Hes also known as the God of Mischief. In the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, wand magic is like language. Usually, magic comes from magic users, the gods, magical creatures, or a specific substance. I think Tolkiens magic also confuses people because, as you say, its not until you read in the unpublished material and the material that WAS unpublished at the time of Tolkiens death but has since been released as the Silmarillion, etc. The list includes a thug who burns pewter and becomes stronger; a tineye who burns tin and enhances their senses; a soother who burns brass and can calm others emotions; a seeker that burns bronze and can identify other magic works; and a smoker that blocks a seeker within a certain radius. When the spell is done, the deactivated knots simply float around, unattended. For example do you want evil spellcasters to raise undead? Of course, its possible. Can it be used to harm others or cause destruction? From the other side, putting lot of fire energy into single point will produce real fire, moving air energies will make air blows. Is it connected to religion or religions of your world (since something based on the principle of good and bad [if you have to keep that, use evil instead of bad] should have a connection to religion)? They can do things with water, and also move farther away from their source (something other nymphs cannot physically do). Color: the type of color determines what kind of effect the Vibration will have on the Physical World. Crafting a hard magic system can be a complex endeavor, though soft magic systems also require a bit of care and attention to develop. Sandersons Second Law You might need more development in the how magic is accessed and directed area. (In this case, dispelling the Spiritual (Emotional) aspects associated with Fire in this case Anger/Passion. and not to be messed with lightly, as they can have devastating effects. Either way, the recipients of the power lose whatever memories gained before or during their stay at the Towers. Those are just considerations, however, when it comes to flaws I only really see one. Creating a rational magic system allows you to add realism and depth to your world while still leaving room for new and interesting changes. This curse infects at random, leaving those infected without the memories of their past selves. Willpower is ultimately the deciding factor between to evenly matched opponents. Theres no balance, nothing to sacrifice for the use of magic. No, the water is surely a curse and warning from the mother, who draws the water from the plants themselves as a punishment for stealing the most precious of energy, sunlight itself. In general, creating a system that is more limited in effect and creates more problems with casting makes for better stories. Thats not exactly what I mean Im talking about low-level How. Fast forward a couple thousand years and some genius manges to find a way to control paint by collecting it into a special bottle. So, basically it will be a portal (or teleportation, in case if anyone makes the bond from surrounding air blob, for example). If you fail to understand the role that magic will play in your story and develop your system accordingly, then you run the risk of undercutting the conflict and tension that keep readers turning pages. I think your point is that in a story, there needs to be limits to magic, which I agree with. Forms of Sky magic include air magic, lightning magic, and weather magic. If you can't combine spells you'll have to work together perfectly, time spells one after the after and make sure you're not in each other's way. Unlimited power allows for enormous epic battles, but you'll have to create tension by adding other forms of limitations, perhaps skill based or type based. To do this, I would need to work out whether adding the sorts of new particles and forces needed for this scenario to what exists in real life can be done in some mathematically consistent way. Maybe as a counterpart to motion? And if so, is it because their culture is different and they learn to wield it in different ways, is it because they simply cannot wield it the same way due to biological differences or is it because they use different sources, like blood magic and magic pools? I generally call the opposite of rational arbitrary, and that one I just chose arbitrarily, you might say. Or just feel ridiculous. How would a non-magic wielder fight a magic wielder? So far, the types of energy that can be manipulated in this way are: Air/wind (although due to its constant motion and near-intangibility, air cannot in most cases be held, but is almost always instantaneously redirected. In addition, exposure to sea water improves magical ability for humans slightly, especially childhood exposure, so the strongest spellcasters are all in coastal areas. All are well known for changing things theyre associated with into other things or even changing other women into one of them, so that can be fun. Specific effects include causing earthquakes, preventing earthquakes, and turning people to stone. But, in general, all those energies are more-less equally distributed everywhere. In Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, magic comes from specific metals, like copper, tin, or aluminum. Each blob of energy could be bound to the other blob of the same type of energy and it will result in kind of quantum