Mages come in many forms, be they users of sorcery, the spirit arts, arcanistry, or wizardry. Of these variations, there is one that specializes in the binding of sympathetic threads, the sympathist.

Sympathy is heavily tied to wizardry, for both disciplines use composite planes of reality. These planes are the connective tissues of the universe, binding together the physical and metaphysical in twain with their dimensional membranes.The universe can be correctly summarized in the prime-material, the plane made from matter, and the ethereal, the plane made of mana or essence. The metaphysical binds to the material through ley-lines, be they from underfoot, the Nether, and above the clouds, the Aether, or amidst the surface, the Ether.

Elemental planes are those made of elementary mana types (earth, water, air, fire). These culminate as the ethereal plane as a whole. These planes further serve to combine when they meet as well, forming their respective demiplanes, the Nether (earth and fire), the Ether (wind and water), and the Aether (pure animus and fire and wind). There are also other demiplanes such as the Ethereal Mists (fire and water, turning into boiling or warm vapor essence) and the Ashen plane (earth and wind primarily with traces of fire and water). The study of demiplanes is an extensive topic, and as such, will not be heavily focused in this tome.

Sympathy is divided into different schools of thought by way of the respective planes they use. Elementalists use the elemental planes of the spirit to bind and bend matter through the manipulation of the ethereal as both are linked. An elemental sympathist can bend the essence of the earth and thus manipulate the matter to which it is anchored. The most base forms of elementalism are sympathetic in nature.

Wellfontian sympathists use the Well-font, the subconscious of the universe itself. These are the 'True' sympathists. Theirs is the plane that most allows one to link together two things and entities in sympathetic bindings. When one holds a belief dearly, it etches itself onto their spirit. As the spirit slowly dissipates, it releases these beliefs as well. As for all things related to life, mana is cyclical in nature. It must circulate through the universe. Such wayward essence etched with belief and thought bleeds through the fabric of reality, being caught by the net known as the Well-font.

Wellfontian sympathy is remarkable in its ability to affect objects and entities without 'direct' contact. This class of sympathy still requires contact in that the binding uses the Well-font as a medium, but the mage does not need to physically touch their desired target themselves. The Well-font best responds to belief and faith. The more one can believe in something, the more the Well-font responds in turn. As such, a sympathist needs to augment their belief with physical objects related to their targets and mental techniques to further enhance their magic.

There is also Weavian sympathy or weaving sympathy. This school of sympathetic magic works in conjunction with the Wellfontian school that they are both considered one and the same. The Weave binds all and works as an extension of the Wellfont, and as such, they are but one entity. No different than a body and mind. The being is the entirety.

The primary resources of a sympathist are two-fold: sympathetic bonds and energy. Sympathetic pathways serve to connect but may also be used to distribute energy. Energy cannot be created* (magic breaks the laws of the prime quite frequently, but for now, let us use this statement to further elaborate). It must be taken from a source or closed system and applied to another.

Sympathy works by distributing energy between two entities or bodies of matter. It can be energy in the form of heat, fire, force, or sound. Even cold, as one could simply siphon heat from one object to another and thus "transfer" cold into a body of matter. As always, nothing is perfect. Sympathetic pathways are as robust as belief allows them to be. And depending on how close one believes an object to be with another body, that too influences the amount of wasted energy.

The energy is not destroyed but instead is simply spread out from the sympathetic pathway, mainly through the air. Though, one must remember that a sympathetic bond is not physical. If one transfers a flame into an object through sympathy, a line of fire will not appear between the caster and the target. Though, other sympathists, sorcerers, or mentalists could still sense the use of sympathy.