What was the essence of Spellcraft?
Kraft had given the matter some scattered, preliminary thought, but never in any systematic way.
He used to believe that all Anomalous Phenomena were abstract, manifestations of the Deep Layer's unfathomable chaos. Humanity's pitiful use of them was like gathering shells on a beach: probing the relatively stable margins, forever unable to truly understand them because of our own limitations.
After personally experiencing how a particular Anomalous Phenomenon came into being, his thinking had advanced and deepened.
It was like the early study of living things. With so little knowledge, people were often bewildered by all sorts of complex phenomena, dazzled and unable to make sense of them. In the end, they would invent an elaborate system out of thin air and try to make everything fit.
But it could all be explained from a mechanical perspective by breaking it down into a few simple components:
[Central Hub, Signal, Effector]
Much like the brain directing an arm to rise, it was accomplished through three parts: the motor center, peripheral nerves, and muscles.
The Effector was the part that produced a specific result. The Celestial Body remnants they knew of were the clearest example. Through oscillations perceptible only to Spiritual Entities, they produced a range of effects, including manipulating biological tissue and altering layers.
The effects an Effector produced could be regulated; they depended on the Signal sent by the Central Hub.
The Spiritual Entity played the role of the Central Hub, supplying the regulating Signals. A simple, directed nudge was one kind of Signal; conceptualized pain was another.
But Signals differed from one another. A simple, directed nudge to the Moon Remnant could produce the most basic shift in layer depth, just as electrical stimulation of a muscle could produce a basic contraction.
But