TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Magic system up for adoption

Go To

GiantSpaceChinchilla Since: Oct, 2009
#1: Mar 12th 2011 at 11:37:24 PM

Greetings all,

Until recently I’ve been toying around with a magic system with Zolnier and since it probably won’t be used by Zolnier or me. I thought I’d leave it here in case it’s of some use to someone. Also, because it could use some finishing touches that I’m drawing a blank on.

Kind of a long post a head

—GSC


The soulless abound they are everywhere, but mostly they are on your side of the mirror.

Humans, dogs, cats, plants lead hollow lives and throughout they seek to fill this need that can’t be filled; humans created justice and injustice, greed and charity, sacrifice and selfishness in an attempt to fill that hole within them.

Once in a while, something moves in. The most common something is the most diverse, a soul. Some allow the creature to become enlightened; some allow plants or animals abilities they would never have had otherwise; some create monsters; and others the mages of legend. While it’s is true that a soul to a degree is a thing granted by a outside force usually a god of some description, they are intensely personally things not a material or object or even gene.

To use RPG terms that’s the fluff, now for some crunch.

Ensouled

The witches and demigods of human kind granted a soul by a divinity they inherit much from their patron and once in a very long while, gain power enough that they slough off their mortal coil to become gods in their own right.

Each starts with a “tell”, a minor signature from a god, some gods are constant with this mark others are not. It represents the investment a patron has made in a person, animal or thing that may or may not become invested enough for greater powers, the blessings of the gods. The blessings granted are to the mind, spirit, and body of the mage as well as granting them the ability to learn and cast magic.

However, for the vast majority of their life the tie to their patron also levies what is universal called a “curse” a vagary of the arrangement that the gods refuse to elaborate on, the surest sign that you are facing a powerful mage is that they are bound by the strongest curse and have changed their blessings. The surest sign that you should run is when the ties are completely severed for they are bound neither by the blessing or curse of their patron and are in a transitive state awaiting some unknown revelation to crystallize into or steal a divine spark.

There are probably numerous small abilities a soul grants, perhaps even 108, but most would self identify with the bigger characteristics so that’s what I’m going for.

The format I’m using is

  1. Name, what the mages choose to call themselves (usually something sufficiently dramatic to be impressive)
  2. The alterations to the mage's mind, knowing stuff without being taught
  3. Free spells, they have an inner reservoir of raw magic (radiance?) that they can manipulate similar to Vancian Magic spells, but they also have a large list of spells that they can just shoot off
  4. The alterations to their body, the blessings of the gods that allow them to have wings or not cast a shadow
  5. The curse, a tie to the mage's patron but one so bad it wrapped around to being good again.
  6. Tell, kind of a sign from the mage's patron usually a supernatural manifestation, somehow identical tells can be told apart but research is needed to identify the “signature” of the patron.

Examples

Forged by Hephaestus

Wisdom of the forge:

  • Not sure what to put hear really except really good at making stuff.
Volcano god’s spells:
  • Ditto, the point is free stuff.

Reshaped body:

  • Hammer fall; for a short time great strength is granted to the Hephaestus Forged, their limbs and hands gain bulk but surprisingly enough they are no less dexterous.
  • Warmth of the hearth; the mage can for a time summon flames although this ability can rarely be used for an attack (as the flames actually travel and or grow they don’t just show up) it can be used as a crude forge although most mages use this ability to summon or banish heat; cooling or heating a small room comfortably, also good for firelight trysts.
  • Makers knowing gaze; by talking to and holding a object the mage can learn of that objects past and present, finding out how to repair a broken object for example or learn the purpose of an unknown one, this likely takes some time as most objects never having spoken before tend to be long winded.
  • Self made muse; when working with one or more apprentices the mage can inspire and be inspired by forces unseen to create or destroy.
  • Light of the inner forge; using random detritus as well as blood sweat and tears the mage can make any objects with any others, although any creation only lasts for a single day.

