Magic Systems

[whaley]

Magic systems are such a struggle sometimes. Sometimes it’s something as simple as the elemental power of fire, and sometimes it is something as complicated as the periodic table of elements. They are so fun, and yet so hard to get right. XD

This is a topic to branch off the new world-building topic, so @raxforge , I dedicate this to you, and to @jonas who I asked a question about magic earlier. Yes, I did just shamelessly make a new thing after two new topics were just made.*Runs away screaming as writers chase me with pitchforks*

To everyone: What is your system like? What is the concept behind it? And are there any problems to share? (Well, as my friend says, we all have problems… But this is specifically for magic problems. :p)

#ProtectAdolinKholin

[whaley]

Tagging people I seem to remember using magic before. I’m not sure if y’all are the right people, I apologize if you aren’t. @godlyfantasy12 @rae @highscribeofaetherium @loopylin @koshka @elishavet-pidyon @savannah_grace2009

#ProtectAdolinKholin

[Koshka]

@whalekeeper

Hmm. I do have a series with a magic system, but as it’s a series I haven’t started writing yet (just outlining and world building *shudders*) the system isn’t all figured out.

But it’s like Wingfeather or Ella Enchanted (the book) style magic where it’s more a part of the way the world works than the “regular fantasy” magic (not sure if that makes sense). It’s not even called magic by the characters.

Basically there’s dragons and phoenixes and trash griffins, so non typical animals, plus a boy who can change the atmosphere/weather with song, a girl who can make stories come alive, a kid who takes to animals, another kid who is the magic weapon that can never lose a fight, ect.

But yes, there are problems. The biggest of which is that since I haven’t really developed stuff much, I don’t know what my biggest problems are yet. They’re just lurking in the shadows, dropping hints of their presence and smirking.

• This reply was modified 1 day, 11 hours ago by Koshka. Reason: Ugh. I need sleep

First Grand Historian of Arreth and the Lesser Realms (aka Kitty)
Fork the Gork

[Loopy]

@koshka Im sorry what? There’s an Ella Enchanted book???

🎵It takes a long time to wait 🌻

[Loopy]

Why did no one inform me of this until today

🎵It takes a long time to wait 🌻

[Loopy]

@koshka That sounds like a fun world though. Love the idea of trash griffins hehe

🎵It takes a long time to wait 🌻

[whaley]

@koshka

Yeah, so it’s still floating around your brain like you just discovered it. I can totally see that working as a soft magic system. Is this something you want to solidify more, or is it going to be fantastically random? (Either is great. ;])

trash griffins

I am also interested

• This reply was modified 1 day, 11 hours ago by whaley. Reason: Typos make me wanna explode

#ProtectAdolinKholin

[Elishavet Elroi]

@koshka

TRASHGRIFFINS!!!

You have listened to fears, child. Come, let me breathe on you... Are you brave again? -Aslan

[Koshka]

@loopylin

Um, yes?! It was a book before a movie, and the book is awesome.

And thank you. I love the little feathery guys too. Who needs regular street rats if you can have wats and wouses fluttering around.

First Grand Historian of Arreth and the Lesser Realms (aka Kitty)
Fork the Gork

[Koshka]

@whalekeeper

Probably both? Like, I want to have a better idea of how it all works (and why it’s magic, if that makes sense. Like Wingfeather has the Stones at the heart of the world.)

But I also do want to have it kinda randomly fantastic. It all started with my twin and I sitting with our feet in a hot tub and deciding the water was heated by household dragons called Zarpents. That type of randomness must be preserved.

I am also interested

There are very few normal animals in these books. No horses, just unicorns and pegasus (who can’t fly), and highland “oxen” because I think that’s hilarious.

