Hello all. I just finished an initial draft of a magic system i want to incorporate in the high fantasy world I am building. This is the first time I've ever worked on anything like thing and I did not find it easy to say the least.
Anyway these are the my initial thoughts on some of how magic would work in my world. Unfortunately the magic system is not that original and it's admittedly inspired/borrowing/stealing heavily from many different sources.
Still y'know it's my baby so I am in love with it on some level. I thought I'd share just to get some feedback/constructive criticisms, maybe suggestions on how to improve it, what to keep, what to scrap, what's interesting what's not, maybe opinions on whether or not the system is broken or if it is highly susceptible to creating plot holes in the story etc etc.
Well let me know what you think and thanks in advance for reading.
Creation consists of sounds, wavelengths and frequencies. All matter; all things emit energy and information, including consciousness. Sentient creatures-in the addition to the frequencies given off by their cells-when they think or feel emit a wave of energy.
Who Has Magic? A minority of sentient beings: Magic is common enough that a magocracy is a form of government though mages are relative minorities of most populations. Magic users are those born with the ability to use magic, though the ability is inherited it is not necessarily passed from parent to child. It is not uncommon for magical ability skip generations before emerging again within a bloodline. (on a scientific level I suppose magic is recessive gene)
Magic is defined as the art of causing alterations in reality through the force of will and energy. Magic selectively breaks physical laws. Advanced magical techniques are either studied at school or taught through apprentice/mentor relationships.
The channelers of magic draw in external energy sources, in most case this energy is the aural energy of the planet or nature itself. This for the most part is an innate talent that has to be refined through training. Basically a mage is a being who can learn to draw natural energy inside them and via their willpower, and imagination the mage is required to balance his/her physical and spiritual energy with the energy he/she gathers from the world. The result of this balancing is an altered state of mind.
Generally channelers of magic draw in energy through multiple paths each of them involving them altering consciousness.
The first and generally most practiced way to draw magic is through intense meditation and self-hypnosis. The amount of time needed to alter consciousness varies; a greatly experienced mage may need minutes a novice mage hours.
Beyond meditation a trance-like state can be induced through music drumming, dancing, or any repetitive rhythmic motions.
A second source of energy involves sexual energy sentient beings are ‘energetic beings. In addition to their bodies their thoughts and emotions emit energy as well. When you get intimate with anyone you merge with their energy. For a normal person this is means nothing more than intimacy and passion, a mage during the act of sexual intercourse you can absorb some of their energy and they absorb some of your energy. If the Mage sleeps with a variety of people, they absorb their energy. A married man or mage has absorbed their spouses energy and will mix it with the energy of whomever else he or she sleeps with. This is the least consistent path due to the ease in which a mage's focus/concentration can slip so balancing the energy to achieve an altered consciousness is difficult. It is also considered vulgar and crude in most civilized areas.
Spirits can impart energy to mages or non-mages (are not able to attune to the reality around them but can use the spirit’s energy to improve their physical or spiritual attributes) use a portion of the spirit's power as their own. This universally comes with a price. A price may include a mage becoming a servant of the spirit and in doing so is subject to being temporarily possessed by the spirit whenever the spirit wills it.
(space reserved for more ways to draw in energy)
All the aforementioned paths are unfortunately time-consuming. The easiest and quickest path to an altered state by a mage is through the sixth path the ingestion of rare and sacred mushrooms. Most mages have been known to carry such mushrooms with them for the sake of convenience. the inconvenience of such mushrooms however is that it can causes a mage to hallucinate and the lines between mental clarity and psychosis blurs. (more on mushroom drawback later on)
In this altered state a mage "tunes" into the reality around, they become an antennae of sorts, a beacon receptive to the frequencies or wavelengths of energy that all things emit. These wavelengths consist of information or "coding" that can, with the use of certain amount of spiritually force, be rewritten through a force of Will. For example a mage could temporarily rewrite the information of a stone and the reality of how it interacts with gravity which results in the stone being able to levitate. Spellcasting is the act of reading a target’s and using one’s will to rewrite information of a target to perform a specific function. The “rewrite” is not permanent, how long a spell will affect an object depends on the mage’s power, and the mage must maintain his or her mystical focus to keep the spell going,
Mages cannot create materials from thin air to create a fireball a mage in his altered state of consciousness would need to access to a source of fire. Theoretically a mage could pluck fire from a torch, having rewritten its attributes and rendering it harmless to his person, shape it to the form of a ball, fuel its intensity by enhance it with his own spiritual energy/life-force and then either throwing it or firing it off at his enemy with precision using a blast of guided pressured air. Combining or merging the attributes of one or more things creates more options for a creative mage, with access to fire from a candle and a sword; an experienced mage can create a flaming sword, one that is harmless to its wielder but an instrument of fiery destruction to his target.