entanglement from real physics everything what happens with on blob will happens with other blob. (Note- it is a lot easier to learn the Other Methods of Create, Increase & Decrease of the same energy type than it is to learn how to use other Energies- but if you work hard enough it can be done) Im now looking for consistency. Of course, I wasnt interested in my universe following all of the laws of physics in our universe. However, scholars and Wise Ones know that harnessing sunlight is possible, for virtually every plant known to this world is more than capable of harnessing sunlight, and does so continuously, every day. Its true that fire produces light; but any attempt to harness this light merely results in harnessing and redistributing heat, for the source of that light is not the sun, but the fire, and it is temporary and dies, restoring balance. If youre at a loss, take a page from Brandon Sandersons Mistborn series. You cant have conservation of energy violated by magic that also keeps the laws of physics the same over time, any more than you could have magic that makes 2+2=5 (unless, perhaps, the laws of physics in a universe dont involve Lagrangians, but then that would likely be a universe totally different from our own). Like it doesnt work on them or around them? His thoughts compiled into a fortified plan to use his skills to accomplish it, without leaving his comfortable chair. That would then explain why accidential magic can happen when someone is enraged or otherwise under emotional pressure its triggered subconsciously. The plants begin to die, and in dying change color and surrender the rest of their water to Mother. Entire body effects:: Thats why we have a character (in the Silmarillion, and referenced in passing in the songs and stories Aragorn tells the hobbits on Weathertop and they later hear much more about in Rivendell: a character like Luthien Tinuviel, who inherited her power from her connection to both the mortal (in the sense of not being a divinely descended spirit who chose to take bodily form; Tolkiens equivalent of greater and lesser angels whom he sees as having a role in the world; her father was a powerful Elf king but still in that sense mortal) and angelic (her mother, who was a lesser angel who fell in love with her father and chose to take on bodily form enough to bear his child but still remained of divine race) lines in her ahcestry. He exerts his own living will in opposition against the tendency towards balance. Magic systems can even serve as a vehicle for theme, exploring topics such as power, privilege, oppression, and greed. Thank you Cay, for making me think more about what i want my theme to be. But that doesn't mean all magic systems work equally well for stories. Movement demands energy and that I deliver, either with my hands, with a machine, or with telekinesis. What kind of defensive and offensive things can they do? Basically the spirits want more knowledge of the human world, to experience it through human eyes. Its mysterious. More like youre a easily broken, magical gun (Aim, shoot fireball, repeat.) This is where Im stuck for, to the moment. Mistakes as huge as that one turn people off reading your stories. When shes not busy writing, you can find her painting watercolors, playing her ukulele, or hiking in the Rockies. The differences come into play when various factions go to war. They dont lead sermons or pray for people. Some people make a long-term contract with a particular spirit to channel its energy themselves, with the spirit becoming the casters familiar. Hell make it rain if your rain dance impresses him, but he wont strike someone with lightning no matter how impressive your dance is. Most magic systems used in medievalish fantasy have groups of people with access to the same spells and abilities, though their talent with magic will vary. If anyone wants more detail and is interested to see the actual magic just comment and feel free to critique. The other is one of my own magic systems, as I want to hear what others think about it, especially in terms of this article. If you read up on no other system of supernatural beliefs, check out that one. The only difference is Life energy contained in every living creature, and every creature has own Mind ball in place of real brain. Motion/kinetic energy: you stop an object in its tracks. Those that dont meet the selection criteria die screaming, but in a chosen few, the nanites alter and enhance their hosts, granting abilities that are perceived as mystical by the ignorant population which includes the majority of the Order of Mages themselves as generations of information suppression have led to them buying into their own lies, the truth being known only to the mysterious Council of Nine. Maybe if their contact to spirits is limited, or the spirits themselves have goals that dont line up with the protagonists goals. Everyone has their own power level amount of energy they can produce in one go. As just one example, she talks about choosing only one source of magic but I think its possible to have multiple sources and still have well-thought out and limited magic systems. Of course, there had to be some in-world lore and stuff to go with the system, but the system / idea in a nutshell, The idea, when broken down is comprised of: Are there any natural elements which are home to magical powers or are there any which could house magical powers? The