Curse: Hephaestus has a strangely varied number of curses varying from something that can only be described as "fugly" to a body temperature that can melt steel. The two most common are:

Lame: One of your legs is “mussed up”. While it still carries you on it is not as quick as it used to be.

  • On the other hand your legs trudge on in utter disregard to what you are carrying
  • later, you can march unerringly although you may become exhausted after awhile
  • then, you can even do something as silly as wear full plate armor without trouble
    • finally, your endurance is unmatched as fatigue and exhaustion are unknown to you.

Eros’ dove and owl: it is said that the god of love not only had arrows to compel romance but also spite, those so cursed have passions that run amuck with love and hate but find this quality burns, most of all the ones around you.

  • Your voice carries an odd “weight” to it slightly nudging others in your favor whither for manipulation or intimidation.
  • Next, your ever shifting passions grants one’s mind a measure of protection from compulsions and illusions.
  • later, your guile grows such that you are very difficult to lie to or control.
  • lastly, though your smile may be crooked some measure of your radiance filters though no mater your dress or condition ie people have a tendency to find you charming or at least appealing and act accordingly, although it is still said that if properly motivated any warrior would still kill a misshapen charming fellow.

Tell:

  • Hephaestus has used only one known tell in recorded history although others may exist, tiny flecks of iron and gold as well as soot seem to have worked their way into the mage’s skin in addition to the odd scar shaped lump. While never enough to draw suspicion, the pattern seems to indicate that the mage has been working with their hands since long before they were born.

Indebted to Sataniel

Stolen words and traded thoughts:

  • Various skills and amazing feats of knowledge and conniving possibly with lawyer speak.
The grand enemy’s Hexes:
  • Spells quite spiffy most likely filled with sound and fury.

Burden of sins:

  • Spider eye; congratulations! for 7 out of 24 hours one of your eyes crawls about like a spider, however, be careful not to lose it as it may or may not grow back if destroyed although the time doesn’t have to be consecutive; also you can still see out of it.
  • Cajole disaster; minute by minute hour by hour you speak, beg, and harass the world around you to build up a natural disaster like a hurricane our an earthquake. Although a simple rain might only take an half a hour or so alone, truly spectacular disasters take numbers and time; of course you could reverse disasters by calming earthquakes or cooling off storms at a similar progression but who’d want to do that?
  • Mask of good or ill fortune: one of the more complicated tricks that it taught by the cult is the creation of masks of all shapes and varieties, while the details are secret there are actually many variations of the same theme trap a spell in a mask; therefore protective spells transfer the damage taken by a mage to a specially created mask; cursed masks slipped under beds can cause terrible nightmares; or a mask can be created that changes a mages face and voice to that of one other individuals; the problem is no matter how many masks you make you can only benefit from one and once it’s gone i.e. destroyed and you cannot even repeat the trick.
  • Waxen Image: voodoo doll power
  • Cauldron of undoing; while a little misleading since the ritual doesn’t actually need a cauldron the mage has learned the last trick Satanel teaches; to bring the dead back to life; any body of water will do, it doesn’t even need to be water just an appropriately symbolic liquid then dead bodies go in and living ones come out.

Curse: the only known curse Satanel levies on his followers is whispered in hushed tones by outsiders although in truth most do not notice it right away. Called “Judgment” by the cult of the eternal prison, there is an aura centered on the mages feels nothing short of the eye of god looking down on you.

  • On the other hand, such malediction does help the deputies of the eternal warden to stay on the straight and narrow as they feel the consequences of their actions more keenly than mortals.
  • Next, it seems god’s anger permeates the senses of all around the mage, those that wish the mage ill react as if in the presence of brimstone or some other hated stimulus, adept mages pick up on these subtle clues to help them on their mission.
  • later, those who transgress while in the presence of the mages find their lies and misdeeds disturbingly witnessed although this effect stretches only as far as the curse itself
  • finally, those that that bear the mage no ill will find a sort of reprieve with feelings and sensations of warmth and home rewarding them bolstering even sometimes but mostly just giving subtle clues to the great tempter's mages that they have passed the test.

