action;
Naturally. My world, rather than being made up of your... atoms? [ that's a popular building block ] Is instead made up of sound particles, which we call fonons. There are six basic elements -- darkness, earth, wind, water, fire, and light -- which reverberate off one another and, in all their infinite combinations and variations, create the frequencies that make up all matter, both organic and inorganic. All things also have fon slots, some more than others, and ambient fonons flow through those fon slots in much the same way as oxygen flows into the body with each breath.
A fonist is a man or woman who can consciously choose which fonons to draw in, and use his or her own frequency and willpower to reshape inert matter into something more useful. For example:
[ he sets the book down on his stack, draws in a few scattered fonons, concentrates, and reforms them into a small spark of fire above his open palm. the ground beneath him lights up faintly and briefly in a circle of colored glyphs. they fade, and the fire appears to snuff itself out, though he holds his hand quite still. picks up his book again, and continues ]
An incantation, known more properly as a fonic verse, is generally needed to help the fonist concentrate and guide the fonons into their new frequency, but skilled practitioners can shorten or forgo it.
[ yeah, he'll get to those limitations in the next comment, this is already too long ]