The Laws of Magic

The laws of my universe:

All must have rules and limitations. Where there seem to be no limitations present, they're probably assumed, or hidden.

All must have balance. Where there is no balance I have made a mistake.

No one person may hold ultimate power.

These laws are why I must limit the power of this force called "magic".

The Laws of Magic:

The power called magic is feuled by mana, a force within the body akin to the spirit. Every person is born with mana, but fewer know how to use it. Mana can be completely drained from the body with only one effect: fatigue(*1). If and when someone attempts to continue casting spells after mana has been drained, they dip into the reserves of their own life force. Repeated casting results in separation of the spirit from the body (death).

Mana, like your bodily energy, returns with rest. Unlike your energy, though, it can return exponentially faster with almost any form of magical meditation. Meditation requires silence (or next to it), a focused mind, and optionally a source of natural mana, most common: Nature. It borrows mana from all available sources around the meditator, but causes no harm or ill-effects on anything it takes from.

Magic can be used in almost any way. The most common is manipulation of the physical world (fireballs, lighting bolts, moving of earth, water, and wind), but is still limited by the law of conservation of matter. Matter can neither be created nor destroyed, therefore magic can only use the matter it is presented. A wizard cannot create a boulder, they must rip it from the earth.
On a similiar note, magic does not create energy due to the law of conservation of energy. It merely is a way of transforming and transferring energy. As stated above, mana is the energy that is the basis of magic. Mana can be transformed into other forms of energy (I.E, fire and lightning).

Mana requires a focal point to be used in the variety of ways it can be used. The most common is the staff, followed by the wand(*2). With proper training, a magic user can use their hands. Without a focal point, mana is nearly useless. However, very few people have used mana without knowing they have and without a focal point. (An example from the real world would be the "warrior spirit" in Kennpo, a swordstyle in Japan. The warrior's spirit could be said to have been raw mana bursting forth from the swordsman and pushing at his oppenent, creating a brief but fatal opening in his defense, allowing the swordsman to deliver the killing blow.)

Magic cannot be used on another being's internal body directly without consent. Why this is so is still a mystery. It is believed by some that living flesh naturally has mana embedded in it, and it interferes with any mana attempting to pass through it. Others believe the soul blocks it. However, there is no proof for either theory.

Healing magic can only be performed with consent. The injured party surrenders his mana and body to the healer and the healer is given free access to the injured party's body. Once in they have almost complete control over the body. Healers can mend deep cuts throughout the body.
Healing magic requires both a tight control of mana, and a keen knowledge of medicine. This leads the art of healing magic to be a very rare art, and extremely difficult to master. Moreso, even, than enchanting(*3).

Magic cannot be used to influence another's mind or free will directly. However, one can use mana to speak to another's mind. Many times, even, a lesser mind can be broken if one has a keen understanding of the way the mind and mana works.

Magic users are relatively few in number because of one major reason: it is difficult to "discover" your mana. Most relate finding your mana to finding the muscles in your ear that allow you to wiggle them. It takes the average magic user three years or more to find their mana, so it is best to start young.
Most magic users are less than physically fit. This is generally because they devote their life to finding and training their magic power and often neglect to train their physical power as well, one of the major weaknesses of magic.

Distance effects the amount of effort and energy magic requires to be performed, and there is a range limit for physical objects as well. Magic can only be used on matter to a distance of about 15-20 feet, and energy can only be manipulated within about 50 feet. The farther something is away, the more mana it takes to manipulate.
However, matter can be thrown with mana. Though less control is present one can throw a boulder farther than 100 feet. Only a moderate amount of mana is used, barely any to manipulate the matter and enough to propel said matter said distance.

Most magicians tend to favor one element over all others and is reflected by their above average prowess in the usage of that element. This is because of the magic user's personality. Their main element will reflect their personality.
For instance, if someone is a passionate or angry person, their main element would be fire. If someone is stubborn: earth, calm and collected: water, energetic: lightning, free and wild: wind, and so on.
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*(1) More on mana fatigue. As the use of your body's muscles tires you, so does the use of your mana. It feels different than body fatigue, but has the same effect.

*(2) Items like magical staffs and wands have their origins in martial arts. Staffs were used as weapons and meditation devices, promoting balance and focus. Martial artists would train with them every day to sharpen both their minds and bodies. With the discovery of mana and magic, staffs were instead used to focus that energy.
Though plain wood staffs can be used to focus mana, more elaborate and complex staffs can be crafted for different effects and more efficient focus. For example, a plain wood staff can be used to focus the user's energy in a very general way, while a staff with an enchanted fire orb embedded on the top can manipulate fire energy much more efficiently, at the expense of all the other energies' efficiencies.
A good rule of thumb: the more elaborate the staff, the better the focus of magic. This is why wizards and sorcerers have such flashy and robust staffs and wands. It serves a purpose.
Wands are an oddity, but they were meant to serve a specific purpose. They were smaller and thus can be concealed. Though not as efficient as a staff, they could still perform well enough to become a prominent figure in the magic community.
While stealth was the main purpose, it also gave magicians a slight edge in a duel. Staffs were harder to tote around. Wands weren't. In a one-on-one duel, it gave the wand-wielder an advantage to be able to draw and cast faster. Wands were known to many as "duel sticks" for this reason.
Wands are used far less now, but a few still enjoy the compact feeling, and the rest of the owners keep them as a reminder of the old way.

*(3) Enchanting is extremely difficult to learn, and even harder to master.
Matter can hold mana, that much is clear. However, it has been learned that mana in an object can be given purpose. These purposes are only limited by the laws of magic and nature, and by the enchanter's own magic power and imagination.
For example, a sword can be imbued with mana that ignites when the wielder wills it to. A staff can be imbued with a store of mana on it's own that acts as a buffer to the wielder's own mana. A cup could be imbued with mana that cleanses the body. An orb that heals, a knife that never dulls, a stone that glows, the possibilities are endless to a master enchanter.
Rarely, though, is it just one enchanter, since the art is difficult. A group is the most common, pooling all of their mana together to reach a goal.
(A real-world analogy would be programming of a computer or robot.)
Most enchanted items are one-time, single-shot uses, and do not replenish their mana reserves on their own. Most of the time a mage must manually charge an item on their own, and most of the mana is "lost" as heat, light, or other forms of energy.. This too has been worked around. Some enchanters have created items that steal mana from nearby sources.

I will continue to add whenever I see a problem that requires my balancing or a subject that needs addressing. Both the physical and magical world are coequal and balanced, and it is my job to make sure that one does not outdo the other.