#magic ref

Young-Ah Park has a disturbing obsession with dreams, spirits, and souls that tie into an intuitive brand of magic that relates to these things specifically.

Shadows are inherently connected to you.  Why?  Because they are the product of you and the light that is illuminating you.  You cast a shadow.  Shadows are cast all over your body and person.  Shadows are everywhere.  Nothing would look the same without shadows.

Shadows, in the magical sense, are therefore attached to you, your being, your soul.  At night, shadows meld together and cover everything.  They are at the pinnacle of their power.

Shadow magic (the practitioners are called shadowseekers) are able to manipulate their shadows and use them as an extension of themselves.  They can extend only as far as they can allow their soul to leave their body, giving shadow magic a limited and weathering range.  This range is described by the exact circumference around a person using their cast shadow as a radius.  However, under the cover of night, they have almost unlimited range and can cause devastating effects.  Advanced shadowseekers are able to tamper with other people’s shadows, and therefore inflict harm on their soul instead of body.  This means that advanced shadowseekers could actually erase a person’s soul from the cycle of reincarnation entirely.*

How is it learned and executed?

Shadow magic can be learned, but it is considered hereditary.  While one can learn the basics of shadow magic, any technique after that is extremely difficult, and can cause lasting emotional, mental, and/or physical health issues and damage.

How is it accessed?

You need to have access to your shadow (in any way), and you need to be able to separate your shadow from your soul.  Then, you need to be able to separate those things from your body, while still sustaining your life force.  It’s complicated and difficult.

Shadow magic cannot be accessed in complete darkness or complete light.  It requires both to exist.

Does it have a will of its own?

Technically, no.  But if a person has multiple souls residing in their body, then those souls can hijack control of the shadow.

Is it restricted in space and time?

Space. How far your shadow (or the shadows around you) can stretch is the exact radius of your own cast shadow.  That is to say, the circumference of a shadowseeker's range is calculated using the standard formula for circumference, and uses the length of the cast shadow as a radius (the mage is the circle's center).

What does available magic do?

Shadow magic deals with the stitching of body and soul, hence why the physical effects can be devastating.  However, the magic can apply to anything with a shadow, soul or no.  Robots, for instance, can be affected by way of wiring and/or outside armor by merely interfering with the shadows cast.

Shadow mages can extend their shadows away from them to attack directly (physically), or attack the soul itself.  Again, this is extremely advanced and difficult, as it should be.  Physical attacks are more common, and materialize themselves as “living shadows” within the range of the attacker.  They can also form shields.

Another interesting thing is the use of the reverse, where you use your shadow to take you places, rather than extend it away from you.  This process, called “shadow sneaking”, is only possible under the cover of night or some other source of deep or widespread shade.  It is therefore most potent under the light of a full moon, as this still provides that the world is covered in shadow, but is still relatively brightly lit so as to ward away complete darkness.

The weakness is bright or blinding light that wipes away most shadow.  At this level of brightness, a shadow mage has hardly any shadow to cast, and is rendered helpless until something is able to give them access to shade of some sort.  The same thing applies for absolute darkness, though in the opposite sense.  Instead of burning away, the soul drowns.

Physical combat with shadows can show in two forms: physical living shadows, or shadows fighting.  The average shadowseeker can materialize their shadow to do their bidding (within the attached range), but a more advanced shadowseeker can use their shadow to sneak in darkness and mess with the shadow of an enemy, which will affect the enemy physically.

Reaper-class shadowseekers, or pure blooded shadowseekers, are able to use their shadows to sneak and interfere with the binding of soul and body.  They are able to sever the connection instantly, causing death.  Reapers can also destroy souls entirely, though this is rare and difficult, and an cause insanity, mental destruction, or physical crippling in certain cases due to forced over extension of power (as well as a breach of natural order and natural force.  In other words, the amount of power used backfires in a cause-and-effect reaction that damages the Reaper’s soul almost as much as the victim’s).

How does it relate to the character, plot and theme of the book?

Young-Ah is a practitioner of dark magic.  Why not.

What is the cost of magic?

It’s very taxing to separate a part of your soul from your body.  If the soul generates spirit, or life force, then shadowseekers technically die slowly as they cast magic, and gain it back by resting.  Unless under the cover of night or smoother widespread dark covering, range is mostly limited to close combat.  Over extending a shadow can cause permanent mental, physical, and/or emotional damage.  If a person is sneaking in their shadow and are caught in an extremely bright light, they can be annihilated completely, body and soul.

What can it not do?

Your shadow cannot walk away from you or detach from you, and you cannot go outside your range without injuring or killing yourself.  Unless the magic has been in the blood for generations, shadowseekers cannot do “Reaper” spells, like destroying a soul.  Shadow magic has no effect pertaining to life force over soulless things, like many Western demons.  In this respect, shadow mages are strictly limited to physical combat and damage to the physical body.

How long does it last?

As long as there is some sort of darkness, and as long as the user can live while maintaining a sneak or extension.

Who can use it?

Technically, anyone can learn to use it.  Shadow magic is a biased form of magic, however, and favors those who a.) have it in the bloodline and b.) have an affinity, either afflicted or born, for dark magic of some form.  People with strong life forces are usually the least able to use this, since their souls are usually very, very attached to their living bodies, and are very in sync.

How do others react to it?

Depending on who is using it, horror to approval.

Why haven’t people with this power taken over the world?

Several worlds that are covered in eternal night are ruled by dictators with some affinity for this type of magic.  However, it is thought currently that there is no pure bloodline left in the known universe, and therefore, none of the Reaper spells can be cast any longer.

Recent research has stated that shadow magic and blood magic should not mix (physically) under any circumstance.

there may be conflicts, it’s weird, but it all makes sense to me.

black: intensely warm, security, darkness, confusion, heaviness, corruption, wholeness, solidity

gray: lukewarm, innate neutrality, balanced, dampness, depression

white: chilly, searing, isolation, death, winter, nostalgic, reconstruction, emptiness, nothingness, changeability

gold: hot, fire, minor luck, excess, greed, luxury, indulgence, victory, the sun

silver: cold, air, minor luck, magic, purification, dreams, 

brown: warm, earth, instinct, food, tangible things, animals, simplicity, the past

red: hot, fire, passionate, survival, fight-or-flight, anger, lust, determination, action

orange: warm, fire, concentration, kindness, wanting nothing, stimulation, encouragement

yellow: hot, fire, joy, 

green: warm, earth, life, growth, prosperity, assurance, healing

blue: cool, water, dreams, serenity, concentration, patience, flexibility, goodness, purity, contentedness, awakening