How long it takes to cast/achieve the magical effect, how powerful the spell's goal is and how precise the spell is depends on the talent, expertise/skill of the mage. For example to boil a pot of water a truly novice mage may need a few minutes to gather the necessary energy in addition to standing in a close proximity to the pot perhaps 3 ft away. An adept mage could boil pot in less time and from 20ft away (Assuming the mage had the pot in his/her line of sight or having a sense of where the pot lay). Wizards can harness that energy and manifest it, but they cannot automatically control it.
Spellcasting is the of reading a target’s information, rewriting it and having it perform in some outside of its normal function. Spell “coding” can be harnessed into a special gems to create “quick spells” to be used when is not in an altered state. For example when in an altered state an attenuated mage rewrites the information from a flame to gives it such attributes that it he or she is not harmed by its heat. The mage can store the new coding (the rewritten information) into a crystal that he carries on his person, so that if he or she is ever attacked by a fireball the quick-witted mage (who is not in an altered state) can activate the crystal overwriting the flames of the fire ball rendering it useless.
Activating a crystal uses some of the Mage’s own energy making it harder to balance energy and alter one’s consciousness.
Mages can form ritualistic contracts with non-mages that involve the comingling of energy (more on this later on). The by product of this that the non-mage can activate “quick spell” crystals that have been created by the mage. For example the mage can customize a warrior’s sword with gems that have been enchanted with fire spell (more on enchantment below). When coming in contact with fire, the warrior can activate the crystal temporarily merging the fire’s attributes with the sword. In essence the warrior can know wield a flaming sword which would burn all but those who have shared the mage’s energy. Thusly magic weapons and magic armor can be created. Magic armor specifically is forged with multiple crystals that enhance a warrior’s abilities on the battlefield. Activated magic armor slowly but consistently drains from a warrior’s pool of energy. (more on this later)
Significantly powerful mages have been known to take on the the elements around them.
The effects of a mage's spell, the rewriting of an object's reality is usually temporary, the more energy a mage expands into the spell the longer the spell lasts. Permanent spells have been achieved but at the cost of a mage's life.
When attuned a mage is receptive to the wavelength from objects or people within a certain range. The effective range is determined by a combination of a mage's skill, innate talent, and the potency of any available amplifying crystal. Powerful Mages can affect most things within their line of sight. Mages combining their energies or powerful mages using crystals that tremendously amplified their energy have been known to affect objects miles away from them.
How long it takes to cast/achieve the magical effect, how long a spell lasts, or how an object precisely performs the task programmed to it by a specific spell depends on the talent, expertise/skill, and the amount of energy or life-force available to the mage.
For example to freeze a pot of hot water a truly novice mage may need a number of minutes to gather the necessary energy in addition to being in a close proximity to the pot perhaps even needing to touch it or the water itself. A much more adept mage could freeze the water in less time and from a range of 3-20ft away (Assuming the mage had the pot in his/her line of sight or having a sense of where the pot lay).
To move a boulder to a specific point a mage would need the stone to be in their magical range, and then levitate the stone (the bigger the stone the more energy required to rewrite) gain control of the air currents within his range and use them to guide the stone to wherever he chooses. Each specific action would require a varying amount of energy.
A mage must be able to maintain a certain degree of focus to complete or maintain a spell, an interruption of a mage's concentration will almost always cancel any spell under a mage's management.
The Drawbacks of Magic:
Unlocking this highly active and continuous brain state heightens the mage's nervous system. In their altered state of mind the mage becomes super sensitive to everything around them. Consequently while their senses speed, and reaction time dramatically increases their pain tolerance dramatically lowers. A mage stubbing his toe may feel as if someone had taken a hammer to it. The heightened sensitivity is a double edged sword.
Extensive dosing of mushrooms can leave a mage with a struggling immune leaving them susceptible to serious illnesses. Psychological effects, can include minor depression, mood swings, and increased paranoia. Losing one's focus while under the influence of sacred mushrooms can cause a mage to be lost temporarily in a hallucinogenic haze.
