Magic in your stories

How does it work, and how do you portray it? If you're not sure how to classify it, the Functional Magic page can be a useful guide, but it's not necessary. *

That's Feo . . . He's a disgusting, mysoginistic, paedophilic asshat who moonlights as a shitty writer—Something Awful

When it's present, it is usually Force Magic - magic users are weaving together power drawn from around them. It's also Inherent Gift in that not everybody has the power to do it.

I have cheated rather in Milo's story - the Guard uses a very rough-and-ready style of magic that is only really capable of channeling power into shields or destructive beams. There is a more refined way of using it, but those mages play no role in my story. They can also only channel it through a crystal, while the 'professionals' don't need a focusing device.

edited 21st Jun '11 12:52:10 AM by LoniJay

Be not afraid...

I rather like Theurgy or Device Magic. The more mysterious and less detailed the magic system is, the more I like it, usually.

Magic, superstition and religion all to me go hand in hand. Much of the stuff we think of as magic is actually severely warped pagan religious practices, and the stuff done in more widely practiced religions is still actually magic. Magic is, after all, a ritual performed to achieve some kind of supernatural effect.

See, when you stack Tyr's rune with the intent of invoking the god Tyr, that is magic.

When you pour oil or water on an infant's head with the intent of invoking God's forgiveness of the Original Sin, that is still magic.

So in my stories, when I need magic, that stuff becomes true. Why should I need to make magic up when magical practices already exist, or at least templates of them?

edited 21st Jun '11 3:41:54 AM by annebeeche

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.

Magic, in my 'verse, is powered by energy that comprises the user's soul. The main thing that determines how much magic one can handle is a dense packet of cellular energy passed along in much the same way as a chromosome, but it doesn't appear in every cell. The more widespread it is in the body, the more magic a user will have access to. So you have to be born with it, in other words. It is for this reason why magic users tend to be long-lived from our point of view- their years are almost ten times longer than ours.

It's also extremely widespread in the fantasy world, and has all sorts of practical applications. There's a whole bunch of races distinguished by how and what they can channel or amplify magic through. Writing. Metallurgy. Stonemasonry. Agriculture. Symbols of religions or deities. Animals. Art. Nature.

It's viewed as wonderful and benevolent, just like magic in High Fantasy.

Just don't use it too much, or you'll go mad and completely lose it after a few centuries.

edited 21st Jun '11 4:25:49 PM by CrystalGlacia

"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."

Magic A Is Magic A, enough that it's Sufficiently Analyzed Magic. However, no one's sure where it comes from; theories range from dark energy to reverse entropy. Its use is kind of like a muscle; you can access it more easily through exercises and using too much of it wears you out metaphysically. Humans cannot use magic at all.

Magic almost always comes from outside the user, so there's not really Anti-Magic as much as ways to prevent the user from easily controlling it. In addition to certain forms of magic that do so, there's also radioactivity and electric fields. The stronger the field or radiation, the less control anyone has over magic. Radioactivity is much better than electric fields at disrupting control. A really disciplined user might be able to access magic even in extreme situations, but most of the time, it's unlikely.

The general explanation for magic in my stories is that magical enegry is somethign that permeats the universe, and mages can channel it to cause various effects. All living beings have some amount of magical energy in them (their soul), but generally can't really make use of it (you kinda need your soul to live, so burnign it to use magic is a bad idea), and therefore have to learn how to channel magical energy from the surroundings through them. Some inherently magical beings can replenish their internal magical energy quickly enough to actually make use of it, and have much easier time to learn atleast simple spells.

Regular magic isn't that powerful in my stories. It can create energy but not truly physical objects (altho it can alter existing objects) and can temporarily neutralize things like gravity or friction, but it can't perform miracles. There is another kind of magic that can do pretty much anything, but it's powered by eldritch abominations so using it is generally considered a very bad idea.

