Magic in the Kingdom Universe is complex, but only in it's scope. Its fairly easy to understand - or at least, we'll try to make it so.

 Magical capabilities within Kingdom are a product of a person's Geld ancestry. All people with magical abilities are descended in some way from a member of the Geldon Kingdom (though not all descendants can perform magic). These abilities are inherited - like a trait or physical characteristic. These abilities can be improved upon with practice, but in general, magic is a part of a person, not something that can be taught. A talent and ability for magic must be present, or a person cannot use it.

   The twist to this is that not many people know they have magic. Either they never realize that what they can do is magic (Loni, for example, didn't know that she manipulated air currents to help her golf game) or they were not able to access their powers until after the seal at the beginning of the game was broken. A person of Geld ancestry may not have been literally able to use their magic before the seal was open, but that doesn't mean that the breaking of the seal gave them their magical powers. They just had to have something unlocked to be able to utilize their natural abilities.

   Sometimes the person's "awakening" can be a quick thing (Peter, for example) or something that's more gradual (like it was for Mara or Celi).

   Another aspect of magical abilities in this game is that they don't require any special calls or phrases. A person who was about to run a race wouldn't say, "SUPER SPEED POWER" before the starter gun went off - they'd just run and run hard. It's similar with magic - you just USE it. Naming attacks is completely unnecessary - unless your character is just weird like that. ;) If your character does yell out attacks, one of two things will happen: We'll either raise our eyebrows and direct you to this article, or we'll hope that your character has some personal reason for announcing their attacks.

   Like any talent or ability, the more it is put to use, the better the skill becomes. For example, if a person has a skill at playing piano, they must practice to become better. They don't wake up one day and find out they're Beethoven. It's the same with magic.

   The most efficient way a character can improve their magical strength is with practice. For example, Jane could light candles with her hands, Lynn could fill glasses without going to the tap, or Loni could blow her own hair dry. Exploring their skills and what they can do in their own time is how they'll get better and discover new things that they can do with their abilities. Practice sessions with other characters is also good, too. With practice like this, a character can expand their control over their element.

   Time frames on the improvement of a character's magic are relative - though we ask that you don't make them wunderkinds that only practice 2-3 times, but then can kick everyone's ass. Gradual improvement = good; God-like jumps in power = not what we're about.

   The essential differences between Guardians and Hunters are explained in other articles, so we'll try to not repeat ourselves here.

   The biggest difference between Hunters and Guardians are the way they access their powers. Hunters have an immediate access to their powers - i.e. they don't have to transcend into a higher state of being to be able to use their skills. They can just use them. Guardians can't do that. They have to transcend into their totem state to access their magical capabilities.

   This may make it sound like the Hunters have an advantage over Guardians. They do and they don't, really. Hunters are fundamentally no more powerful than Guardians are. They all have the same amount of magical potential. The advantage that Guardians have is that they can discover more uses with their powers faster. Because they are in a transcended state, they are more "in tune" to their powers and the capabilities involved. Hunters take longer to achieve this "enlightenment" with their powers, but in the end, they are no less powerful than their Guardian counterparts. The Hunter's advantage is that they can access their powers all the time.

   So in the end, Guardians learn quicker (because of their transcended state) but Hunters can use magic more readily.

    In the Geldon Kingdom, there were five major islands. Four of the islands came to be associated with four different types of powers, particularly because families tended to stay and marry on their island. The blood ties to the element kept things local. Powers varied, but typically the islands had a different associated element. The fifth island, the royal island, was hope to the high nobility and other scholarly types. Therefore the powers here were primarily those not associated with efficient hunting. Illumination, healing and other similar types of powers were found here among the royal family.

   Since the fall of the Geldon Kingdom, the bloodlines have become mixed and  less pure in controlling specific types of elements. Blends, which weren't' as common in the Geld's times, now occur with greater prominence. Family members might have opposite types of powers because of intermingled blood lines (an Air Mage might have a Fire Ranger for a cousin). While this doesn't dampen the potential for magical strength, it does make for interesting mixes and family ties.

   Magic in the kingdom is split up into two types: General and Specific. These types refer to what magic is performed by a character.

   When we refer to general magic, we mean the type of element a character controls (water, air, earth... etc.). Specific magic refers to the part of that element which they control. For example, Peter is a ranger who can detect seismic activities. Therefore, his general and specific magic would read Earth:Seismic Activity. General:Specific is the format we use.

   This is probably what you have been looking for in regards to magical abilities in Kingdom. The five elements are:

• Energy: Most of the phases of energy and chemical reactions. Light/Illumination, Fire, Heat.
• Water: All the phases of water. Ice, Liquid, Vapor, Water Currents.
• Earth: All the phases of earth. Soil/Rock/Sand, Crystals, Metals, Seismic Activity.
• Air: All the phases of air. Ether, Winds, Most Gases, Air Currents.
• Weather: Weather is technically a 'blend' of other elements, but due to the abnormal number of weather talents, weather has become a fifth element. WIND IS NOT WEATHER!!!

 The elements of water, earth and air are all pretty self-explanatory. Energy encompasses things such as Illumination at night, Light and Fire. Chemical reactions (such as photosynthesis) are also included here.

   Weather encompasses things such as rain, snow or drought. These things don't fit well within the other four elements. Rain because it involves water, but not a fundamental state of water like ice or vapor. Snow involves temperature (a type of energy) and water, so doesn't fit in completely with either element. Drought is due to an absence of water and an abundance of heat and air - a combination of three elements. Because weather powers were so hard to define as a particular single element, a separate, definable group was created to make classification easier.

   If a power still doesn't fit in neatly with the five elements, it is labeled a blend. After the fall of the Geldon Kingdom and the subsequent dilution and mixing of the magical bloodlines, magical powers have become more varied and less pure than they ever were.

   These types of blends incorporate things such as magma (a blend of earth and energy/fire powers), salt (earth and water), or glass (earth and energy). None of these are Weather related, but neither are they strictly anything else.

   The theory behind blends is the same as what created a Weather element. The scope of a person's power doesn't fit easily into any of the other five elements. Blends aren't any less powerful than an easily definable power, but they are less pure because the focus is on a specific interaction between two elements instead of one generalized element.

    Control of animals in Kingdom as a power is not allowed. Animals are not elemental things. They only use of animals in Kingdom's magical system are the totem forms to which Guardians are bound.

   Limited control over plants is allowed, though. Reed has some power over photosynthesis, as an example. If a person is going to go this route with their character, we'd advise them to think it through very carefully. We'll come at you with a lot of questions to make sure you've done your homework and also that you haven't strayed too far beyond the boundaries of the elemental powers we've established.