An advanced spell may kill a mage if the mage’s body is not strong enough to adequately handle the amount of physical stress that certain spells can impose on the body. An injured (or ill) mage should be wary of expanding large amounts of energy less their body succumb to the injuries. Additionally it is generally recommended that a mage who is injured at least numb their pain before altering their state of mind, less their heightened senses amplify their pain which usually results in making concentrating and thusly spell casting very difficult.
A mage must be able to maintain a certain degree of focus to complete or maintain a spell, an interruption of a mage's concentration will almost always cancel any spell under a mage's management.
For most beings advanced magic requires crystals. These can be stolen or destroyed or lost. Most magic users are fairly limited without crystals (or items bejeweled with crystals), they can make very small changes happen around them but they don't have anything close to precise control over magic. 99% of mages would be deeply troubled if found to be crystal-less in a battle scenario. .
Mages get fatigued after extensive use. Mages have been known to fall into a temporary comatose due to spiritual exhaustion if spell casting past their bodily limits.
Spell effects are temporary. Attempting to create a spell with a permanent effect such as in item enhancement will cost a tremendous amount of energy that will take a mage's life.
Magic affects the local weather, and large-scale magic might even cause temporary climate change which can have devastating effects on the economy.
Extensive use of certain magic will leave the mage with magical energies that surround them for a while after use. Examples extensive use of air magic will leave a mage with leaves and papers fluttering around them, fire magic leave a magic hot to the touch, random sparks of electricity can shock others after a mage doles out lightning.
In theory mages can harness the powers of the weather. Large-scale magic might even cause climate change.
Special Aspects of Magic:
Specialties: Mages who have a knack for one of the specializations of magic tend to be comparatively deficient in others.
Mantras are primarily used as spiritual conduits, words or phrases that instill concentration in the mage. Many mages use mantras as a focal point. The mantra can be any kind of phrase or even nonsense, as long it is a source of comfort and comes naturally to the mage.
Only Djinn (tentative name for a race) can produce elemental energy from their own imagination (i.e. using water magic without any water source). They are not technically mages but are the most magical race, Djin who are born with an elemental affinity, such as water, can use no other.
Imbuing items with magical effects is called "enchantment”
Enchanted Items: Permanent and Temporary — Using special crystals mages can create temporary enhanced magical armor, shields and swords for warriors who do not have the ability to use magic.
Those without magical affinities can still use these objects. Objects imbued with magic often have limited uses, eventually expiring/losing the magical effect or falling apart when the magical energy within it is spent.
Religiously motivated mages (tentatively titled) in the past and present when facing certain death by natural or unnatural cause have been known to give their lives to “blessing” or permanently enhancing a magical weapon or armor (using up all their energy) so the item can be used by paladins for the greater good.
Some Mages exhibit special inborn (or acquired) attributes which mark them as unique amongst their kind, for example Bard are mages with an innate hypnotic magical effect that they are to induce through songs which are either sung or played through a musical instrument.
The mind and body of all sentient beings gives off wavelengths of information. Both have specific has energy fields around them consisting of their life-force/spiritual energy. This is a natural and unconscious barrier to certain types of energy. It takes a tremendous amount of energy and force of will to bypass the natural mental barriers of an unwilling target. Thusly it is very difficult though not impossible for cleric/healers and bards (more on this later) to bypass this natural barrier and affect a target unless they are willing to be affected. This is the true also for those casting mind affecting spells (more on this later) therefore it would take the skills of a highly advanced mage to perform such feats .
It takes a tremendous amount of energy and force of will to bypass the natural barriers of an unwilling target. Unless the target itself is unusually weak of will.
Non-mages can form spiritual pacts with Mages. With a pact formed and energy co mingled a mage no longer has to force through the energy field surrounding the non-mage. Non-mages can have a gem(s) magically embedded into their body or armor. The mage at any time can imbue the gem with a single spell. For example a gem loaded with a minor regenerative spell that will automatically heal the minor wounds of a non-mage consistently as long as it has the required energy. (Possible side effects not yet decided yet,)
In other situations in the circumstances where a non-mage is in presence of friendly bards or cleric/healers with some focus and relaxation a non-mage can willingly allow a mage to affect them without having forming a pact with them.