Magic users are usually divided into "Schools" based on how they emply magic. The major Schools are Wizards (generic magic users, you know the type), Battlemages (warriors that use magic to strenghten their own bodies and infuse their blows with magic), Healers (use magic to heal wounds and restore life energy. Can't bring you back from the dead tho), Necromancers (controll corpses or even living people, altho it's a lot harder, through magic, and drain life energy) and Antimages (specialize in neutralizing the magic of other magic users). There's a lot of variations within the Schools, and the distinctions are most part artificial (as they all get their power from the same source, just use it in a different manner) so there's a lot of overlap between them.

uh i guess magic (if you can call it that) in my universe is divided into 2 categories.

• Inherent Gift, most inherent gifts are small time and arent well used (The Contractor being a good example of that) and can vary quite a bit. some powers are too strong and are a danger to reality/the cosmos, so anyone born with those abilities are supressed by the powers that be, or are made the chewtoy and typically lead short lives where they never become aware of their power. the one exception of this is Verdandi, who has total power over time. there never has nor will there ever be another person with any degree of power over time, let alone total power. Unfortunately her power is really dangerous to reality and the cosmos can do nothing about her due to various reasons.

• Theurgy, few people use magic like this. The Contractor is one of them, with the Cosmos giving him the ability to communicate with and send people to the void, and the ability to make Contracts which have meaning to the world, and recently he was given the ability to turn people into temporary godmode sues. The Observer is also one of them, having been given the ability of Telepathy and Quasi-Omniscience. Verdandi herself was not one of these people, but instead provided power for others; originally her role in the trio was to give contracts power over time, but rather than actually giving them any power, merely used her powers the way they wanted to, with help from The Observer's telepathy. she also helps with some of the more convenient parts of their job, such as clairvoyance and what appears to others as teleportation. even in her current Ret-Gone state, she still helps the other two.

edited 21st Jun '11 12:42:26 PM by Tarsen

Well, magic in my universes is never something well defined, and is also usually overpowered. Most mages don't really have any idea how it works, aside from some vague theories, and have attained what little power they have through trial and error, basically. The few, if any, who know how it works, are pretty much physical gods who can do whatever they want, because it never made sense to me to place limitations on magic.

Magic is most of the time linked with spirits, though the link is debatable among mages at best. (Because I suck at worldbuilding and magic has to come from somewhere, right?)

Main Story: Involves one basic system and one "meta" system, which play by different rules. The basic system belongs to a Witch Species, capable of a wide range of magical abilities with enough study. The users of the basic system gained their powers from users of the meta system long ago, when one of their ancestors received them through supernatural agency.

The meta system, deals with the powers of supernatural beings, which comes to them more naturally. It can technically do more than the basic system, and is capable of trumping any attempts using the basic system as well, but the users are a tad limited in the fact that none of them are ever trained, and therefore learned everything by feel. A lot of the story deals with someone using the meta system trying to learn about the basic system, which creates a lot of odd problems.

Back-burner Story: Force Magic / Soul Power via Geometric Magic. Involves Ley Lines between large cities and what amounts to artificial gods. Can only be used directly by humans as Pyrokinesis. Gets a bit more complicated later on, since the setting is basically centered around the magic system dissolving and the fact that there are multiple dimensions involved.

In both cases, it will take a while for the systems to be explained, if they're ever explained at all. I like using the Iceberg Principal with my magic — I know the rules, they rather obviously shape the plot, but I never really get into the details in the actual story, and when I do it's only enough information for the reader to understand what's going on this second.

edited 21st Jun '11 7:50:58 PM by Dec

Nemo enim fere saltat sobrius, nisi forte insanit Deviantart.

