Chapter Text
Magic comes from life. From life in all forms, whether it be human or gem or otherwise. It is founded in emotions and in change and growth. Emotional attachments to someone or something can stay long after that place or person is gone. Our emotions and our minds do not recognize time as a limit, and sometimes, neither does magic.
So considering that at least a few Kindergartens were built on planets where we tried to murder all the native life, and how things in the Empire were always really boring and always supposed to stay the same, and everyone was always told they were supposed to be one thing from the moment they came out of the ground, it’s really surprising that we didn’t realize sooner why the old system of creating new gems with life from those planets wasn’t sustainable anywhere in the long term.
Wardens Air Force Colonel, Nephrite Facet-413 Cabochon-12
Referred to by some as just “magic”, by many gems as “life energy”, others as “chi/ki”, and a hundred other names, magic is a long-standing part of the traditions and cultures of both humanity and gemkind, though it is only since the end of the Dawn Wars on Earth that a deeper understanding of how magic works was spread among the general populace.
How magic can interact with the world around it can vary from case to case, and how magic interacts with somebody can also vary from person to person, and from species to species. In many cases, magic is literally dependent on the user's own belief in it to work - it is impossible to do something with magic that the user does not believe can and should happen.
Because magic is different in every case, while it can be to some degree understood, the universal truth is that magic, like life, can not truly ever be placed into a single category or said to draw on a single truth.
Even more confusing is the seeming planetary division between gems and Earth residents on how magic affects life. While magic usage can increase lifespan vastly (the oldest known human was a female wizard who lived to be 497 years of age before her passing). However, gems have never been known to die of any natural cause, and cannot get sick save through magical means (See Corruption/Corrupted Gems).
Magic usage also is different between species. Gems as a whole are born with magic powers of varying types, displaying them alone their whole life. These powers are in almost all cases the only ones they will ever have, and typically gems cannot gain any new ones or strengthen their magic without outside intervention or fusion. A common theory as to why is that the strengthened magic developed by an extended life in earthlings is that this magic is instead being redirected towards the gem’s physical maintenance and physical immortality. However, given that many immortals native to Earth can strengthen their magic with time and practice, the true underlying cause remains unclear.
Earthlings only first manifest magical power around puberty, and grows stronger throughout their life as long as it is being used, though magical powers can be lost entirely if the practitioner doesn’t use their magic or deliberately tries to remove it. It is also known (though not common) for Earthling magic users to develop skill in an area they are not naturally proficient in through practice.
Attempts to understand the gap between Earth and gem magic have been ongoing since the Dawn Wars, and attempts to find a "unified theory" of magic that can explain all things magical have been ongoing much longer.