2022.08.24 WednesdayI've kept the descriptions short in order to mimic descriptions you'd often find in games and other franchises. The key traits of a soft magic system are outlined in the graphic below. That guy was supposed to be a REAL nasty bugger in terms of, you know, nobody whos ever gone to hunt this creature has ever come back alive, and all that jazz? Their technology and motivations could be very different from human ideas. Then use the answer to characterize all of your nature spirits. There are roughly two types of fantasy. Caster is Eco, Given controls animals, which is basically mind control. Thanks! Readers could not have guessed that Harry might create something like a Patronus, so if it hadnt been explained in depth, using it at pivotal moments would have felt cheap. The spellbook kind of magic is more of a preference, like if they dont want to be apart if any of the fighting and just rather hang back. Magic that powerful would leave a large fingerprint on the world, and if you dont avoid ultra-powerful characters, it can also break your plot. Electricity A rational magic system is one where every spell is guided by the same metaphysical laws. I really like all the terms you use on this site, theyre so helpful and clarifying. :). A person can use their mental conviction to create any of these energy forms by channeling the Ether (Breaking the law of Conservation- Something from Nothing). I dont want to write something that turns out to be nonsensical. Then I really thought about the setting and that would breakwell, everything. I would suggest that you make it so your gods just randomly interact with the world. We make up terms when we think there isnt an existing one that will do, but we do try to use existing terms when we can. Different for the TV series, of course. If spellcasters can run out of magic, itll be easy to put them in a tight spot when you need to. Its important to define what the magic user can manipulate and how/why. Which is why you need to attach a heavy price. Forms of magic include earth magic, metal magic, plant magic, and animal communication/manipulation. Like I said, its early days but any feedback or suggestions would be super-welcome!! (The amount of waste we produce is naturally less than the amount of food or liquid we consume, so again do they have a non-scientific explanation, or if they do have a scientific explanation, why do they not consider the same thing happening in plants? Fantasy Random Generator. The farther an individual cause the needle to drift towards imbalance, the more force shall be exerted on that individual until the balance is restored through redistribution. Also I like the fact that the Mages of the world are very politically influential feels so real because thats what would happen! 7 Considerations for Writing Fantasy Magic and Magic Systems. (Known collectively as the Nasuverse after their writer, Kinoko Nasu) Namely, by this articles definition of rational magic, would the magic in the Nasuverse count as an example of a rational magic system? The cycle of plants harnessing sunlight and Mother taking it back everyday is no longer considered a mystery, but an accepted fact of life. Martin Magic System Rating: 1 (Because Magic) Martin is writing a purposeful deconstruction of epic fantasy tropesincluding magic systemsand has actually put some work into making his magic frustrating and inconsistent beyond a few broad-stroke rules (there's definitely some like-for-like business, with equivalent sacrifices needed to produce an . *someone like me* well dont I feel important! Sure, go ahead. She holds a BA from Yale University and lives in Colorado. Magicians train to control different aspects of reality, but a magician is also constrained to the limits of reality. Thats not exactly what I mean Im talking about low-level How. Almost all of the magic in Avatar: The Last Airbender is clearly linked to the same rules. He focused his will and the energy that boiled in his mind, letting it out like smoothly flowing water into the air. However, if your magic system serves more to create a fantastical ambience than to resolve any major conflicts, then explaining how magic works on the page likely isnt necessary. Vibrations function is fundamentally the same as electric signals in the brain, in that there are millions upon millions of different signals being sent and working together to achieve something, even something as simple as moving your arm. Everything is what she deems fair. If a person can wield both kinds of magic, do they influence the person? Could a small group of magic wielders defeat an army of non-magic wielders? I think the easiest way to explain how magic (any kind, really) affects the world is through will. Can they simply stretch their arm, make a gesture with their hands and shoot out a ball of fire or do they need a wand do direct the magic? They dont pay with utter exhaustion or even by losing several years of their life, because of the power they wield. The Taran movie also would provide examples for limits through the source with both the magic kettle (stops working when a living thing is sacrificed) and the crystal ball which doesnt work for the villain for some reason, although its owner does well with it. This is harder to work with, because the