Magical Creatures

Magical creatures are imbued with magical abilities, a powerful life force, and a correspondingly powerful resistance to foreign magic. Most of them are noticeably tougher and stronger than their size and build would suggest. Many of them are also faster and more agile than they should be. Some have spell-like magical abilities, like being able to breathe fire, subvert minds, or make themselves invisible. A few are even sapient, equal to humanity in every way.

Magical creatures require ambient mana to live. Their magical enhancements and abilities are tightly integrated into their bodies and metabolisms, and their souls are incapable of naturally producing enough mana to keep them going. Should their innate magics ever stop, the creature they support will quickly die as well.

The more powerful and magical the magical creature, the more ambient mana it requires to keep itself going. They won’t immediately die if they move into an area too mana-poor for their metabolisms, but most magical creatures will quickly waste away in such circumstances (described by sapient magical creatures as feeling like drowning or starvation). This dependence on ambient mana means that powerful magical creatures either stay in the deep reaches of the Dungeon or cluster around large mana wells. This is the primary reason why humanity (and mundane plants and animals) have managed to survive on the surface.

Humanity and the Wilderness

Historically, the domain of humanity ebbed and flowed, but overall remained static over the centuries during the Divine Era. The deep wilds were dangerous lands that only powerful mages and divinely-blessed heroes could venture into. The rise of the Ikosian Empire, with its incredibly potent magical system, allowed humanity to push back magical creatures and expand their territory massively.

The Silence of the Gods caused magical creatures to aggressively retake their old territory, as human societies struggled without divine magic. However, humanity's classical magic continued to grow, eventually reaching a new equilibrium.

Recently, the invention of guns in Altazia has revolutionized how humanity deals with magical creatures. Mundane humans without mage support can now deal with many dangerous magical creatures, leading to an intense period of expansion into previously wild territory.

Magical Resistance

All living beings are resistant to foreign magic, a function of life force resisting the intrusion of un-attuned mana. Magical creatures have a stronger life force than humans, and thus an intense resistance to hostile magic directed at them. This magic resistance will not stop indirect effects (like magic projectiles or lightning bolts), but it disrupts attempts to affect their minds, souls, and bodies. Mundane animals are easy to enthrall or paralyze; magical creatures are far less so.

Magic resistance is never absolute. It makes direct magic harder and more expensive to cast, but can theoretically be overcome by a skilled mage with enough mana. In practice, however, some deeper Dungeon denizens have downright absurd magic resistances that even legendary archmages cannot overcome. Most mages look for ways to indirectly hurt such magic resistant targets, though this is difficult for Mind Mages whose arsenal involves directly targeting minds.

Ambient Mana Assimilation

Magical creatures naturally assimilate ambient mana into their personal reserves to survive, possessing special biological and soul structures that prevent them from poisoning themselves. They do not use raw ambient mana in their metabolism, as that would damage their tissues and drive them mad; instead, they convert it. For magical creatures, this process is completely instinctive and thoughtless.

Humans lack these organs and soul structures and must resort to deliberate methods to assimilate ambient mana. It takes months of training for humans to learn this and years to perform it smoothly, and even then, a human's assimilation rate is barely equal to the weakest of magical creatures. Nonetheless, it is a standard skill taught to all aspiring mages.