Source

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

The Source of a paranormal power is its origin and what sustains it. A Source can be unique, such as a god granting power to their followers. Instead, a Source can be generic, such as the many different ways that beings create and use bloodstones.

Unbound

An Unbound being has a special relationship to their Source, because it's co-mingled with their belief and their paradigm. An Unbound being uses belief in themselves to change reality. Their Source is where they believe that change comes from.

A team of Unbound can store Source in the form of Source Points (SP).

More About Belief

Belief is a uniquely powerful Source.

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.

Divinities

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

Spirits

Spirits have a different relationship to belief than divinities. A spirit can be created by a divinity, and thus be dependent on the divinity 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)