Ancients used the metaphor of a shad-ow to describe what our world is to the realms beyond. Today we have a better metaphor: a hologram.

With a hologram, a LASER beam is split. One beam is allowed to bounce off of an ob-ject (reflective), the other beam is unaltered (reference). The altered beam and the refer-ence beam are combined on the surface of a photographic plate. What is recorded on that plate is not an image of the object, but an in-terference pattern of the reflective and refer-ence beam.

Illuminating the holographic recording with another laser beam reconstructs not just the image, but an entire 3d structure of the origi-nal object down to microscopic detail.

Another property of a hologram is that the entire image is encoded on every part. Break-ing a plate in half still gives you two copies of the hologram. In fact, a hologram could theo-retically be broken into thousands or millions of pieces. Though, the quality of the reproduc-tion diminishes with each division.

The three realms are, in a sense, the holo-graphic plates. Our lives are the holograms produced by illuminating those plates with a coherent beam.

The Mind Realm

Each Agent calls into existence a personal universe that is under its complete control, the Mind. The Mind is an empty place where thoughts can mix and blend, in an attempt to visualize what the Agent is experiencing from the other realms. Pure mind has no memory. A change of thought can restructure the entire realm.

The Will Realm

Agents require a structure, and in the process of spawning it produces a personal universe to contain itself, the Will. The body we are fa-miliar with in the Objective Reality is a shape that is driven by the will. While the Mind is pure change in want of structure, the Will is pure structure in want of change.

The Spirit Realm

The Spirit realm is one realm which all Life in our universe shares. Spirit connects all agents and acts as a common reference for each Agent’s Objective Reality. Each agent has its own mind and will, but are all the same spirit. The Evocation of the Spirit realm behave like the frequency domain in Evoca-tion. Global things are tiny points. Tiny points are global things. The Spirit realm has no time, nor space, nor self.

The Demirealms

Objective Reality is the region of interfer-ence where all three realms interact. There are also three regions where only two realms in-teract. Each Demirealm has a different set of laws of interaction. Tegic is the process of de-veloping one’s self to be able to exploit these differences in laws to bring about change that is reflected in Objective Reality.

Demirealm of Illusion

The interactions of Will and Spirit. Illusion is essential for personal development. But, it turns out, our perception of the world is a shared experience. Tegic users can use this principle to alter how others view the world around them.

Demirealm of Transmutation

The interactions of Mind and Spirit. In the absence of will, the mind and spirit can partner up to perform transformations that are seemingly impossible in Objective Reality. Some involve reacting chemicals through Transmutation, or converting substances into other substances through alchemy. Other transmutation spells can alter bodies. Mutation and Evolution are both expressions of latent transmutation in all life.

Demirealm of Evocation

The interactions of Will and Mind. In the absence of spirit, will and mind can perform partner up to cause seemingly impossible events. Evocation shortcuts the need for a cause to get an effect. All forms of “kinesis”, levitation, and probability shaping are spells and abilities of the Evocation school.

The Chimeras

Tegic schools also exist that utilize a profound understanding of the nature of the Universe to perform magic using all three colors of mana, as well as all three flavors of quintessence.

Medicine

Medicine is the art of combining mana of all types into producing constructive works and miracles.

Necromancy

Necromancy is the art of manipulating quintessence of all types into forms of tremendous power.

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Note (2/10/2022): Earlier drafts of this theory had Illusion, Transmutation, and Evocation in different places. Illusion was magenta, Transmutation yellow, and Evocation Cyan. Later developments in the MWS personality system, especially as we tried to tie magic ability to personality, revealed our original guess was wrong. Well at least it's not like Ben Franklin and getting the direction of electrical charge wrong... Oh wait...

In truth, each of the schools actually is a mixed bag if Mind Will and Soul. There is nothing pure about magic. But for organizational purposes, it's nice to overlook imperfection.