Life is Magic.

Casting is simply the application of will to manipulate the natural life force of the mage.

Learned magic is named such because it requires the mage to learn the individual glyphs that form the spell arrays in addition to how to bridge and balance them successfully. Not everyone has a strong enough inner core to effect actual changes; these people are considered “non-magical” and even if they learn the glyphs, they are unable to manifest an array or power it.

Many mages have specializations, choosing to focus on mastery of a smaller number of glyphs rather than trying to learn many.

Even though it is considered separate, the ability to do Learned Magic is, at its core, a type of Inherent Magic.

Source

Inner Core of Magic - Magicore

All magic comes from the mage or caster, since magic is life. Each person has an inner pool of magic to draw from; the size of this pool varies from person to person. For many people, it is small enough that they cannot use learned magic. Larger or more complicated arrays take more magic to cast.

Costs

Energy Drain - Magicore Exhaustion

This does use the mage's magical core, so overuse can lead to “magicore exhaustion”. Magic is life, so draining oneself can lead to potential problems. Rest and food are the two best ways to replenish one's core. Magic will replenish itself over time, as well.

Limitations

Limit of Self

A mage is limited by the power they hold inside them. Larger and more complicated arrays take more magic to cast.

Limit of Visualization

The more complicated the spell, the more the mage might struggle to successfully weave the glyphs into a balanced array. Some people are better at this than others, and spell creation is practically its own field.

Casting

There are many ways to cast learned magic. This page focuses on the methods and terminology used on the continent of Espon and the province of Ni Fon, which are similar but use different terminology. Case in point, Nifoni mages call casting “weaving”. Nifoni mages also commonly pool their efforts together, somehow ending up with magic that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Glyphs

The basic building block is a glyph. There are many glyphs, each one representing a possible effect, from elemental (fire, water, etc.) to illusion (hair, eyes, shape, color, etc.) to an idea (transport, shielding, attack, etc.) Any number of glyphs can be built into a spell based on what the caster wants it to do.

Glyph Examples

These are the four basic elemental glyphs, but there are many more.

Air

Fire

Earth

Water

Arrays (Ni Fon: Patterns)

The caster then builds an array to bridge and balance the glyphs to ensure the spell works properly. These arrays are typically circular, and the array itself is the color of the caster's magic. A poorly balanced spell will not perform well, and can be easily overcome.

Very skilled casters might not make their arrays visible, merely picturing it in their minds, but this can be very dangerous as it is easier to make a mistake in the mind's eye. That said, smaller spells a caster uses often might be internalized enough to cast in such a way safely. Nifoni mages often practice and internalize a smaller library of spells that they can weave without the visible pattern, as the light of their magic would make it difficult to weave magic stealthily.

Though each of the shown examples include the same base five-circle array, arrays can have as few as one or as many as ten base circles.

Bridging Line Examples

Different bridging line designs are capable of stabilizing different combinations and placement of glyphs.  There are many ways to bridge and balance glyphs.

Six-point

Semi-reinforced Eight-point

Three-point Reverse Eye

Objects

Spells can be “stored” in spell crystals to be used at a later time. Anyone can use a spell crystal. The more powerful the spell, the harder it is to make a spell crystal to store it. Once used up, the spell crystal becomes dull and useless, and can even break. Most are diamond-shaped, but some - like the crystallus canis used by the priests of Hades - are more complicated.

Arrays can be permanently etched onto an object as well. These still require the actual act of casting to activate (for the power source), but can make it easier for the mage to maintain, since they do not have to maintain the array itself.

Basic Spell Crystal

Crystallus Canis

Exceptions

Living Will

A Living Will is a person who does not require an array to cast. Instead, they merely will the effect, and it happens. This is incredibly rare, and has not been seen for thousands of years.

Divine Source

Having a divine patron can bypass the need for a strong enough magicore if the deity is willing to allow the caster to “borrow” their own power.