Introduction: Laws of the World and How to Change Them

As a guide to the principles of Nova Arcanium, a basic understanding of the physical world is needed, due to the intrinsic nature and motivations behind Nova Arcanium. Therefore, this first chapter will be dedicated to studying the laws that govern the physical world before the interference of the arcane. Just as mages can be considered the weavers of reality, the laws of nature form a fabric for practitioners of Nova Arcanium to weave, and to master these new principles, the nature and limitations of the fabric of reality must be understood. This chapter will serve as a rudimentary summary to be taken as either a prerequisite study or a brief reminder. 

Unlike the "theory" studied in the Southern Imperial Empire, which suggests that the world is comprised of four elements, we can quantifiably reject that idea as the widely accepted (in educated countries like the Technocracy and Teikoku) idea of the "atom" was proven recently in 5899 as the indivisible unit of matter, and depending on its properties, makes up different elements and matter. The study of chemistry has led to two significant conclusions: every atom has an intrinsic set of properties and quantities it can have (such as mass, momentum, electrical charge, ect.) and those quantities change and respond to a set of fundamental forces (which are gravitational, electromagnetic, and nuclear forces). These conclusions make up the principles of Nova Arcanium, which specializes in the interference of natural phenomenon by controlling and altering these basic properties and quantities through manipulation of fundamental forces. 

In addition to the contributions of chemistry, the field of physics has also contributed massively to the application of Nova Arcanium. There are two schools of thought in physics that the basis of systematic magic is comprised of: real physics and imaginary physics. Despite their names, both schools of thought are equally valid, and the nomenclature has been a point of contention for myself and a larger group of academics. Real physics refers to the model of the world at a scale perceivable to you and I, and describe the nature and behavior of real world objects using kinematics, thermodynamics, and the study of forces. Imaginary physics on the other hand refers to the study of objects on a scale unperceivable with the eye, and therefore "imaginary." The name has led to centuries of ridicule and marginalization of the field and subject which as led to misnomers even today.

As a proposed method to fix the issue of labels, for here on, real physics will be referred to as classical physics and imaginary physics will be referred to as quantum physics, after the world quanta, or quantity, due to the focus on discrete quantities in imaginary physics. Just as classical physics allows for prediction of the behaviors of real world objects using the laws of nature, quantum physics allows for the prediction of the behaviors of atoms and its related quantities based on the study of electromagnetism, the strong and weak nuclear forces, and quantum scale kinematics. Due to the scale of quantum physics, the precision required to manipulate phenomenon on that scale has a mana cost that is impossible for a mage to sustain, but it is possible for a practitioner to control a larger outcome, resulting in quantum physics being an important arsenal in the mind of a New Magic practitioner. If you were able to understand the passage above, you should be able to utilize Nova Arcanium to a certain degree and therefore can continue onwards. If you were unable, we recommend relearning your physics and chemistry before continuing. 

Now that we have briefly discussed the laws that govern our world, lets continue by discussing how to disregard those very laws. Magic users interfere with physical phenomena using mana and spells and the systems of Nova Arcanium is no different. What sets New Magic apart however is the focus of its interference. Traditional arcane spells uses the spell caster's mana and weaves reality into the caster's image. Because of the vague image and visualization of the phenomena, traditional arcane spells are inefficient. Nova Arcanium aims to improve said efficiency through the specific targeting of physical phenomenon, where spells, instead of weaving the fabric of reality, target specific quantities of the physical world, creating the desired result. Since the mana consumed by a spell increases based on the strength of the interference, the specificity of the magic allows for more efficient mana to spell effect conversion and often shows better results. 

Within the study of Nova Arcanium, there are three main school of magic: Systemic magic, Non-Systemic magic, and Outer-Systemic magic. Systemic magic is the school of magic that specifically overwrites the physical quantities of the world and is named so for its usage of the Four Great Systems of magic, further breaking down into Eight Major Types, which are acceleration and weight type magic, movement and oscillation type magic, convergence and dispersion type magic, absorption and emission type magic. We will go into further details in a later chapter. Systemic magic focuses on causing direct real-world change and is the widest school of magic with a big interest behind its magical research. Due to the close link it has to physics and chemistry, many research facilities also hire physicists, chemists, and mathematicians as researchers. 

