Thaumcraft Aspects, Vis, and Essentia

Everything in Thaumcraft is described by aspects, the fundamental building blocks of magic. The primal aspects include Aer (air), Terra (earth), Ignis (fire), Aqua (water), Ordo (order), Perditio (entropy), and the magical aspects Praecantatio and Vacuos. More complex objects are made of combinations of these aspects.

Vis is the ambient magical energy stored in the aura of each chunk of the world. Casting spells and performing magical crafting draws vis from the local aura, which depletes with use and slowly regenerates over time. When an aura runs low, magic in that area becomes less effective.

Essentia is the liquid, concentrated form of aspects, extracted from items. Essentia is stored in jars and phials and moved through an essentia transport network. Players distill items into essentia and then recombine specific aspects to power alchemy and infusion recipes.