Materia

[Project G]

How exactly do they put the magic etc. in the materia????

[Breine]

That's a secret

[Pinky]

Materia is the magic. It's compressed mako. Did you not see the Mako fountain in the caves??

[radyk05]

materia is compressed mako (surface lifestream). the knowledge of the ancients is contained in the lifestream and thats why youre able to use magic.

[DJZen]

"The same way this serum gets into this egg through a hypodermic needle." -professor farnsworth

[Project G]

But how do they actually put the magic into it

[TheAbominatrix]

They don't 'put' magic into it. The magic comes from the knowledge of the ancients, which is compressed into materia, just as radyk05 has already explained.

[Project G]

Sorry, I'm not very well edumacated

[DJZen]

It's explained in the game, just play through. In fact, almost any question you could have about the game can be answered by playing the game, except for those parts that are translated so badly that they're incomprehensible...

[SeeDRankLou]

Magic is a different concept in each game. Don't try to draw the explanation from a pre-existing one in your head, just let the game explain it to you and that's what it is. In this game, magic is the knowledge of the ancients flowing through you, and thus you can use it. In FF8, magic is the extraction of energy from a monster stored into a para-magic item that can be used just like any other item. ect. ect. It's different in every game.