Note: It's not grammar checked, and everything is still a concept so everything is subject to change.
I wanted an elemental magic system based on light, so this is kinda an expanded version of my post that wants magic based on prisms. Also, this is heavily inspired by Avatar The Last Airbender and Genshin Impact.
There was a legend that magic came from a fallen star, causing the dinosaurs' extinction and mutating some to become the first mythical creatures.
Magic in this world is like blood, which flows through every living Magic in this world is like blood, which flows through every living being. Though for a human, they need a core to fully utilize magical energies.
Light Magic is like a prism; when the four elements—fire, air, water, and earth are combined, they create light.
The Prism is an important artifact; it reflected all elements into one, but it was shattered in the Great War and thrown across the world.
After the Great War, the prism faded into myth. The shattered remains of the prism are called the Stellar cores.
The prism used to be owned by the Helios court. It was a time when magic was only allowed to nobles and royalty.
When light is absent, it creates a void or also called Aberrant; It is a being that sucks light for everything just to exist.
There are subspecies of the elements, like ice, but other undiscovered elements can exist.
While every magic user is tied to one of the four base elements, their affinity determines how they interact with it. Some water users have an affinity for ice, making them far better at freezing than flowing water. Fire users might excel in creating lightning rather than flames.
There is a secondary ability different from the elemental-based skills called a talent, where a user could have the ability to teleport, fly or even heal. Still, it depends on their affinity and how much training they have received in that skill. They gain the ability from emanator; most angels have a talent due to Cacelia being the patron god for the Heavenly Hosts.
If a person doesn't train for an extended duration, they could lose their affinity, and if they constantly lose their affinity a certain number of times, it will be harder to regain it.
Humans don't have multiple talents because their bodies can only handle one talent.
How an element is expressed is dependent on the user
Magic is like a wavelength. When someone casts magic, their core only visibility shows the element that it has an affinity for
Because magic is part of their body, using too much magic can deplete their magic reserves to the point where it can kill a person.
Sometimes the magic can clog up the bloodstream if used at a rapid rate.
There are four Stellar cores and four emanators. The emanators embody the elements of fire, water, earth, and air. It is said that the stellar cores are fragments of the broken prism.
It is theorized that the Prism is the leftover debris from the fallen star that gives the world magic.
The emanators create the link between humans and mythical creatures for the Stellar cores. Their main purpose is to filter powerful magic into more stable magic for humans to use.
The Stellar Cores all reside in subdimensions.
The Stellar core stabilizes the flow of magic in the world, anchoring the elements in their natural forms.
Each Stellar core is a self-sustaining reservoir of magical energy, infinitely replenishing its element.
Without the Stellar core, the bending/using of its element becomes unusable for all beings. (Example: If the Water Core is shattered, water-based magic stops globally)
If an emanator ever dies, its element would weaken or sever humanity's connection to the Stellar core, making the element unstable and unusable to humans.
Larger cores allow for greater magic reserves and stronger abilities. However, larger cores are more difficult to control, leading to potential instability.
Cores grow through cultivation, which is training and exposure to elemental hotspots. The environment can affect the type of element the core develops.
If a core is damaged or shattered, the person loses their magic, while mythical beings disintegrate entirely. Healing a damaged core requires a large amount of magic.
When a human loses their core, they can no longer cast magic. Survivors' bodies feel an aching emptiness as if part of their souls is missing.
Magic can be overused, leading to fatigue, where a person's magic becomes unreliable or unusable for a couple of hours or even days. Advanced magic, such as teleportation, requires affinity for it and years of training.
There are region-based skills, such as flight, which is only taught to Zephyrians (land of the winds) or in Thalasia (land of the waters), where people are taught to breathe underwater.
Emanator cores can recycle magic way faster than a human core.
Aberrants are a parasitic, void-born entity that feeds on magic. It is a non-sentient force that sucks out magic just to exist.
It feeds on magic, but it can also feed on negative emotions.
To kill the aberrant being, you must destroy all its cores. This could be challenging because Aberrant can have multiple hosts/cores.
The Aberrants' magic mirrors the abilities of its host, making it versatile and unpredictable.
Why do Aberrants exist? Some theorize that Aberrant happened to balance the world, while others theorize that it is a by-product of dead emanators from the Great War.
All aberrants evolve in stages. At the end of each stage, they turn into a more humanoid form. This allows them to trick humans and be a little more intelligent.
Aberrants are based on chromatic aberrations.
(Aberrations used to be called corruption, I just thought it would be thematic for corruption to be renamed to aberrant)
