Mana Elements



Mana elements, sometimes called "attributes", are the seven core characteristics of mana. Each corresponds in element, colour, and function to one of the Supreme Gods or Eternal Five.

The seven elements are Water, Fire, Wind, Earth, Life, Light, and Darkness.

All living things carry mana, if only in miniscule amounts, and each person, creature, plant, or material has a unique mana "signature" made up of different elements in different amounts. This unique signature can cause surprising effects in the natural world. For example, combining different plants and oils to make ink causes the pigment to change unexpectedly, depending on the mana elements of the ingredients.

Most living beings contain not a single type of mana, but a mix of multiple types. Purity refers to how little other elements an object or being contains apart from the dominant type. The fewer and smaller the trace elements are, the higher its purity is.

Living beings with mana (that is, nobles, Devouring commoners, feybeasts and feyplants) are born with "affinities" for one or more elemental types. These affinities tend to run in families. Most laynobles have around one or two elemental affinities. Most mednobles have two or three elemental affinities. Archnobles can expect to have up to seven, depending on their family background. Having affinities for all elements is mainly seen in high-ranking duchies and the royal family. A noble's elemental affinities are checked at their baptism. Among the nobility, the word "aptitude" is also used, apparently completely interchangeable with "affinity".

Nobles almost always have an affinity for the mana of the deity associated with their birth season. The other affinities are greatly influenced by the parents, making it very likely that siblings of the same parents also share the same set of affinities.

Among feyplants and feybeasts, it appears that the affinities are entirely species bound with no differences between individual members of the same species.

A person's elemental affinities combine into their mana "colour." Those with fewer affinities have brighter and more saturated mana, while those with many affinities have very pale, almost-white mana. A person's strongest affinity will determine the general hue of the mana. For example, a person whose highest affinity is Water would have mana in some shade of green. Mana colour is not normally visible, but it can be seen when a person infuses their mana into a feystone or when they lose control of their mana.

Some elements are known to function more easily together than others.


 * Earth. Because Earth is adaptable, it can be mixed in with other elements that otherwise wouldn't merge well on their own.
 * Life and Earth. The element of Life is notoriously hard to use with any element except Earth. This is usually attributed to the mythological story that the God of Life is disliked by the deities of Water, Fire, and Wind.
 * Light and Darkness. Many potent magic circles require the combination of both Light and Darkness, such as those used in long-distance transfers and those powering the shumils Schwartz and Weiss.

Some common magical ingredients (such as feyplant and feybeast parts) contain several elements. Rather than combining elements that don't mix well, it can be easier to just use ingredients containing both elements to begin with.

Unrelated to its elemental attributes, each ingredient also has a "quality" or "capacity" that determines how much mana it can absorb. Creating effective potions and magic tools requires ingredients that have the right attributes for the task and a high enough quality for the mana involved.

A fact nearly unknown among the Yurgenschmidt nobility is, that name-swearing can alter the elemental affinities of the name-sworn. Should the name-sworn have fewer affinities than their lord or lady, they will gain a weak affinity with all the elements their master has, which they themselves lack. However this artificial affinity isn't even half as strong as those the person has naturally. They will also disappear again, should the master return their name to them.

If a noble gains the divine protection of one of the gods, casting any spell of the element associated with said god becomes much easier. Generally, nobles will be able to attain the protection of all the gods to which they have an elemental affinity.

Gaining divine protections is part of the Royal Academy Curriculum in the lesson Divine Protection Acquisition. There they first learn the necessary prayer, and upon memorizing it, they will perform the ritual itself. To attain this protection, the students need to correctly recite the prayer, the name of the associated god, and their respective subordinate gods. If they have the elemental affinity for this type of mana, they generally attain the protection of this god. If they lack the affinity, it is very unlikely they will gain the protection to the point that most nobles aren't even aware that it is a possibility to begin with. On the rare occasions that someone manages to gain the divine protection of an element they have no aptitude for, the benefits are of a lesser degree than for someone with the affinity, but still noticeable.

The only known ways to fail to gain the divine protection of a god a student has an affinity for is to fail to correctly recite the part of the prayer dedicated to that god or their subordinate gods or to mispronounce the deity's name.

When Angelica tried to re-do her ritual, pillars of light appeared over the symbols of fire and wind after she prayed to the Eternal Five. But when she only called out to the two subordinate gods, whose protection she was seeking, the pillars disappeared again and the ritual failed. Apparently the gods do not look kindly upon those who wish to shorten the ritual without even trying. On her second attempt however they did not seem to mind that she had her manablade Stenluke help her with the names she could not remember, since she was able to not only obtain the protection of Leidenschaft and Schutzaria, but also two subordinate gods.

In the very rare cases when a student is already name-sworn by the time they enact the ritual to gain divine protections and their master has affinities they lack, the student stands a good chance to gain protection from gods of those elements, in addition to what they have on their own, due to being surrounded by their master's mana at all times.

Should such a person have their name returned to them, they will lose the affinities gained from their connection with their master.

While it is very rare, it is possible to gain additional protections or lose some. Upon entering the Temple, Ferdinand of Ehrenfest was able to gain additional divine protections, proving the possibility. Likewise, if a person takes actions that anger the associated deity, it is possible to lose that protection again. An example of this is an archduke candidate of the past, who told an archnoble scholar the names of the God of Darkness and Goddess of Light, which are only supposed to be known by the person who learned them through a ritual and not to be shared. As punishment, the supreme gods withdrew their divine protections from the archduke candidate, and he was unable to ever reacquire them in his lifetime.

It is possible to obtain the protection of subordinate gods, even for people who failed to obtain the protection of the associated primary god. For example Sylvester gain the protection of Schlaftraum and Dauerleben, but not the one of Ewigeliebe himself.

Table Legend:
 * ✅ This person is confirmed to possess affinity to this element by birth.
 * ☑️ This person acquired affinity to this element via divine protection or name-swearing.
 * ❌ This person is confirmed to not possess affinity to this element.
 * ❔ It's unknown whether this person possesses affinity to this element.




 * Affinity for elements associated with seasons (Water, Fire, Wind, Earth) are common among nobles, whereas Light, Darkness, and Life element are much rarer.
 * Life element appears to be the rarest attribute. So far, only those who have all seven attributes are known to possess affinity for Life element.
 * Nobles are given rings with feystones of their birth season's colour during their baptism, because almost all nobles possess affinity for the element of their birth season. A noble's most prominent attribute appears to be influenced by his/her birth season too, while Rozemyne is one of the rare known exceptions (born in summer, yellow-coloured mana).
 * Mana elements and their properties are taught in the second year of the Royal Academy.