Tell:

  • Sometimes a simple circular birth mark of an unnatural color, sometimes a clichéd mark of the beast, and sometimes something really random like an eye sprouting from somewhere it isn’t supposed to be. Satanel’s tells are the stuff of legends and myths and the most recognized as being a mark of forces unseen.

Faerie child

Memories never lived:

  • Triskty triskty fairies being nimble and quick and clever.
Kind one’s favors:
  • Look up something from your favorite childhood books; then make it a free spell.

Gentle bearing:

  • Cold Iron’s Wrath; sometimes there are diamonds in the rough and sometimes there are jewels made of glass; mages with this simple blessing can make anything they wear look good while not requiring makeup or ironing, they also find their body protected somewhat not just from dirt but from pain as well; however, this blessing is cut to ribbons with cold iron.
  • On Cabbages and Kings; the gods that call themselves fairies know subterfuge like your tongue knows your teeth; for a short time the fates smile on the mage and they can win any purely mental based game such as chess or checkers and receive help with games that combine the same with random chance like poker, however the real power here is to gain a benefit for a political game or the game of war. Though, this particular change does nothing to help one physically do anything, such as say welding a sword.
  • Nixies Promise; a empty bottle of $2 perfume filled with water can become a healing potion with the right deal; although straw into gold is much more popular the penalties for breaking one’s word are considerably higher for better boons.
  • To save one’s shoes from gravel; you can hum a little ditty that catches on the wind and caries bedlam in its wake; your performance influences the mood of one or more people even a crowd who while they certainly will not follow your orders will perfectly choreograph themselves according to your performance. This has a terrible tendency to backfire if used for protection however as most people aren’t very good fighters while singing, although many a bacchanalian rave has been started.
  • With which to feed the fairies; the fates, the furies, and the fair ones are but one thing for which diverse considerations has given diverse names, the power of dreams suffuses everything you touch making them slightly hazy as if covered in a barely perceivable fog. This causes your blades to cut sharper, your guns to be more accurate, your clubs to hit harder, and your hand is guided to the ideal spot to cause damage most severe.

Curse: mages chosen by the fairest gods have a sort of ephemeral nature about them making them seem somehow less real and oddly enough increasingly transparent; although this does not grant concealment in most cases (think predator only a lot less subtle) it does have its advantages.

  • Starting with obscured tracks,
  • Next, thorns and brush seem to bend and sway ever so slightly to get out of your way and reposition themselves behind you,
  • Then, animals seem unfazed by your presence such that you can waltz by security dogs or hungry bears although a simple fence will still stop you and you’re still not really invisible,
  • Lastly, a slight fog like sensation surrounds you muffling the sound of your passing and giving you a small bit of extra grip and cushioning should you fall.

Tell:

  • it is said that the eyes are the windows into a person’s soul, often the tell for mages of this type are multi colored eyes as if all of the color that used to be in their body had migrated to the pupil less orbs that now occupy their faces, also anybody who looks just so into their eyes does not see their reflection but the original mage (minus SFX) looking back at them.

Disciple of Dou-zhansheng-fo:

The rock that became a monkey, the monkey that became a monk, the monk that became a god, the god that became a Buddha. As they grow stronger and stranger over time the disciples of the victorious fighting Buddha take on as many names and shapes as the king that is their patron.

Adroit Eyes and Patient Hands:

  • Something about being skilled in manipulation, intimidation, lies, and sleight of hand.
Transformations of Mei Houwang:
  • Free spells all of them focus on changing shape.

