How Magic Works

Magic in The Fifth Season is a dualistic system made up of Thaum and Glamour.

Thaum is normally just called magic, power, or craft. Users of Thaum are generally called Channelers, with other more specific terms depending on where you are and how you channel. Witch, wizard, sorcerer, the list goes on. Channelers use themselves as a conduit for the ambient magic in the world.

Thaum is ‘that which seeps in through the cracks’. It is present everywhere, ever-changing and ready to be seized by any who can control it. Mortals have varying degrees of ability to channel Thaum and what kinds of abilities they manifest depends entirely on themselves. The potential for certain abilities tends to pass down through the generations.

Glamour is innate to fey; a part of their very being. Each particular kind of fey has their own glamour that works according to its own rules and narrative. Fey produce magic directly from themselves.

While, at times, the two may seem similar, there are many differences. The end effect may look the same, but the means will be different. For example, a Nymph may use her beauty to bewitch a man and a enchantress may do the same thing. The end result is the same, but the Nymph is using an internal source of power while the enchantress is channeling that power through herself.

For an example of how Glamour and Thaum differ, one should look at the daily lives of mortals. A common farmer will know magic from the fey as that which blesses their fields with fertility and will know the magic of other mortals as that which heals wounds and blasts away monsters. One of the fey could certainly heal wounds or light monsters like pyres, but their powers are more likely to be subtle in nature and validating of their place in the world. Mortal magic tends to be blunt and practical.

There is also the matter of what one would need to pay. Mortal magic can be purchased with coin or bartered for with goods. The fee exacted by the fey in exchange for their blessings tends to be more personal and abstract. A mortal healer may charge mere coins to heal a broken leg, while a member of the fair folk may request a riddle they have never heard, a lock of hair from your head, or even a number of years of service, depending on the nature of the injury.