First Grand Historian of Arreth and the Lesser Realms (aka Kitty)
Fork the Gork

[Koshka]

@elishavet-pidyon

YES THE TRASHGRIFFINS

First Grand Historian of Arreth and the Lesser Realms (aka Kitty)
Fork the Gork

[Andrew]

@whalekeeper

so @raxforge , I dedicate this to you

YAY! Thank you! I was dedicated to something! XD

 

I’m currently working on my magic system, but I’m just going to copy and paste my description of magic from my world building site:

There are two kinds of magic, light and dark. Magic can be administered in two ways, spells and runes.

And this is what I have so far for runes:

Runes are what makes a magical object magical. Some people are born with tattoo like markings that are runes that give them magical powers, i.e. the Pyromancer. All magical items (and people) have at least two runes. The first rune always says how the magic is to be used. For instance, the blade Fortier has the first rune ‘ever’, which means that the magic is constant until the blade is somehow destroyed. The next rune(s) tell what power it has. Going back to the Fortier example, the next three runes on the blade are ‘sharp’, ‘unbreakable’, and ‘hone’, so that means that Fortier is constantly sharp and unbreakable (by non-magical means) and it can be used to hone the wielder’s (Rax) abilities, making them slightly stronger through the sword.

Yeah, I kinda went ham on the rune part…. and I probably will have to do more thinking and writing for the spells, Light, and Dark magic. *sobs*

Well this is part of my magic system, if you want more ideas I can share what I have after… countless… hours…

• This reply was modified 1 day, 3 hours ago by Andrew. Reason: I'm bad at it

If you say h as ay-ch then I hay-ch you (jk)
#AnduthForever (Lord Willing)

[Ruee Hamster Huey]

In my world, I have a rather boring magic system.

There are two main types of magic that all magic falls into, magick and I’ll call this one abilities for now, because I haven’t found a satisfying name for it.

Magick (I’m specifically spelling it with a ‘k’ because the ‘k’ on the end is connected to the occult, and I want it to be clear that this is bad magic) is Black magic. Sorceries, spells, evil forces, all that stuff. This type of magick can be it’s own thing disconnected from the abilities, or a corrupted ability.

Abilities is the two main types of good magic: Elemental and Energy.

Elemental is an inherited trait, you can’t just learn to be an elemental, you must have elemental blood. The elements of my world are Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Creatures, and Lightning. I feel like I’m missing one, but I can’t find my notes.

Each element has what is called “The Doom of the Elementals” where a full elemental (or a strong, part-elemental) is so connected to their element, they are doomed to be like it. For instance, the doom of the Water Elemental is to both help life thrive, and destroy it, for water is life-giving, but also has taken many lives.

Lightning is the rarest element.

Energy is something you can both be born with and learn to have. I’m still developing this system, but since it uses energy, it can tire the user to the point they sleep for days after using it.

There is rumored to be a third type of magic under abilities. It has no name, and is very mysterious. Story Weavers are under this third category, as well as Dream Givers, and Healers. Many rare, magical creatures fall under this category, like the Wondian unicorn.

To explain the terms I just used, Story Weavers are similar to writers. They love stories, and live for them. When meeting a new person, after speaking to them, they can often see their past and a bit of their future, but this part of their ability is fickle. Sometimes a person’s life is laid out before a Story Weaver completely and sometimes they can only see portions. Story Weavers are bound by vow not to reveal a person’s future.

Dream Givers are more rare than Story Weavers. They have the ability to grant dreams or wishes, but the one who requests a wish must sacrifice something in return.

Healers are just what they sound like.

Wondian unicorns have the mane, tail, and the body of a horse, with the head of a deer. I specifically imagine them often with the body built like the slim Arabian. They also, ofc, have a horn.

I believe that’s all.

Which is worse? Angry cat Batman or Batman?
#AnduthForever (hopefully 💕)

[SLAYING SARAAAA ✨✨]

@whalekeeper

SOOOO

The only magic in my story is bad magic, used by the villains (Pythonos)  (I do have characters with special abilities/powers, but I don’t call that magic, since they’re born with it and it doesn’t count as magic in my book since the abilities come from themselves and not an external source)

Here’s a little about Pythonos that I’ve hashed out before:

Pythonos are pure humans or pure Andromedans (or Erstonians) who have sold their souls to the Master. (Paynes cannot become Pythonos because of genetics, but they are specifically vulnerable to lies that Pythonos use.)