Monkey’s adept form:

  • Great sages hand; the mages that make it this far discover a left-handed blessing, from this point on they have a Prehensile Tail capable of any feat that can be performed by their arms, hands, and legs. A la Multi-Armed and Dangerous, however this change is permanent and it is their Red Right Hand as they can’t hide it.
  • Awakened To Emptiness; the mage becomes very hard to destroy but easy to change, when faced with something that could kill or hurt them they absorb the hazardous energy to power their spells or heal their wounds. Trope Energy Absorption
  • Wiles of the Monkey’s Heart; the clever mage sees through an adversaries deceptions and traps so long as the same adversary attempted successfully (or not) to do so earlier, further the emptiness that fills the mage grows stronger, not only can he survive more now but they can use hazardous energy to strengthen themselves. Tropes Genre Savvy lite and Feed It with Fire.
  • Master of unknown servants; at this stage the mage can internally store the malign energy he or she is faced with. Further the mage can claim objects for a time using this stored energy, security systems accept the mage as a user and similar occurrences note that unless the claimed has some way to communicate with the mage it can’t instruct their new master in their use. Lastly, the characters emptiness feeds upon itself; they can sustain themselves for a short time but only as long as their supply of malign energy lasts.
  • Huoyan-jinjing; the ultimate power that the mischief king grants, the emptiness within the mage reaches its zenith allowing them copy any ability they can lay their eyes on, but only at the expenditure of gathered malign energy. Tropes All Your Powers Combined, Viva La Evolution, and Awesomeness by Analysis

Curse: A particularly strong curse follows the Disciple of Dou-zhansheng-fo fate seems to twist against the mage and like a large planet that has a large gravity well attracting smaller planets to itself so are malicious things attracted to the mage. Trope cursed with Always a Bigger Fish or some such.

  • Constantly being surrounded by powerful forces can come in handy, if you can only divert said force for a short while, the wind whispers to mages in the voice of the monkey king of the love and hate of those surrounding the mage who if clever can use this information, even if it could get a bit noisy.
  • Next, those enemies you do not slay may come back to haunt you however some hostilities can be eased with time, you find that the more time hostilities spend with you that the greater chance that they can be allied with you although they become all that more dangerous for it.
  • Later, constantly fighting has yielded a troubling effect on your mind, for the longer you are alongside your companions, your bystanders, your enemies, your enemy’s mooks, your enemy’s technology, random hostilities, dangerous weather, and hostile flora and fauna. You become aware of the workings of your obstacles in spurts and insights, for example coming to an epiphany about how a creatures mind works or learning the best way to defuse a tense situation. This is in fact a supernatural effect gained in increasing intensity if random tidbits, such as riding in a car with a hostile police officer somehow granting the mage knowledge of him having a old football injury even though there was no other way for the mage to know that. Again the information can be kind of random, learning that a trusted ally is a wife beater or that a hated enemy has a missing coin is all possible.
  • Lastly, you gain some measure of relief from fate for when times are most dire bigger fish are summoned for you. While, this is nigh impossible to control as long as you are alive there is some possibility for rescue, of course it’s possible that you’re not being rescued but secured for a worse fate. This peculiarity of fate also has a nasty way of taking its sweet time.

Tell:

  • Part of the monkey king myths is that he didn't start out a game breaker, just built up bit by bit. His tell reflects this aspect of himself, a tattoo kind of a fractal image of a monkey that grows along with the mage, of course it's located behind the mage's ear.

Hecate Ascendant (previously pre-chosen of Hecate apparently I suck at names):

The triple goddess encompassing the archetypes of the maiden, the mother, and the crone who has eyes that face all directions so that she knows all around her and can foresee the consequences of all decisions. Her reach is felt far and wide as the goddess of the crossroads, of magic, death, animals, and time. Quite possibly the patron is older than Greece or Rome.

Skills of the mind outside of time:

  • Memories going forward and backwards in time about magic, “current” events, and biology.
Goddess of spells favorites:
  • Free spells kind of random, some have to do with the perception and manipulation of time others do not.

