Describe Your Magic System in a Few Sentences

Eheh, now maybe some of you can't keep your descriptions too brief, since most magic systems tend to be a bit complex... that's understandable, there's no hard and fast rule! But just try and hit the highlights, keep it shorter if you can.

Well, describe your magic system, the basic rules and how things work, who uses it, what it does, stuff like that.

<3 ali

My iMood

Okay...so basically, mages are born with a kind of sixth seventh sense  ^*

, which is an innate, hereditary ability. All objects have a kind of extra 'quality' similar to something like colour, or weight or whatever, and magic is essentially the ability to perceive and manipulate that quality, which in turn changes other aspects of the object, such as colour or weight, or movement, or being on fire, which makes it quite useful. It can also be used to manipulate people's minds, but it's more to suppress/create emotions and feelings than to actually read off people's thoughts and so on. The ability to use magic isn't limited to humans - the majority of animal species are born with it in roughly the same proportion of the population - but because of the concentration, focus and intent it requires it's rare that an animal can manage to use it at all.

Magical objects don't really exist, apart from the devices used for teleportation (which are ridiculously difficult to make, and take several years) because nobody is powerful enough to do teleportation on their own, it's just too difficult. Except for the obvious exception of its existence, magic can't break the laws of physics: you can't create or destroy matter, though you can move and convert it; the same applies to energy. If you wanted to, say, move one solid object through another, you'd have to think of something like turning them both temporarily to gas.

edited 12th Jan '11 11:37:04 AM by cityofmist

Scepticism and doubt lead to study and investigation, and investigation is the beginning of wisdom. - Clarence Darrow

Well, magic in Maikros is based on mana, an energy that lies in the earth. Mages take this mana and use it to cast their spells. Theoretically, this would mean that one merely has to use more mana to make bigger spells.

In practice, however, there are a few things limiting this:

A) Ability. Bringing up more power or sustaining it require practice. Also, sustained usage requires high endurance, while short but powerful bursts require more force of will.

B) Mana on Maikros is not infinite. It is, however, recyclable. When one casts a spell, the used mana doesn't disappear, but it is inert. It slowly flows back into the earth and regains its power. The larger the amount of mana used, the longer this takes.

B-1) The Mana Spirits, the emergent intelligence of mana, will seriously fuck your shit up if you use too much at once, as their purpose is to keep the mana cycle going smoothly. Large gobs of mana taking a very long time to return to the earth is the mana cycle taking longer, and thus not running smoothly.

B-2) Mage guilds utilize microscopic underworld portals to circumvent this. The underworld has an unlimited amount of mana. However, having these portals is a danger, as darkness spirits (mana spirits of the underworld) may come through. As such, precautions are taken such as the portals being as small as possible and having light mages stand guard by them.

Magic is information processing. ^^ The world is not real, it's only a freakishly huge information field whose state is being contantly updated according to certain rules by the what Dante called Unmoved Mover, the religious people call god, and what I call the Big Damn CPU. Sentience is defined as having CPUs independent of the mainframe, so it may act by its own rules. However, normal humans only see the top layer of surface data (our physical perceptions), so they can only act within the constraints of the so-called "laws of physics". Said "laws of physics", however, are also information, only it is stored on deeper levels of data and thus requires higher levels of awareness to manipulate. This is what the mages in my setting do: ascend to deeper levels of reality and alter the laws of nature to suit their purpose. The obvious danger is that whenever you alter the programming code, it may stop working at all. Also, there is the matter of the Counterforce, the ability of the Big Damn CPU to locate and eradicate code manipulations and, in some cases, the manipulator.

Oh, and there is no such thing as "mana": who much you can do with magic is solely limited by how fast you can think, how much time you have, and how good you are at evading the Counterforce.

People are born with the ability to slightly bend reality to their desired ends. However, its most people aren't wizards for the same reason that most people aren't composers or athletes: it takes a ridiculous amount of practice to be able to do anything with it. Some people also make use of "outside forces" (i.e. eldritch abominations) to power their magic, but they're very rare.

I have a master's degree in science!

Basically, you're imposig your will on the world. You want the winds to change direction; you change their direction. It takes a lot of energy to do anything big, though.

There are too many toasters in my chimney!

