What is the world but what we perceive around us? There is more around you than what you can see with your eyes and touch with your hands. Most people will live out their entire lives believing the simple reality that surrounds them is the extent of all there is. They are content to believe that something exists because they perceive it or that it does not exist because they cannot. The reality that we perceive is only part of a much larger whole. All of the threads that make up the Tapestry of reality weave a pattern intricate beyond comprehension. The wizards divide people into two groups. Those who see the Tapestry and its intricate workings are called The Awakened. Those who are content to live out the mundane life of their sensory perception are The Sleepers–the commoners.

The overarching “soul of the world” is the Anima Mundi. This is the sum total of all unseen magical, life, emotional, and spiritual energies that define reality beyond our mundane world.

• Tapestry The underlying record of all past, present, and future events. It is an incomprehensibly detailed blueprint of fate that can only be glimpsed in tiny fragments. The Tapestry is a record of all that makes up and all that has changed in the Anima Mundi.
• Consensus The collective consciousness and belief of the sentient population. This force is what powers and sustains egregores including the power and flow of vis.
• Egregores A quasi-sentient energy field created by the strong, shared belief or vows of a group in a specific abstract concept (e.g., “Justice,” “The Crown”). This is also the power that consensus creates, including vis among other forces.
• Vis The neutral, ambient magical energy of Aeor. Powered by The Consensus, it is the raw fuel that wizards (Kalari) use to cast spells.
• Essence The pure life force that animates all living beings, visible to the Awakened as a glowing aura.
• The Void The fundamental cosmic plane of anti-existence and pure entropy. A direct breach from the Void into reality causes absolute erasure of the Anima Mundi. The void generates the power of katravis.
• Katravis A corrupting, external magic from the void. This is the energy of the Void leaked into reality. It is attracted to decay and has a “dark” signature. Katravis is the building block of demons.
• Mord The magical byproduct or residue left behind when Essence departs from an unconsecrated dead body.
• Echo The psychic residue or imprint left on a location by a powerful, sustained emotion (e.g., Sorrow-Echo, Joy-Echo).
• Bloom The passive, life-affirming residue of vibrant, thriving Essence. It is the opposite of Mord, promoting health and growth.
• Straythe The fine, shimmering trail of light-like particles left floating in the air after a spell has been cast using Vis.
• Verglas A rare, crystalline frost that condenses on surfaces, indicating a fated event from the Tapestry is about to occur.
• Ashfall The sterile, gray, sound-dampening dust left behind when the Tapestry or Anima Mundi is directly altered (e.g., by a Calculist or a Void breach), but not by vis-based magic.
• Fray The scar tissue or “snag” left on the Tapestry when a Calculist has forcibly altered it. It can cause a feeling of vertigo or déjà vu.
• Static The ambient, passive residue of katravis, perceived as a sensory distortion in the air and an acrid smell.
• Motes Microscopic particles of colored light that are the visible manifestation of a powerful Egregore, showing the strength of a collective belief.
• Sheen Microscopic, crystalline particles precipitated during the Awakening ritual. It falls off the Awakened person within a day but can permanently embed itself in the surrounding location.