Three faces in the water:

  • Hands unseen; the first blessing granted by the goddess of the fringes, mages gain a form of telekinesis they can manipulate anything they can see as if they have 6 extra hands, therefore they can manipulate a lot of small things or one heavy big thing. The range is limited to the mages perception, thus if they can’t see the object they can’t manipulate it such as hidden behind a door or too small to see or too large an interesting side effect is that the effect can travel along live feeds but not recordings.
  • Tall walls carry secret signs; the second blessing granted by the goddess of gates and doors, mages gain 4 small manifestations of their connection to hectate, these ghost-lights risible small torches and function equal to the mages own senses, especially the eyes which can now see in all directions. Sometimes mages test how far these witches’ lights can travel or how fast, unspeakable things happen when they do.
  • Body outside of body; the third blessing granted by the goddess of childbirth, nurturing the young, and the ever shifting moon is a form of Doppelgänger Attack. At first mages can only summon 2 copies of themselves; however they soon learn how all of them can summon 3 more, again and again. The last mage existing is considered “true” so crueler ones learn to use this blessing to travel or fight. Although each one can only last for a single sky, defined as in the same day/night side of the planet as distance and time is when the sky changes i.e. sunrise or sunset whichever is sooner.
  • Call the hounds; the fourth blessing of the great key holder is the ability to command dogs, fish, frogs, cows, horses, and serpents. Who while following the mages commands take on a red color. The mage must be able to see, touch, and speak to the beasts to be commanded.
  • The present is poison, the past panacea, and the future sits at the crossroads; the final blessing of the goddess of the crossroads; this seems to grant mages post and pre cognition. Few mages ever reach this level of power and fewer still talk about it.

Curse: the goddess of the brim moves betwixt and between the unknown mysteries and our mundane reality thus the souls she creates similarly guard the lonely places and the gates between them, though not of their own choosing for they cannot cross a threshold without permission and cannot refuse a honest request to patrol a threshold, many mages find work enforcing boarders due to this.

  • On the other hand your constant vigil has increased your awareness somewhat, any threshold you guard or have ever guarded whispers of the comings and goings that it facilitates although only in the vague sense of a person stepped inside but didn’t enter or that a cat left and came back,
  • Next, the sense of coming and going is refined somewhat mages can discern the methods of ingress, egress, and regress such as wither a person entered under false pretenses (but not the lies themselves) or broke in with force or left but not under his or her own power.
  • Later, your awareness expands to all thresholds within a boundary more often than not the space legally defined as the city limits. However in modern times this consciousness varies according to the whims of the goddess of cities sometimes only going as far as a single building or the property that building occupies. Oddly enough some natural thresholds are permitted as well such as trails that form a crossroads however man made thresholds are always preferred.
  • Lastly, the mages mind is opened to the final threshold with any of their eyes they can see the waxing and waning of life itself. Most mages dread this aspect of their goddess most of all.

Tell:

  • Hecate has a number of known tells, the most famous of which is oddly simple, one’s heartbeat becomes louder mimicking the sounds like a softly ticking clock no matter how noisy the mages environment is.

Scion of Saturn:

Chosen by the bound and unbinding god of the harvest, death, and protection the souls of Saturn inherit great power and a dreadful legacy. Saturn was a king born of kings who usurped and was usurped, a god who made masters of slaves and slaves of masters, he is the god of lead the dross that must be overcome to become gold. However he is most well known for his desperation forcing him into extreme acts (re: cannibalism) and his inability to overcome destiny.

Talents pulled from the jaws:

  • Laws, mathematics, and astronomy are the skills mages are granted with Saturn’s blessing.
Commands of the ruler of God and Goddess:
  • Free spells mostly tied to perception such as being able to see injustice etc.