At the base of the world is the Tune or Melody or Symphony. Basically it describes what the world is, echoing what was and hinting at what will be. Magic/miracles are done by playing the universe to subtly change this melody. Unfortunately (or maybe thankfully) doing so is basically really frikking hard for a human to do. So instead mages play music to convince the spirits (basically semi-sentient bundles of music/magic) to do it for them. Success depends on a variety of things: performance quality, amount of 'soul' you put in, sometimes bargaining as well. As with all things, practise makes perfect, and mage learns how to better infuse their music with meaning and feeling, what tunes please what spirits, etc.

Also the more a person practises this magery the more powerful (for lack of a better word) their soul gets, enabling them to achieve small miracles on their own power. But as a benchline, a talented mage who's been practising for forty years is going to not be able to do much more than move small things, create fire or bewitch simple animals. More impressive things like healing the sick, creating or destroying things, etc. require help from the spirits.

Well that was more like several sentences but meh. System's still rusty and I'm not sure how to fit in the Seven League Boots / Teleportation thing I've considered.

Also like your system Koveras. To bad that time manipulation on your thought processes is likely to make Your Head Asplode or that'd be a great help in out manoeuvring the Big Damn CPU.

You must agree, my plan is sheer elegance in its simplicity! My Tumblr

Reality is malleable and the ability to mold it is called Magick. In order to reach the state to perform Magick, a Mystic must have Imagination, Willpower and Understanding of himself and the world.

A Mystic is able to perform Magick on two planes of existance. The first is the real world, or Material World. Here, Magick is more challenging to perform and relies totally on willpower, concentration and understanding of the world.

In the Spirit World, Magick takes less effort and imagination and creativity rules. Here, the Material World is reflected for its true, spiritual state. Here, past, present and future assemble, disassemble and then reassemble instantaneously. Ghosts from completely different eras co-inhabit the same space without each others knowledge and the collective consciousness roams freely.

Mystics are rare but incredibly powerful. In order to keep them in check, a being called the Master Mystic guards both planes. The living embodiment of human potential and creativity, the Master Mystic is able to work Magick effortlessly in both planes. A well trained Master can perform the seemingly most unbelievable feats so long as he has the will.

Theres sex and death and human grime in monochrome for one thin dime and at least the trains all run on time but they dont go anywhere.

Most of my stories with magic share the same basic system. Basically, every plane of existance has a field of magical energy, which generally doesn't directly interact with physical things (exept on specific location, such as ley lines). Magic users can tap into this field and channel it in order to manifest spells. The magical energy originates from the plane of pure chaos and convects through the other planes, gradually weakening in power (the more order-aligned planes have less magic, altho some of their inhabitants have an ability to force their will on the material world using other means), and it's power can fluctate over time. Magic is generally split into multiple categories since it is very difficult for a single person to master all possible uses for it.

There is also another type of magic that comes from a different source. It is called the outsider magic or dark magic, and originates from the void outside the universe. It is far more powerful than regular magic, allowing to alter the very fabric o the universe and enabling things like instantaneous teleportation regardless of distance and time travel. However, it is also very dangerous, as using it will most likely eighter permanently damage the user's body or draw the attention of very nasty beings from beyond. There is a way to use it safely, but that involves pledging oneself to the servitude of the dark powers and the results tend not to be pretty.

@Luthen: Well, you can overclock your brain, but you risk a Heroic RRoD in the process, as you've observed. A safer method would be to link several brains into a cluster (which is the point of rituals involving many people). In fact, one of the most powerful beings in my setting is a giant Hive Mind.

I like your system, too. ^^ Music has always been close to magic (note the similarity of "chant" and "enchantment", for instance). How does the harmony factor into your system?

Also, the let-the-spirits-do-the-work is a large part in my system, too: the direct manipulation of the information field falls under highly exclusive Hermetic Magic (theurgy or alchemy, depending on the nature of manipulation), while "low" magic is known as Goetia and is based on summoning spirits to do what you require. The difference being that for instance, to set something on fire, a theurgist would calculate the amount of energy needed to catalyze a rapid oxidation of the target and raise the temperature accordingly, while a Goetic (I call them "sorcerers") would simply find the nearest fire elemental and invoke its power next to the target.

edited 7th Jan '11 3:42:53 AM by Koveras

Magic is Science, In that not alot of people are good at it.