brain does use relatively weak energy for thinking, so that would not reach far. It is the rarest of the Primals to be connected to. There are also spells and counter spells, and characters know when to use themtake for example when Harry accidentally levitated Ron (using levicorpusnot hard to figure out the root for that one). By the time of my story, the nanites have taken up residence pretty much EVERYWHERE. A dwarf named Keti seeks a company of adventurers to steal a powerful arcane device from a rival. I do hope that this comment will help you understand the angle Im coming from. They dont pay with utter exhaustion or even by losing several years of their life, because of the power they wield. Its the same with a story. I think that Ill change the names to be about the Towers, instead of what I have now. Yeah, I think your fabric metaphor works great. Theyre part of a task force to reweave the knots. Iroh or Azulah are already pushing it when they control lightning (which could qualify both as air or fire). You should ensure that the conflict and resolutions in your story arent as fickle as the magic. Even with a teacher it takes years to become proficient. Perhaps broken fingers mean you won't be able to wield magic or maybe magic itself can block another form of magic or the magical energies within a person. (Storm God = sky domain = bird ? And of course, if magic is viewed as an alternate system of physics theres no reason why physics has to match the naive categories of intelligent beings; think of how weird quantum physics seems, for instance. Hey, dont know if anyones still commenting on this but here goes. but gods, spirits, and demons can. I know it could use some work, but a lot of this came out in the very act of me writing it in this post! While your categories wouldnt be any fun if they were identical, they do need consistency. Im currently working on subtypes to it but I am miserably failing. The only downside is that these systems require thought thought that will make your setting stronger. Now the fall is a far more distant memory, and one less likely to be associated with mages, but the habit has become too ingrained to change. Tolkien, we never find out exactly what Gandalf can and cant do with magic. Youll need to set guidelines for how these beings operate so that you can explain why they do or dont answer prayers whenever theyre asked. Update/thoughts soon. All of Creation is born from a single point in time, that exists both Space, Time, Existence, or Consciousness, what we call The Sephirot, or The Spark, or the Egg of Creation, it goes by many names. The Soft-Hard magic divide is much more useful for writers and if you listen to Sanderson, he is much more careful not to state hard magic is inherently better than soft magic. Those that survive the process emerge as a member of the Exalted (believed to have been chosen by a higher power) those that dont die screaming, bodies horribly twisted and in extreme cases, even dissolving into silvery, grey goop. The Way of King s is one of the most renowned fantasy novels to date. Are there magical societies or a hierarchy of magic users? I still have hopes to use it someday, but Im not sure for reasons Ill give soon. For example, your magic is powered by emotions, which also means that your emotions, if they dont get a new power source (more emotion), will disappear over time. I think that is arguable, but fine I personally want to read hard magic systems anyway. ), the rarest of the three. The jammers are slowly getting weaker, and the nanites, while the have mostly settled in these past centuries, slowly encroach upon the population. Neither hard magic nor soft magic are a fashion. Im going for rational semi-soft I hope I pull it off. Learn the most recent fiction marketing tactics, Amazon algorithm deep-dive, with case studies, & more. Spellcasters cant blow up planets, because obviously that would take too much energy. It could make for some interesting stories devout priests who get power from their deities versus irreligious wizards who use their own will as magic, bio-mages who draw upon the weak but flexible power of living organisms versus geo-mages who draw upon the mighty yet unsubtle power of the land itself, Incidentally, all examples you have given, Cay Reet, are about how (most) magic-users cannot use all types of magic; do you think that a system in which magic-users could learn all possible magic (at least theoretically) but what is possible for magic in total is strictly limited could work? I would point to Ancient Magus Bride as an example where you have both soft magic such as that used by both creatures of myth and the various magi, as well as the more grounded hard sort practiced by sorcerers. I have recently, but have wrote before, in my world created a new magic systems. That cheapens the story and makes it less exciting to read. And finally, I was thinking about a story involving space travel, so FTL would be convenient to explain how the aliens managed to meet each other in a relatively short amount of time. She ran Well-Storied from 2014 - 2021, sharing hundreds of articles, podcast episodes, and other resources on story craft and creative living. How much of it might people attribute to the magic, and how much might they attribute to simply becoming blas in the face of so much death? Its a common trap that many authors using emotion-based powers fall into its tempting to create a sudden dramatic reversal of a seemingly hopeless situation with a method the fundamental rules of the story allows for at any time. Below, Ive outlined six general steps you can follow to forge an effective magic system for your story. I dont like giving writers a formula for magic systems. To give them an exceptional ability that stands out from the masses, change or break one rule youve established for your magic system. Each time Harry, Ron, and Hermione find themselves in danger, they can only escape that danger using magic that weve already seen them learn. Knowing what spell-casting is capable of is pretty important, if you havent decided that, I would think on it. Source Materials Who and what wields it How to wield it What are the powers? 