Fantasy Gods, Races, Settings, Magic Systems and Miscellaneous

so been thinking about the ocean nomads in my setting.

one of their defining traits is their ability to change their body structure. as far as the demon races go, they're the most varied as a result. the limits of their transforming ability is dependent on each nomad, and some are incapable of transforming at all, while others can only transform once in their life. some can only transform certain parts of their bodies, while some rare few are not only capable of transforming back and forth at will as many times as they want, but are completely freeform in their ability to transform.

its a fairly time consuming process and often takes months- sometimes years- to finish. it can often be excrutiatingly painful depending on what exactly the nomad is trying to change, and the scale of the transformation determines whether the nomad is mobile or not. especially in the case of a nomad adding something (nails, hair, organs, mass), its entirely possible for them to starve themselves if they dont increase the amount of food they consume dramatically during the process.

the nomads are usually separated into amphibious and fully aquatic, and they're all fully aquatic at birth and quite a few remain unchanged for life due to the inability to tell how capable they are until they actually do it, and the fear of transforming into a form they're uncomfortable with and being unable to change back is strong. freeformers are held in fairly high esteem in nomad society, though it doesnt particularly matter whether they choose to remain fully aquatic or not. the most common transformations among the fully aquatics are usually for the sake of adding features that make it easier to do their job. it's thought that freeformers have a higher chance of giving birth to more freeformers, so nomads from such bloodlines are generally more willing to experiment, and those not from a freeformer bloodline usually resort to major changes only when they wish to change their career.

as a merchant race they get along with nearly all the other races and often act as the life support of the deep city. mouths capable of human speech are highly desired among amphibious nomads, and they transport their wares via barrier magic (to make it waterproof) and the labor of giant domesticated turtles (though the exact method i have yet to come up with). clothing wise, they dont often wear clothes while underwater (and the few that do choose clothes that dont interfere with their swimming ability) but out of water they basically wear whatever type they wish. as a merchant race they do have access to and appreciate clothes from all of the cultures they deal with. though modification is usually necessary first.

Do elves have to be in tune with nature to be "elves"? I was thinking elves in huge cities, Crystal Spires and Togas. Pretty much high elves. It's also Science Fantasy so elves in space. Does this work?

Also, how do you feel about dwarves that speak with Russian accent instead of Scottish?

edited 13th Jan '15 4:48:40 PM by washington213

Russian dwarves are about as fine as Scottish. Personally, I find the Tolkien races to be completely overdone, but I'm not stopping anyone from doing it if they can find new twists. Russia is VERY different from Scotland, so go for Russian dwarves!

In Moonflowers, I have the words "elves" and "fairies" be interchangeable names for The Fair Folk because that's how they were treated in most European folklore.

Edit: Moved my question to Quick Questions.

edited 14th Jan '15 4:47:18 PM by Sharysa

A timeline of events detailing the rise of certain beasties and peoples:

- Hortenence the Dire begins magical experimentation on wolves, making them bigger, stronger, smarter and more aggressive. These creatures are deemed dire wolves. After that, several other mages imitated his work, usually with wolves as his notes readily described to use but not always. When they used other beasts, this created the advent of several species of what comes to be known as dire beasts.

- Who Devours Treasure, Demon/Spirit/God Of Greed, begins a program to alter and breed a particular strain of drakes. Drakes are, essentially, winged and fire-breathing lizards, the smallest breed being as big as a horse. They are nearly sapient-level intelligence. He alters several breeds to desire the collection of treasure, red ones to collect precious metals and stones, gray ones to collect currency, no matter what form it takes, brown to collect valuable art and green to kidnap people of importance. Who Devours Treasure reasoned that the "treasure drakes", as they came to be called, belong to him and any treasure they collect belong to him by extension.

- During the Time Of Nature's Strife, several gods/spirits of the elements make war on one another. Ashen World, God/Spirit Of Fire, takes inspiration from Who Devours Treasure in the usage of drakes and uses the work of Hortenence to do it. The dire-drake are fully sapient beings, and they redub themselves as the more noble sounding dragons. The other elemental god/spirits follow suit, creating dragons of their own bent but the original fire breathing one proves the easiest and most numerous.