Magic in my story is existent, but doesn't gets used exopenentially until the 3rd arc (which I almost called the Magic arc). I mainly use Theurgy. Force Magic and Device Magic are present, but they're directly tied into Theurgy. (Deep breath):

• Theurgy: My world is ruled over by the gods. They act just like normal people, except they're all Reality Warpers on a global scale. They live in another dimension, and find it hard, if not impossible to come to Earth directly (whenever one does that god falls into a powerful coma), there is one special condition that allows them to open a microscopic hole in between dimensions but it requires maximum effort from all the gods. Instead they diffuse some of their magic into our world to help it grow in certain ways, like the seasons or the tides, or earthquakes, volcanos etc. Eventually though nature started sustaining itself and the gods became useless. People can sometimes form a spirit link with the gods dimension (basically forming a small hole inbetween dimensions that lasts as long as the link is active), this lets the gods work more specific magic on them (like cursing them, or charming them etc), what type is wholly dependant on the god/s who answer the link. This trait is what led them to be revered as deities. Their magic is far from all-powerful, they're reality warping doesn't work on themselves, and in our world they can even be self-limited. An entire town once made a soul link and asked the gods to form a magic free barrier around their town, since they wanted to prove that they were self sufficient, and it worked. No forms of magic can be used there now, even if the gods wanted to.

• Force Magic: In the early days there were a race of wise creatures called Piscene. They discovered a way to channel the diffused God magic using symbols. They wrote down everything they knew in a massive tome and cherished it, thinking that they were closer to god. The knowledge eventually drove them insane and they became deranged, blindly following anyone who so much as held their sacred tome. One of the main characters writes down a few of the spells written in the tome and carves them onto his sword, allowing him constant access. Another hero carves an Anti-Barrier symbol onto his forearm.

• Device Magic: The gods aren't immortal but their powers are, they are incapable of reproduction due to being all male. They needed a method of procreation in order to survive. Their solution involved banding together whenever one of them desired an heir, and brute forcing open a microscopic hole inbetween dimensions. Down this hole that one god would fire their genetic material directly into the egg of a woman on earth, this would create a half human demigod (the process is normally done while the women is having sex. This stops the child from being heralded as a child of god birthed from immaculate conception) The demigod is gifted with superior physical prowess. A link is needed to pass the gods power between the dimensional barrier. That is the device. A stone, one for each god, forged on earth by a special group of worshipers and imbued with power via the soul links. It slowly saps the gods power and stores it inside itslf. When fully charged, the power flows into the demigod who's holding it, turning them into a true god. Simultaneously, a massive soul link needs to take place to form a dimensional hole big enough for the new god to pass through. The ritual kills the ones who form the soul link, since it puts so much pressure on them. While the stone is partially to fully charged, anyone who touches it can harness a small array of powers (energy blasts, flying, magic barriers, hypnotism) but only a demigod can harness it fully

edited 21st Jun '11 3:40:56 PM by gingerninja666

"Contests fought between two masters are decided instantly. An invisible battle is now raging between the two of them." Lulu vs Schneizel

Mine is simple. These are runes

Rune sucks in magic/object, holds it, and spits it back out on cue. More or less.

Read my stories!

My magic can be best described as a combination of Force Magic and Wild Magic. Not exactly though, in that the magical force itself is not 'alive' per se, simply another natural occurrence that follows a different set of more-or-less deterministic laws. These can 'align' with the casters intent or not. Magic essentially may seem like a game of luck to most people, simply because the underlying laws that govern in are pretty much untraceable.

Elements of Device Magic and a sort of Theurgy may also be present.

edited 21st Jun '11 3:57:55 PM by Yachar

'It's gonna rain!'

Oh boy, where do I start...

• Magical energy can be found anywhere, and must be drawn in to be used.
  • Every living thing has a maximum amount of energy that can be stored, and a maximum rate to draw in magical energy.
  • Magical energy is channeled through a magic activation device. For some, this is something as small as a ring, others use a staff or wand. This item serves as a conduit for magic entering and leaving the body.
  • Some creatures are inherently magical (i.e. they have a natural internal reserve of magic energy that replenishes itself without conscious thought.) These creatures typically have no need for a magical activation device.
• Some humans are born with innate magic, like the creatures described above. These humans are dubbed blood mages, and they have a resentment against the so-called "common mages." The two groups have vastly different spellcasting styles, with the blood mages favoring short incantations that create effects with the beam of their spell, while common mages tend to have longer incantations and often invoke area-of-effect spells.
• Additionally, some humans (and other species) can use the internal energy of the body, also known as ki or chi, to achieve spell-like effects. Most use this energy to enhance their natural abilities, though some more magic-like effects can also be generated.