Might granted by the father:

  • Harvest crown; with a touch mages can cause any plant or animal experience one season or one year of growth yielding much at the cost of their life. Even humans are affected by this although most rarely die.
  • Thrown unseen; for all his flaws Saturn was an authority who fought injustice, those who remember this fact can bind one or more parties into a Magically Binding Contract.
  • Regalia run red; although sometimes a curse as well as a blessing, the weapons wielded by the scions of Saturn spill more than blood for from the stained ground random summons appears to fight on the mages behalf.
  • Nine chalices of blood; the god of usurpation and the tyrant of thoughts needs loyal troops to fling into conflict therefore his scions have an aura that causes those around them to be bolstered in body and spirit while sacrificing their minds to their masters rage.
  • Meal of kings; lastly Saturn devoured his children and vomited them up alive again although few scions ever learn the second half of that trick they can consume any living thing or something they think to be a living thing in a single bite.

Curse: the curse of Saturn is as simple as it is crushing the fates hold these mages close and tailor malicious ends for all their adventures, in other words you have a destiny to keep and it is always tragic.

  • Through hardships abound and toils uncounted your fate shields you somewhat since your end has already been chosen; random events intervene to make sure you meet your fate after all how can you lose the hand of the fair maiden that you have been questing for if you have been eaten by a dragon? These twists in the tapestry of time are only so strong however and have been known to fail.
  • Next, the subtle ties of fate make themselves known to you, while they do not grant mercy, the intuitive relief from fate they do grant brings peace of mind in bleak situations as well as a slight tug protecting from illusions and compulsions separating the mage from his prophecy written in the stars.
  • Then, for all the lead coins weighing heavy on the mages heart the hope for gold springs eternal, destiny opens one’s mind on how one’s tragedies can become triumphs, as the saying goes when life gives you lemons make lemonade and where one door closes another opens.
  • Lastly, the Moirae seem to look down on the mage with pity, while the cords of fate are as strong as iron guiding the mage to their doom they also tie happiness to the pattern, as well as form a noose around the fools who would deny the mage's fate keeping but a single irony from closing it in.

Tell:

  • as the god of the harvest one of Saturn’s tells manifests itself as one or more wheat spikelets growing out to the mage’s skin.

Unlearned: aka monsters

Sometimes called the possessed, the changed, the tormented, or the dammed these beings are also granted a soul and even power. However, to do so they have unlearned their human form for one of the deities choosing their fate. These are the Gigantes, trolls, ogres, orks, great-beasts, and wish granting fish of folklore and myth. The changes wrought are to the mind, spirit, and body of the unlearned, some of which are powerful enough to learn and cast magic however none have the same methods or freedom a mage has.

Brownie

Said to originate from the punishment an angry god melted out to his lazy cat, a brownie’s soul is small so any form enchanted with it either grows or shrinks to accommodate its burden some times a human like form and mind accompanies this change. The brownies onus is nimble toil, for as long as no moral sees them they can complete any task at 1/16th the time it would normally take, if even a single soul (literally) sees them they can only compete the task at ½ the normal rate. Tasks cannot include combat but their small size does still aid them somewhat in that regard.

Cyclops

For reasons unknown even the god’s need things built and one of the most well known builders are the one eyed giants, although stories of their size and prowess has grown faster than their  souls

. Stout and muscular Cyclopes resample thin muscular dwarves grown to an average of 10 foot tall, their distinctive characteristic grants a curiously open ended boon, true-sight, with which they built and destroyed great things.

Troll

It is said that even though the gods are great their great works can be either wicked or benevelent and many point to the trolls as an example of the "great" deeds of the gods. Once soldiers in a forgotten war their jarl and brethren were given a left-handed blessing by a capricious god, although mortal in form and unfellable in combat each wound made the trolls ever stranger nick by nick they became the multi-formed things of today (some small some tall some green some red) their secret is that their immortality is in fact fragile for there is one random thing, a song, sun light, a draft of beer, a kiss from one’s true love that will destroy them utterly.

Angels, Spirits, Daemons, Shades, and other strange things.

