That magic exists in this world cannot be ignored. We rely on it daily to provide the light that keeps the darkness at bay. It fuels our vehicles. It helps defeat our enemies. It is the tool that has pulled the human race back from the edge of oblivion many times. However, if not carefully monitored it could also spell doom for the human race. This document aims only to paint magic with broad strokes. An in depth look at each manifestation would take a whole lifetime worth of study. Instead, we present here an overview. When your training is complete and your assigned to a division of the Department of Genetic Normalization, further inquiry specific to your role will be required.
The first type of magic, Active Magic, is magic that is knowingly used (even if reactionary) and follows this equation: The Caster plus the Belief they can manifest what they are attempting and the Willpower to cause it to manifest equals the effect they were attempting. C+B+W = E. A failure in any of the first three parts of the equation means the effect will fail to materialize. In the fledgling magic user, props such as books of magical spells, hand gestures, spell components, magical words, are all focused on creating a belief that a spell can be manifested. Though none of these are actually required and are promptly left behind once the student realizes this. Once the student has reached this point in their journey, it is more a matter of imagination. There have been no recorded limits to the effects magic can manifest. I will repeat that again. No recorded limits to magic. There are no failures of magic only failures of belief, willpower, and imagination. Here lies the problem. How do you rebuild a civilization when each of its members holds enough potential power in their hands to destroy it? In the city, there are sensors that detect and record all uses of magic. Large, sudden, bursts of magic cause alarm bells to ring causing the guard to respond. Here at the DGN, we are concerned with a more subtle and insidious form of magic.
This second type of magic was only recently rediscovered. I say rediscovered because it was known to people of the castle age, though how prevalent this information was is unknown. This third type of magic is the most subtle of the three. It is the magic of persistent thought and belief. This type of magic will show no outward signs. It will be anecdotal. A good example of it is a person who is told they are lucky over and over by others. They come to believe they are lucky and once they believe it they actually become lucky in some subtle way. This can happen because all humans are magic capable. Though the mechanism of this is unknown at this time, it is theorized that what is happening is not a physical change to a being or the environment but rather a narrowing of potentials futures. For example, the belief that mother’s cooking heals us when we are sick isn’t actually healing us but removing potential futures in which we get worse or do not heal. This explanation is far from perfect and does nothing to explain the artifacts which come from the Second Age of Heroes.
A perfect example is the Delvant Canteen. A double walled steel cylinder with a composite stopper. The outside dented and scratched. When it is filled with water and drank from, minor restorative effects can be felt. While the effects are subtle they are a magnitude greater than simply drinking water alone. It is possible some one carried this canteen, drank from it, and believed that it healed them. Over time, it began to do just that.
The question that matters to us at the DGN is: Are our persistent thoughts changing our genetic identity through subconscious magical pathways? At this point, we believe that persistent magical thought can change the expression of our genetics but does not alter them in any profound way. As this is a new field of study, we cannot answer this question with certainty. However, let this be a reminder to you that thoughts create reality.
It is incredibly challenging for a human to alter it’s form with magic. This is due to several factor but the main one being a humans internal sense of self. We all have an image of who we are and emotional commitments to that image. These commitments tend to be incredibly powerful. Even small and cosmetic alterations to a human’s appearance can backfire. For example, say a human has a facial scar they want removed. In order for that scar to be removed successfully, the patient would have to undergo the process of letting go of the emotion surrounding how that scar was acquired and how the patient came to view the scar. Both strong positive and negative emotional commitment can cause an alteration to fail. In addition to letting go, the patient is required to visualize their face without the scar while at the same time forgoing the use of any reflective surfaces. The only image of the person allowed is the one imagined. This begins the process of changing the internal image before the body can be physically changed.
If the human undergoing alterations has no sense of self, no personal identity, this process is far simpler. Altering babies newly born, or still in the womb can be done with a marginal rate of failure. By altering the genetic structure of the child, they can have increased strength, intelligence, ability to heal, the limit is only the imagination. However, these alterations are then passed on when the child grows up and has children of it’s own. They are no longer human. They have become something other. This is how the human race ceases to exist. This is what we at the Department of Genetic Normalization work tirelessly to prevent.
This process of genetic alteration extends to all living things. In addition to safeguarding humanities genetic integrity, the DGN also seeks out and eliminates all magically created creatures both created in our current era and those created in eras of past. Our mission is to preserve the genetic integrity of the world.