And all of that mess is in one story, with three distinct influences, respectively. And of course, the war between the blood mages and common mages is what forced The Masquerade to be put into place, so...

No one believes me when I say angels can turn their panties into guns.

The Serpent Under the Mountain (current story) The magic system falls into two categories: theurgy, where the user is able to borrow some of the local obake or youkai's magic; and force magic, which allows the user to exert some control over the elements around them (fire, water, earth, wood, metal).

The first is more useful for combat, but is subject to the whims and existance of the being that provides them, as well as the possibility of How Do I Shot Web? (or the opposite) if the spirit is feeling mischeivous,i.e. giving a person the power to fly, but not telling them how to before leaving.

The second is more useful for pushing or pulling the studied element in a general direction and it takes years of practice to simply move small elements like a drop of water. However, Chi (Ki? Qui? haven't settled on a name) cannot be negated once learned- except by a more experienced Chi user- and can make an experienced user Nigh-Invulnerable for all intents and purposes; one can have hot coals cool instantly at one's touch, walk across water, create pitfalls without actually doing anything, and summon a cannon from the metal of a palace gate, among other things. There also exists a polar opposite of Chi that is fueled by human emotion and can be used for such purposes as a magical opiate, placebo, or- more sinisterly- a method of laying curses on objects and people.

edited 1st Jul '11 3:32:06 PM by Winglerfish

In this episode, Michael attempts to construct a time machine to escape debt and dinner party obligations.

I guess I know how much detail to give now. I usually approach magic as one of two things.

The first approach is to have several different types of casters that all use an innate talent, and all obey specific rules. All types have a connecting theme that varies from story to story (body, mind, soul; de-age, rapid-age, Time Stands Still; etc.) Types are generally arranged in a circle, with each type beating another type and losing to a third. There may be another type in the center of the circle, with a weakness of its own. Typically, each type of magic is associated with one of the Five Races, and Everyone Is a Super (though some races may have subtle magic that's difficult to detect.) An example

The second approach is to utilize Power Born of Madness. The nature of the madness determines the nature of the talent, usually in very specific ways. Using the talent feeds the madness, and with more madness comes more power, in an infinite cycle. Since Sanity Has Advantages, these settings are very kind to low-level casters, and even the occasional Badass Normal Guile Hero. This (caution: extremely dense) is a good example of the type.

edited 22nd Jun '11 11:40:05 PM by feotakahari

That's Feo . . . He's a disgusting, mysoginistic, paedophilic asshat who moonlights as a shitty writer—Something Awful

How is this thread different from Describe Your Magic System? ?_?

edited 23rd Jun '11 12:25:26 PM by EldritchBlueRose

Has ADD, plays World of Tanks, thinks up crazy ideas like children making spaceships for Hitler. Occasionally writes them down.

^ Simple. I didn't post in that one.

Anyway, in my Fantasy Kitchen Sink setting, there are two types of magical beings - beings with magic, and beings made out of magic (called spirit beings).

The first kind consist of humans and elves. Humans are mostly unaware of their magic, but it involves laying a claim on objects or places and imbuing them with power. Unconscious use of this power is what underlies spirit beings needing an invitation to enter a human's home. Conscious use of it, by vampire-slaying clerics, is what gives crosses and other holy things the power to repel spirit beings.

Elves have illusion magic, affecting any sense they themselves can sense, but with some people (humans with high levels of innate magical ability) being immune to it. Humans and elves are actually equally powerful, but elves are generally considered more magical because they train their children from an early age in the use of illusion magic.

