The magic in this game is based on five forces which are the underlying forces of the world. These can be channelled or utilised to produce effects which would otherwise seem to not be possible. They are aligned to certain aspects of the world and are used to affect those aspects. Because the forces are interconnected, as the aspects combine to give the world, they can be combined when they are used and produce effects which would not be possible with one force alone. The forces cover very broad areas of existence so a great deal of what they can do is based on the personality of the person with access to them and how they interpret that force. For example a scholar might interpret mind as the force of academic thinking and the ability to enhance that. A counsellor might interpret mind as the force responsible for manipulating and interpreting emotions. The same with the other forces, a craftsman might interpret change as a way of creating pieces of work or another person might interpret it as a way to change the structure of something to change its properties.
The emphasis in this system is on the relationship between the forces and the character and how they interpret them and use them. Because of this what you can do is limited by what you can imagine doing and how much affinity to that force you have. When the forces appeared they were attracted to people who had natures which suited that force. Farmers developed an affinity for the force of land so did governors. Scholars, politicians, and counsellors developed affinities for mind. But of course because nobodies personality is that simple people also found they had an affinity for several forces reflecting who they were and what they did. These forces first appeared in individuals after the death of the Magister 20 years ago. After the destruction of the old city of Taeorn the forces within these people faded but recently the forces powers have been growing in strength again.
Also each of the forces has the aspect within them of the more destructive, unordered side of nature. This has become known amongst people as the "taint". This "tainted" aspect of the forces can only be harnessed once you have embraced and accepted the "taint", and you cannot maintain both "tainted" and "non-tainted" aspects simultaneously. Contact between "tainted" and normal forces results in the user of the normal forces to feel strangely touched by the "taint" which will usually manifest itself as a strange discomfort or some pain, like something is very wrong. The user of the "tainted" forces does not feel like anything is amiss.
Each magic statistic will range between zero and ten with zero being no affinity to the force and ten being unbelievable affinity to that force. Initially the statistic will only be had at a maximum of six. Statistics can be increased by actions which bring that character 'closer' to the relevant force. Practice will do this to some extent but must be accompanied by behaving in a manner which encourages their affinity to that force. For example to increase the statistic in mind, along with practise they might try forming some sort of school or performing some actions which particularly involve the use of their mind in a unmagical way. Characters in the previous game for example who were involved with the force of land spent time studying the land and aiding the farmers attempts to restart crop growth after the cataclysm. Of course if your character was concentrating solely on one force, changes and decides to focus on different force, they could lose affinity for that force as they concentrated entirely on a different force. However less focused concentration on several forces means several forces can be maintained and used in combination.
In order for a person to perform a task using the force they need to imagine the particular effect occurring, and how it would work to some extent. For example in order to use body to stretch the dimensions of a leg they would not need to know how to move the internal structure of the leg, but would need to specify whether they were going to stretch a section of the leg or the whole thing.
Effects can be done involving multiple forces, in fact some can only be done that way. For example in order to create an illusion which breathes real flame a combination of a fairly low mind statistic (to create the illusion) and moderately high change (in order to create the fire out of nothing) . If for example they created the illusion around a torch on the wall then the flame would be easier to create because there is already some flame present and less change would be required. Forces in use cannot be detected but a force touched individual will be able to tell if there is another individual near them (within a 20 yards radius).
All these effects can be produced at higher levels to a greater extent and at lower levels to a lesser extent, these are just examples of the power level. You should think up your own ways of using the force. No one has got as far as any of the higher levels yet so they are unknown. Also don't forget that there will be consequences to the things you do. Using body to increase your stamina so you can run further will still leave you tired when the effect is no longer in use. Because of this effects can only be produced with forces as often as you have the energy for. In order to create an effect you need to concentrate and the more complicated the effect, the longer and harder you have to concentrate. As you will know concentrating for periods of time is tiring (think of exams) also while concentrating, if someone breaks that concentration you may have to start again or the effect could simply just go wrong half way through. Also forces can be combined if groups of people act willingly in concert although the total affinity to the force is less than if it was one individual with all the groups affinities added.
The "taint" influences these forces so that they have a more negative effect. This may be manifest either as direct destructive effects, or as a positive events which are used in such a way to increase disorder.
There was a character called Rish, who specialised in calming those around him. He did this by imagining his mind as a ball of white light, and the thoughts of those he was calming as pulsating ball of multicoloured light. He calmed the by visualising his ball of white light stretching out around the mind of the other, and suppressing the violent and strong pulsating light, smothering it's strength and vigour. A character, named Samuel Winters who had a large affinity with the countryside and animals and visualised himself slowly gaining different characteristics to slowly transform himself into the physical form of a wolf. The forces involved in this case were Body and Change. Another character used the same forces in a different way to heal minor infirmaries and injuries in the population by visualising the wounds or illnesses healing and a healthy person. Some of the ways people use to control their forces are more obvious than others.
In the case of the injuries it is quite easy to imagine an image of what you wish the effect to be and inform the GM. In the case of the character Rish's calming effects it is harder and requires the character and the player