Spellshaping (Lorica)

Magic
Lorica's primary distinguishing factor is its unique magic system.

In any given reality, there are two kinds of universes: insides and outsides, which overlap in the same region but, one could say, occupy different dimensions. In our reality, our universe - also known as the asset - is a special inside: the primary inside, the oldest and by far the largest inside. All the laws of nature as we know, as can be proven with our science, hold true for our Universe. Everything in our universe is comprised of atoms. Atoms are the smallest building block of normal (light) matter, although they may be further subdivided (into quarks, bosons, strings, etc). Matter may be converted into energy and vice versa, but the total amount of matter and energy in all the combined insides cannot be changed by physical processes limited to only the insides. This is true not only for the asset but for all insides in general.

Similarly, everything in the outside is comprised of stars (not to be confused with celestial bodies). Stars are the smallest building block of negative (dark) matter (not to be confused with antimatter), although they may be further subdivided (into the dark counterparts of strings). While each reality has the potential for an unlimited number of insides, it only ever has one outside, which can therefore simply be called the outside, or tessa. The outside is basically an inversion of the insides. Since the outside is superimposed with the insides (including our own universe, the largest of the insides), the two halves do have an effect on each other. Of the four fundamental forces of physics, only the gravitational force traverses this boundary. (All four fundamental forces have effects within their own realms, however.) Hence scientists in the inside are able to detect the presence of the outside. Dark matter may be converted into dark energy and vice versa, but the total amount of dark matter and dark energy in the outside cannot be changed by physical processes limited to only the outsides.

There is general symmetry across the insides and outsides. The total amount of matter and energy in all the combined insides directly equals the total amount of dark matter and dark energy in the outside; the two sums are exactly the same. This is the law of senergy, or sum of energies. However, astronomers cannot interact with (such as see) matter not in our own inside and so discount them as dark matter as well, which results in calculations showing dark matter being much more massive than light matter. However, each of the two senergies (one for light matter, one for dark matter) can change through certain processes.

Any physical process not in equilibrium increases entropy (disorder) in the inside or outside in which it occurs. Hence, over time these processes move our universe to a more disorderly state. The same is true for all insides, and for the outside, of any given reality. Within any given reality, because of the inversion mentioned earlier, increased entropy in an inside reduces entropy in the outside, and increased entropy in the outside reduces entropy in the insides, by the same amount. Therefore, the combined entropy in all the insides and outside of a reality - sentropy - amounts to exactly zero (meaning they exactly balance out), for all time. This is the law of sentropy, or sum of entropies. What does change is the amount of entropy on either side of the equation at any given point in time.

There is another type of process: that which occurs between an inside and the outside of the same reality. This is an arcane process. An arcane process that increases order inside also increases order outside. An arcane process that decreases order inside also decreases order outside. In both cases these processes do not change the sentropy - the only variable - on either side, thereby obeying both laws. This is because the dark matter outside is anchored to the light matter inside, so as the inside becomes more orderly the outside must do so as well. An arcane process that creates (increases) energy (or mass) inside also creates dark energy (or dark mass) outside. An arcane process that deletes (reduces) energy (or mass) inside also deletes dark energy (or dark mass) outside. In both cases these processes do not imbalance the senergies - the only variable - of the insides and the outsides, thereby obeying both laws. This is because the inversion between inside and outside means there must always be a corresponding unit of dark senergy for every unit of light senergy.

What about gravitational energy? Of the four fundamental forces, the two nuclear forces and electromagnetic force do not traverse the inside-outside boundary. However, the gravitational force does. Over time as gravitational energy acts to pull everything inside back together, this would seem to increase entropy inside. But this is no problem since this very act also increases entropy outside, which obeys the law of sentropy.

This is how it was supposed to work. However, the asset and tessa are not exactly opposites of each other. Every second an unimaginably high number of processes arise that would throw this precarious balance off. There is not always a tree outside that is a mirror of a tree inside, and as stars developed over the course of billions of years, the two sides of reality have diverged into very different things. The never-ending imbalance is, however, constantly being resolved by such otherwise unexplainable, forever ongoing processes such as spontaneous wormhole and matter-antimatter formation. These processes penetrate the boundary which holds inside and outside separate, and which enforce the twin laws. In comparison to the grand scale of inside and outside, however, the discrepancies are very slight, and therefore these processes are so tiny and evanescent as to be totally negligible in everyday life.

Science is the effort to discover, and increase human understanding of how the physical world works. Magic and physics both fall under its umbrella. Physics is the natural science which examines basic concepts such as energy, force, and space-time and all that derives from these, such as mass, charge, matter and its motion. Technology deals with people's usage and knowledge of tools and crafts within the inside, and how it affects our ability to control and adapt to our environment. Magic deals with people's usage and knowledge of tools and crafts between inside and outside, and how it affects our ability to control and adapt to our environment. Magic is Lorica's counterpart to technology. They are two sides of the same coin. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic; any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.

Our reality starts with the big bang, which introduced both our universe and the outside which corresponded to this oldest and grandest of insides. Both are billions of years old. During this time, in the asset, light galaxies formed, and life forms constituting of atoms began, changed and diversified. During this time, in the tessa, dark galaxies formed, and life forms constituting of stars began, changed and diversified. In the asset, we have flora and fauna. In the tessa, we have faera (aka. fae, or fairy). The roots of both reach back for unimaginably long lengths of time.

Now, here's the big difference: whereas flora and fauna were, from the beginning, obtaining their energy from the inside in which they existed - the sun or other forms of life - and still do, faera were, from the beginning, obtaining their energy from the inside, reaching across the boundary of inside and outside, creating energy inside to energize themselves, which were outside. Hence, star-based forms of life were the first to truly utilize magic, billions of years ago. These microscopic beings were, in the most general sense of the term, the first magi (magic users). In both cases there is only one known "seed" world; atom-based (carbon) life forms living directly on Earth and star-based life forms anchored to Lorica.

It was a freak of nature which formed the bridge between these two distant planets: a single, long-lived mutant (and ultimately evolutionarily unsuccessful) faera that constituted a perfect one-way passage leading from Earth to Lorica, with its nexus set at Stonehenge. It was the first and longest-lasting portal. Anything which went through would be whisked away, never to return. As a result the first species from Earth spread to Lorica thousands of years ago. The natives, upon seeing these periodic disappearances, created the monoliths as a temple to their gods, never realizing its full significance. Only at around 300 AD did hundreds of people go through this portal during the Roman invasion of Britain, establishing the first surviving settlement on this alien world. By then, thousands of species native to Earth had populated the otherwise lifeless Lorica, turning it into a second Earth, but with one notable difference: It remains the sole planet where faera reside. Hence the population of Lorica is entirely composed of near-homogeneous Europeans (Anglo-Saxons and Romans), each with their own language (contemporary English and a distant relative of Latin).

The first faera (star-based life forms) had a component that allowed them to create energy of various kinds on both inside and outside, another that allowed for reproduction, and a third that held them together. Of course, they were very inefficient and weak, but over time these became more and more refined. Before long, faera with a protective membrane comprised of rather inert stars began to appear, separating the interior of these entities from their environment, much like cells. As more variations/mutations appeared in the faera gene pool, these would sometimes end up becoming absorbed within others.