Magic

The Basics of Magic

“	I mentioned this once a long time ago, but in TLS everyone actually has a certain amount of magic flowing through them. Mages channel it into spells, and in succubi it causes sexual effects, but even normal humans have it. That's why they recover faster than real world humans instead of spending weeks slowly healing, and why their special attacks drain MP.	”
	— Sierra Lee, https://www.patreon.com/posts/lore-post-death-8195339

Magic and "Death"

“	First, zero HP in combat does not mean death. I named the state "Defeat" because that's what it means: being unable to fight any longer.	”
	— Sierra Lee, https://www.patreon.com/posts/lore-post-death-8195339

“	Basically, being defeated means that someone's magical cycle has been damaged so much it has gone dormant to dedicate itself fully to survival. Spells or revival items jump-start their cycle, letting them keep fighting. So "revival" in this case does not mean a return from death. That's not to say hitting zero HP isn't serious. The party characters have above average internal magic, but for more average people, it could well be fatal or produce long term injuries that resist magical healing. The difference in internal life force is also why low level fighters are knocked unconscious after battle, whereas stronger individuals might stay conscious.	”
	— Sierra Lee, https://www.patreon.com/posts/lore-post-death-8195339

Magic and Death

“	Now, what about actual death? Like in the real world, a person who has passed a certain definition of death can potentially be brought back with timely medical intervention. But if too long elapses, the brain will start to die and you can't bring back the person in a meaningful sense. In TLS things are more complicated because people also have their internal magical cycle, and most importantly souls. As should be clear in the game, souls are tangible forces that can be manipulated. Just as a failing body leads to brain death, a failing magical cycle leads to soul death. The magical cycle keeps the brain active longer, but when it starts to falter, the soul begins to fade as well. No one really knows exactly what happens to the soul after it fades. Some say it merely dissolves, religions claim it goes to another realm. What's certain is that when the soul is gone, the person is dead. Their body could be restored to functioning, but there is no magic anywhere in the world that can revive the person.	”
	— Sierra Lee, https://www.patreon.com/posts/lore-post-death-8195339

Death and Necromancy

“	No one really knows exactly what happens to the soul after it fades. Some say it merely dissolves, religions claim it goes to another realm. What's certain is that when the soul is gone, the person is dead. Their body could be restored to functioning, but there is no magic anywhere in the world that can revive the person. Necromancy is the art of playing with these rules. Some just revive bodies to health, getting mindless zombies controlled by magic. Others trap the soul in a stable form so it can't fade, though this is harder and tends to have major negative effects. Though it's technically necromancy, medical magic that tries to do this to heal gets a free pass from society. So there are rare cases of revival. Say someone got decapitated on the battlefield. If mages arrived fast enough (the time limit would depend on the person's life force, as in the case of Stark) they could shelter the person's soul in a special structure, heal their body, then complete a special ritual to restore them to full life. But it's the equivalent of a top notch medical team saving someone after technical death but before brain death - it's not an easy or common thing.	”
	— Sierra Lee, https://www.patreon.com/posts/lore-post-death-8195339

Souls

“	Souls are somewhere between a field of energy suffusing the body and one of the body's most important organs. They grow and change with someone's experiences - what Aka says after her transformation is relevant to this. Likewise, they can be damaged by magical attacks, including succubus abilities. When succubi talk about sipping a soul, think of creating a small surface cut and drinking a little from it. For people as strong as Aka and Hilstara, this is harmless and it heals right up, but the ritual leaves some positive effects. Succubi who want to kill someone open a wound and drain everything. The most dangerous forms of sexual magic are the equivalent of tearing the soul open. Unlike the heart, though, souls are better at self-healing. [....] imagine a liquid with extremely high surface tension. That's a decent metaphor for the shards, actually. Early on, they're like a hard object within the soul, but as the incubus adapts to it, the shard "dissolves" into the soul. If the user dies, however, the soul evaporates and leaves behind the shard. The Incubus Emperor's shard is floating inside Simon's soul with a protective layer around it to keep it from influencing him. But because it can't interact with his soul, it doesn't grant him the additional strength.	”
	— Sierra Lee , https://www.patreon.com/posts/april-29-update-18480048

Magical Strength and Talent

While all races in The Last Sovereign have magic inside them, not everybody is born with equal amounts. Those born with greater amounts of internal magic can become powerful with training and dedication. Although the members of your party have strong internal magic, the average person is weak compared to them. An example is the worshipers of the Goddess of Magic in the slums of Yhilin, who have the magical talent to be mages, but lack the power to do intensive rituals, relying on the summoning of weak demons and then destroying them to harvest their magical energy.

Not everybody has the inborn talent to be a mage, as it requires being born with the ability. Tests for magical talent and sensitivity are mentioned to exist, and if trained then most mages seem to join thaumaturgical institutions or hire themselves out as mercenaries. Divine mages join the church of their faith.

