The Arcanic Methods
What is meant by 'Arcana'? Put simply, it is any force or form of energy that cannot be reduced to material substance (the most obvious examples would be fire and wind). As research into this field has progressed, however, more and more hitherto thought-to-be arcanic components of our world have been proven to be material in nature. Consequentially, some Destrean religions (such as the Matterist sect of Aspecticism) have come to posit that anything which we can perceive in reality is made up of, and governed by, purely physical characteristics, and all that remains is to discover how.
As with past editions of The Stranger's Guide, we will present simplified, but accurate summaries of The Arcanic Methods as we know them, in accordance with the current positions of academic institutions such as the Collegea of Destrean Arcanists, Oz Boz, The Dawnpeak Academy of Arcana, and others.
Crystalmancy
The most widely-adopted arcanic methodology in Destrea, Crystalmancy uses infused arcanic essence contained within materia shards to power a caster's spells.
Essence Siphoning
Now heavily criminalized in most parts of the civilized world, Essence Siphoning was once a widely-adopted, albeit poorly-understood, method of sourcing arcanic power for casting spells. At its most basic level, it involves the extraction of latent essence found within all living things. Many early schools of Destrean arcana used Essence Siphoning as its catalyst for development: for instance, the blood magic of the Royn'chemngka, or Versan Magicks, which is principally practised by the Jotunera of The Great Wide.
The reason for its strictly regulated use, at present, is due in large part to its wanton abuse by The Voltari of Kholea. In principal, one of the core tenets of Essence Siphoning is the assurance that the caster takes no energy from an unwilling source (in the case of sentient beings), or no amount of energy that cannot be regenerated in relatively short order (in the case of wildlife, or other vital things).
Contemporary practitioners of Essence Siphoning, in most cases, are either protected by their cultural status, or are licensed to deploy its usually-forbidden techniques in a situational, limited capacity (e.g. The Gorelocks of Oz Boz).
Null Draw Arcana
The least understood casting method in the realm, as well as the most dangerous. Null Draw arcanists are somehow capable of harnessing arcanic essence from an invisible, apparently-infinite source, and use it for their spellcraft. Scholars and arcanic researchers from across Destrea have attempted in vain to definitively prove where the essence used in Null Draw Arcana is sourced from, but no hypothesis has been verified thus far. All that is known is that the practice seems directly connected to another of Destrea's most baffling recurring phenomena: The Strangers to the Dimension.