Xeuá (Styrásh: Xeuá, "the connecting") is believed to be the great elemental force that holds everything together. Cár’áll ("magical energy", "natural astral aura" is the substance and quality of everything, but it is Xeuá that helps to define true shape and nature, how all the elements react with one another and how they affect an object or person as a whole. Xeuá therefore is often also refered to as the "in-between", the "medium", the "linkage of things" or simply as the "chain" or "key".

Many - especially the elves - believe that Xeuá itself is the mutual dependence and realization of the two ever-fighting cosmological principles of ahm ("responding", "passive" and soór ("talking", "active"). This relation is introduced in detail in Chapter II of the famous elven myth, the Cárpa’dosía and has been adapted by the Ximaxian mages to found their system of magical categorization on it.

Human philosophers tend to see Xeuá as the spirit or soul, that which holds together all the elements: Wind, Water, Earth, and Fire. In this way, Xeuá is often also called the “fifth element” or the "element of creation", a transitory element that holds the rest together and gives life and meaning to things that would otherwise have no real life at all. Philosophically spoken, Xeuá represents the "category of existence" (as defined by the famous Xeuatán Khaelvan III.).

Opposed to Xeuá is the elemental force "Ecuá" (Styrásh Ecuá for "breaking", "disconnecting"). Ecuá is interpreted as the other side of Xeuá, sometimes even as the "sixth element" or the "element of destruction", which co-exists with Xeuá by the same right, though the latter is still heavily debated among scholars.

Degrees of Xeuá. As stated before, Xeuá is the mutual dependence of the two principles of ahm and soór, one of which is believed to be passive (receiving) and the other which is thought to be active (speaking). It should be noted, however, that ahm and soór aren't completely static principles existing within an entity's cár'áll, but that this "simplification is mainly necessary to define magic and its predictablity" (Khaelvan III., "Treatise on Xeuá", p.4). It is supposed that ahm and soór within an object's cár'áll are in fact constantly shifting (elves often refer to this as "breathing" , though there exist clearly reproduceable tendencies towards certain states regarding the conjunction of elements within the cár'áll. Ximaxian Xeuatáns prefer to negelect these objections whatsoever, claiming that the "breathing shifts" of ahm and soór do not substantially influence the success of spellcasting.

Xeuá magic targets these connections between elements by changing their state from ahm and soór or from soór to ahm.

• The Principle of Ahm
  The Principle of Ahm is that of receiving, or being passive, as humans call it. Through less forceful Xeuá (connections) an element or a relation between certain elements becomes less evident in an object or person. In this way, the qualities of an element or its affinity towards other elements are not as prominent in the physical and spiritual properties of that object/entity. This does not necessarily make an element within a person ‘weak’, as the elements still reside in the same amount within the cár'áll of an object/entity. It is merely less acted upon; its qualities are not manifested in the object or entity they possess.
  
  Example: A spell targeting a block of ice can make a link between the water and the earth element weaker by changing the active state (soór) of connection between these two elements to passive (ahm), resulting in a melting of the object.

• The Principle of Soór
  The Principle of Soór is that of speaking, or being active, as humans tend to call it. Through more active and forceful Xeuá links, the particular qualities of an element or a relation between certain elements become more evident in an object or person. If elements have many forceful connections, the qualities of an element or its affinity towards another element will be prominently manifested within an object/entity, both physically and spiritually. Though an element may be more prominent, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the element makes up most of an entity's cár'áll, it merely means the links are speaking, or acting forcibly within the cár'áll.
  
  Example: A spell targeting water can make a link between the water and the earth element stronger by changing the passive state (ahm) of a connection between these two elements to active (soór), resulting in making the object more solid.

• Conservation of Voice
  This law relates to the amount of ahm and soór links within a cár'áll, more specifically how much “speaking” there will be in a cár'áll. It states “Always will a harmony exist between ahm and soór in the form of equality.” This means that there will always be the same amount of ahm and soór links in a cár'áll. There will never be a case in which all the links in a person’s cár'áll are all ahm and soór. As soon as one link goes from being ahm and soór, an opposite link will go from soór to ahm. In this manner, all things are balanced.

Linking Elements. Linking elements is a magical art. Each of the four elements which is being linked to others has its advantages and disadvantages as described below:

• Wind Links
  Wind Xeuá tends to be a bit difficult to control, just because the Xeuá is so willing to change. The active quality of wind and how it is apt for change and movement can sometimes make it difficult to keep a Xeuá link ahm or soór. However, many wind magi have developed the skill to make the Xeuá, no matter the principle it represents, hold.