Spirit beings are made out of magic, and they're extremely varied. Pretty much any mythological creature appears in my setting as a kind of spirit being, though the most common types are vampires and ghosts. Each spirit being has powers related to one of the fundamental forces, limited by various rules.

For example, vampires are electromagnetic, which means they have superstrength only with certain metals. They're really just a cloud of dried blood with magically generated surface energy causing them to seem solid. And bright lights cause them to loose energy, especially ultraviolet lights.

Shapeshifters generally control the strong nuclear force, and are limited in that they can only generate certain 'molds' - eg a werewolf can only generate one human and one wolf form.

Ghosts control gravity, which gives them telekinesis, but generally their gravitational control is very weak - most can only generate enough force to lift something the weight of an apple.

Spirit beings also have other powers, which primarily affect other spirit beings. For example, ghosts can generate very weak illusions, causing themselves to appear visible only to those who are very susceptible to illusions. (As a result, the ability to see ghosts and the ability to see through elven glamour cannot coexist in the same person.) Spirit beings themselves are extra sensitive to non-elemental magic.

If I'm asking for advice on a story idea, don't tell me it can't be done.

I have about five actual magic systems in mind, but the one I'm actually thinking of using in a story goes as follows:

Magic is done by writing in runes. Anything too complicated usually requires a circle. There are five types of energy (just 'magic'? 'mana'? I've been watching too much Naruto, so I keep thinking 'chakra'), which are the four classical elements plus lightning. Each type has its intuitive effects (a fire spell is best done with fire energy, but could use lightning at need; effects on gases use air; liquids are all water; hard stuff is earth). A spell consists of a certain set of runes, which is then infused with energy of the correct type to form an effect. Individuals have elemental affinities which make it easier to use that element in a spell. Strong elemental affinities also confer some ability in direct manipulation of that element, but it's a weak effect; it's an usually and powerfully strong fire affinity, for instance, that allows the user to pull the Finger-Snap Lighter trick. A major plot thread is the characters developing Magitek to allow them to credibly fight their antagonists, who are usually much older and more powerful sorcerers.

Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)

Wordkeepers 'Verse: Rule Magic combined with a bit of Theurgy and a little bit of Inherent Gift. However, although most people have an Inherent Gift or two for some variety of magic, they can't use it unless they're Awakened. Magic spells in this 'verse are cast by saying a word and making a gesture; fairly standard. The catch is that words themselves have souls (hence the name) and that, by saying it's name, you borrow a word's power. Any word can potentially be a spell in theory, but in practice, only certain words make effective ones: Words which are not commonly spoken in everyday language (hence why Dead Languages Are Better—they're not used all over the place), or words which are spoken by a group of people very far from you, since a word's effectiveness has to do with how concentrated that word's spirit is in an area (and how often it's used to cast magic). It's mentioned in-series, for example, that "Abracadabra," once a very effective invisibility spell, is now hard to pull off because the universe's muggles got a hold of it, and now use it commonly. There's also some more standard rule magic stuff involved, like leylines.

Suenyaverse: Rule Magic, with some hints of Device Magic (and an Inherent Gift here and there). Anyone can do magic, but in order to do it (if you don't have a specific magical gift), you need spellcasting charms, which are special glass beads that are linked to the Elements. (Which, by the way, are Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and Life.) Gestures are involved, frequently, but spells are cast by holding a charm related to the effect, "invoking" the element through your body (Metabolism for Fire, bodily fluids for Water, bones for Earth, lungs/breathing for Air, and heartbeat for Life) and channeling it through the charm while doing whatever is necessary for the effect. A sorcerer's main charms are specifically linked to their body through force channely... stuff, but smaller charms called "ancillary charms" can be used to contain magical effects to set off later, or repeatedly, or without having to be manually invoked. And while all magical effects are linked to the elements, the elements used for some spells vary depending on the person casting them. Finally, most sorcerers need to specialize in one particular brand of magic in order to get the full effect of their skills, and generally pick a "Sorcerous Name" that goes along with their specialty—think of it like picking a major in college. You can still learn about and do other things, but you'll learn the most about, and (theoretically) do best in, your major.