Familiars are spirits who agree to become subordinate to a mage. The spirit and mage form a partnership that reflects such a relationship and they become intimately linked.
Group Effects: Mages are especially powerful when working together as a large group of willing participants can combine energies.
The vitality of living things is distributed throughout their bodies but is concentrated in the blood and to a far lesser extent semen. Thusly Blood magic or sacrifice magic is the use of other creatures or beings life energy in substitute of your own to harness and control magic.
Extensive use of controlling the element will leave the mage with magical energies that surround them for a while after use. Examples extensive use of elemental forces such as controlling the wind will leave a mage with leaves and papers fluttering around them, fire magic leave a magic hot to the touch, random sparks of electricity can shock others after a mage doles out lightning.
Specializations of magic
1) Talismanic or enchantment forging:
Mages can take certain gems, charge and load/enhance it for magical purposes. Item enchantment magic takes time and effort and it is usually mage blacksmiths who dedicate themselves to putting this skill to consistent use. Mage blacksmiths are generally commissioned by the armies to create or recharge magical items to be used by non-mage infantry. Warriors who are not under the command of a specific mage commander must choose a magesmith to share energy with.
A mage may create amulets and talismans to imbue with specific spell effects to save time. An amulet is an item that works passively it may be imbued with a counterspell or specifically activates in reaction to a certain trigger whilst a talisman is more active item. A mage may create an amulet that senses negative energy; a mage may create a talisman that casts a low level shield of energy around them. Both items continuously drains a portion of a mage's energy the amount varies based on the function of the item.
Talismans or amulets can be imbued to work for only a specific person or persons. In this way they can be dangerous objects, it is was not unheard of for dying mages of long ago to create magical weapons that can only be used by those whom share his or her blood line and curses everyone else.
2) Repudiation is a magic art that involves the manipulation of magic itself. It includes wielding spells that absorb, reflect magic, dispelling curses or removing the effects of magical items.
3) Exorcism: Essentially the art of controlling, or dealing with hostile spirits.
4) Hexing/cursing: Typically a curse or hex is a harmful magical spell that will develop slowly and gradually. A tremendous amount of energy is required for what is essentially the art of creating magical traps or for the lack of better word landmines. Magical diseases are included under the umbrella of hexing.
5) Restoration arts:
These spells allow mages to heal and boost their allies. Dedicated clerics, mages who are inclined to healing, and bards are those who use techniques that employ a great level of refined magic control to simultaneously activate and maintain certain biological functions in a person's body. Temple clerics and healers use magic on themselves or patients willing to accept their magic. The healing arts temporarily cause a body to exponentially increase its healing capabilities and repairing itself by healing damaged tissues and bone structures, and conquering diseases and infection. Mages cannot recreate tissue; if a finger is missing a mage cannot grow another one. If the finger is found and it hasn't been too long it can be reattached.
Magical healing requires significant rest afterwards and it is not uncommon for those healed magically to pass out for hours or days at a time. Miraculous as it is, speeding up the body's healing process will exhaust the body. There is also speculation rapidly healing critical injuries, such as a damaged lung can shorten one's lifespan by weakening other organs.
The mage must be in close proximity to its target to effectively use restoration arts.
The magical songs of bards can encourage the release of adrenaline and endorphins in the body to willing participants.
6) The art of Illusionists and Charmers. This is a school of thought regarding spells that are mind-affecting:
Charming is divided into two subsections: Compulsion and Persuasion. Persuasion, affect the target(s) attitudes, making them act more favorable toward the caster's suggestion. Compulsion can temporarily force the target(s) to act in a certain way or affect the targets' emotions.
The magical songs of significantly powerful bard can induce confusion on its targets and bloodlust in allies.
Illusion typically consists of manipulating the mind and senses of the enemy: Creating artificial sensations, altering a target's sensory properties, creating insubstantial images which affect the minds of the viewers, and causing hallucinations.
7) Invocation and Evocation: Invocation is the art of calling upon powerful entities, spirits, and other such non-human intelligences. Evocation is forcefully summoning such beings.
8) Necromancy
Spells that help or reanimate the dead. Zombies raised by necromancers have no will of their own or any memories of their former lives. They are simply animated corpses who are extensions of the Mage who raised them. This spell allows for the Mage to control the separate zombie bodies as though they were his own. The zombies are kept active by the Mage's spiritual energy.
