Generic Magic

[The Broken Goblin]

No one knows what created Magic, or why. However, Magic is everywhere. Life is actually an extension of Magic, and no one has ever succeeded in completely removing magic form even the tiniest spot.

Magic users control magic by using the magic in their own life essence and body to pull the threads of magic to cause the desired effects to occur. This means in special places were the magic is concentrated, anyone can work seeming miracles, and a is nearly stripped of magic in certain other areas.
Because you use your own magic to manipulate the world, you always take risk that anything else pulling the magic in other ways will pull part of your mind with it, or that you will attach too much of yourself to the magic outside you, resulting in random effects ranging from teleporting your heart ten feet from you, to permanently retarding yourself in some way, to growing a ninth arm.
Some very powerfull mages can even manipulate the magic trapped within living forms as though it were in the air around them.
This makes battles between mages incredibly dangerous, both to take part in and to view, as you own magic may be jerked from you to fuel the mages arcane attacks.
(please note, this is not an MP or Mana system, you have unlimited magic where magic is available)

[The Broken Goblin]

Magic 'levels'

consider your aptitude in magic a 0-10 scale(0 beign no magic, 10 being almost a god) this woudl be a fair example of what you could do at each level. Please note, these examples are assuming you are in an area with an average amount of magic present, and represent the top of your ability

0-nothing
(Limit for priests)
1-sweep the floor, heat your water (simple house chores)
2-Light a candle, clean your muddy boots(without tearing them)
(this is normally the limit for adult rogues, fighters, and commoners.)
3-make a shield of ice(not that you hold it barehanded), throw a softball sized fireball, make flowers bloom
4-throw a basketball sized fireball, cause a small earthquake(2-3 on the ricther scale(I have no clue how to spell Richter, someone instruct me)), summon a gallon of water(from the air, it condeses for you, not is made)
---- Bond with a familiar (you can only ever have one)----
5-Throw a man sized fireball, control your fire, make a ship(from available materials) in one day, control a wolves mind(only simple things) , roll a boulder uphill.
6-summon lightning, extinguish fire without having to summon water, coax gems from the earth
(normal limit for mages)
7-grow a tree to 50 feet in one day, process said tree into usable lumber, create a ship of ice, create a sword of pure fire, wield it without hurting yourself, walk through fire, walk on water, normal enchantments on items
8-Control a flying sword, make a small boat or carpet fly(with you on it), aim lightning, walk on lava, heavy earthquake(6-7 on scale), create tornadoes
9-Fly without aid of other stuff, teleport, keep your iceboat cold whilst you sail around the world, great enchantments on items, create a ship from nothing.
10-Create legendary items, teleport others, redraw lines of magic, create and control volcanoes, ect.

[The Broken Goblin]

Familiars
Those magically gifted intelligent animals you always see hanging around mages, doing their bidding. Familiars do not begin as magical creatures, they begin as normal animals and evolve into and through the magic infused into them. A familiars mind is tied into that of the mage they serve, and vice versa. Their lives are tied to each other, such that if one dies it extracts enough magic from the others life to continue it's existence. This often times ends up killing both, although if prepared a skilled mage could sever the connection just as his familiars life blinks out, thereby only rendering himself irreversibly insane and crippled, but not dead.

Creation of a Familiar: A (normally) five hour long ordeal in which the mage literally pulls the magic that makes up his life out of his body and spins it into a fine thread, then weaves himself through and about the life of the intended familiar. After accomplishing this, he pulls his life (along with the familiars life) back into his body, and slowly feeds back most of the familiars life into the familiars body. After this, he must, carefully, carve out pieces of each mind and supplant them into the opposite. Once finished, he pulls a massive amount of magic from the environment and floods it into the two beings, thereby eternally fusing the two minds and lives into one, though the parts remain distinct. (think about the difference between the wax and wick of a candle, similar deal here).

Uses of a familiar: being a constant companion (in your head), familiars allow you to channel your magic for more control over your spells. Also, whatever their physical body allows is now available to the mage.A mage can use their familiars senses to perceive the world. Think possession type stuff.

Evolution of a familiar: While familiars begin as nothing more than a normal animal, within the first few months they develop an intellect similar to that of their masters, though they retain their own personality. By this point mental communication to their master is instinctual and effortless, and to other mages possible, though difficult. After a few years they have become truly magic entities, and can cast their own spells. The most common of these is the ability to create normal speech. They do not actually talk human, but rather they speak normally and the spell converts their speech to human.
After this point, the mage can magically alter his familiars body. The most common of these alterations are called imps and hell-hounds. Imps are monkeys given wings and other arcane features, hell-hounds began as dogs and were altered to be bigger, stronger, and generally breathe fire. Given enough time and patience, or massive amounts of skill and magic, anything is possible, though the mage must always remember that the familiar is tied to the magic that makes up their own life, and so the familiar has some affect on what changes occur within their bodies.

Disadvantages/dangers of having a familiar: A mages familiar has instant access to the mages mind, for both reading purposes and communication. Many weak mages have literally gone insane the first few times their familiar spoke inside their mind, not realizing it was a two-way road.
Also, realize the familiars life is tied into the mages. This is of little concern if the familiar is a small bird or rodent, but larger familiars can have lethal effects upon the mage should they die. The death of even the tiniest familiar will cause irreparable damage to the mages mind, though, but not necessarily drive them violently insane.
A mage will almost always adopt habits from their familiar. Mages with horse or deer for familiar most often become vegetarians themselves. Mages who bond with birds normally develop a 'high-step' walk. A snakes master will often breathe with his mouth slightly open. Some habits are more dangerous, and not every mage adopts the same habit, even with the same specie of familiar.
The most encountered disadvantage is also an advantage under certain circumstances. The familiar, tied as it is to the mages magic, can influence any spell the mage casts. Normally this means the mage intentionally channels magic through his familiar in order to allow a second mind to help control the spell, thereby making it safer to cast the spell. Sometimes, however, a rebellious familiar will mess up a spell, causing it to light the mages hair, rather than the candle, on fire.

Advantages of BEING a familiar: The animal WILL NOT die of old age after being made a familiar. In fact, the aging process slows to mirror that of their master exactly. That means flies can live hundreds of years if bonded to an elf. If the creature is elderly at the time of bonding, their aging process stops until their master should catch up with them.
Other advantages exist, but the mages don't often know about them, and so I shall leave unmentioned for the most perceptive to discover.