World of Æor

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.

There have always been those few that labor their entire lives to attain some partial control of the arcane magic that flows unnoticed through their world. Years of study and practice can lead to ground-shattering power and understanding. These are the wizards, the reclusive society that nurtures and manipulates the world around them. More than just awakened, the wizards are students of the Tapestry and learn to control and weave their own patterns into it as it flows. Wizards have no general interest in the doings-on of the sleepers; they are at best useful pawns in a much greater political struggle. The sleepers also pay no great attention to the works of the wizards. Each group exists with little interaction with the other, both believing that they alone control the destiny of the world around them.

Caught between, there are others. Not everyone who sees the Tapestry has a desire to make changes. Still others wield the power of magic, but may not see or understand the powers they command.

Vis is the force that sustains magic. It flows like waves, unnoticed by the sleepers, through both objects as well as the open places. When Vis comes into contact with Essence, its waves are distorted and bent as it passes. All living things contain some measure of Essence, the force of life. It is radiated from all living things like an eternal torch, invisible to the eye. Although it bends and warps the flowing Vis, Essence seems unaffected by these naturally flowing waves.

Essence can be stored in any object. An object used to contain Essence, however, will always be very apparent. Because Essence is the force of life, all items containing Essence are alive and will show signs of their Essence – motion, vibration, perhaps intelligence. No item can contain both Essence and Vis. When both are introduced into an object, the Vis is released and the Essence remains.

Vis can be stored in any object that doesn't contain Essence. If Essence is ever added to an object containing Vis, the Vis is immediately released. Unlike the Vis that flows through the expanses of the world, stored Vis is usually woven to perform some specific task – a combination of forms and methods (see wizards). Stored Vis is volatile and potentially dangerous. Wizards exchange stored Vis and Essence as currency. Unlike objects holding Essence, objects holding Vis are not apparent to a sleeper. The awakened can identify both stored Vis and stored Essence and in the case of Vis, can identify, roughly, its purpose.