Magic can make things move, can make them think, or can make them talk … but not all at once. When one is too free with spells strange things happen, suits of armor force their wearer to fight on the side of their chosen god granting innumerable boons for unending servitude; or that is how they say that angles came to be; other stories say that a cable of wizards longed for the embrace of loved ones accidently created the first ghosts who in ages untold spawned the angles who may or may not have rebelled. It is even said that the favored of the gods the mages themselves only have to touch something, say a simple wooden staff, for it to become twisted and filled with magics and energies known only to the silent gods.


Edited for clarity

edited 19th Mar '11 12:59:37 PM by GiantSpaceChinchilla

Theram A travelling scholar Since: Jan, 2011
A travelling scholar
#2: Mar 13th 2011 at 7:47:21 AM

I find the writing to be a bit very hard to follow (might have something to do with my current physical exhaustion, might be a thing on your end, doesn't matter), but the basic idea is pretty interesting. I hope you'll keep helping me kick his current cosmology into shape. grin

GiantSpaceChinchilla Since: Oct, 2009
#3: Mar 15th 2011 at 9:05:32 AM

[up] the magic system is up for adoption Zolnier you or anyone else can take it.

although I'm curious about what parts are unclear now.

Theram A travelling scholar Since: Jan, 2011
GiantSpaceChinchilla Since: Oct, 2009
#5: Mar 28th 2011 at 9:17:15 PM

>.>

<.<

Well if it’s just me and the crickets, might as well try the same thing in a different way.

Since the magical system that is up for adoption is no longer going into Zolnier’s work and I probably won’t use it, I thought I’d hand out what I had done. Luckily for me since we hadn’t talked about the things that would make all the Gobbledygook make sense it’s a rather adaptable system, not limited novels, RPGs, or Audio Visual works. Unluckily, it also means I have no idea of how to promote it or how to finish it.

Ain’t tropes grand?

To whomever it concerns, enjoy – GSC


The magic system as presented in paragraph form.

The seven fold symmetry

The rules natch, the philosophy that the people of magic made to understand their world something of a grand unified theory trying to unify what they think they know with what they do know to make their world less terrifying one prediction at a time.

     Tropes 

The Principal of Addition

Magic is extra, it puts the “super” in supernatural, the “ab” in the abnormal, the “un” in the unnatural. It seemingly ignores the laws of common reality in favor of higher concepts; magic is even additive magic begets more magic. It adds to itself adapting and growing like a living thing. The flip side is that it changes all that it touches bringing chaos to order, revolution to despotism, stagnation to dynamisms, and extra heads to random innocents.

    tropes 

The Principal of Contagion

Magic is invasive, like a vine or grass. Magic travels to make crab-matter and Ivy-Energy. Magic does not respect time or space; it sends its spores into impossibility to bear judicious fruit. Magic can make the mundane extraordinary and bring forth somethingness from nothingness; it fills the hollow of all things to convert miasma to mana. The flip side is that magic strengthens, as tin and copper can make celestial bronze, so can magic give, induce, or enhance anything it is mixed with whatever is needed.

    tropes 

The Principal of Similarity

Magic is controlling, runes knots gears magical patterns abound. However, unlike other small things they control large things, such that a game between two people can change the world or a small whim can become another’s obsession or one can support and bear the burdens of others. The flip side is that just as the moon’s glow is controlled by the sun, magic is binding leaving its fingerprints everywhere hidden and unbidden. Above all magic is enduring tying distant things together by strange contracts with stranger clauses.

    tropes 

The Principal of Symbols

Magic is controlled, how can something be so like something else and yet not influence the other? Choice, a heart is a song is a love but only for those who choose it to be so. Magic uses symbols so that one has but to serenade a comely maid to make a relationship that will last lifetimes. It can make anything out of anything else but only if it is told to do so otherwise an organ, a vibration, and a feeling are different things. The flip side is that magic can never be truly objective; although, it can pass any logical test one wants it to it can also fail any logical test one wants it to. Further magic for all its reality is in fact a deeply personal experience. Two mages trying to perform the exact same spell will have minute differences between them if for no other reason that they are not the same person.

