Magic Casters

Formally, those who bend the Cords to their will are referred to as either Arcane Casters or Magic Casters.

Known colloquially as Arcanists (Omuin), Seers, Prophets (Siblath) and Conjours (Eanodura), Magic Users come in a variety of forms, grouped together in castes due to their unique, hereditary abilities. These abilities are received from their mother, and the child is often set up to attend an institution for their talents before their first birthday. However, magical abilities can take until the sixth birthday to manifest. There have been only a handful of cases where magical abilities manifested later in life, with the oldest being on their deathbed. Traditionally, if a child does not manifest their abilities before the age of six, they are considered non-magical, and any preset plans for their magical education are halted.

During the Age of Folklore in Omuin, magic became primary associated with the abilities of Arcanists. This led to Arcanist being used as a general term for all casters. The caste itself remains a distinct group, despite its title's synonymous definition.

Dominant Threads

Each form has a different primary thread of the Cords, which determines the vein of magic they are most proficient in casting. While all magic users are trained to utilize the entire array of threads, their proficiency determines the power level of the spells they can cast. For example, an Augur's dominant thread is sight, enabling them to cast powerful divination spells, predominantly prophecy-based. They are still able to cast non-sight spells, but not on the same level as divination. Conversely, a Rune Carver is unable to cast powerful sight spells like an Augur, but can cast extremely powerful spells involving the flush thread.

* Arcanists have a flat magical ability that can be honed into any thread. The most common threads are time, void and gravity. Very powerful Arcanists can train to obtain a second primary thread.
** Druids typically specialize in one element.

Sub-Dominant Threads

Each caste has several unique specializations. Variations appear across the Prime Nexus but can be distilled into the same basic components centred around a particular thread type. This training occurs when the caster is proficient in the base abilities of their caste, typically during their teenage or young adult years, depending on the institution. Some clerical castes wait until their students come of age, because their training involves heavy Ether consumption. These specializations become sub-dominant threads, otherwise known as the caster's second most powerful thread. There is no set precedent for sub-dominant thread type in any caste.