- The titans are tall beautiful people, naturally inclined to athletic bodies, nearly free of illness, long-lived and sharp minded. They are known as the perfect people. The titan Ophenum Ogremek sought to make them even better by applying the works of Hortenence to his people. The ogres are indeed bigger, stronger and even smarter than the titans, but they are also more aggressive. The titans, already so few, are nearly driven to extinction. The rest of the world, in turn, try to drive the ogres to extinction.

- Afis Dau Lycan the Lunatic also studied the works of Hortenence the Dire and then Ophenum Ogremek. He managed to distill the essence of the dire wolf and then fused it with a living and adult humanoid, transforming him into an awful monster. Then he kept doing it, because it worked so well the first time. The werewolves, the wolf-men, the lycanthropes. His apprentices, some of those who retained some intelligence after they were transformed, kept it up, taking unwilling captives and performing the procedure on them. Among the mad or desperate, there were those who imitated him. Much like with Hortenence, the procedure for wolf-men specifically was well spelled out but a few took different routes with different dire beasts.

- The Black Prince Hrod, in his efforts to conquer the continent of Iropa, studied the texts of Afis Dau Lycan and managed to derive a new process working the other way. He distilled the essence of humanoid and fused it with animals, creating man-beasts. He was never picky what sort of animal he used in this regard. Intelligent and molded into loyalty towards their creator, he used them as the basis for his nation and his army that eventually swept the continent in a tide of uplifted wildlife.

edited 6th Feb '15 8:27:01 PM by God_of_Awesome

Another one of my multiversal wanderers is a being named Chronos. No relation to the Greek god.

Chronos was actually originally a member of a race of energy beings who interacted with the physical world utilizing crystalline and silicon bodies. He wanted more, you could say part of him was a thirst for knowledge and greed, so he began to experiment, to make a better body for him to use, and begin a path to what was essentially godhood.

He succeeded, on the first part at least. He crafted himself a newer body that was more than just conductive materials, he essentially built a armored suit to act as a new body, it was much more dexterous, hardy, it could withstand the experiments he would do next to achieve total knowledge.

The following experiments were Time Travel related, Chronos figured that he could reach godhood by traveling back to the beginning of everything. He was partially successful in that he did gain godlike power and knowledge, but as it turns out Time Travel is trickier than you think and he ended out becoming something known as a non-linear entity and trapping himself outside of reality into the weird in between of universes. Chronos can still enter a universe and interact with it, but he can not make and gigantic changes, at most a few alterations to inhabitants of said universe.

He travels throughout the multiverse now in a craft of his own construction, called the Library. It contains scripts on knowledge of multiple worlds, a lab for him to tinker in, and various living quarters if he feels courteous enough to have guests.

I need to fix up Chronos a bit.

I've been working for quite some time to come up with a magic system that was poweful and flexible while at the same time causing me as few headaches as possible. That quest has lead me to "Ether-Craft!" a form of magic inspired by Psy and Ki abilities.

This is the basis of Ether-craft, ether is force that is both generated by living things and found almost everywhere in nature. Ether-crafters through birth or training can tap into this energy and use it for a verity of purposes.

Going with my sources the first ability developed is sensory, Crafters can feel the ether given off by all things. They have a general sense of a being's physical and emotional state.

Personal augmentations: Crafters can greatly augment their physical capabilities. the degree to which this can be done is determined by raw power,tolerance and skill. it's also possible to perform selective augmentation.

Psychically Aspected Ether waves:Crafters can broadcast ether waves that serve as medium for mental communication.

Physically Aspected Ether waves: Ether waves of this sort behave most like kinetic energy out of all the mundane energies. These vibratory-waves are conducted best by liquids, second by solids and third by vapor; only on certain high frequencies can vapors be used as an effective medium. Ether can be used to manipulate matter,as though one had an extra set of clumsy hands; practice results in finer control. Matter can be made to tense or relax, effecting it's strength and flexibility as long as ether is channeled through it. Force can be channels into matter to accelerate it, increase it's destructive potential; see Gambit from X-men for example, or to rip it a apart in a manner resembling the phenomenon of destructive-resonance.