Hello all. I just finished an initial draft of a magic system i want to incorporate in the high fantasy world I am building. This is the first time I've ever worked on anything like thing and I did not find it easy to say the least.
Anyway these are the my initial thoughts on some of how magic would work in my world. Unfortunately the magic system is not that original and it's admittedly inspired/borrowing/stealing heavily from many different sources.
Still y'know it's my baby so I am in love with it on some level. I thought I'd share just to get some feedback/constructive criticisms, maybe suggestions on how to improve it, what to keep, what to scrap, what's interesting what's not, maybe opinions on whether or not the system is broken or if it is highly susceptible to creating plot holes in the story etc etc.
Well let me know what you think and thanks in advance for reading.
Creation consists of sounds, wavelengths and frequencies. All matter; all things emit energy and information, including consciousness. Sentient creatures-in the addition to the frequencies given off by their cells-when they think or feel emit a wave of energy.
Who Has Magic? A minority of sentient beings: Magic is common enough that a magocracy is a form of government though mages are relative minorities of most populations. Magic users are those born with the ability to use magic, though the ability is inherited it is not necessarily passed from parent to child. It is not uncommon for magical ability skip generations before emerging again within a bloodline. (on a scientific level I suppose magic is recessive gene)
Magic is defined as the art of causing alterations in reality through the force of will and energy. Magic selectively breaks physical laws. Advanced magical techniques are either studied at school or taught through apprentice/mentor relationships.
The channelers of magic draw in external energy sources, in most case this energy is the aural energy of the planet or nature itself. This for the most part is an innate talent that has to be refined through training. Basically a mage is a being who can learn to draw natural energy inside them and via their willpower, and imagination the mage is required to balance his/her physical and spiritual energy with the energy he/she gathers from the world. The result of this balancing is an altered state of mind. Generally channelers of magic draw in energy through multiple paths each of them involving them altering consciousness. The first and generally most practiced way to draw magic is through intense meditation and self-hypnosis. The amount of time needed to alter consciousness varies; a greatly experienced mage may need minutes a novice mage hours.
Beyond meditation a trance-like state can be induced through music drumming, dancing, or any repetitive rhythmic motions.
A second source of energy involves sexual energy sentient beings are ‘energetic beings. In addition to their bodies their thoughts and emotions emit energy as well. When you get intimate with anyone you merge with their energy. For a normal person this is means nothing more than intimacy and passion, a mage during the act of sexual intercourse you can absorb some of their energy and they absorb some of your energy. If the Mage sleeps with a variety of people, they absorb their energy. A married man or mage has absorbed their spouses energy and will mix it with the energy of whomever else he or she sleeps with. This is the least consistent path due to the ease in which a mage's focus/concentration can slip so balancing the energy to achieve an altered consciousness is difficult. It is also considered vulgar and crude in most civilized areas.
Spirits can impart energy to mages or non-mages (are not able to attune to the reality around them but can use the spirit’s energy to improve their physical or spiritual attributes) use a portion of the spirit's power as their own. This universally comes with a price. A price may include a mage becoming a servant of the spirit and in doing so is subject to being temporarily possessed by the spirit whenever the spirit wills it.
(space reserved for more ways to draw in energy)
All the aforementioned paths are unfortunately time-consuming. The easiest and quickest path to an altered state by a mage is through the sixth path the ingestion of rare and sacred mushrooms. Most mages have been known to carry such mushrooms with them for the sake of convenience. the inconvenience of such mushrooms however is that it can causes a mage to hallucinate and the lines between mental clarity and psychosis blurs. (more on mushroom drawback later on)
In this altered state a mage "tunes" into the reality around, they become an antennae of sorts, a beacon receptive to the frequencies or wavelengths of energy that all things emit. These wavelengths consist of information or "coding" that can, with the use of certain amount of spiritually force, be rewritten through a force of Will. For example a mage could temporarily rewrite the information of a stone and the reality of how it interacts with gravity which results in the stone being able to levitate. Spellcasting is the act of reading a target’s and using one’s will to rewrite information of a target to perform a specific function. The “rewrite” is not permanent, how long a spell will affect an object depends on the mage’s power, and the mage must maintain his or her mystical focus to keep the spell going,
Mages cannot create materials from thin air to create a fireball a mage in his altered state of consciousness would need to access to a source of fire. Theoretically a mage could pluck fire from a torch, having rewritten its attributes and rendering it harmless to his person, shape it to the form of a ball, fuel its intensity by enhance it with his own spiritual energy/life-force and then either throwing it or firing it off at his enemy with precision using a blast of guided pressured air. Combining or merging the attributes of one or more things creates more options for a creative mage, with access to fire from a candle and a sword; an experienced mage can create a flaming sword, one that is harmless to its wielder but an instrument of fiery destruction to his target.
