Magic

In the First Age, the Age of Creation, magic was common and widespread - some say that all wolves were born with at least spark of the Gift, a spark of magic, within them. Since the beginning of the Third Age, magic has again become widespread.

There are two classes of magic users - elementals, who tend to posess power over one, two, or even three specific elements, and darkars, who hold power over specialized, non-elemental magic.

Elementals

Elementals can have power over any of the following elements:

Fire
Water
Earth
Wind
Light

Combat Use and Development

Elementals’ powers take a long time to refine for use in combat, and are almost always more useful for general warfare than one-on-one combat, due to the time it takes to focus and release energy for magic. Beginning fire-mages, for instance, can only produce small sparks or control the direction of smaller fires. As that fire-mage’s experience with the magic increases, however, so does their skill with it - intermediate users can create smaller fires with the aid of dry leaves and twigs, as well as control larger fires. The most advanced users can be capable of igniting larger fires that can grow into huge forest fires and control these fires, which would be obviously dangerous in war. Usually, however, it takes at least five years of studying with a specific element to develop this sort of mastery.

Extra Elements

Water-mages hold power over both water and ice, and wind-mages held power over everything from ambient air to light breezes to fierce gales and storms (clouds are controlled by wind magic, as well as most weather). Light is the most notoriously difficult element to master, since it involves creating controlling any source of light and lightning - the latter which takes a tremendous amount of energy to create.

Injuires

Young mages can suffer extreme fatigue, pass out, enter comas, or even diewhile practicing their magic. Mages must be extremely careful to not exert any more energy and power than they posess themselves - for instance, a light-mage trying to summon down a lightning bolt from the heavens could collapse after accomplishing the feat if they aren't powerful enough, because creating such phenomena literally sucks energy from the magic user.

Darkars

There were five different types of darkars:

Phantoms
Healers
Battle-Mages
Soothsayers
Necromancers

Combat Use, Development, and Injuries

Darkars tend to have an easier time developing their Gift because, unlike elementals, darkars rarely have to worry about hurting themselves while practicing. This is because most of the time darkars are exerting energy inward rather than outward - a phantom, for instance, focuses on changing their own fur color, instead of trying to create sparks of fire. However, it still takes a long time to develop a full mastery of the ability.

The exception to this rule is battle-mages, who are best described as a refined elementals - they have power over one or two elements. While their abilites at manipulating those elements are poor (a fire battle-mage cannot control even smaller fires), they were unnaturally capable of bringing them about (the most powerful battle-mages are infamous for spitting fire at their opponents).

Rarity and Titles

Phantoms are the most common darkars - though they were still very rare compared to the elementals. Healers are the next most common, followed by the elusive battle-mages. Soothsayers come along maybe once a generation, and only when the gods seem to have some use for them. Necromancers are the rarest - there is only one record of a necromancer ever existing within the world, perhaps because they hold such terrible power. It's rumored a necromancer with the most advanced abilites has the power to control lesser gods.

Darkars use their Gift as a title - for example, a phantom named Tanvi would be called Phantom Tanvi, or a Battle-Mage named Argon would be Battle-Mage Argon.

Nifty Table of Darkars