Focal Networks

Focal Networks
Author's Note: I am under no delusions. I do not expect anyone to adhere to this principle when they create religions, lore, or systems of magic. This page is meant to serve as a guide to how Focal Networks function, as it is a necessary to grasp the basics to understand my other anomalous projects. Use it if you want though, just please attempt to understand it first.

What is a Focal Network?
A Focal Network is the raw magical energy that permeates a world. Interacting with this energy is essential to creating 'magical' effects (often referred to as 'spells' or 'enchantments'). The Networks are passively and actively warped by 'Focal Entities' (some would refer to these as 'magical entities' or 'gods'). Warping the Networks permanently leads to the common magic that most sapient beings use.

These networks exist on every world currently available to me. However, I'm fairly certain I can't jump to uninhabited worlds. Since the malleability of, and therefore ability to interact with, Networks seems correlated to the sapient population of a world, I'm sure this isn't a coincidence.

How Does One Access These Networks?
When a Focal Entity warps the Network, they create a catalyst and and a substrate. If it helps, imagine Focal Reactions as enzymatic reactions. That catalyst the Entity creates serves as an enzyme (disturbance), it uses the substrate to activate the reaction, creating the intended effect. This substrate can be anything: a word, a gesture, a material, or a ritual.

I think a practical example would help here. Imagine I was a Focal Entity, and I wanted to create a Focal Effect that would freeze water. I would have focus my Focal Energy into the Network, and permanently warp it. I would need to select a substrate of my choosing as I created the disturbance. Let's say I picked steel. This would require a great deal of power, likely leaving me weak for several weeks for a simple spell (Powerful spells can take entire cultures hundreds of years to craft, or one god's energy for a couple centuries). Once I finished creating the disturbance, I'm pretty much done. I can channel my Focal Energy into steel to freeze water around me.

Law of Intention:
One may wonder how with all the Focal Entities across the multiverse, how come Focal Energy can't be shoved into anything under the assumption an Effect will be revealed? It's because of The Law of Intention. Put simply, you cannot interact with Focal Disturbances without knowing the specific one exists and having a general idea of the effect it will have. You cannot discover Effects through trial and error. This is why amassing a significant knowledge of Focal Effects requires lifetimes spent prying secrets from places and people that you likely weren't meant to see or meet.

Common Properties of Substrates and Focal Effects:
It should be noted that though theoretically anyone can activate a Disturbance, assuming they obey The Law of Intention, the reality is a lot more complicated. Every sapient being has a different amount of innate Focal Energy, and depending on the strength of the Disturbance and Effect, it would require a different amount of Energy. At a certain point, enough Energy must be expended to the point where it is unlikely most Entities could feasibly bring the Effect into reality.

Additionally, Effects are very hard to create and summon. As such, active Effects like the example I gave are rare and usually not worth it. A more likely Effect would involve an Entity channeling large amounts of Focal Energy into a metal (such as brass) to extend the lifespan of the Entity, or channeling Energy into a being to warp their physiology.

Effects also gain small quirks as they are used. For instance, an Arrus vampire's1 Cryomancy would start out very limited (incidentally Arrus Cryomancy is one of the rare examples of active Focal Effects), with only a basic effect. After a couple years, the Disturbance that the Effect comes from would take on a few unique characteristics of the Entity that casts from it regularly. Back to the Arrus vampire example, an Arrus vampire might gain more finesse in their ice-shaping abilities or they might gain the ability to alter the ambient temperature around them.

Focal Points:
Focal points form when energy from the Network condenses into a single location, this creates areas of high and low Focal intensity. These periods of intensity allow Entities to create Disturbances and Effects much easier and with much less power. In areas of lower power, everything is much harder. Most of the multiverse sits at an even level though.

Focal Transportation:
One of the most important methods of employing Focal Energy is in relation to transportation. Focal Transportation involves converting solid matter into Focal Energy and transporting it instantaneously through space, time, and even dimensions. Several galactic and inter-dimensional authorities throughout the local multiverse employ this procedure to travel reliably, easily, and affordably.

The Eldham Shield:
Eldham is odd among the many worlds of the multiverse, in that it is a densely populated world with a very restricted Focal Network. Active Effects rarely work in Eldham. Only the most powerful Effects, Disturbances, and Entities keep even a fraction of the power they would be able to employ in other dimensions. This has led most powerful Focal Entities to either avoid Eldham or take sanctuary within it's confines. A not insignificant amount of Fragmented Souls2 reside in Eldham to escape assimilation back into their main bodies.

1: (I co-created Arrus vampires so I feel comfortable using them as examples. Note that this is a head canon and the greater amount of vampires do not use this system.)

2: Soul gets blasted apart making multiple entities. This is usually a mistake, with the entity reforming soon after.