Cogs last letter (Delivered by Tibbins to Orin, Ramez, Finn, Niamh, Zol Nur)

[Walrus Warwagon]

As per today's discussion, here is my cleaned up thoughts on what I meant by a potential energy theory of "arcane energy":

Arcane Mechanics: Foundational Considerations in Field Theory and Energy Elevation
A compiled argument for reconsidering the baseline principles
 Clockhand, C.


On the Use and Misuse of the Term "Arcane Energy"

The phrase "arcane energy" is broadly misused – applied to essence, force, intent, and fuel alike. It lacks any defined boundary.
It appears most frequently as a placeholder term - a linguistic convenience, not a unit of measure, nor a defined state.
This notes proposes that two dominant - but incompatible - models lie beneath this confusion. One is legacy - simple, intuitive, widely accepted, and functional in limited contexts. The other is theoretical: abstracted from physical principles and barely tested, but, perhaps, more explanatory.



I. The Resource Model

The resource model is foundational in nearly all arcane curricula. It proposes that a caster draws power from some stored or surrounding fount, and spends it to produce effect.
This model treats arcane energy similar to a finite fluid - measurable, exhaustible, and replenishable through rest, ritual, or proximity to sources. Spells are "costed", magic items are "charged", recovery is "refueling."
It explains certain observed features:

Caster exhaustion after numerous spells. But why we haven't found am ore efficient way if we are surrounded by limitless energy?

Wands, scrolls, and potions functioning as consumable reserves. A common example, but not exclusive to the resource model.

Anti-magic zones as null-spaces where the "supply" is inaccessible. Flawed vision on said phenomena. Where woudl energy go? It can't disappear. It is not misplaced either, such would cause increase in fount surrounding such a zone. Which would cause oversaturated wild-magic zones in close vicinity of anti-magic zone.

This model is simple, coherent, and technically sufficient. But it may be incorrect.



II. Persistent Failures of Substitution and Storage

If arcane energy were truly a consumable resource - like heat, light, or electricity - it should be storable, measurable, and most importantly: transferable.
Attempts have been made for centuries to create devices or conduits that would allow a non-caster to perform unlimited spell effects simply by "feeding" energy into an enchanted system. These attempts either fail outright, or require impractically rare materials, unstable constructs, or irreversible attunement.
Spell sequencers function once or a limited number of times, then collapse, impossibly expensive and difficult to produce. Or function steadily, but outrageously impossibly expensive and difficult to produce.

Wands are capable of only predetermined outcomes and cannot be conventionally recharged.

Fuel sources allow the tapping (or elevation in proposed framework) part of the process, but require complex machinery or enchantment to be fed into.

No generalized system for "arcane battery" creation has been discovered. If energy is a resource, this failure is inexplicable.



III. Proposed Alternative: Arcane Elevation Model

Let us suppose arcane energy is not a stored quantity, but a state.
The ambient world is filled with inert arcane presence - a weak, evenly distributed field incapable of action. This field is analogous to gravitational potential energy: it is only usable once elevated to a higher state and realized into kinetic energy.
Spellcasting, then, is not the drawing of fuel - but the application of effort to raise a local portion of this field to a usable tension - a threshold sufficient to produce structured effect. The caster forces the ambient condition upward, compresses it into a shape, and then releases it.
This model offers natural explanations for:

Why complex spells take more effort and not just more energy.

How wild-magic fields exist, as well effects of increased chaos - oversaturated zones where elevated state is achieved naturally and spontaneously.

How anti-magic fields suppress even the beginning of casting by flattening the gradient needed to elevate.

This would also explain why substitution (magic cookies) was never achieved. Because elevation is not storage. One does not trap a wound spring in a bucket. We fail to store "raw" arcane energy because there is no stable low-state that can be held like oil in a jar. Elevation must be maintained, not merely captured.
This also reframes caster limitation: a wizard can only elevate a limited number of field instances per day because doing so is an act of work - mental, physical, and possibly neurological.


IV. Conclusion

I believe the resource model is not wrong - but it is incomplete, and likely misapplied in foundational theory.
Arcane energy may not be a fluid to gather and spend. I suspect it is tension, raised by effort and shaped through geometry.

Maybe we do not need bigger buckets? Maybe we just need better winding keys.