Primordial Magic is the magic of the elements, the magic of matter and the magic of mortals. It is a power primarily used for destruction, since that is what comes most naturally to primordial spell-casters. It is also a power that, if you wield it openly, will get you killed almost instantly when within the lands of the Utgard Alliance .
When you wield primordial magic you manipulate the elements, the base aspects of all matter and thus of everything in the world. Even a Primal Angel , one of the most powerful creatures on Heimr, needs a form made from matter to walk around and interact with objects and creatures in the world. Thus, primordial magic can be an incredibly powerful tool within the world.
However, for all its potential there are also quite some disadvantages and limitations to the usage of primordial magic. For one, it is impossible to affect things that do not consist of some form of matter. It is, for example, completely impossible to directly affect the soul of a being with primordial magic. Next to this impossibility, the biggest disadvantage of primordial magic is the ripples it creates. While this is not always of consequence for the simple things one can do with magic, it often becomes a problem if one wants to perform more powerful feats.
Instability
These ripples cause an effect that is known as "Instability". The ripples will bend and possibly tear the bonds between the elements, bonds which keep these elements together. Once these ripples become large enough, they can tear away complete parts of objects or even of creatures - the more you use primordial magic, the bigger the chance of this happening. Some of the most experienced Fae spell- casters have been known to simply disintegrate after casting too many spells. Others were almost unable to live, their bodies becoming rippling masses of energy and matter combined.
The Creation of Primordial Magic
Primordial magic did not exist at the birth of the world. At that time, only Divine magic existed. Those mortals close to the gods were given incredible powers of Divine magic, to allow them to help their fledgling races to survive. All races had several of these individuals, who used their powers to help their race but were unable to transfer these powers. There also existed Fae individuals with these powers, chosen by Danu herself to guide her race. Despite their powers, not all of these individuals were happy with the progress of their race.
One of them, now only known as "The Original Spark" or sometimes simply "Spark", consulted with Danu herself about the topic, a rare privilege even then. He asked her to gift more of her powers to Fae individuals, so as to make it possible to perform more work. Danu declined his request, citing agreements with odd entities the Fae had never heard of. (They later came to know them as the other fourteen gods of Heimr.) Spark, together with the rest of his brethren, then started to research for ways of gifting their powers to others of their race.
It is unknown how much time they spent researching. What is known is that, inspired by the deamons of Danu - living flames, they found a way to gift their race with some of their power. They found a mutation that would enable a Fae to gain some measure of control over the elements, allowing him to shape the world around him. They spread this amongst the Fae by means of a virus.
When Danu found out, she was furious. Like a raging firestorm, she went around and killed those of the Fae she could find with the mutation. But like any firestorm, Danu also calmed down quickly after her initial outburst. Over time, she even began to appreciate the inventiveness of her race, looking upon the mutation no longer as a plague that needed eradication, but more as a gift that could be exploited.
Some years passed and the Fae made contact with the Elves for the first time. What neither Danu nor anyone else had expected was that during this meeting " The Spark " as the virus now was called, was transferred to the Elves. When Uastra discovered this, she informed the other gods and a council was held. Opinions were divided on what to do with it. Danu was obviously in favour of keeping everything as it was, whereas Gataur , her husband, was strongly opposed. In the end, despite Gataur's objections, it was decided that the mutation would be allowed to exist, albeit in a slightly altered form. Each child would have a slight chance of being born with this mutation, allowing the child to gain control over the elements.
None of them, not even Talor , really had foreseen what was going to happen over the course of several thousand years. The continued usage of magic within the northern bits of Heimr caused ripples within the fabric of the elements, ripples that affected both the people living there, but also the chance that children born in that area would gain what was now called "The Spark". The Elves and Fae, becoming an increasingly more intertwined society, used magic to great effect, causing, among others, the destruction of the troll city Bregtahlem , the total destruction of the jungle of the Orcs in southern Heimr and a multitude of other things that caused the four southern races to abolish Primordial magic altogether.