Magic in Shadow World has its basis in its cosmology. Basically, magic is the power of the beings and forces of the otherworlds manifesting themselves on Kulthea. To access such power, one has to understand how to connect to the otherworld associated with the sort of power that they wish to use. This is always difficult to some extent.

Because of this difficulty, those who use magic tend to have to focus on narrow studies of magic in order for them to be able to learn with any rapidity. People also tend to naturally find themselves with a connection to one of the various otherworlds. Taken together, these things are represented by the concept of concentration.

Each form of magic also has associations from which the magic is learned, and these organizations technically form different sorts of religions and belief systems. Without such support, use of magic is difficult to impossible. Though "Natural Magic" is not unheard of, and most people know a spell or two or have some charms or the like - represented by HQ's Common Magic rules. These abilities can be learned without such associations.

Appearance

Magic in Shadow World is flashy, and generally accompanied by strange lights and auras in addition to whatever other effect that magic was intended to produce. Basically, magic always has a chance to be detected in its use. Yes, even invisibility magic, which does limit its usefulness.

The color of the light produced will tend to say something about the type of magic. See more in Magic Color.