“Magic is the breath beneath the stars, the pulse beneath stone. To shape it is to touch the marrow of reality itself.”
— Eryndor Hymn of the Seasons
A treatise preserved in fragments from the Triune Era, annotated by later scholars
Magic stands apart from its sister Powers. Where Mind perceives and persuades, and Machine constructs and endures, Magic dares to alter reality itself. It does not appeal to the world, nor does it build alongside it. Instead, it reaches for the hidden schematic beneath existence and writes new lines upon it.
The ancients taught that the Three Powers—Mind, Machine, and Magic—were meant to stand in harmony, each counterbalancing the others. But throughout history, this tripod has rarely remained stable. In every age, one Power has risen above the rest, and the world has faltered. With Machine beaten down by the Ban, and Mind left in doubt by the disappearance of the Thought Masters, we must wonder what the future holds for Magic.
The Language of Numbers
Those who wield Magic do so not by whim, but by the language of mathematics. Every spell is an equation balanced against the laws of the world. The simplest workings rest in the clarity of arithmetic, algebra and trigonometry… small illuminations, whispers of change, sparks of order imposed upon chaos. Yet there are those who venture further, inscribing formulas of calculus, and beyond. These are no longer minor workings but vast architectures of power, capable of reshaping fields, skies, and even time itself.
Thus, the division is spoken of: Low Magic, the art of practical numbers, and High Magic, the calculus of the impossible. The former may be endured; the latter demands everything.
The Shadow Called the Magecurse
And yet, every equation carries a shadow. This is the doom all practitioners know, and none can escape. The people of Necsis call it the Magecurse—a lurking truth bound to the very act of casting. Its presence cannot be banished by cleverness, nor evaded by strength of will. It waits. It watches. And when the final sum is tallied, it will claim its due.
Magic Classes & Sample Effects
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Arithmetic (Low)
Raise the temperature of a room. Chill a beverage. Mend fabric or pottery. Restore energy to a fatigued animal.
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Algebra (Low)
Adjust the trajectory of a thrown object. Balance the weight of an uneven load. Dampen sound in a specific area.
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Geometry (Low)
Create a small, temporary barrier against falling debris. Align an arrow to its exact target. Create a circle of safety that deters predators.
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Trigonometry (Low)
Create a small, floating platform for carrying objects. Manipulate light to bend around a corner for visibility.
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Calculus (High)
Slow time within a defined radius. Teleport. Halt a landslide in progress. Alter the weather.
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Differential Equations (High)
Freeze time within an area. Manifest an object or structure from raw materials. Create a portal between realms.
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Advanced Geometry and Chaos Theory (High)
Fold space to create a temporary shortcut between locations. Create a self-sustaining power source.
Author’s Note: Mystical Math
Brandon Sanderson often speaks of “hard” versus “soft” magic systems.
Hard Magic runs on clear, explicit rules the reader can grasp—limits are part of the story.
Soft Magic may have some structure, but its limits remain mysterious, felt more than explained.
The magic of Necsis predates Sanderson’s terminology. From the beginning, mine has been rooted in mathematics. At first glance, that might sound like the hardest of hard systems: equations, formulas, structure.
Yet Necsis itself complicates the picture. A world tied to infinite realities cannot be boxed into rules alone. Infinity resists arithmetic. Hard Magic is, in many ways, infinity’s opposite.
So how do I reconcile this?
Readers will have to walk the path with me to see. What I will say is this: Necsis’ magic is like an onion. The first layer is what you see in The Forbidden Spire. But with each book, another skin peels away, revealing deeper truths. Is it truly a hard system cloaked in mystery—or a soft system pretending to be hard?
Only time—and the Shifts—will tell.