New to magic (Lorica)

Beginnings
The road to becoming a mage isn't clear cut, especially since it's rather a socially kept secret (anyone who is a mage keeps it secret).

Generally, magic may be sorted according to the phase of matter it's cast within. There are five primary ones (gas, liquid, solid, plasma, and vacuum). There is practically no magic that can be cast in a vacuum or in plasma since they are extremes of nothingness and temperature, respectively. There are also other phases that involve combinations of the first three primary ones, such as emulsions, vapors, gels, etc. Within the body it's even more complicated. But generally, all magi would agree that magic cast in the liquid phase is the easiest to master, primarily because the spell easily travels throughout the liquid medium.

Starting magic requires some close observance of the environment. Are there any things that are happening that shouldn't or behaving in unusual ways? In Chronicle, young Qura stumbles across a pulsphere, which emitted an intensely brilliant light. Awakened clay may on occasion do something - change shape, for example, when as an inorganic material it should never do anything. Birds that have formed a symbiotic relationship with awakened matter may be able to perform feats that ordinary birds aren't able to do, such as flying vertically without stalling. Awakened water may change color, or alternatively they may spontaneously eject a water droplet upward (like the opposite of a droplet falling into a pool). There are many, many possibilities, each corresponding to a faera life form (star-based (magical) life forms, as opposed to flora and fauna, which are carbon-based life forms). That said, the fact that faera are star-based means that you rarely get to see their magic in action. However, sighting something that non-magic science can't explain is often a key step on the road to becoming a mage.

Once you find the whatever it is that is so unusual and collect it, you'll be able to study it more effectively and come to appreciate just how different it is. Placing the awakened object in contact with normal (sleeping) object causes the latter to awaken as well. In this way you would be able to experiment with this ordinarily uncommon find. After setting out on a quest to find other faera, you will begin collecting specimens, oftentimes in glass bottles for safekeeping. You'll get around to combining them to see what results. And along your journeys you - a journeyman or journeywoman - will come across a variety of distinct specimens and record your observations in a diary (your book of shadows, or grimoire). And sooner or later you'll come across the most important three discoveries - the rock-faera called Nethicite, Genicite, and Ossilocite.