Absorbing a soul shard also seems to grant an individual the ability to be a mage, as Simon isn't a mage prior to his induction as an Incubus King.

All succubi seem to be born with the magical talent for sexual magic, but possess varying degrees of power and ability.

Types of Magic

Arcane

• Arcane magic is studied at various thaumaturgical institutions. It has a lot of disciplines: Potions, Alchemy, Invocation and Enchantment are only some of the subjects that can be learned. Robin, Altina, Trin, Uyae, Wynn, Sho and Riala all use arcane magic.

Sexual

• Sexual magic, also referred to as lust magic, is practiced by all succubi, and it seems that other races can learn some form of it. The Incubus Kings as a whole use an extremely powerful form of sexual magic. Yarra, Qum, Nalili, Riala, Trin and Simon all use sexual magic.

Divine

• Divine magic is practiced by adherents of religions. It seems to require religious practices, rituals and a strong faith in a divine figure. The various Chosen, Carina and Vhala all use divine magic.

Martial

• This type of magic is what is used by most warriors. It is not technically a form of magic, seemingly to be physical actions strengthened by a person's internal magic. The techniques they "cast" are not typically categorized into arcane, sexual, or divine, but instead seem to rely on the raw magic of the person casting them. Any race seems to be able to use martial magic, using either mana or lust as a power source. The various techniques that are used seem to amplify the natural strength, durability and agility of the user and allies or inflict harmful conditions onto enemies. Some techniques, like Varia's, seem to drain vitality from the user when activated. Aka, Hilstara, Vhala, Varia, Uyae, Antarion, Nalili and Simon all use special abilities that use martial magic.

Disciplines of magic

• Invocation is magic brought into the world for destructive purposes.

• Enchantment is binding power to an object regardless of the source.
• Embodied magic is the study of how magical auras are generated by physical creatures and the subsequent interactions.
• Necromancy
• Summoning
• Teleportation
• Warding
• Illusion
• Healing

Shared Disciplines

• Among the disciplines of magic only healing, warding, and invocation seem to be commonly shared among the disciplines. Most of the disciplines are solely under the purview of arcane magic. Illusion magic is also shared between arcane and sexual.

Magic and the Races

Humans

• Humans in the world generally use martial, arcane, and divine magic, with the rare exception of specialists like Trin who have acquired a special power. There also seems to be some humans who utilize sexual magic, like the Aram fertility mage that is met in Eustrin.

Succubi

• Succubi in the world are typically limited to sexual, martial and arcane magic. All succubi are born with some form of sexual magic, but must learn how to refine that power. Nalili shows that succubi can channel lust into martial magics, but presumably it is not as popular as sexual magic. They can also learn to cast arcane magic through study, in the case of Riala. Succubi have no access to divine magic, exactly why is unknown, but the appearance of Unsuccubi, who are totally immune to divine magic due to the removal of the sexual parts of their soul, seems to imply a connection between sexual and divine magic.

Halfings

• Halflings in the world are similar to humans in their usage of magics.

Zirantians

• Zirantians in the world can use arcane, martial and past civilizations of theirs have even harnessed their own form of sexual magic. The Divine Claw seems to train its disciples in a balanced fighting style of arcane and martial magic from a young age.

Dwarves

• Dwarves in the world have been seen to use arcane magic, but not sexual or divine. It is possible that in the past that there were divine mages among the dwarves, but the worship or lack thereof of Tertia seems to imply there haven't been any for a good while. Dwarves are noted to be among the most resistant to sexual magic among the races.

Elves

• Elves in the world presumably use martial magic and have been seen to use arcane magic. They do not draw their divine magic from Ivala but from their patron goddess The Mother instead. The presence of Lynine gives the idea that elves could use sexual magic, but she might just study it theoretically instead. Elves are also shown to be incredibly susceptible to sexual magic, which some claiming because they are the most "pure" of the races, but others like Orilise and Lynine disagree on that point.

Orcs

• Orcs in the world are an interesting anomaly. While they cannot actively use sexual energy, they seem to be able to store it and grow larger, eventually transforming into ogres. Orcs seem to be able to use both martial and arcane magic, but they also don't seem to use mana or lust to use them. Neither Orcent nor Grubbak have any costs to their special abilities, but orcs do take more damage from any attack that hits them.

Interactions of Lust and Purity

In each living being, at the very base of what they are, is a mixture of lust and purity. Having more purity means that they live longer and are more durable, while having more lust makes you more fertile. A being cannot be composed of only lust or purity, or it will cease to exist.

Humans are composed of 50% lust and 50% purity, an optimal balance that has led to their presence everywhere.

Succubi are composed of 90% lust and 10% purity, which is why their lifespans are so short in comparison to other races.