Ether-Plasm: Ether can be used to manifest and control Plasm, the stuff that ghost are made of. A phenomenon somewhere between a force and a substance. Translucent and bluish silver color resembling vapor when at rest,but crackling like electricity when agitated. Plasm can be used to blast targets, leaving damage that looks a mixture of impact and errorsion. Plasma can also be be used to defend, field and envelopes protect from all manner of harm. It can also be modeled into simple shapes, it would take great knowledge and precision to create complex machines.

These abilities are the more esoteric

Sublimation: the ability to partially or wholly shift matter into a "higher" and more malleable state/plane of existence. Intangibility,Invisibility, Teleportation,Storage by "dematerialization" and the transfiguration of matter.

Eidolons/ apparitions: create subordinate psychic entities. The most basic of these are just bundles of programmed ether; such as scry-eyes that can be used to spy on distant locations. The more advanced and dangerous to produce are created by breaking off a piece of your own soul for use as the nucleus of a construct. These more advanced Eidolons can take physical form, a form which is influenced by the subconscious. Because they are extensions of their Crafter, the crafter can be harmed through the Eidolon.

From the way that the system is set up it should obvious that most Ether-crafters wind up being Kung-Fu Wizards. Strangely i find my self at loss when it comes to the applications specifically the fighting techniques that would come out of this system.

edited 8th Feb '15 12:47:26 PM by Fomar

This is actually a pretty good-looking system. I saw your other post relating to it but this was way more informative. I think there should be different "schools" of ether-craft to go with the kung fu theme; you could even look up the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game's monk class for inspiration.

I go through magic systems like ink pens, but I want one that is versatile but not unlimited; I don't want it to look too much like D&D or NWOD. I've decided to combine my favorite magic properties into one coherent system.

First of all this is Magic by Any Other Name, so the words I use here to describe the system will definitely be changed later on. Mages channel Mana to "cast spells", drawing the energy from the world, its creatures, and/or its gods and demons; Magic Is Evil because it is addictive and corrupting, even when used for "good". In general, mages cast spells by speaking arcane words but sufficiently powerful mages can cast spells by simply THINKING arcane words. Mages may be rare but magical items are common enough that the creatures of the world have access to Magitek and are accustomed to a Dungeon Punk standard of living. Non-mages are typically wary of mages because they have a tendency to lose control if they absorb too much mana; if it doesn't manifest as an explosion of raw power, this loss of control may cause mutations. Gods are Made of Magic (and Made of Evil), demons are Semi-Divine monsters or mortals, and shamans are half-demon mortals (half-demon monsters are called "familiars"). Blood magic works because all the world's creatures are animated by a highly concentrated form of mana (Life Energy) that energizes their blood (or sap); when the lives of plants, beasts, monsters, or mortals are sacrificed, the energy in their blood can be absorbed by mages to supplement their own mana expenditures. When a mage summons a god or (more commonly) a demon, the magical being can give him the extra mana he needs to work his miracle, but he can only summon a magical being with which he has forged a contract beforehand. If a mage runs out of "free mana" he can use internal mana instead, but this will permanently shorten his maximum life expectancy. Instead holding mana in their bodies directly, many mages elect to store it in wands, staffs, and/or talismans; mana can even be locked inside a Power Crystal or a Circle of Standing Stones. Mages struggle to hold on to their "humanity" because gods and demons are not only evil but exiled to the otherworld and will be compelled to submit to the expectations of mortals, monsters, and beasts if they enter the world, making them eviler than they would otherwise be. While most demons were born as such, most gods were originally mortals or monsters. All mages absorb mana by drawing it into their systems through their crown chakras (so, their chakras must be opened in alignment) and channel it out of their third eye, throat, heart, or root chakras; the heart chakra allows for hand-projected effects, while the root chakra allows for foot-projected effects.

edited 11th Feb '15 1:35:16 AM by nekomoon14

That is a crazy hodgepodge of ideas, all laid out it seems workable but a little "busy". Style wise it will probably be easier grasped by an audience than my system,despite mine being narrower. Because your system will is more in line with the image of magic that fantasy fans are familiar with.

Ether craft will definitely have schools. They are Sentian,Fortis,Noesis,Paradigm,Somat,Radiance. Somat is one of the easiest and most instinctive to use;Kungfuwizard and magicknight are common in my setting.