Non-Systemic magic refers to magic that does not directly interfere with physical phenomena, but mana and psionic particles directly, and therefore does not relate to the Four Great Systems. From the manipulation of mana for more efficient spell casting to versatility of spell strength, or even forming mana into particle bullets, Non-Systemic magic is the study of mana and psions and their behavior. One advanced field of study relates to the ability to predict a spell caster's abilities and spells simply through the analysis of their mana. The final school of study is the Outer-Systemic school, where the effect of the spells are interfering phenomena, but does not fit into the Four Great Systems of Systemic magic. 

Outer-Systemic magic includes magic that influences quantities outside of the inherent values possessed by matter like space and time. Because there has been relatively less scientific and physical descriptions of these ideas, Outer-Systemic magic struggles with the same issues as traditional magic, but researchers has been working to improve our understanding, including a recent breakthrough with teleportation magic though the concept of the "folding of space." Additionally, magic that perceives information from the physical world also falls under this school, with spells that grant the user the ability to perceive their surroundings accurately through gathering the information from matter surrounding the user. 

Chapter 1: Fundamentals of Mana and Non-Systemic Magic

As we know from thermodynamics, energy can neither be created or destroyed, but can be transmuted between forms of energy, and the concept of conservation applies to mana as well. As a practitioner of magic, your mana is stored as waves bound to your astral body (and therefore observable to those able to perceive specific frequencies of energies), and when utilized, is converted into psion particles that is further transmuted into the spell itself. While a large majority of Nova Arcanium focuses on the overwriting of phenomenon, a section of the theory is dedicated to the direct manipulation of psionic particles and mana itself. This school of Nova Arcanium is known as Non-Systemic magic. There are four major concepts to understand in the field of Non-Systemic magic.

The first concept to understand in Non-Systemic magic is understanding the wave-particle duality of mana and psion particles. Despite having two separate names, mana and psion actually describe the same quantity, similar to how light particles are referred to as "photons." While stored in the astral body as momentum, the passive loss of energy due to entropy is expressed as waves and interpreted as mana. This passive loss can be analyzed to reveal the user's magical specialty, origin, or their overall energy level.  When casting a spell however, the waves of mana congregate as a location as programmed in the spell, collapsing the wave into particles. This wave-particle duality is supported and expanded upon by the Theory of Relativity published by Eremus scholar and councilwoman of the Technocracy, Mileva Einlis some 500 years ago, resulting in one of the most simple yet impactful spells, psion bullet, a condensed cluster of psions fired as a projectile.

The importance of understanding the collapse of the wave function lies in the ability to predict any incoming spell being casted if the user was able to calculate any resulting psionic locations in time. By analyzing the wave emitted passively, the wave function could be obtained to predict the location of resulting psion particle and therefore possible spell casts. Additionally, this principle also helps you conceal your passive radiation by consciously transmuting your stored mana as psion particles instead, but that is much easier said than done, as it requires intense concentration and control. Finally, this wave-particle duality also carries with it a warning, as after a spell is complete, the remaining psions are emitted as radiation, which can interfere with other spells or react with other radiation to explosive results. Due to the high output of phenomenon interference of Systemic magic, there is limited radiation and wasted psions, but certain psionic spells of the Non-Systemic school are prone to causing interference, like the aforementioned psion bullet where psions are used to disrupt spell casting. 

The second concept of Non-Systemic magic is quantized arcana. Due to the different levels of magical energy output, commonly known as "spell slots" from traditional spell casters, we have theorized that when magic is stored, the energy stored as mana exists on discrete levels of energy, or different quantums, giving this concept the name of arcane quantum mechanics. By studying the wavefunctions of the energy radiated by psions of different level, we have determined a pattern for mana storage known as wave functions. The Shrodinggar wave functions, named after the lead researcher, Doctor Earl Shrodinggar of New Arcane University, has determined that when psions are stored as mana, they occupy a select number of positions in the astral body at once as a wave, and therefore can only have certain momentums and only output certain energies. These quantized energies are why spells can only be of certain levels, and due to the inability for stored psions to change levels, the limited levels of spell slots can be explained as well. 

New magicians however, by studying the wave function, has overcame the issue of spell slots. Using the Non-Systemic spell Mana Control, the caster is able to manipulate the condition of the mana wave and generate a psion. Then, the psion is split into psions of different charge. For simplicity's sake, new magicians mostly convert all available psions into the lowest energy level and spend them psion by psion, therefore practitioners of this technique often refer to their magic capacity as mana points.