Elves are composed of more lust than purity, and their "weakness" to lust magic is actually an affinity to it. (Maybe the values of 70 to 30 or the like.)

Halflings are composed of more purity than lust, almost a perfect counterpart to the ratios of the elves.

Dwarves are composed of a similar extreme ratio like succubi in favor of purity, though less extreme than succubi. Alonon says that any race that has more purity in them than the dwarves would most likely die out, as they would not be able to reproduce enough. (Maybe around the values of 85 to 15)

Zirantians are composed of slightly more lust than purity, though not by a lot. (Maybe around the values of 60 to 40 or 55 to 45.)

Orcs are strangely not given a composition of their souls, or even a general estimate of what it would be. Presumably given their system of reproduction they would be more lust than purity.

Magical Equipment

Magical equipment is made to enhance the attributes of those who use it. It can be anything from swords to pins to rocks.

Magical equipment is made separately for mages and warriors. Mage's equipment is then separated into arcane, sexual and divine. A mage generally cannot use equipment from another class of magic, but succubi mages like Yarra can learn to utilize arcane equipment. Saner Altina or as a cockwhore can use sexual equipment, possibly due to her ordeal at Withered Tower. If Varia was chosen to be dominated she can use sexual equipment, but if she was reshaped she can use divine oriented equipment, like the Crusader sword.

Weird Magic

In the course of the game Simon is able to encounter several strange varieties of magic and magic users in the world.

• The Chosen - With the known exception of one, The Chosen are greedy, selfish, arrogant, moronic and sexually degenerate. They also share the same general age, same features and the same powers. Able to gain power incredibly quickly by slaying insignificant creatures like rats thanks to the blessing of Ivala, they are only held in check by the fact that their own natures lead to their demises before they grow strong enough to challenge The Incubus King. Questions surround where exactly they come from, and other oddities about exactly what they are have cropped up in recent times. Kalant giving up his power raises more questions about the Chosen.

• Qum - Qum Dumpe is a outright odd succubus with the ability to physically see all forms of magic. This ability allows her to be incredibly useful when dealing with magic and makes her a mage savant.
• Trin - Trin is a slave mage with an unusual and powerful ability, the power to break off pieces of weak-willed targets' souls and make physical copies of them which she can control.
• Varia - Varia's magical ability is strange in that she has no conscious control over it. In cases where there's any chance that she could not be harmed by a dangerous event, she will be totally unharmed. Even when she has no chance to escape harm, she will be miraculously less harmed than she should be. However, this incredible luck is almost always followed by the deaths of those whom surround her. This ability appears to be because of the "fate" bestowed upon her.
• Ginasta - An extremely powerful warrior, Ginasta has magic that is seemingly able to break the laws of magic, and noted to be similar to the divine magic of the Chosen. She also appears to be immune to magic that attempts to tamper with her soul, even that on the level of an Incubus King.
• Stark - An orc who is met as a severed head, and despite the visual evidence to the contrary, he is not dead due to his overwhelming life force. It's unknown how long Stark was only a head before he was discovered, but it doesn't seem like he can regenerate the rest of his body. He can also talk despite having no lungs, presumably thanks to magic.
• Alonon - The King of Ardoheim is an enigma. He can see through magical deceptions, even strong ones like the magic that hides Simon's essence, and can seemingly teleport people without leaving any magical traces. His powers can be assumed to originate from the the mysterious Tower he encountered. During the Ardan succession crisis it is revealed he possesses magic that is ascended above ordinary arcane, sexual, and divine magic, which allows him to perform the above mentioned feats, as well as see peoples' fates. Alonon's powers are revealed to come not from not going "up" or "down" in the Tower, but heading deep into the center. His reaction to the revelations he found there and his asexual nature changed his soul similarly to what Simon has done to himself.
• Simon - Simon has developed his own unique ascended sexual magic, a form of power similar to Alonon's own ascended magic. It is effective at dealing with Incubus Kings and is more "agreeable" to Riala as a succubus. He has little control over when he uses it, but greater control may be possible if it is refined in the Tower.
• Wendis - After her ordeal in the demon realm, Wendis has become a self-professed abomination. According to Robin her soul has become entwined with "a fragment of an Incubus King, demonic power, and something more elemental." She also possesses knowledge of the fundamental nature of reality, and has the ability to potentially destroy reality.

Magical Phenomena

The types of magic do not always remain distinct in the case of "superreal phenomena":

“	As power becomes more and more concentrated, it starts to break some normal rules of magic. For example, though sexual and arcane magic are usually very distinct, in high enough concentrations the differences become blurred. Anything that creates this phenomenon starts to have an impact on reality. And in theory, it might cause distortions like these.	”
	— Robin, on magical rifts in Ardford

Presumably these magical rifts form because of the presence of Alonon in Ardford, with his ascended magic.