I'm in the middle of revising the system; It's staying a mixture of Ki and Psy but a little more Magery is being blended. I like the concept of spell-traps to much. I'm trying to decided whether or ether generates "energy and force" or merely mimics them. ether can merely mimic then dispelling ether-craft automatically ends whatever it's doing. If real then a rock propelled by ether wouldn't drop to the ground if the ether carrying it was dissipated.

edited 11th Feb '15 2:36:28 PM by Fomar

One of my fantasy settings does have a complete religion and Mythological backstory complete with Disciples and such.

Would anyone be interested in reading it over?

For the life of me there is one aspect of my world building that i've not been able to puzzle out. The social consequences of higher-powers and existence beyond death.

This is my cosmotheological set up.

Souls originate in the cosmic flow and return to it after death...usually. In very rare cases a person has enough will or spiritual power to avoid merging back into the source shortly after physical death. Such rare individuals may form bodies out of ectoplasm, which tend to look a little uncanny. If desperate or malicious enough these souls may try and possess a person; soul/body compatibility issues often means this doesn't work out very well.

The gods are immensely complex and powerful souls dwelling on"islands" within the cosmic flow. The most spiritually attuned individuals,usually priests, can channel the energy of their god. This providence takes on two forms, one an intuitive knowledge of things under their gods purview. The second is the ability to bless or curse through influencing luck. Fate, destiny, chance, why things are the way that they are, is the result of the movements of the cosmic flow. The "gods" being great masses of spiritual power influence the course of the cosmic flow simply by existing within. Both forms of providence are stronger when they are used in attunement with that particular gods nature and will.

The funerary rites and the structure religion are the most puzzling things to me. The closest thing to answer on religion is the idea people don't preach their faith they live it. Temples are more like guilds especially the followers of those who's god has a domain that overlaps with a vocation.

My system is pretty similar to nekomoon's.

In mine, magic runs on mana (well, most magic, but I'll get to that in a bit). Mana is the raw energy of magic, and there are many sources of it. There are certain locations that just have more mana than others.

Every living thing runs on mana and therefore produces ambient mana; sorta like body heat with mammals, but everything gives off some mana, even plants. Naturally some things generate more mana than others. A mouse generates more mana than a common plant, and a human generates more than a mouse. Magical beings, like magical plants used for alchemy, magical animals like unicorns, and magical beings like elves all generate more mana than their mundane counterparts. It is almost impossible for humans to focus mana enough to cast a spell since they lack the ability to sense it. Magical animals can utilize magic, but still having the intelligence of an animal, they're unable to focus their magic into a refined spell. Elves are the main spell casting race of my universe, though trolls and a couple others do it too (this being science fantasy and set in space, there are Loads and Loads of Races). Vampires technically could, but every vampires was once human, they usually don't. Which brings to my next point.

There technically is another magical force besides mana. I haven't given it a name yet aside from dark magic. Using dark magic corrupts you and destroys your conscience. It is what vampires and other undead run on.

Spells can be cast using arcane words and other things to focus the magic. Most magic users use wands and staves to focus it, and many have familiars. Familiars are an extension of the magic user. It can help if they want/need to be in two places at once. It takes a lot of knowledge to cast spells and use magic, making the most powerful mages also very good scientists. This also means that mages usually specialize in certain fields.

Gods are a tricky subject. They have a ridiculous amount of mana. While I like to avoid Power Levels, deities dwarf even elves in their mana capability. However, they rarely train their magic and usually choose one or two fields to specialize in (for example, Zeus specializes in weather magic). Little is known of them and they hardly ever come to the physical world to affect things directly. It's possible to kill them, but it is very difficult.

Items can be enchanted to contain a certain spell. Enchanting is a different skill than spell casting. Elves are good at spell casting whereas dwarves excel at enchantments. Just the way their magical natures are. Once an item is enchanted, anybody could use it. My setting is very much a Magitek setting and many items run on outright magic instead of technobabble.

Gemsparky - I like the rather anthropological approach you've taken. :)

So I am wondering how I would define some god like characters. Because their mythos is that they were physically created by the gods of the world in my fantasy setting.

Because at first there were two, but to keep watch over the world while they made new projects, they made two beings with godlike power called Chronos and Xe, who later in turn during a large war made avatars out of human beings and began a cycle of reincarnation.

Where would Chronos and Xe be in terms of godhood? Demigods?

Sounds like they'd be Greek God level, with the originators being more akin to Titans or precursor gods.