• Earth Links
  Earth Xeuá takes a lot of effort and technique to change in the first place. While wind will gladly bend and change, speak or receive, as a mage should wish, the Earth Xeuá takes a bit more effort to change. However, unlike volatile wind xeuá, earth will tend to stay where you put it. If you make it soór, it will remain soór for a long while, as with ahm.

• Water Links
  The Element of Water is basically the attempt of wind to be more like earth - this is already a central theme in the elven Cárpa'dosía, the elven myth of the beginnings, and it also applies to the definition of water in respect of Xeuá magic. In this way, the element has characteristics of both wind and earth, though its qualities sway, of course, more toward the element of wind. The xeuá acts in a similar manner. The water xeuá is easily changed by a caster, like wind, but still requires some force to move, like earth. Obviously, more force is needed to change a water xeuá from ahm or soór or vice versa as compared to wind, and the quality has more likelihood to change than as compared to earth. Technique needs to be used in order to keep the quality of the Xeuá (ahm or soór), but there is some strength needed to change it.

• Fire Links
  Fire as an element is known as earth in attempt to be like wind. The element, thus, has characteristics of both wind and earth, but tends to be a bit more like earth. This quality transitions to its Xeuá qualities. The fire xeuá tends to be rather difficult to move or change, but, like earth, will not so easily move from the quality a mage put it in. The fire xeuá carries qualities of wind, however, in its inclination to try to change quality (ahm or soór) based on the things around it.

Link Types. There exist basically two kinds of linking: linking the same element with each other (Oé’xeuá) and linking two different elements (Vér’xeuá):

• Oé’xeuá (Linking the same Elements)
  Oé’xeuá deals with Xeuá linking cár'áll of the same element, such as wind with wind or fire with fire. Oé’xeuá tends to take on the properties of the elements it links. Elements have many properties, and certain types of cár'áll correlate with the strongest property they characterize. There are, however, some properties more prominent when it come to characteristics of Xeuá links. These different qualities are what make it hard for a mage to manipulate two different elements, as the qualities need to be brought into proper conjunction.

• Vér’xeuá (Linking of other Elements)
  Vér’xeuá refers to Xeuá between two elements, connecting, for example, wind with fire, or earth with water. These links are some of the most complicated, usually because they are apt to changes in their very quality based on the condition of the cár’áll they connect.

Basic scheme of the Xeuágram showing the arrangements of the elements within the cár'áll.

The Xeuágram. The Xeuágram is a model illustrating the relationship between Xeuá and Ounía (Styrásh Ounía meaning "elements", singular = Oún) in a cár’áll. The Xeuágram was created by the famous Xeuatán Khaelvan III. in the 9th century, and is still commonly used by students and teachers at Ximax to understand the difficult process of spellcasting. A short summary on the scheme of the Xeuágram reads as follows:

All contained within the schematic circle is considered to be the cár’áll, the astral aura of a certain enitity, item, whatever. In this circle are contained those links and elements that make it up. The Xeuágram shows single portions (Oún), each Oún representing one of the four elements (fire, water, wind and earth). The relationship in quantity is apparent in the example diagram shown to the right (e.g. the three earths and a single fire element). The Oún is represented by symbols that are defined at the bottom of the Xeuágram.

The Xeuágram also shows the intricate weaving of ahm and soór links (Xeuá). Those that are darker and stronger represent soór links, or ‘speaking’ (active) links working in the cár’áll, while ahm represents the ‘listening’ (passive) links in the cár’áll.

The arrangement of the Ounía often has some sort of relevance in determining what’s going on in a Xeuágram. For example, if Oún of the same element are made bigger and more defined than the other Ounía, it can be assumed that a spell of the first elemental sphere has been cast, which intensifies or removes intensity from a certain element. If the same elements are seen in the center of the cár’áll connected through strong soór links, it can be assumed that a spell of the second sphere has been cast, which bring the Ounía closer together in the cár’áll. If elements outside the cár’áll (represented by being outside the circle), are connected by strong soór links, then it can be assumed a spell of the third sphere has been cast. For more details please refer to the definition of the magical spheres in the entry on the Schools of Magic.

All cár’állía have what is called an Anar’oún, or a dominating element. This Anar’oún is often critical in determining the success of a spell, because most spells rely heavily on getting an Anar’oún into position. In the example Xeuágram, you see that the dominating element is quite obviously water. Xeuágrams can be helpful in deciding how difficult a spell will be to cast on a certain cár’áll, because if a mage wished to make the Anar’oún in this example cár’áll to fire, he or she would need more will to do this as opposed to just say increasing the fire oún around it (e.g. thus casting a fire spell on something burnable is easier than on something with little fire affinity). Xeuágrams often aid learning mages in thus deciding the best way to get a desired effect.