divine are technically spellcasters themselves, and incredibly powerful ones. Our physical universe is merely the extent that we can see with our mortal Perceptions limits. Should I divide my Mages into sub-classes (similar to Sandersons Mistborn)?? Talking of the wedding feast: Though thou get this, there is yet that which thou wilt not get. Take Noethers Theorem for example. GIVEN: obtained magic through an illegal potion or spell cast by a very powerful mage. Its important to note, that the Elements dont just represent their Physical Aspects, but also their Symbolic and Conceptual inferences as well (Through their Mental/Spiritual Aspects), for instance: Water is often associated with the concepts of Healing & Nourishment. Its the same way you need to build your world logical for a novel. The audience has no idea what they can do other than what theyve been directly told, so if they do anything new in a crisis, it will look like a deus ex machina. What about Time? BORNE: obtain magic through genetics. Magic can be taught and learned, but like the Arts or sciences, whether someone is good at magic or not depends on their inherent skill, talent, and dedication to their training. If the story needs someone to tell Luke and the others on the Falcon something terrible happened at the other end of the galaxy, the Force can provide Obi-Wan with the necessary information through a vision of sorts. some sort of selection criteria the nanites have With that said, lava could still count as fire, so the point about magic being based on fire vs. ice might still stand. You make good points about the gap between different kinds of magic. In general, creating a system that is more limited in effect and creates more problems with casting makes for better stories. If thats the case, youll want to make animal spirits more common and less powerful like plant spirits, and air spirits rarer and more powerful like water spirits. There is a cap that only the two young men of solitude have managed to break If you figure out exactly what each type of thread is doing to hold the world together, you can not only extrapolate what magic they can do when woven, but also predict the damage that the world will suffer when too many of them are used. It is the rarest of the Primals to be connected to. How much of it might people attribute to the magic, and how much might they attribute to simply becoming blas in the face of so much death? Its easy to get excited and bite off more than you can chew, but youll do better if you focus on fewer things. : If youd like additional guidance as you build your storys magic system and other facets of your fictional world, then be sure to check out World-Building Warrior, a workbook that will walk you through the world-building process step by step. How does a user summon magic, and how does that magic manifest (i.e. My train of thought was a bit of a runaway train. Another way of looking at sources is from a material point of view. Few ideas are original at this point. Magic in Tolkien is a reflection of _spiritual_ power. would be for instance the power to congure spectral weapons like a sword or bow and arrow, though they are powerful magic and would be taxing on ones body and life. Sandersons Second Law The only limit is your imagination. The pulp could be made of something special that allows for different effects when treated differently. However, then I realized a key problem: Could I make this a logically consistent system? Soft magic systems are the opposite of hard magic systems: they dont need to have a clearly defined set of rules. Divine gifts are enchanted items (like swords, hats, necklaces, etc.) Hey! What about their views on the consumption of food and water? Ones that havent made many contracts and dont know much about human emotion yet will be much more objective. . When a person deliberately causes an imbalance that person becomes the cork plugging up the hole, so to speak. Origami, cutting, painting, burning. If you are the child of a Given and you are born with magic, you are called a Twisted mage, and have the same powers as your Given parent. With that said, I wonder why no one has replied to my previous comment on this article. : Specific effects include communicating with others, working together as a group, and riding inside the minds of others. Curses are basically magic diseases. I just made it up, I had no idea there was a magic system out there that was so similar. After all the Vibrations have finished their process, they Ripple and then whatever combination the Vibrations have will affect our world. The thread is being used up at such a rate that the next generation may have none at all. I was actually thinking of precursor aliens having set everything up, but that raises a lot more questions of motivation and the ability to remain undetected. I see some interesting potential with that. This same punishment theory may explain why humans are killed for trying to harness and redistribute sunlight. There's a reason why I write about fantasy magic - magic is my most favourite thing! You need to make your sub-types of magic logical parts of the main type of magic. Maybe something with an eclipse? That would certainly make them dangerous to magic users. Because magic is a form of power, it often explores