Vetruvian Empire Magic

As a highly technological empire and society magic is not known as readily available for the masses. Mostly magic is used by the nobility and military of the Empire. The reason for this is because the process to create the technology to use magic takes to long of a time to stem enough for every private citizen to purchase magic. The technology that allows people to cast magic is a small orb called Materia.

Materia
Materia is crystallized Mana. Metaphysically calls upon the wisdom of the Lifestream to manipulate nature manifesting as the phenomenon of magic for most Materia, although other Materia enhance the user abilities. Unless once is descended from a Preternatural species, Materia is the only way humans can use magic.

Materia occurs naturally at "Mana Springs", places where the lifestream leaks to the surface of planets in the Vetruvian empire. This rare occuernece, taking centuries for the mana to crystallize into Materia, and in the empire scientists mention that most Materia is artificially produced. It never stated if natural Materia has any appreciable difference in usage and power from artificial Materia.

Size
The size of Materia is ambiguous some are about the size of a marble while others appear to be slightly smaller then a tennis ball. As Materia grows in strength, Materia may increase in size to denote its level of power, explaining the ambiguities

Types
Materia in the Vetruvian Empire can be divided up into five different types. These types are as follows.