Essentially, the magic system is based on lies. If a Pythonos lies to someone and the victim believes it, then the victim becomes “bound” to the Pythonos and enslaved. The more the Pythonos can get the victim to believe the lie, the more power the victim feeds the Pythonos.

The more power the Pythonos gets (which depends on how many people believe their lies), the more dark magic spells they can cast. It’s a never-ending cycle.

However, in the unlikely event that the victim realizes they have been lied to, then the tie is severed (for that one lie).

When the tie is severed, the other lies that the victim believes weaken as well until the core lie they believe also weakens. The more the lies weaken, the more the Pythonos loses power. It’s like they borrowed power from that person and the lies, and when the lies are gone, the debt comes to take all their vitality away.

This is why Pythonos normally don’t ever use dark magic, they use their lies to get people to submit to them. Dark magic can be dangerous the more you use it and it’s also addictive.

For example: Pythonos A tells a lie to Person B. Person B believes it, which gives the Pythonos A power over Person B. Person B is now more susceptible to any lies that Pythonos A will tell them. The one lie can only feed Pythonos A so much power, so they will naturally try to tell Person B another lie to receive more power. If Pythonos A is also a Weaver (I talk about Weavers later in the post), they have the option to cast Magic spells. Because Person B is now under Pythonos A’s power, the Magic will take energy from the lies that Person B believes. The energy doesn’t come directly from Person B, because it comes from the lies they believe, but after Pythonos A casts a magic spell using those lies, Person B will feel fatigued. 

Later on, if Person B hears the truth and doesn’t believe the lies anymore, every single spell Pythonos A cast using Person B will take the energy from Pythonos A. So for example, if Pythonos A used energy from Person B’s lies to kill someone, and Person B later doesn’t beleive the lie used to kill that person, then the energy used to kill someone will now take the energy from Pythonos A. If Pythonos A cast a lot of spells from that lie, the energy that is taken from Pythonos A could potentially be enough to kill Pythonos A. 

Pythonos typically have strikingly pale dead-looking skin, reptilian eyes, and a pungent smell about them.

Here’s a few “dark magic rules”

Rules:

• the least powerful dark magic spell would cause a Pythonos to go unconscious as it requires a lot of energy.
  This is why the Pythonos must use lies, because otherwise they wouldn’t be able to cast any spells.
• If a Pythonos draws power off of a lie and casts a spell, and afterwards the lie is destroyed, all the spells cast from the power from that lie will take the energy directly from the Pythonos.
• This is why the Pythonos have to be very good at lies (if they are casting spells), otherwise they would be weak and like any other Andromedan.
• If a magic user is powerful enough, if they are wounded severely, they can draw enough power off of lies to regenerate limbs or even heal stab wounds.
• They can regenerate their head and all organs, which is why the only way to defeat them is through truth v. lies.

Here’s a bit about “weavers” which is the term for Pythonos that use Dark Magic:

• A weaver is a Pythonos who is specially trained in weaving lies. All Pythonos can do this, but weavers are especially skilled and are at the lowest risk of getting caught, therefore they are extremely powerful and tend to get a little careless with dark magic.
• The magic has consumed them, making them hardly a person anymore and they have no soul.
• They are a slave to the magic and are constantly needing to tell more lies to cast more of the binding spells.

• This reply was modified 21 hours, 50 minutes ago by SLAYING SARAAAA ✨✨.

"Hair. Mouth. Cheese of yak. Come, Sintar, bRiNg a MeLoN."

[Stepheroni and Cheese]

@loopylin

*pops head in the door*

*sees current conversation*

READ.

ELLA.

ENCHANTED.

Pray, thou shalt simply add ketchup unto the mac'n'cheese.

[Author]

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