Divine Magic

Divine magic comes directly from gods. Unlike dynamic natural magic that works in cycles, Divine magic is the sheer force to bend reality. Places marked by divine magic have a strange discontunuity to them, altering time and space to a god’s vision. An example of this is the woodsea, a dangerous, encroaching forest spanning multiple continents, created by the god Patience.

A blessing, a small fraction of divine ability to someone, is the most a person will usually encounter divine magic. Because of this, divine magic is usually synonymous with blessings.

Blessings

A blessing is a mark from a god in the form of a passive magic ability. Unlike natural magic stored in the blood, Divine magic is not stored by the body: a person only acts as a mouthpiece for an uncontrollable, unknown well of magic dictated by gods.

Function

Blessings, mechanically, don’t make sense; They can supernaturally alter one’s senses, bless with irresistible charm, or grant things like precognition. Someone who can understand an animal's speech may wonder if they’re really understanding, or just reading its body language– but divine magic doesn’t care about logic. It simply is.

Because of this, a blessing may be more of a source of stress to some. Particularly jaded individuals may call it a curse. Others who take excessive pride may instead call one a divine touch. Opinion varies based on the type of blessing, intensity, and perceived severity.

Commonality

Unlike the connotation of blessings, many do have one; a little less than half of the world has a blessing in some form, ranging from mild intuition improvements to dramatic things such as precognition. Most people inherit their blessings. Severity usually marks what people think is a blessing and isn’t, and some aren’t even aware they have one if the change is small enough– someone who senses energy might just think everyone lives that way.

Depending on what god created a species or continent, certain blessings are more common in some bloodlines or locations than others.

In places where they are common, they are considered less of an exception, and public services cater to those who have them– noise-canceling headphones for those with heightened senses sold in a big city is one example. People who move from one place to another sometimes experience a sort of culture shock where their blessing is less common.

Direct Blessings

Though most are inherited, there are some rarer cases where someone is personally favored by a god and directly blessed. In locations where more dramatic blessings are commonplace, it’s considered more of a topic of fascination than an impossibility. In places where they aren’t, those able to gather the resources and ability to be noticed are those with heaps of excess money to spend, leading many newly blessed to be the rich. This experience may be much more confusing or shocking than someone born with a blessing surrounded by others like themself.

The Woodsea

The Woodsea is an expansive, mazelike forest created by the god Patience against her enigmatic enemy, Fate, to preserve whatever she thought Fate would destroy. It spans across several continents. Those that enter it find its bizzare layout twisting depending on how much the Woodsea arbitarily "favors" the person. To most in Squish, who are much more preoccupied with their own lives, it is a dangerous and annoying force that should be left alone.

Unfortunately, despite its danger, it is also the source of high-energy crystals that form at its edge, making mining these crystals important for creating Batteries. The Woodsea doesn’t care about their intentions, and therefore, sees them as a threat. To the Woodsea, taking means you’re with Fate, which means all you want is for it to be destroyed.

Layout

Within the Woodsea, the temperature drops drastically no matter the surrounding climate. A hardwood forest grows over whatever ecosystem was originally present and short circuits any magitech that enters. Extinct animals of the past roam free, preserved by what Patience decides should be kept inside. They range from extinct mammals to eradicated strains of viruses that Patience simply thought of as endearing. It is a safe sanctuary in her eyes, but is a random menagerie in reality, pushing out whatever it deems as dangerous.

What really could be held in its waters and enigmatic center is unknown. So few have earned its “trust” and entered its pools, thought to hold a passage to somewhere else entirely…

Behavior

The Woodsea is capable of memory and will attempt to kick out anyone it remembers doing harm to it in the form of a winding maze. It seems to favor people based on their behavior, personality, and intentions, but these things all tend to be arbitrary; Someone can still be despised despite meeting the "correct" requirements. Anyone it deems an outsider cannot step into its water, only being able to walk by its surface.

The Woodsea is a logistical nightmare for farmers, sailors, and whoever else outdoors that may encounter it. It grows over cropland and contributes to many temporarily missing ships that have accidentally sailed too close to its shore.

The few people who are able to enter it consistently and reliably are invaluable to research, but aren't usually too keen in participating. Woodsea research, as an underfunded science beyond anything to do with its treeline (where crystals are harvested) can offer little to its participants. Tourism has snatched up most people interested in traversing it. The current state of Woodsea research is mostly theoretical, with most knowledge being secondhand. Any dedicated field researcher is seen as slightly insane, comparable to a stormchaser.

There are rare sightings of the Woodsea not allowing things it favors to leave-- usually an animal-- becoming part of Patience's collection. There are no records of this happening to a person, but there are numerous famous urban legends and stories about the possibility. Woodsea stories are a staple of horror and science fiction genres. Spirits are an example of a popular Woodsea myth.