Source

OOC; Magic
See also: Paradigm; Source Points; Unbound

There are innumerable paradigms for understanding and leveraging paranormal sources of power. However, many paradigms identify four major sources.

Major Sources

Here are brief descriptions from the Rossman-Mackey Paradigm.

Arcane ("Mind")

This is the flow of mana in the Weave. It is essentially an invisible energy grid, embedded throughout the multiverse. Arcane is an inherently rational/logical source. It tends to be stronger where there are more minds and more evolved minds (e.g., humanoids).

Divine ("Soul")

This is the flow of belief or faith. This source is collected and redistributed by gods and greater devils. Many spirits metabolize this source, including angels, lesser devils, and some nature spirits.

Primal ("Body")

This is the flow of creation and natural entropy. It is an inherently non-rational/intuitive source. This source tends to be stronger where there are strong natural phenomena (e.g., storms, volcanoes) and less evolved minds (e.g., beasts). Many spirits metabolize this source, including most elementals and some nature spirits.

Void ("Dissolution")

This is the unmaking of all other sources. It is unnatural entropy. It is an inherently irrational source, and it is widely seen as impossible to control.

Bloodstones and other Adintec use Void as their Source.

The distinction between natural and unnatural entropy is worth noting. In natural entropy, matter and energy are conserved. This includes the cycles of life, death, and rebirth in ecosystems, and the slow expansion and cooling of galaxies in the Prime Material Plane. Unnatural entropy removes matter or energy completely and often instantly. In other words, Void magic irreversibly leeches away the very substance of this multiverse. In some paradigms, the substance is being transferred beyond this multiverse to another (e.g., the Far Realm). Regardless, it is gone forever. Void magic is generally feared and forbidden among paranormal practitioners.

Demons have a special relationship to this source: they may spawn from it and clearly savor it. It is unclear whether they need it like food or merely enjoy it like a drug. (How a being might consume anti-flow is a subject for a different study.)

-Max Witkey, Paradigm Mashup: The Rise of Tynkers (doctoral dissertation)

Arcane Backgrounds

Some arcane backgrounds are strongly associated with specific sources. However, these associations are not exclusive: a practitioner might access a different source, based on how they were trained, how their patron deity grants them power, etc.

Arcane Background	Skill	Typical Source(s)	Notes
Gifted	Focus	Primal	A typical gifted being uses their source intuitively.
Miracles	Faith	Divine, Primal	Most deities provide a Divine source. But some provide Primal instead.
Psionics	Psionics	Arcane, Primal	Psions are often taught rational, deliberate control. But there are also Primal approaches.
Magic	Spellcasting	Arcane
Weird Science	Weird Science	Arcane

Unbound and Sources

An Unbound being has a special relationship to a Source, because their access to external Sources is co-mingled with their interior nature. An Unbound being can use belief in themselves as a special Source.

More About Belief

Belief can be a powerful Source, especially when collected and concentrated by a deity.

Mortal Belief

The belief of mortals is a flavor of power distinct from the belief of immortals. The precise reason is unknown, although many theories in many paradigms offer explanations. Here's one such explanation:

Since a mortal's life is fragile and finite, they have a finite amount of belief to give. It is something that once given may never be replenished. This scarcity makes it more potent.

Deities and Belief

Belief is the essential Source for deities to persist and grow, especially mortal belief. This is true for all deities, as well as many of the beings that serve deities, such as angels. Such belief can take many forms, such as faith or reverence, but also fear or submission.

Spirits and Belief

Spirits have a different relationship to belief than deities. A spirit can be created by a deity, and thus be dependent on the deity as their Source.

However, other spirits arise spontaneously from belief. This especially includes the spirits of places that mortals invest with their meaning and labor, such as battlefields, monuments, and cities.

How Source Feels

Here is how one magician describes his feelings about his source.

The world was fucking awful. It was a wretched, desolate place, a desert of meaninglessness, a heartless wasteland, where horrific things happened all the time for no reason and nothing good lasted for long. He'd been right about the world, but he was wrong about himself. The world was a desert, but he was a magician, and to be a magician was to be a secret spring--a moving oasis. He wasn't desolate, and he wasn't empty. He was full of emotions, full of feelings, bursting with them, and when it came down to it that's what being a magician was. They weren't ordinary feelings--they weren't the tame, domesticated kind. Magic was wild feelings, the kind that escaped out of you and into the world and changed things. There was a lot of skill to it, and a lot of learning, and a lot of work, but that was where the power began: the power to enchant the world. (Lev Grossman, The Magician's Land)