Hazard symbol for magic?

I'm working on something set in a near-future world where magic has returned to Earth. And since magic, particularly uncontrolled wild magic, can have...unpleasant effects (including "Ghostburn", something functionally similar to radiation sickness), there'd have to be a warning symbol for objects or locations radiating raw magic.

Radiation and Biohazards have their iconic trefoil designs, others are more pictographic...but what do I use for magic?

The classic pentagram would seem like an obvious choice at first glance, but it's got a lot of "baggage" attached to it (a number of neo-pagan faiths would probably be seriously offended, for starters, and they've got quite a bit of influence in the newly magical world...).

So...what exactly could I use here?

edited 10th May '14 7:33:01 PM by MattStriker

Overall, I'd say it depends on the exact nature of the hazard. My primary "magic hazard" is Feedback, which (in most cases) only affects the aether-attuned; the 'label' for that (whenever I get around to making one) would likely be different than one for radiation-poisoning-like effects.

For a general case, maybe something based on alchemical symbols— perhaps some combination of the symbols for lead, quicksilver/mercury, or arsenic? If you wanted a trefoil design like radiation and biohazards, perhaps three crosses radiating from an inner circle.

I'd probably be inclined to stick with the trefoil template, and then attempt to stick to at least some of the guidelines that Wikipedia mentions having been used in the design of the biohazard symbol:

Perhaps something like a trefoil of stepped triangles, points outward—that is, start a triangle, then stop partway through, reduce the width at that point, continue, then repeat once more (ending up looking a little like a straightened stylised lightning bolt). Essentially, three of these (perhaps with a different slope to their sides—I'm not putting in the effort to create a better slope in ASCII... ^^; ), arranged radially, points outward:

--------------------
\\                  /
 \\                /
  --            --
    \\          /
     \\        /
      --    --
        \\  /
         \\/

edited 10th May '14 8:52:53 PM by ArsThaumaturgis

Magic wand warning sign◊

I'd recommend a variation of a trefoil design, as it kinda indirectly drives home the fact the magic has now been a normal part of that world as much as radiation and biochemicals, which makes it more immersive.

The design can be fiddled with. You could try a trefoil knot or triquetra, as it does have some mythological/magical connotations, but it looks a bit too simple by itself. One of the variations further down the wiki page should do the trick.

Don't worry about it looking too innocuous. The radioactive and biohazard symbols look completely harmless if it weren't for the meaning they've been tied to. It's about perception, and if you can replicate that in the story, I think it'll make for something quite believable and immersive.

edited 11th May '14 6:39:47 AM by Nadir

I'm not sure that it's a good idea to use an extant design, especially one with cultural or religious denotations or connotations: not only might it be found offensive, but it waters down the impact of the sign by rendering its meaning more ambiguous, or at the least more easily mistaken.

Played around with some ASCII art. (This forum just eats spaces and backslashes.)

Anyway, maybe something like?:

              /\

             /  \

            /    \

     /\    /      \

    /  \  /        \

   /    \/__________\

  /      \    /\

 /        \  /  \

/__________\/    \

           /      \

          /        \

         /__________\

edited 11th May '14 10:22:03 PM by m8e

Regarding the forum and ASCII art, what I found to work was the following:

- Bracket the art between @@[= and \=\]\@\@ tags. This should prevent the interpretation of most markup that might appear within the ASCII art, as well as rendering it monospace (which makes positioning much more reliable, I believe).

- Once you're done, escape any backslashes—essentially, add a second backslash ("\\" => "\\\\") before any backslashes in the art.

edited 11th May '14 8:45:21 AM by ArsThaumaturgis

What about something like this?◊

That actually looks pretty good.

I would still recommend a trefoil version of that, in keeping with the radiation and biohazard warning symbols, but the design is otherwise rather fitting, I think.

The problem with a trefoil for that design is that it'd be too similar to a Biohazard symbol.

Also, I have a thing for "magic is five."

edited 11th May '14 9:35:28 AM by AwSamWeston

Fair enough; to my mind, keeping with the template of the radiation and biohazard symbols is more important than the numerical association (perhaps simply because I don't really have that association), in part to make it more likely that one of the first associations at a glance would be "hazard symbol"—but I'm not inclined to argue against someone else feeling otherwise.

The other problem that I see with the quintefoil version is that it resembles a pentagram, which, assigned to a hazard sign, might be seen as offensive—but it's entirely possible that I'm overestimating that issue.

edited 11th May '14 9:43:13 AM by ArsThaumaturgis

I guess using a yin-yang would be politically difficult for similar reasons as the pentagram. There's always the Harry Potter deathly hallows symbol, but that could run into copyright issues (either in-universe or in the real world).

Apparently the ancient egyptian amenta glyph◊ represents death. It's simple enough to draw, and I don't think it's used by any modern religion, so you could go with that.

hasnt the pentagram already been associated with many unsavory things like magic and witchcraft?

i would think its safe, especially if you're only going to use something like that rather than the standard pentagrams usually used magic circles n all.

Hmm. Did a quick MSPaint mockup for a trefoil version of that circle-based design, and it looks...decent. Not actually that much like the biohazard sign.

The pentagram has also been a Christian symbol for a while now (The thing is that if the pentagram's edge is facing upwards, it is the Christian one, if it is facing downards, it is the pagan one).

You could use a stylized Eye Of Providence for a more recognizable one. While it is theoretically a Christian symbol, it is a symbol of protection and guard, which would make sense for a warning sign.

Wow this thread is great, I never realized that my work could benefit from such a small detail.

Choosing the symbol could be a fun vignette In-Universe as you have people coming up with various designs, and getting them shot down or flame warred in meetings.

Doing a google image search for Ward Against Evil Magic brought up something; a symbol of a stylized hand with an eye in the palm. My reasoning is that a symbol representing a ward set against hostile magic could be a symbol of warning not to screw with something. Treat it as an emblem like the "pressurized gas" or "poisonous" symbols; place it in a black-outlined, yellow triangle on whatever you mean to designate as "dangerously magical".

edited 13th Jun '14 10:39:51 PM by dvorak

If you don't want to use the rather abstract trefoil design, another option is to simply choose a symbol that illustrates the danger. For reference, check out these European hazard symbols. Especially the corrosive symbol runs on this logic.

Optionally, if were talking about a setting where The Magic Comes Back, you might want to choose a symbol that people commonly connect with magic. I'd use something very simple, like a magic wand with sparks coming out of the other end. This could then in turn be combined with other symbols that are more illustrative, like a flame for fire magic and so on.

edited 14th Jun '14 1:34:42 PM by Paradisesnake