related themes such as greed, privilege, and oppression. That might work as well, but its a completely different kind of image in peoples minds. Do you think the metaphor works when stretched so far? Some theorize, that the Sephirot is an aspect of God, but our understanding of God is just one aspect of it, you could say the projection of its Will, in simpler terms. So eventually, after a little Silly Putty work with words and concepts, I wound up with a magic system where believing something was considered a form of observing it with your mind in the state that you want to be so; that all that I read in the quantum physics book was true and intermeshed perfectly with the various descriptions of magic as being any system where a strong mind or majority of minds is able to influence reality through the strength of its being perfectly itself (e.g. moving more slowly, using other abilities less effectively, taking more hits), and the hero tries and fails to use the ability when theyre already at their limit, then we come to understand exhaustion as a real limitation that doesnt just go away as needed. Disadvantages: it makes your paint harder to control, if your will is weak your contractor could go against you, your contractor gets to present you with the deals and if you dont like them there is nothing you can do about it, harm to your contractor results in harm to your soul. They're overall stregenth of that ability is average. I love your blog a lot, but Im annoyed with your bashing of the Harry Potter series in almost every article. I have recently, but have wrote before, in my world created a new magic systems. But because of Saurons _spiritual_ and _moral_ corruption, ADDED to the fact that dis werent no ordinary Elfk, Luthien was able not only to win handily but to pretty seriously humiliate Sauron before his boss (no other than Morgoth, the Satan figure in Tolkiens universe, Old Scratch himself) by the pathetic ease by which she shelled him? This is the easiest part from technical point of view in my current design. Usually you can figure out if theyre alive, where they are, and how theyre doing; but its hard on your brain to process information for two people at once. The most common form of magic is to make a contract with a specific spirit for a specific outcome, and then the spirit uses its power to reach that outcome (level of cooperation varies). Some are carefully planned; others contradict themselves and lead to plot holes. They should be able to deduce, if they want to, what a magic user (or a psychic) can or cant do and you shouldnt suddenly throw someone in who can do something that should be impossible by the rules you set down and showed before. On Way of Kings Shows Us the Damage Meta Mysteries Can Do. This curse infects at random, leaving those infected without the memories of their past selves. In case if something enters inside such bonded blob it will exit on the other side of the bond. Everyone has their own power level amount of energy they can produce in one go. In other words, readers need to understand how your magic system works to ensure its use feels natural and believable within the context of the story. In some cases, the answer might already be obvious given the world your story is set in. Wizards arent included in this; as far as we know, you cant just simmer a wizard in a pot for a few days and end up with a magic potion. Do you want to bring in some elemental control? So, early on in our history, humanity was deemed too dangerous to stay in the greater multiverse. Many soft magic systems include magical creatures: centaurs, mermaids, nine-tailed foxesthe possibilities here are endless. The readers should, after reading a bit of the story, develop an understanding for how people do magic. This proposition sounds like a video game ideauseful in an environment where youre controlling an avatar with a remote/keys and dont have a quick reaction time. Telekinesis: You mention psychics using their own energy for telekinesis. By adopting a specific mentality and pairing that with martial art forms, they can move and manipulate their element. And the One became Two, Two became Three, and Three became All Things, (Actions) It is divided into two domains: the stone, minerals, and metals of the land, and the flora and fauna of the natural world. Theyre both perfectly legitimate forms of doing magic in a story IF DONE RIGHT. Reading this made me realize that while Ive got the source pretty nailed down, I dont actually have much else figured out yet! Although, I have made some changes. Why you should create a rational magic system as a writer? The definitions for these are as follows: Some feel cohesive; others feel random. Balance being an essential figure in most fantasy pieces, this works on many levels! Everything in Tolkiens world is carefully designed to avoid being preachy; but most of it also has a carefully thought out moral and spiritual basis, and certain elements (like whether orcs have free will, and are therefore capable of redemption, and the implications of what that means in terms of how the good characters treat them and the conflict with the literary need for a clearly identifiable group of bad guys) troubled him to the end of his life and which he was never able to resolve to his own satisfaction. When