How long it takes to cast/achieve the magical effect, how powerful the spell's goal is and how precise the spell is depends on the talent, expertise/skill of the mage. For example to boil a pot of water a truly novice mage may need a few minutes to gather the necessary energy in addition to standing in a close proximity to the pot perhaps 3 ft away. An adept mage could boil pot in less time and from 20ft away (Assuming the mage had the pot in his/her line of sight or having a sense of where the pot lay). Wizards can harness that energy and manifest it, but they cannot automatically control it.
Spellcasting is the of reading a target’s information, rewriting it and having it perform in some outside of its normal function. Spell “coding” can be harnessed into a special gems to create “quick spells” to be used when is not in an altered state. For example when in an altered state an attenuated mage rewrites the information from a flame to gives it such attributes that it he or she is not harmed by its heat. The mage can store the new coding (the rewritten information) into a crystal that he carries on his person, so that if he or she is ever attacked by a fireball the quick-witted mage (who is not in an altered state) can activate the crystal overwriting the flames of the fire ball rendering it useless.
Activating a crystal uses some of the Mage’s own energy making it harder to balance energy and alter one’s consciousness.
Mages can form ritualistic contracts with non-mages that involve the comingling of energy (more on this later on). The by product of this that the non-mage can activate “quick spell” crystals that have been created by the mage. For example the mage can customize a warrior’s sword with gems that have been enchanted with fire spell (more on enchantment below). When coming in contact with fire, the warrior can activate the crystal temporarily merging the fire’s attributes with the sword. In essence the warrior can know wield a flaming sword which would burn all but those who have shared the mage’s energy. Thusly magic weapons and magic armor can be created. Magic armor specifically is forged with multiple crystals that enhance a warrior’s abilities on the battlefield. Activated magic armor slowly but consistently drains from a warrior’s pool of energy. (more on this later)
Significantly powerful mages have been known to take on the the elements around them.
The effects of a mage's spell, the rewriting of an object's reality is usually temporary, the more energy a mage expands into the spell the longer the spell lasts. Permanent spells have been achieved but at the cost of a mage's life.
When attuned a mage is receptive to the wavelength from objects or people within a certain range. The effective range is determined by a combination of a mage's skill, innate talent, and the potency of any available amplifying crystal. Powerful Mages can affect most things within their line of sight. Mages combining their energies or powerful mages using crystals that tremendously amplified their energy have been known to affect objects miles away from them.
How long it takes to cast/achieve the magical effect, how long a spell lasts, or how an object precisely performs the task programmed to it by a specific spell depends on the talent, expertise/skill, and the amount of energy or life-force available to the mage.
For example to freeze a pot of hot water a truly novice mage may need a number of minutes to gather the necessary energy in addition to being in a close proximity to the pot perhaps even needing to touch it or the water itself. A much more adept mage could freeze the water in less time and from a range of 3-20ft away (Assuming the mage had the pot in his/her line of sight or having a sense of where the pot lay).
To move a boulder to a specific point a mage would need the stone to be in their magical range, and then levitate the stone (the bigger the stone the more energy required to rewrite) gain control of the air currents within his range and use them to guide the stone to wherever he chooses. Each specific action would require a varying amount of energy.
A mage must be able to maintain a certain degree of focus to complete or maintain a spell, an interruption of a mage's concentration will almost always cancel any spell under a mage's management.
The Drawbacks of Magic:
Unlocking this highly active and continuous brain state heightens the mage's nervous system. In their altered state of mind the mage becomes super sensitive to everything around them. Consequently while their senses speed, and reaction time dramatically increases their pain tolerance dramatically lowers. A mage stubbing his toe may feel as if someone had taken a hammer to it. The heightened sensitivity is a double edged sword.
Extensive dosing of mushrooms can leave a mage with a struggling immune leaving them susceptible to serious illnesses. Psychological effects, can include minor depression, mood swings, and increased paranoia. Losing one's focus while under the influence of sacred mushrooms can cause a mage to be lost temporarily in a hallucinogenic haze.