CAUSE EVERY GIRL IS CRAZY 'BOUT A SHARP DRESSED MAN

Magic is a gift given to humans from their God, and only a small percent can use it. Essentially you use your personal energy to channel natural magical energy for a variety of affects. Laws of physics cannot be broken (ie. you can summon and direct fire, but once you do it's going to act like normal fire) Sorcerers/Sorceresses are sorted into different castes depending on their specialties (The eyes that see, the spirit that guides, the heart that sustains, and the hand that enforces the will) there are also several minor niches one can specialize in.

My Fanfiction account: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2362662/ Please Read and Review

Imagery: The power of the human mind allows you to create a special ability of your very own, the main limits are how much your mind can handle at one time (both in the ability's use and day-to-day type activities) and your beliefs (You can't do anything you genuine believe impossible, but you can also do something impossible if you don't know any better). To this point, people frequently create a low level Imagery without even being aware of it, such as folks so good with animals it's almost like they understand them. While you can bend them to a particular point, no power can outright break the laws of physics (ex: You can stop gravity in a limited area around yourself, but that's as far as it can go)

edited 8th Jan '11 9:12:44 PM by sgamer82

Magic is basically just Reality Warping that a limited number of people can do. You can do literally ANYTHING-but the more extreme, powerful, and likely useful whatever it is, the more painful it is. No actual physical damage, just a mental sensation of pain. Can't kill you, but it can drive you insane. The experienced magicians are the ones that build up high pain resistances...

I'm feeling strangely happy now, contented and serene. Oh don't you see, finally I'll be, somewhere that's green...

ESP is just Reality Warping that a limited number of people can do. In theory, an esper could do literally anything within the bounds of their imagination, as their mind shapes reality. However, unlocking one's abilities to that extent makes it necessary to consciously trigger every single one of the body's processes. As this is impossible, anyone who unlocks their mind pretty much stops existing. Luckily, NANOMACHINES can help enforce restraint.

edited 9th Jan '11 7:10:48 AM by Null

...

I have made up three different magic systems, with the possibility of a fourth one, for this one world I'm building. They don't have names yet, so I'll refer to them as Magic A, Magic B, et cetera. Also Dvargar are dwarves, just so you are not confused.

Magic A is the root of all of the following magic systems. In theory a mage can do anything, but theory and practice are two different beasts. All spells have a cost, even the more mundane ones like starting a small fire. The less taxing ones can make you feel weak or tired for a little bit of time, while the more dangerous ones can kill you. Any attempt at healing someone using this magic will cause people to go insane or die. Also simply using magic causes the user to die much earlier.  ^*

It also cannot be used to enchant objects.

What makes this magic system different from other power at a cost magics is what happens in the worst case scenarios. When mages realize that they are using a spell to powerful for them it would draw all of the life out of them until they die. Once that is done if the spell needs more energy it creates a space where any living thing inside or entering that space gets killed until the spell has enough energy to complete itself. The size and duration of this field depends on the spell.

Magic B acts similar to "Magic A", but deals exclusively with manipulating the earth and healing living beings. However, unlike "Magic A" the user will be warned when there is a significant risk to the user's well being. Bringing someone back from the dead is the most risky spell to use because the gap between life and death is not meant to be crossed in this manner, thus people rarely use it. Only those who religiously follow Varga the Dvargar earth goddess can use this magic.

Magic C acts similar to "Magic A", but deals exclusively with enchanting objects. Each enchantment is represented by Dvargar runes,  ^*

which in turn represent different Dvargar words. Anyone who knows what the words mean can use the power that word contains, for example "fire" on a sword would most likely make the blade become wreathed in flame. Like "Magic B" the enchanter will be warned when the enchantment he is working on could kill him, so he can take a break. Unlike "Magic B" he can come back after his break and continue working on the enchantment. Most enchantments last anywhere from days to months. Only those who are the descendants of the Dvargar crafting god Tvallon  ^*

^{Mostly people from the family Tvalgar.}

are able to use this magic.  ^*

^{I am thinking about having vampiric objects similar to "Magic A's" fields, but I'm presently unsure of whether it is a good idea.}

Magic D might or might not be an actual system of magic, but somehow the undead are being made and the Dvargar goddess Rvinni is involved.  ^*

Edit: I know this is long, but believe it or not this is the shortened version. Maybe I should make my own thread. >.>

edited 10th Jan '11 3:50:45 PM by EldritchBlueRose

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

All mortals are born with the ability to use magic. Not all of them realize it, and you have to actually have talent to use it effectively. There is an energy limit for how how many spells a mage can cast between rests, though the more skilled a mage you become the greater this limit becomes. In the event that a mage finds his or herself drained of energy they can use their own lifeforce to cast the spells, at the cost of a few years off their life. The stronger the spell, the more time will be taken off the end of their life.