youre deciding which type of magic system to use, ask yourself: Do you want magic to solve conflict for your protagonist (hard magic) or to create conflict for your protagonist (soft magic)? With very little people learning magic outside of their respective faction but its not a common practice. Apoglies if it comes off as confusing, Im not very good at conveying my thoughts and ideas, will explain in greater detail later. I wanted to try my hand at creating a really fleshed out magic system for fun, and never planned on making a story or doing anything with it. However, some fear that all is unraveling. Re: hollow mages this is the fate of the previous mage who had the protagonists familiar she traded away bits of her life in order to extend it, until she ends up functionally immortal but with very little of her original self left, (she breaks the bond with her familiar in the process in order to make deals with more powerful spirits). Learn everything you need to know about grammar. The way it goes is that the universe of our perception is just a projection, an illusion if you will, of the real World, the Sea of Energy. Well, your protagonists will use magic to solve some of their problems. .and It would probably look a lot less like the X-Men than a lot of fictional magic systems do. (Currently called Reformancers, Defining and Refining) The act of changing your sight so you see physical objects as they are, without needing light (eliminates glare and shadows), and the act of changing your sight so you can see a person's inner qualities. Another elite bending technique is Astral Projection since their are the most spiritual of benders. And thanks to Oren for asking the obvious question and fueling my train of thought. Like actually dodge the spell physically? In a rational system, there would be an explanation for how magic works where it comes from, what limits there are, how it is used. If youre new to the genre, its easy to fall back on tropes youve seen before. For example: Your mum had speed enhancing paint you will have some form of it or Your mum had paint that could carry poison within it, your dad had paint that could take the physical appearance of slime and your grandma had paint that floats you now have floating poisonous slime paint. In this world i was playing with humanity had long ago developed nanotechnology as a means of improving quality of life; whether that meant cleaning up the environment, being used for medical purposes, or for body augmentation didnt really matter. Earth magic: Earth magic draws power from the energy of the land itself. However, it makes it harder to build tension when power levels can change at any given moment as needed, especially at climaxes, where emotions will naturally be high. Dryads represent trees but usually can move about unless they are hamadryads which are locked to a particular tree than a tree type. Motion/kinetic energy: you stop an object in its tracks. Once you've figured out who can wield it it's time to figure out how they can wield it. So a Mage might give as payment a concrete memory, like their first day of school or attending a particular play, or something more abstract like the taste of chocolate cake or the pain of stubbing ones toe (spirits are interested in all experiences, even if humans see them as negative). Life It is dual-natured-representing the life-giving light of the sun that all life relies on, but also the destructive and fiery nature of its power. Or it could indeed be a matter of merely thinking things into existence specific ability necessary. Theres things like creating food out of thin air, which means magic can add something to the world which wasnt there before (alternately, some people have all the rotten luck and their fridges are constantly empty and they dont know why). Another way to look at it is evolution. Hard vs. soft magic is a spectrum, not a binary. Figured out the important themes and used them to craft something that fits more within the setting. Fantasy Name Generator. You can also use that fickleness, maybe, and some other things this answer mentioned, to weave in logical limitations on emotion-based magic that will make it perhaps more palatable to your readersin fact, in ways directly related to the example of exhaustion. For every energy type, there are only 3 things you can do with the energy. Some well-known examples of soft magic systems: In The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. My protagonist would be one of the paranoid who wants to conserve the thread. Havent figured out the second point quite yet. He learned that as long as a person eventually restored the balance towards which nature is always striving, he or she could be enabled to have control over the elements. We've covered the source, the wielders and they way they wield power, but we still need to cover one of the biggest factors of magic, which is the power itself. On How Do I Portray Stupid Characters Respectfully? powers, and the theres a Chosen One, who has all the powers? In The Locked Tomb trilogy by Tamsyn Muir, using magic exhausts necromancers, and causes some of them to bleed. You could even have a combination of two or more sources, but choosing which are best suited for your system will largely depend on what you need from