Divine Magic Auras
Theurgists create a magic aura around themselves and their target when they perform divine magic. Oracles produce similar auras when call upon their visions (or their visions call upon them).
Spirits also channel the power of the Nine. They produce visible auras when they use their special abilities. Rare spirits of exceptional power will produce faint auras when they physically exert themselves.
Magical auras that are visible to the naked eye are usually very brief, lasting only a few seconds before dissipating. More powerful magic manifests longer and brighter but even the strongest displays of magical power are gone in under a minute.
If a theurgist is using Healing to heal another person's wounds, for approximately a single second, a magical nimbus is going to surround both the theurgist and the person being healed, but the aura is going to last four to eight seconds on the theurgist's hands and the location of the injured person's wounds. The last traces of visible aura will make a faint outline around the location where the wounds used to be.
Ongoing spells (aka augments and hexes) tend to make longer lasting visible auras, but even then it's usually less than 30 seconds. The affects of the augment or hex in question will be visibly much longer than the initial aura that marks the creation of the augment or hex in question.
RPG Mechanics of Magical Auras
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What is "Powerful magic" and what is "Weak magic"
In game terms, most magic in Scarterra is on a ● to ●●●●● scale. Most magic has a variable element measured in dice rolls and successes. In theory, there is no upper limit to the number of successes but in practice, it's usually on a one-to-five scale. The most important thing is affecting the strength of a magical auras is time, spells have a much larger aura while being cast than in their immediate aftermath and auras are stronger on recent spells than on older spells. Most spells are very hard to detect the auras of after twelve hours. The second most important thing affecting the strength of a magical aura is the strength of magic used. A ●●●●● magical effect is going to have a much stronger aura than a ● magical effect. The third most important thing affecting the strength of a magical aura is the effectiveness of the magic used. A five-success magical affect is going to leave a stronger aura than a a one-success effect.
Manifestation
Mera's and Greymoria's divine power manifests in a blue aura.
Hallisan's and Maylar's divine power manifests in a red aura.
Zarthus' and Phidas' divine power manifests in a silver aura.
Nami's and Khemra's divine power manifests in a gold aura.
Korus' divine power manifests in a green aura.
An adventurer or priest who has personally witnessed a lot of divine magic can usually tell the difference between a Maylar aura and a Hallisan aura even though they are both red.
Even if they are not theurgists and have rarely seen theurgy, a priest or priestess can pretty much always recognize their own deity's magical aura flawlessly even if they have trouble with the other eight. It just feels familiar and empowering.
Most ordinary Scarterrans have not witnessed enough displays of divine magic to be able to tell the difference. Magic is magic, red is red, blue is blue.
Though it should be noted that is very common for theurgists to carry or wear holy symbols showcasing their faith in a a very obvious fashion, and they may or may not have battle cries such as "FOR HALLISAN!" which takes a lot of the guesswork away.
More than Meets the Eye
All forms of magic in Scarterra leaves a lingering aura that is invisible to the naked eye, but basic divination magic (whether of divine or arcane in origin) allows a person to see these normally invisible auras. When made visible, divine magic auras usually shifts from white to black with various greys in between, changing back and forth from white to black and back again. The more powerful the magic, the faster the shades of grey change. Specific colors reminiscent of the empowering deity's aura are faint and hard to see but they are visible to a very experienced magical diviner. The colors are also easier to spot on very powerful magic than with weaker magic. Arcane magic has the same basic colors but the rippling pattern is noticeably different, so any neophyte diviner who stayed awake during her mentor's lectures can tell the difference between arcane and divine magic relatively easily. When it comes to arcane magic, each of the eight schools of magic has its own associated color, but it's faint and hard to see for all the but the most experienced diviners to discern reliably.Localization
If multiple spells are cast in the same general vicinity, the lingering auras will mix and mingle together.
This means the magical aura will stick much longer (at least in the eyes of a diviner), often lingering for days instead of hours but its a lot harder to discern specific aura colors. Some diviners call this "aura noise" or "aura smoke"
These sites of pooling and mixing auras are especially likely to spawn so called "feral elementals". Once one or more elementals start actually start spawning the magical auras will start to disappear rapidly, or more accurately the magical auras will coalesce around the new elementals.
Multiple Divine Influences
Symbol of the Nine by Pendrake
Type
Metaphysical, Divine
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