Compendium of Information

Basically, here composes various entries and such about things you've learned of in the setting. Silly reference/flavor stuff.

Withdrawal:
Before going further into this discussion of the mana environment, it is important to discuss the idea of withdrawal. A withdrawal, in the basest term, is the application of a new set of rules for how the universe should operate onto a part or whole of another reality. In the more common practice, this is used in the reverse of what would normally be seen from that definition: the taking of pieces from one reality and placing them into another. In older days, it was said that when a world would become too unfriendly for mana to propagate, magi would gather together to cause a withdrawal, preferring some unknown world to a place where their powers would soon lose sway. That said, the possibility of applying magic to a non-magical world is certainly possible, but tends to have terrible consequences at the point where the two realities collide, an event known as a nexus point. Once one reality wins out in this fight, however, said consequences tend to recede, allowing for a safer withdrawal of the rest of the target area.
Unknown Scholar, A Primer on Magical Reality - Chapter 2.

Adaptation:
Understanding the idea of withdrawal is one thing, but it is important to consider what happens to those who are withdrawing, or forced to withdraw. In the previous example, there would be little to worry about, as the magi would be moving to a magical world, presumably like their own, in order to avoid complications. However, should there be dramatic differences between the target and their new reality, then an Adaptation occurs, wherein the target is changed to some existence native to that new reality, so as to avoid paradox.
One interesting case of this occurs when the target has some means of protection against adaptation, which we will discuss in a later chapter. In such a case, the target remains as they are, unless they partake of actions that call upon the rules of this new reality, as opposed to their old one. Such actions can vary widely depending on the realities involved, so we shall not discuss too deeply here. Rather, we should note what can cause adaptation even in a subject that would normally be resistant or immune to it. Since this is a discussion of reality as it pertains to magic, we shall assume magical protection is at work here. In such a case, the person would be protected not so much by the strength of whatever is holding the Adaptation at bay, but rather their force of will, which subconsciously focuses the magical protection so as to resist the Adaptation, as well as remove any effects that may be caused due to unforeseen circumstances. Thus, it is important if one desires protection from such an Adaptation, that they keep resolve against it, so that they do not become a native being of that reality.
Unknown Scholar, A Primer on Magical Reality - Chapter 2.

Experience:
While magical realities are rather similar to non-magical ones in terms of physical laws, the relationship between the pattern and the weave can cause impressive distortions of commonly held truths in realms not bound to magic. Most intriguing is the prospect of return: that to gain skill or reap the benefit of some action, effort must be spent towards that gain. While effort is no guarantee of success, zero effort negates success at any endeavor, and the possibility of success increases logistically with the amount of effort put in(barring differences in talent and circumstance).
While the basic premise applies in magical realities, the activation is quite different: a person's learned skills at a subject can be substituted with their desire to succeed and belief in their success. Thus, a person who has seen great success in the past at some endeavor, such as crafting swords, may find that their skill has increased impressively despite not spending the years learning the trade that would be needed in a voided environment. To be fair, the person's actual skill isn't increased from this behavior; rather, their desire and belief have manifested in this art previously, thus making a predisposition in their pattern to have success at this specific task. The accumulation of alterations to the pattern in this case is called Experience, or Inspiration, and serves to allow those who accumulate it to perform tasks that would not be possible under normal, voided circumstances, as reality itself bends to match the pressures of that person's pattern.
It is important to remember that as mentioned previously, this does not increase actual skill. It has been theorized by many scholars that this leads to a common state of stagnation in many magical worlds, as while a machinist may be predisposed to great feats of repair and ingenuity, he lacks the knowledge that would normally come with the long study of the craft, and any innovations in the field that come from him would most likely be the cause of random revelation, not scientific progress.
Unknown Scholar, A Primer on Magical Reality - Chapter 6.