Arcane Magic

In a short description, arcane magic is Sevess' latent magical energy given direction through implanted magical instruments, usually referred to as arcane augments or arcane installations.

Installations come in a variety of forms, nearly all of which are prohibitively expensive for most, and many of which are also prohibitively disturbing in nature. The most benign arcane installations are those meant as prosthetics, optical installations being the most common, and also the most affordable, relatively speaking, only costing roughly the same as your average labourer's yearly salary.

Their expense is due in large part to the combination of their very precise design, their runic engravings and enchantments, and that they almost universally must be made of precious metals. Gold, silver, platinum, and a select few other metals are all especially effective at absorbing and storing the energy present in Sevess, and the runes and enchantments allow the user to direct and control this energy.

Besides optical installations which replace or enhance the eyes, there are plenty of other categories of arcane augments, including, but not limited to, grafts which add limb-like appendages, kinetic implants which often replace bone or muscle, neural installations which interface directly with the user's mind, and subdermal augments which often provide additional resilience just beneath the user's skin. Even within these broad categories, unique usage and design of the installations are extremely varied, ranging from grafts which function as wings, arms, legs, tentacles, or even stranger, to kinetic implants which increase strength, speed, or endurance, to subdermal augments which regulate temperature or protect from damage, and many, many, many more.

This power comes with a steep cost to the user's emotional and mental stability over time, however. Many arcane wizards eventually fall to a slow-burning paranoia. A deep, unshakable fear that everyone around them conspires to take from them, to hurt them, or even to kill them. This leads most arcane wizards to drive themselves into isolation, though there are exceptions to this rule.

Should you find yourself at odds with an arcane wizard, the only practical advice is to run, hide, and make yourself scarce. If none of those are possible, however, pray that you can overpower them. And if, by some miracle, you manage to do so, keep clear of their body as it succumbs to the resulting Torellian Detonation.

For Players:

Arcane installations are a very, very, very rare resource, normally. Speaking as a general rule, this is something that will largely be explored through NPCs and factions, rather than through player characters. Any campaign which would involve them as a core player resource would be a mythic campaign by design, which is an idea bouncing around in my brain, but, don't expect it any time soon.

Player characters, and most creatures and people in this land, are governed instead by a different magic: Innate Magic.