Form

In Ars Magica, which is mostly about magic, Form almost exclusively refers to Forms in the context of Hermetic Arts.

A Form is an object or subject to which a Technique applies. The combination of one Technique and at least one Form is required to manifest a Hermetic magical effect. The most obvious example of an magical effect that requires more than one Form is the use of Muto as a Technique to transform one Form into an other.

The nomenclature used to describe Forms is Latin nouns, either in first person nominative, or first person accusative case. Unlike former editions of Ars Magica that exclusively used the accusative case, the 4['th] edition introduced a mixture of both syntaxes.

There are 10 different Forms:

Animal : Effects related to animals and animal products.

Aquam : Effects related to liquids in general, and water in particular.

Auram : Effects related to air and wind.

Corpus : Effects related to human bodies.

Herbam : Effects related to plants and plant products.

Ignem : Effects related to heat and fire.

Imaginem : Effects related to all things able to affect senses.

Mentem : Effects related to the mind as well as spirits.

Terram : Effects related to substantial material in general, and earth and metal in particular.

Vim : Effects related Vim and demons.