Mana
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Mana is an indigenous Pacific islander concept of an impersonal force or quality that resides in people, animals, and inanimate objects. The word is a cognate in many Oceanic languages, including Melanesian, Polynesian, and Micronesian.
In anthropological discourse, mana as a generalized concept is often understood as a precursor to formal religion. It has commonly been interpreted as "the stuff of which magic is formed", as well as the substance of which souls are made.
Modern fantasy fiction and computer and role-playing games have adopted mana as a term for magic points, an expendable resource out of which magic users form their magical spells.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Mana" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