2015 2022 Kristen Kieffer | All rights reserved. a disease caused by the nanites The difference between the two is obvious as soon as you watch the show. But its repeatedly said in the series that spells can be cast when the user feels strong emotion, so it could possibly be connected in that way to the old magic. Last limitation is that the caster has to concentrate on what theyre doing. The mystery is in the water that the Living Mother leaves behind on the plants when the sunlight returns again. For instance: a person who has long hair could pluck a strand and send paint through it causing it to straiten making a weapon hard to see or maybe if you can use paint on something you arent touching you could carry a bag of sand around and channel paint into it giving you the power to manipulate it a will. My point was that this would essentially entail creating a new set of physical laws, and I wanted to find out whether this could be done in a consistent way while still keeping most things in that universe somewhat similar to our universe if the magic did not affect them (for example, having stars, planets, space, Earthlike life, etc) It turns out that there are some things that are mathematically impossible, so I have to be careful. This could also link in nicely culture and tradition (festivals on summer or winter solace to celebrate the Mother). I think natural disaster can be explained in this world as terrifying manifestation of the imbalances in nature, things that the Mother wants to avoid by seeking to restore balance always. So if stuff suddenly falls up, we know something is wrong. If I may make a suggestion as to how to tie these four together, have it not be the first time this has happened. There are plenty of sources you can use, like bodily energies, energies in the air, power bestowed by the gods, powers within blood, pools of magic in the world, a worldwide life force, magical artifacts and so on. Angels are not incapable of doing bad things and demons can be nice every now and then. In this case, rational, soft, and hard come from Brandon Sanderson. So, for instance, lets say you decide water spirits are more powerful than plant spirits because their aspect is more basic and elemental, whereas plants are more complex organisms that feed off of water. All of the Aether and Souls stem from the Sephirot, and at the same time are all one and the same. Therefore, its probably a power you should consider not using unless its absolutely plot relevant for you to have a character who can do that. Its easy to mix up rational magic with whats often referred to as hard magic. Sorcerers tend to specialize in offensive magic except the temptresses, necromancers and spell book readers. This system was mostly me being annoyed that magic usually violates the Law of Conservation of Energy, so I made a system built around that principal (until it spiraled out of control) How does the energy reach an object (including a brain) without affecting and potentially being dissipated by everything in the way (including air)? If by the end of your story the hero has reached twice or more times the power of the strongest person at the beginning of the story, how come nobody ever reached that same level? And theres nothing less exciting than a story where the protagonists can escape from any danger just by wishing it away. But usually a person can only ever do one of those three (create, increase or decrease), and only do it for a certain energy type. To keep your magic mysterious like in Game of Thrones, hide how it operates. You can make it mysterious just by hiding how it operates. Novice mages are taught how to bring out their mana to create energy bolts, shields, weapons, and constructs. This allows for the reader to know what is or isnt possible. Magic would be cheaply acquired from soil the plant cant grow in, and they wouldnt have to worry about getting sick from overeating it. First, the magical system is based off European history and mythology. Rituals are easy to execute, but can be dangerous. The first and probably most important aspect of magic is its source. All you need are the right ingredients, follow the right steps, and have the right mindset. For example, if your characters can telekinetically control objects, your story will be more interesting if each character can only control a specific type of object, rather than being able to control anything they want. Trying to do anything that involves pushing against or even breaking natural law will require aid from outside forces. While characters can invent some potions, it appears they only do it by trial and error, not through a formula that