▸ The Similarities

At the surface level, one could see that there is no difference between chakra and magic. Both practitioners are able to make use of common abilities such as elemental manipulation or even physical augmentation. Both chakra and magic enable users to perform feats that no ordinary individual is capable of. However, one does not necessarily equal the other…

▸ CHAKRA

Chakra is the ability that all those with a soul can use, at least with enough practice. A person with strong enough chakra might even radiate with bright colors using it. Because chakra is the manifestation of one’s soul, the colors will vary depending on who is using it, some may have red chakra while others may have yellow, white, or pink. It is mentioned that anything with a soul has chakra including humans and varani; however, even animals possess a soul and thus can utilize chakra, a favored tactic with some hunters is unlocking the chakra of a pet (typically a canine of some sort) and bringing them along for hunts. Daemons, lacking a soul, cannot make use of chakra and as such are the only form of life that lacks such a power.

Skilled users of chakra can create their own barriers or even increase their own abilities in some way. Weapons and armor can also act as a conduit for chakra allowing for an even wider range of offensive and defensive capabilities. However, it must be noted that chakra degrades with continual use. This severely limits the application of chakra in combat as, with time or heavy use, a person’s chakra will decay to the point where they are left weakened or even incapacitated. Chakra being completely depleted is visually represented as a colored sheen glowing along the length of a person’s body and shattering like glass, indicating that they can now be physically injured. Chakra tends to flicker, and cracks will appear resembling cracked glass when it is close to being depleted.

Chakra can recharge and the time that is required is different between each person. It also can vary between individuals in terms of innate quantity of energy that can be used. However, it is noteworthy in that this can also be trained to increase one’s natural reserves in a similar manner to training one’s muscles.

▸ MAGIC

Magic is to Chakra what a dragon is to a lizard. Like Chakra, it takes training and practice to utilize magic; however, unlike chakra not everyone can use magic. Magic has not been seen in the mainstream for the better part of seven centuries and as such, most dismiss magic as the subject of fairy tales and legends. In the stories, such practitioners of magic include: The Seneschal, the Four Philosophers, and the Cainhurst and Pendragon families. The biggest key difference between magic and chakra is the source of the energy in question, while chakra draws from the user’s own spiritual energies, magic draws from nature itself. The exact limits of magic are unknown; however, what is known is that the applicability of such power depends primarily on the user in question.