Even the Greek, Roman and Middle Eastern gods didn't necessarily make their worlds - they inherited them, or created them from the dessicated remains of their parents.

And they're still gods.

Huh. The mythos are a bit more greek god level. They found a empty world, one filled it with life and beauty while the other brought about logic and order.

Then there was the war of Heaven where the mortal realm wished to see the gods gone and initiated a long bloody battle. It ended with no winners.

One setting I had also had elves as the only spellcasters. The difference was, elves weren't a separate race but something a human was occasionally born as.

Basically, I combined elves with wizards from The Dresden Files, both are magical with increased life spans as a result. I burrow a lot of other stuff from DF, magic words being self-imposed safety measures and the power to turn on the Third Eye to see the world for what it truly was.

Wars against the divines... a fun concept!

that sounds ALMOST Shadowrun, but an interesting take on how magic and "races" entwine. So magicians are physically different as well, further marking them.

One concept I had for an old old story I wrote (Which read like... well the ramblings of a teenager, which it was!) where the gods were mortals, picked from the wreckage of the previous world to become gods of the next.

The original setting was our world, which gets wiped out during a machine war and other economic issues. Then 6 survivors wake up in a blank room where a very dapper, polite man monologues at them for a while about how the world works in cycles. So, they build a new world and go down as the "gods" of the world and watch as it changes and morphs.

I was still trying to work out how to tell a good STORY in there, as the gods are petty and strange personifications - the happy widower becomes a god of death; the cheated-on soldier becomes a god of love; the saved general becomes a god of machines and progress; the soldiers unfaithful girlfriend becomes a goddess of nature; the weasely business man becomes a god of war.

And the dapper little man is an eldritch abomination who recreats the world again and again because it feeds off the chaos that emerges...

The War of Heaven was... a odd case to say the least. Mostly because the original 2 gods respected the wishes of the mortal world and left, they had done so much anyway it was time to let this realm find it's own purpose.

A friend of mine and I have planned quite a bit of this, I'll try to see if I can ever get her on here.

Chronos and Xe were different, they were close, pretty much lovers. Hell they practically built their own utopia, a sprawling land filled with vibrant life and sprawling industry, so it made it hard for them to take their sides when the war came about. Chronos wanted to stay seeing mortals as ungrateful as he had helped bring about advanced industry and knowledge to them, while Xe understood that nothing lasts forever.

Chronos became a agent of destruction and only furthered the war, Xe seeing him become nothing more than a broken emotionless being drove her into a depression. The both of them however in a attempt to continue their legacy granted powers to some humans, 2 of which became Avatars. The Avatar of Life and the Avatar of Gears.

Xe was once in charge of life and beauty, she became nothing more than a ruler of the underworld. Chronos was once in charge of creation and innovation, he became a agent of destruction.

And when the war finally ended, as I said there were no winners, Chronos had survived the war sure but he was now alone and in a dead land through a war he could have avoided if he had not taken such a violent option. The mortal realm no longer had the gods with them to watch over them or influence life but it had taken a long bloody battle.

As for the Avatars, they died, reincarnated, found each other, and fought again. And it continued like that for centuries.

Now I'm wondering... is this High Fantasy or Low Fantasy.

So, reading about the chakras of hindu/tantric traditions gave me an idea for a magic system. More specifically, as shown in this article, that the chakras correspond to seven elements (Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Aether/Light, Nether/Darkness and Time/Space). The idea, so far, is that everyone in the setting has chakras (or the setting's equivalent), that through meditation, study and/or spiritual enlightenment/development can be unlocked, with each chakra representing a magical element. So if, for example, one unlocks the chakra corresponding to fire, they can learn how to use magic involving fire. The requirements for unlocking the chakras would be different for each one, so while in theory people could unlock and learn all types of magic, their personalities and spiritual nature would make some chakras easier to unlock than others for different people. So someone might have a relatively easy time of learning fire, but might have to spend at least twice as much time and effort to learn water, if they can learn at all.