Magic is generally governed by the goddess of magic and a special mortal delegate, though they only intervene in special occasions. There is a special police force for this.

In the event that a mage angers the goddess of magic she will tend to seal off their access to the energy required for magic. Most mages this happens to commit suicide, but a select few will turn to sorcery, which involves leeching the energy out of the world around them, as well as other mages, in order to cast their spells. Sorcerers and witches are extremely rare, but good thing because they tend to be extremely dangerous opponents as they are usually high level mages before turning to sorcery and don't have any real limit on their energy, since they draw from external sources.

edited 10th Jan '11 6:40:52 PM by Anaheyla

This is still a signature.

1. Only people who believe it can work can use it. Even if someone uses all the preparations, chants, etc. they still won't be able to use it if they think it cannot work.
2. It is a distortion of the existing rules of the world. The stronger the magic is, the more laws of physics it will screw up, and time is required to repair them. If too much of it is used in a short time, then the apocalypse arrives if you aren't dead yet from even trying to use half the needed amount of energy.
3. Certain magic cannot be used by specific species. A vampire won't be able to use holy spells, for example.

If people learned from their mistakes, there wouldn't be this thing called bad habits.

In my Dark Tales:

Faeries are born with inherent glamours, which awaken after puberty and turn them into supermortal beings. Their magick is Cast from Hit Points, but takes no more energy than it takes to move a ten-pound stone. Faeries understand that their magick is their soul, and their hidden name is the key to it.

Witches and wizards are humans who use spells to mimic glamours. These spells are comprised of songs, "melodies", and "harmonies". Their spells are Cast from Lifespan.

Mystics are humans who train to learn mysteries, including lores.

edited 11th Jan '11 3:32:05 PM by nekomoon14

Level 3 Social Justice Necromancer. Chaotic Good.

Magic is conjured with the power of aether, which is the stuff that makes up souls and the whole of the Aether Plane. Magic can be learned and used by anyone who has a True soul. Magic cannot create or destroy matter, time-travel, predict the future or see in the past, or phase through objects, and consumes energy to use. Different practices and specialties in magic are divided into schools and disciplines, and there are numerous ways to channel magic (ex. runes, dancing, words) .

...I'll continue this post later.

<3 ali

My iMood

Magic A: It is inherited from beings greater than you, as in Domain Entities, Gods, creatures and beings of legendary power, aliens, spacial atrophies and elementals. Their memories and powers and concentrated into an energy called a Godspark, and that Godspark searches the universe for a sentient being to nest itself in. Godsparks are created after a being of immaculate power dies.

If that being learns about their Godspark and draws upon it's power, it can inherit that being's memories, ideals, powers and though-patterns. If you draw in too much of that being's power, they get influence over your body, which is a problem if said being doesn't give it back or turns out to be a omnicidal alien.

Troper Page

Spells are sentient beings. Mages are just negotiators who can talk to them.

Everyone affects the universe in some small way by enacting their will on it. Those with magical power have an enhanced ability to force the universe to bend to their will. Different "specializations" of magic exist because different people think about the world in different ways, and have affinities for different things. Two magi could enact the same spell through very different means and understanding. Because magic is limited by will as much as by power, knowing that something is impossible is as much a barrier to enacting it as is the magical power requirement.

TLDR: Belief creates reality. Magi have the power to more rigorously impose their belief.

Mine is an EVIL laugh.