    tropes 

The Principal of Sympathy

Magic is useful, magic performs work—it moves and is moved in useful ways causing small things and large things to perform like no other tool can make them operate. The flip side, magic is unpredictable as it is amoral it can be used for or against you and it can be used for good and for evil.

    tropes 

The Principal of Transformation

Magic is change. From dross into prime and from gold into lead, magic allows one to become whatever one wants transforming the ill into healthy, the living to the dead, or a tree into a painting. The flip side is that nothing will ever be the same again, one can change and try to change back, try to remove the memories and evidence but magic is obstinate.

    tropes 

The Principal of Contradiction

Magic is strange. One can make a spell to bring the dead back to life, one can even be “immortal”, a things can be set up to “last forever”, they are all still transient. They will die, succumb to entropy, and end.

    tropes 

The Mortal, Immortal, and Abmortal Tales

Mortals are Hollow

Rocks, plants, animals, sapient life, and the odd robot

The Soulless (played with), Raw material for magical Matter Replicators, enchantments, potions Uplifted Animals, mages, aliens, Ninja Pirate Zombie Robots, and What Measure Is a Non-Human? goodness.

Abmortals are Genuine

Enlightened

The Messiah, The Heart, The Paragon, mostly having an enlightened mind and whatever else is needed

Ensouled

Witch Species (more along the idea of inherited gift vrs inherited gift), 3 types of magic (one closer to Geometric Magic and Vancian Magic that mages engage in, one that the mages can always depend on that was prepared for them, and one that’s more like a Hulking Out temporary but always a part of them), Upgrade Artifact, and a minor Red Right Hand-ish physical manifestation.

Unlearned

Our Monsters Are Different some are centaurs, some are lake monsters, some have magic, some have words, pretty diverse bunch overall united only in that their souls have a stronger physical manifestation than the ensouled.

Immortals are Existent

Things that Move things that Talk things that Think

Undead, animated statues, Talking Animals, etc.

That which is in-between

Whatever is needed, angles that are actually Adaptive Armor (with Swiss Army Morph Weapons) and a powerful Restraining Bolt perhaps some of them “fell” when their gods decided to be jerks.

The Gods

Whatever they call themselves, they are powerful.

Goals and aspirations

One thing, one system to explain the whole story “where do monsters come from?”, “how can the protagonists become gods?”, “how to tell a story with reverse Cerebus Syndrome?”, etc. Stringing together information from Zolneir I used a variety of sources and some made up stuff so that his story would be less “plot happens” and more “the characters do X”. The soullessness thing I just wanted to play with ever since Hellboy 2 it also helps that just what a soul is and how it’s treated in various Anatomy of the Soul works just don’t make sense the more you think about it. The bleak atmosphere reminded me of The New World Of Darkness (and quite a few bits of The Old World Of Darkness) so I added storyteller elements, the idea of templates, the idea of soul manipulation, and some stuff from Pathfinder to flesh out the meat on the bone words. The marrow of which is the idea of transformation going from cynical to optimistic, neglected childhood to awesome adulthood, mortal to god, so I threw in some stuff from Percy Jackson books and Movie.

edited 31st Mar '11 10:16:23 PM by GiantSpaceChinchilla

Zolnier The Odd Lad from A suspiciously dull shop Since: Apr, 2009
The Odd Lad
#6: Dec 26th 2011 at 1:19:02 PM

Going to use this, actually, thanks GSC

Life's Gonna Suck When You Grow Up... But Is It That Great Now?... Also I'm Skylark2 now.
GiantSpaceChinchilla Since: Oct, 2009
#7: Dec 28th 2011 at 3:47:11 PM

You're welcome; pm me if you want more.

edited 28th Dec '11 3:47:39 PM by GiantSpaceChinchilla

Add Post

Total posts: 7
Top