The main idea behind this would be that it avoids some other common aspects of fantasy magic systems, like that magic is inherited, or that it is effectively a single phenomenon simply divided into different schools that aren't mutually exclusive (like, a mage in most western fantasy RP Gs nowadays can learn fire, frost and lightning spells equally easily, and possess spells from all those fields simultaneously), or that it requires patronage from deities. It would also encourage magic-users in the setting to primarily congregate in monasteries - since the time-consuming process would leave little time over for other, worldly pursuits - and thus (generally) have less impact on politics, in turn explaining why mages haven't used their powers to take over.

However, I could use some tips on how to mix it up so that it isn't a blatant copy and paste of real life hindu/tantric philosophy. One thought I had was to cross it with the elements used in Wu Xing (IE Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water), and thus reduce it to five chakras, but it feels like I need to do more than that to make the system my own.

edited 13th Mar '15 9:36:59 AM by Kardavnil

I like your concept, especially the way you justify the lack of a magocracy and perhaps giving credence to the Squishy Wizard, at least if you were so inclined - I'm assuming you want a more Kung-Fu Wizard feel, though.

If I was doing it, I'd go with crown=space, third eye=time, throat="magic" (perhaps giving the mage the ability to manipulate magic itself), heart=water, solar plexus=air, sacrum=fire, and root=earth. I'd say the chakras are bound by the gods to keep mortals under control (which would mean that the gods don't like mages). I's also say each chakra is twice as difficult to open as the one before, and once all seven are opened the mage can align them to achieve divinity. I'd treat meditation as internal energy work intended to clear pranic blockages and remove toxic prana-waste. Personally, I like the idea of there being three categories of mages (that only I know exist): the low-level ones who can take years to open their root chakra, the mid-level ones who can take months to do it, and the high-level, who can take weeks to do it.

EDIT: Actually, it'd make more sense for root=fire, sacrum=air, solar plexus=water, and heart=earth, but that goes against the elements traditionally assigned to the chakras.

edited 14th Mar '15 12:56:18 AM by nekomoon14

Thanks I think I would have it depend on the chakra: at least the earth chakra I can see requiring some form of physical exercise to unlock. Maybe it's just because I'm an Avatar The Last Airbender geek, but I imagine mastering earth would involve learning how to be firm, decisive and stand up for yourself, which would probably include being physically capable of preventing others from pushing you around. Heck, if you push it a little, I imagine Earth, Fire, Air and Water could all require a degree of physical practice, since they are all physical things you can taste, smell, feel and/or hear with your physical body, so training the body in addition to the soul in order to unlock them would make sense. Time, Space and possibly "Magic", though, I think would require focusing solely on meditation and learning how to intellectually understand them, since you can't really use any of the physical senses to "find" time. So, I imagine there would probably be both Kung-Fu Wizards and Squishy Wizards in the setting.

As for your suggested division of the chakras and elements, I really like it. Splitting up time and space into separate elements is good, since they really are fundamentally different things. I'm not really sure what practical effects manipulating "magic itself" would involve, though. I guess it could be used to make allies' or one's own magic more powerful, or weaken the opponent's magic (or even cancel out magic in the area entirely). What do you think? Also, how would you argue that root=Fire, sacrum=Air etc. makes more sense than the traditional assignment? I'm not objecting to it, I'm just curious about your arguments for it. After all, switching around the elements to other chakras is probably a good idea if I want the system to feel more unique, as long as I can make a convincing argument for why.

Having gods that dislike mages is also a very clever idea. Maybe the gods could be manifestations of the elements that created the world and all life in it together, but in order to keep their creations from overpowering them they locked the chakras? Or alternately, all beings were initially divine, but a small group did something that locked everyone else's chakras, reducing them to mortals and allowing the group to reign supreme? In either case, it seems like a possibility that enough mortals could eventually achieve divinity for there to be a war between old and new gods. Definitely something to think about...

As for categories, I don't know if there needs to be actual "categories". I do agree that some would, for various reasons, be better at unlocking certain chakras (or unlocking chakras in general) than others. Though maybe that's what you meant.

Going back to the elements: what about stuff like Metal, Wood, Lightning, etc.? Do you reckon it's best to keep them as sub-elements within the larger elements (IE Metal and Wood = sub-disciplines as the Earth element)? Naruto had a pretty interesting alternative to this: in case you haven't read it, there are five basic elements (Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth and Water), but then there are additional special elements that are combinations of 2 or more of the basic elements (for example: Wood is a combination of Earth and Water, Lava is a combination of Fire and Earth, Ice is a combination of Water and Wind, etc. - more information here if you're curious). So, do you think something like that would work in this case, or is it better to stick to the traditional way?