I once had a magic system I thought was rather neat for a story I was building up a while ago. In-universe, everything that took shape was composed of 'aether' (WIP name, probably, and turns out I'm not the only one here who used that name), which gave everything its physical form. The 'universe' of sorts was a big floating mass of aether situated in a massive endless void (literally called The Void). The aether was the domain of humans, since humans were the source of the aether, as their souls would project fields of aether and the aether world would slowly grow as the human population increased. Humans would be unable to retain their physical form in the void for an extended period since their fields of aether would collapse without being near others (sort of taking cues from Evangelion there), and the human would eventually lose their bodies. The Void was also home to the demons, who are capable of retaining a physical form and manipulating the void (which is easily malleable) to their will, thanks to the innate power of their souls. Early in the story's fictional history, a human woman and an anomalous demon capable of love came together and gave birth to a child known as the first 'witch', a human born with the soul of a demon as opposed to the soul of a human. This allowed her access to the abilities of demons while being human at the same time. She would go on to murder her mother, sire the line of witches and write a book called the Black Grimoire (also a WIP name, fairly sure I stole it from Dragon Age). Since demon powers are limited in the aether because the aether restricts direct manipulation, demons and witches had to make do with the use of seals, which must be drawn in blood (of demon or human kind, although human blood is more effective). These sigils essentially 'disrupted' the 'flow' of the aether, causing the desired effect as though you'd just taken a sizeable chunk out of the aether, manipulated the void it left, and then let aether fill the hole back in again. The sigils are your typical pentagram-enclosed-in-circle-with-magical-runes stuff, and some were fairly complex and some quite simple, but generally magic was impractical to use on the fly in combat. Most of these sigils were sketched out with notes in the Black Grimoire.

The whole explanation thing sort of ruined the air of mystery I originally intended and I ended up not liking the story as a whole, so in the end I scrapped both the system and the story entirely in favour of working on what I like to call an icotroidvania (ico + metroid + castlevania) game instead.

EDIT: jesus christ the wall of text... i have too much time on my hands. i'd feel bad about stripping out all that backstory but the thread does say 'a few sentences'...

TL;DR you draw sigils with your blood to cast teh magics

edited 13th Jan '11 9:15:41 AM by opnerf

Magic varies according to which world in The Multiverse you're in, but in the two that I'm focusing on at the moment:

In a heavily myth-inspired, non-medieval fantasy setting, magic is kept vague (because rules pushes you out of writing and into gaming, in my weird little head) but its based around objects: a wish granting lamp, a flying carpet, a singing sword, etc. Nobody can "shoot" anything, the closest they can come is cursing people or controlling the weather. If it aint in a fairytale or myth, its not possible, but if it is, its loosely tied to an object that a magician has (mysteriously and vaguely) made and is fair game for the use of pretty much anyone.

Modern day realism meets Shonen ideals, as seen from the sidelines in a slice of life perspective. The only magic in this world comes from eating the heart of an animal, which dumps you with a power inspired by said animal (kangaroo —> super jump, etc) or shapeshifting into that animal. (I'm thinking of changing this to something a bit less tacky)

Multiverse aspects include the most powerful thing in a world becoming its de facto god, and deciding every rule of physics, nature and reality in that world (this is far too boring to create a story about), and things which twist the rules of reality (Eldritch Abomination)(too strong to be interesting as anything other than a plot device). One of them is trapped on the dark side of the moon, and its 12 followers make up the sort-of vampires of the setting, with the following magic rules:

- immortal unless you consume its heart, passing the sort-of vampire status onto you, ensuring there will always be 12

- complete control over their identity when in moonlight: this includes physical shapeshifting, mental alteration, etc. They are dumped into their basic shape if they are not beneath the moon; that is, the form they consumed the heart in.

- must consume flesh to remain "stable": the DNA acts as a blueprint to base their constantly changing identity off. Without flesh and blood being consumed, they will become a mindless, violently changing mass, with the heart trapped at the centre.

Fun other bits of multiverse magic include:

- billions of different magic systems across the world, forcing would-be travellers to keep an open mind. Also means there are billions of different ways to travel between worlds, of varying control and effectiveness.

- all woods are connected together, leading into Wormwood. Getting lost in a wood and then following a certain set of directions out is the easiest way to go to a randomly selected world.

- literary inertia states that once someone has become a "hero", they must die in a dramatic situation, be it tragic, ironic or herioc.

Is anyone else finding things a bit off when they're actually out of the mind, and written down on the page?

edited 17th Jan '11 2:17:24 PM by Ewar