Common Magic

In the Cyllian Sea, magic is omnipresent. Everyone knows a simple spell to aid putting a child back to bed, to help their garden grow, to make a meal more palatable, to ward against a hostile spirit, and so forth. However, for the vasty majority of the population in the region, magic is a small personal thing that aids them doing some mundance task. It never manifests in any obvious way. Anyone who can actively use magic is rare and are generally revered or feared, or both.

These simple spells work differently for different cultures. Some places a series of chants are continued through the whole task to gain the aid of magic when doing the task. In others, a melody is sung. (There are rumors of nonvocal magic having powerful magical affects in the right hands, but it is apparently a lost art.) In other places, a short phrase is spoken aloud, while in other locales a variety of gestures are used for magic. In each case, it takes a conscious act by the user and the ability to use voice or hands to make the spell happen.

Innate Magic

While Common Magic exists everywhere, for everyone, all other types of magic are selective. The most common of these are natural talents or innate magical abilities. These are special powers that someone is born with. In most cases, they require no particular vocal or physical gestures to use as a passive ability. They may or may not require either of those for active use. Most people with natural talents never realize that they have them. These talents only appear as a gift in some skill or ability, and since the possessor is unaware of them, they are only useable as a passive augment to related mundane skills. Those who do recognize their natural talent (or who have a natural talent this is physically obvious) can use it as an active ability. Active use of a natural talent will produce obvious magical affects such as lights, sounds, glowing, sparks, or similar. There is no way of concealing the use of a talent when used actively.

Innate magical abilities are those magical abilities that require no thought and are part of the person. In game terms, they are magical gifts where a number for the ability makes no sense. A character that is magically mutated in an obvious physical manner, or has a personal ability that either works completely or doesn't would be examples of innate magical abilities. The difference in innate magical abilities and natural talents are defined by usage.

Divine Magic

Divine gifts are granted by the gods to their followers.