An advanced spell may kill a mage if the mage’s body is not strong enough to adequately handle the amount of physical stress that certain spells can impose on the body. An injured (or ill) mage should be wary of expanding large amounts of energy less their body succumb to the injuries. Additionally it is generally recommended that a mage who is injured at least numb their pain before altering their state of mind, less their heightened senses amplify their pain which usually results in making concentrating and thusly spell casting very difficult.
A mage must be able to maintain a certain degree of focus to complete or maintain a spell, an interruption of a mage's concentration will almost always cancel any spell under a mage's management.
For most beings advanced magic requires crystals. These can be stolen or destroyed or lost. Most magic users are fairly limited without crystals (or items bejeweled with crystals), they can make very small changes happen around them but they don't have anything close to precise control over magic. 99% of mages would be deeply troubled if found to be crystal-less in a battle scenario. .
Mages get fatigued after extensive use. Mages have been known to fall into a temporary comatose due to spiritual exhaustion if spell casting past their bodily limits.
Spell effects are temporary. Attempting to create a spell with a permanent effect such as in item enhancement will cost a tremendous amount of energy that will take a mage's life. Magic affects the local weather, and large-scale magic might even cause temporary climate change which can have devastating effects on the economy.
Extensive use of certain magic will leave the mage with magical energies that surround them for a while after use. Examples extensive use of air magic will leave a mage with leaves and papers fluttering around them, fire magic leave a magic hot to the touch, random sparks of electricity can shock others after a mage doles out lightning. In theory mages can harness the powers of the weather. Large-scale magic might even cause climate change. Special Aspects of Magic:
Specialties: Mages who have a knack for one of the specializations of magic tend to be comparatively deficient in others.
Mantras are primarily used as spiritual conduits, words or phrases that instill concentration in the mage. Many mages use mantras as a focal point. The mantra can be any kind of phrase or even nonsense, as long it is a source of comfort and comes naturally to the mage.
Only Djinn (tentative name for a race) can produce elemental energy from their own imagination (i.e. using water magic without any water source). They are not technically mages but are the most magical race, Djin who are born with an elemental affinity, such as water, can use no other.
Imbuing items with magical effects is called "enchantment”
Enchanted Items: Permanent and Temporary — Using special crystals mages can create temporary enhanced magical armor, shields and swords for warriors who do not have the ability to use magic.
Those without magical affinities can still use these objects. Objects imbued with magic often have limited uses, eventually expiring/losing the magical effect or falling apart when the magical energy within it is spent.
Religiously motivated mages (tentatively titled) in the past and present when facing certain death by natural or unnatural cause have been known to give their lives to “blessing” or permanently enhancing a magical weapon or armor (using up all their energy) so the item can be used by paladins for the greater good.
Some Mages exhibit special inborn (or acquired) attributes which mark them as unique amongst their kind, for example Bard are mages with an innate hypnotic magical effect that they are to induce through songs which are either sung or played through a musical instrument.
The mind and body of all sentient beings gives off wavelengths of information. Both have specific has energy fields around them consisting of their life-force/spiritual energy. This is a natural and unconscious barrier to certain types of energy. It takes a tremendous amount of energy and force of will to bypass the natural mental barriers of an unwilling target. Thusly it is very difficult though not impossible for cleric/healers and bards (more on this later) to bypass this natural barrier and affect a target unless they are willing to be affected. This is the true also for those casting mind affecting spells (more on this later) therefore it would take the skills of a highly advanced mage to perform such feats .
It takes a tremendous amount of energy and force of will to bypass the natural barriers of an unwilling target. Unless the target itself is unusually weak of will.
Non-mages can form spiritual pacts with Mages. With a pact formed and energy co mingled a mage no longer has to force through the energy field surrounding the non-mage. Non-mages can have a gem(s) magically embedded into their body or armor. The mage at any time can imbue the gem with a single spell. For example a gem loaded with a minor regenerative spell that will automatically heal the minor wounds of a non-mage consistently as long as it has the required energy. (Possible side effects not yet decided yet,)
In other situations in the circumstances where a non-mage is in presence of friendly bards or cleric/healers with some focus and relaxation a non-mage can willingly allow a mage to affect them without having forming a pact with them.