"Proto-Indo-European makes the damnedest words related. It's great. It's the Kevin Bacon of etymology." ~Madrugada

For me, I usually use Force Magic. In my as-of-yet-unnamed setting, magic wielders manipulate Aether via Instant Runes*

. The most basic form of magic is to manipulate the Aether in its invisible gaseous form into solid form*

^{or liquid form, but that's mainly for Alchemy}

(i.e. to make shields, blades, platforms, etc.). Other forms of Magic include Elemental Powers*

^{A weak form wherein the Aether takes on attributes of elements, and a strong-but-hard-to-learn form wherein the Aether is used to create the elements}

, Alchemy, and Charms. For balancing purposes, the magic requires lots of practice to use effectively, and exposure to Aether causes you harm.

edited 24th Jun '11 1:19:54 PM by MegaRock35

My sorcerers (also called witches and wizards)use spells learned from grimoires to create talismans and potions, magickal items. Every spell has an incantation and a material focus to "anchor" the powers acting in the spell.

My mystics (also called monks and nuns) use rites learned from "bibles" (always lowercase, so you know its not THAT BOOK) to basically do the same thing. Every rite consists of a prayer and a sacrifice to a deity in exchange for a miracle.

Dragons were the first and greatest sorcerers, and they taught the craft to the other fey.

Angels and demons were the first and greatest mystics, and they taught the art to humans.

Level 3 Social Justice Necromancer. Chaotic Good.

I didn't really bother to come up with a unique magic system for my comics, but I did try to keep it consistent. It can basically be considered a cross between Force Magic and Device Magic. "Magic" is more or less the laws of physics of different realities and can be tapped into by different means depending on the universe. In order to perform your style of magic outside of your native reality, some kind of artifact of that reality is needed. Some magic-users use these artifacts in their own realities as well as a means of feigned vulnerability.

Theurgic Magic also exists, but is generally an extremely bad idea and hasn't been detailed much. The only character to rely exclusively upon it came to a rather unpleasant end.

Mix of Rule and Alchemy for me, where magicians manipulate existing forces to to do their work, or use surrounding material, keeping the 1st law of thermodynamics and conservation of mass happy. Thus, heat magic draws energy from the sun or surrounding areas and returns it when the use is up, leaving the area deathly cold, while kinetic magic draws energy from lunar or terrestrial rotation. At the same time, there exist things not yet covered by science, such as manipulation of souls, or biological alteration using the 'will of the flesh'.

There is potential to be used by anyone, as the main capacity is affected by a 'conduit', or a formulaic symbol, each of which has different degrees of control over that particular thing, such as heat or bio-augmentation. Some people also have a natural closeness to conduits, which allows them to obtain more while expending less of their own power. Thus, a housewife might use a special glove with a weak conduit of heat to cook food, while Kuron Ironhand, Lord of the mages' council, can use his own heat sigils to turn air to plasma and burn entire city blocks to ash with a snap of his fingers.

While kinetic and heat magic are the relatively common types, officers of the mages' council are encouraged to specialize, and thus there is often research into combative magical forms, such as gravitational collapsing, disintegration, lightning, and other highly destructive arts.

This is this.

With my universe, it's a mix force magic and innate gift for magic users, and device magic for everyone else, seeing as the Mana in my universe behaves more akin to rocket fuel/electricity.

The inherit gift users receive an implant at birth that replaces their digestive system and allows them to use magic. In order to use magic more than one every few days however, they need to imbibe some raw Mana: in a Mana well, or from a Mana plume. As such, magic users can be incapacitated by removing all the absorbable mana from the area, as then they would only be able to manage maybe 1 fireball or so before becoming merely superhuman, a force easily dealt with by the police of the era.

edited 1st Jul '11 1:19:41 AM by doorhandle