your magic within your story universe. This suggests that telepathy and telekinesis (at least if I go with something like your suggestion) imply some form of teleportation. Bodily energies wouldn't make for a great choice as the body runs out of all types of energy, at least in real life and most works of fiction. Are there magical societies or a hierarchy of magic users? Sympathetic spirits will take pity, accepting minor payment (maybe even the painful memory of seeing said loved one get shot). One world I thought of involves magic based around Life, Metal (mostly magical machinery), Water, Mind, Soil, and Dragons (the rarest), and many in-universe cultures consider these natural divisions, but I suspect Chris Winkle would consider this system non-rational. Dont feel discouraged by the problems of your first draft, remember that you will solve them later. From the other side, putting lot of fire energy into single point will produce real fire, moving air energies will make air blows. Little fun fact: the Greek god Hermes was, among other things, the god of thieves and of merchants. Trying to do anything that involves pushing against or even breaking natural law will require aid from outside forces. Because the setting is divided into nations that correspond with the elements, the Avatar is the only person who symbolically belongs to all the nations. There are medieval books detailing how to pluck a mandrake from the ground because it was thought that they screamed when unearthed and could kill everyone who heard the scream. His thoughts compiled into a fortified plan to use his skills to accomplish it, without leaving his comfortable chair. Lastly is the effect both our Perceived World and the World of Energy have on each other. Accio and depulso, for example, are taught one-after-another: pretty straightforward. Im going to flatly say your premise about the HARRY POTTER magic system. Sorry for the late reply I had went out for the past few days. Despite that, it can still be used to many different and wonderful effects, think like some of the stuff Aang does. Very interesting system youre developing, I really like that it comes from a disease. But creating a consistent system that allowed for both these laws and my magical exceptions without, say, having the laws of physics change so much that there are no stable structures, or allowing for time travel, was difficult. The main exception is the avatar state, which isnt clearly linked to bending. Water constantly replenished in its cycle, rising up as vapor and plummeting down as rain. Sometimes you just get turned into a chicken. Magic can be taught and learned, though whether or not a persons good at it depends on their study/training, and their innate talent for the practice. All you need are the right ingredients, follow the right steps, and have the right mindset. Im not a novel writer, but I am a worldbuilder. Ive currently got 11 tabs open that I need to look through. If I may make a suggestion as to how to tie these four together, have it not be the first time this has happened. Weak to medium Hydro, very rare chance of getting weak Eco as well, Learns magic more easily than other races. Casting also generates colors based on how much power you drew upon to cast it. For a similar reason, simple exhaustion, without any other defined limits, is generally a weak way to limit an ability in the story. Im definitely not saying these problems are insurmountable, just that I do need to think a lot about them. These energies are not strictly bound to non-magical air, water, fire and so on, but definitely could affect each other: real fire produces fire energy, in water there are lot of water energy and so on. Originally I was going to go with energy, but thats way too vague. Are their any parts youre confused about? Generate a random star system, including primary planet . Ask yourself how you can prevent the magic-wielders in your story from becoming too powerful, and what costs would post interesting challenges for your characters. Using the Harry Potter example, the rules of what magic can and cannot do are defined throughout the books new things are added throughout the series, but there is some structure in the form of spells, potions, etc., and a few laws that are hard limits (such as the no true resurrection one), yet the author of this post states it is not rational (although hard). A dwarf named Keti seeks a company of adventurers to steal a powerful arcane device from a rival. In Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson, magicians owe a demon years of their life in exchange for magic. The audience will be looking for the pieces that might come together in the climax to enable the hero to win, rather than waiting for the hero to have an emotional moment when there is no other viable turning point. Now, for your first comment about my magic system, it is true I might be overthinking it (people have told me that before). I love your idea Madden, however if i may point out one significant flaw that you will very quickly need to address. There are many assumptions in this article, it only focused on a small, known part of magic. Last, heres a fun chart showing the details of magic systems in the most popular works.
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