Familiars are spirits who agree to become subordinate to a mage. The spirit and mage form a partnership that reflects such a relationship and they become intimately linked.
Group Effects: Mages are especially powerful when working together as a large group of willing participants can combine energies.
The vitality of living things is distributed throughout their bodies but is concentrated in the blood and to a far lesser extent semen. Thusly Blood magic or sacrifice magic is the use of other creatures or beings life energy in substitute of your own to harness and control magic.
Extensive use of controlling the element will leave the mage with magical energies that surround them for a while after use. Examples extensive use of elemental forces such as controlling the wind will leave a mage with leaves and papers fluttering around them, fire magic leave a magic hot to the touch, random sparks of electricity can shock others after a mage doles out lightning.
Specializations of magic
1) Talismanic or enchantment forging: Mages can take certain gems, charge and load/enhance it for magical purposes. Item enchantment magic takes time and effort and it is usually mage blacksmiths who dedicate themselves to putting this skill to consistent use. Mage blacksmiths are generally commissioned by the armies to create or recharge magical items to be used by non-mage infantry. Warriors who are not under the command of a specific mage commander must choose a magesmith to share energy with.
A mage may create amulets and talismans to imbue with specific spell effects to save time. An amulet is an item that works passively it may be imbued with a counterspell or specifically activates in reaction to a certain trigger whilst a talisman is more active item. A mage may create an amulet that senses negative energy; a mage may create a talisman that casts a low level shield of energy around them. Both items continuously drains a portion of a mage's energy the amount varies based on the function of the item.
Talismans or amulets can be imbued to work for only a specific person or persons. In this way they can be dangerous objects, it is was not unheard of for dying mages of long ago to create magical weapons that can only be used by those whom share his or her blood line and curses everyone else.
2) Repudiation is a magic art that involves the manipulation of magic itself. It includes wielding spells that absorb, reflect magic, dispelling curses or removing the effects of magical items.
3) Exorcism: Essentially the art of controlling, or dealing with hostile spirits.
4) Hexing/cursing: Typically a curse or hex is a harmful magical spell that will develop slowly and gradually. A tremendous amount of energy is required for what is essentially the art of creating magical traps or for the lack of better word landmines. Magical diseases are included under the umbrella of hexing.
5) Restoration arts: These spells allow mages to heal and boost their allies. Dedicated clerics, mages who are inclined to healing, and bards are those who use techniques that employ a great level of refined magic control to simultaneously activate and maintain certain biological functions in a person's body. Temple clerics and healers use magic on themselves or patients willing to accept their magic. The healing arts temporarily cause a body to exponentially increase its healing capabilities and repairing itself by healing damaged tissues and bone structures, and conquering diseases and infection. Mages cannot recreate tissue; if a finger is missing a mage cannot grow another one. If the finger is found and it hasn't been too long it can be reattached.
Magical healing requires significant rest afterwards and it is not uncommon for those healed magically to pass out for hours or days at a time. Miraculous as it is, speeding up the body's healing process will exhaust the body. There is also speculation rapidly healing critical injuries, such as a damaged lung can shorten one's lifespan by weakening other organs.
The mage must be in close proximity to its target to effectively use restoration arts.
The magical songs of bards can encourage the release of adrenaline and endorphins in the body to willing participants.
6) The art of Illusionists and Charmers. This is a school of thought regarding spells that are mind-affecting:
Charming is divided into two subsections: Compulsion and Persuasion. Persuasion, affect the target(s) attitudes, making them act more favorable toward the caster's suggestion. Compulsion can temporarily force the target(s) to act in a certain way or affect the targets' emotions.
The magical songs of significantly powerful bard can induce confusion on its targets and bloodlust in allies.
Illusion typically consists of manipulating the mind and senses of the enemy: Creating artificial sensations, altering a target's sensory properties, creating insubstantial images which affect the minds of the viewers, and causing hallucinations.
7) Invocation and Evocation: Invocation is the art of calling upon powerful entities, spirits, and other such non-human intelligences. Evocation is forcefully summoning such beings.
8) Necromancy Spells that help or reanimate the dead. Zombies raised by necromancers have no will of their own or any memories of their former lives. They are simply animated corpses who are extensions of the Mage who raised them. This spell allows for the Mage to control the separate zombie bodies as though they were his own. The zombies are kept active by the Mage's spiritual energy.