Also, do you think it's best to require the chakras to be unlocked in a certain order (root chakra first, and so on, all the way up to the crown chakra - or is it the third eye that's unlocked last?), or to allow individual chakras to be unlocked in any order? The plus side of the former is that it ensures that only very few are going to be able to use time magic, which could minimize the potential for overpowered magic derailing the story, though the downside is that it forces all cultures to educate their mages in essentially the same way. The upside of the latter is that it allows for more cultural variation: a society built on certain virtues, for example, could frown on unlocking certain chakras, because unlocking them would require accepting certain attributes the society feels are incompatible with the virtues they preach (so, if working by the former rules, and a society's values conflict with the lessons required to unlock the root/fire chakra, they're kind of screwed, or have to become hypocrites in order to have any mages at all). Granted, I could have the Mage Monasteries (or whatever I end up calling them) be the only places in the world where magic can be learned at all, which in that case would mean that mages are separated from other cultures out of necessity. That could be interesting, actually.

edited 14th Mar '15 5:14:06 AM by Kardavnil

Yes, I was thinking that the throat chakra would allow for things like spell-binding, spell-breaking, magic item creation, and others things like that where you’re manipulating magic itself, but it could also be used to strengthen, weaken, and negate others' powers too.

As for the “categories”, I think that should just be something YOU know about, not something any character would know about. Most of the rules of any magic system should be known only to the creator, leaving the characters to grapple with a mysterious power that they don’t fully understand. But that’s because I like mysterious magic.

I think other elements should be combinations of the seven, but I’m imagining that fire, air, water, and earth represent energies, gases, liquids, and solids in general, so the combination of fire and air would make plasma (lightning) while air and water would make whatever state of matter lies between gas and liquid (maybe something you call “mist”). I like the idea of linking the chakras to different senses – I’m thinking that the three “esoteric chakras” might be tied to a sixth sense (representative of how people can sense the passage of time, realize when they’re lost, and experience abstract things like dreams).

I think the chakras should be opened from the root up to the crown, but you could decide that one mage over here starts with the root and this one over here starts with the solar plexus, so on an so forth (whatever you like best, really). The reason I switched the elemental correspondences is because I’m thinking the root should be the easiest chakra to open and fire should be the easiest element to manipulate. As for diversity is magical techniques, I like the idea of some monasteries teaching rune-based meditation while others teach music-based chakra opening, while another teaches dance-based, and another teaches mantra-based, and another teaches mandala-based, and so on. You could even have a school of magecraft that uses erotic techniques to unlock the chakras.

edited 14th Mar '15 10:53:13 AM by nekomoon14

Ah, ok, yeah, that makes sense.

And that's definitely an interesting take on the elements. Though if Fire+Air="Lightning" (Plasma) and Air+Water="Mist", what about the rest? Fire+Earth I could see as Lava (though it might be best to skip that, as I'm not overly fond of the Convection, Schmonvection trope) or possibly some kind of metal, and Fire+Water possibly as some form of acid. That leaves Air+Earth and Earth+Water (the closest I can think of for the latter following this line of thinking is...mud). Maybe I'm just too tired to think creatively right now...

And yeah, I guess fire would be easier than the others.

I'm thinking:

Fire and Air make Lightning

Fire and Water make Acid (and/or Alcohol)

Fire and Earth make Crystal

Air and Water make Mist

Air and Earth make Dust

Water and Earth make Wood (and/or Ice)

Fire, Air and Water make Thunder (because you already have Lightning, you could treat this as Make Me Wanna Shout because reasons)

Fire, Air and Earth make Metal

Air, Water, and Earth make Poison (maybe representative of smog)

All four together make Flesh (so, healing and stuff like that would be high-level stuff)

I'll admit, naming things isn't my strong suit, but maybe you can change some names to fit your understanding of the elements. Some people expect air and water to make ice, while others don't, for example.

edited 14th Mar '15 4:39:51 PM by nekomoon14

Hah! If mages could make alcohol out of thin air, I imagine they would drive all other winesellers out of business And don't you mean "Smaug"?

But in all seriousness, those are very good. Thanks for all the help!