What is Magicka?

A deceptively simple inquiry. "Pure energy" you might claim, but that can not be; "energy" is simply the ability to do work, it is not a thing. It is no more possible for something to consist of it than for something to constitute of purple.

We have, of course, heard of, "Light" as, "pure potential", but that is essentially the same thing, and cannot independently exist for the same reason.

Therefore, we have a couple of hypotheses that we might chose from:

• Magicka is made of particles
• Anu, Padomay, and matter are the three primal forces, all of which have, a) always existed and always will exist -or- b ) came into existence all at once.

Thoughts?

{Edit: removed an annoying 'emocon' from my list}

Potential energy?

Energy is a thing. It has a mass.

As far as tes goes, I'm not sure how much the concept of magicka has been fleshed out. On earth You can have several types of energy: mechanical, chemical, nuclear, etc.

so maybe it is just potential energy that is used to do work in the magical form.

Of course this idea uses earth's physics as an explanation for nirn's physics

You could call it solar energy, since Magicka flows from Aetherius through the sun Magnus and the stars.

It is tactile particles with energy that can be manipulated.

I've always saw magicka has one's personal ability on changing Mundus to their whims. All the intelligent races are sub-gradients/descents of/potential gods, so every single one would be able to work the world as they desire, just as the first inhabitants of Mundus did in its creation. What comes from the sun and stars is the essence of potential that requires the same things to work as any other force in the universe, knowledge.

In my head-cannon, the various natural forces in the world be it gravity or plant growth are the result of the Earthbones getting aroused by magicka, the pure potential and force of Mundus that makes its very existence possible. So, when someone is using magic, they are toying with natural laws to bend to their will through their knowledge of how it works. Illusion magics apply what is essentially psychology to mess with the minds of others, whereas healers need to have an awareness of biology for their spells to work on the right regions of the body.

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a lot of official lore on what magicka is, does, and how it relates to Mundus and spellcraft. There isn't even a clear indication on what spells are or how they work. I assume the devs are ambiguous on this to give it an air of mystery.