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Magic - An IC Guide
All material objects are made up of different proportions of the six elements. Light, the white element, is associated with illumination and also with illusion. Dark, the black element, is associated with sleep, negation and coldness. Air, the blue element, is associated with movement, changeability and lightness. Earth, the brown element, is associated with heaviness, stillness and strength. Fire, the red element, is associated with heat and ash. It is the most destructive to mortal flesh. Water, the green element, is associated with mutability and weakness.
Magic is the manipulation of one or more elements in order to bend the world to your will. There is one colour of magic per element, with light opposing dark, air opposing earth and fire opposing water.
There is also a seventh colour of magic, which has no opposite; this is Grey Magic, which is the power of the elements combined. Grey Magic is less powerful than the other kinds of magic - for it draws its power from the opposition and annihilation of six different elements - but far more versatile, for it has none of the weaknesses of any other style of magic.
Magic deals with physical objects, the physical world, and manipulations thereof. Both blue magic and spiritual miracles can silence someone, for example, but the magic does so by destroying the sound created whereas the miracle does so by taking away the person's voice. Magic is innately harmful to living things - even to the flesh of an elemental elf or similar magical creature - and a spell to infuse someone's body with pure elemental energy is generally a spell to seriously injure that person. There are ways to reduce or eliminate this harm, for example the Brown armour-creating spells and the Black spells of magic negation.
Something that many students of magic forget is that the ultimate sources of magic are wilful and ruled by intelligent - and alien - beings. Most of the rules governing magic are simply expressions of the will of the Elemental Lords and Ladies, which are some of the most powerful entities that exist in the multiverse. Each Elemental Lord or Lady - there is one for each element - controls a single plane, the plane from which all of that element derives. Each sort of magic has a 'personality', so to speak, and that personality reflects the personality of the element's ruling Lord or Lady. Understand the personality of your Elemental Lord, and you shall understand how to channel their magic; this understanding lies at the root of Elemental Skill.
Elementals, sentient accumulations of magical energy, may be summoned and bargained with or bound via ritual magic. They are excellent tutors and near-perfect (if intimidating) servants, but again it must be remembered that here we are dealing with forces never meant for direct mortal comprehension or manipulation. Politeness and care, even to the smallest and weakest of elementals, is the best policy. Apparently some sort of hierarchy exists among elementals; there are certainly different types, physical forms and sizes even within the ranks of a single element. Exploiting this is the key to getting the most out of peaceful interactions with elemental beings, though it would be folly to expect the elementals of one colour to have a similar hierarchy to those of another.
All magical spells are cast by means of a 'spell matrix', a mental construct containing a series of gestures and a 'feeling' which must be evoked by means of spoken words. The actual form of words used is not that important, and may be specific to the individual student, but the mental effort involved is always identical for a given spell. This channeling of magic through the voice draws forth the matrix; all who hear the matrix manifesting can understand the vocal, no matter in what language it is spoken (Tengwar, the common tongue of the elementals, is the easiest language with which to express the correct feeling). This spell matrix is difficult to teach, mostly because it is difficult to correctly convey a 'feeling' in text form, but once learnt it is difficult to forget. There is a standardised form of notation for feelings, developed by the elves in times long past, which serves as the written form of Tengwar; most works of romantic fiction and poetry improve when translated into Tengwar, and it has all the best insults.
Correctly written spell matrices collect small amounts of passing magical energy, and feel magical to a mage's perceptions; most books of magic are bound in iron (a very good magical 'earth') in order to reduce or prevent the stray discharges of magical energy that magical libraries are prone to. Scrolls harness this effect; by using specially made ink and paper and additional ornamentation to the spell matrix, they collect just enough mana to power the spell without causing random discharges. Breaking the pattern (typically by tearing the scroll) will cause the energy to be released, and with but a single Tengwar phrase the magic can be correctly directed.
It is well known that different types of magic are good at certain things and bad at certain other things. Grey magic, of course, is good at nothing and bad at nothing, typically requiring a slightly higher level of mastery to perfect the same effect as a pure elemental spell.
For an exhaustive out-of-character list of the effects available at different levels and colours, see here.