The Crystal Sphere Techniques (always plural and viewed as a proper noun) is one of magical systems known in the world of Fedran. It is viewed origin of the classification of talents and mages, but there are historical records that predate the spheres that indicate the ideas was borrowed from other systems.
At the core, the training of this system indicates that magic comes from extra-planar spheres of influence. These are also known as planes, dimensions, and realms. All magic flows from the spheres, through the “lens” of the individual, and is used to produce a desired effect. The primary difference is that a mage is able to use spells to alter the effects while they are passing through them were a talent is unable to do so. Mages always influence the magic, which causes them to have less power but also more adaptability than a talent.
This system indicates that magic is combination of energies from one or more spheres. Most spells and talents only pull from a single sphere, which gives a distinct categorization of energy and therefore type of magic. Archmages are able to pull from two or more spheres at the same time, though usually one has a significant amount of the energy provided.
Not all spheres are able to be combined together. This is viewed as the crystal sphere distance and is built from observations and experiments by archmages, the only ones able to produce effects that bridge a single sphere.
Even if a talent is able to pull from multiple spheres, the inherit bias from the cultural aspects of the Crystal Spheres treats them as still less than a mage because of the talent's inability to alter their effect.
Spheres
There are many spheres that are well known and studied. Each one has a crystal sphere key which is the “address” or method for accessing the sphere. The most common ones are elemental and reactional magic, but there are additional esoteric ones which have a greater distance from the other spheres which makes them harder to bridge into magic.
The known spheres are:
- Fire → The most common reactional known.
- Folding
Additional Topics
- Crystal Sphere → The categorization of magic into a form of extra-dimensional spheres.
- Crystal Sphere Distance → A measurement of the complexity and difficulty to combine two spheres into the same spell.
- Primer on Crystal Techniques → A popular book for teaching children about Crystal Sphere Techniques magic.