guides what goes into a potion to create specific effects. I went through this process recently with an RPG Ive been working on. Practically everyone uses it in their daily life. It will allow to make some zones where one or other magic will not work, or otherwise where will be much easier to cast specific spells. Its not uncommon for people to have phantom sensations or memories weeks later. Theyre bodies cant store energy, thats a Condit thing. In The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss, the magical discipline of Naming is a soft magic system. If an Interferer and a Conduit have a baby, can it do both, or just one? Internal logic, that is, otherwise thered always be that magic doesnt exist bit to fight against. Perhaps people born with an innate power to do so or maybe they're chosen ones hand picked by a god. If you teleport, you have to control that energy while your whole body is nothing more than energy, too. Im thinking at the beginning it requires some basic training to attune oneself to contact spirits, and from there its more a practice/strength of will thing. If I get this right, magic workers are using pieces of the infrastructure built to support their world for magic instead, at which time it is no longer helping to sustain the world, and by putting these pieces back in place, the protagonist is strengthening that infrastructure. The way the magic of my world works so far goes as follows: Magic is based in blood, the eight types of magical blood found in fantastical creatures and humans (Light, Dark, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Mind, Body), and the way people gain magic is either by taking that blood from the creature or being born with it, so either a Linear or a Pureblood. But in the real world, moving out of the way would be easier; since spells have straight paths when cast, why use magic when theres an easier non-magic method of avoiding harm? Sanderson recognized that the hard magic system is a fashion, just like soft magic was before and this article doesnt acknowledge this. Its really creative and for the most part completely logical (and since the people in the story are acolytes, there is no scientific explanation needed since it all seems to fit within your model). It flows through all life and can be controlled by any sentient object. Being a priest (a magic user in service to their village/town) is a full time job; but sometimes you need a hunter, not a demon slayer. Side note, can anyone contact the spirits, or does it require a special gift.. If you can't say something nice, say something thoughtful. However, a few benders can bend their element when its in a different form or less pure. If youre still reading, thanks for letting me ramble. Make magic tricky and fickle. Without this action, the person is consumed by the power, turning into a brute beast, only wanting to destroy those with more power then themselves. I was wondering if any of you could give your thoughts on it. Thats not a rational system, because theres no understandable rules to it. It tries to convince the reader the newly defined rational magic system is what every fantasy writer should strive for. Grab a sheet of paper and brainstorm a list of magical effects that fascinate you: ones youve already seen before, or ones you come up with from scratch. You should take a look at Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.Google search it; itll come right up. A common mistake when building magic systems is to forget to include costs. (Yellow is weakest, purple is strongest.) Having people combine spells into more powerful versions could make for a great epic battle at the end, but at the same time not allowing them to be able to combine spells could provide for epic fights as well. In some magic systems, gods or other powerful beings are the source of all magic. However, they are actually Ancient Greek classifications and not modern science-based, so they arent really natural. I think youre overthinking things a little in your example. Forms of Star magic include telepathy, telekinesis, mind control, astral projection, and precognition. Have holy magic as something humans can gain through service to the gods, but have the gods as some random element that cannot be influenced at all. Aside from this, the only other limitation a mage has in magic is their stamina. Last, heres a fun chart showing the details of magic systems in the most popular works. It has been decided that the human body is too impure of a vessel, being asynchronous with the rhythms of nature, to successfully accomplish this with sunlight. So when it comes to babies, you probably want to pick just one.. that you realize that the magic system in Tolkien is actually much more a spiritual and religious system based on the two fudamental pillars of his sincere Catholicism and his strong distaste for the worlds of contemporaries like C,S, Lewis where the Christian allegory was blatant or at best obvious enough to leave the writer open to the charge of being preachy. I would also like to point out that alchemy is not a religion, but an admittedly partially superstitious precursor to chemistry. The more powerful the magic used the bigger the chance of them dyeing in battle cause either they became tired and was killed or the spell was more than the magic\ life force they had left. Generally that means their strengths and weaknesses will be roughly equivalent.